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Imperial Eagles: Air War in the Pacific 1941-43

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Imperial Eagles: Air War in the Pacific 1941-43

Item #: GMT-IES

GMT Games

Max. Discount Price: 69,74 € *

77,49 € *

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Imperial Eagles returns GMT’s Down in Flames World War II air combat card game system to the Pacific. Volume VI in the series is a stand-alone game in which you can recreate many of the air battles of the first two years of the war between the Japanese and the Western Allies. 65 different aircraft models (19 never before represented in DiF) are depicted with full-color cards, all rated according to the latest research.

As in Wild Blue Yonder, each side uses its own functionally-identical Action card deck to complete Missions lasting multiple turns. Fighters are normally played as Elements of two aircraft. The Leader of each Element has its own hand of cards, played both offensively during your turn and defensively when attacked by an enemy. The second aircraft is a Wingman, supporting the Leader in its attacks and defending the Leader when the Element is engaged. Unlike Leaders, Wingmen draw and play a few cards only when needed for attacking or defending—you’re never sure how effective they will be.

The simplest games are Dogfights in which two to eight players each control one or two fighter Elements in fast-paced air-to-air action. Besides classic matchups such as F4F-4 Wildcats vs. A6M2 Zeroes or P-40E Warhawks vs. Ki-43-I Hayabusas, in Imperial Eagles you can explore the capabilities of lesser-known types including the Seversky P-35A, the Curtiss-Wright CW-21B, the Nakajima Ki-27, and the Mitsubishi F1M2. Mid-war aircraft such as the P-38F Lightning, the F4U-1 Corsair, the F6F-3 Hellcat, and the Ki-61-Ib Hien also return to the series.

Campaigns offer more depth as you play three or more historically-based missions in which escorted bombers face interceptors and anti-aircraft defenses in trying to destroy enemy targets such as ground forces, airfields, and ships. Dive bombers such as the SBD-3 Dauntless (and its USAAF version the A-24 Banshee) and the D3A1 “Val,” medium bombers like the B-25C-5 Mitchell and the G4M1 “Betty,” and heavy bombers such as the B-17D Flying Fortress and the B-24D Liberator feature prominently in these missions. Even reconnaissance aircraft such as the F-5A Lightning, the PBY-5A Catalina, and the large but fragile H6K4 “Mavis” are given their due. Five previously-published land campaigns (including the small “Marshall Islands Raid” which serves as an abbreviated introduction to campaign mission mechanics) have all been updated to current standards as in WBY.

All four 1942 carrier battles are presented in a new and greatly enhanced system, giving you and your opponent more decisions in managing and executing these battles as they were actually fought. A fifth campaign, “First Carrier Battle,” provides the opportunity to learn these new Carrier Operation rules in a shorter game depicting the exchange of carrier air strikes on the second day of the Battle of the Coral Sea.

As is traditional in Down in Flames volumes, Imperial Eagles also features one solitaire campaign. “Special Aviation Project #1” by Jerry White offers you the chance to re-create the Doolittle Raid on Japan while making tough choices both in planning and flying the attack. Quick missions by just one or two B-25B bombers in the raid can also be played, either historically or randomly-generated.

If you’ve played Wild Blue Yonder, you’ll find few differences in the basic dogfight and campaign mission rules from that game beyond clarification. The one significant change is that light bombers will now fly in formation to the target like their medium and heavy brethren, which is more realistic and speeds play. If you have earlier volumes such as Zero! and Corsairs & Hellcats, you can use the IE rules with the aircraft, campaigns, and targets from those games if you like, or “mix and match” fighters from both games in dogfights. And if you’ve never played any of the previous volumes, this is your chance to learn why this game series has retained such a devoted following since its introduction almost thirty years ago.

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