Any good wargames with WW2 era aerial battles?

OgreBattle · Post by **OgreBattle** » Fri Jun 20, 2014 10:38 pm

I've been really interested in reading about dogfights and such from WW2, but most WW2 tabletop games I've heard of are focused on land battles.

I see WWII aerial battles as one of the last instances of 'dueling' in war where individual skill could really shine.

deaddmwalking · Post by **deaddmwalking** » Sat Jun 21, 2014 1:11 am

I've never played it, but Crimson Skies has been recommended to me in the past. It's described as a board game, but maybe this would work for you?

http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/3855/crimson-skies

Edit - I think I misunderstood which war you were asking about. I'm sure it could be converted, but maybe there is a better option.

angelfromanotherpin · Post by **angelfromanotherpin** » Sat Jun 21, 2014 1:29 am

http://boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/69436 ... fare-games

TheFlatline · Post by **TheFlatline** » Sat Jun 21, 2014 4:14 am

Wings of Glory WW2:

http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/1071 ... tarter-set

If you can find WW2 Wings of War that's an option too, but that's out of print now.

TheNotoriousAMP · Post by **TheNotoriousAMP** » Mon Jun 23, 2014 3:19 pm

OgreBattle wrote:I've been really interested in reading about dogfights and such from WW2, but most WW2 tabletop games I've heard of are focused on land battles.

I see WWII aerial battles as one of the last instances of 'dueling' in war where individual skill could really shine.

There are a few boardgames which replicate aerial combat, but its really a genre that's best suited for computer games.

As for the reality of dogfighting, the real stuff was uglier than its namesake. Jim Dunnigan, who basically wrote the layman's guidebook to modern warfare (How to Make War) estimates that about 75% of aerial kills in both WW2 occurred without the downed pilot even knowing he was spotted. Most of the rest can be attributed to ground fire. It was mostly a matter of ambush, surprise and fatigue, not twisty turny time. And even when it was time for twisty turny time, enemy aces rarely clashed. The basic rule is 10% of your fighting men (on the ground, in the air, ect) will cause 50% of all casualties. So most of air combat was hoi polloi emptying their ammunition in the air, out of an unwillingness to take a life or just to try and intimidate people, while a small minority of men knocked them out of the air.

A great example of aerial combat in WW2 is the battle of midway, which mostly consisted of waves of ambushes, as Japanese fighters got the drop on the torpedo squadrons, killing all but 3 out of the 60 original men, and then American bombers came out of the clouds and hit the carriers, while the fighters were to low to climb up and catch them.

Hadanelith · Post by **Hadanelith** » Mon Jun 23, 2014 5:36 pm

http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/1216 ... -angels-20

Reasonably simple, fairly quick to play. Down side is that you need a bunch of expensive minis. Still fairly fun to play.

shadzar · Post by **shadzar** » Mon Jun 23, 2014 5:58 pm

no game outside of a video game can doe aerial battles right. Babylon 5 game wasnt half bad, but any tabletop game will lack the 3rd dimension required for it. you cant play flying on a 2d surface.

TheFlatline · Post by **TheFlatline** » Tue Jun 24, 2014 3:14 am

shadzar wrote:no game outside of a video game can doe aerial battles right. Babylon 5 game wasnt half bad, but any tabletop game will lack the 3rd dimension required for it. you cant play flying on a 2d surface.

Except Wings of Glory and a bunch of other games totally do altitude.

The Gaming Den

Any good wargames with WW2 era aerial battles?

Any good wargames with WW2 era aerial battles?

Re: Any good wargames with WW2 era aerial battles?