I'm toying with the idea of dogfight microgame that will fit in a small box, take up minimal room, and play in a short period of time.
Inspirations
How did I get on this kick?
I played a little Ace of Aces with a friend a couple of weeks previously.
I'm re-reading The Two-Headed Eagle, a novel about an Austrian U-boat commander turned observer in a reconnaissance plane.
SOPWWID (Simple One Page WWI Dogfight rules)
It's a very simple set of rules where your Sopwith Camel takes on a Fokker and a Pfalz. The AI is clever, however. There is a matrix of possible maneuvers depending where you are in relation to the enemy plane. A single D10 roll
I have a set of rules that will work perfectly for such a microgame, which I featured in a mini-campaign called Protecting Pearl. Yet I am never satisfied. I've been pondering a way to play Ace of Aces solo. I decided to do some research to see if someone has done something similar.
I came across SOPWWID, which is free on Board Game Geek.
I played a couple of games and found the AI worked fairly well. Occasionally, the enemy plane did an odd maneuver. But hey, I just chalked it out to the confusion of battle. Unfortunately, I found it a little tough to get into firing position. As a result, the games dragged a tad. Furthermore, all the planes maneuver the same.
Solo Aces of Aces
I dug a little deeper in Board Game Geek and found that someone created a simple AI for solo Ace of Aces. I haven't tried it yet but plan to do so. I'll post a report when I do.
Aircraft Counters
One question comes up - what should I do for playing pieces for my aerial mini-game? I am still using minis for air battles, but I'd like to switch to counters. I've been looking around for some planes but have not quite found ones I like. Still searching.
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