Wings of War vs. Wings of Glory
:salute: G'day Fellow Pilots!
Keith has asked me to give a summary of the differences &/or changes introduced by the relaunch of Wings of Glory compaired to Wings of War slanted mostly towards the newer players who may not be aware of the development of the Game from its inception.
Introduction:
You must remember that when Wings of War was introduced with Famous Aces it was a Card based game with no minatures.
As the game progressed there were new rules written to cover the 2 seater Aircraft that were introduced in the Watch Your Back box then further new rules came with the Burning Drachens box which introduced Balloon Busting.
The Rules set now had the additional option of playing with Altitude which became possable with the introduction of the minatures with Flight Stands & pegs.
Next came the Flight of the Giants box which introduced additional rules for Large Bombers.
About this time Nexus who were the suppliers went into liquidation & the supply of models dried up before any of the Bomber models became available. There had been 4 series of Scouts & 2 Seaters introduced over a period of time but trying to find supplies became a real headache.
One thing to remember is that as the expanded rules became available in the various Box sets the Rules were not rewritten like for example Games Workshop's Fantasy & 40K rules but only added to to cover new gaming options with new Aircraft etc.
The one problem was that you really had to buy all the new Box releases to get the new added rules.
Now that Ares have relaunched the Game & issued the new Rules & Accessory Packs ALL the Rules are now available in one book & are set out in excellent sections with great illustrations to highlight the rules.
Whilst there are no huge changes to the old rules there are many subtle changes & in my opinion improvements.
Part Two of this Thread will highlight the main changes & differences.
Wings of War/Glory the differences.
First off I will give an overview of the new Rules & Accessory Pack:
In addition to the Rule Book you also get all the Damage Decks--A, B, C & D, Bomb cards, Trench & AA Gun cards, Ace skills & tokens plus 2 rulers, Control Boards & 2 sets of various counters.
The Rule book has illustrations of the Gameing materials in the set & then has sections covering BASIC RULES (which help newbies ease into the game in a very basic way), STANDARD RULES, ADVANCED RULES (which includes Altitude), OPTIONAL RULES, SPECIAL PLANES & BALLOONS, GROUND UNITS, SPECIAL WEAPONS & finally SCENARIO RULES.
There is a Summary or Index at the very back of the book to assist you find all the various rules easily.
As a comparison the Burning Drachen Rule book had a Standard Rules section, an Optional Rules section that covered Altitude, Balloons, Ground Fire & finally Altitude Optional Rules & a Scenario Section.
Flight of the Giant Rule Book introduced for the Large Bombers, Basic Rules, Optional Rules, Altitude, Special Rules for Specific Bombers & Scenarios.
In Part Three I will give a summary of which rules have been changed, improved or updated.
Wings of War/Glory the differences----part 3
So now we come to show the actual changes to the old rules:
Manouver Decks.
When the cards for the early war Aircraft were first released the Fokker E.III & Morane were allocated the P Deck & the Halberstadt & DH-2 were allocated the G Deck. Those players who knew their history knew that the latter 2 were more manouverable & faster than the Fokker & there was much discussion on the Forum about this.
Andrea one of the Games designers is most particular to try for historical accuracy & took this on board so when the new series 5 early war minis were released the Fokker & Morane were allocated a new T deck & the Halberstadt & DH-2 allocated the P deck which far better reflects their abilities.
These are the only changes to all the Manouver Decks in existance!
Special Damage Changes
We will cover these in the order they appear in the new RAP Rule Book.
Crew Member Hit
Under the old rules up to Flight of the Giants this Special Damage was ignored for Single seat Aircraft & only affected the Observer/Gunner of 2 Seaters.
In the new rules the Pilot of a Single Seater cannot fire his Machine Gun whilst making a Steep Manouver, Immlemann, Split S or a Climb after taking this damage. In addition if he suffers a Gun Jam he takes 4 manouver cards to clear his gun instead of 3.
If the Pilot takes a second Wound the Pilot is incapacited & his Aircraft is eliminated.
If flying a 2 Seater then you use the rules as listed for Giant Aircraft & draw 2 markers to see which crew member is wounded.
Smoke &/or Fire
There are some interesting changes to these rules.
First if a Smoking Aircraft suffers a second Smoking Damage whilst still Smoking it takes a Fire Damage instead.
An Aircraft on Fire also Smokes.
If an Aircraft suffers a Fire Damage under the new rules the Pilot cannot plan or use any Straight Manouver whilst on Fire. This reflects his efforts to put the fire out & away from himself by constantly turning.
This restriction also means he cannot perform an Immlemann or Split S whilst on Fire.
Altitude
A major change here in that the Basic bottom level is now 1 whereas previously it was 0.
The Pegs are used to represent levels 1 to 4 but if you use the optional Altitude Rules you can add pegs up to the Max Altitude allocated to the plane you are flying.
Overdive
There are some small changes to Overdive which gives advantages to an Overdiving Aircraft including being more difficult to hit & trying to use Overdive to Extingrish a Fire.
Climb Rates & Max Altitude
There are a number of changes to the table for both Climb Rates & Max Altitude to quite a few Aircraft & these are given in full for all Aircraft for which there are Cards or Models on page 14 of the new rule book.
Firing
There is a +1 damage bonus in the first phase of firing for planes firing in its front arc at a plane 1 level of Altitude lower.
Two Seater Crew Damage
As mentioned above if a 2 seater takes a Crew Hit damage you must take 2 crewman hit counters, shuffle them & draw one at random. If a I is drawn the Pilot is hit & apply the normal rule for the Pilot being wounded.
If a II is drawn then the Observer/gunner is wounded & can no longer fire the rear firing M/Gun.
Observers Firing & Immlemann Turns
Some 2 Seaters can perform Immlemanns but cannot fire during the 3 card sequence of making that manouver.
If the observers fires during the preceeding Straight then the Aircraft can not do the Immlemann.
Incendiary Bullets & Balloons.
There is an additional rule now that a Balloon that takes a Special Damage of Smoke, Rudder Jam, Engine Damage or any 5 points of Damage Card from an Aircraft with Incendiary Bullets treats it as a Fire Damage instead.
Ace Skills
Ace Skills were officially added to the rules. They are slightly tweaked from the web version that was released back in 2004.
Well that appears to be the main changes to the previous rules & I firmly believe it is well worth buying the new Rules & Accessories Pack just to have all the various rules available in one easy to access source in the new comprehensive Rule Book.