Great: Erik Pilawskii
1020 E. Denny Way #27
Seattle, WA 98122
(206) 322-6278
>
> > b) would you and your group be interested in playtesting said version?
>
> group that wouldn't mind a more technical system. Anything much more work
> than Air Force would be a stretch though. I don't mind a more complex
> system as long as once it's learned it's easy to plot and resolve the turns.
> Oh, it MUST be able to work with 1/72 scale models and whould be hex
> based or be able to use planes on hex shaped stands as that's what I've
> got.
Well, in my mind, once you have WIA down pat, it actually flows better
than AF (as well as I remember). The hardest part of WIA is calculating
horizontal movement (i.e. while turning). To this end, I wrote a very
pathetic Basic program that will do the calculations for you. We've found
in the past that this greatly facilitates play for the beginner, though
one must be careful not to become dependent on the program and fail to
learn the actual rules.
As far as mapboards go, WIA is played on a grid, so the shape of the
base makes no difference whatever. We used to play with our MM bases
stripped of wheels, or with AF counters on a piece of grid-pattern
Contact Paper.
> I have 8 (and access to another 4) aerodrome controll consoles and I use
> that as a real 'beer and pretzels' game at cons where I think the locals
> won't have any Blue Max experience.
Aerodrome control console? Whassat?
> I'm definately interested!
Wunderbar. The rules for WIA are split into 4 sections, each introducing
more rules with greater complexity (i.e. Section I covers the basic
movement system, fire resolution, etc. Section II covers advanced movement
concepts like kinetic energy, involuntary banked movement, etc, etc.).
The first Section is already on-line.
It can be found at mule.fhcrc.org, dir /pub/archmage .
The files are: wia-I.txt DOS text version; no diagrams or illus.
wia-I.doc MS Word (2.0+) version; neat diagrams, etc.
readwia.txt You can skip this...
wia.bas A BASIC plotting/movement program *see above*
I strongly recommend the .doc file if you have anything that can read
it. If you don't, I can print a copy out for you and mail it. As well,
I'll need to send you the "guts" of the system, the BMECs and other
charts needed to play. So, I guess mailing it is then the best way to go,
unless you're keen on seeing it at once, in which case you can FTP. The
other 3 sections have yet to be typed into my
computer and exist in handwritten form (mostly). I'll have to get on the
ball and finish them. In the meantime, though, you could familiarize
yourself with Section I, which is actually a great idea anyway.
On the downhill side, at the moment I haven't a lot of time to work on
the thing. I'm in the middle of finishing my book on WWII Soviet aviation
(which is turning out to be one hell of a project!), and my publisher is
expecting me to be finished writing by summer! Christ!
Thus, if you'd like to doodle along slowly at the moment, I'm game for
that. If not, we could work only on getting good info-- of the kind needed
for WIA-- together for the WWI machines. Lastly, we could just wait until
summer (or so!!) when my life becomes my own once again.... >:^\
In any case, I look forward to working with you on the matter, as I
have confidence in your knowlegde of WWI aviation (from what I've seen so
far :^) !!). Let me know what you think
Erik
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"The Heavens were the grandstands, and only the Gods were spectators. The
stake was the World. The forfeit was the Player's place at the table; and
the Game had no recess. It was the most dangerous of all sports-- and the
most fascinating. It got in the blood like wine. It aged men 40 years in
40 days; it ruined nervous systems in an hour. It was a fast game-- the
average life of a pilot at the Front was 48 hours. And, to many, it
seemed an Age....
Elliot White Springs, WWI ace
------------------------------------------------------------------------------