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Friday 22 October 2021

Battle of Britain Game

Some months ago I purchased the Plastic Soldier Company (PSC) game, Battle of Britain. It was going cheap and I had often thought about a game covering air combat in 1940.  This was my opportunity.

For me, the game was spoilt by the model aircraft which were quite distorted and of a nasty green and pale grey colour soft plastic. I managed to get some new aircraft from PSC made of later hard plastic that does not bend and I set about painting them.  This took a while, but I have now completed enough aircraft to play the game.

The rules are quite complex (for me anyway) involving quite a lot of simple record keeping, using markers and charts.  It took me a while to get my head around all of the rules but there are some good videos on line that cover most of the basics.

The game is not really an air combat wargame, it is rather a strategic exercise of managing resources and getting the right combat power in place at the right time.  After a couple of false starts I began to get the hang of it.  The model aircraft are purely representational and flights are made up of several types and numbers of aircraft a listed on cards. Luftwaffe missions are also card driven. Combat takes place between these flights and involves the use of radar, bombing runs, fuel management and repairing facilities and aircraft.  The game is played as four stand alone scenarios, the first being the battle for the Channel, which where I am.

Overall I am enjoying the game which can be played solo, but would be much better with a live opponent.

This is what it looks like at the initial set up phase:


 


11 comments:

  1. Genuinely I would be tempted to cut down broom handles to push the pieces around the board.

    Even as I type this I can hear my wife's voice saying "You sad, sad man".

    Looks good now they are all painted up.

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    1. Actually, the same thought crossed my mind; do away with the plastic planes and have those little markers used in the ops rooms.

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  2. Apropos of nothing, I think I had an earlier version of this specifically for solitaire play? Good game as I recall. The planes are nice but I’d definitely go for the broom handles and the blocks. Maybe wear a tin hat too whilst playing it…lol.

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    1. I think it would be better with two players, but the cards do allow for it to be played solo with a bit of rule adjustment.

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  3. I've had this game for a couple of years but have only tried to play it (solo) on two occasions. I really want to like the game but the set-up and record keeping does detract from the enjoyment. You are absolutely right though about having little ops room blocks, they missed a trick there!

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    1. I agree about the record keeping aspect and when playing solo it is easy to miss something as each turn consists of many parts.

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  4. Try RAF by West End Games. Solo BoB game (see what I did there?), card driven, absolutely brilliant.

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    1. I will take a look as I am unlikely to find another BoB to play with!

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    2. Cheers Jeffers - that’s the one I was banging on about!

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  5. It is good to know that it's soloable Bob, I'll have to get my copy into action.

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    1. Hi Paul, yes, as mentioned above you need to adapt the rules slightly, keeping the Mission cards and Flight cards face down for both the RAF and the Germans. This detracts a little from the strategy aspects as things become more random. That said, I found that it worked OK.

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