Air Combat in the Second World War
by Alan Butler and Andrew Finch
These rules are intended for a simpler game; for a more detailed set of rules follow this link to
Description
These rules are intended to allow two or more Players to have a fast and simple game representing tactical air combat during the Second World War. Model aircraft of any scale from 1/600th to 1/72nd, can be used. If necessary, you could also use card counters. Minimal bookkeeping is required because Markers or Tokens are used to indicate the status of aircraft during the game. Furthermore, you do not need to use a hex mat.
The capabilities of aircraft within the game have been calculated, taking a common aircraft type of average performance as the base line, in this case the Hawker Hurricane. All other aircraft capabilities relate to how they compare with this aircraft. It is possible that the performance of this or that aircraft might not match your expectations based on anecdotal evidence. We make no apology for this as we are not trying to create a simulation. The resulting data has been kept to a simple format, which enables a Player to control several aircraft during a game, and the overall gaming experience will be improved if multiple Players attempt to “co-operate” on each side.
The abilities of pilots and crew are represented by having Skill Factors. These determine how well they fly their aircraft, their chances of hitting the target when shooting, and avoiding serious damage if their own aircraft is hit. Pilot skill is vitally important in air combat, and Players will need to learn where to position their best pilots, as well as to protect their novice aviators. In the case of aircraft with several crew members, Skill is determined for the crew as a whole. You do not need to keep track of individual crew.
To carry out any action other than level flight requires the expenditure of one or more Orders, which may also require a successful Skill Test. Orders are generated each turn and better leaders generally mean more Orders. Scenario rules are provided covering simple dogfights during an Encounter, for attacking surface targets, and to represent missions where the aim is to get a force of bombers across the table.
Altitude represented during the game assumes that the main combat is taking place in roughly the same area of the sky, and it is possible to climb or dive to gain an advantage or try to escape.
Players alternate the activation of their aircraft. Optional Tactical Cards can be used during the game to provide additional detail.
Game Data is provided for most aircraft that saw action during the Second World War. We have not included experimental aircraft or those produced in small numbers.
Product Support
When accessing the files laid out below, the following rules apply:
If you Left-click on a link it will open in a new Tab.
If you Right-click you will see more options about what to do with this file. If you want to download the file to save onto your computer use the menu option 'save link as...' (on a Windows PC) or the equivalent on a Mac.
Quick Reference Sheets
Quick Reference Sheets for Aerial Battles 1939-1945
Rules Support
A set of Tactical Cards and Templates for use with these rules are available in the following PDF:
Aerial Battles 1939-1945 Rules Support Package
Clarifications
The following file has a clarification about when you need to use Orders, and a correction to the points values for the Nakajima A6M2-N "Rufe".
Aerial Battles 1939-1945 Clarification and Correction (v.2. January 2023)
Errata
We discovered a while ago that the text in the right hand column on page 21 had overrun, causing an explanation of one of the symbols in the National Data Tables to be missing. The page has been further edited to include an explanation of another symbol. The new text is shown on the updated page 21 below.
The Clarification about Orders mentioned above has been incorporated in a revised page 8, below.
Aerial Battles 1939-1945 Edited page 8 (v.1. January 2023)
Aerial Battles 1939-1945 Edited page 21 (v.2. January 2023)
Rules Updates
There are no Rules Updates at the moment.
New Data
One of our readers requested some game data for some Swedish aircraft in this period. We are happy to share these with you in the file shown below. This replaces page 39 in the rules (which also had missed a bit of the table header).
Swedish aircraft for Aerial battles 1939-1945