At one point called the most complicated wargame ever. This modern air combat game has a scale of 1 airplane per counter, 500 feet per hex and 2.5 seconds per turn.
The rule book is 48 pages long with 28 of those being rules. There is a large display for keeping track of each plane (4 per display) with a separate track for throttle, weapons, acceleration, turning at 5% increments, altitude and attitude giving each plane a true xyz position.
Included is a 16 page booklet of 39 charts and tables. There are also individual sheets for each plane with info, charts and tables. There are also individual charts and tables for each type of missile.
The game rightly suggests that you fly an individual plane around at first to learn how a plane operates before adding weapons. The game for all its detail is not without controversy as to realism. The energy rules and the claim that some aspects of the game are based on educated guesses because of the info on some planes being top secret, have caused this feeling of fudging.
All in all one of SPI's most ambitious projects. The is also an expansion - Air War Update Kit.
Record a Play
