In 1992, GMT released Rise of the Luftwaffe, the first Down in Flames WWII air combat card game. That game covered the early part of the War in Europe, from 1939 to early 1942. It was followed a few years later by the 8th Air Force expansion module, which added aircraft and campaigns for the latter part of the war.

Since then there have been two more games, two packs of additional aircraft, and a large number of C3i modules for the series. However, the original two games have been long out of print. GMT has considered a number of options to address that, from straight reprints to a base game/ campaign module arrangement. Finally, though, GMT has decided to P500 an entire new game covering the WHOLE war in the ETO.

Wild Blue Yonder will be a true deluxe Down in Flames product. It will contain 16-20 full campaigns, nearly 300 aircraft cards, plus all of the necessary targets, resource sheets etc. needed for play. All of this will be packaged in a large box similar to the ones for the Combat Commander games.

Many of the campaigns will be on the same subjects as those in Rise of the Luftwaffe, 8th Air Force and various C3i modules. However, they will not be simple reprints of those campaigns. For example, due to card mix limitations the Fall of France campaign in Rise of the Luftwaffe included only one type of French aircraft. This will not be the case in the new game.

In addition, Wild Blue Yonder will contain two different types of campaigns, Land Campaigns and Strategic Bombing campaigns. The first type will be the familiar “standard” DiF campaign that players of the system are used to. The second type, though, will give both players a fixed “order of battle” along with reinforcements and replacements that they will have to use throughout the campaign. This will reflect the more attritional nature of these air campaigns.

Wild Blue Yonder will also include a number of Tour of Duty mini-campaigns. Each of these will be a series of dogfights from the careers of various well-known aces of the war. Those of you who want to more about this can check out C3i #21, which contains a Tour of Duty campaign featuring the Pacific ace George Welch.

Finally, the game will include at least one solitaire campaign for players who don’t have an opponent available.

Wild Blue Yonder promises to be the best Down in Flames game yet. So strap on your parachute and get ready to take to the skies!

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