Aces of Valor: A Solitaire Game of World War I Aerial Combat

This is a wolf in sheeps clothing, a very clever and well realised game, with hundreds of aircraft options and quirky artwork. For a Print and Play game it is a suprise at how deep it goes, with a quite involved combat sequence which belies the low complexity rating. Staggering when you think it only costs 15 bucks, no wonder it is being overhauled and released by Legion Games fully printed, it delivers where many more expensive games fail. A winner!

This game is worth printing, cutting and gluing the counters. It is about aerial combat during WWI. Unlike other similar board games this is fast paced, has innovative combat mechanics and does not complicate players with plane maneuvers, exact target sighting and math equations to see whether you hit a target or not. It is perfect for solitaire play. The map and counters have nice graphics and are appealing to the eye. You choose from a variety of planes the ones that will comprise your squadron and then pick up a random mission (photo recon, bombing target, trench strafing, balloon busting and many more). You can choose German planes, British ones or even the Lafayette escadrille of the French Air Service. From here starts your ordeal to complete your mission. Each mission has a specific number of turns to get completed otherwise your planes run out of fuel and perform forced landing. For each land square you fly over on the map, you check for endurance of damaged planes, random events, Flak retaliation, sighting of enemy targets and possible enemy encounter. Aerial/ground combat takes place on the battle map. Taking in consideration the die, pilot’s skill and plane’s performance you determine the initiative of each plane. Then send your bombs, rockets or bullets to the target and find out what your pilots have achieved. But this is not the end of the story. Your squadron must make it back home to its airbase or take punishment for lost / downed planes. Each campaign is comprised by a variety of missions. The victory points accumulated at the end of it will tell what was your overall performance and contribution to the war effort. Easy rules, smooth mechanics of play, tense moments and tactical decisions to make. Nice work!

Awesome print and play game. Very visual, thematic rendering of WWI fighter pilot missions.