Ace of Aces - the miniature game

Hexes!? We don't need no stinkin' hexes!

https://boardgamegeek.com/image/517636/ace-aces-flying-machines

Over with the old club the other night, and had a great chance to get into some WWI flying ace action with the hosts miniatures adaption of his favorite WWI flying game, "Ace of Aces".  This was actually a flip-book *game* where the designers ingeniously hid the entire mechanics inside the book, and you picked a maneuver, turned to the page that corresponded to your opponent's maneuver, and a hand-dawn pic showed you what your situation was. An example of it is in the below image, from Wikipedia article [CLICK]


There is also a nice amount of info at Boardgame Geek [CLICK], including the market rate of the game in its various printings, etc. A really neat game, one of a rare breed, and I love the hand-drawn pics. May have to get it some day to play with my son while traveling by air, train, etc.

Anyway, the host's particular genius was to figure out the hex-based mechanics behind the flip-book maneuvers, then translate them onto the table. He took actual pics of the planes on tile hexes, marked the start/end positions with color, then printed them on cards, like the below:

Above, start position in yellow, end position in red.

By drawing the hex outlines on the table, we have the board, and the ways to maneuver [which is the main challenge]. Each turn, you pick a maneuver and put the card face-down on the table. When all have done so, the cards are flipped and the maneuvers are executed. Additional rules are quite simple, e.g. you can't shoot each other in the same hex.

Above, yet another near-miss. Beats being shot down, but I wish I had a pistol to take a shot as we fly by each other!


Above, brilliant maneuvering on my part has left my plane [left] once more in the sights of my opponent, "Death from Above" Matt. We started in the same hex, the one with the right card in it, and you can just tell how we moved out of the hex and our original facings by back-tracking the card.

Another too-often sight...our  planes jousting each other like the knights of the air we're supposed to be! We've just gunned each other a point-blank range for 2 hits each [planes have 6] and have revealed our cards:

...and below is the end result of the chosen maneuvers.


Another sight seen too often... we shot each other down. Sometimes it was the best I could do, however!


Game plays fast - the better you know you cards / maneuvers the faster it plays. Initially, we had a mutual shoot-down, then Matt crushed me three times quickly, then the 5th game I managed to win, and the 6th I crushed him. Overall, I'd still say it was more his game than mine, but I walked away with a bit of honor having learned a few of the key tactics I needed, and at least occasionally having the better second-guessing of his choice!

The game has no way to change your card once you've revealed them, and also doesn't use altitude. This does remove a couple of "reality" issues like pilot reflexes and the height advantage, but with 8 people playing you can only do so much in a 2-3 hour evening.

While Matt and I jousted, the other six were in an ugly scrum that was hard to follow, despite being just down the table.

Above, the Huns chase Limeys...
Below, jousting in pairs.


A wild mix of planes, I think there were a dozen, two per player. Sometimes it pays to get out of close proximity and get a little breathing space before charging again.


This could result in lots of damage, or lots of near-misses!


A fun time and a thoughtful game. Host likes the maneuvers and says that are quite historical despite the hex-mechanics. I am uncertain how much difference there is between planes, but Matt and I kept it simple by having identical performance and picking planes we like. So, not a beer'n pretzel game by being simplistic, but an easy fun time thanks to the simple mechanics and effort put into making them easy to work with...I wish more games and hosts did this!

Certainly has me thinking I should try Ace of Aces in its original form.