Richthofen’s War
by
Ardil
Richthofen’s War is a board game created in 1972 by Avalon Hill Game Co., one of the most prolific publishers of war-type games. Randall C. Reed designed the multiplayer WWI air strategy game.[1] It was one of dozens of war-based games published by Avalon Hill in the 1970s, which is called the golden age of board games.
Richthofen’s War is played on a board separated into hexagonal tiles, with cardboard chips. The players are divided into two teams: a team for the Allies, and a team for the Central Powers. Each player acts as the pilot for one or more aircraft, and can manipulate factors such as altitude and speed for those aircraft. Each aircraft type has a distinct set of features, encapsulated in a statistical profile, which includes maneuverability, maximum speed, and maximum altitude. Factors such as current altitude and speed are recorded on an aircraft status pad, which uses square cardboard counters to indicate the current situation of the aircraft. There is one aircraft status pad per aircraft in play. Each aircraft is represented on the board by a square cardboard tile, with the airplane type and number.
The objective of the game is determined by the situation card, which lists the number of aircraft on each side, the mission of those aircraft. The situation card is drawn at the beginning of the game, and it describes the locations, types, altitudes, and missions of the planes. One example of a mission is a bombing mission, in which one side’s players agree upon bombing targets from a list of options. The bombers from that side must pass over a target tile, then turn around, come back, and make a second pass over the target. After the second pass, that tile is considered bombed. When a target is bombed, the team controlling that bomber gets a number of points, shown on the situation card. Situation card missions fall broadly into the five categories of fighter missions, photo reconnaissance missions, trench-strafing missions, artillery missions, and bombing missions.
The distance that a player can move a craft on the board is determined by its current speed, which may change by up to two every turn. Each turn, for each speed point, a player can advance a plane one tile. However, in order to turn, the player must consult the maneuver schedule for that plane, which shows how many speed points are necessary to turn. One common option is schedule B, which consists of the numbers 1,2, and 3. This means that if the player wishes to rotate by one tile side, he must use one speed point. However, if he wishes to turn two sides, he must use one for the first hex side, and two for the next one, so the entire turn would cost 1+2=3 speed points. Another rule is that if a player wishes to dive, the aircraft would get extra speed points, one for each 100 meters dived, rounding up to the nearest hundred meters. On the other hand, climbing has an adverse effect on the number of speed points a player has for that turn. A player will lose one extra movement point for each 100 meters climbed, rounding up as before. Different planes have different maximum speeds that they can dive at. Also, diving can only be done in increments of 50 to 100 meters in each tile, except in a risky overdive maneuver. In an overdive maneuver, a craft may dive up to 200 meters in one tile, but the player must roll a die afterwards. If the die roll is 1 or 2, that plane has been destroyed.
Each airplane begins play with a specific number of health points, which are decreased during combat. Combat can only happen after maneuvering, if the two planes are within 200 m of each other in altitude, and 7 tiles in distance. In combat, the controller of the attacking aircraft rolls a die, and records the die roll and the distance between the planes. That information, combined with the type of the plane, is cross-checked on a combat chart, which records the hit value of that shot, and whether it is a critical hit. Critical hits have special effects, such as forcing the plane to leave the game after a number of turns. The other player returns fire if possible. If not, the attacking player’s turn ends. For every hit that was scored against the defending player, that player will mark off one health point on the corresponding aircraft status pad. Also, any player who fired will mark off one ammunition point. Different planes have different firing capabilities. Planes with only front-mounted guns can fire in only one direction, in a straight line. However, planes with rear-firing guns can fire not only forwards, but also at anything inside the range of the back three tile sides of the plane, within seven hexagonal tiles, except a blind spot directly behind the plane. Also, planes with rear-firing guns have less powerful ammunition, so that a shot from a rear-firing plane will deal less damage than an equidistant shot from a front-firing plane.
The scenarios used for the situation cards were based on historical events according to the labels. It is difficult to incorporate many important variables of war, such as pilot skill, simultaneity, equipment issues, wind and weather, so the play is not realistically warlike. However, there are more challenging variants: the advanced game and the Campaign Game. The Campaign game can take hours to play; the advanced game takes 40-100 minutes; a basic game lasts 20-50 minutes. A further extension was published in The General,[2] a popular gaming magazine, and later offered for sale. However, the game is engaging and fun even without expansions. The only drawback is that the instructions take quite a lot of time to understand initially; otherwise, it is an engaging and enjoyable game.
Unfortunately, the market for board games of this type has declined with the advent of computer-based war simulation games which can offer immersive experiences and can incorporate many additional realistically warlike aspects. These newer games also have less cumbersome scoring and recording processes, speeding up the play, as well as cost advantages in production, transportation, inventory, and logistics. These advantages account for the explosive growth of video, phone, tablet, and computer based games to a market size of $99.6 billion,[3] surpassing the board game industry, which had sales of $3.2 billion in 2016.[4] Board games, while still a growing market, have shifted focus away from war-type games.[5] On the other hand, computerized game engines complicate the players’ ability to engage the games creatively by inventing new ways to play or introducing new scenarios.[6] Richthofen’s War is an engaging, fun, and creatively accessible war game from the Golden Age of board games.
Primary Sources
Secondary Sources
Acknowledgements
Footnotes
[1]Harrigan, Pat et al. Zones of Control, (Cambridge, MA:The MIT Press, 2016), 768.
[2] The Avalon Hill Games/Parts Price List, May 1, 1982. PDF at http://mocagh.org/ah/ah-82catalog-alt.pdf , accessed February 19, 2018.
[3] Newzoo Games, 2016 Global Games Market Report: An Overview of Trends and Insights. https://cdn2.hubspot.net/hubfs/700740/Reports/Newzoo_Free_2016_Global_Games_Market_Report.pdf p. 10 (accessed February 19, 2018)
[4] Technavio. “Top 3 Trends Impacting the Global Board Games Market Through 2021: Technavio,” Business Wire, December 28, 2016. https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20161228005057/en/Top-3-Trends-Impacting-Global-Board-Games (Acessed February 19, 2018)
[5] Jolin, Dan. “The Rise and Rise of Tabletop Gaming”, in The Guardian, September 25, 2016.
[6] Harrigan et al. Zones of Control, 103
Richthofen’s War is played on a board separated into hexagonal tiles, with cardboard chips. The players are divided into two teams: a team for the Allies, and a team for the Central Powers. Each player acts as the pilot for one or more aircraft, and can manipulate factors such as altitude and speed for those aircraft. Each aircraft type has a distinct set of features, encapsulated in a statistical profile, which includes maneuverability, maximum speed, and maximum altitude. Factors such as current altitude and speed are recorded on an aircraft status pad, which uses square cardboard counters to indicate the current situation of the aircraft. There is one aircraft status pad per aircraft in play. Each aircraft is represented on the board by a square cardboard tile, with the airplane type and number.
The objective of the game is determined by the situation card, which lists the number of aircraft on each side, the mission of those aircraft. The situation card is drawn at the beginning of the game, and it describes the locations, types, altitudes, and missions of the planes. One example of a mission is a bombing mission, in which one side’s players agree upon bombing targets from a list of options. The bombers from that side must pass over a target tile, then turn around, come back, and make a second pass over the target. After the second pass, that tile is considered bombed. When a target is bombed, the team controlling that bomber gets a number of points, shown on the situation card. Situation card missions fall broadly into the five categories of fighter missions, photo reconnaissance missions, trench-strafing missions, artillery missions, and bombing missions.
The distance that a player can move a craft on the board is determined by its current speed, which may change by up to two every turn. Each turn, for each speed point, a player can advance a plane one tile. However, in order to turn, the player must consult the maneuver schedule for that plane, which shows how many speed points are necessary to turn. One common option is schedule B, which consists of the numbers 1,2, and 3. This means that if the player wishes to rotate by one tile side, he must use one speed point. However, if he wishes to turn two sides, he must use one for the first hex side, and two for the next one, so the entire turn would cost 1+2=3 speed points. Another rule is that if a player wishes to dive, the aircraft would get extra speed points, one for each 100 meters dived, rounding up to the nearest hundred meters. On the other hand, climbing has an adverse effect on the number of speed points a player has for that turn. A player will lose one extra movement point for each 100 meters climbed, rounding up as before. Different planes have different maximum speeds that they can dive at. Also, diving can only be done in increments of 50 to 100 meters in each tile, except in a risky overdive maneuver. In an overdive maneuver, a craft may dive up to 200 meters in one tile, but the player must roll a die afterwards. If the die roll is 1 or 2, that plane has been destroyed.
Each airplane begins play with a specific number of health points, which are decreased during combat. Combat can only happen after maneuvering, if the two planes are within 200 m of each other in altitude, and 7 tiles in distance. In combat, the controller of the attacking aircraft rolls a die, and records the die roll and the distance between the planes. That information, combined with the type of the plane, is cross-checked on a combat chart, which records the hit value of that shot, and whether it is a critical hit. Critical hits have special effects, such as forcing the plane to leave the game after a number of turns. The other player returns fire if possible. If not, the attacking player’s turn ends. For every hit that was scored against the defending player, that player will mark off one health point on the corresponding aircraft status pad. Also, any player who fired will mark off one ammunition point. Different planes have different firing capabilities. Planes with only front-mounted guns can fire in only one direction, in a straight line. However, planes with rear-firing guns can fire not only forwards, but also at anything inside the range of the back three tile sides of the plane, within seven hexagonal tiles, except a blind spot directly behind the plane. Also, planes with rear-firing guns have less powerful ammunition, so that a shot from a rear-firing plane will deal less damage than an equidistant shot from a front-firing plane.
The scenarios used for the situation cards were based on historical events according to the labels. It is difficult to incorporate many important variables of war, such as pilot skill, simultaneity, equipment issues, wind and weather, so the play is not realistically warlike. However, there are more challenging variants: the advanced game and the Campaign Game. The Campaign game can take hours to play; the advanced game takes 40-100 minutes; a basic game lasts 20-50 minutes. A further extension was published in The General,[2] a popular gaming magazine, and later offered for sale. However, the game is engaging and fun even without expansions. The only drawback is that the instructions take quite a lot of time to understand initially; otherwise, it is an engaging and enjoyable game.
Unfortunately, the market for board games of this type has declined with the advent of computer-based war simulation games which can offer immersive experiences and can incorporate many additional realistically warlike aspects. These newer games also have less cumbersome scoring and recording processes, speeding up the play, as well as cost advantages in production, transportation, inventory, and logistics. These advantages account for the explosive growth of video, phone, tablet, and computer based games to a market size of $99.6 billion,[3] surpassing the board game industry, which had sales of $3.2 billion in 2016.[4] Board games, while still a growing market, have shifted focus away from war-type games.[5] On the other hand, computerized game engines complicate the players’ ability to engage the games creatively by inventing new ways to play or introducing new scenarios.[6] Richthofen’s War is an engaging, fun, and creatively accessible war game from the Golden Age of board games.
Primary Sources
- Randall C. Reed. Richthofen’s War. Avalon Hill Game Co. 1972. Board game. (from the private collection of Hugh Gardner.)
- The Avalon Hill Games/Parts Price List. Avalon Hill Game Co. 1982. Catalog. Accessed at http://mocagh.org/ah/ah-82catalog-alt.pdf (from the collection of Museum of Computing and Gaming History, Howard Feldman.)
Secondary Sources
- Harrigan, Pat et al. Zones of Control. MIT Press. 2016. Accessed through Google Books at https://books.google.com/books?id=IX38CwAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false (accessed February 19, 2018)
- Jolin, Dan. “The Rise and Rise of Tabletop Gaming”, in The Guardian. 25 September 2016. (accessed February 19, 2018)
- Newzoo Games, “2016 Global Games Market Report: An Overview of Trends and Insights.” June 2016. https://cdn2.hubspot.net/hubfs/700740/Reports/Newzoo_Free_2016_Global_Games_Market_Report.pdf (accessed February 19, 2018)
- Technavio. “Top 3 Trends Impacting the Global Board Games Market Through 2021: Technavio,” Business Wire, December 28, 2016. https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20161228005057/en/Top-3-Trends-Impacting-Global-Board-Games (Acessed February 19, 2018)
Acknowledgements
- H. Gardner, for use of the game from his private collection.
- Daniel and MB, for hours spent playing the game with the author.
Footnotes
[1]Harrigan, Pat et al. Zones of Control, (Cambridge, MA:The MIT Press, 2016), 768.
[2] The Avalon Hill Games/Parts Price List, May 1, 1982. PDF at http://mocagh.org/ah/ah-82catalog-alt.pdf , accessed February 19, 2018.
[3] Newzoo Games, 2016 Global Games Market Report: An Overview of Trends and Insights. https://cdn2.hubspot.net/hubfs/700740/Reports/Newzoo_Free_2016_Global_Games_Market_Report.pdf p. 10 (accessed February 19, 2018)
[4] Technavio. “Top 3 Trends Impacting the Global Board Games Market Through 2021: Technavio,” Business Wire, December 28, 2016. https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20161228005057/en/Top-3-Trends-Impacting-Global-Board-Games (Acessed February 19, 2018)
[5] Jolin, Dan. “The Rise and Rise of Tabletop Gaming”, in The Guardian, September 25, 2016.
[6] Harrigan et al. Zones of Control, 103