Wings of War and Canvas Eagles (was The "Other Games")

[Harrier]

Wings of War, both WWI and WWII versions, are a lot of fun. There are more accurate and realistic aerial combat games, but with the card mechanics it plays very quickly which is nice.

[Grindoctor]

That was was I liked about Crimson Skies Clix, fast and fun! Does the different planes in Wings of War have different manoeuvre cards (somewhat like the manoeure chart in Blue Max) or can all planes perform any trick (maybe with different modifiers) as with Crimson Skies?

[Harrier]

They have different maneuver decks, which are lettered A, B, C...  Damage is randomized with damage decks, which give damage points plus other things like engine and rudder damage. How many cards and which deck depends on which plane and range (long (1 card) or short (2 cards)).

If you want to check out the rules, you can get them here.

Also, I think this link will show a picture of components from the Burning Drachens set.

[Grindoctor]

Sound a little like taking Blue Max and CS Clix and making something fun out of it. Thanks for the links, I will check them out 

[Grindoctor]

Wow, Wings of War looks cool! And the minis are really nice, too! Do you play with minis, and if so, are they as nice as they look on the pictures? About $12 per plane is a steep price, however. Unfortunately, a series of birthdays burned a big hole into my purse  Guess I have to wait for another month 

[Harrier]

The planes really are nice, though most of the time I just use the cards. $12 may be a little steep, but remember they're already painted (quite nicely), and they come with the appropriate maneuver deck as well.  Since it sounds like you want to jump in when you can, If you're interested in WWI I'd advise getting Burning Drachens, which is the latest WWI base set, and a couple squadron packs which have additional maneuver decks as well.  If you're more into WWII, you should start with Dawn of War (a.k.a. Dawn of World War II).

[Grindoctor]

Definitely WW1! Not that I'm not interested in WW2 (I love those planes actually; a Mosquito and a Spitfire were at the local air show last year. Hmmm, what a sound!), but there is some thing about those canvas eagles....
And thanks for the advice, I was actually wondering which of the base sets would be the one to go for.
As for the minis: If they are nicely done, the price tag is tolerable (and for us in Skandinavia the rate of exchange for the Dollar is quite favorable at the moment, anyway). Now, I just have to convince my aviation-crazy gaming buddy to come along (not that this is a problem, really )

[Grindoctor]

As mentioned in the El Brujo thread; I got some ww1 aircrafts. I purchased eight 1:144 modells from Skytrex (Fokker Dr1 og VII, Siemens-Schuckert DIII, Sopwith Camel, S.E.5a, Nieuport17, Albatross III, Spad VII). Really nice, guess I must order another batch  . I made bases which are usable for WoW and Canvas Eagles. First flight will be next thursday. One-on-one, probably Nieuport 17 vs Albatross III or Fokker Dr1 vs Sopwith Camel or S.E.5a.

[Harrier]

The Skytrex's are definitely well thought of. People talk about them all the time on the WoW Yahoo group. You should take some pictures when you're gaming and post 'em up!

[Grindoctor]

I certainly will 
The Skytrex minis are really nice, but you have to be prepared for some "cleaning", and the assembly is a little bit fiddley. Nothing serious, but it takes about 1 hour to build one plane (no plug and play here).

[Grindoctor]

I had a canvas eagle test game yesterday (just a couple of rounds with my not too entusiastic wife)

The Fokker is closing in on the Sopwith Camel:


A S.E.5a:


An Albatross:

[Grindoctor]

Nieuport 17:


Siemens Schuckert DIII: Unfortunately, the Lonzenge camouflage does not show that good in the picture, but I am quite pleased with the result.


The Hex-stands have the same side-to-side width as the WoW-card length, which makes them compatible. But as I use changable brass tubes of different length to indicate altitude (you can see the dark blue markings on most pictures; 2cm per altitude level), everything is interchangable, so I decided to make WoW stands which contain all info needed for each aircraft. That way we can play either game 

Btw, I do not owe a hex-grid gaming map, so Canvas Eagle movement is done the same way as in Crimson Skies Clix, by using hex markers.

[Harrier]

Great work on those minis, Doc!  I like my WoW, but I think I may have to finally check out the Canvas Eagle rules. I've heard a lot of good about them.

[Grindoctor]

Thank you very much, Mr Potter  It is really fun to get these minis ready for gaming! They say men think about sex most of the day ..., I was thinking about the best way to base the minis most of the last week..... AAARGH  I REALLY AM A NERD!!!

...but there is no help for that, and my wife was warned before marrying me, so I really look forward to test WoW. Although CE is not a complex game, WoW seems to better suit the occasional and spontanious game. And I love the idea of using cards for manoeuvres since Crimson Skies Clix, it speeds up things!

CE requires more "book keeping", and combat certainly is much more complex than in WoW: Calculate combat value, roll on table draw damage counters and record damage, although it works out quite fast, when you get used to it. One thing I like very much with CE, is the campaign system (here the role-player comes through    )

Btw, the CE stuff can be downloaded here (its all free!), but you know that already, I guess 
http://www.eaglesmax.com/
 
 

[Grindoctor]

Here are some pictures from our game session yesterday. We did not play Canvas Eagles neither WoW, really, but our own WoW modification seasoned with some Crimson Skies Clix and Canvas Eagles. The main difference: You plan the maneuver for your next turn before playing out the current turn, thus maneuver planning is more continuous. Performing a prohibited maneuver results in loosing controll (using a self-made Spin card with random heading result; dice roll for regaining control). And damage is determined by dice instead of cards, comparable to Crimson Skies Clix.

Set up for a duell between a Nieuport and a Albatross (we played a duell between a Sopwith Camel and a Fokker Dr 1 before that but forgot to take pictures in our excitment  )


Head-on is not a good idea if the opponent has two guns and you have just one (the Nieuport got a critical hit - Smoke)


My version of an aircraft game board, we did not use pilot cards as there were only 2 planes on the board anyway. The numbers on the top of the board is the damage track. As you can see, in our version , there are only to planned maneuvers instead of three. The maneuver decks are appropriately reduced.

[Harrier]

Looks good. The WWII version of WoW also uses the 2-maneuver plan system. It certainly adds more realism to affairs. Your homemade stuff looks really nice. I need to get some more gaming on! I haven't been playing much lately.

[Grindoctor]

Yes, time is precious We planned to play a whole night on thursday, but instead we had to be content with 2 hours on saturday. It was fun though 
And thanks, I made the maneuver cards from the pdfs on the WoWnexus. The idea with 2 maneuvers was also posted there. The game boards (background from the Over Flanders field site and paint.NET manipulated) were just printed out and glued to cardboard. I cut them out too hastily, so I have to make some more
The smoke marker is a mini hair clip (my daughter was not too pleased; guess, I have to buy some new clips) with a wire attached which is wrapped in cotton and painted. I hope I can play soon again. Now I got keen on making a nicer play map (the one we used is my Western mini mat).

[Harrier]

Thought I'd pop back in here. The barrage balloon sets (two of 'em) for WWI came out a few weeks ago. They are dang pretty cool. Here's a pic of one with accompanying plane.  There're a little pricey, but look great on the table top.  Each set comes with the balloon, a Nieuport 16 (with the rockets), maneuver and damage decks, counters, and various national decals.

[Grindoctor]

Wow  , really nice!! Don't tell me you got them already on your gaming board!
Guess, I have to wait a little. Aynway, I have not played since the last time I posted the pics here, so there are still many mission variants unplayed, even without balloon. Especially, since I bought 2-seaters as well!

[Harrier]

I have them, but I haven't played with them yet.  I have a problem with being a bit of a completist, so I had to pick them up right away.  I'm hoping to get some playing in next week. If I do, I'll try to remember to take some pics. My brother and I like to play the same scenario twice, switching sides to see how we do. That's something that's easier to do with something like WoW, as opposed to BattleTech which generally takes too long for that to be feasible.

Playing with 2-seaters is definitely more challenging if you're trying to take them down, but that's what's fun. I can't wait until later in the year when we get the big bombers.  Then I can re-enact the fights from the movie, "Hell's Angels."

[Grindoctor]

I have a problem with being a bit of a completist, so I had to pick them up right away.

Oh,..... didn't know that this is a problem now 

Would be fun with some pics of your games!

We have a dogfight - or two - tonight actually! Finally!

[Grindoctor]

We just finished a loooong dogfight. A Fokker Dr.1 - Sopwith Camel One on One, which actually was meant as a warm-up, stretched out over almost 3 hours as we stalked each other. Ok, we were talking quite much, too, had a Whiskey-and-Smoke break (much alike a Victorian "The gentlemen retire to the salon!" but without tuxedos or libraries, sorry Harrier  ) and weren't pushing too much. The game ended after a long dance with slowly accumulating damage, when both planes fired head to head resulting in a double kill!!! We had much fun, so next thursday we shall meet again!
 

[Harrier]

That's an hilarious game.  That's the kind that would make me consider using the limited ammunition rule

[Grindoctor]

That wouldn't help too much as we were determined to use the "maneuverabilty" of these aircrafts and our "superiour" piloting skills  to out-maneuver each other. The plan backfired as there were just too few shooting opportunities.... but quite many laughs! Especially when we flew a braid pattern (Isn't it called "thach weave" when done by friendly aircrafts?) again and again (a merry-go-round melody would have been the suitable background music).
Maybe we should rather consider fuel limit rules 

[Harrier]

...Maybe we should rather consider fuel limit rules 

Funny you should say that, I really mean to add "and fuel" after ammunition. Don't know what happened there