About Speed Kings, from BoardGameGeek:
Speed Kings is available digitally, in book form, and as a boxed set with cardboard standees. A Deluxe Set offers nine Race Plane miniatures, each beautifully-rendered at 1/100th scale. The miniatures are as well-suited for the modeling shelf as they are on your game table. Why not paint them in your team colors?
recreates the Thompson Trophy Cup races held in Cleveland, Ohio, during the early 1930s. In the game, each player represents a race team with 1-3 race planes. Gameplay involves Speed Cards, Pilot Skills, and Race Plane Attributes. Dice play a minimal role. Speed Kings is a game of skill, calculated action, and careful planning.
Challenging, highly strategic, and realistic, to achieve victory, players must plan carefully and manage their engine power as they employ a push-your-luck mechanic to take the lead as their team's race planes turn the pylons and hammer down the straights.
Gameplay is carried out either on a table or on the floor. Players may create their own racecourse or fly on one of six historic circuits included in the game. Pylons represent turn points on the Race Circuit while the Straights define longer runs where engine power is king.
Six race planes are included, ranging from the Gee Bee R-1 Super Speedster to the Hall-Springfield Bulldog, the Howard DGA-4 "Mike", and the Laird Solution -- all dating from the 1931 and 1932 race season. Each plane has unique characteristics that reflect its design and the raw power of its engine. Up to nine Race Planes may participate in any race!
Which is better? Should you fly a lighter, more nimble design or a heavier plane with a massive engine at the front?
Eighteen historic pilots are included, each with varying levels of skill and daring. Famous air racing names include Jimmy Doolittle, Dale "Red" Jackson, Lee Gehlbach, Beeler Blevins, and others. Women pilots are also represented, such as Gladys O'Donnell, Florence Klingensmith, and Pancho Barnes.
Players set up the race, compete to choose their planes, recruit the pilots, and they're off to a flying start. Most races are three laps long, though players may choose how many laps they wish to play. Generally, it takes about 15 minutes per lap, depending on the length of the race course.
The Standard Edition of the game comes with cardboard standees. A Deluxe Edition has been prepared, which is ordered directly through Historic Wings, that features miniatures of nine race planes that are beautifully rendered at 1/100 scale -- once painted, they are equally suitable for a modeling shelf as for the game table!
-description from the designer
