Knights of the Air (1987)

[From the back of the Avalon Hill game box]

They were a part of Europe's “next Generation”, asked to march to war before they had tasted of life's joys and sorrows.

They were cut from a special cloth, singled out to do a job that demanded intelligence, endurance, steadiness and coordination of the highest order.

They dueled to the death in fragile machines, only just invented ten years before, miles above the earth.

They were brave soldiers to their comrades in arms and heroes to their public.

They were the fighter pilots of the Great War – THE KNIGHTS OF THE AIR.

Avalon Hill's game, KNIGHTS OF THE AIR, recreates the deadly combat of the World War I air war. You learn to fly the great airplanes of the period much in the same way the Aces did – rig in the cockpit using control stick, throttle and rudder pedals. Each kind of warplane included in the game has been carefully researched to present the same strengths, weaknesses and idiosyncrasies it demonstrated in real life. Once you have learned the tricks of your aircraft, you can dare to risk all in a dogfight. Air combat is conducted in a series of maneuvers as each pilot tries to position his plane for the killing run. With experience, new and more complicated maneuvers become available so that the ace can barrel roll and loop rings around the novice. Your success will depend upon your ability to master your plane and to exploit the weaknesses of your enemy's.

Some Features:
- Your Abilities to improve with experience, An Ace can react quicker, aim his gunfire more accurately, and undertake more complicated maneuvers than a novice can.

- Each kind of airplane in the game has been designed to perform just like its real-life counterpart. Rates of climb and dive, maximum and stall speeds, and turning abilities all compare favorably with test flight results.

-You guide your airplane on the gameboard using real controls. You adjust speed with the control stick and the rates of dive and climb with the throttle.

- Special attention was directed, during the design, to develop a simple method of allowing one plane to tail another. The reflexes of both airplane and pilot are a crucial factor in this procedure.

- With the wide choice of airplanes included, a practically unlimited variety of dogfights may be staged. Many of the greatest warplanes are there the Sopwith Camel, SE 5a, SPAD, Nieuport, Bristol Fighter, Fokker Triplane, Fokker DVII, Albatros, Pfalz, Roland and more.

- Special solitaire scenarios have been created to restage attacks against Zeppelin airships and two-seater warplanes.

Complexity: Medium
Solitaire Suitability: High

Each game contains:
- A 22”x32” full-color gameboard depicting a section of trenchline on the Western Front. Actual battlefield photographs were consulted during the construction.
- Hundreds f die-cut playing pieces representing all of the airplanes and various markers needed for record-keeping.
- Six sets of maneuver cards. Each card contains a diagram of a specific maneuver just as it was actually flown.
- A set of Airplane Performance Cards. A different card has been prepared for each airplane.
- Three six-sided dice