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Battle of Britain is the new starter set for Ares Games’ WW2 Wings of Glory: an all-in-a-box opportunity for new players to approach this classic air combat game in the WW2 period.
Under the Battle of Britain`s lid, players will find four iconic fighters - two Spitfires and two Messerschmitt Bf-109E- each beautifully sculpted in 1-200 scale and painted in every detail; all the cards, rulers, markers, tokens, and other materials to fly them across your tabletop; a rich rulebook ranging from introductory to advanced and optional rules, plus all the specific rules needed to add the two-seaters and the multi-engine bombers available in the range; and a booklet with seven scenarios giving a varied choice of game situations, all set during 1940 in the skies of England.
Separate Squadron Packs are also releasing, with the most famed planes from the Battle of Britain - not only Spitfire and Bf-109E, but the feared Stuka dive bomber and the glorious Hurricane fighter. The new feature of these Squadron Packs is a sheet of alternative decals with individual codes and insignia: buying several copies of the same pack, players can then field a whole squadron.
The Battle of Britain set is also compatible with all the miniatures released up to now for the WW2 series, from the biplanes of the early war to huge bombers such as B-17 Flying Fortress and Avro Lancaster. 24 different WW2 planes have been released thus far, all available in a range of different variants and color schemes, and more will follow.
For newcomers to the game, Wings of Glory is designed to simulate air combat during WW1 (the colorful biplanes of 1915-1918 already form a range of 32 plane models) and WW2 in the most streamlined way without giving up accuracy. Every plane in the game reflects the features of its historical counterpart. Yet the game can be quickly learned in just two-minutes; kids and casual players of all ages can play without difficulties.
Every plane has a deck of maneuver cards with arrows on them; they are chosen in secret and then put in front of the miniature, then moved on top of the arrowhead. I call it "hidden complexity". You don’t need charts, tables, points, or specific rules to handle differences in plane speed and maneuverability, special maneuvers, and pilot tricks - it's all in the shapes and lengths of the available arrows on the cards. All the same, combat is easily resolved by drawing damage chits for planes in range: They determine if the plane is hit or not, the amount of the damage and special occurrences depending on the weapons used. More experienced players have the option of playing with a wide range of additional rules to deal with every detail of air war - from aim and tailings, to fuel, take offs, and landings. Wings of Glory is a fast-paced game, with no downtime and easily scaled: the largest game session ever was a 100-players match in Florence on a huge table along the Arno river, and was played in just one hour!
Since its first release, Wings of Glory has been very successful, both the WW1 and WW2 versions, and I’m proud of the number of devoted fans and communities who make this game richer and more lively, sharing house rules and homemade scenarios. The largest group, “Wings of Glory Aerodrome” (www.wingsofwar.org), counts more than 4600 members. The players’ community is always in action to meet and play, promoting events and game sessions in massive gaming fairs and small conventions all over the world, and even online through Skype, to engage all types of players in the game. Thanks to its loving supporters, the game continues to spread and gain new players every day. For them, I am sure the new starter set Battle of Britain will be a great way to start to fly high with Ares Games’ WW2 Wings of Glory.
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