Introduction
This is the simplest playable game possible to game WWII Aerial Combat. The emphasis in this game is fast and easy. Playability is given more consideration than realism. Use the game for those times when you want a quick and dirty aerial combat game or for introducing someone new to gaming. It was inspired by Timothy Swenson's Space Combat game available on the Internet.
Aircraft
They are comprised of the following elements:
ENGINE: Determines the maximum SPEED that an aircraft may travel.
FUSELAGE: Determines the amount of damage an aircraft may take before being destroyed.
TO-HIT: The odds of an aircraft hitting another aircraft.
WEAPONS: The list of weapons an aircraft has and their firing arc.
Each aircraft has four sides. They are Front (F), Left (L), Right (R) and Rear (R).
Aircraft Turn Record: During the game, damage, speed, and movement is tracked for each aircraft using Aircraft Turn Records. At the beginning of the game, the aircraft stats are entered on the Aircraft Turn Record. If an aircraft does not have a weapon on a particular side, fill in that oval. If an aircraft has ENGINE 4 then all but 4 of the ovals are filled in. The rest of the ovals are filled in when the aircraft takes damage.
Aircraft Design
Each aircraft has an ENGINE, FUSELAGE, or TO-HIT value. ENGINE, FUSELAGE, and TO-HIT may never exceed 5. Only one weapon may be placed on each side of the aircraft.
Different sizes of aircraft can be built.
At the end of the page are some sample aircraft.
Turn Sequence
Turns are comprised of the following phases:
- Move Orders Phase
Movement Phase
Initiative Roll
Player 1 Combat Phase
Player 2 Combat Phase
Setup
The setup of the game is entirely up to the players. How many aircraft, what type, their starting locations and the victory conditions are for the players to decide. It is recommended that players first start off with a small number of aircraft and gradually build up over subsequent games. The most obvious victory condition is to see who can destroy whom.
Needed for Play: A number of 6 sided die, aircraft counters or miniatures, and a tape measure.
Movement: SPEED is how fast the aircraft is currently travelling. SPEED may never exceed the current ENGINE rating. Aircraft start out the game at any SPEED less than or equal to the ENGINE rating. SPEED is written on the Aircraft Turn Record during the Move Orders Phase. Acceleration and Deceleration: Aircraft may accelerate or decelerate by 1 SPEED each turn. SPEED is written down in the Move Orders phase.
Moving an aircraft: Aircraft may either move forward, turn left or turn right Each one of these movements costs 1 SPEED. For each SPEED moving forwards the aircraft moves 2 inches. Aircraft may not turn twice in a row, but must move at least 2 inches forward between turns. An aircraft must expend all of its SPEED in each turn, either by moving forward or turning.
Turning: Imagine a clock face superimposed over the aircraft. The direction the aircraft is moving is twelve o'clock, its rear is 6 o'clock, its right is 3 o'clock etc. An aircraft may turn 1 point on the clock face per 1 SPEED (the maximum permitted points turn is equal to half the possible maximum speed i.e. an aircraft with 2 speeds may turn 1 point on the clock, an aircraft with 4 SPEED may turn 2 points on the clock).
Aircraft Movement Orders: All movement is plotted before any movement takes place. These Movement Orders are written on the Aircraft Turn Record during the Move Orders phase. Movement Orders are written down like "2L1". This means to move two SPEED forward (i.e. 4 inches) , turn one point to the left, then move 1 SPEED forward (i.e. 2 inches). This would cost 4 points of SPEED.
Since all movement (direction and SPEED) is plotted before any aircraft move, both players may move their aircraft at the same time.
Combat
Aircraft may fire on other aircraft when the following occurs: target aircraft is within range of firing aircraft, there is a clear line-of-sight between the aircraft, and the target aircraft is in the firing arc of one of the firing aircraft's weapons. Each weapon on a aircraft may fire once per turn.
Firing arcs: The front gun may fire between 11 o'clock and 1 o'clock. The Left weapon may fire from 7 o'clock to 11 o'clock, the right weapon may fire from 1 o'clock to 5 o'clock and the rear weapon may fire from 7 o'clock to 5 o'clock.
Range: All weapons have a normal range of 4 to 9 inches. Aircraft may fire at 10 to 12 inches, but with a -1 on the To-Hit Roll. Aircraft firing at 1 to 4 inches fire with a +1 on the To-Hit Roll. Range up to 1 inch is at +2 on the To-Hit Roll.
To-Hit Roll: Once all of the above conditions have been met, roll 1 die for each weapon firing. If the die roll is equal to or less than the To-Hit of the firing aircraft (taking Range modifiers into effect), then the target aircraft has been hit.
Damage: Each weapon delivers one hit of damage to the targeted aircraft. Roll 1 die. On a roll of 1-4, mark off one oval of FUSELAGE. On a roll of 5 mark off one oval of ENGINE. On a roll of 6, the weapon on that side of the targeted aircraft is destroyed. If there is no weapon on that side or the weapon is already destroyed, mark off one oval of FUSELAGE. All damage is applied immediately.
Destruction: Any aircraft with no more ovals of FUSELAGE is considered destroyed. When an ENGINE is reduced to zero then the aircraft has no engine left and falls out of the sky and crashes.
Use of Counters
This idea came courtesy of B.G Langley of Sweden (e mail:I.I.I@swipnet.se). "By using simple card counters one can set up a game in next to no time and get started. Most graphic programmes now have libraries of aircraft drawings available and the net has many aircraft pics which are easily downloadable so quite detailed airforces can be made up from scratch. Which brings me back to the rules and being able to use counters instead of models in air to air combat gives the possibility of not only using aircraft in large numbers for the first time, but also one can use obscure aircraft unavailable in kit form. "
Aircraft Turn Record
Aircraft Name: _______________________ Unit No: _____
ENGINE: O O O O O
FUSELAGE: O O O O O
TO-HIT: ______
Weapons: F: O L: O R: O Rear: O
Turn Speed Move Turn Speed Move
1 _____ __________ 16 _____ __________
2 _____ __________ 17 _____ __________
3 _____ __________ 18 _____ __________
4 _____ __________ 19 _____ __________
5 _____ __________ 20 _____ __________
6 _____ __________ 21 _____ __________
7 _____ __________ 22 _____ __________
8 _____ __________ 23 _____ __________
9 _____ __________ 24 _____ __________
10 _____ __________ 25 _____ __________
11 _____ __________ 26 _____ __________
12 _____ __________ 27 _____ __________
13 _____ __________ 28 _____ __________
14 _____ __________ 29 _____ __________
15 _____ __________ 30 _____ __________
| Aircraft | Engine | Fuselage | To Hit | Weapon |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ME109 | 3 | 3 | 3 | F |
| ME110 | 3 | 3 | 4 | F,REAR |
| FW190D | 3 | 4 | 3 | F |
| ME262 | 5 | 4 | 5 | F |
| ME163 | 5 | 3 | 5 | F |
| SPITFIRE | 4 | 4 | 3 | F |
| HURRICANE | 3 | 4 | 3 | F |
| MOSQUITO | 3 | 4 | 3 | F |
| GLADIATOR | 2 | 3 | 3 | F |
| MUSTANG | 3 | 3 | 3 | F |
| THUNDERBOLT | 3 | 4 | 3 | F |
| LIGHTNING | 3 | 4 | 3 | F |
| CR42 | 3 | 2 | 2 | F |
| DS250 | 3 | 4 | 3 | F |
| ZERO | 3 | 2 | 2 | F |
| HE111 | 2 | 5 | 3 | F,L,REAR |
| JU88 | 2 | 5 | 3 | F,REAR |
| B17 | 2 | 5 | 3 | F,L,REAR |
| LIBERATOR | 2 | 5 | 3 | F,L,REAR |
| LANCASTER | 2 | 5 | 3 | F,L,REAR |
| WELLINGTON | 2 | 4 | 3 | F,L,REAR |
| LE0451 | 2 | 4 | 3 | F,REAR |
| SM79 | 3 | 4 | 3 | F,L,REAR |
| IL.4 | 3 | 4 | 3 | F,L,REAR |
Any further questions e mail me at: pete.jones@virgin.net
http://freespace.virgin.net/pete.jones/dispatches.htm
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© Copyright 1999 by Craig Martelle Publications
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