1996 BGG rank #6229

Air Baron

2–6 players 120 min Ages 10+ 2.5/5 complexity 5.7/10 rating

About this game

Airlines vie for control of the American skies in this hybrid business/war game. Each turn, the active player decides whether make an investment or, to forgo income for a round and enter Fare Wars. In Fare Wars, players pay and roll dice to take over individual spokes to control major-city hubs. Income is generated by randomly drawing purchased spokes and controlled hubs. When a player, on their turn with no outstanding loans, has a mix of market share and cash on hand that equals or exceeds the winning target (which varies with number of players), that player wins.

What it feels like

Dice Rolling Area Majority / Influence Chit-Pull System Territory Building Aviation / Flight Economic

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Setup

1. Each player takes a set of airline markers, places their turn marker in the Turn cup, their Market Share marker on zero of the Market Share track, and their Fare Wars marker in the 'out' Fare Wars box. 2. Place three Jumbo Profit markers on the board, and the Settlement marker on the zero space of its track. 3. Place all domestic and foreign spoke profit markers on the map. (Omit certain hubs for fewer than 5 players — see player count hub restrictions.) 4. Place the 5 event markers (Crash, Fuel Cost Hike, Local Competitor, Recession, Strike) in the Profits cup. Draw them one at a time and place them face-down on the Market Share track without looking, at every increment of 50. 5. Place all hub profit markers and the Bid for (Gov't) Contract marker in the Profits cup. 6. Choose a banker. Determine turn order by drawing player turn markers from the Turn cup. 7. The banker rolls 1 die and distributes starting cash: die result + 1 for player 1, + 2 for player 2, etc. (each subsequent player receives one more dollar than the previous).

Turn flow

Each round begins by returning drawn Profit and Turn Order markers to their respective cups and re-determining player order. On a player's turn: (a) If controlling no spokes, they may fold and start a new company. (b) Choose to be in or out of Fare Wars. (c) Collect Government Contract money if owned ($1–$6). (d) If under Strike, reduce Settlement cost by $5, then either settle or remain on Strike. (e) In any order: (i) Draw two markers from the Profits cup and resolve them — uncontrolled spoke profit markers are placed back on the map and drawn again; no profit is collected if on Strike or in Fare Wars. (ii) Pay 10% interest on any Loan (sell assets if necessary) and optionally repay all or part of the principal. (iii) Optionally take out a Loan (not allowed if already in debt or on Strike). (iv) Optionally sell one asset at half price (rounded up). (f) Take one action or pass (players on Strike must pass). Available actions: buy control of an open domestic spoke; buy control of an open foreign spoke (requires controlling at least one domestic spoke in the hub, or use SST); buy a Jumbo Jet; attempt a takeover of a domestic spoke; redeploy Jumbo Jets and/or SST.

Scoring and victory

The first player to achieve a combined total of Market Share and cash equal to or exceeding the player-count threshold wins, provided they are not currently on Strike and do not have an outstanding Loan. Target score: 6 players = $290 combined; 4–5 players = $320 combined; 3 players = $350 combined; 2 players = $390 combined (Market Share + cash) Scoring sources: Market Share from Hub Dominance (more than half of domestic spokes in a hub), Market Share from Hub Control (all domestic spokes in a hub), Cash from domestic spoke profit draws (printed profit number, doubled with Jumbo Jet), Cash from foreign spoke profit draws (high or low number based on hub control), Cash from hub profit draws (high number for Hub Control, low for Hub Dominance, $3 for Presence), Cash from Jumbo Profit markers ($5 per deployed Jumbo Jet), Cash from Government Contract ($1–$6 per turn)

Source: Rulebook

Rules to know

The most useful rules for getting a first game right.

Setup

Each player initializes their markers at the start of the game.

Each player takes a set of airline markers. They place their turn marker in the Turn cup, their Market Share marker on the zero space of the Market Share track, and their Fare Wars marker in the 'out' Fare Wars box.

Setup

Place Jumbo Profit markers, Settlement marker, and spoke profit markers on the board at game start.

Place three Jumbo Profit markers on the board and the Settlement marker on the zero space of its track. Place all domestic and foreign spoke profit markers on the map according to the player count hub restrictions.

Setup

Event markers are shuffled into the Profits cup and placed face-down on the Market Share track at every 50-point increment.

The 5 event markers (Crash, Fuel Cost Hike, Local Competitor, Recession, Strike) are placed in the Profits cup. Draw them one at a time and place them face-down on the Market Share track without looking, at every increment of 50. Players do not know which event is at which position until their market share reaches it.

Setup

Hub profit markers and Government Contract marker are placed in the Profits cup after events are placed.

After placing the 5 event markers on the Market Share track, place all hub profit markers and the Bid for (Gov't) Contract marker in the Profits cup. These are drawn during players' Profit Draw steps.

Setup

Turn order is determined by randomly drawing player turn markers from the Turn cup.

Choose a banker. Determine initial turn order by drawing all player turn markers from the Turn cup one at a time. The order in which they are drawn is the turn order for the first round.

Setup

Starting cash is determined by a die roll, with each successive player receiving one more dollar.

The banker rolls 1 die. Player 1 (first in turn order) receives that die result + 1 dollar. Player 2 receives die result + 2 dollars. Each subsequent player receives one additional dollar more than the previous player (die result + player position number).

Turn structure

At the start of each round, drawn Profit and Turn Order markers are returned to their cups and turn order is re-determined.

At the beginning of each round, return all previously drawn Profit markers and Turn Order markers to their respective cups. Then re-determine player order for the round by drawing turn markers from the Turn cup.

Turn structure

A player with no spokes may fold and start a new company at the start of their turn.

If a player controls no spokes at the very start of their turn, they may choose to fold their current company and start a new one. See the 'new_company' rule for full details. This step occurs before all other turn steps.