In the end, I was only able to interest one player, by the name of Matt, in wings of Glory. But he was new to the game, and seemed to enjoy himself, and seemed to pick up on the game, and how easy it was to learn and play.
We did not use altitude since there were only two of us, and I don’t think it would have added anything to the game in this case. We did use some optional rules, like tailing (which never actually came into effect), the aim rule, and collisions only occur if the peg of an aircraft overlapped the base. No ace abilities, I wanted to teach the game without too many complications.
Matt flew Ball’s Nieuport 17, while I flew Richthofen's D-III. We used only one mat, started at either end, and shifting laterally as necessary to keep planes in the play area. Only the entrance edges counted as “safe zones” for flying purposes. And after the first three maneuver rounds, it looked like I had Matt in a bad position; and in fact was able to get in a burst before, guess what? Instant gun jam.
Frustrating, because after a quick Immelmann, I was in a good position. Just wasn’t able to do anything about it. Twice in a row, in fact.
Then he decided to do the same: we almost collided, just as I had finally cleared the jam.
Much more twisting and turning, and he was finally able to get in a damaging shot: my engine started smoking.
After more maneuvering for position, we both accepted a head-on pass, and this time, it was his engine that started smoking.
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