8th Air Force

About this board game

8th Air Force is a solitaire board game for 1 player, with an approximately 240-minute playing time, about the USAAF strategic bombing campaign against Germany from 1943 to 1945.

As commander of the 8th Air Force, you must manage a demanding sequence of bombing campaigns while the USAAF grows from a small force into a power capable of striking targets throughout the shrinking Third Reich. Victory requires more than simply reaching Germany: critical operations must succeed along the way.

Early in the campaign, attack submarine bases in western France to help secure the Battle of the Atlantic. Then target railroads and river crossings across France and western Germany to support the eventual Allied invasion of occupied France. The D-Day invasion and the Normandy breakout demand heavy support, adding further pressure to your bombing priorities.

• Bomb German aircraft factories to reduce Luftwaffe aircraft production.
• Strike oil facilities to limit the support available to the Luftwaffe.
• Attack heavy industry to help win the war.
• Suppress the V1 and V2 attacks threatening England.
• Assist the Soviet ally by bombing German army staging areas in the east.

Meanwhile, the Luftwaffe is developing advanced jet and rocket technology. If Germany’s industrial capacity is not crippled, these developments may tip the air war in its favor. You must therefore balance immediate battlefield demands with the long-term destruction of the industrial base supporting German air power.

With its broad strategic scope and lengthy solitaire format, 8th Air Force places the full burden of the campaign on one commander. Guide the bombing offensive from its difficult early years toward the near-impunity of 1945, while meeting the operations that are essential to Allied victory.