Whos had or still has a good ‘plane orientated (or oriented, for our American friends) game? My favourite is Battle of Britain, made by HP Gibson in the Seventies. A good old board game of Brits vs Jerries, it has a complicated ‘kill/be killed/nothing happens’ scenario depending on what you attack with what (the board starts off full of pieces on each side, photo is for general illustration only).I tweak the rules so the ‘Flight of Fighters 10’ doesn’t wax everything in sight, and instead gets killed by ‘Anti-aircraft 3’. Some of you will remember ‘Dover Patrol’ and ‘Tri-Tactics’ – gameplay is along similar lines. Dover Patrol – I loved it when one of my mines wrecked my Dads submarine.
I play BofB with my son now, a good way of him learning the types and hence continuing with my ‘Retired Dad/son go to vintage airshows’ masterplan when I’m retired. And yes, those are stills from the fim which you can see.
By: Super Guppy - 7th December 2004 at 13:02
I have an earlier version of the ‘Battle Of Britain’ game , called ‘Aviation’. The pieces are similar , but are the same for both sides , and have generic names like ‘Single-seat fighter’ or ‘Bomber’ rather than being specific types.
The board is also different , as it just consists of featureless blue squares apart from two squares for each player representing their ‘aerodrome’. You could win the game by landing one of your troop-carriers on your opponent’s aerodrome. It always amused me that an ‘Airship’ was valued at 5 , and could therefore ‘shoot down’ single fighters and bombers !
By: PeeBee - 7th December 2004 at 07:48
Whilst not aviation, I think still appropriate – three of us at work have just bought ‘Escape from Colditz’ off E-bay, almost mint condition. We purchased it to play whilst we are in over christmas – just like being at school on the last day!!
By: J Boyle - 7th December 2004 at 03:03
Several “wargame” titles and something very different.
Back in the 70s I saw several wargame titles having to do with aviation, including WWI “Red Baron” games and the 8th AF vs Luftwaffe.
As far as childrens games go, a UK company produced a “Whirlybirds” board game based on the late 1950s American television series. It features boxart of the Bell 47. I’ve never seen a game in person, just on eBay. Wouldn’t mind having one if someone has one stashed away in mum’s house. 🙂
By: station357 - 6th December 2004 at 23:17
There was the “Battle of Britain Wargame” inside Flypast’s B of B 50th anniversary issue.
Does anyone remember it? Or had a go at playing it?
I didn’t. It’s still stapled to the centre of the magazine. 😀
Regards,
Paul
By: SOC - 6th December 2004 at 21:11
I played a bunch of Tom Clancy’s games during my formative years. Red Storm Rising and Hunt For Red October were good fun but could take days, especially when you played both at the same time! There was also this game called Fortress America which was definitely amusing to play, given the massive amount of units you had to move around.
I also remember this game called Air War. It came in an orangish box, and was supremely complicated.
Also, Torpedo Run was good fun. Nothing like being able to set up a huge board and fire torpedo discs at ships and watch them blow up 😀
And yes, I have participated in an obligatory Axis & Allies war or two 😎
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December 6, 2004 at 8:19 pm