I've been playing Wings of Glory for several months, and in that time I've seen more than a few folks mention that before WoW/WoG they played a hex-based board game called 'Blue Max': http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/1...r-i-air-combat
I saw a copy of the latest version on sale, and on a whim bought it. Over the weekend I played three dogfights with a pal: two were 1-on-1, and a 2-on-2 dogfight.
I have to say, meh. It isn't the worst board game I've ever played, and I can see how some of the concepts in it might have been inspiration for WoW, but really, I don't think Blue Max holds a candle to WoW. It seems like the planes don't travel very far at all in each maneuver (2 hexes max), and can easily be reduced to travelling just 1 hex at a time. That, combined with the single row of hexes for a firing arc, means you spend a lot of time trying to line up a shot, only to find the opponent has dodged one hex over, and is now out of your line of fire. With four aircraft on the board the game has somewhat more action, but even so...
I don't know. Maybe I am missing something? Is the game really meant for large groups with a half-dozen planes on the board? I'm kind of regretting my purchase, and wishing that I'd spent the same money to buy two or three more miniatures for WoG....
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