Wings of War

How does one get into Wings of War? Is there an a good starter set?

See, my old man loves world war I planes and has been building models of them since I was a kid, he would love this game but I'm not sure where to start or how much I need to get some good dog fights going.... also I saw Sag writing about some other World War I game earlier... maybe WoW isn't the best bet. Is there some other world war I game worth considering?

Are you in the ice pirates trade? I have a ww2 set and 6 or 8 planes I can put up if you're in there. I think old WoW stuff is easy to get right now because a lot of folks dumped it for x-wing.

The base game is good enough to get into if you want to play without the models. But lets face it, the models are what make the game great. In that area, though I haven't looked in a while prices can escalate pretty fast. Most were going for around $12 a plane but the super popular ones like the Red Baron were over $100.

Oddly enough it was Göring's plane that seemed to command crazy high prices. Makes no sense.

Wings of War: Famous Aces is easy to pick up in trade or on store shelves and it has everything you need to play. No models, and frankly that has its advantages. It's easier to move around because the joints in the model pegs fall off and that's a pain in the ass. If you like the game with just cards (that's often how I play now) you can pick up a couple of fighter packs to get extra maneuver decks.

But! The models sure are pretty. For $29.90 MSRP you can pick up one of the new Duel Packs (2 planes, basic rules and the measuring sticks and stuff). You can find it for about $20 online. There's two different ones to choose from and Richthofen's red DR.I with the green trim is seriously beautiful. If you want to play with models you can pick them up one at a time and each comes with the cards it needs.

There's a lot of this stuff floating around. I have a couple of duplicate planes I can float your way (part of a bigger set I got in trade) if it turns out you like the game with the models.

By the way, Ares is publishing the game mats again. I was skeptical as hell when they first came out. But I got one from a buddy and I'll be honest -- they're really nice. Surprised the hell out of me. They're good for poker night as well if you don't have a felt table.

S.

Here's the deal...

Now is the _best_ time to get (back) into Wings of Glory.

The duel packs are great to get you started. They do come with plane models you can buy separately, but the duel packs have unique color schemes (and the only way to get Frank Luke's plane - my favorite color scheme for the allies). That said, the duel pack only has the basic rules... again this can get you started.

Unless you _really_ like the color schemes you can forgo the duel pack and buy the Rules and Accessories pack and pick and choose the planes you want as the R&A pack has no planes.
At any rate, you'll want the R&A pack. It has rules for two-seaters, bombers, machine gun nests, AA guns, altitude rules (always!), pilot skills, etc. It's a compilation of all the rules spread out over the lifecycle of the FFG releases.

What planes do you want? I prefer to pick planes based on color/design preference, but be careful. There are currently two waves of Wings of Glory planes on the market. Series 1 is early war planes and though fun don't compare well plane v plane against Series 2. Series 2 is a re-release of the old Wings of War (FFG) Series 1 so the classics are available again (all red Richthofen!). Get these while you can.

Also available are the bombers for about $22 a pop online. These are beautiful on the table and will shoot up in price like the WoW balloons when gone. I only needed one and use it in a crippled capacity in a scenario. Basically, it is returning from a bombing mission and slowly moves forward automatically each turn. The allies have to defend it to safety. I've found it a bit overpowered v the single seaters, but this is a fun scenario.

Also, check out the Aerodrom site for a bunch of neat game aids. The gimbals are fantastic. Having the planes lean into turns and such adds a lot, and if you're sinking money into minis may as well go all in. I do prefer to make my own smoke markers though.

www.aerodromeaccessories.com/




Why is Göring's plane the most sought after? Easy. It's all white. The best plane for hobbyist to re-paint/customize.

Oh...two other things...

1) I prefer the WWI version over WWII. Not only do I enjoy the planes more, but the games play different. WWII has you choosing a new card every turn. You have a bit more control. WWI all the players lay down three cards and move simultaneously one at a time (everyone moves via their first card, then all move via their second, etc). You're programming three moves ahead so the game is a bit more wild and exciting.


2) I forgot to mention my favorite fan-made house-rule: ammunition. Basically, you assign each player 8 tokens at the beginning of the game. Each time they fire you remove a token. This adds another level of strategy. Do you fire off a shot just because the opponent is in range (1 dam card at long range) or hope you can close in a bit (2 dam cards)? Shoot now or save ammo to take out the AA guns first? What will you do when you run out of ammo? run screens? Head back to base and live for another day?

Jeff White wrote: Oh...two other things...

1) I prefer the WWI version over WWII. Not only do I enjoy the planes more, but the games play different. WWII has you choosing a new card every turn. You have a bit more control. WWI all the players lay down three cards and move simultaneously one at a time (everyone moves via their first card, then all move via their second, etc). You're programming three moves ahead so the game is a bit more wild and exciting.

Good news because I'm only really interested in WWI for this game. It's for my old man and he loves those planes... the mini's are a big part of it because when he's not playing it I'm sure he'll set them up around the house to look at.

Do they have a Fokker Triplane? That's his favorite. Too bad the Red Baron is so expensive that would be a boy hood dream for him. What kind of plane did Ray Brown fly? I realize it's highly unlikely he actually shot down the Red Baron but I know my old man would love re-creating that battle either way.

JonJacob wrote: Do they have a Fokker Triplane? That's his favorite. Too bad the Red Baron is so expensive that would be a boy hood dream for him. What kind of plane did Ray Brown fly? I realize it's highly unlikely he actually shot down the Red Baron but I know my old man would love re-creating that battle either way.

Don't believe the hype...this is what I'm telling you. Those old rare FFG series one planes are now in stock everywhere as Wings of Glory series two. One Red Fokker...$10 US
www.miniaturemarket.com/agswgf104a.html

Brown flew a Sopwith Camel. His plane/colors are in the duel pack with Richthofen's Red/Green Fokker (naturally!):
www.miniaturemarket.com/agswgf001a.html

Here's a better image of the four from the duel packs so you can see how much green is on this version of Richthofen's Fokker. All red requires a purchase of that solo plane above.

Awesome post Jeff, that solves my what to get Dad for his Birthday problem. He'll never see this coming. Hopefully I'll get to play it in the summer when I go visit. Those mini's look pretty damn sweet.

All I need is the Fokker, the Baron/Brown pack and some kind of starter kit. Easy peasy..

JonJacob wrote: All I need is the Fokker, the Baron/Brown pack and some kind of starter kit. Easy peasy..

It gets better...you don't need a starter kit. The Richthofen/Brown pack _is_ a starter kit. It has the basic rules so you can get going with just that duel pack.

Again, if you want two-seaters, bombers, pilot skills, etc _then_ will you need the Rules & Accessories kit.

Finally, and this isn't really my business, but if your dad would be most excited about an all red Fokker v Brown, I'd consider carefully opening the duel pack, removing the red/green Fokker, and inserting the all red Fokker. You may have to switch out plane cards as well, but the movement decks are the same. This would tidy the gift up into one box.

Well, you could also throw in a copy of the German film The Red Baron which is really entertaining and creates a few extra, non-historical brown/richthofen encounters.

Here's a shot of the final DR.I in the Duel Pack:



It appears to have a beige leading edge to the wings. It's also more apparent that it's a tri-plane, the DR.I. Andrea has pushed hard for authenticity of the paint jobs so I'm assuming that's more correct than the ginned up promotional photos.

I don't know which paint job Richthofen was flying when he was shot down. I know he went to all red in his original Albatross (the vast majority of his kills by the way) and that he carried it into his DR.I, but he flew at least two DR.Is, converting to the strengthened version when it came out. The only photo I've seen of his final plane is B&W and shows just the tail.

Well worth your time to get two matched models. Pick up a second DR.I and Camel and you can have a great time 1x1 or 2x2. The original rules are very simple, and I've had Gramma flying with my boys (she prefers the DR.III).

S.

Sag,
Is that the cloth/mat you play on? Where'd you get it from?

That's not my photograph. These Duel Packs have just hit U.S. stores in the last couple of days. I don't have one yet though I may be picking one up on Saturday. The red and green DR.I has been on my short list, but I'll be honest, the snapshot above doesn't look as good as their super-saturated promo colors. So I'll have a good look before buying. The last think I need is more of these damn things.

My play mat is the old Wings of War playmat, neoprene with a cloth surface. It's the kind of thing I never buy for myself, but got it as a gift and I have to give Nexus credit. It makes picking up cards and bases much easier. The new ones are designed to piece together in sets of 2, 4, 6 or even more designed to assemble like Carcassonne pieces where every piece matches all the others just by turning it to the appropriate edge. When I become rich I'll purchase 9 and make a monster board out of them.

S.

Late Addition: found the damn link -- www.aresgames.eu/games/wings-of-glory-line/game-mats

Cool Stuff Inc has Wings of Glory airplanes for $6 today. That's the cheapest I've ever seen them. One of the Duel Packs is $15.

I believe the sale runs through the weekend. Luther Von Richthofen's D.R.I is sold out but I'll be keeping an eye out for it since it's so damn pretty.

I had promised myself not to buy any more of them, but I picked up six and the shipping was only $5. Six planes for $41 delivered was just a shade too tempting.

S.

I've already got a ton of these little plane boxes. It's no longer convenient to haul these around for play.

What are you storing/carrying your planes in?

(Edit: The sale looks to be for the current Ares Series II. I still might get a couple, but I was hoping to get some of those Series I early war planes as I hadn't picked any of those up yet.)