A Pilot is Born!

Last evening I introduced my 10 year-old daughter to Wings of War (nowadays called Wings of Glory, and produced by Ares Games). We started off with a simple dogfight, using just the airplane cards. After three victories on her part, we called it a night and promised to play again in the morning.

So, this morning, we added in the miniatures and elevation rules. As I pulled miniature after miniature out of the storage box, her eyes and smile got brighter and brighter. “You have no idea how cool this is!” she said.

Yeah. I do, actually!

Like a Kid in an Airplane Store

As I suspected, she chose one of the colorful German planes. A Roland C.II. In an effort not to be outgunned, I also chose a dual weapon plane, a British De Havilland DH4.

As the game started, my pilot spotted the enemy flying out of the sun of the picture window, directly in our 12 o'clock. Gunning the engine, I climbed a level, but took it easy, trying to determine where my prey would move. At the end of turn one, the opponents were out of range, but heading to lock into combat.

As the Roland passed, I swung around in an attempt to get behind her, but she was still just a bit out of range for my guns.

Turn three brought her in range of my forward gun, which sent bullets flying into the Roland's side.

Turn four saw us both circling. Unfortunately the De Havilland isn't as nimble at turning as the Roland, and I ended up with both German guns ripping into the side of my plane. Unknown to my opponent, as we were keeping damage a secret, I took engine damage and lost left rudder control. My plane also caught fire, which was easily seen at such close range.

Going into turn five, my youthful opponent put a quick end to the game, hitting me with her front gun, killing my pilot on impact. Another victory for the German Empire!

Daughter: 4

Daddy: 0

She didn't even take any damage.