Review: Wings of Glory Digital: Right on Target

By Mitch Reed

Years ago, for those who remember my days with WWPD, I did a story on the Giants of the Sky Kickstarter from Ares Games which turned out to be the last release from the company for their Great War flying game called Wings of Glory”. I really liked the game and went “full afterburner” on collecting the many aircraft in the series. Since that 2016 release, the company has been quiet and while I thought they abandoned the series they turned around and released a digital port of their popular tabletop game. The first thing I look for when a tabletop game goes digital is if the game recreates the mechanics and enjoyment of the game in its digital form. The answer to this question is a resounding Yes! Like many who loved the original game, we hope that the developers continue to add more to what seems to be a successful digital release.

The tabletop game had the players controlling one or more aircraft against an opponent and one of the best features of the game is that the models came pre-painted with many different paint schemes for some of the aircraft. Each aircraft used a Maneuver Deck that historically portrayed the speed and agility of each aircraft in the game. Damage was also introduced into the game with different types of Damage Decks and advanced versions of the game introduced actual aces of the Great War who brought their skills into the combat arena.

The designers from Ares also released a Second World War version of the game that did not have the popularity as the Great War version in my area. Having played that version a few times I felt the physics of the game was off with the aircraft of the period being more maneuverable and lethal, however, the Great War version was solid.

In 2016 the company seemed to abandon the game and with many of the previous releases being limited, we saw a “Beanie Baby” type craze on the secondary market.

After a while the game disappeared from game tables and new games such as Warlord’s Blood Red Skies became the new hotness.

The digital version, which is available on Steam and in the Apple App store comes with eight aircraft, four Allied and four German. Each faction has a two-seater aircraft that has that annoying rear gunner that makes tailing your enemy deadly.

The game allows you to play in one of four types of missions, from a dogfight to missions where you attack or recon ground targets.
Wings of Glory can be played in solo mode vs the AI in any of the game’s four missions, or test your flying skills against some tough challenge missions that show off all the aspects of the game.

The online mode is what attracts me to this game the most. You can play 1v1 or team up with a bunch of other players to really fight for the skies over the trenches. I have been playing mostly on a tablet and while I have played numerous games, I wish the online scene was a bit more active.

On both platforms, the game plays like the tabletop and I found myself remembering the skills I picked up playing the game in the past and was back in flying form in no time. If you have never played Wings of Glory before, you will pick it up in no time, the game was never hard to play, just difficult to play well, like most other good games.

The game will cost you $14.99 on the Steam and $8.99 on iPhone and tablet. So far, I have seen no difference in gameplay between the formats. At this price, it is easy to make a small investment for what will be hours of fun.

I am a bit weary of the future. I got into two miniatures games produced by Ares, this one and Sails of Glory, only to see the company abandon the line after a few years. The designer of the computer version is Dire Wolf who has a great track record in porting games and developing expansions for them. So I have some hope for expansions, which the game needs to stay popular. The number of aircraft in the tabletop version was such a huge attraction to gamers like me.

I also hope to see a livelier online presence for the game, the matches I have had so far have been so much fun.

If you take the plunge with Wings of Glory and if you like it please PM/Email me and you can be my wingman anytime.