Joe L. writes,

9 November saw our intrepid wargamers battling in the skies over Flanders in remembrance of the 99th anniversary of the battle.  Using the Wings of Glory rule set and models, with a few home-grown rules for limited ammunition, fuel, and injuries thrown in, we saw one British Squadron of Sopwith Camels take on an opposing German Squadron flying Fokker Dr I's. 

Battle was quick and bloody, with two aircraft being splashed on some of the initial shots.  More maneuvering and more damage later saw three British aircraft and two German aircraft shot down before both sides retired to lick their wounds, repair their aircraft, and return another day.  That being said, Andy somehow managed to avoid being shot down, although one of his two aircraft was riddled with holes.
 
Wings of Glory is produced by Ares Games.  Each player typically controls a single aircraft.  The rules are simple, with three levels of play, plus optional rules.  The World War I "Duel Pack" is all you need to get into the game with the rules and basic accessories.  There are currently 42 different models of aircraft to choose from, and they span the length of the war.  Fun, easy to learn, a lot longer to master, with no two games ever being the same.

We had a great time on August 3rd at the King's Head pub in the Westchase area of Houston.  Stephen hosted and ran through another play test of his Guadalcanal campaign rules for Axis & Allies War at Sea.

Please go here to see his full report, and more photos.

In July, at our monthly game night, Rob hosted a game of Check Your Six! at Asgard, in central Houston.  Rob sums up what happened.

"This was a play test of my Marianas Turkey Shoot scenario over Guam for Historicon the following week. Check You Six! Rules. Great game, minor Japanese win but they had six Zekes against four Hellcats.

Game was all about the Japanese landing their bombers safely. First wave cut to shreds by Hellcats, massive fur ball over Orote Field. Lots of AAA and some friendly fire. Zekes got the bonus objective (SOC Seagull).

​Will be interesting to see played again with full sides of eight Hellcats and Zekes. I can throw in ResCap Corsairs if too many Hellcats go down early."

The April 2017 game night offered me a chance to run a Check Your 6! scenario I wrote several years ago and never got the chance to play test.  It stars Roald Dahl, author of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, James and the Giant Peach, Matilda, and many other classic childrens' books.  Roald was a RAF fighter ace, scoring five confirmed victories over Vichy French and German aircraft in the Greek and Levant theaters in the Middle East in 1941.​  The Gremlins is a book he wrote in cooperation with Walt Disney in 1943.
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