OT: Air games

I've been on the lookout for a good air-to-air miniatures game that
*does*not* use hexes and isn't horribly complex. For a long, long time.

I've yet to find one... The "choose your maneuver" variety games (Blue
Max, Crimson Skies etc.) are ok, but they all use hexes. I've been
toying
with the idea of converting them to movement templates...

If you don't have a problem with hexes, you could just take a boardgame
and add miniatures. E.g. Avalon Hill's Mustangs (IIRC) is ok. AH also
has
a far more compl... eh, realistic air game, but I forget the name. There
are others, but I've no love for cardboard or hexes so I haven't
researched them too well.

Practically all of the air games suffer from one flaw: They're "move
first, then see if someone is in your sights". I.e. you can easily, and
often do, fly right past enemy planes without getting a chance to fire.
I
really don't like this, but YMMV.

The BEST dogfighting game I've seen is... GMT's Rise of the Luftwaffe.
Highly recommended (it's a card game, though).

Ofcourse, you might be able to get away with a somewhat modified FT.
Wait! Bear me out on this: 
 Cinematic movement
 invent a couple of special maneuvers like Immelman
 add max speed and maybe max altitude
 Strictly straight ahead guns only (maybe 1-2" wide firing path)
 Maybe restructure turn order to allow passing shots
 Add modifiers for firing aspect (very important in real a2a) -- you
could
  use shield rules for this...
 Tailing rules
 Throw away all the junk that's not appropriate, e.g. FTL, fighter bays
  etc.

 Hmmm... Hmmmm.... HMMMM.... sounds like an idea for a RoPeCon demo
game...

 I'm eagerly awaiting Aeronef, but Wessex has distribution problems
at least in Europe (read: they don't do credit cards, nor do they
have retailers who do...)

 Sky Galleons.... as a long time John Carter fan, I really like the
idea.
Unfortunately, that just about sums up what's good in the game. Oh, the
research into period naval guns is useful too...

 Rules writing is unclear, the system is clunky and bug-ridden, and it
often leads to boring battles, as it is rather easy to strip vessels of
combat effectiveness compared to actually downing them. 

 Again, you could redo it in FT...

-- 
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