Skybirds

Skybirds is a game for 2-4 players, where you’ll fight for dominance in the skies over the battlefields of the Great War (which later came to be known as World War I). Aerial combat is simulated by – and this is a little weird but work with us – winning rounds of a ladder-climbing, empty-your-hand card game. If only real war could be so civilized!

Players start out even in skill, but as play progresses the winner of a given round of cards will be able to improve their squadron incrementally more than the second-place finisher, both of whom will improve more than third place, etc. Except in a 2-player match, the Ace left with cards at the end of the round gets no improvement at all.

After each victory, the more skillful players gain more powerful weapons (relative to those who finish the round behind them), and these weapons, represented by tokens, can be deployed for better bonuses during future rounds. These tokens also unlock further progression down the path to victory, but if you use the most recently won bonus, you cannot make further progress along that path until you reclaim the spent token. The game ends when one player unlocks the final “Armistice” token, and the winner is the player who amassed the most victory points (VPs) during the War to End All Wars.