One of the great things about Europa is the air system. No other wargame that I know of has such a detailed treatment of World War II aerial warfare. In fact, it's amazing that since Drang Nach Osten's introduction in 1973, no design outside Europa has even attempted to give the air war the treatment that it deserves. Whole games claiming to address operational, even strategic-level combat, totally ignore the air war or at best add in a few 'ground support points'.

The more I study WWII the more I am struck by how influential air power was on ground combat. I think it's safe to say that much of the Western Allies' combat power resided in their excellent tactical air forces, without which they would have had a much tougher time in Tunisia, Sicily, Italy, and France. The Ninth and Second Tactical Air Forces in France ensured that the Germans would not be able to maneuver during the day without serious losses to marauding fighter-bombers, and turned the Falaise Pocket into a veritable junkyard of wrecked vehicles.

During the Battle of the Bulge the onset of clear weather spelled the doom of the German offensive. On the Eastern Front, the Luftwaffe air-support 'fire brigades' time and again staved off total disaster.

So, with the introduction of the Europa series the air war finally got the recognition that I think it deserves. The system has remained remarkably constant with each new game in the series. The air-to-air combat procedure has endured some modification, but the general pattern has remained.

However, in the spirit of Mark Pitcavage's slogan "Messing with the System', there's always room for change and, hopefully, improvement. I don't think that anybody who knows something about the air war in WWII can play a Europa game, especially a large one like FitE/SE, without noticing some .anomalies" in the air system. These are:

1. An overabundance of ground support (GS) missions and relative absence of historical levels of other mission types.

2. The ahistorical use of B-type bombers as the ground attack units of choice due to their +1 modifiers on the AA table.

3. The ineffectiveness of harassment missions.

4. The unusual mechanics of patrol attacks.

5. The ability of bombers to avoid air base attacks by flying gratuitous harassment and/or defensive air support (DAS) missions so they won't be at their bases when the enemy planes come to call.

6. The inflexibility of DAS missions.

Items 1 through 4 can be addressed through minor tweaks to the system; 5 and 6 will require some surgery to the air phase sequence. The discussions on the GEnie computer network have been very beneficial in working out some of these subjects. Frequent participants in the GEnie Air Rules topic are: Rick Gayler, Roy Lane, Robin Roberts, David Berry, Gordon Johansen, Jim Douglas, and Alan Tibbetts.

"Messing" with the Europa Air System

Introduction
1. The Popularity of GS missions
2. Type B Bombers
3. Harassment
4. Patrol Attacks
5. Gratuitous Air Missions
6. DAS Reconsidered and a Revised Air Sequence
7. Optional Rules