Air wargaming


Air wargaming, like naval wargaming, is a niche specialism within the wider miniatures wargaming hobby. Due to the relatively short time over which aerial combat has developed air wargaming periods tend to break down into three broad periods:
  • World War I – from the earliest air combat to the 1920s
  • World War II – 1930s to the early 1950s
  • "Modern" – the missile age
To this can be added science fiction and "alternate history" such as the various incarnations of Crimson Skies or Victorian Science Fiction such as Aeronef.
Air wargaming is served by a specialist wargames society, AirWarSoc, which was formed by Steve Blease ; AirWarSoc currently exists as an online entity. The development of military flight occurred during the period covered by the Society of Twentieth Century Wargamers and air wargaming articles appear frequently in its quarterly Journal.

Board games

WW1

  • Ace of Aces combat game that simulates a dogfight between World War I aircraft using two booklets
  • Age of Dogfights: WWI
  • Blue Max
  • Dawn Patrol
  • Flying Circus
  • Knights of the Air
  • Richthofen's War
  • Winged Victory
  • Wings
  • ''Wings of War: Dawn of War''

    WW2

  • Achtung Spitfire – Fighting Wings Series –
  • Air Force and the Dauntless expansion pack
  • B-17: Queen of the Skies solitaire game
  • Down in Flames
  • Memoir '44: Air Pack and Memoir '44: New Flight Plan
  • Over the Reich – Fighting Wings Series –
  • Skies Above the Reich GMT Games
  • Spitfire
  • Whistling Death – Fighting Wings Series –
  • Wing Leader GMT Games
  • ''Wings of War: Famous Aces''

    Modern

  • Air Scarmush
  • Air Superiority and the expansion packs Air Strike, Desert Falcon and Eagle of the Gulf
  • Air War
  • Downtown
  • Elusive Victory
  • Flight Leader
  • Fox One card game of modern jet fighter combat
  • Foxbats & Phantoms
  • Hornet Leader Solitaire game
  • Red Storm
  • Rolling Thunder
  • The Speed of Heat
  • Thunderbolt/Apache Leader Solitaire game

    Science fiction and fantasy

  • Interceptor Far Future fighter level combat in the Renegade legion setting
  • Mayday space combat in the Traveller's universe
  • Star Warriors a spinoff of the West End Games' Star Wars role-playing game.

    Miniatures rules

WW1

  • Air War 1918
  • Algernon Pulls It Off
  • Blue Max
  • Dogfight! WW1 Air Combat game for large scale battles using 1/600 or 1/144 miniatures
  • Stringbags
  • Wings of War Miniatures
  • In Clouds of Glory

    WW2

  • Air Battles in Miniature: War-gamers' Guide to Aerial Combat, 1939-45 by Mike Spick – Highly recommended to any air wargamer.
  • Bag the Hun
  • Blazing Skies – Free Rules to Download. 600+ Aircraft covered
  • Blood Red Skies
  • Blue Sky series – currently four modules, Red Sun, Red Star, White Star, Blue Sea, and a fifth, Black Cross, is in production.
  • '
  • Duel of Eagles
  • FLAC: Fast Large Air Combat – a free rule set that is easy to learn and entertaining to play.
  • Instant Bandits!
  • Lacquered Coffins
  • Mustangs and Messerschmitts -- dogfights in 3D using 1/72 scale model aircraft.
  • Scramble! and the Angels 15 supplement
  • Sturmovik Commander – free ruleset, inspired by Forgeworld's Aeronautica Imperialis. It has modular construction, which allows to expand it by optional rules or squadron lists.
  • ' - Easy ruleset, quick to play, highly detailed 1/200 metal miniatures.

    Modern

  • Air War C21
  • Bandits 2!
  • Birds of Prey
  • Clash of Sabres
  • Fox Two
  • Fox Two Reheat
  • Instant Thunder!
  • A game of Modern Air Combat
  • Mig Killers
  • ''Missile Threat''

    Science fiction and fantasy

  • 5150: Fighter Command space combat in the THW's 5150 Universe
  • Aeronautica Imperialis Warhammer 40k themed aerial combat
  • Aeronef Victorian Science Fiction
  • Battlestar Galactica - Starship Battles Fighter combat in the Battlestar Galactica universe
  • Crimson Skies alternate history air combat in a fragment America
  • Hard Vacuum World War II rocket combat
  • Leviathan Far Future capital ship combat in the Renegade legion setting
  • Mercenary Air Squadron
  • Star Wars: Silent Death "Silent Death" rules for the Star Wars universe
  • Star Wars: X-Wing Miniatures.

    Online rules

As with most wargaming genres and periods there are a large number of free air wargaming rules available on the internet. Some of these can be found on the Air Wargames Online website.
A Blue Max online website is found at www.youplay.it