Wings of Glory Rules and Accessories Pack

I was given a £25 Amazon voucher as a leaving present from work before the holidays, so I've blown it on a Wings of Glory rules and accessories pack. This will update my existing Wings of War collection and allow me to cross reference my existing rulebooks with the new, improved version. I don't think much has actually changed but there are some new rules and some slight modifications, so it is handy to have them all in one place. It's a decent pack as well, stuffed full of cards, counters, scenarios and other goodies. I might even find time for a game tomorrow!

Atlantic Fleet: Battle of the River Plate

I've played several of the historical scenarios from Atlantic Fleet menu but this one is my favourite so far. I've only managed to sink the Graf Spee on one out of three attempts, as in the other two I lost HMS Exeter to plunging gunfire, leaving HMS Ajax and Achilles popping away against the pocket battleship to little effect.

The key to taking out this monster is to narrow the range at full speed ad straight ahead, with the occasional zig zag to confuse the enemy, until the 8'' guns on Exeter can really do some damage. If you are lucky, you can hit the steering, the propulsion or a gun turret, which allows you to scoot about in a blind spot with the light cruisers and split the Graf Spee's fire with your superior numbers.

I haven't yet managed to get close enough to launch torpedoes but I suspect that would be a real game changer for the British. A great little scenario and worth a few replays. I've also been playing around with the Sinking Courageous scenario, which is great fun and pretty difficult for the Royal Navy, especially if U-29 gets right up close to the carrier before launching her torpedoes.

Atlantic Fleet: Battle of the Denmark Strait

I splashed out on the full version of Atlantic Fleet this evening and have just re-fought the Battle of the Denmark Strait. This time the Royal Navy scored a total victory over the Kriegsmarine, with the Prinz Eugen battered into a burning wreck by HMS Hood, which managed to repair some heavy damage inflicted by the combined guns of German warships. 

The Bismarck then received the full broadside firepower of HMS Prince of Wales and HMS Hood, losing her A and B Turrets, propulsion and steering. This meant she was pretty much dead in the water and a sitting duck for the British.  I enjoyed this scenario a lot and will be playing some more over the next few days. Great game!

Atlantic Fleet Lite

I've been playing this over the holidays. I'm not a big fan of digital games but this one is great and an improvement on Pacific Fleet. Good gameplay, great graphics and some decent historical scenarios in the Lite version to wet your whistle. I think I might even splash out on the full version.

Happy Christmas

Le Chasseur X Wing

I was in a branch of FNAC today, which is like the French version of Waterstones, when I spotted a Star Wars display including some X Wing Miniatures. I decided to add another X Wing to the collection, even though all the cards are in French. This makes very little difference to the usefulness of the set, as I have plenty of alternative cards to use. 

I think I may also use this one as the basis of a re-paint but only with some subtle changes in the colour scheme rather than a total over painting of the model. I've read some helpful online tutorials on re-painting X Wing Miniatures, so there should be no problem giving it a try. I'm not bad at painting 1/285th scale aircraft from scratch, so this should be a piece of cake?

Wings of Glory Forum

I've been out of the loop with this great little game ever since it changed from Wings of War to its current incarnation as Wings of Glory, with its rather unfortunate acronym. I never really understood why they changed the title, as the original name seemed fine to me?

Anyway, I have played the original many times, although never got round to using the balloon rules or altitude system. I really enjoyed the simplicity of the basic game and the sprog loves it too, especially as he regularly blasts me out of the sky.

I'm a big WW1 fan so the WW2 version never really appealed to me, being more than catered for in this respect by Bag the Hun. However, my original WoW boxed sets have also been gathering dust of late, so I need something to give me a kick start.

To remedy this lack of gaming, I thought it would be a good idea to sign up to the very active Aerodrome forum. I also have some plans up my sleeve that require a more in-depth look at ground strafing, parachutes and clocks...all very interesting and the sort of thing that the forum can help to hammer out!

Tally Ho!

Rogue One

I went to see this with the boys this afternoon and, although the dialogue was in French, I thoroughly enjoyed it. The plot was a bit tricky to decipher at times and it took a while to get going, but the ending was brilliant! If you haven't seen it I won't spoil the surprise but it's well worth a trip to the cinema and much better than the last retread.