Essentially, this is a WWII air miniatures game with cardboard miniatures provided. It is published by Lou Zocchi/Gamescience. The format is very reminiscent of the same publisher's Alien Space. It is an 8 1/2"x 11" booklet with all the rules (in very small print) on the back and inside covers. The rest of the booklet consists of one 11"x17" center-spread sheet of airplane counters, black on red, one 8 1/2"x11" page of instructions on how to mount the counters on heavy cardboard and attach an "altimeter" needle to each one, and 15 pages of Fighter Performance Logs - these are also supposed to be removed from the booklet, and to be placed under clear plastic.

Each plane counter is 6 1/4" square and contains an overhead view of the particular model of WWII fighter being simulated (Spitfire, KI-43, P-40, Messerschmitt, Grumman F4F, C.202 Folgore, Me 262 and P-51) and a 3 3/4" diameter circle marked off in 360 degree marks. There are Performance Logs included for more than one version of some of these models. As with Alien Space, scale requirements necessitate the use of a very large table or the floor as a playing area. There is no map. Movement is in terms of centimeters on the playing surface. The player whose plane has the highest altitude moves last (a definite advantage). There are very realistic rules covering all facets of dog-fighting: turning, acceleration, performance limits, deceleration, firing, hits, diving, climbing g - too complex to describe without practically repeating them word for word. Suffice it to say that nobody in wargaming today knows more about modern aerial combat than Zocchi and his collaborators. You will need two different colored, 20-sided dice to play this game.

As the name implies, this is only the first volume of a series. There will also be an Advanced Fighter Combat which will include counters for other planes which could be used with these basic rules. Or the counters with this volume could be used with the advanced rules. I don't know the price of this game. It is available from Lou Zocchi, 7604 Newton, Biloxi, MS 39532.

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