Doug Edwards - 07:46pm Apr 11, 2003 PST (#16377 of 16378) What do you mean, 'what do I mean'? Since when do I have to know what I'm talking about? OOTW – ‘Achtung Spitfire’ by Clash of Arms The upcoming game ‘Whistling Death’ from CoA got my interest. I figured I’d give this a try first. The price ($25) is hard to beat - if I don’t like it I can sell it for a small loss. Good things are posted in CSW about the ‘Fighting Wings’ game series from some of the sharper knives in the drawer here, so . . . I expected this to be a detailed game. It is. Rules comprise 41 pages of the 72 page rules/scenario book. Programmed instruction is the order of the day. Learning to fly comes first. About 9 pages of rules get you flying and to the first training scenario. 2 more pages and another training scenario follow. 2 more pages complete flight training. Learning to fight comes next. 8 pages of rules bring you to the next training scenario. 2 more pages get you to where you can play all 28 introductory (specific and historical) and general (unlimited number, custom designed by you given a table of available aircraft by time period) combat scenarios. More rules get you into missions (which involve 2 higher levels of play, tactical & operational), and air to ground combat. Aircraft characteristics are broken down into great detail with sub-types getting their own individual aircraft data card. An added bonus is that fans of the game series have created additional scenarios and aircraft data cards – the CSW series folder has link posted. I only gave the material a quick look but there are lots of less well known, but militarily significant aircraft types and scenarios. The rules have some abstract game terms that deal mainly with speed, acceleration, deceleration and a few game-specific acronyms. For the most part they are written in the vocabulary of a pilot. That’s what I love about the presentation of the game – it doesn’t get hung up in its own techno-jargon. Any knowledge you have of slips, skids, wingovers, and deflection shooting is directly transferable. Prior knowledge of such stuff isn’t a prerequisite (explanations are provided), but helpful. Detail abounds, meeting and sometimes exceeding the levels of PC combat flight-sims. Stuff like drop tanks that don’t always drop when you tell them to, climb performance that deteriorates with altitude incrementally and uniquely for each aircraft type, etc. My only gripe with the game so far is minor - aircraft configuration determines stall and spin characteristics, while individual aircraft type has no bearing at all. In game terms, a stalled aircraft may enter a spin based on a die roll affected by generic factors (pilot skill, throttle setting, # of engines, slatted wings, …). Spin recovery is by similar mechanics. My reading of pilot accounts and individual aircraft flight manuals indicate that different aircraft types of identical configuration behave differently. For example, under equal conditions (pilot skill, altitude, attitude, airspeed, power setting, external load, whatever), it’s my understanding that a stalled Spit IA was more likely to spin than a stalled Hurricane IA due to higher wing loading (and other factors) and required more altitude to recover. The aircraft are treated identically in game terms. Thinking ahead to ‘Whistling Death’, I believe that Vought’s Corsair was placarded against intentional spins (requiring 6-7,000 feet to recover if at all), while P-40E-N models predictably recovered within a few rotations and a few thousand feet - spinning a P-40 was a routine thing. My suggestion would be that an aircraft type specific die roll modifier might be in order. Maybe it’s already been done. It’s not a show-stopper, I’m just surprised it wasn’t addressed given the rich detail given to other aspects of flight dynamics. I’m anxious to try this game because the rules seem geared to facilitate learning. The variety of aircraft and wealth of detail is tremendous and really turn me on. I won’t be able to play this with my kids as with GMT’s DIF series, but there are some big kids playing this PBEM, so who knows… I see there will be some changes to the system for ‘Whistling Death’, but the topic and substance of this game along with the supplemental material links in the ‘Fighting Wings’ folder really have my enthusiasm up. Evidently the new WD rules are still compatible with older aircraft data cards, which is a big plus. I found Mike Traynor’s posts on the game series very informative and got encouragement from Alan Krause. Thanks to you both.