"Wings of War - where to start and where to buy (UK)" Topic

I played my first game of wings of War at my local club last week and really enjoyed it. I've seen there are a couple of start sets, and one deluxe set (only in German though) that comes with 4 planes. What is the best set to get asa beginner, and then what planes to go for (model wise), and finally, where to go for the best price! :-)

thanks

Scott

If you're going with the miniatures, then either get the Burning Drachens box, or the Deluxe set if you can get a copy (it pops up occasionally in Blighty when stores have gone out of their way to import it – it's been released in French, German and a couple of other languages, but the UK/US distributor rather annoyingly decided against it.) The box sets are decidedly expensive for what you get – of the three, BurningDrachens is definitely the most useful and best value though. If you get the deluxe miniatures starter you can manage without any of the boxed sets – you just need an English rules set, which you can download free as a PDF from the Nexus website if memory serves. As for planes, pick what you like, and a suitable opponent – obvious match-ups are Snipe vs D.VII, Camel vs Dr.I and SPAD XIII vs D.V – these are all reasonably well-balanced pairings. Nieuport vs D.III is a fair match too, but definitely hard work for the Nieuport. As for where to get your planes, predictably I'd have to recommend domsdecals.com although I don't carry the box sets.

Dom.

Dom Skelton has all the planes so you could check his page.

The Deluxe set has the instructions for playing with miniatures but I think they can also be downloaded from the web. If it's not in english then you'll need the basic set to start playing and some planes.

IMHO, apart from the basic/deluxe set and the planes the burning Drachens expansion is the only expansion worth as the other sets just include new card planes.

Having the mat or mats is also nice and recomended.

You can download the rules from
wingsofwar.it
lots aircraft and Rules on sale at Warfare IN Reading
staffordgames.co.uk stocks them

The planes and almost all of the starter sets are available from FirestormGames in Cardiff they run a online stre as well here is the address.

firestormgames.co.uk

He has them in the shop drop him an email as i cant see them on the online shop at the second (I know they are in stock as I was in the shop yesterday)

Tom Hopkins

If you're in London, Orc's Nest have a reasonable stock.

Thanks all, sounds that perhaps the burning Drachens set is the one to get, then buy some minis at a later date/for Christmas. Also very tempted by the WW2 set.
Dom, thanks for the help. Once I get going with this, I'll be sure to check you out for the planes :-)

oh, and for me there are no obvious match ups – I know nothing about the period (nor particularly want to) – I just had fun with the game and would probably play it the same way I did last week – everyone gets a plane, comes back on when they've died, just keep track of kills or something :-)

I am hoping to have the WW1 and WW2 Deluxe Sets in this week, they are very difficult to get hold of!

They both sell for £45.00 GBP and include four planes, all the counters, both A and B Damage decks and we even throw in an English set of rules!

Roland
staffordgames.co.uk

Roland – could you drop me a line when you get them in? – I'd go for a ww1 deluxe set to start with – especially if you chuck in the English rules! I'll get WW2 further down the line :-)
email

scottmiddleton_uk AT yahoo DOT com

thanks

Scott

Will do.

Regards,
Roland

If you can't get the Deluxe box set, you will need to pick up either Famous Aces or Watch Your Back! to get a damage deck, the various counters and a range stick. Of the two, Watch Your Back! is probably more useful, as you get an A and B damage deck included.

The planes from Miniatures Set 1 are all from Famous Aces, and I think all the plaes from Set 2 are from Watch Your Back! Not sure about the planes from Set 3.

Disagreed entirely I'm afraid. If you're using miniatures, rather than just playing it as a card game, Famous Aces in particular is totally unnecessary. All three boxed sets have counters, range sticks and one or more damage decks. Famous Aces has the "A" deck (for twin-gun aircraft) but this is also in Burning Drachens, with a lot more besides (balloons, AA rules etc.) The only downside to Burning Drachens is that it only has 2 manoeuvre decks, versus 4 in the other boxes, but if you're using miniatures they all come with the right deck in their box anyway, so it's only an issue if you just play with the cards.

Watch your Back has the "B" deck, which isn't in anything else except the miniatures deluxe set, but otherwise doesn't have anything which a miniatures gamer will need – the miniatures all come with the relevant manoeuvre deck, so WYB is decidedly expensive for what's useful in it. (To be honest I just use an A deck at the moment – there are very few miniatures that need the B deck, so on the odd occasion one's called for I just draw an "A" card and half the damage number, rounding odd numbers up.)

Dom.

Famous Aces has the "A" deck (for twin-gun aircraft) but this is also in Burning Drachens, with a lot more besides (balloons, AA rules etc.)

Ah, my mistake – I thought Burning Drachens only had the C and D decks.

Still, multiple damage decks can be handy – the rules suggest one deck per 4 planes usig it, and the last few games I've played have had 8 planes.