AAR: Wings of Glory WW2 and a Kind of Review.

     It was a kind of surprising phone call to say the least. My wargaming friend, Danny called me up to tell me some good news. He bought the new Wings of Glory Box Set: Battle of Britain. This was a little bit of a surprise, because he had told me that he only had interest in WWI for dog fighting games. After all, the WWI era of aerial combat was the golden age for planes. That is until WWII when all of the pilots then surpassed the fighting abilities of their past war heroes. While listening to the whole WWI only statements, I was waiting until the bug bit! WWII Wings of Glory was around the corner for us to play whether Danny knew it or not. And it did not help that he got it for a good deal around $25.00 when it just came out and costs more of $70. Here is the product in the picture below.

     Just like it is shown on the box, it comes with the four planes, two British Submarine Spitfires and two German Messerschmitt Bf 109's. Also, it comes with the new rules, chips and counters, a map, fire sticks, and all of the lovelies that can get you started. For the both of us still learning about the WWI Wings of Glory, the new Wings of Glory was a little different. For one thing, there were no cards to determine hits. They were punched out cardboard pieces that you put into a bag or cup. I am not sure if the previous WWII version did so, but it was a little bit different. For our game, we place the chips in different solid cups with their designated letter. This worked out great until you tried drinking the chips! Maybe, this was not as thought out.
    Also, the difference going from three maneuver cards of WWI to only two was a change. Plus, the difference speed choices. The point of playing it in a simple form other than playing was to get a feel for the combat. The first shot I fired at a British Spitefire resulted in an instant explosion. And Danny pulled it from the cup! That seemed a little harsh for the first incident. After that, both Danny and I made it a point to compare the different letter cups and their deadliness. The British had all shots for the letter B cup. One B shot for long range, and two for short. The Germans had one shot from the C cup of hits at long range, but two of C and one of A at short: three hit markers on your foe! Of course, if you are using the special rules on your pilots, both sides are fairly balanced.
    We played two full games. I won both of them with my wiles of my German fighters. Danny shot one down. We found that the game was fairly simple. Only one rule was a little confusing, but we worked it out. We threw in some clouds in the second game just to make it interesting. The mats used were not Wings of Glory ones. Danny did not bring his over, so we pulled out my Angel's 20 ones just in case some one reading this thinks they got the wrong stuff in their box set. Either way, we will test a play out more games, I am sure. Here were some of the game shots. Enjoy!