Game: Richthofen

Thread: Big Saturday of Games: First Dogfights

Ori Ironarm — 2008-11-02T08:56:25+00:00

As I noted in my earlier session report on Duel in the Dark, it's pretty seldom that my best friend and gaming buddy, Fred, is free on the same Saturday that I myself am also free. But this happened yesterday, and we turned the day into a Big Saturday of Games. And we wanted to try out stuff neither of us had played before, so we chose from my many recent acquisitions.

My disappointing introduction to Duel in the Dark was followed by a more satisfying (though no more successful) gaming experience: Two WWI dogfights, courtesy of Richthofen. I downloaded and constructed Richthofen earlier this year and took it with me when I visited my relatives in the Midwest, but somehow we never got around to playing it. Fred and I were looking for something quick and light after Duel, and Richthofen was all that, and thematically related to boot. Somehow I managed to lose both dogfights, even though I drew the formidable Manfred von Richthofen both times, but still, I enjoyed Richthofen more than Duel. Both dogfights were very close--Fred was down to 1 airframe point both times--and the second time, I managed to kill myself by losing control and crashing in a desperate attempt at an Immelmann Turn. Darkly amusing, and lots more fun than pushing the VP marker around the track in Duel.

All in all, Richthofen was a good gaming experience. That said, we did have some questions about the rules, especially about when exactly you're supposed to draw cards to replenish your hand. The rules make it sound almost as if you're supposed to do this immediately upon going below your hand limit, but in effect, we tended to do it at the beginning of a dogfight.

To learn how the Big Saturday of Games concluded, see my session report on A Touch of Evil.

Thread: Re: Where to download?

Amaya — 2008-09-12T21:00:20+00:00

Amaya wrote:
Old topic, but to anyone just finding this thread there is now an updated SourceForge link pointing to a valid zip archive with Richthofen that can be found in the Richthofen Link section.

Thread: Re: Card Download

Amaya — 2008-09-12T12:22:06+00:00

Old topic, but to anyone just finding this thread there is now an updated SourceForge link pointing to a valid zip archive with Richthofen that can be found in the Richthofen Link section.

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Howitzer_120mm — 2008-08-02T15:50:41+00:00

Set 2 : Close Range Burst, Shot down in Flames, Retournment, Tight Turn. Note that the bottom 2 cards are "advanced banking maneuvers"

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Howitzer_120mm — 2008-08-02T08:03:24+00:00

Guns Jam, Can't Shake Me, Leading the Target, Overdive

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tawnos76 — 2008-07-07T03:57:02+00:00

Corner edged Print and Play Ricthofen cards w/tuckbox

Thread: Re: Where to download?

MoonSylver — 2008-05-13T06:57:31+00:00

Jeremiah_Lee wrote:
MoonSylver wrote:
Just to make sure this fine game doesn't dissappear into oblivion, I've U'L'ed it here on the 'geek meself
---MS
So, it's not there as of now (March, 2008). I'll see about getting it posted.

Received an e-mail from another member querying as to whether I had obtained permission from the original copyright holder. Since it was a free game being distributed for free, didn't realize I would need any. But rather than ruffle any feathers, I took it back down voluntarily...
---MS

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Howitzer_120mm — 2008-05-01T14:17:16+00:00

Looks like I'm going to do an awful lot of cutting. (there are 10 sheets there, each with 8 cards on them)

Thread: Re: Where to download?

Jeremiah_Lee — 2008-03-25T01:49:24+00:00

copyright issues - you'll need permission from copyright holder to post theseCan't get these on the geek w/o permission.

Thread: Re: Where to download?

Jeremiah_Lee — 2008-03-23T13:06:47+00:00

MoonSylver wrote:
Just to make sure this fine game doesn't dissappear into oblivion, I've U'L'ed it here on the 'geek meself
---MS
So, it's not there as of now (March, 2008). I'll see about getting it posted.

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abodi — 2007-11-22T09:43:49+00:00

One of Each Card - Part 2

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abodi — 2007-11-22T09:41:48+00:00

cards and backs.

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abodi — 2007-11-22T09:41:02+00:00

Sample Cards but d8 for health.

Thread: Re: Rules Query. about changing from defender to attacker.

MoonSylver — 2007-11-22T01:08:15+00:00

Don't have the rules in front of me, but I don't believe either are spelled out in the rules.

In reguards to the attacker/defender issue, I believe the (new) defender would get a chance to try & out manuver the (new) attacker before he gets a chance to fire.

On drawing cards, I know it doesn't specify, as I looked very hard. I assumed you just drew one every time you played one. As for the reason for having extra cards in your hand, the only advantage would be having slightly more options.
---MS

Thread: Rules Query. about changing from defender to attacker.

abodi — 2007-11-21T14:34:16+00:00

Just a quick question

Lets say i'm the defender and i climb as my maneuver. my opponent can't match it. but he has to play a card correct?

Now if i can play a card with the same attack maneuver then my opponent just played, then i'm the attacker. Do i flip for burst damage straight away since i match his maneuver and out flew him, or does he then play the normal defense maneuver, that i need to match before i can attack.

All that said, when do you draw cards into your hand? Also it didn't seem to be much of a point to having additional cards in your hand. but i may have been playing wrong.

Thread: 14yo Pilot Kicked my Butt!

FNH1 — 2007-07-13T19:58:02+00:00

Just played a game against my 14 year old. Sometimes after a game finishes you wish you hadn't played.

Dont get me wrong, it was a good game. It's just that I spent hours making up this print and play game a while back. I put HOURS into it and then this 14 year old who's never played it wants to give it a try, and kicks my Butt!

My shame was great and I hid my head. Then he boasts to the family and they all start pointing at me and laughing. If my Pilot wasn't already dead HE would have died from the sound of that laughter.

He started off well he gained the initiative and hammered my plane with bullets for 2 points. Quite a harsh start. I tried to get the advantage but failed.

He gained the initiative again and poured more bullets into my frail airframe, 3 more points. This time a clever move gave me the advantage. I poured 4 yes 4 bullets into his plane, but he made some clever card play and reduced this to a mere two, boo hoo.

He gained the advantage again! I dodged in vain and felt another 2 points of hate filled lead pour into my wood and canvas crate. Guess what, I failed to get the advantage.

And with a big smile on his face and initiative in his hand he Smited me with a further 4 points which was genuine overkill.

Kids, who'd have em? :-)

Thread: Re: Where to download?

tritone — 2007-02-10T02:20:41+00:00

Beautiful! Thanks, all.

Thread: Re: Where to download?

MoonSylver — 2007-02-10T00:43:18+00:00

Just to make sure this fine game doesn't dissappear into oblivion, I've U'L'ed it here on the 'geek meself
---MS

Thread: Re: Where to download?

RPardoe — 2007-02-09T08:57:20+00:00

Searching for the necessary file, it appears that SourceForge has a copy of the Microgames Design Contest 2002: http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=58081

which has the mdc2002.zip file in which you will find Richthofen

Thread: Where to download?

tritone — 2007-02-09T08:08:36+00:00

This sounds like an interesting PnP game, but I can't find it anywhere, even on Google. The old website at http://wsmf.org/countermoves/Wip/mdc2002/RichtofenWW1CardGam... seems to be gone. It says the domain is up for renewal or extinction as of 1/22/07.

Anyone know where else it can be found, or would be willing to post it here in the Files section? Thanks!

Thread: Re: Light, fast and easy

i7dealer — 2007-02-09T07:55:17+00:00

Concerning disengagements, I think the above comments were the way I read the rules from the get go. Someone is on your tail until you shake them.

As for the gun jamming, I never saw a problem with it particularly, but I only played once or twice. I think I wanted to be able to toss a high powered card to unstick the guns as more options.

Thread: Re: Light, fast and easy

Buster Brown — 2007-02-09T06:24:14+00:00

I couldn't agree with you more on this Jeffery! Richtofen is a great print-n-play game, one of the best ones I've stumbled across.

Since you play the game, I wanted to get your thoughts on two rules in the game:

1. Disengagements - I interpreted the rules to saying you disengaged the fight and drew for initiative anytime the following occurred:
* After burst damaged was calculated, modified and applied
OR
** If the defender was unable to match the attacker's previous maneuver and turn the table on them.

We decided that felt unrealistic to a dogfight, and resulted in too many disengagements and random drawings for initiative. Rather, we now play that you remain the attacker as long as you can continue to match the defenders maneuvers. That simulates you staying on their tail until they can shake you. The only time we allow disengagement is if neither can match the other's maneuver, or if the current attacker decides to consciously disengage. Does anyone else play like this, or even any different variants?

2. Guns jammed - after a couple of games where both sides were cruising around with jammed guns waiting for the right card to show up to allow us to 'unstick' them, we decided there has to be a better way to represent jammed guns, but to allow the pilots to clear them (perhaps at a price). Any thoughts?

It was previously discussed about the need for play-mats to represent various basic attributes/components of individual planes, but some might think that's taking the game to far in complexity. That and additional pilots would be fun.

Thread: Light, fast and easy

powwowdancer — 2007-02-09T02:32:27+00:00

This print 'n' play freebie is a load of fun. One of my friends is a Red Baron afficionado, and he and I got into it one night. The mechanics are simple and easy to master, and the action is fast and furious. You play manoever and or attack cards, after establishing who has initiative, and simply play cards back and forth until you shoot down your opponent, he shoots you down, or you both disengage and go at it again. It's pretty easy. It's a testament to the games' fun and feel that my friend was more than ready to play several hands. He's very critical of nonsense with regards to his teutonic hero. So here's my breakdown:

Rules:

It's fairly easy to catch on, and there are few if any ambiguities in the rules. The system works, and works well.

Ease of Play:

Yep, it's that easy. I could play this with my kids. But then, my kids are very adept at catching on to games.

Game Bits:

They're especially nice if you take the time to print them out on cardstock. I would advise taking them to a copy or print shop to use one of those tabletop paper cutters to keep the edges even and neat. I used scissors and they came out a little odd.

Overall Fun:

It's almost TOO quick, but hey, the price is right. Give it a chance and you'll see what I mean. This wouldn't stand up to a long nights' gaming as the only star of the show, but it would be a stone groove on a long car trip or waiting around at some family gathering. All in all, I would highly recommend giving this game a try, I mean, all you're out is some ink and a few sheets of cardstock. You will, I think, find the investment more than worth it.

Thread: Re: Card Download

Hatonastick — 2007-01-23T20:49:18+00:00

It can be found at the following address:
http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=58081

Look for and download the following the file "mdc2002.zip" from the section titled "Microgames Design Contest 2002: Entries and Rules". The required files are inside. Warning: It is a semi-large download weighing in around 11Mb.

Thread: Re: Card Download

Izain — 2006-12-31T01:50:51+00:00

Not working for me. I get to the WSMF page but the zip with the rules doesn't seem to be around anymore. Google's not helping either. Can anyone direct me to an alternate dl location, or perhaps be kind enough to email the pdfs?

Thanks.

-Izain

Thread: Re: Effects of Jammed Guns, and the question of disengagement

increase.mather — 2006-10-05T13:12:07+00:00

At first I thought the Guns stayed Jammed for too long.

But after playing through a game, it made more sense. Though it was a pain to have my Guns Jammed for what seemed like an eternity, it seemed more realistic for a Dog Fight. I eventually Cleared my Guns and took down my Allied opponent anyways.

I liked the stress of having my guns jammed for so long.

Thread: Re: Effects of Jammed Guns, and the question of disengagement

i7dealer — 2006-08-03T05:58:14+00:00

As for #2, I like your summary - I thought that's what I said

I saw a bit where you said "When you deal damage you automatically disengage" where I don't think that's supposed to be the case. I don't see anything in the rules about that.

Thread: Re: Effects of Jammed Guns, and the question of disengagemen

Vince Londini — 2006-08-03T00:04:17+00:00

Clearing Jams was a problem for us (haven't played in a while)...seemed like the guns stayed jammed a bit long. We took it like you take it, that your bursts produce no dammage while guns are jammed.

As for #2, I like your summary - I thought that's what I said

Thread: Re: Card Download

RichardC — 2006-08-02T23:50:59+00:00

found it....Thanks...

Thread: Re: Card Download

Linnaeus — 2006-08-02T23:34:44+00:00

Try http://wsmf.org/countermoves/Wip/mdc2002/RichtofenWW1CardGam...

Thread: Card Download

RichardC — 2006-08-02T23:32:27+00:00

where can I find the cards to download?..can't seem to find the link...

Thread: Effects of Jammed Guns, and the question of disengagement

i7dealer — 2006-08-02T21:12:57+00:00

So I've been looking at this game, I've read the rules a couple of times, and I have a couple of questions.

1. What exactly is the effect of jammed guns? Do I not get to be the attacker anymore, or do am I unable to produce a burst?

I like the idea of being able to clear the guns in some fashion. I'm going to try it straight a couple of times, but I like the idea of tossing a card from your hand when you normally would take a shot, but your guns are jammed. you then have to flip a card from the stack that is that value or lower to clear your guns. Of course, the clear guns card will automatically do this for you still.

2. The way I read the rules, I disagree with the interpretation present by Vince Londini. The way I read the rules, the pilots start disengaged and have to determine initiative randomly. Once an attacker and defender are determined, those roles stay until the defender shakes the attacker (plays a card that isn't matched by the attacker). Then they can try and move to be the attacker automatically (by matching the attackers play) or they can disengage and let fate decide their role next (determine initiative). Whether the game is "better" with my reading of the rules or not is up for debate of course, but that's what I read, sparse as the rules are.

Thread: Richthofen campaign

Mosse — 2006-03-06T07:59:41+00:00

My brother Jens and I have really taken on to Print-and-Plays, and have found two clear favorites. Richthofen and Punch! This evening we played both, and here's what happened in our campaign:

I again took ze Germanz while Jens piloted the allied forces. As before we played with campaign-rules.

My first pilot, Lothar von Richthofen, was quickly killed by Albert Ball, who then had to face the revenge of brother Manfred von Richthofen.

The Red Baron showed everybody why he's the most famous ace of them all, by first taking out Ball, then finishing off Edward Mannock, all without being hit even once! Whatta guy!

Along came Edward Rickenbacker, who got in some lucky shots. The Red Baron also jammed his guns, and a few shots he would have made were not-to-be. The Baron went down in flames.

Werner Voss took on Rickenbacker, who was heavily damaged from his fight with Richthofen. The allied ace soon met his destiny and crashed.

Rene Fonck was the last of the allied pilots, and he quickly finished off herr Voss after taking a couple of hits himself. So the last German pilot, Ernst Udet came, Ernst Udet saw, and Ernst Udet shot the man down!

Ze Germanz were victorious! Whatta Game!

I would recommend Richthofen to anybody interested in the theme. It's a total of 70 cards to print out. Mine are now also printed on marmoured paper and then laminated, but you don't need to go through all that trouble.

Thread: Re: Campaign Rules - A series of dogfights

Mosse — 2006-03-06T07:53:03+00:00

The way we play the campaign rules is similar.

Both players shuffle their pilot decks, and then randomly draw a pilot.
They fight until death.
The winning pilot, however stays on, and his damages also remain.
The losing player reshuffles his deck of action cards, and randomly picks a new pilot from the remaining pilots.

It might be a tad quicker this way. Also one can brag a bit more if one can shoot down two pilots in a row. I did this yesterday with Manfred von Richthofen, who took down both Ball and Mannock without taking a single shot himself!

Our campaigns last for 30-45 minutes, usually.

Thread: Re: Some quick comments, queries and more.

Vince Londini — 2005-12-19T03:35:31+00:00

Hey Buster Brown,

1) I agree that the disengagements happen quite frequently and result in probably too many of the random draws for re-engagement. Good idea!

2) We didn't like the way the "guns jammed" played out either. Fortunately it didn't come up much (I haven't played a lot recently). What about allowing any "advanced manuever" to be burned purely as a "jam cleared"? This would make clearing the jam more likely, but at the cost of sacrificing a good card...

3) I meant to work on some mods, but got busy...then I got Wings of War...then I didn't really enjoy Wings of War that much. I might get back to Richthofen soon and work on some mods (have to reprint the cards, too, since the lamination on my decks is wearing thin).

Vince

Thread: Re: Some quick comments, queries and more.

Buster Brown — 2005-10-13T23:12:54+00:00

I just printed this game off a week ago, and have played approximately six games. Richthofen is a fun game, and many gamers (especially Vince) have done a great job of clarifying the rules. However, I still have a few questions.

1. I interpreted the rules to saying you disengaged the fight and drew for initiative anytime the following occurred:
* After burst damaged was calculated, modified and applied
OR
** If the defender was unable to match the attacker's previous maneuver and turn the table on them.

We decided that felt unrealistic to a dog-fight, and resulted in an too many disengagements and random drawings for initiative. Rather, we now play that you remain the attacker as long as you can continue to match the defenders maneuvers. That simulates you staying on their tail until they can shake you. The only time we allow a disengagement is if neither can match the other's maneuver, or if the current attacker decides to consciously disengage. Does anyone else play like this, or even any different variants?

2. Guns jammed - after a couple of games where both sides were cruising around with jammed guns waiting for the right card to show up to allow us to 'unstick' them, we decided there has to be a better way to represent jammed guns, but to allow the pilots to clear them (perhaps at a price). Any thoughts?

3. This game begs for more pilots, and definitely should follow Vince's suggestions for inclusion of basic plane characteristics. I'm not having any luck finding any enhancements that provide this, but was curious if anyone else has developed such a mod? Thanks!

Thread: Re: New Dad laughs at Richthofen image

Admiral Fisher — 2005-09-05T16:57:37+00:00

Very sweet! I remember those days. They weren't that long ago for me really.

Thread: Re: New Dad laughs at Richthofen image

Vince Londini — 2005-09-05T01:20:04+00:00

Boy, she's cute, isn't she? I wonder whose she is?

Glad you liked it!

Thread: Re: New Dad laughs at Richthofen image

berserkley — 2005-09-04T23:49:25+00:00

Watch the drool!

Thread: Re: New Dad laughs at Richthofen image

matthew.marquand — 2005-09-04T20:57:19+00:00

Don't know if you saw this one too.

http://www.boardgamegeek.com/image/78092

Thread: New Dad laughs at Richthofen image

bookgnome — 2005-09-04T20:09:39+00:00

My little boy is just 5 months old...I was glancing at the bottom of the screen images and burst out laughing at this one...

[c]http://boardgamegeek.com/image/78089[/c]

Thanks for the chuckle!
--JMG

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Vince Londini — 2005-05-05T15:37:44+00:00

Talk about starting young! When she turns 15, I won't have a chance!

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Vince Londini — 2005-05-05T15:37:44+00:00

My 7-week-old daughter - WW1 Flying Ace

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Vince Londini — 2005-05-05T15:37:43+00:00

Getting shot down by my 7-week-old daughter

Thread: Re: Where is BIlly Bishop?

Vince Londini — 2005-05-04T02:04:13+00:00

Point well taken.

Considering pilot mortality (WOW, 11 days?), it is no wonder the Canadians pulled Bishop from the front to head the RCAF!

Thread: Session Report

Vince Londini — 2005-04-30T18:04:29+00:00

After playing some exciting games of Qeubec 1759 and War of 1812, I pulled out Richthofen as a social filler while some of the guys played Crokinole as a round-robin tourney.

I taught two players, Ross and Ilya, how to play. Probably it took less than 5 minutes to expain the rules and show them how the cards work.

Ross took to the game, and after a sample dogfight, he wanted a meatier confrontation. So, we each randomly selectd a pilot (see my campaign rules suggestions) and went at it.

Ross selected the effecient Werner Voss and I pulled up the arrogant and capable Rene Fonck. One of these days I'm going to sit down and fictionalize a complete dogfight, blow for blow, but I'll just summarize here.

Fonck consistently outmaneuvered Voss as I applied heavy doses of my bad French accent to taunt Ross. After a brief struggle, Voss went down in flames.

Ross (not to be confused with Voss ) now drew Ernst Udet, while I elected (somewhat on a whim) to retain Fonck. The idea had occured to me to see how many of the German pilots Fonck could shoot down. Again, we engaged in pass after pass. Again, I laid on a thick bad French accent, taunting him mercilessly. This one was closer, with Fonck and Udet neck and neck at 4 points of damage apiece. But once again, the bad French accent prevailed and Udet's plane augered furrows in the distant countryside below!

Next, Ross pulled Lothar von Richthofen (the Red Baron's younger brother) and the battle with the flamboyant Frenchman was engaged. In no time, Fonck sent the younger Richthofen packing. By this time I was tired of faking the French lingo, and just in time, too, for now all my energies would be needed. Could Fonck take down ALL FOUR GERMAN ACES in one string? The final test, somewhat ironically, was the RED BARON himself!

Ah, what a difference the Red Baron's five-card hand can make. Almost immediately, Fonck took a point of damage here, a point of damage there as the Red Baron peppered him in the first exchange, and then Ross played "Passing Shot" to get even with me from an earlier dogfight where I suprised him with it. Fonck sat at 2 points, while Manfred von Richthofen was at 0. Fonck managed to score a point, but the Red Baron returned with a 3 point volley, which I had no cards in my hand to reduce. At 5 to 1, the pilots engaged again. The Red Baron was at a disadvantage and manuevered, Fonck failed to stay on his tail and the Red Baron was right there...hammering Fonck's airframe with two more points.

The situation was desperate, if I lost the next initative Fonck was almost certain to be shot down. Sure enough, the Red Baron got behind him. The end was in sight. Why? There are NO cards that can reduce "1" point of damage to "0." All the Red Baron had to do was match Fonck's manuever, and I had NO ADVANCED MANUEVER CARDS! Alas, out of options, Fonck chose (rather metaphorically) to Dive. The elder von Richthofen followed suit and Ross's final damage draw really didn't matter as the last of Fonck's airframe gave way around him, turning his dive into a crash and ending my 3-fight streak.

Well, like Snoopy, perhaps there will be another day to sweep all four German pilots, but tonight was not it!

Thread: Re:Some quick comments, queries and more.

Vince Londini — 2005-04-30T17:48:07+00:00

shawn_low (#484428),

Hey, I see you had the same Idea! Good thinking!

I'll copy my response to your querries from our forum discussion to this article, so the conversation can continue here where the game is and not be lost in a forum. Let's just continue our discussion here, if you like.

All right! Now there's someone to talk with about it! Let's hash out some issues and post some suggestions/clarifications no Richthofen's page to help the designer as well as encourage other players!

I played another 7-8 dogfights last night. In one set of four dogfights, I randomly selected Rene Fonck and kept going against the German player until he could shoot me down. I shot down Voss, Udet, and the younger Richthofen, but as luck would have it...the Red Baron, himself, took me out of the sky!

shawn_low wrote:
...the rule failing an advanced manouevre. How does one fail an advanced manouever? I suspect an attacker fails if he fails to match a defenders advanced manouevre card. Attacker then opens a card and if he gets 4 burst damage (rare), he dies. If not, he takes one damage. So how does the defender fail an advanced manouevre especially since he plays his card FIRST!

About the "advanced manuevers" - there are three categories and three classes.

The three categories, obviously, are advanced climbing, diving, and banking maneuvers. Each of these categories has three classes:

1) Plain jane advanced manuever - no risk involved, no special advantage conferred - the attacker will have to play an advanced manuever of the same category to stay on the defender's tail. If the attacker's play is anything other than an advanced maneuver of the same class, the defender may now become the attacker by choosing to play a card that matches the attacker's maneuver, or may choose not to play and disengage (I believe that's just the standard rules). I assume the attacker, upon discovering his inability to match the defender's advanced maneuver, could play an advanced maneuver of a different class - however, I assume that the defender has the choice as to whether to chase the errant attacker or simply disengage. If I were the defender, and had outwitted the attacker, then watched the attacker make an advanced maneuver to make my attempt to outmanuever him more difficult - I would not even bother playing to seize the advantage unless I knew I had the card to match it. I'm not sure how clear it is in the rules, but I believe the "defender turns attacker" is an optional play where the defender is in the driver's seat, having outmanuevered the attacker. Thus, even if the attacker played an advanced maneuver with text regarding what happens if the opponent fails to match it, I would consider that optional or mitigated by the unique phase of play where the defender has already outmanuevered the attacker and the attacker has gone into some crazy manuever to keep me from following him, but I choose not to follow..." kind of thing... what do you think?

2) Seize the day maneuver - may be risky or not (see #3). If the attacker cannot match it, the defender seizes the opportunity and AUTOMATICALLY gets to shoot (without having to match the attacker's manuever, that he goes ahead and plays, even though he cannot match the advanced manuever category of the defender) at the former attacker.

3) Risky manuevers - Barrel Roll, Immelman Loop, OverDive etc... require the player to flip up a card to determine the success of the manuever. Overdives cannot be failed, but they can result in a point of damage (when a "1" or "2" is pulled). Barrel Rolls and Immelman Loops (not intended to be an exhaustive list, just examples, see the cards to be sure) require the player to flip a card to determine if they retained control of the aircraft. If the card they flip results in a "spin" or "stall" they have "failed an advanced maneuver." At this point, reference the "failed an advanced maneuver" rule which says the player must flip a card to attempt to recover (which will usually happen). If they flip a "4" (again, somewhat rare) the player failed to recover and crashes into the cornfields. If they regain control of the craft, I believe the planes are now disengaged and ready for the next pass.

Does that help any? Do you think my observations are correct?

shawn_low wrote:
However, the rules are shockingly vague at times and some of the wording on the card leads to confusion.

The most confusing card, to me, is the Guns Jam - which I've concluded is a defensive card that causes the ATTACKER's guns to Jam, and not a trade off for the defender (ie. letting his own guns jam as a trade off for taking less damage).

I'm going to post the bulk of my discussion on the Advanced Maneuvers as a seperate article on Richthofen's page, to give a more specific place for analysis and discussion of the advanced maneuvers, seperate from the other issues we're discussing here...

Vince

Thread: Advanced Maneuvers categorized, classified, described, and explained

Vince Londini — 2005-04-30T17:44:59+00:00

shawn_low wrote:
...the rule failing an advanced manouevre. How does one fail an advanced manouever? I suspect an attacker fails if he fails to match a defenders advanced manouevre card. Attacker then opens a card and if he gets 4 burst damage (rare), he dies. If not, he takes one damage. So how does the defender fail an advanced manouevre especially since he plays his card FIRST!

About the "advanced manuevers" - there are three categories and three classes.

The three categories, obviously, are advanced climbing, diving, and banking maneuvers. Each of these categories has three classes:

1) Plain jane advanced manuever - no risk involved, no special advantage conferred - the attacker will have to play an advanced manuever of the same category to stay on the defender's tail. If the attacker's play is anything other than an advanced maneuver of the same class, the defender may now become the attacker by choosing to play a card that matches the attacker's maneuver, or may choose not to play and disengage (I believe that's just the standard rules). I assume the attacker, upon discovering his inability to match the defender's advanced maneuver, could play an advanced maneuver of a different class - however, I assume that the defender has the choice as to whether to chase the errant attacker or simply disengage. If I were the defender, and had outwitted the attacker, then watched the attacker make an advanced maneuver to make my attempt to outmanuever him more difficult - I would not even bother playing to seize the advantage unless I knew I had the card to match it. I'm not sure how clear it is in the rules, but I believe the "defender turns attacker" is an optional play where the defender is in the driver's seat, having outmanuevered the attacker. Thus, even if the attacker played an advanced maneuver with text regarding what happens if the opponent fails to match it, I would consider that optional or mitigated by the unique phase of play where the defender has already outmanuevered the attacker and the attacker has gone into some crazy manuever to keep me from following him, but I choose not to follow..." kind of thing... what do you think?

2) Seize the day maneuver - may be risky or not (see #3). If the attacker cannot match it, the defender seizes the opportunity and AUTOMATICALLY gets to shoot (without having to match the attacker's manuever, that he goes ahead and plays, even though he cannot match the advanced manuever category of the defender) at the former attacker.

3) Risky manuevers - Barrel Roll, Immelman Loop, OverDive etc... require the player to flip up a card to determine the success of the manuever. Overdives cannot be failed, but they can result in a point of damage (when a "1" or "2" is pulled). Barrel Rolls and Immelman Loops (not intended to be an exhaustive list, just examples, see the cards to be sure) require the player to flip a card to determine if they retained control of the aircraft. If the card they flip results in a "spin" or "stall" they have "failed an advanced maneuver." At this point, reference the "failed an advanced maneuver" rule which says the player must flip a card to attempt to recover (which will usually happen). If they flip a "4" (again, somewhat rare) the player failed to recover and crashes into the cornfields. If they regain control of the craft, I believe the planes are now disengaged and ready for the next pass.

Thread: Some quick comments, queries and more.

shawn_low — 2005-04-30T11:46:40+00:00

I played 4 games of Richthofen.

It plays pretty fast. 10-15 minutes.

However, the rules are shockingly vague at times and some of the wording on the card leads to confusion.

Also the rule failing an advanced manouevre. How does one fail an advanced manouever? I suspect an attacker fails if he fails to match a defenders advanced manouevre card. Attacker then opens a card and if he gets 4 burst damage (rare), he dies. If not, he takes one damage. So how does the defender fail an advanced manouevre especially since he plays his card FIRST!?

I'm too lazy to elaborate about other vagaries of the game (the cards have been kept). Maybe tomorrow.

The game has potential. The rules need to be cleaned up and the formatting of the playing deck needs some work as well. All the special effects are crammed together and it's VERY unclear when to apply some of the effects.

But of course, its saving grace is its free availability!

Thread: Re:Where is BIlly Bishop?

mcbeth — 2005-04-29T13:16:12+00:00

Vince Londini (#479085),

Well, I agree that he was an amazing ace, but 26 in 8 months versus 75 in 16 months isn't as big a leap as you might want to hope (except the average life span of a pilot when these guys started was 11 days)

Thread: User Review

Vince Londini — 2005-04-29T04:47:10+00:00

Richthofen by Michael Maners with Mark Jerome is a very fun, fast, highly thematic WWI dogfighting card game. This game appears on Maverick's MDC II - Microgame Design Contest II list and is a free "print and play" with the files available from Maverick's list. Visit http://www.boardgamegeek.com/geeklist.php3?action=view&listi.... I have played nearly 20 dogfights over the course of the last two weeks for a total of about 2 hours invested in this light filler.

Assembling the Game:

Grab 9 sheets of card-stock on which to print the cards from the PDF files. I used a light tan color for the pilot cards and white for the 8 sheets of player deck cards. First, I designed a repetitive tiling pattern and printed it on one side of all 9 sheets. Then I turned them over and printed the pilots and decks on them. This gave me a uniform looking set of decks. Unfortunately, the PDF files are not arranged so you can print the Allies deck on one color and the German deck on another. If I were to suggest an improvement to the PDF files, that would be it.

Once printed, I took the 9 sheets to my local print shop and had them laminated and trimmed. I'm friends with the owner and brought him a Quizno's sub to enjoy while the laminator was warming up. So, he laminated and trimmed them for free in a process that took less than 10 minutes. So, for the price of a Quizno's sub and 9 sheets of cardstock (and a little bit of ink on my bubble-jet printer) I had my game ready to go.

The Cards:

Each player plays from his own deck of cards. The Victoria Cross cards all have a Victoria Cross at the top and belong to the Allied player. The Blue Max cards sport the German Blue Max for the German player.

Each player has 4 pilot cards. Both decks include a "plain jane" pilot with no special abilities; a pilot whose ability is to win tied initiative contests; a pilot who draws cards either when succeeding or failing to match a manuever; and then the top aces who either hold an extra card in their hand or draw an extra card frequently. Four of Germany's most famous aces grace the Blue Max deck. The British top ace, the US top ace, and two other British pilots grace the Victoria Cross deck. I missed the Canadian ace, Billy Bishop and authored an article here on the Geek about that. The flagship pilots are Manfried von Richthofen - the Red Baron and the game's namesake, for the Germans; and Edward Richenbacker, the US ace and race-car driver who later owned the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, for the Allies.

Each player also has a 32 card playing deck. Each card has four features: a "burst" number at the bottom of the card used to assign damage or decide initiative contests, a pair of basic "defense" manuevers to choose from after losing the iniative and attempting to dodge, a basic "attack" maneuver used by the iniative winner to stay on the defending player's tail, and a special feature for which the card is titled and about which some text appears.

The special features include: "advanced" maneuvers of the climbing, banking, and diving sort; damage modifiers which either increase or decrease the damage assigned; and cards that allow the player to draw extra cards or unjam their guns.

As each card is played, all other features of the card will be ignored except that which is needed in the current phase of the turn (unless the text of the card specifically instructs otherwise). Each player holds 4 cards and always replenishes his hand after playing a card (exception the elder Richthofen holds 5).

The game also comes with 3 pages of rules that spell out everything you need to know. The core of the rules takes up less than 1/2 a page, is easily grasped, and is kept quite simple.

Turn Sequence:

1) Initiative - each player draws the top card from his deck and lays it next to the deck (on the first turn thus starting the discard pile). Only the "burst" number is important for resolving the initiative, except for the "Passing Shot" card that allows a free shot during the initiative phase if its conditions are met.

The higher number becomes the attacker on this pass, the loser becomes the defender.

2) Defender's Dodge - the defending player must now make a maneuver. He can play a card and pick one of the two "basic" defense tactics, or he can play an "advanced" card and use the "advanced" tactic, following the instructions on the card regarding risks and benefits.

3) Attacker's Pursuit - the attacking player must now match the defender's dodge in order to earn the right to fire. The attacker does this by playing a card that lists an "attack" to match the defender's maneuver. If the defender played an "advanced" manuever, the attacker must also play an "advanced" manuever of the same class in order to keep up, following instructions regarding risks as they appear on the card. If the attacker cannot match the defender's play, he must still make some manuever, either a "basic" attack or an "advanced" manuever. The reason for this will become apparent in a moment.

At this point one of two things will happen. Either the Attacker will have earned the right to fire or the defender will have a chance to match the attacker's maneuver in order to earn the right to fire.

4a) Damage Resolution - Attacker has stayed on the defender's tail and has earned the right to fire. In this case, the attacker flips up the top card on his deck, concerned with the "burst" number. Attacker may now play one card to increase the damage dished out and defender may play one card to reduce the incoming damage. This modified damage is applied against the defender's airframe and the planes disengage from the encounter to approach each other again next turn.

4b) Defense Option to Steal Initiative - If the attacker could not keep up with the defender, the defender may try to outwit the attacker. If the defender played an "advanced" maneuver that specifically stated so, he may have automatically earned the right to fire by dint of the attacker's failure to match the maneuver (proceed to 4a). Otherwise, if the defender can now play an "attack" (or "advanced" maneuver) to match the attacker's "attack" (or "advanced" maneuver) he will earn the right to shoot (proceed to 4a). If he has no card in his hand that will accomplish this, he can pass and the planes disengage with no damage assigned, ready to approach again on the next turn.

Gameplay Comments:

The turn sequence is REALLY that simple. The effect is VERY pleasing with the dodge and weave of aerial combat amazingly well portrayed. The choices become tense as players must choose which cards they're willing to give up as "attack" or "defense" maneuvers in spite of otherwise useful special features that may come in handy later on.

Each dogfight takes less than 10 minutes, perhaps even 5. In an article here on the Geek, I suggest some simple campaign rules for a series of dogfights that take 45 minutes to and hour to complete.

The cards are cleverly designed with every feature needed for each phase of the turn appearing on each card. The balance between which maneuvers to include with which special text creates some rich hand-management moments and adds the dose of strategy to a game largely controlled by random draws. Good job guys on card balance and layout!

Perhaps with more familiarity, one might be able to suggest some new cards or some changes to the balance. One current challenge is that "advanced" maneuvers can only be matched by other "advanced" maneuvers, with the luck of the draw determining their usefulness. Often I will have a handful of these very handy cards while my opponent is unable to respond in kind (or vice versa). Adding more cards to the deck would only worsen the problem of "when do the special cards come around?", while adding more ways to counter such cards would defeat their uniqueness. All in all, I think that aspect of the game is about as well balanced as it can get and I have no complaints.

Accessibility:
I have taught this game to 5 players. Most of them are not serious gamers. None of them took more than 5 minutes to instruct and 1 dogfight to "get it." Every one of them REALLY ENJOYED the duck and weave gameplay and the WWI theme.

Modification/Expansion:

Please let me suggest a direction for modification/expansion. Airplane types could be added, similar to pilot cards, to offer modifications to the amount of damage that can be taken vs. an increased or decreased chance of success at "advanced" maneuvers. This would allow the inclusion of more theme, add one more quick but subtle gameplay modifier, while not bogging down the game, and capture the one missing aspect for a dogfight game - the planes themselves! Instead of making the airplanes "one more card to set next to the draw and discard piles," the airplanes could be player mats with a damage track as well as places for the pilot, draw, and discard piles.

Rating:

While definitely a game dominated by luck of the draw, the 4-card hand and some opportunities for wise choices mitigate this to an acceptable degree. Further, the quick playing time contributes to my conclusion that Richthofen is an excellent game. More Geeks should discover this one and Maners and Jerome should be encouraged to further refine and expand this concept!

I give this one a 10. I'll play it anytime with anyone and plan to teach it to everyone with whom I have 10-20 minutes of free "gaming time."

Thread: Session Report

Vince Londini — 2005-04-29T03:51:36+00:00

Mike and I sat down tonight after a few rounds of Crokinole to play a dogfight with Richthofen. Mike is definitely "not a gamer" and seemed reluctant to be drawn into anything complex, but a few calming words and a "full-speed ahead" attitude quickly had him cornered into a game.

We each picked a pilot and set our playing decks in front of us. I then pulled out one card and explained the features while running through a brief summary of the turn sequence. Since this game is pretty simple once you see how it goes, I just started the game.

Mike decided to play the Allies and pulled Edward Mannock as his pilot. Mannock wins all initiative contests that tie at "1" and that came in handy.

I played as the Germans and drew Werner Voss. Werner draws an extra card everytime he wins the initiative contest. However, I was so busy explaining the game to Mike that I forgot completely to do this, and even after remember the pilot abilities half-way through the dogfight, still forgot. That would be a mistake.

Mike won the first initiative contest and swooped down behind me. I manuevered, he matched my manuever and earned the right to fire. He pulled a "4" (THE HIGHEST VALUE YOU CAN PULL!) and I was caught flat-footed, with no damage reduction card in my hand. This dog-fight was off to a bad start for me.

I won the next initiative. Mike chose to dive and I followed him. I pulled a "1" for damage and added a "Long Burst" to bring it up to "3." But, Mike had a "Better Lucky than Good" and reduced the damage to "1". DRAT!

I won the initiative again (still forgetting to draw my extra card). I kept up with Mike's defensive manuever and pulled another "1". I added a Lucky Shot to bring the damage up to "2," when Mike again slipped out of my stream of bullets, this time playing "Missed the Vitals" to reduce the damage to "1". JUST NOT MY DAY!

After this followed a couple of inconclusive engagements where either one of us would win the initiative, but were unable to match each others maneuvers and line up for a shot. I stayed at "4" damage points while he remained at "2." Then my slide quickened its pace.

Mike lost the initiative and proceeded to play an "Advanced Banking Maneuver," particularly the "Barrel Roll" as his defensive maneuver. He avoided spinning out of control and because I failed to match his tactic he got a free shot at me. He pulled a "3". Once again, with no defensive cards, I ate all "3" points bringing me up to "7"! One more shot and I'm dead, since there are no cards that completely eliminate incoming damage.

Sure enough, on the next pass he got me. I lost the initiative, played a rather pedestrian defensive manuever, which he easily matched and put the last bullet in my airframe.

Flames and smoke rose from the spot where Werner Voss's plane augered a furrow into the forest floor far below. This WWI flying ace was aced.

Thread: Where is BIlly Bishop?

Vince Londini — 2005-04-22T23:15:34+00:00

Having enjoyed this game, I'm quite surprised that Billy Bishop - Canada's top WWI ace with 72 kills is missing. He makes Rickenbacker look like an amateur. So, where's Bishop?

Thread: Campaign Rules - A series of dogfights

Vince Londini — 2005-04-22T22:52:48+00:00

The basic rules to Richthofen suggest that each player select a random pilot to square off for WWI a dogfight. Having played 15 dogfights or so, the average time for two players familiar with the cards is about 10 minutes. We have played one 25 minute dogfight one fellow's guns jammed yet he managed to continue obtaining the initiative and staying on the defender's tail.

We have taken the obvious next step to produce a WWI campaign.

First Dogfight - each player draws a pilot randomly from his stack of four. After this dogfight ends, the losing pilot card is set aside for the remainder of the campaign.

Second Dogfight - each player draws a pilot randomly from his remaining pool of pilots. Thus, with each dogfight the pilot options will decrease.

The rest of the Dogfights - continue dogfighting until either the allies or the Germans last pilot is shot down.

We played a campaign in just under an hour.