Review: Wings of War: Famous Aces

Wings of War: Famous Aces

Players: 2 – 4

Publisher: Nexus

Year: 2004

Many among us have dreamed of being a pilot when we were younger. Soaring through the skies like a bird. Thanks to Wings of War: Famous Aces, that fantasy can be acted out. In this game you are placed in the cockpit of a bi-/triplane during the First World War and need to gun down the opposing player. 

Wings of War is a rather simple game. Players pick a plane, as depicted on a card, and control these for the duration of the battle or the mission. From their deck of movements, three cards are chosen,  placed in a row face down and then acted out one at a time. The card, featuring a line and an arrow, is connected to the plane card and then the plane card is placed accordingly. At the end of every move, you check if the planes are in range of firing and draw damage if necessary. This damage can range from nothing happening, to your plane exploding or catching fire. Because the movements are played face-down, you are not sure where your opponent is going and thanks to the nimbleness of the planes, you can’t always be sure where they will be. Because movement is simultaneous, there is little downtime.

An example of movement.

This base set features everything to get started with four players, and the neat part is that the four different movement decks are all tweaked toward certain types of planes. The German Albatross Dva behaves differently than the Sopwith Camel. While both have different characteristics, the later warplanes are usually more agile than the planes at the beginning of the First World War. Set up is rather simple and any flat surface can be used for this game. The light background and the darker flightpaths make it easy to place the planes. If dogfighting isn’t your cup of tea, you can move on to the various missions. 

What I personally think is a neat feature is the many different starting planes included in this box. There aren’t just British vs. German planes, but also American, Belgian, Italian, French planes. Even a few captured planes! Names of the pilots and their squadrons are included as well, for those that wish to look up more about them. A little extra touch, but it really makes the theme shine.

Examples of planes.

A few downsides are that the cards can be bumped or shifted throughout the game. Especially during the movement phase, where you are flying your plane throughout the sky, this will happen. A few millimeters at most, but still something to keep in mind.

Overall, I’m positively surprised by this game and would recommend it to anyone. The theme really stands out and since it’s so easy and quick to explain, it’s a great way of getting new people involved. The variety of planes and missions provide enough replay-ability to make this game a keeper.