A good game for what it is - casual, tactical adaptation of board game about two small flights of WWI planes trying to outmaneuver and shoot down one another. It is *not* "Civilisation with planes" or anything close; people who saw Sid Meiers name and came here looking for another long strategy full of management and compelling player to play "one more turn" before quiting are in wrong place. Ace Patrol campaign is more a series of scenarions each about 15 minutes long, connected by campaign mechanism just complex enough to give sense of continuity. It is not a faithful representation of WW I, either, but I'd say more faithful than not :).

The Good: The game mechanics make sound representation of planes behaviour in the air; most of tactics and moves you need to win would make sense in historical fights (if not always between planes presented). You don't have feeling that you are playing abstract board game that uses plane icons to represent pieces. Despite it being a turn game, the feeling of movement is always present. I'd even say I've learned a thing or two about Boom and Zoom tactics when playing a squadron of SPADs against Dreideckers - knowing it needs patience and discipline from pilot is one thing, seeing how many turns it takes in turn game is quite another. The short but satisfying scenarios mean you won't spend long hours over this game, at least not continously, but makes it good game for short breaks while doing other things, especially office procrastination :) . It does not mean it can't be played for hours - happened to me - but you don't need hours of free time to play it.

The Bad: While the way game represents the planes characteristics and behaviour in the air is mostly sound, putting the roll rate and sustained turn rate in single "maneuvrability" stat (which seem to govern how easily plane changes direction, IE roll rate) leads to some breaks from realism. For instance, the way to defeat Albatros with "maneuvrable" Sopwith Camel is not to outturn it, but to outscissor it - historically, it might be the best way to snach a defeat from maw of victory :). It's still a possible situation between two different planes and Ace Patrol is a board game that is not supposed to be realistic, but it still ruins the immersion.

The Ugly: Each of four featured nations (Frenchm Britons, Americans and Germans) has choice od six plane types to fly, and the way planes have been chosen is idiosyncratic to say the least. The decision to shoehorn Americans (who skipped most of tech race of 1916-1918 and did not have own early plane types) as full-blown faction is probably to blame here; we have French flying planes they designed but never used (Hanriot HD.1, Nieuport.28) , Americans flying iconic French and British planes they barely used (SPAD 7, Sopwith Triplane, Sopwith Strutter - to add insult to injury, N.28 was widley used by Americans while french made more use of Triplane than Americans). Thanks to campaign mechanics, sometimes we see unhistorical fights like F.kker Eindeckers vs Bristol Fighter. It still makes a fun game, but much less immersive than it could be.

A good game for what it is - casual, tactical adaptation of board game about two small flights of WWI planes trying to outmaneuver and shoot down one another. It is *not* "Civilisation with planes" or anything close; people who saw Sid Meiers name and came here looking for another long strategy full of management and compelling player to play "one more turn" before quiting are in wrong place. Ace Patrol campaign is more a series of scenarions each about 15 minutes long, connected by campaign mechanism just complex enough to give sense of continuity. It is not a faithful representation of WW I, either, but I'd say more faithful than not :). The Good: The game mechanics make sound representation of planes behaviour in the air; most of tactics and moves you need to win would make sense in historical fights (if not always between planes presented). You don't have feeling that you are playing abstract board game that uses plane icons to represent pieces. Despite it being a turn game, the feeling of movement is always present. I'd even say I've learned a thing or two about Boom and Zoom tactics when playing a squadron of SPADs against Dreideckers - knowing it needs patience and discipline from pilot is one thing, seeing how many turns it takes in turn game is quite another. The short but satisfying scenarios mean you won't spend long hours over this game, at least not continously, but makes it good game for short breaks while doing other things, especially office procrastination :) . It does not mean it can't be played for hours - happened to me - but you don't need hours of free time to play it. The Bad: While the way game represents the planes characteristics and behaviour in the air is mostly sound, putting the roll rate and sustained turn rate in single "maneuvrability" stat (which seem to govern how easily plane changes direction, IE roll rate) leads to some breaks from realism. For instance, the way to defeat Albatros with "maneuvrable" Sopwith Camel is not to outturn it, but to outscissor it - historically, it might be the best way to snach a defeat from maw of victory :). It's still a possible situation between two different planes and Ace Patrol is a board game that is not supposed to be realistic, but it still ruins the immersion. The Ugly: Each of four featured nations (Frenchm Britons, Americans and Germans) has choice od six plane types to fly, and the way planes have been chosen is idiosyncratic to say the least. The decision to shoehorn Americans (who skipped most of tech race of 1916-1918 and did not have own early plane types) as full-blown faction is probably to blame here; we have French flying planes they designed but never used (Hanriot HD.1, Nieuport.28) , Americans flying iconic French and British planes they barely used (SPAD 7, Sopwith Triplane, Sopwith Strutter - to add insult to injury, N.28 was widley used by Americans while french made more use of Triplane than Americans). Thanks to campaign mechanics, sometimes we see unhistorical fights like F.kker Eindeckers vs Bristol Fighter. It still makes a fun game, but much less immersive than it could be.