My Experience with 'Check Your 6!'

[Energisteron]

When I first began wargaming I quickly realised that I did not like games which took longer to play than the events they portrayed. By and large I have kept to that maxim.

So I was quite surprised when I decided to buy 'Check Your 6!' in a mega-sale, I suppose on impulse, because inevitably this game would take a lot longer to play than the real dogfights ever lasted. Also, obviously, 3-D real-time flight sims have been around for over 20 years! So my expectations were fairly low. I thought it would be a curiosity, and that it would be interesting to see how 'an old-fashioned board wargame' dealt with the subject. In that respect I was not disappointed.

I am sure this is an accurate depiction of the original game although perhaps some of the more complex rules were not programmed into this release. And, my maxim has certainly been heavily reinforced! Games that take longer than reality are NOT gripping, but I would certainly not go so far as to say boring. It also confirmed that I would not have had the patience to play this as a boardgame without the computer doing all the calculations!

So, what does this offer?

Setting aside that this could never depict the sheer speed and havoc of a real dogfight, I did get some satisfaction from this game.

The mechanics are simple enough, the combat modelling generally seems to produce realistic results, the aircraft look quite nice, and there are 18 fixed scenarios to play through. (I say fixed, but there is a slight random element which does not really refresh a scenario that you've already played, especially if you succeed in gaining the objectives.) These 18 scenarios are playable as either side too, so you could say there are 36 battles. Also there is no need to progress along the campaign timeline to play these scenarios. All can be played out of the box which is a good thing.

So, what did I enjoy?

Well, I definitely did not get any 'edge of your seat' thrills! But what I did get was a fun 'aerial tactical sandbox' with which to test out various tactics. Do you group your fighters in 'V's' or diamonds, a line abreast, or maybe a staggered echelon? Do you use a different formation against enemy bombers and fighters? Do you split your force into groups with different orders; say, this group goes for the bombers, this for the fighters? Do you try to stay in formation during combat or does every unit fight chaotically? I won't give any spoilers as to what I found to be best, but safe to say historical tactics were largely the best.

What did I not like, or more accurately, with what was I dissatisfied?

There was not a lot that grated with me too much. It did seem strange that sometimes during resolution of air-to-air targetting that a 'None' result (i.e. no significant damage) then produced subsidiary damage such as pilot killed, rudder jammed, debris etc., so there was in fact damage! At least a 'Miss' was a miss.

Undoubtedly my biggest disappointment was that the AI seems to be incapable of flying even bombers in formation. They arrive scattered about their deployment zone seemingly randomly as if their formation had already been broken up by a previous attack. So sometimes they're more clustered together (but not really in formation) and other times in the same scenario they're flying independently. (Actually this does create an interesting tactical problem because a single pass by a fighter is unlikely to down a bomber, but to concentrate on one 'straggler' may leave the main bomber stream to get away. So there's pluses and minuses with this!) Overall though the AI does a solid job determinedly pushing its bombers forward to the objective (sometimes a target, sometimes a map edge) and placing its fighters in good positions, sometimes even in groups!

And finally, the campaign. Remember this can be played as either side, and in parallel which is good. Yet there are no overall statistics, not even at the end of a scenario. How many Hurricanes did I lose overall per Heinkel shot down? How many air crew survived bailing out? None of that information is available. (Clarification: that information is available during a scenario until it suddenly ends)

Consequently I decided to keep a tally for myself but that proved impossible because the instant an objective is achieved or it becomes unattainable that scenario ends without any summary screen at all. You've succeeded or you've failed. There's no grading of success or failure!

My conclusion: this is a fun 'tactical sandbox' air combat game which permits the testing of various combat doctrines, but don't expect to taste much adrenaline. Recommended at sale price.