Wings of Glory WWI Dining Room Table Combat

As a birthday treat for me, my daughters (ages 10 and 11) told me they would play me a game of Wings of Glory WWI.  Last night they made good on the promise, and they also roped my wife into it (she didn’t protest and was a good sport, although I know she has no interest in the game and would have preferred to rest after her long day at work.)  So I dragged my big sheet of green-painted MDF out of the garage, got out the game, and explained the basics of the rules.

I let everyone choose whichever planes they liked, which meant we had an unusual combination of planes.  Somehow, a British Airco D. H. 4 two-seater teamed up with a German Albatros D. Va versus another Albatros D. Va and a Fokker Dr. I (The Red Baron!).  I had the Fokker and was teamed with my younger daughter; my older daughter had the D. H. 4, with my wife on the other Albatros.

We played a simple dogfight using basic rules and only a few types of special damage (smoke, fire, wounded crew, and the boom card.)

We started on opposite sides of the table and closed…

Planes were wheeling about in battle.  My Fokker came under fire from all angles, but I had tremendous luck with my damage card draws: 0…0…0…2…0…

I was dishing out some damage to both enemy aircraft, and the D. H. 4 was smoking.  Finally though, my luck dried out.  Here is my succession of damage cards:

My Fokker Dr. I, crashed:

My younger daughter played through another turn, but then announced she was done.  She gave her Albatros to me to take over. 

My older daughter was eager to continue

…But after a couple of turns of tight circling, in which I did a pretty good job of staying out of the D. H. 4’s large firing arcs, I was shot down again, leaving the oddball German/British coalition victorious (but both with heavy damage).

Both of my daughters had been resistant to my suggestions to try the game over the past year, but I think they both had fun last night.  They might even be willing to try again.  If we do, I will set up a simple mission (photo reconnaissance or balloon busting) so that they have a storyline and a goal.