House Rules for Fighters & Bombers

[Dirty Whiteboy]

Any idea on how to make them move and attack in battle. I tried using the planes & rules from Crimson Skies and it slowed the pace of the game way down. :( They need to move and attack like the ground forces, but have an air superiority.

[PatrickWR]

This is just a comment, but am I alone in thinking that it's too soon to fit fighters and bombers in here? I'm all for it eventually, but right now we are lacking a key unit: antiaircraft weapons. And with that, any translation of fighters/bombers to this game is invariably going to own the battlefield. With the exception of machineguns, there's nothing in the AAM game that can stop a fighter from the ground. I'd caution anyone to make note of that in any fighter/bomber homebrew rules.

It'll be a totally different story once Set 2 hits...then everyone will have a MG, we might even see a flak gun. I can't wait for some homebrew fighter/bomber rules when there is a little more diversity to the game.

[Dirty Whiteboy]

The anti-tank guns can doubles as Anti-Aircraft Guns. That's not a difficult transition. Now is the time to introduce aircraft to the game IMP.

[Comassion]

I doubt we'll see anti-aircraft units until we see aircraft - though I may be wrong, considering we've already got units that can perform indirect fire (mortars) and no indirect fire rules.

I don't think you should take anti-tank guns and use them in an anti-aircraft role. Although the reverse was true, especially for the German 88. I suggest you just stat up your own anti-aircraft guns if you want to come up with aircraft rules.

I don't think the planes need to move and attack like ground forces.

If you want simple rules, Give planes attack values against vehicles, a attack values against soldiers, a defense value, and a speed rating from 1-5. Each turn of the combat, roll a d6 - if you roll above the speed rating, at the beginning of the assault phase place the aircraft anywhere on the map facing it's target and make it's attack. If you roll a 1, your opponent gets to place your plane and attack one of your ground targets with it. If you go second in the initiative order, you can use your plane to attack any of your opponent's planes already on the board, since you will place yours second. While planes are on the board, they may be attacked by units with an anti-aircraft attack value. Ignore line of sight rules for aircraft.

There you are, quick and dirty aircraft rules.

[Dirty Whiteboy]

I agree too they shouldn't move as ground forces. As long as aircraft have forward movement it'll be alright. Applying damage to aircraft is where I'm stuck right now.

[Dirty Whiteboy]

Disruption? Damage counter? How many? That sort of thing.

[JimTullis]

The time scale is horribly wrong for aircraft.
A Bomber moves so fast it would cross the battle in one turn.
It would then need several turns to circle back for another pass.
The game only lasts for 7 turns.
Bombers were very rarely tasked to arrive at a precise time durring a battle.
They usually softened targets before the battle started.
So, I would think maybe your Bombers would get to show up on turn 1 and turn 7.
Each time they show up, they could make a bomb run down a single row of hexes.
Durring that run, a small bomber chooses 1 hex and rolls attacks versus all the units in the hex. A larger bomber might get to choose 2 hexes.

A bomber can take a lot of MG damage, unless you get lucky and hit a bomb.

Roll for Special initiative when the bomber moves over the target hex.
Only commanders in the target hex can affect this initiative roll.
If the bomber gets initiative, he makes his drop before the enemy can fire at him.
It the target gets initiative, he gets to shoot before the bomber can make his drop.
Roll against the bombers defense. Count hits as normal.

1 Hits = Disruption (the bomber makes his drop at -2 and is -2 defense)
2 Hits = Dammage (the bomber can't make his drop this run)
3 Hits = Destroyed (BOOM)

Also please remember Early WWII aircraft are notoriously inacurate vs ground targets.
A good bomb run usually had several bombers and was considered successfull if the bombs fell within a something like 1/2 a mile of the target.

[Dirty Whiteboy]

Thanx for the input Jim. I also thought the dirruption would have to be applied differently. Three hits and boom would make sense. If the bomber was to leave the map it would have to wait a turn to enter again. Remember there would be only forward movement with a speed of 7. 5 for Fighters. So if they planned ahead and turned they would'nt have to leave. Plus I would be playing with a min. of 8 maps due to the high point allowance. These puppys will cost between 51-72 pts.

[Dirty Whiteboy]

Why minus 2 on the defense if damaged? Is it due to no minus on the disruption?