Ace of Aces is a two-player combat picture book game designed by Alfred Leonardi and first published in 1980 by Nova Game Designs.
Each set includes a pair of small books, one for each player (generally marked 'German' and 'Allied'). These are like gamebooks in that instead of reading through them, a person is 'at' one particular page, and the book represents a World War I fighter. Each player turns to the same page number in his book; the illustration on that page shows the view from the cockpit of his airplane, looking at the opponent. Along the bottom of the page is a series of maneuvers that can be performed, with page numbers listed under them (while the page numbers are different with each page, the maneuvers are constant).
Each player selects a maneuver. Both players then announce the corresponding numbers. Each player turns to the page number announced by the opponent, looks up his own maneuver there, and turns to the page number listed under it. After both players have done this, they are on the same (new) page, looking at new views of each other. The process is repeated until one player has maneuvered his opponent into the sights of his guns and can shoot him down.
The maneuvers in both books are the same, with each set representing a range of aircraft with similar handling characteristics. Different sets are completely compatible with each other and can be used together, as long as opposing books are selected.
The maneuvers map onto a hex board, meaning that players were able to use figures on such a board to represent their current positions relative to each other.
Additionally, a single player can in essence "fly solo" by picking up any single book and executing maneuvers. The result is not unlike using the aircraft pictured in the book's pages as a fixed, non-moving spatial reference point. This provides an easy way for newcomers to the game to get a feel for what each maneuver does, and hence a reasonably quick way to get up to a competitive level of play against opponents.
Gameplay could further be customized by using an included sheet of rules which provided for "intermediate" and "advanced" games. These games added factors such as altitude difference, ammunition supply, wind speed, and jammed guns to the basic game (which assumed the guns always worked and had an endless supply of ammunition, and that the players would fly at the same altitude throughout in still air).
The game was popular and simple to learn, and it could be played anywhere as no table is required.
Ace of Aces was the first of its type creating a new genre of gaming. Bounty Hunter used much the same format for an old west gunfight (only one set was released, Shootout at the Saloon). Dragonriders of Pern used the Ace of Aces format in a contest to stop Threadfall. Alfred Leonardi designed the Lost Worlds combat book game system which is sometimes mistakenly[ clarification needed ] described as using the Ace of Aces system. Joe Dever used this style for his Combat Heroes fantasy setting books.
In 1989, West End Games released a set of books with the title Starfighter Battle Book: X-wing vs. Tie Interceptor, using the Ace of Aces format; even the shooting pages are the same.
Nick Schuessler reviewed Ace of Aces in The Space Gamer No. 45. [1] Schuessler commented that "enjoy trying to figure out how this little paper computer always gets you back to the same page with the right pictures showing." [1]
In Issue 34 of Phoenix , D. Aldridge noted the relatively high cost of the game in the UK – nearly £10 – but admitted: "you do get a greater sense of involvement than you do from shoving counters around a board." He concluded that the game was worth the price, saying, "the game plays quickly, can be taught to anyone in a couple of minutes in the basic version, and it does seem to impart something of the feel of WWI aerial combat." [2]
In 1999, Pyramid magazine named Ace of Aces as one of the Millennium's Best Games. According to that magazine the game is "nothing more than a hex-based single-unit wargame, [but] what made Ace of Aces great was the presentation. By completely hiding the actual mechanics of the game in the flipbooks, it didn't feel like a wargame." [3]
The game is long out of print, but in June 2012 a Kickstarter project was initiated to reprint the game, with the permission and cooperation of the game's designer. The project was successful and the game was republished in January 2014.
In February 2024 another Kickstarter project to update the graphics and release a new set of books.
A wargame is a strategy game in which two or more players command opposing armed forces in a simulation of some military operation. Wargaming may be played for recreation, to train military officers in the art of strategic thinking, or to study the nature of potential conflicts. Many wargames re-create specific historic battles, and can cover either whole wars, or any campaigns, battles, or lower-level engagements within them. Many simulate land combat, but there are wargames for naval and air combat, as well.
Wooden Ships and Iron Men is a naval board wargame simulating naval combat during the Age of Sail that was published by Battleline Publications in 1974, then revised and republished by Avalon Hill the following year.
Richthofen's War, subtitled "The Air War 1916–1918", is a board wargame published by Avalon Hill in 1973 that simulates aerial combat during World War I.
A House Divided is a strategic level board wargame set in the American Civil War for two players, featuring point-to-point movement, low-complexity rules, and relatively few counters to maneuver. It was designed by Frank Chadwick and published in 1981 by Game Designers Workshop (GDW).
Lost Worlds is a "combat picture book game" designed and trademarked by Alfred Leonardi and originally published in 1983 by Nova Game Designs. The game has had many publishers, including Chessex, Emithill, Flying Buffalo and Greysea.
Blitzkrieg is a strategic-level wargame published by Avalon Hill in 1965 that simulates a non-historical attack by one major power against another using the blitzkrieg strategy. It was the first commercial wargame that did not simulate an actual historical battle, and with almost 400 counters, it was a precursor to the "monster" wargames of the 1970s featuring more than a thousand counters.
Victory in the Pacific (VITP) is a board wargame published by the Avalon Hill game company in 1977 that simulates the War in the Pacific during World War II.
Air Assault on Crete is a wargame published by Avalon Hill in 1977 that simulates the Battle of Crete during World War II.
Sniper!, subtitled "House-to-House Fighting in World War II", is a two-player board wargame about man-to-man combat in urban environments during WWII, originally released in 1973 by Simulations Publications Inc. (SPI). After TSR purchased SPI in 1982, TSR released an expanded edition of Sniper! in 1986, and followed up that up with releases of various "companion games" and a videogame.
StarForce: Alpha Centauri, subtitled "Interstellar Conflict in the 25th Century", is a science fiction board game published by Simulations Publications Inc. (SPI) in 1974. It was the first mass-market science fiction board wargame, and was a best-seller for SPI.
Sorcerer, subtitled "The Game of Magical Conflict", is a fantasy board wargame for 1–5 players published by Simulations Publications, Inc. (SPI) in 1975 that simulates magical combat.
Bounty Hunter: Shootout at the Saloon is a combat picture book game published by Nova Game Designs in 1982 that simulates an Old West shootout between a lawman and an outlaw. The game uses two picture books to delineate combat, similar to the air combat game Ace of Aces. Shootout at the Saloon was supposed to be the first in a series of Bounty Hunter games that would encompass an entire town, but critical reception and sales were tepid, and no further games in the line were published.
La Bataille de la Moscowa is a board wargame published originally by Martial Enterprises in 1975, later republished by Game Designers Workshop in 1977, and by Clash of Arms in 2011.
Team Yankee, subtitled "A Game of World War III", is a board wargame published by Game Designers' Workshop (GDW) in 1987 that is based on the book of the same name by Harold Coyle.
Arcola, The Battle for Italy 1796 is a board wargame published by Operational Studies Group (OSG) in 1979 and republished by Avalon Hill in 1983 that is a simulation of the Battle of Arcola between French and Austrian forces in 1796. The game was designed to tempt players to purchase OSG's previously published and larger wargame Napoleon in Italy.
La Grande Armée, subtitled "The Campaigns of Napoleon in Central Europe", is a board wargame published by Simulations Publications Inc. (SPI) in 1972 that simulates three campaigns of Napoleon.
Quebec 1759 is a board wargame published in 1972 by Gamma Two Games that simulates the Battle of the Plains of Abraham outside the walls of Quebec in 1759. The game uses wooden blocks set on their edge rather than the more traditional cardboard counters, unique for a wargame in 1972.
Lee Moves North, originally titled Lee at Gettysburg and subtitled "The Confederate Summer Offensive, 1862 & 1863", is a board wargame published by Simulations Publications Inc. (SPI) in 1972 that simulates Robert E. Lee's summer offenses of 1862 and 1863 during the American Civil War
MechWar '77, subtitled "Tactical Armored Combat in the 1970s", is a board wargame published by Simulations Publications Inc. (SPI) in 1975 that simulates hypothetical tank combat in the mid-1970s between various adversaries, using the same rules system as the previously published Panzer '44.
Frigate: Sea War in the Age of Sail is a board wargame published by Simulations Publications Inc. (SPI) in 1974 that simulates naval combat in the 18th and 19th century Age of Sail.