War Thunder is a lot of fun

War Thunder is a free to play PC WWII air combat game with advancement sped up and some extra planes made available if you buy in. It has varying degrees of realism, but most people seem to play in arcade mode where the flight model is more forgiving, the easiest control set is available and you can spawn several times in different aircraft. They also have a tanks mode in closed beta which I look forward to trying.

 I played a bit about a year ago and got good at air to ground with the early tech starter planes but didn't progress too far. Since then, one of my gaming friends from minis and boardgames really got into it and convinced me to update and get back in. Got it going early last week, and started playing a lot, was having a good enough time I bought in for the 90 days account yesterday. We managed to pair up in a squad one night and play with pair tactics using the in game voice which is quite good. Our first flight as a pair went very well, with us covering each other and both ended with kills and assists on the same planes we started with. Later runs were less lucky/sloppier, but it is clearly a game that rewards team tactics. It's very nice to have somebody to watch & clear your tail and help look out for targets and threats.

So far, my favorite among the tier 1 and 2 planes is the Bf110, which is probably a bit underrated on its plane level, as it just tears through a lot of tier 1 opposition with strong bursts of cannon + MG firepower, and is sturdy versus machine guns. It isn't very maneuverable but really rewards classic slashing energy tactics. Had one amazing flight in it yesterday where I picked off a couple, got tailed by a guy I could not shake, but who mostly missed his shots, and dragged him around the battlefield, dodging and weaving and scoring another five kills with slashing attacks against targets of opportunity, as I got more and more damaged. Ended plowed into the ground when I couldn't pull up after a final shot at a ground target. The last couple were seriously tricky to line up with my controls gone all sloppy in my shot up plane. Ended that game with nine kills after using a couple of Italian planes. The guy that shot me down was the lead scorer on the other side, but his score was seriously held down by all the time he spent chasing me.

Give it a go. Look for me as Argg if you want to fly as a squad.