Tally-Ho!: A Solitaire Air War Game (Historic Wings Air War Games)

More expensive than other recent book games but it is very good and worth it if you find the Battle of Britain interesting. And let's face it, who doesn't?

Stumbled across this book while looking for other solo gamebooks and was intrigued but not yet sold. The author offers a free three mission sampler - with full rules - on Boardgamegeek so I first downloaded this and that was the clincherThe book is clear and well set out and it is easy to grasp the rules. The maps and counters needed are included, but again these are also available from Boardgamegeek, a big thumbs up to the author, and are very well produced for a self published game.Gameplay is straightforward ,you are attempting to thwart waves of Luftwaffe attacks, with limited RAF resources. A simple AI controls the Axis, while you control the RAF. Dogfight and bombing are handled through D6 rolls and quickly resolved.A really nice touch is the use of various nationalities in the RAF. For example the Polish are aggressive and effective in dogfights, but language issues might hinder your getting them to contact.The game is deceptively simple and for single mission games a decent challenge. However, where it does shine is playing through the campaign of 15 missions, where previous games effect your resources for the next one, providing a real challenge and hours of play. The missions start relatively straightforward, but the later ones involve a lot more units and so even though the rules are simple to work through, the tactical challenge to succeed ramps up. There is also a lot of replayibility, because units type/sizes and set up are diced for each mission and so will be different each time.There is a fair bit of bookkeeping/record keeping in The game that does need a little care but not that onerous.The author mentions a multi player mega expansion to the game is planned in the near future, which , at least for me will be a nailed on purchase.The price might be an issue to some but given that the is a lot of historical information included and that author already provides lots of game assets on Boardgamegeek, this should put you off.If you are already a fan of the new wave of solo wargame books (Mike Lambo, Worthington etc) this one should be an easy purchase, if you have not tried one before this is one of the best.Highly recommended