At dinner
this evening, G asked if we could play a game of Wings of War. After
cleaning the table, we pulled out the planes, and she and her little
sisters consulted on what aircraft to use. We decided to up the ante
a bit by letting both players control two planes. My three year-old
randomly chose a couple of planes for me, which both ended up being
two-seaters. Gabbi quickly chose a pair of of Rolands, the plane
she's enjoyed flying with the most.
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| The German High Command |
As the game starts, the
pilot of my British De Havilland, showing a crew from the American
Expeditionary Forces the landscape, spots a German patrol on the
horizon. He breaks left, hoping to start a flanking maneuver on the
approaching aircraft.
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| My Squad for The Evening |
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| Enemy in Sight! |
 |
| Break left! I'll head them off! |
The four combatants end turn one
finding themselves just out of range.
 |
| So close... |
About this time, a crazed French pilot
buzzed the area. Leaving both the Germans and the Allies a bit
puzzled, she skipped wild-eyed off into the clouds without even a tip
of her wings.
 |
| Uh? Let's just not mention this to Command. |
Getting into turn two, things start to
heat up as the forces divide into one-on-one dogfights and start
trading shots.
The contest on the right comes into
very close contact, bullets ripping through canvas and wood as the pilots and
gunners are close enough to toss insults at each other.
My opponent seems very happy with her
position at the end of turn two. I was less happy, as even though I
had ripped her plane to shreds with all the close combat, her only
damaging shot got my pilot, sending my American plane spiraling to
the ground.
 |
| She's enjoying this far too much. |
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| One pilot down. |
 |
| Bummer. Perfectly good plane. Dead pilot. |
To avenge the newer crew's deaths, my
British pilot swung around, prepared to take out an obviously damaged
Roland (both her rudders were out). He quickly lined up his sites,
pulled the trigger and … JAMMED! The Roland's wing man, with the
more agile plane, turned to line up a kill shot.
 |
| Jammed! |
Another incredibly close round of
combat saw another pilot fall, this time on the German side. Gab was
left with a crippled plane. I didn't tell her, but I was down to my
last few damage points myself. I slowly swung around, hoping that
she would get ahead enough to land in my forward sites.
 |
| This isn't going to end well... |
 |
| German down! |
 |
| Coming around... |
 |
| Coming around... |
 |
| Almost lined up... |
The next turn found us flying side by
side, matching speeds on each phase. The Roland was just
barely out of my reach, as she was behind my forward gun, but just
ahead of my tail gun. The tail gunner of the Roland could have
gotten me, but as luck would have it, her gun jammed, saving me
for another turn.
 |
| Frustratingly close... |
 |
| Even closer... |
The final turn saw the end for both
planes. I managed to pull ahead just enough to site her with my tail
gunner, ripping into her plane, causing her to burst into flame. My
opponent, however, cleared her jammed gun, sending lead through the
last remnants of my fuselage. As I plummeted to the ground, my only
solace was that her crew would soon need to bail out of their totaled
aircraft, and that they would need to do it over my friendly lines.
So while the Allies may have lost a couple of aircraft, they may have
gained a couple of prisoners in the end.
 |
| Got her! Oh wait, I'm going down... |
Games thus
far:
Daughter: 5
Daddy: 0
