(In this issue, Frank Branham examines the three Modern Command games from Hasbro. One of that trio, the Air game, rose from the ashes of a previous release: Screaming Eagles, featured back in the Summer 1988 GA REPORT. In another “FLASHBACK”, here is the way we saw that game when it first arrived on the gaming scene.)
SCREAMING EAGLES (Milton Bradley, 2-4 players, ages 10 and up, less than an hour; out of print)
Screaming Eagles fills the gap in the Milton Bradley line that exists between a simple strategy game like Stratego and the more complex Gamemaster Series entries (such as Shogun, featured in the Winter 1988 GA Report).
Screaming Eagles comes boxed with a large mounted board, 36 command cards, battle boards (to keep track of hits and weaponry), 4 plastic planes (2 blue, 2 tan) with stands, special red dice and black dice, other play aids and instructions. Designed for 2 to 4 players, the game is played in less than an hour.
Each game is played in a series of rounds between the blue and tan teams of planes. During the first round, a blue plane is moved followed by a tan plane. Then the second blue plane is moved followed by the last tan aircraft. On subsequent rounds, the last team to move begins the movement on the following turn. If a plane is hot down however, the team with the most planes still flying always goes first.
In each round, every player chooses a command card to play from the 9 cards in his hand. These cards indicate which maneuver the plane will make and in which direction (left, right or straight ahead). It also indicates how many black dice (which only have numbers 1, 2 and 3) to roll. The sum indicates how many spaces the plane must move. Planes must move every turn. Command cards are picked at the start of the round, showed when moving and may be reused.
Firing may be done before or after movement. If an enemy plane is in your “cone of fire” (i.e. in front of your plane and in your line of sight), you may launch an attack.
Each plane is armed with two long range missiles, three medium range missiles and 8 cannon rounds. Hits are determined by rolling the red dice (numbered 0 to 5). Four dice are rolled for long range missiles, three for medium range missiles and two for cannon. If the sum rolled is equal to or greater than the distance between your plane and the target, a hit is scored. The precise location of a hit is discovered by rolling 4 black dice. The sum will correspond to a plane section. For example, a sum of 6 or 7 indicates a wing hit. It takes 4 wing hits to down a plane but only one hit in the cockpit will do the job. Hits are recorded on the battle boards.
For defensive purposes, each plane is also outfitted with 2 flares. These flares may only be used against missile attack. Once played, they eliminate the highest single rolled red die in an attack in the hope of making a hit more difficult.
An interesting feature of the game is the gameboard itself. Planes continually move forward so, when they come to the end of the board, they loop. Looping lets a plane exit one end of the board only to reenter on the opposite side. (The rank and file of the board is numbered for ease of play.) This results in a blend of strategy and surprise as planes can (and do) rapidly change position and go from hunter to hunted in one move.
The first player (or team) to shoot down both enemy planes is the winner.
Screaming Eagles is a quality game which puts modern air warfare on a level where play is manageable and fun for players as young as 10 while still maintaining excitement and strategy for the experienced gamer. – – Herb Levy
Copyright © 1988, all rights reserved.
Fall 2003 GA Report Articles
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