HomerCon 98

DAK


Game: Air Combat Maneuver

Report by: Dave Demko

At right: ACM in play. Left to right: Dave 'Okmed' Demko, Will 'Jeeves' Volni, Chuck 'Baron' Sutherland, Rod 'Iceman' Miller, Dean 'Dogger' Essig

Pilots: Dean Essig (Bulldog), Rod Miller (IceMan), Will Volny (Jeeves, a.k.a. Dusty), Chris Volny (V2), Dave Demko (Waylon, a.k.a. Okmed), Joseph Vanden Borre (Tito), Dave Freidrichs (DAFfy), Jim Ferguson (Fergy), Chuck Sutherland (Target), Dale Woods (Frogger), Joe Linder (Hammer)

War Story: We had a three-day, non-stop furball, plain and simple. On the big table at the back of the playtest room, we had a computer set up on each corner and two or three guys on each computer. We had enough stands for nine planes in the air simultaneously, and most of the time we were flying at least eight.

One setup involved WW2 aircraft (1944 models -- some pretty hot aircraft), but this just failed to develop into an interesting fight, perhaps because we were too well matched and working up an advantage on an enemy was tough. The rest of the time we flew WW1 birds -- and loved 'em. My previous experiences with these kites taught me to regard them as skittish -- especially the rotary-engine jobs like the Fokker Triplane or the Sopwith Camel. It seemed too hard to pull off nuanced maneuvers when you were fighting just to keep the thing under control. But this time out, thanks in part to Dean's ongoing improvements to the program, the planes felt right.

At right: Baron and Ice... you decide which one went by 'Target' for most of the retreat...

We played in teams, Allied versus Axis or Central Powers (depending on the era) and mixing up the teams from time to time. It was just as well we did so: playing cut-throat may have boosted the kill count, but it would have been too chaotic.

Speaking of the kill count, let it speak for itself: