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Dogfight! (2016)

Dogfight! is a quick and easy to play aerial combat game with a focus on realism and simplicity. It includes rules for zeppelins, bombers, and reconnaissance, as well as all the fighter aircraft of the 2 main factions (the Allies and the Central Powers) Fighter combat and dogfighting is the main focus of the gameplay, but bombing and recon photos give points towards victory at the end of the game, and so they also factor into gameplay, depending on the style of squadron roster the players decide to write up. The war is divided into 3 periods, early, mid and late war, to represent the vast difference in the technology as the war progressed. The rules cover the variety of fighter maneuvers like immelmans and high yo-yos, as well as basic maneuvers like turns and climbing/diving. Altitude and Airspeed are both tracked with the use of 2 dice on the base of each aircraft. This system of tracking the altitude and speed allows 3D battles to be fought on a flat tabletop, all while maintaining simplicity and without the need for fancy extending stands.

Pilot skill is also a large element of the game, with lower quality pilots being likely to stall and crash if they try to pull off advanced fighter maneuvers, and with ace pilots having unnervingly good skills and the ability to turn on the spot and return fire, provided they’re in a capable enough aircraft (like Voss’ final battle in his Fokker Dr.I). There are 5 different classes of pilot, and each one costs a different amount in points when building a Squadron Roster. Squadron Rosters are composed quite free-form, with the player selecting the pilots and aircraft he will use, and staying under the points limit. This means one could choose to go for a large amount of low quality pilots in cheap aircraft, or 1 or 2 good quality pilots, or a mixture of the two. Air defense from the ground and observation balloons are also represented, as well as a random event system which can be implemented, and involves infantry on the ground, distractions, and reinforcements arriving mid game.

The game is aimed at 1-10 aircraft per side, but there is no upper limit, and rules are provided for squadron-based play and larger games up to 50 or so aircraft per side.

1/600 miniatures are recommended, but 1/144 scale would work too. The Author uses 1/600 miniatures from the Tumbling Dice website, which are recommended and have a good range of aircraft and sturdy build.