Ace of Aces
A Reference Guide

6. Flying Machines Slipcase Edition

© 1998 Joseph J. Scoleri III



Title: Ace of Aces: WWI Air Combat Game, Powerhouse Series
Product No. 006
Publisher Nova Game Designs. Inc.
Date 1981
Price $14.95 - $16.95
Box 6" x 9 1/4" blue cardboard slipcase with painting of a Fokker D VII flying head on at a Spad XIII. Shrinkwrapped. (Fig. 8.)
Components: Two black 6" x 4 1/2" gamebooks with silver print on cover (one German and one Allied booklet ... Figure 1.) One 6" x 8 1/2" book- let. (Figure 7.)
Other Features: Booklet (Figure 7) identical to previous edition. However, the booklet in my copy was never stapled, but I haven't been able to compare this with a.nother Powerhouse .edition.

This edition takes the Ace of Aces series back a step, chronologically speaking. The Flying Machines Series featured a dogfight between the early war Airco DH2 and Fokker EIII fighters.

In spite of the lackluster performance of the aircraft depicted, there was much for Ace of Aces fans to like here: James Rosinus' artwork in the gamebooks makes combat more personal at close range where you can see your opponent's face; the Airco DH2's flex-mount machine gun gave its pilot a greater field of fire and required maneuvering finesse from the German player; and the old rules errata was finally corrected.

Also worthy of note is the Anne Starr artwork on the slipcase cover. The aircraft look much better than the murky cover art on the first two slipcase editions.

The only down side to the new series was that the 16 maneuvers available in these books, while appropriate, can make the game feel more limited to players used to having 25-26 maneuvers to choose from in the Handy Rotary and Powerhouse books.

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