Cracking The Plastic on the Fokker E.III (Max Immelmann)

I was at Gen Con last week and made sure I spent some time at Ares Games.  I was hoping to pick up the new Wings of Glory aircraft and was fortunate to pick up the new releases!  I’m going to give a quick review of the ones I was able to snag, starting with Immelman’s Fokker E.III. 

For those of us that have wanted to slug out the period of the Fokker Scourge, this release was a welcome one.  The miniature is metal like the others in the series and comes with four elevation pegs, a base with the firing arc, and a set of maneuver cards. 

A few new things.  First off, this airplane uses maneuver deck T – I think this is the first one we’ve seen of this.  I’ve included a shot of the cards for you to check out.  I’m glad to see this.  For a while, the old Wings of War series seemed to be reusing a lot of the same maneuver decks.  With this release, we’re going to see some of the different performance characteristics of the aircraft which is welcome.  With a rating of eleven (11) for damage, the Fokker E.III seems to be a lightweight in the Wings of Glory series.  Still, I found that it had a good turning arc which should make for some good game play. 

The miniature itself is pretty good.  I feel that the paint color is a bit lighter than what I like.  One thing that the Wings of Glory/War aircraft seem to lack is any sort of weathering.  Most aircraft look like they rolled out of the factory  rather than having been in battle for a while.  

This mini is good and sturdy and I’m sure there are enough fans out there willing to take the time to repaint or weather their purchases. 

There are two other Fokker E.III’s in the series – Hautzmayer’s Fokker A.III and Buddecke’s Fokker E.III.  I picked up Immelman because, well, I like Immelman. 

Is the new Fokker worth picking up?  If you play or collect Wings of Glory WWI – of course.  We’ve needed planes from this era.  The single-winged aircraft is a neat sight in the skies of your next game.  But it’s not alone – this series includes a monoplane from the French too!  More on that to come in future reviews.