VDP Player Info

[kirkh]

I'd like to start this thread to get an idea of peoples experience with DP and also their availability to play VDP. Personally, I'm a father of two school age children so don't have much time during the day to play. My optimum times to play would be evenings, from about 7PM Central time till about 11PM. Most any night will work except Saturday when I have other commitments. If you'd like to see my "other" commitment, take a look at my weekly writeups for that hobby here: slotcarracing.org/kirkreport.htm

As far as DP goes, my experience level is that of relative rookie. I bought the game many years ago on Ebay but have never actually used it to play a "real" (real meaning 4 plus players) game. I participated in a few of the games John Noddings ran on the 'net many years ago and also participated in some exploratory VDP games about two and a half years ago so my sum experience amounts to a half dozen or so missions. I'm really looking forward to having an opportunity to play this great game on a more regular basis. Heck, I'd just like the opportunity to have a pilot that's flown more than one mission.

[Stephen]

Slot car racing! Man, you really ARE cool!

I started playing DP in 1987. Scott and I founded the Indy Squadron in late 1988 and have been playing ever since.

We may want to hold some Rookie Games in which experience players are asked to fly non-ace pilots to help some newbies get started building their rosters. The truth is that a rookie can fly quite well against a big ace, but sometimes they don't believe that.

[kirkh]

I don't think it's as much a matter of playing well against experienced players, I think it's more a matter of rookies joining a group and wanting to learn how the group plays the game. I think all the early VDP games will be educational experiences for rookie DP players and experts alike as we all learn best the most fun and efficient way to play the game.

Regarding my slot car racing, I've been doing that for 40 years off and on. My racing involvement has steadily declined in scale as my lifestyle has changed. When I was single and had more money than sense I raced karts and did some crewing for sports car teams. Then I got married and racing had to scale down to R/C. Then the kids came and the racing shrank to 1/32nd scale. Dawn Patrol is a relatively new pursuit to me although I've been a WWI aviation nut since the early 70's when my friends and I sat around playing game after game of Richthofen's War, listening to a 45 of the Royal Guardsman song "Snoopy vs. the Red Baron", and watching The Blue Max whenever we had an opportunity. Fun times.

[kevan]

I first played Dawn Patrol as a teenager, starting about 1991-92, when I was recruited by my older cousin and his friends who needed an extra body to fill out the table when they were home from university. I believe that the driving force in that group, Graham Cox, did some editing or article writing for the Aerodrome magazine at the time, and was active in the Dawn Patrol community after moving to New York.

I played DP semi-regularly for a few years until I moved off to University and eventually couldn't find enough interested players. Since then, I've had a break of about 10 years without playing a single game. About a year and a half ago, I came across my game box and was disappointed to find my map was pretty much ruined from less-than-ideal storage condition. Between that and the fact that the previous owner of my game had cut out all the aircraft stats into separate cards, I decided to track down a new copy on Ebay. It was about that time I found the Vassal module, but I was unlucky in tracking down a game until this month.

So I'm pretty excited now that I've actually had the chance to play three games in two weeks. As far as online availability, my weekdays tend not to work well, due to evening meetings and work travel. Weekends are pretty flexible, though I'm more likely to be available on Sundays. Early Sunday works very well for me.

As for the rookie/ace question, I can't find any of my old pilot stats, so I'm flying nothin' but rookies in the near future.

[gblemings]

i will date my self, i bought my first dp (actually it was fight in the skys), when it came in a brown envelope.....and the rules were mimeographed....since then, over the years, bought the various versions as they came out, lost them all, re-bought a bunch from ebay a couple of years ago.

had the same problem as mentioned above, could never really find anyone to play, so mostly just played solo,

found the indy squadron site a year or so ago....

i am an avid war gamer, at one time i must have had all the avalon hill board games, plus a bunch of other...counted them one time, had over 150 games...over the years, they got displaced/lost/thrown out....

now i am slowly starting to rebuild my collection, as my kids are old enough now to want to play these games!

DP experieince, i played at the gencon a few years back (the last one that was in milwaukee), so i have most likely met some of you already....played a few vassal games last year....played solo...

i am really looking forward to playing with fellow pilots...in larger games...

I am at that age, that i can be pretty flexible as to when to play, as long as i have some notice.

Evenings during the work week, are fine, as long as i have some notice....weekends...usually are ok, i would prefer evenings though, have to do all my chores during the day.....but i realize all you young persons, have things to do on friday or saturdy nights!

in summary, i would consider myself a newbie/rookie to dp, but a veteran playing war games...in general.

later
garyb

[Rex]

I first played Dawn Patrol in High school in1985. I went to a Military school, so we were able to gather groups of 7 or 8 to in a dorm room and play. It was one of my favorite experiences. But alas, in the years that followed I had trouble finding people to play with. Parts of my game were lost. Back in the late 90's I started looking on line for information an the possibility of On-line play. Thats when I came across the Indy Squadron and the FITS society. I seem to remember people playing on line or at least by Email on the society site at that time. But I still did not have a rule book. 2 or 3 years ago I made my mind up, and ventured onto ebay and found a new copy. Since then I have tried to brow beat my friends into playing. But I have come to the realization that you are either passionate about this game or you are not. And if you are, then you need to find others of like mind and play with them. Since I too am an avid war gamer, it was looking for extra content for a different game that led me to Vassal. As soon as I saw it I went straight for Dawn Patrol and was ecstatic to find it was there. So here I am. Playing with the people who are passionate about the game as well.



I am Semi flexible in my gaming times given enough lead time. Most week nights work for me, as well as mornings on Sat and Sun. The games I have been setting up so far I have tried to announce them about a week in advance. Ideally I would like to find a sweet spot where the most players are available and Schedule a regular game time. Maybe something like a Friday night or a Sunday morning.

We have played a few weekend games already, so next I would like to try a week night and see how many we can get. Keep an eye on the forums for my next Bloody April game post.

[Orion]

Hello all, I was very happy to find this forum. I am a big DP fan. I started playing the game in 1995 while I was in college. I played with the Kankakee, IL crowd - Mark and Mike H., Marty F., etc. The only convention I have been to was one of the Kankakee Mini-Cons. I have scooped up several copies of the game from ebay to get a complete set and put together a semi-permanent game board so I could host games. In the past two years I have introduced 6 new players to the game that live in my area.

I have never played Dawn Patrol on Vassal, but downloaded it over a year ago to find out there weren't many people around to play it. So, it is very encouraging to see this forum so active.

My availability is generally after 8pm cst until about midnight. I am happily married with 2 young kids (they goto bed at 8). I would likely play at most 1 night a week. Thursdays or Fridays work best for me.

Anyone interested in contacting me for a game, please PM me here and I will give you my email address and ICQ number directly.

Let's keep this thing flying!

Dan a.k.a. "Orion"

[AP]

Hi all, I come from the MN Squad of players (http://www.geocities.com/cubsfan4life1908/Ghost_Jasta.html) that has been playing since Fight in the Skies came out in 1975. I wasnt born until 78', and was introduced to the game around the age of 9 or 10. We have a strong contingent of local players and in the past few years have grown to holding an almost weekly game.
I was recently married & just bought a house this past winter, so I really shouldnt be playing much...but... I still do ;D
Weeknights and weekends are best for me, we usually hold a local game on Saturday morning and there may be a possibility for us to all play online sometime!