Rules Questions

[Nat]

@koin-Koin, thats the doctrine card that allows the specific trait card to be played for free.

Action cards are; Traits, doctrine, theatre &amp ace skills and I’m wondering about the actual wording.

Personally I’ll be playing it that standard planes play 1 action card, aces 2 cards of which one must be an ace skill & named aces 3 cards of which 2 must be ace skills unless otherwise told.

(Bonus trait cards from doctrine cards being a bonus not counting towards the limit)

[Koin-Koin]

@Nat you’re right. I should have re-read the book before answering.
My bad.

[Andy Chambers]

The intent is that one Ace skill card can be played in addition to playing another action card (or Doctrine+ Bonus card combo). Named Aces are not exceptions to this, they just get two Ace skill cards in the action deck instead of one.

Hope that helps.

[Nat]

it does thank you.

[Uwe S.]

Hello, I’d like to ask if Dodging tests and Manoeuvre tests are different kinds of tests although the number of dice is calculated in the same way.
The doctrine “Seasoned Pilots” allows a player to reroll the Manoeuvre test, so this is the reason why I ask.

[Andy Chambers]

Yes, in order to dodge you take a manoeuvre test. There’s basically only three types of test you make in the game, either;

Pilot test = Pilot Skill only
Manoeuvre test = Pilot Skill + Aircraft’s Agility
Gunnery test = Pilot SKill + Aircraft’s Firepower

In theory you could have a ‘Speed test’ as well, but right now that only gets used for Deflection attack dodging (and technically that is still a manoeuvre test before you ask).

[Tokhuah]

Thank you for that last part Andy. I want to initiate a steep turn (with ground reference) to circle this around to the discussion on FB it connects with.

The reason why it is important to remember a Speed Test after a deflection attack is technically a Maneuver Test is that Critical Hits also reduce the number of dice by one (despite what may appear graphically on page 13).

[Tokhuah]

I have a question about the Bounced scenario. How do you resolve the conflict between the scenario indicating that all airplanes on one side start disadvantaged and use of the Radar card?

I would like to see a game/turn order flow chart with more specifics around set-up sequence and play. I am at work so I cannot reference the proper manuals but there is some ambiguity around the order during phases: airplane and cloud/balloon deployment, scenario specifications, and windows for card use. I could create a mock-up but do not want to duplicate work if this is already a thing.

[Andy Chambers]

Nothing like that (a pre-game flow chart) currently exists so feel free to knock something up and share it.

For the specifics of the Bounced scenario the relevant Theatre cards like Radar Support do still technically apply. The thinking here is that even with Radar Support the recipient of a bounce is starting in a bad position so if a few planes can wiggle out of being disadvantaged it’s no bad thing. That’s as per the rules as written.

I can see a case for asking the question ‘would Radar support really help in this circumstance in real life?’ and the fact is with 1940s technology no it probably wouldn’t, Spitfires got bounced plenty in the Battle of Britain and vice versa so if you want to rule that no Radar Support (or other Advantaged altering Theatre or Doctrine cards at set up)apply in a Bounce scenario that seems appropriate.

[Mark Barker]

On the earlier subject of tests, the text for the High Altitude Performance card reads a bit oddly:-

It says that you can play on an advantaged Friendly plane using the Outmanoeuvre Pilot Action which then gets +2 ‘to the attempt’. Perhaps an earlier version of the game had the active pilot rolling the dice rather than the target ?

Should this be that the target is at -2 dice for the attempt ?

Cheers,

Mark Barker

[Andy Chambers]

Dice aren’t directly a thing for outmanoeuvring as it’s a comparison of Pilot Skills. The targeted pilot gets a dice roll to save themselves only if their Pilot skill is equal or higher to the pilot making the attempt – which is unlikely when the outmanoeuvring Pilot is adding +2 to their skill for playing High Altitude Performance.

There’s been no change to outmanoeuvring since its introduction as far as I recall. It’s always been a comparison of Pilot Skills with the defender having to make a roll to avoid it if it doesn’t affect them automatically because they are lower skill.

[Mark Barker]

Andy,

Thanks for clearing that up.

I almost put the “or is it just +2 to the skill being used to make the attempt” in my question but thought that would be pretty devastating …

Obviously it is, and by design !

So with this card your rank-and-file Skill 3 pilot automatically beats a Skill 4 and can force an Ace to make a roll – neat.

Now if someone in Rolls Royce would kindly have the idea of shoe-horning a Merlin 61 into my trusty Mk V we could do something with that !

Mark Barker

[Cat Shot One]

I’m a little confused by the multi-engine rules (expanded rules, p.10) and have a couple of questions. Apologies if these have been clarified before.

Second last paragraph, shooting in own activation:
– Does that mean that multi-engine planes can only shoot at one instance per activation (and only after moving) as opposed to “normal” planes wich may fire up to twice (when choosing Shooting as Pilot Action)?

– “may shoot … against a single enemy aeroplane” vs. “each armament … target a different aircraft”
Isn’t that a contradiction?

– Is the Do17 Z-2 an example of an aircraft with more than one armament? In other words, can it fire at two targets in the same activation, like this:
One target in the rear arc – with FP 2? The other one anywhere within 360° (even the rear arce again?) with FP 1?

– Last paragraph
“adding Pilot Skill to the number of dice” – isn’t that a contradiction to the previous paragraph?

By the way, are there news on a FAQ?

[Andy Chambers]

Points in order.

A turreted aircraft gets a shot with its turret armament after it moves so no, no snap shot at the start of the activation with turrets, although an aircraft with a regular forward armament would get one (see below).

A turreted aircraft may shoot at as many different aircraft as it has different armament profiles. So the Do17 example could target two aircraft, potentially, but it would only roll one dice against each if it did so because each profile is 1 Firepower.

The last paragraph deals with aircraft that have a fixed forward firepower much like single-engined aircraft (i.e Bf110s, P38s, Beaufighters etc). These have their firepower noted without the 360 icon to indicate that it isn’t turreted. Some aircraft have a regular forward armament in addition to turrets.

We have an informal FAQ put together from my ramblings and those of others, we’ll work on getting into something official.

[Cat Shot One]

Andy, thanks for clarifying my points. I see it’s all about the type of weapon mounting.
One last question on a plane like the Do17 with both 360° as well as a rear armament: If both fire on the same target in the rea arc, do the combine their dice into a single roll (2 dice) or is it two rolls of one die each?

[Author]

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