Wings of War: WW2 Deluxe

Wings of War is an aerial combat simulation between planes of the Allied and Axis air forces of World War II (WWII). Wings of War: WW2 Deluxe bundles four painted airplane miniatures (minis) -- the Supermarine Spitfire Mk.I, the Grumman FM-1 Wildcat, the Messerschmitt Bf 109 E-3, and the Mitsubishi A6M2 -- with the base game, to reenact WWII dog fights with style. Each mini has a set of maneuver cards that are played secretly and simultaneously. You attempt to make unpredictable moves that put your fighter on the tail of an enemy fighter to get easy shots without retaliation. When fired upon, that plane draws blindly from a bag of damage tokens; when the accumulated damage points exceed the hit points of the plane, it explodes. Each plane has a different combination of fire power and maneuverability. For instance, the Mitsubishi A6M2 (Zero) has less firepower than a Grumman Wildcat, but is more maneuverable.

Wings of War is flexible in play style. If you want to play a short, action-filled game, you can play with the basic rules. If you want a more realistic aerial combat simulation, you can pick and choose what optional rules to use like fuel, altitude, ace pilot skill, and more. Wings of War does not use historically accurate specs for the planes; rather the planes are balanced for fun gameplay. However there are other planes that are sold separately, such as bombers, which create more asymmetry. Most minis are sold in singles for around $10 by online retailers. You can also buy the basic game, not the deluxe, for half price, and play with cards rather than minis if you are on a budget.

SteamBirds, a Flash game, was inspired by Wings of War. The co-designer Daniel Cook says "Andy [Moore] played Wings of War ... doodled up a simple prototype ..." SteamBirds plays like the basic rules game of Wings of War.

Go ahead, give yourself an excuse to play with toys, get a copy of Wings of War: WW2 Deluxe. I recommend that each player use two planes each to ensure constant action; hence I ordered four more planes for four-player, eight-plane dogfights.