Tomorrow, Thursday the 21st of May, is the 80th Anniversary of the Battle of Arras. That’s the 1940 battle with British & French forces counter-attacking the Germans during the Battle of France; not the 1918 battle of the same name.
There are a few board games/scenarios on the subject. A recently published board game on the subject is Counter-Attack: The Battle of Arras, 1940 published by Revolution Games. BGG link. There is a Vassal module and I recently created a Tabletop Simulator module for the game. In these current, ummm difficult, times playing online is the only way I can get my historical board gaming aka Consim aka wargaming fix. I have been experimenting slash playing with the creation of modules for the Tabletop Simulator game engine.
Anyone else planning on commemorating the anniversary of the Battle of Arras? Myself and some regular wargaming mates are playing tomorrow.
If you would like to know a little more about the battle, David Willey, curator of the (Bovington) Tank Museum has a nice long Youtube video on the battle.
Tanks and aircraft are two things where I adore the minutia of detail. The subtleties between opposing machines, and even between different versions of the same machine, have captivated me since I was a small boy. I like games that include that detail, yet without the detail becoming a drag. I want to play the game without having to fight the game system or the laws of physics.
The first air combat game I played that had oodles of detail was Air Force by Avalon Hill. All of those lovely detailed and colorful data cards on a myriad of aircraft. I ogled those data cards for all of their tech-laden goodness. I loved the detail even though I sucked at the game.
Data card for the Fw 190D aircraft from the Air Force game published by Avalon HillAircraft data card for the Fw 190D-9 aircraft from the Wing Leader: Supremacy 1943-1945 game
The game that re-awoke that desire for detail in air combat was the Wing Leader series of ww2 air combat. This game, and many other innovative air combat games was designed by Lee Brimmicombe-Wood and published by GMT Games.
In the Wing Leader series the detail was there without the cost in complexity. Complexity is often the first casualty of a highly detailed game. Time and complexity can mean you spend hours fighting a few minutes of elapsed time. The revelation for me was that the details between the different aircraft still counted, yet so did the tactical factors such as position, height, pilot experience, and aircrew training. The scale used was the difference. It was no longer individual aircraft zooming around the sky, it was flights and squadrons of aircraft.
The Wing Leader series had enough aircraft detail to satisfy that itch and the aircrew themselves have enough variables to get me rooting for a individual Ace or favorite squadron. Along with a myriad of different aircraft types and marks there are were tactical choices that I had not seen in other games. The vertical aspect now mattered more than ever before without the mechanics of diving and climbing becoming a bind; The quality and doctrine of the aircrew mattered. Good tactics seemed to pay off at last. Boom and zoom attacks were so much easier to perform without worrying about throttle settings or wing loading. That was perfect for me.
I have to include a shout out toJ.D. Webster for the Fighting Wings series etc. This is great for the aircraft tech-head. By the way, I suck at this type of air combat game. It was like playing Air Force all over again. I would always overshot the target due to a misjudged turn and then present a perfect target for the enemy. The lesson seemed to be that I am better at commanding a few squadrons rather than individual aircraft. For individual aircraft combat I think I should stick to the simpler air combat games such as Down In Flames or Wings Of Glory.
Through Wing Leader, my dreams of ww2 aerial glory can come true at last. From squadrons of Spits and Hurricanes piloted by the plucky RAF, to hordes of Me-109s and Focke- Wulfs diving into formations of B-17s. The Wing Leader series has it all, except for the Avro Anson of course.
It is only natural that the board gaming hobby annoys me at times. In an attempt to vent, and to poke fun, at the hobby that I hold so dear I have created a number of Silly Board Game Memes. They are to entertain and to annoy people a little too. These are just a product of my over active brain mulling over the quirks and idiosyncrasies of the games that I love and the people who enjoy them.
Ventura County Boardgamers 
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