Subject: Fw: Wings over France: great solo WWI game (long) Paul Aceto wrote in message <8hfjva$qav$1@news.ihug.co.nz>... I wholeheartedly recommend that anyone interested in WWI air games, solitaire games, or for that matter just well-done and clever wargames, check out Lambourne Games' Wings over France. As far I as I know, it's the only game of its kind, simulating the management of a British Royal Air Corps squadron during Bloody April of 1917. I remember reading a glowing review of the game in an ancient edition of Fire & Movement, and was surprised to see it was back in print and updated. The biggest changes from the first edition seem to be that you now get a full color map, many of the charts have been centralized into a single one and some of the errata have been included. I hope that the game takes off, because I would love to see some add-ons. For those who are interested, you can get a good description of the game at http://flyhi.de/games.wingsoverfrance1.html, or can look (and order) at Lambourne's site at www.sportsgameshop.com. The game costs 19.99 British pounds plus shipping (about US $43-45 with shipping) and in my mind it is well worth it. This is one of the best games I have bought in years, and it ranks with the best solitaire games I have ever played (and I think I have played them all). If you order, you won't have to wait long to play. I ordered mine on-line from New Zealand and had the game in my mailbox 5 days later!!! Below is a partial replay of my first serious attempt at flying missions, which I hope will give a flavor of the game. I start by choosing which of the 3 flights to command (A, B or C). You can take all three, but it would take forever to play through the game. In my first foray into the game, I randomly but unwisely chose Flight C, only to learn that its Nieuport 11s didn't stand a chance against Albatross D-3s. After watching 4 of my 6 planes not make it back to Amiens, I decided next time I would take Flight A with its Sopwith Pups. So this time, I take the Pups. Next, I roll for what mission I am assigned for the day (April 1). The eight routine missions range from defensive line patrols to photo reconnaissance to trench strafing to artillery spotting. You have to fly at least two every day. I roll a 13, meaning I have to conduct a balloon bursting raid in the a.m., and then have a choice of either defensive line patrol or bombing raid at any time. But hold on, since it's the 1st, I also have to do a dawn patrol before any other mission. This mission rotates between all three flights, i.e., Flight B will go on the 2nd, C on the 3rd, then back to A, etc. The dawn patrol does not count as one of your two daily missions. Next, I roll for the day's weather (getting good visibility in the a.m. and bright sunlight in the p.m.). Hmmm, the good visibility means I can conduct my dawn patrol from on high (the Pups can go up to 17,000 ft) so I will likely have the advantage on any German planes I encounter. It also means I'll endure anti-aircraft fire (archie) since there will be no clouds to hide in. So I form up my patrol (taking my four best pilots, A1-3 and A5) and start the mission. The first thing you do every turn is roll for a weather change. Then you either climb (up to 5,000 ft per turn) or dive (as much as you want), and move or stay put. Finally, you roll for an encounter (roll two six-sided die; if the number is equal or less than the encounter number you then roll for the altitude and makeup of the German planes; the encounter number is based on your hex - ranging from 1 near your home base to 6 over trenches and near enemy airfields - plus any modifications for weather and archie fire - the bursts attract bandits). The encounters are not totally random; each mission has its own set of encounter charts, and enemy plane charts are based on the unmodified encounter number in the hex, so near the trenches you get a different set of possible encounters than you do far behind your own lines. All your actions take up Air Flight Time (AFT) points to simulate fuel usage, and are deducted from a starting total based on your aircraft. My flight climbs up to 16,000 ft in its first three moves and moves toward the trenches. I make it to the trench line with no major weather changes and only one encounter (2 Albatross D-3s, but I am more than 2,000 ft above them so can decline combat and do). My plan is to patrol 9 hexes behind the lines. You get 10 points per patrolled hex, and begin the mission with a deficit of 80 points. So figure I'll do the minimum to get positive points and call it a victory. The victory conditions are such that you win with an average total of +5 points per day. I undergo archie fire with no hits, and then start my patrol behind the enemy line. In the second hex, I have another encounter and this time it is a damaged 2-seater Albatross C-3 only 5,000 ft below me. I decide to take a chance (the dogfight will eat up AFT and leave me much lower than I want to be, but the 30 points for a shot down enemy 2-seater are too tempting!). So I dive on the plane, and transfer the action to the initiative table. My four fighters all line up good shots, but the first is driven off by the rear gunner (so he's out of the dogfight but will rejoin the flight later) and the others all miss. So we go on to another round. This time, one of my fighters gets a hit, but when I roll to see what the damage is, the plane is just driven off so the 2-seater escapes. Hmmm, not much to show for it. I climb back up as I continue my patrol and manage to avoid further encounters as I again reach 16,000 ft. I decline another combat and now move on to zone B and rack up more patrol points. I catch another damaged 2-seater (this time the rear gunner is already knocked out) but again my hits just drive it off. As I get to my 9th hex, the law of averages catches up and my weather change roll calls for a shift to light clouds. This reduces downward visibility to 8,000 ft, meaning I'd have to dive down there to get the final 10 points (you have to see the ground to get the patrol points). As this would put me down too low for what I feel is a bad encounter coming up, I decline and figure if I break even that's OK. Maybe I can pick off an easy encounter on the way home. And as I move back toward home, that's exactly what happens as I catch another damaged 2-seater and dive down to get it. Only he gets me, as the pesky rear gunner wounds one of my pilots and the dogfight ends with the enemy escaping! So there goes my even score (-10 points for wounded RAC pilot). Usually, I would have to make a decision here as to whether to detach planes to escort the wounded pilot home, or let him go alone as a straggler. But since I'm homeward bound, we all stay together. No major events as we limp home to Amiens with only 5 AFT points to spare. Dogfighting and then having to regain altitude really eats up the fuel. So I lose the wounded pilot for 3 days (but can request a replacement the next day until he returns) and end the mission with -10 points. Now it's on to balloon bursting. You get 25 points for each balloon downed, but start with a 20 point deficit. Once again, I plan on a minimalist mission, heading home after I get one balloon and reducing the point deficit by half. I outfit one of my pilots with Buckingham ammunition (does more damage to balloons but cannot be used in dogfights) and take the three survivors of the first mission and a fourth pilot. On the way to the front, the weather turns nasty. I fly at 9,000 ft, just above archie's range but still able to see down to balloons at 1,000 ft. I make it to the trench line without any encounters and check the first hex behind the trench for balloons (they are there on a roll of 5 or 6). I roll a 6 and plan to dive down on the balloon. But before I get to the balloon, I am attacked by fighters after a low encounter roll. We duke it out for several rounds without any hits. In a neat design mechanic, the balloons are winched down every turn a dogfight occurs in their hex. You roll two die at the end of each dogfight round and subtract that from a starting number of 33. If the dogfight takes too long, the balloon can make it to the ground. In this case, the dogfight ends early and I make my first pass at the balloon. The plane with Buckingham gets a hit, doing 4 of the 8 damage points needed to down the balloon. Another plane gets a hit with regular ammo (2 points of damage) and we go to round two. Each round at this altitude you undergo machine gun fire. And sure enough, one of the two MG shots hits my plane with the Buckingham. As I pray for a driven off result, I instead roll a shot down result. And then I roll a dreaded 5 on the shot down table, meaning "machine becomes a flamer - all killed." Great, that's -30 points for a dead pilot and -10 points for a destroyed plane. So much for my one balloon strategy. After the machine gun fire, the remaining planes move in on the balloon for their second pass. My first plane rolls snake eyes! On a double 1 or double 2 roll, the balloon explodes, possibly taking a plane down with it. But the plane survives, and it's time to move on to another possible balloon hex. I find another balloon in the third hex checked, managing to avoid encounters and machine gun hits. My first plane rolls low, meaning his gun has jammed. But the second rolls a double 2, another exploding balloon! My pilot survives, and I decide that I've had enough and take my 50 points (actually, with the other losses and starting deficit, it' s only -10 points but I overlooked this at the time!) and head for home. On the way home, I roll double 6's for the weather change, meaning one of my planes has engine trouble. It turns out to be nothing serious, and the plane makes it back with the others. So after two missions, I'm down two pilots, one plane and have a grand total of -20 points! Reassuring myself that it's all because of bad rolls, I prepare for my final mission of the day, the relatively easy defensive line patrol, where some of my greener pilots should be able to get experience. I hope this gave a sense of how the game plays, and the variety you face with each mission. The system seems much more intelligent than RAF or London's Burning. It does seem it would take while to play to the whole month of April, though. Each mission took at least an hour, though much of that was still learning the rules and flipping through the charts. After some play, I imagine it goes more quickly. My play has led to me wonder if the rear gunners on 2-seaters really were that dangerous. An average rear gunner (a firing rating of C) getting off a medium burst needs to roll only a 7 on two dice (i.e., the most common roll) to inflict a hit. And often the gunners get to fire twice (before and after the fight attacks). Also, I'm wondering how realistic it is to allow WWI planes to cruise along in the middle of thick clouds at 16,000 feet and make their way to their exact destination. I'm thinking of adding some optional rules that would force you to roll on a table if you are out of sight of the ground, with the result that you could randomly turn one hex to the left or right of your desired move, or else be forced to stay in the same hex trying to find your bearings. I'd love to hear from others who have some experience with the game, perhaps even some tips as to how you can actually end a day with positive VPS! Subject: Fw: Wings over France: final April 1 mission Paul Aceto wrote in message <8hl5m4$a7j$1@news.ihug.co.nz>... To anyone who's interested after reading my first post on the game Wings over France, I finally had a chance to finish out my April 1 missions and I'm feeling a little better about the game balance (and my game play). I flew a defensive line patrol with two veterans and the two greenhorns. All I have to do is visit 9 sites behind my lines (getting 2 victory points each visit), and since you start with a 12 point deficit you can get 6 easy big ones. But the kicker is that victory points for downed/damaged enemy planes are doubled! So we take off, climb to 16,000 ft and sure enough soon pounce on two so-so fighters (Alb D-3s I think). In a swirling fight, I manage to damage one of them, getting 6 quick points. After some more flying, I surprise another flight, this time an Albatros D-3 escorting a damaged Halberstadt D-2. We go round after round with plenty of missed shots until the fight is just about over and we've already dropped to 2,000 ft. Finally, my best pilot forces down the Halb for a kill. That's 40 points! But I've eaten up most of my fuel, so after visiting the 6th site, I turn for home and concede the 6 points for the last 3 unvisited sites. I decline a few more combats and land safe and sound at Amiens. So the mission total was 46 points, which when combined with my two earlier missions gives me a day's end result of +26 points. But my satisfaction turns sour when I roll for replacement of my dead and wounded pilots. My first roll gets me 2/Lt Brian Jones, whose 0/F/2 rating is as bad as it sounds and reflects the fact he has never flown a mission. So I'll make him the replacement for my wounded pilot due back in 3 days. My second roll is little better, netting me a 1/F/2 rookie. Low numbers (flying skill) and Fs (firing skill) are bad news. I also replace my destroyed Sopwith Pup with a Spad VII from the squadron's reserve (it was either that or a Nieuport 11). Oh well, I've got plenty of points to spare as it's off to April 2. Maybe this time, I'll get a mission to try out my 2-seaters!