Skies Above Britain is a solitaire game depicting a Royal Air Force squadron of Hurricanes or Spitfires waging a desperate effort to disrupt and destroy German daylight bombing raids over southeast England in the summer of 1940. The interception game board is the heart of the game. It’s the evolution of the bomber box game boards from Skies Above the Reich. The interception board is where players are making decisions related to how and when to engage the bomber formation, as well as dealing with the German fighter escorts. It’s a nice representation of the spatial decisions the player must make and depicts relative position of the player’s fighters to the bombers, the escorts and the impact of the sun on game play. Looking at the notes for Chapter 1 we have the instructions for setting up the inbound raid markers, determining the weather and where our intrepid fly boys are starting from in a broad geographic sense. Bad news! Due to a poor die roll, our planes are away from the coast and will need to hustle if we are to meet the enemy before they bomb their target.

The quality of the components is first rate, as we expect from GMT Games. An inventory of the box yields the following components: In the Raid Vector Sequence, we’ll start by revealing (i.e., flipping over) inbound raid tokens. These tokens will show actions that are either affecting the inbound raid or the patrolling fighter squadron. Events include Kevin on First Draft of History: Designing a Military Simulation of the Russo-Ukraine War 2022-2023 Skies Above Britain is a solitaire game covering the air war that was the Battle of Britain in the summer and fall of 1940. Building on the foundation of the prior games Skies Above the Reich and Storm Above the Reich, Gina and Jeremy have ‘flipped the script’ crafting a game that captures the unique experience of the Battle of Britain through a tailored game design that is both familiar to players of the earlier games, while at the same time is a fresh take on the nature of air combat during the 1940 campaign. The situation manual contains a plethora of individual scenarios as well as the details for the patrols which comprise the campaign covering the Battle of Britain. The scenarios are laid out with a focus on teaching you discrete processes within the game. The genius here is that each scenario does feel like a self-contained action and not like a teaching tool. Jeremy took a similar approach in Atlantic Chase and it works just as well in Skies Above Britain.This new game is therefore similar and yet different from Skies and Storm Above the Reich. Fate Boxes, Hit markers, combat cards, Damage markers and Catastrophic Effects, and many other features remain the same. But the system has been tailored to handle encounters with medium bombers, a very different animal from the American heavies. Complexity has been siphoned off that encounter to reside in the dogfight between Spitfire and Messerschmitt. We think the overall complexity of the game is no different than Skies Above the Reich, and playing time is also about the same. An individual mission, or “patrol” in Skies Above Britain lasts 20 to 45 minutes, and a campaign consists of patrols played one after the other. There is a Squadron Log and a Pilot Roster, and part of the enjoyment of the game is maintaining an effective squadron of pilots. You command Spits or Hurricanes, and you can play just a few patrols or a short campaign or the entire battle. The rule book embodies a classic Jeremy White design. I hold the rulebook from Atlantic Chase in very high regard, but Skies Above Britain meets that same high bar for clarity and ease of reference. Solitaire suitability (1–5 scale, with 1 being virtually unplayable as a solitaire game and 5 being completely suitable for solitaire play): 5 All Bridges Burning Ancient Civilizations of the Inner Sea Ancient Civilizations of the Middle East Apocalypse Road Banish the Snakes Bayonets & Tomahawks BoAR Series COIN Series Commands & Colors: Ancients Commands & Colors: Medieval Congress of Vienna Death Valley Falling Sky Fields of Fire Series Fire in the Lake Gandhi Historic Characters Series Hitler's Reich Infernal Machine Inferno Levy & Campaign Series Manoeuvre MBT Meet the Civilizations ACME Series Mr President Next War: India-Pakistan Next War: Korea Next War Series Normandy '44 Pendragon People Power Red Storm Seas of Thunder Silver Bayonet Swords and Chit New Wargamer Strategy Talon Talon Tuesday Tank Duel The Last Hundred Yards The Last Hundred Yards 2: Airborne Over Europe The Last Hundred Yards 3: The Solomon Islands The Pendragon Chronicles Twilight Struggle Wing Leader Wing Leader Series Categories I won’t dive into a detailed breakdown of all the components, but I want to focus on three items: the interception board, the rule book and the situation manual. If you want a more details overview of the components, take a look at the unboxing video from 6 Actual.

Let’s contrast that with Skies Above Britain. Yes, the player controls a squadron of fighters and yes, they are tasked with the mission of intercepting and shooting down enemy bombers. But within those broad mission parameters, the player is making a lot of decisions. Prior to interception, you’ll be debating what is more important – where you are, or do you have enough altitude. These decisions are important as they impact exactly how you intercept the German bomber formation. Passed inspection: An immersive solitaire experience that captures the feel of the air war over Britain in 1940. The well-crafted rulebook and charts make finding rules references a snap.

Minute Intro and Playthrough Video from Poindexter Games Showing a Single Patrol in Skies Above Britain (Please note that this video uses playtest versions of game components. They are not final art.)