Barth, I think you did a multi-player AAR with Wing Leader over at The Other Site
TM, no? I picked up Wing Leader just because of that (now ask me if I got it to the table, LOL).
I was going to recommend Downtown as I'd heard great things about it, but didn't as I've never owned it.
I think Red Storm looks damned appealing too, but it's on the heavier side and I think it has only a handful of solo missions; I believe at heart it's supposed to be a 2-player game.
I have come across both IA and NA - and read your AAR on (whichever one it was). They do look interesting but I was a bit scared they'd be like QotS. I might have been really unfair to QotS...I did "upgrade" to Target for Today and honestly, I found that worse. The rules seemed more complicated (or at least more) and there seemed to be even more dice rolling.
Yeah - I won't write off IA or NA at the moment. I might watch some vids - see what they're like. I am enjoying The Hunters - alot - which is kind of story driven and geared on dice rolling - so not too dissimilar to QotS or TfT.
The long AAR I did last year or so was Nightfighter Ace, yep. I like Interceptor Ace because there's more dogfighting to it, but yes, you're still rolling on tables more or less.
A Wing and a Prayer (LnL) is pretty good. You control a squadron of B-17s in that one.
They do look interesting but I was a bit scared they'd be like QotS. I might have been really unfair to QotS...I did "upgrade" to Target for Today and honestly, I found that worse. The rules seemed more complicated (or at least more) and there seemed to be even more dice rolling.
I played the absolute crap out of QotS back in the day, mainly because there were so few solo games. Even if it was technically on rails, it was still pretty awesome. Fast forwarding to a few years ago, I tried it again...I even, like you, bought Target For Today...and it just didn't do it for me. I became quite obstinate in my dislike of 'on rail' games, but then at some point had an epiphany that had me looking at those games as narrative generators, and not as games where you don't make many decisions. It made me realize there's more than one way to look at a game.
I wouldn't buy TfT again, though. Besides being ridiculously expensive, I just don't have bandwidth for it. Something like IA or NA are great for me, as is Amerika Bomber.