Richthofen's War

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Richthofen's War was Avalon Hill's board wargame treatment of the air war over France during World War I. It was published in 1972.

The First World War marked the dawn of modern warfare and the first use of airplanes in combat. Richthofen's War was also one of the relatively few WWI wargames published. The game was tactical in scale and each counter represented an individual aircraft. The map represented a generic section of fields and trenches and was divided by a hexagonal grid. In a nod to Manfred von Richthofen, the infamous Red Baron, several of the counters for German planes were printed in a deep red color. Missions in Richthofen's War included dogfighting, photo reconnaissance, strafing, bombing, and observation balloon busting, and a multi-mission campaign. The complexity of the game was between the beginner and intermediate level with fairly easy rules and moderate realism. An expansion set of cards and rules for performing unexpected maneuvers such as loops and rolls was added later. Also, rules were eventually developed for simultaneous movement.