B-17, Queen of the Skies

B-17, Queen of the Skies is a solitaire board wargame published by On Target Games in 1981 that simulates flight missions in a Boeing B-17F Flying Fortress bomber during World War II.

[1] B-17 is a solitaire board wargame in which the player controls a B-17 bomber on missions over Germany, France, Belgium and the Netherlands between November 1942 and May 1943.

The player's role in the game is to allocate defensive fire from the multiple weapons positions on the bomber.

He found "The mechanics are simple and relatively uncluttered, consistent with the need for solitaire play and, though there are a few so-called optional rules, they are neither particularly complex nor particularly long-winded."

"[3] In Issue 30 of Fire & Movement, Ron Jongeling called the On Target edition "the solitaire player's dream come true.

The price is steep, considering the small amount of components, but what the game lacks in physical content, it more than makes up for in enjoyment."

Still, the game is habit forming, probably because you can make specific statements about it: 'Yeah, I took a flak hit over Antwerp that wounded my starboard waist gunner and knocked out my port inboard engine, so I had to ditch in France.'

He also noted that although Avalon Hill made improvements to the Attack Board and strategic map, "The biggest surprise is that [On Target's] superb artwork for the German aircraft cards was not an AH contribution.