Dogfight Review

Dogfight is a game published by Ludotecnia within its Cliffhanger range that allows us to enter into an unexplored issue, if ever treated in roleplaying games: The use of aircraft as a weapon in the Great War (1914 - 1918). The timeframe may be of interest to all people who likes History or comes from board wargames, because with as a little over 100 pages we can quickly immerse ourselves what meant riding an airplane built mostly of wood and canvas, no pressurized cockpit, no radio and most of the time without having a parachute when our craft falls hit by enemy fire ...

Dogfight manual compared with Call of Cthulhu Spanish edition (La Factoria de Ideas, 1998)

Comparison of the two manuals spine

Dogfight cover

Dogfight back cover

The contents of the manual is divided into 7 parts or volumes that address the following topics:

Volume 1. The story: It briefly introduces the 1st World War, showing us the complicated situation in which the different European powers were preparing for a war that was triggered by the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the heir to the Austro-Hungarian crown, in Sarajevo. In this part are also explained the different strategies that contenders developed initially for use aviation as a method of observation that became clearly an offensive weapon.

Volume 2. Men: Explains the rules needed to create the pilots performed by the players, who may choose among Recruits, Veterans or Aces, we can also customize them using a set of Positive and Negative Traits.

Pages 30 and 31 (Volume 2)

Volume 3. The machines: Shows us a good selection of airplanes of the time (11 Germans, 7 British, one American and one Austrian) comprising reconnaissance aircraft, fighters and bombers (This section has no description of the other aircraft used in the conflict: the blimp).

Pages 52 and 53 (Volume 3)

Pages 56 and 57 (Volume 3)

Volume 4. The rules: Describes us the set of basic rules system (a system called Mother) used to play which is extremely simple, based on runs of 10-sided dice.

Volume 5. Combat: It concentrates on explaining the rules of aerial combat and the special maneuvers that pilots can do, also gives details of different types of weaponry and their effects on aircraft and humans.

Volume 6. The game sessions: Includes tips for designing our missions and a list of non-player characters (NPCs) to use on them.

Volume 7. Appendices: Contains notes on the setting that will serve to enhance the game sessions that we will referee.

Airplane sheet and index

In short, Dogfight is a game that will be liked by everyone with knowledge of history or who wants to broaden horizons, but also can be used with little effort in other times or settings, such as pulp adventures in the 20s or 30s or even in the genre of space opera (and I take as an example the last part of Episode IV: A New Hope, when fighters of the Rebel Alliance and the Empire clash above the Death Star).

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Castellano Català