The gaming club Associazione Ludica Apuana gathered 12 Wings of Glory players on July 1st at Massa, northern Tuscany, in a “Dogfight Day”. The participants came from different provinces in Tuscany and other regions, and the Wings of Glory distributor in Italy, Red Glove, was also present at the event. It was not an official tournament, but even so it yielded a qualification special card for the national Italian “BoardGameLeague” championship finals to the player Roberto Basilico.

Two scenarios were played during the event. In the first one, two fighter squadrons fight for the superiority of the skies above the borderlands, so that the bombers could attack strategic targets. The Central Powers faction was victorious in this clash. Each player had the control of one fighter whose pilot had casually received an ace ability, according to the new rules to be released soon and early displayed in the event, granted by the game’s author, Andrea Angiolino. Some players less lucky faced the adversaries as “rookies”, inexperienced for the air combat. Despite that, there were extraordinary bravery and ability proofs during the clash.

Players at the dogfight that opened the day.

With the new rules introduced and tried in first hand, like the altitude, the firing from above and the chance of try to turn out the fire aboard with special maneuvers, the clash resulted more engaging and it was defined only at the finish line.

In the afternoon, was played the second scenario. Three Gotha bombers escorted by Fokker DR.I e Albatros ought to bomb Allied sensitive targets and report to the base pictures that testified the effects. The targets were protected by a balloons barrier, cannons, anti-aircraft machine guns and 10 unyielding fighters. The mission was successfully performed by the Central Powers, although the lost of two bombers shot down by the enemy fighters, which were able to tail the big aircrafts and didn’t let them any chance of escape.

Three Gotha bombers in action in the second scenario played during the event.

Players tried the new bomber WW1 miniatures recently released and their specific rules, and found that is absolutely not easy to drive these giants of the skies, take them in the crowd of an air combat, coordinate the ground attack with the fighter escort (“where were those damn Fokkers when we needed them...”) and wait for the moment, the right instant, to drop the mortal load under the unceasing fire from the anti-aircraft ground positions and the enemy fighters behind their tails!

Tags: , ,