NO! This game is fantastic, the rules are easy to read and the gameplay is simply a case of rolling dice and checking the results on the right colour-coded cards.

This makes the game very easy to learn, but the fact that the game rely heavily on the results of the D6 means that the game relies on luck rather than skill.

That said the game is incredibly addictive and fun to play, capturing the atmosphere in both hands and moulding it into an enthralling and enluring basis of a game. There is nothing like the sweat of shooting down the last FW190 and realising that two more waves are diving on your war-torn plane attracted by the smoke from the two outboard engines :o)

SUMMARY:
Though this game is basically a luck game, it is a dream to play and totally absorbing...will the crew survive the mission? Will their prayers be answered and that coveted 25th mission be a milk run over France?

EXTRA:
A friend of mine recentally came to me with an idea, couldn't it be possible to play it two player with one player using photocopies of the game parts?
After a little playing we discovered that it works best if one player flies in the lead flight and one flies in the middle flight. This means that a six low for the first player is a twelve level for the second and a six level for the first player is a twelve high for the second player. The fighter still attacks it's designated target (i.e the player who rolled for it) but can now be shot at be the other flight. Both players MUST roll individually for the number of waves and what each wave consists of, but ONLY the lead flight rolls for flak density for everyone and whether everyone is on or off target.
Finally, this was expanded to a six player game (Two per flight) with only one player from each flight rolling for the waves etc per flight and the pairs of players sharing the waves. (i.e players one and two are in the lead flight. Player one rolls and gets the result of one wave, that nine high is only ONE plane and is nine high for both players one AND two.)

This is however just our way of getting several fans of B-17 involved in one game - I just added it to show that at a push it can be stretched to accomodate more than one player :o)

Review by TOM