Stats:
No. of players: 2
Amount of time to play: 120 min
Age requirements: 12+
Set-up time: 10-15 minutes

Bomber Command lets you take control of the Allie squads bombing Germany during WWII or the Axis squads defending the German targets.

Bomber Command Rules Description:

Bomber Command begins with the British player randomly selecting the cities they’ll bomb. Next they map out how they plan to accomplish their raids. Players both draw eight cards from their deck and keep five of them discarding the rest.

Each turn is made up of the following steps: draw cards, fighters move, scramble, raids move, raid detection, tame boar, deployment, recovery, bombing and the end phase.

After the first, you may draw up to three cards but may not exceed your hand limit of five cards. Your cards may be played most anytime and help you get more units on the map and modify your dice rolls. Your opponent can cancel cards you play by discarding two cards that have the same icon as the one you played.

The German player may move their nightfighters. All nightfighters move two hexes unless they were scrambled. In that case you remove their scramble marker and may move them one hex. To finish this step you reduce the fuel markers of the nightfighters. Nightfighters that run out of fuel must recover.

If a fighter was just deployed it may scramble. Twin engine fighters get a scramble token, but single engine fighters may move one hex and not get a scramble token. You must also see if there are losses during takeoff.

Before the British raids move you must remove their tokens from the map. Once a raid arrives at a target city they place a bomb drop token there. The German player may then react with any of his nightfighters in that hex. The raid is also attacked by city flak. You must roll on the appropriate charts to resolve these attacks.

The German player can try to detect the raid based on the current jamming level. If detected you place raid counters on the map to show the detected raids’ location.

Tame boar attacks can be made by twin engine units that infiltrate a detected raid. The German player must roll against the jamming level and then roll their tame boar attacks.

During deployment the German player may stack fighters on cities or beacons. Fighters that are not scrambled and located in certain hexes are also marked with GCI tokens. This helps them locate raids in later turns.

If nightfighters are low or out of fuel they rearm and refuel in the recovery step. These units must roll against the recovery chart and depending on the weather and the roll they may be lost.

Any bombing markers on their Resolve Bombing side are resolved. The British player selects an aimpoint and then determines the drift and approach. The British player gains VPs for successfully bombing targets and wants as many bombs on target as possible. The German player wants the bombs scattered so there are less hits and less chance of a fire breaking out.

The end phase is mostly for housekeeping. This is also the time when Bomb Drop tokens are flipped over to the Resolve Bombing side.

The game ends when all raids have left the map or both players agree to stop the game. The British player earns VPs for completing raids and the German player earns VPs for destroying bombers. You subtract the German player’s VPs from the British player’s and assess the victor on a chart.

Quick Review of Bomber Command:

Bomber Command is a game full of bluffing in the night sky. The British player must be wise and use decoys while the German player needs to find the raid and destroy enemy fighters. This game is tense and full of meaningful decisions.

The components for the game are very nice. The map, art and chits are all high quality. The rules will take a few reads to digest but are well organized. The game aid is great and really helps to streamline game play.

The cards really make this game interactive and keep both players involved at all times. You need to decide which cards to keep and when to play or cancel your opponent’s cards. These can be tough decisions and add to the tension in the game.

Bomber Command is fun for both players but the timing of that fun is different. Early on the British player is plotting raids and the German player is less involved. But later the German player is trying to hunt down the raids and there is less for the British play to do.

If you are a wargamer that is looking for a night raid simulation you should pick Bomber Command up. If aerial combat or the night raids in WWII interest you, you should try this game out.

Score and synopsis: (Click here for an explanation of these review categories.)
Strategy 4 out of 6
Luck 4 out of 6
Player Interaction 5 out of 6
Replay Value 4 out of 6
Complexity 5 out of 6
Fun 4 out of 6
Overall 4 out of 6