WW1 Wings of Glory is back! Take off with the “knights of the air”

Year 1917. While a last-ditch battle is fought in the mud of the trenches, colorful airplanes fly in the skies across Europe, piloted by men of exceptional skill and valor. Take command of one of these early flying machines, and gallantly fight as a true “knight of the air” in WW1 Wings of Glory, a popular tabletop WW1 aerial combat game which next year will celebrate its 10^th anniversary. Fast paced and easy to learn, Wings of Glory uses cards and miniatures to represent the airplanes and their maneuvers, allowing the players to fly with the main airplanes of WW1 and the most famous aces of the aviation, like Manfred von Richthofen, Frank Luke Jr., Max Immelmann, William Barker, Ernst Udet, and Eddie Rickenbacker.

In Wings of Glory players control one or more airplanes, taking to the skies to engage their opponents in aerial duels, or trying to accomplish a specific mission, such as recon, escort, or bombing. The game presents beautiful pre-painted models, representing historical airplanes, with a special gaming base with all its key stats, such as maneuverability, firepower, arcs of fire, and damage resistance. Rules are easy to learn, and you can set up your first game in minutes; the clever system of “maneuver decks” gives the game a high level of accuracy without need for complicated rules and tables.

Each plane uses different decks of maneuver cards to represent its movement capabilities, and different decks of fire cards to take into account its fighting effectiveness and to keep track of damage. To maneuver a plane, each player chooses a card from his deck, places it in front of the base of his miniature, and “fly”. Everybody plans and execute maneuvers simultaneously, and after maneuvering, players check if they have a line of sight to their target, draw the appropriate fire counters indicated by the airplane firepower, and compare them to the resistance of the target. Special damage is indicated by the counters and their effects are known to the players suffering them, but not to the ones which inflicted them, with a simple yet interesting “fog of war” effect.

WW1 Wings of Glory is now recognized as a classic, with a huge player community spanning across the world. Its introductory sets, Duel Packs and Rules and Accessories Pack were out of stock for a while, but they are now finally coming back to stores.

The WW1 Wings of Glory Duel Pack is the perfect starting point to the game for beginners. This ready-to-play set with two airplane models, rules, and accessories, is offered in two versions: Fokker Dr.I vs Sopwith Camel, presenting the iconic fighters piloted by the German ace Manfred Von Richthofen, the famous Red Baron, and the Royal Air Force ace Arthur Roy Brown, and Albatros D.Va vs Spad XIII, including the deadly biplanes piloted by Paul Baumer and Frank Luke Jr..

In addition to the assembled and painted airplane models, with their special gaming bases, each Duel Pack includes maneuver and damage cards, counters, two measuring rulers, and two airplane consoles. It also includes Target, Trench, and Anti-Aircraft Machine Gun cards, to allow playing a number of different scenarios. The rulebook presents Basic and Standard rules, the most popular optional rules and basic scenarios, allowing beginners to quickly become experts of the game.

The Duel Pack is suited for two players each controlling one airplane. From this starting point. it is possible to scale up to play larger battles, adding different planes and advanced rules. The WW1 Wings of Glory line includes more than 35 different fighters in Airplane Packs – multiple versions of each model are available - with different painting schemes and sometimes variants of gaming stats - allowing the players to fly squadrons of similar airplanes. In addition, several bombers are featured in Special Packs, to add even more variation and scenario options.

After learning to play with the Duel Pack, gamers can expand their playing options with the WW1 Wings of Glory Rules & Accessories Pack, a complete compendium for experienced players as well as newcomers looking for a more realistic game. This pack includes all the rules and game materials needed to play – except the miniatures. The rulebook is organized in a way that makes it easy to start to play and to increase the mastery of the rules in logical and gradual steps, allowing players to easily customize the game according to their preferences and experience. The pack also features a booklet with several different scenarios to play and a useful table to add more airplanes to a scenario, allowing to choose opponents with matching capabilities.

With these essential products back on the shelves, aspiring Wings of Glory “pilots” can choose their favorite way to start playing: pick up one or two WW1 Duel Packs, or jump directly to the complete gaming experience with the WW1 Rules & Accessories Pack and two or more Airplane Packs out of the extensive range manufactured by Ares? There has never been a better time to take off and fly across the skies in the age of the Knights of the Air!