This game is actually a board game/mini's game cross. I plan to buy some of the 4"-6" long, metal, jet models, available at toy stores everywhere, to make it somewhat more fun, and miniatures oriented. The game, as printed, uses counters to represent your planes; they move across terrain boards consisting of squares. The game plays out as a 2-D game, but this could easily be tweaked for a true, 3-D effect, similar to Red Baron (a WWI aerial combat, 3-D game).

The price is superb, the game mechanics are simple, but complex enough, with the more advanced rules, and it will play rather quickly. I highly recommend it. The fun, for the money, is superb. Cheers!

Yep, it's another fun little game for a fun little price from FJGaming. It's billed as a Microgame, but you'd better have a lot of floor or table space for this one! You'll need the space for the randomly-placed upside-down tiles that make up the large playing area. Marines wander the playing field, flipping tiles to expose the features (and random Zombies suddenly appearing on those tiles), in an effort to find and escape to the helicopter landing pad before they get eaten. Sort of the same general idea as (what a surprise!) ZOMBIES!!! by Twilight Creations.

For your money, you get the PDF of the rulebook, twenty-five map tiles (they are ALL used each game to create a 32.5" by 32.5" playing field), and quite a few sheets of fold-up paper miniatures of Zombies, Marines and doors (to be blown up or broken down). Kind-of no-frills, but a nice package.

In addition to needing a large space, you should probably set aside an evening to cut out and glue together the mass of playing pieces. Tip: don't plan for it to be the same evening you expect to play the game.

It's not necessarily as quickly played as FJG's other games (especially if you have a large force of Marines, which necessitates a larger force of Zombies), but it's a fun, fast-moving game without a ton of rules. Perfect, as they say, for the night your group finishes your "serious" game early and wants to keep playing, or when you just want a light, "Beer-n-pretzels" game to occupy you while you drink Mountain Dew and each Doritos with your pals.

Those are the positives. The negatives (which do not greatly detract from my enjoying this game): slightly fuzzy writing, editing and proofreading. I think a good cold reading of the rules by gamers who haven't been in on the development could help FJG quite a lot. There are several areas in the rules where what FJG wrote appears not to mean what they intended it to.

That being said, I like this tiny company a lot. No frills. No huge rulebooks. No huge prices. Just the simple, straightforward gaming style of gamers who are making games they like. You'll like them, too. And you'll look forward to each new game, as I do.

Buy it. Kill Zombies. Or Marines. Your choice.

Take it seriously when they say this game is not meant as a mil-sim. It's just a quick little game for folks with a passing interest in flying biplanes. That said, and considering that's EXACTLY what they say it is, it's quite a good product. Certain rules points are annoying but easily changeable. After we get done with this we will have made extensive changes to it, but we'll have a great little game in the end.

This is an excellent, simple, jet miniatures game. It plays fast and bloody. It's not the most realistic aircraft combat game in the world, but that's not the point. The design is elegant and very easy to learn, yet covers all aspects of modern air combat. The publisher has even put up a set of optional rules on his website that allow you to put more realism into the game. Well worth the money, the inkjet ink, and the time.

My gaming group was looking for a fast playing, fun air combat game as a diversion between other games. What we got was a fast playing, fun air combat game that we play INSTEAD of other games. This was certainly a pleasant surprise!

If you are looking for an ultra-detailed, super-realistic game, you're probably looking in the wrong place. The game was designed as a fast-paced game that gives the feel of modern combat. In that it suceeds admirably. The system revolves around the MANEUVER CHART which shows the allowed maneuvers and doubles as a damage chart as well. A very clever mechanic that is esy to pick up. Movement is simultaneous which allows for some agonizing decisions each turn. Missle fire is deadly (as it should be), but getting a lock-on is not as easy as it appears. There are rules for pilot experience, random missions, and Vietnam era planes as well. All in all a nice package.

The game is not perfect, however, though my gripes are minor.

First, the counters are black-n-white line drawings. They look good, but I wish that color counters had been included in the package.

Second, there is a good selection of NATO/WARSAW PACT planes, but in some cases they lack individuality. Functionally there is no diffrence between an F16 and an F18. This is not to say that all the planes are cookie-cutter, but there are some instances of this. Luckily the game is VEEEERY easy to tinker with, and my group set immediately to modifying plane characteristics.

The customer support from FJ Gaming is excellent. The one rule question I had was answered very quickly, and the designer is very responsive to new ideas. He's even offered to post some of our optional rules on the FJ Gaming website. All in all a great company to deal with.

Great fun - highly reccommended for an afternoon of quick gaming!

WARNING! If you opened the DEMO for this game and were not impressed, do not be discouraged!

Do you remember "Ace of Aces?" "Richthoffen's War?"

If you do, think about a game that combines and simplifies these two games. With "Biplane Barmy," you get an easy-to-play game of WWI aviation that has a "menu" of maneuvers which are used for simultaneous movement. You can play one-on-one combats, or a furball combat featuring a sky full of single-seaters, double-seaters, and bombers avoiding enemy balloons while being fired at by ack-ack, infantry and tanks. The use of dice as counters takes away almost all of the paper record-keeping.

What do you get for your hard-earned bucks? The rulebook (basic, advanced and optional rules, none of them difficult or obscure), several sheets of counters, a "map" (a plain ol' square grid), a random mission generator, a combat and maneuver chart, a glossary of WWI aviation slang, and some historical notes on planes and air services. Everything you need except a table, drinks and snacks, and some dice.

And speaking of dice, you'd better plan on having a fistful of D20's and D6's if you're planning a large game, although you COULD really do all your record-keeping and hidden movement orders on paper, and then just use one D6 for combat rolls.

I'd like to see an expansion to this, perhaps a missions pack, maybe even rules that extend the air battle to later years. Although it is a complete game, it begs for expansion.

It's not a deep military simulation, but it is a fast-moving, fun little game you can quickly pick up and play. It's really just a modern microgame, at an old-time microgame price.

I'd have to rate it a surprisingly cool game at a great price. You really can't go wrong with this one.

I have to admit I was a bit dubious about purchasing this game after looking at the demo rules. Gladly my doubts were unfounded. The real rules are way better than the demo set.

The game is exactly as the blurb describes it - fast and furious - and definately playable. A lot of thought has gone into converting the details of WWI aerial combat into a game that is fun but with simple recordkeeping.

Biplane Barmy includes basic rules to get you straight into the game but there are heaps of advanced rules too. These include shooting, bombing, rockets, clouds and balloons just to name a few. There is a simple but effective campain system and a mission generator. You get counters, a demo map, Player reference sheets, Aircraft data, Air Services data and a Glossary of WWI slang for a bit of fun while playing the game -"I got in a right funk when Archie arrived and then me typwriter jammed".

The Author has put a lot of extra features into the rules that make this more than just a time filler. Although the rules are meant to use generic aircraft, there is a lot of scope for a more realistic approach to the game. I guess 38 pages is drawing near to the optimum size of a downloadable game and he wanted to keep it simple. To be honest it is only a small gripe and more than outweighed by the quality of the rest of the game.

I would definately recommend this product to anyone who likes WWI gaming.

A nice, simple game of WW I aerial combat. Other games have more realism and detail, but at a cost of slower, more difficult play. This is a good game if you want to have a quick dogfight without getting bogged down.