Fight in the Skies

Thumbnail Analysis Game Review

by Don Lowry



This game originated several years back as a set of rules, by Mike Carr, for use with WWI model airplanes, and as such has always been a unique and popular event at the annual wargaming conventions in Lake Geneva, WI. Then about five years ago we published it as the third of our Guidon Games line, and we still have a few of these left (now sold un-boxed with unmounted mapboard sections for $4.50). Now a new edition is being published by Tactical Studies Rules.

It comes in a very attractive 9" x 11" x 1"' box (same as DUNGEON and EMPIRE OF THE PETAL THRONE) which contains: a 24" square, black & white, plasticized paper playing "board" with 1" squares; two 8" x 10" sheets of very thin 1"-square plane counters (Germans red and Allies tan, antiaircraft guns white); an 8 1/2" x 10 3/4", 36-page (plus covers) rule book; four BY x 11" mission log sheets (printed on both sides); five 8 1/2" x 11" sheets of (16 each) maneuver cards; fifteen other 8 1/2' x 11" sheets of light card stock contain various charts, tables, etc; and two 5/8"-cubed white dice. The rule book and box cover are very nicely illustrated by R. Anderson.

F.I.T.S. is, of course, a WWI aerial dog- fighting game, with each counter representing a single plane. All the important types of planes used in WWI are represented. Though the rules considerably pre-date Avalon Hill's RICHTHOFEN's WAR and SPI's FLYING CIRCUS, it has always been, in my opinion, definitely the best of the three. Comparative reviews of the three, by Harold Totten, and a review of RICHTHOFEN's WAR by FITS designer, Mike Carr, appeared in PANZERFAUST #59, still in print, $1.50. The new, TSR version sells for $10.00 and has a few additions, such as anti-aircraft guns and machine guns, more aircraft types, etc. F.I.T.S. is available from Panzerfaust Publications, PO Box 896, Fallbrook, CA 92028.

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