Gamescience (circa 1982)
Designer: Gary Sipes; expansion by “Russo & Scott”
Players: 2 or more
Playing Time: 1-3 hours
Period: World War II
Scale: Tactical

Turn: approximately 1 second
Map: 100 feet
Unit: individual aircraft

Components:

34”x23” paper mapsheet; 32 page rulebook; Expansion rules folder; 28 counters on laminated card stock sheet; 2 twenty-sided dice; 2 six-sided dice (one white, one colored); 6”x9” ziplock bag.

Counter Manifest: 26 aircraft counters; 2 unused counters.

The designer says:

“These rules are designed to give the players the feel of air-to-air combat in the early years of World War II. All the basic maneuvers used in fighter combat are included, and such variables as pilot experience and aircraft maneuverability and firepower are also taken into account ... An ideal game would begin with 6 to 8 players.”

Comments:

The seventies and early eighties saw a number of commercially published WWII air combat miniatures rules. Among these were well known examples like Zocchi’s Fighter Combat system (Gamescience) and Mustangs & Messerschmitts (Falcon Games). In the “also ran” category were systems like Air Power (TSR), Air Aces (International Games), and Fighter Pilot. Gamescience was cleverly attempting to extend the utility of the Fighter Pilot rules by releasing this “Deluxe” boxed set which included a grid mapsheet and counters, thus allowing the rules to be played as a boardgame.

The original rules presented stats for 13 early war American, British, German, and Japanese fighters. Aircraft were individually rated in areas such as speed, climb, turning cost, gun factors, and target size. An Expansion included in the Deluxe set adds 12 aircraft, errata, and a few changes to the rules. The state of the art has flown right by Fighter Pilot faster than an SR-71. There isn’t anything in Fighter Pilot that wasn’t done better elsewhere, which pretty much relegates the game to the category of collector’s item (or of dust collector, if you prefer).

Collector’s Notes:

The Fighter Pilot rules booklet has a copyright date of 1976 and was published by The Little Soldier. By 1980, Lou Zocchi was distributing Fighter Pilot as a ziplocked Gamescience product which included the Expansion rules. The Deluxe Edition appears to have come out a couple years later as the mapsheet has a 1982 copyright date. From the contents, it appears that the Deluxe edition consists of the ziplocked Gamescience product that was tossed in a box along with the mapsheet, counters, and dice. Boone does not list this game.

Other games sold as “deluxe”:

Ace of Aces Handy Rotary Deluxe Edition (Nova); Battlestations Deluxe (Game-science); Great Battles of Alexander Deluxe Edition (GMT); Deluxe Diplomacy, Hedgerow Hell Deluxe ASL Module 2, and Streets of Fire Deluxe ASL Module 1 (AH); Car Wars Deluxe, Illuminati Deluxe, and Ogre Deluxe (SJG), World in Flames Deluxe (ADG).