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Spandau And Lewis Draft - 25/03/2013

You Will Need

Plane models. The rules are written for 1/300th scale models or smaller. For larger models double all

distances and ranges. If theyre on square bases things are easier, but its not essential.

Six-sided dice. At least a couple of these should be red or, at least, distinct from the other dice.

A tape or ruler marked out in inches.

Pencil and paper to record damage and ammo loss for each plane.

Some way of measuring 90o firing arcs.

Size

This influences how much damage a plane can take. Rough examples are given for each grading.

Small 4 hits Small, or fragile, scouts

Medium 5 hits Most scouts, and some two-seaters

Large 6 hits Most two-seaters

Extra-Large 7 hits Smaller bombers

Gigantic 8 hits Big bombers

This is, however, a very rough guide, and the scores for actual aircraft will vary by type from 3-12

hits. Examples are given at the end of the rules.

Speed

All planes have a speed rating from 3-7. Each inch represents roughly 20mph of speed.

Agility

This influences how easy the plane is to manoeuvre.

A Manoeuvres at +1

B No Adjustment to manoeuvre roll

C Manoeuvres at -1

D Manoeuvres at -1, cannot score higher than a 4

E Manoeuvres at -1, cannot score higher than a 2

Certain aircraft are more agile than other planes in their class, and get an initiative bonus. These

should be marked with a + eg An SE5a is Aglity B, whereas the more agile Fokker DVII is a B+

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Pilot Skill

Aircrew may be:

Inexperienced -1 on firing and manoeuvre rolls

Experienced All rolls normal

Veteran +1 on firing and manoeuvre rolls

If crew quality is not known, roll a die for each plane:

1 Veteran (Two-seaters and bombers roll again 1-3 is an Veteran, 4-6 is Experienced)

2-4 Experienced

5-6 Inexperienced

Guns

All guns have 10 rounds of ammo. They may be single (1)or twin (2).

Guns may be fired by the Pilot (P), Observer (O), or a numbered crewman in a plane with three or

more crew.

The area around a plane is divided into four arcs:

Nose Arc (NA) To the front, 45 degrees each side of the planes centreline.

Tail Arc (TA) To the rear, 45 degrees each side of the planes centreline.

Left Arc (LA) The left side of the plane, outside the Nose and Tail arcs.

Right Arc (RA) The right side of the plane, outside the Nose and Tail arcs.

Some aircraft have supplemental guns (such as the Lewis on the SE5a, or ventral guns on bombers).

These are not treated as full guns in their own right, but allow a reroll when firing into certain arcs at

Close Range. They are marked as an asterisk.

So 1P-NA would be a single gun fired into the planes Nose arc by the pilot, whilst 2O-TA, LA, RA

would be a twin gun fired into anywhere but the planes Nose arc by the observer.

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Turn Sequence

(i) Determine initiative

(ii) The players move all planes with a particular initiative value, in sequence from the

highest to the lowest.

(iii) Resolve all firing this takes place simultaneously.

(iv) Resolve any end of turn tasks.

Initiaitive

At the start of each turn, both players each roll a die. The one who scores the highest moves first in

the event of any initiative ties that turn.

Each player rolls one die for each plane in his force, and notes the numbers. The scores are modified

as follows:

Veteran pilot +1 Inexperienced pilots -1

No plane may have a score higher than 6 or lower than 1.

Planes move in initiative order, from the lowest score to the highest.

In the event of a tie, planes move in order of Agility:

E before D before C before B before A. In all cases a plane with a + moves after other planes

of the same Agility eg B+ moves after B

If there is still a tie, planes move in order of pilot experience:

Inexperienced before Experienced before Veteran

If there is still a tie, both sides roll a die, and the highest score moves first. This roll applies to all tie-

breaks for the rest of the turn.

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Movement and Manoeuvre

When a plane moves, declare its speed and which, if any, manoeuvre it is to perform, including

direction. If a plane does not manoeuvre then a task may be declared for each crewman.

A plane must declare a move of at least 2. It may not move faster than its Speed rating.

A Manoeuvre can be a Turn or a Sideslip. The direction (Left or Right) must be declared before

rolling.

Roll a D6, and adjust for the planes capabilities and the pilot ability.

+1 Plane Agility class A

+1 Ace pilot

-1 Plane Agility class C, D or E

-1 Inexperienced pilot

-1 Declared Speed of 3 or less

A plane with an Agility of D treats scores higher than 4 as 4

A plane with an Agility of E treats scores higher than 2 as 2

A plane which has taken half or more of its hits drops one manoeuvre class, although this cannot go

worse than E. If it has one it still maintains its + rating in the new class.

Adjusted Roll Turn Sideslip Notes

0 or less None None

1 or 2 45 degrees 1 All planes

3 or 4 Up to 90 degrees 2 Not E

5 or 6 Up to 135 degrees 3 Not D or E

7+ Up to 180 degrees 4 Not D or E

For a Turn, the plane moves at least 2, and then turns up to the listed angle in the declared

direction. It then finishes its remaining move on the new heading. A plane which declares a turn

must turn at least 45 degrees if a turn is allowed.

For a Sideslip, move the plane sideways up to the listed amount. The plane then moves forward the

distance it declared. However you cannot sideslip further than your declared move, so a plane with

2 of declared move cannot sideslip further than 2 that turn, even if the dice score is 5 or more.

All moves, including sideslips, must be in whole inches.

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Firing

All firing is simultaneous so a plane which is destroyed, but which could have fired, gets to do so.

Range is 6. Up to 3 is Close Range. All ranges are measured from pilot to pilot.

The Nose and Tail arcs are 45 degrees each side of a planes centreline. A plane is in a particular arc if

the pilot is in that arc. If a plane can bring more than one gun to bear on a given arc, it may only use

one of them on a given target in a turn.

Firing consumes one round of ammo.

Determine how many dice are rolled. Start with two dice.

+1 die Close Range

+1 die Veteran firing

+1 die Firing into targets Tail Arc from own Nose Arc.

+1 die Target has an Agility of D or E.

-1 die Inexperienced crew firing

-1 die Firing into targets Nose Arc from own Nose Arc.

-1 die Firing into own Tail Arc.

-1 die If there is any plane (friend or enemy) in the same arc as the target, but closer.

If the final total is zero dice then treat as one dice, but it only score a hit on a 6.

If the final score is less than zero then no shot is possible, but no ammo is expended.

One of the dice rolled must be Red, or a different colour to the others (if any).

Roll the relevant number of dice. Each dice which scores 5 or more is a hit if firing a single gun, 4

or more if firing twin guns. Mark all hits off the target aircraft.

If the plane has a supplemental gun in the relevant firing arc, and the shot is at Close Range, the

player may reroll one die, apart from the Red die. However they must accept the new score.

If the Red Die score a 1 the gun may jam. Roll it again if it scores a 1 then the gun has jammed.

An attempt can be made to clear a jam each turn, after the plane has moved. Roll a single die; on a

6 the jam is cleared, unless the plane flew straight with no turns or sideslips, in which case a 5 or

6 will clear it.

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Total up how many dice scored an unmodified 6 and roll a die. If it scores equal to, or less than, the

number of hits inflicted by that shot, the target is shot down. Roll a die to see how:

1 Pilot hit Plane is lost.

2 Observer/secondary crewman hit. May no longer fire or perform tasks. May only be scored

once per plane; treat subsequent rolls as a 1. If the plane only has a pilot, then treat as a score of

1.

3-4 Catastrophic structural failure plane takes 4 hits immediately.

5-6 Engine hit On a multi-engine plane, the first time this is rolled, the plane takes 2 hits, loses

one point off its maximum speed and takes a -1 on all Manoeuvre rolls. In all other cases the plane is

lost.

If a plane has no hits left, it is destroyed.

For one-off games destroyed, lost and shot down all mean the same thing. In a campaign there

will need to be a difference. Im working on this; some kind of survival roll.

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Example Planes

Recorded as: Name, Speed, Agility, Size, Guns, Notes

Sopwith Camel 6A6, 2P-NA

DH2 5B5, 1P-NA

SE5a 7B7, 1P-NA*

FB5 4D4, 1P-F

Nieuport 11 5B5, 1P-NA

Fokker Eindecker 5C5, 1P-NA

Albatros DIII 5B6, 2P-NA

Fokker Dr1 (Triplane) 5A5, 2P-NA

Fokker DVII 6B7, 2P-NA

BE2 (Early) 4D5, 1O-TA

BE2 (Late) 4D5, 1P-NA, 1O-TA

RE8 5C5, 1P-NA, 1O-TA, LA, RA

DH9 5C7, 1P-NA, 1O-TA, LA, RA

DH4 7C7, 1P-NA, 1O-TA, LA, RA

FE2b 4C5, 1O-NA, 1O-TA (Single ammo supply for both guns)

Albatros CIII 4C6, 1P-NA, 1O-TA, LA, RA

Rumpler CIV 5C6, 1P-NA, 1O-TA, LA, RA

Gotha GV 4E11, 12-NA, LA, RA, 13-TA*, LA, RA

Handley Page O/400 5E10, 12-NA, LA, RA, 13-TA*, LA, RA

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Design Notes

And they really are notes at the moment

Terminology

Ace was mostly a post-war term; I think only the French really used it during the war, and Britain

didnt even officially track kills. I have chosen the term Veteran for the top quality pilots.

I have also used the term Scout for what we would now call Fighters as its the more common

contemporary term. Two-Seater describes the majority of reconnaissance and bomber aircraft, and

Bomber describes those planes with more than two crew or multiple engines. Note that some

Scouts had two crew (The Bristol F2B, or Vickers FB5, for example); they are still classed as Scouts;

their primary role was to seek out and destroy enemy aircraft.

What am I aimimg for?

Simple aircraft stats.

Minimal bookkeeping.

No pre-plotted moves.

One type of dice.

No on-table markers

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Spotting (Still Under Test)

At present there aren't any spotting rules; all of the games we've played have started

with all aircraft in contact. Spotting allows some aircraft to get the drop on the enemy.

It's simple enough. All aircraft start the game unaware of any enemy aircraft. At the end

of each turn an aircraft or a formation can attempt to spot one enemy aircraft. Roll 2D6

and score 9+ to do so. Modify as follows:

+1 - Veteran Crew

-1 - Inexperienced Crew

+1 - If in formation of three or more aircraft (see below)

-1 - Target is lone aircraft (not in formation)

+2 - Range is up to 6"

+1 - Range is up to 12"

-1 - Range is over 18"

For a single-seater:

+1 if spotting into Nose Arc

-1 if spotting into Tail Arc

(I am working on different modifiers for other types of planes).

Formations - A formation is a group of two or more aircraft that have not yet spotted an

enemy. Each aircraft in the formation must remain within 3" of at least one other aircraft

in the formation at all times. When spotting only one aircraft in the formation rolls, but if it

spots an enemy then all planes in the formation become aware.

If an aircraft or formation has not spotted an enemy aircraft then it moves at 3" per turn

and each plane can make up to one 45 degree turn (you do not have to roll do do this

however). Once an enemy aircraft is spotted then the plane or formation becomes aware

of all enemy aircraft and can move normally.