Ace of Aces: World War I Aerial Combat in a Book!

Ahhh… Memories. Back in the day, the day being high school in the 80’s, we had to have a mandatory study hall each day.  Study hall was in the auditorium, where we were supposed to pick one of the hundreds of seats and well… study. Gaming ran strong in our blood though. We needed something that was portable, no little bits, and fun. We came up with Ace of Aces.

The game for two players was published by Nova game designs in 1980 (designed by Alfred Leonardi) and consists of two books, one for the Allies, and one for the Germans.  The Allies had the Sopwith Camel while the Germans would fly the Fokker DR1.

The books were filled with illustrations that represented the pilot’s view of the skies.  Every page had a different illustration, along with 25 different maneuvers that could be selected from the bottom of the page.  Each player started on the same page, where they had a view of the enemy aircraft out of their cockpit, and then selected a maneuver from the bottom of the page.

The manouvers could either be slow, cruising or fast and also left, straight, or right.  There are options for stalls, banks, weaving, turns, wingovers, loops, even Immelmann turns when you wanted to turn the tables on the enemy.  After selecting a maneuver, you would tell your opponent which page number was written under the maneuver you selected. You each turned to that interim page, found the number written under your maneuver on this new page, and then both went to the final page.  This would show you what you both see as a result of your actions.  sometimes, you would be shooting the enemy, sometimes you would be getting shot, sometimes you would just be in different positions, and sometimes you would lose each other completely.

Each shot at close range was 2 points of damage, at medium was 1 point, and only 1/2 point at long range.  Each plane could take 6 points before being shot down.  So you would continue performing maneuvers and turning pages until somebody got shot down.  The game was fast, fun, and really gave you an idea of how aerial combat worked back in the Great War.

This game helped us pass many a study period, or time on the bus, or anywhere.  There were quite a few follow up editions for different aircraft, even balloon busting.  My son got to play his own version when the Star Wars: Starfighter Battle Books was released (X-Wing vs Tie Interceptor), and there was a lightsaber duel edition too.

The books are probably pretty hard to find now, and probably have no appeal for the new generation of kids who all have handheld electronic ways to pass the time and play a vast array of games.  It’s not the same though.  Those were good times.

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Elliott Miller

Elliott is well versed in all tabletop gaming subjects and brings his expertise mostly to bear on strategy, family, and Euro-style gaming.

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