Unlike the last few years this current one has been pretty stressful (who’d have thought it) and I haven’t achieved as much with my hobby as I’d intended and still haven’t played any games in real life.
I participated in a training game for the Fighting Wings system which I enjoyed but came with some issues:
# The other players weren’t always very punctual, dropping in and out which made the flow difficult. This was a play by email game with players from around the world. It wasn’t always their fault necessarily but my own worries about slowing the game made me prioritise my move (above most things) making sure I responded quickly. I would spend the next evening (from it being announced as my turn) getting my move ready and sending it in (you had 24hrs from prompt). It came down from 2-3hrs of prep per turn in the first few turns to 30-45mins by turn 20.
# I spotted an issue with the rules and when I asked about this to the learning game teacher he stated “because” and thought I should accept it - this probably would have been better if I’d been in a learning game with the designer not just an experienced player. The problem involves tailing and a series of tests to see if you qualify - a simple then an advanced one. If you failed one you could see if the latter could be used but as they both had the same set of conditions: if you couldn’t meet the first you could never meet the second. Something I will have to address with the author (He is the system and I’m sure he’ll have a practical and straightforward solution) if I am to play online again.
It isn’t really an issue with the rules that has potentially stymied my pursuit of the game but rather my own feelings about the level of commitment needed (spread over weeks at a time) if others will simply drop out. If I had a local face to face opponent I think I’d be fine. It’s definitely me but the worse I get, the less energy I have to cope with simple things. Unhelpfully the online system uses io.groups or something similarly archaic and it is nowhere near straightforward or user friendly, so simple things like trying to join a game group left me feeling bemused and frustrated - whilst everyone who already knows how to use it can’t see any issues.
I felt that I grasped the basics of flying and found the system to be relatively straightforward and enjoyable. I ended the game by purposefully straightening out and flying straight across my wingman’s nose. Until this point I’d been evading merrily and trying to stay on the wing of my leader but was being tailed tenaciously by a player (who it turned out wasn’t a beginner at all) throughout and had managed to keep the attention away from my wingman to my satisfaction. I suddenly realised the 20 turns were nearly up and I hadn’t learned about firing so I made myself a target hoping that the attackers greed at an easy tailing kill would leave my wingman with the advantage and set up to respond in kind. Well I died in a hail of bullets (very serious and deadly - which I liked) but the shooting phase was somewhat rushed past (emails of numbers and dice rolls but no step by step explanation - that said none of the other people seemed to think my stated move and thus sudden total change of behaviour was anything out of the ordinary: for some reason I’d suddenly thought that slowing down and flying straight would lose my attacker?) and I didn’t really learn anything. My flight leader positioned badly and missed the easy kill I’d sacrificed myself for………
I have since seen training game transcripts of game run by the designer and they seem incredibly thorough and more what I had expected. Fighting Wings is a thorough (some would say complicated) but understandable system (and weirdly), as it’s just cardboard counters, you really feel like you’re flying a plane (at least more so than any non computer game I’ve ever played). I would advise anyone interested in gaming aerial combat to give the FW system a try as long as they’re not put off by having to commit to learning and practicing the system to play (something not everyone enjoys) it’s not just picked up (although with the right teacher…?). It’s not cheap but if you have a dedicated opponent (or cope better online than I do) I’d say buy it (Wings over the Motherland or Buffalo Wings) as there’s enough provided to game happily for the rest of your days (It would/will work solo but the onus will be on you to learn the rules alone which is a reasonable task and you lose the unknown factor).
I did enjoy my introduction to the Fighting Wings system and would really like to have another learning game or two but I’m not sure I’m well enough to actually achieve it. There is a WW1 version that I’m more interested in so maybe when I can afford it (it’s not much $30?) I’ll have a look at that as I have lots of Wings of Glory planes and old school kites are a bit slower and (hopefully) easier to game. I chose Fighting Wings (and now own all of it) so I could play online, with others, even when I wasn’t well enough to get up or do anything as taxing as play face to face. I haven’t given up on it but I’m not currently in a position to commit to more online games so I’ll keep looking for other possible solutions. There is another local club which I intend to investigate if I can work out which alternate Sunday they meet!
Stay safe,
Balm
