Warbirds in Miniature
by Trent Burg and Aerie Games
This month we examine the Warbirds in Miniature game, along with the AireMats, AireStands, and Minaiture Airplanes offered at
www.warbirdsinminiature.com. Grodnik
graciously allowed me to use a lot of the photos that they are going to be using for their store in my reviews.
FLASH TRAFFIC: Warbirds in Miniature is now available in an unbound format for $20.00. (Bound in a 3-ring binder it is $27.95).
Warbirds in Miniature by Aerie Games : $20.95 - 27.95
Some of you may be familiar with the absolutely wonderful game from GDW
by Phillip M. Hall and Allan Wright : Blue Max, Dogfights over France.
Blue Max is a game depicting World War I aerial combat. It features maneuver sheets
for aircraft and a counter-drawing system for damage resolution. A really great game.
The innovations spawned in Blue Max are what fueled the creation of Warbirds in Miniature. While Blue Max was
the inspiring force behind the game design of Warbirds in Miniature, there are many redesigned elements
that make it a truly new game. The hit tables, damage charts and maneuver sheets are close enough so that a
player of Blue Max will catch on quickly, however, I have been caught several times trying to maneuver my Hurricane
like a SPAD and have ended up a heap of scrap metal.
Here is what Phillip Hall has to say about Warbirds in Miniature:
'In 1982 GDW published Blue Max, Dogfights over France. A quick, easy to learn, World War I dogfight game. From that time to this there have been many attempts to upgrade the system to World War II, mostly unsuccessful. Warbirds in Miniature does for World War II air gaming what Blue Max did for World War I air game enthusiasts. Using the basic Blue Max system, Trent Burg has created a clean, accurate rendition of World War II in the air. Everything is here; from dive bombing and strafing, to escort and intercept, in an easy to learn and fun to play system. It is my choice for World War II air gaming, and sure to become yours.'
Warbirds in Miniature depicts air to air combat throughout the entire scope of world war 2.
The rulebook for Warbirds in Miniature is well laid out and not loaded with a lot of fluff. I was actually able to understand
almost everything in it on the first read through. So many games require two or three reads before you can really play, but these
rules are straight forward, clear, and well-put together. The play-aids such as Aircraft sheets (there are 60 of them included in
PDF format on a CD that come with the rulebook), and charts are, again, well laid out.
One of the great things about the maneuver sheets are the icons that they have created for maneuvers and traverse for guns. It is almost like
you are looking at a pictograph of where your plane can go or how it can fire. It took me a second to see it, but it almost looks like a flight-control
joystick. Well done guys!
The only thing that I feel is missing from the game are some scenarios and/or campaigns. That having been said, warbirdsinminiature.com has an online forum where
the designers are posting campaigns, random generators, additional aircraft sheets (some jets as well), etc., really more that you would get in a basic ruleset anyway.
This game definitely gets a 4.5 rating.
AireStands by Aerie Games : $6.00-$7.00
The AireStands put out by Aerie Games on the warbirdsinminiature.com website are a nice innovation. The Airestands come in two sizes:
Fighter and Bomber. The fighter and Bomber stands are identical except for the base that holds the stand itself. The Bomber base
is bigger and designed to hold the weight of a 1/200 scale bomber without it tipping over. The fighter stand runs $6.00, the bomber stand $7.00.
The stand bases are weighted and come with altitude shafts that you add or subtract based upon the height a particular aircraft is flying at.
The flexi-tip is a simple yet brilliant innovation that allows you to bank, climb, or dive your aircraft by just applying a little pressure in the
direction that you want your aircraft to go.
I thought I would be a wise-guy and tested my stands with some 1/144 World War I aircraft. While i had to use the bomber bases to keep them balanced,
the AireStands performed very nicely indeed. I also threw a SPace Battle into the mix using the AireStands and was amazed at how versatile they are: I
actually sketched out some rules for 3D Full Thrust that seem to be working nicely using these stands.
The only thing you need to do to prep your aircraft is to drill a small hole in the bottom and glue a set screw into the hole and wait for the glue to dry.
I used to use clips and stands with tick marks on them, but am switching all my altitude-level games to use this product. The required time necessary to drill a hole for a pin
and a set screw were the exact same. I even re-drilled and set-screwed a couple of aircraft that I already had pinned (and painted) and it took me no time at all to do it.
I would give them a 5 for this product, but for the lack of bright colored bands indicating the altitude level (my eyes are going). A VERY solid 4.5! Note: The numbers on the bases are something I added.
AireMats by Aerie Games : $47.50-$100.00
The AireMats that warbirdsinminiature.com puts out are absolutely beautiful, and well worth the price. They come in two sizes: large and small with the large being 4.5 x 9 feet and the small at 4.5 x 5 feet.
Each 3.5 inch hex is painted on the mats and are clearly defined with a nice hex-pattern design. The nice thing about the AireMat is that you have enough room to really maneuver the aircraft.
For years I played on my Battle Masters mats,
but after playing on three different colors of the AireMats I decided that they are a must have. Now I am waiting for mine to come in the mail (I can't wait).
I have even heard rumors that they will custom make mats for you (I am thinking Space Battles here! or a battle on the planet H*th against the dreaded Emp*re and those nasty walker-things)
Without exception these are the nicest mats I have ever played on. They are not thick felt, so you get a steady base of table on which to set your figs (ie - the figs don't rock back and forth, VERY important for an aircraft game). The hexes are big
enough to fit 3-4 aircraft at a time. Sometimes you can see a seam on the large size mats/crease where they are folded but it really is a minor issue, and I have yet to see any mat successfully deal with this issue.
The ocean mats are absolutely beautiful, and they have just released an awesome pattern for Ground Green.
I have to give these mats a 5! They are amazing.
New AireMat by Aerie Games
My jaw dropped when I saw the pics for this in the online store for www.warbirdsinminiature.com. The color is excellent, the shades of green make it look like foliage
or slight variations in terrain.
I absolutely love my 'Ground Green' AireMat, but this new 'Green' AireMat is fantastic. The best part about this AireMat is that there is no seam at all. The only crease you will ever get
in it is where the cloth is folded. I will have to see if I can hang mine up.
The AireMats that Warbirds produces come in two different sizes, and they will even make a custom colored or sized mat for you. If you haven't already, I would check out
their Ocean mat as well.
I have to give this AireMat a 5, and it makes me wish I had a scale that went higher, this is a great AireMat.
Warbirds in Miniature Online Store
Attached to the WarbirdsInMiniature.com website is an online store that sells their rules, AireStands, AireMats, and miniatures by Noble. The miniatures they have/will have available are the Noble Air200 line (1:200) and they will soon add Scotia/Grendel (1:300).
Normally, I just cringe when looking at an online miniatures store, but in my opinion, these guys are on the right track. The store is based on the osCommerce engine, and is very easy to navigate. You can write reviews, send the links to your friends,
create and save your shopping cart, all the goodies that should be there are.
My favorite part is how they are displaying the miniatures: They have a picture of the miniature next to a quarter as it comes right out of the box. They stack that above a schematic top down view
of the aircraft so you can see the relationship. I understand that they are working on a painted pic to place beneath the other two pices for each of the aircraft.
As far as I know, I have never seen this done for minis before. I think they have a neat idea, and want to see more (especially the colored pics).
I have to give the store a 3.5: good selection, nice layout, descriptions, pics, etc. I would like to see more payment options than Paypal, and I am sure they will flesh it out more in the future.
Warbirds in Miniature Overall Rating
It was a pleasure to review this game, AireStands, AireMats and Miniature Airplanes online store. Very rarely do we get treated to an all-in-one combination.
These guys have got a great game, quality product and a good web-presence. Good luck
Warbirds! We give Warbirds in Miniature a rating of 4.5, and a job well done!
Johann