Wings of Glory + Flying Fortress

Wings of Glory!

Monday night, game night! The Tamahere Officers' Club was flying high with a game of Wings of War (now called Wings of Glory), a game series which merges card and board game mechanics including optional scale miniatures, to recreate World War I (or World War II) aerial combat. Lewis brought his terrain cloth and miniature planes, Dave brought the themed beers. We had three missions and these photos don't do justice to the hilarious evening of japes, jibes and bad accents. A great time was had by all.

"Fight on and fly on to the last drop of blood and the last drop of fuel, to the last beat of the heart."
~ Baron Manfred von Richthofen

British pilots: Lewis and Dave.

German pilots: Darcy and Blair.

Enemies sighted.

Collision? No. Different altitudes.

Giving chase.

Guns jammed!

Chasing tails.

Flying in circles.

I'm hit!

Under fire!

Down!

Avenged!

Game II: Bombing mission.

Escort.

Fire fight!

Blair is on form.

On target for bomb drop.

The uncanny luck of Lewis finally runs out.

Game III: Dogfight!

Gun jam!

Pairing off.

Early casualty of war.

Bad luck!

And then there were two!

Gun jam!

A real dogfight!

The repartee between Dave and Blair was stunning.

A pity I don't have a transcript.

These photos barely capture the excitement.

A close call. At this point, Blair looks like he has the advantage over Dave.

"Good flying never killed yet." ~ attributed to Major Edward 'Mick' Mannock,
RAF, ranking British Empire fighter ace of W.W. I. 61 victories.

"I put my bullets into the target as if I placed them there by hand." ~ Capitaine René Paul Fonck,
French Air Service, 75 victories WWI

"Aerial gunnery is 90 percent instinct and 10 percent aim." ~ Captain Frederick C. Libby, RFC

"I fly close to my man, aim well and then of course he falls down."
~ Captain Oswald Boelcke, probably the world's first ace.

Dave (British) takes out The Red Baron (Blair).

Dave reveals his lucky hand at the end of the game. Barely a scratch!