Birds of Prey Rulebook

Air Combat in the Jet Age
Rulebook
AIM-9B Sidewinder 1956
R-3S “AA-2A Atoll” 1962
R.530 EM 1962
Red Top 1964
AIM-9D Sidewinder 1965
AIM-9E Sidewinder 1967
Shafrir 2 1968
AIM-7E-2 Sparrow III 1970
AIM-9J Sidewinder (early) 1972
R-13M “AA-2D Atoll” 1973
R-60 “AA-8A Aphid” 1974
R.550 Magic 1975
AIM-7F Sparrow 1976
Skyflash 1978
AIM-9L Sidewinder 1978
Super 530F 1979
AIM-7M Sparrow 1982
AIM-9M-1 / AIM-9M-2 Sidewinder 1982
Python 3 1982
R-27R “AA-10A Alamo” 1983
AIM-9P-2 Sidewinder 1985
R-73 “AA-11 Archer” 1985
Magic 2 1986
AIM-120A AMRAAM 1991
VALLE & MARKGRAF
ADA 31000–RB
Designer Significant Contributors Illustrations
Tony “Killjoy” Valle J. D. “Pluto” Webster John “Origami” Coley
Gorka Martinez Mezo Joy “ ” Cohn
Developer Jerry “Cherry” Marty Lee “Prune” Brimmicombe-Wood
Philip A. “Shaken” Markgraf Karl “Viking Bøy” Mueller Olivier Dufour
Ken “Cadet” Burnside Philip A. “Shaken” Markgraf
Editor Tjepke Heeringa
Lee “Prune” Brimmicombe-Wood
Ethan “Rush” McKinney
Mark “Top Wop” Bovankovich Cover
Tutorial Development Michael “Handles” Waters “Breakfast” by Joy “ ” Cohn
Kenneth “Fringe” Ellis Rob “Hot Shot” Pruden Derivative work uses a USAF photo.
Tom “Betsy” Russ
We want to thank the many people who contributed to the development of Birds of Prey –Air Combat in the Jet Age.
In addition to those listed here, there are many who playtested online, added to the discussion on the Airbattle list, looked
up a helpful bit of data or simply gave encouragement. We apologize to those who aren’t named here explicitly.
Research and Other Help Ad Astra’s Tutorial Playtest Yankee Air Pirates Los Angeles
Antonio “Betún” Pinar Peña Adam Hickey Playtest Group
David “Piranha” Lentini Bill Speer David Ells
Greg “Underdog” Wurster Jim Johnson Ethan “Rush” McKinney
Jay “Pitot” Davis John Kantor Jay Vadnais
John “Origami” Coley Ken Watanabe Lee “Fritz” Chmelsky
Kevin “Long Shot” Serafini Mircea Pauca Michael “Tailwheler” Slater
Michael “Scotty” Scott Morten Lund Neill “Pucker” Brower
Miguel Mourato Rick Appling Philip A. “Shaken” Markgraf
Neill “Pucker” Brower Simon “Hound” Hunt Tjepke Heeringa
Pete “Bermuda” Keller Stora “Yo-Yo” Harris Tom “Betsy” Russ
and D. Scott Palter
Message from the Designer
“I want to thank everyone who’s been patient and encouraging for the more than 10 years it took to take this game from a
dreamy goal, to something you can buy and play. I would especially like to thank Mark “Top Wop” Bovankovich for setting
me on the path of building a paper air combat game with real-world performance, Karl “Viking Boy” Mueller for daring to
inspire me by suggesting that it might not be possible, Rob “Hot Shot” Pruden for insisting the result be accessible to the
average air combat gamer, and J. D. “Pluto” Webster for demanding that I do the whole thing right, not just cobble
something into his game system. And last but by no means least, Phil “Shaken” Markgraf for taking great models an
turning them into a real product.” — Tony “Killjoy” Valle
published by Birds of Prey –Air Combat in the Jet Age

Ad Astra Games Copyright ©1997-2013 Tony N. Valle & Philip A. Markgraf.
P. O. Box 389 Tilt blocks and box miniatures developed by Ken Burnside/Ad Astra Games and
Pelican Rapids, MN 56572 are used with their kind permission.
(218) 863–1784 Ask “Darkstar” your questions on the forums at: http://www.adastragames.com
adastragames@gmail.com Be sure to register your game (for free stuff) at: http://services.adastragames.com
ADA 31000-RB 2 Birds of Prey – Air Combat in the Jet Age : 2013/08/27 : v1.1.16
Table of Contents
Box Contents 4
Booklets, Table-Top Components, Move-Aids, Play-Aids, Aircraft Data Cards, Missile Data Cards
Key Game Concepts 5
Rulebook Approach, Game Components, Dice and Probability, Rounding,
Using Tables and Nomographs, Scale, Position & Altitude, Range, Speed, KEAS & Mach
3D Operations 8
PHAD (Pitch, Heading and Attitude Display), Bearings, Aircraft Attitude, Angle Determination, Aspect
Flying in the SoP 12
Turns, Ticks and Segments, The Form + Stores Drag Table
Sequence of Play 13
Activity Point Recovery (SoP 01) 14
Declarations (SoP 02) 14
Set Throttle, Select Weapon, Set Sensor Mode, Declare an Initial Gunshot, Declare a Missile Snapshot, Position
Manual Swing-Wing, Setting Decoy Program
Flight Phase (SoP 03) 16
Determine Initial Aircraft State (Meta-Step Ap)
Plotting (Meta Steps Bp through Ep); Straight Flight, Turning Flight, Multi-Turns, Incomplete Turning Segment,
Minimize Carry, Movement Vector, Plotting a Turning Segment, Negative Loads, Pointing, Unloaded Flight
Barrel Rolls, Rolling
Performance (Meta Steps Dp through Ep), Average Load, Engine, Form Drag, Turn Drag
Movement (Meta Steps Fm through Jm)
Orient Box Mini, Update Tiles (Meta-Step Im), Gravity, Net Speed Change
Flight Effects (SoP 04) 28
Overspeed Effects, Structure G Effects, Crew G Effect (Overall), Straining, Crew G Effects Order, G Onset,
Crew Fatigue, Recovery from Grey-Out of Black-Out, Recovery from LOC, Recovery from Crew Fatigue
Spin Recovery (SoP 05) 30
Departure (SoP 06) 31
Departure, Spinning
Gun Combat (SoP 07) 32
Engagement, Aspect, Guns Defense, Pipper On, Firing
Missile Combat (SoP 07) 34
Launch and Boost, Boost-Maneuver Capable Missiles, Follow-on Missile Launch, Snapshot Launch, Missile Flight,
Follow-on Missile Flight, Missile Attack, Missile Defense
Damage 35
Aircraft Systems, Damage Capacity, Damage Control and Progressive Damage
Order of Flight Determination (SoP 08) 37
Determining Initiative, Making Fix Attempts, Establishing Initiative and Movement Classes
Visual Sighting (SoP 09) 38
Searching, Maintaining Spots, Maintaining Friendlies, Padlocks, Blind Arcs
Sensors (SoP 10) 40
Infrared and Optical, Radar, Electronic Support Measures, Integration, Radar Track, IRST Track,
HMS/HMD/Datalink Cue, RWRs, EO Sensor, GCI Datalink
Administrative (SoP 11) 44
Damage Control and Progressive Damage
Aircrew Tasks 44
Padlock, Tally, Tally Friendlies, Spin Recovery, Visual Search, Quick Search, Fix, Strain, Guns Engagement,
Guns Defense, Missile Defense, Control, Communications Receipt, Sensor Handoff, Damage Control,
Radar Operation, Hands Off Switch Action, Cockpit Actions
Aircrew 48
GLOC Protection, G-Training, Wounded, Unconscious (LOC) or Killed, Uncontrolled Aircraft, Non-pilot flight
Special Rules 50
Jettisoning External Stores, Fuel, Supermaneuver, Collisions, Ejection, Post-Battle Fate, Weather,
Manual Swing-Wing, Automatic Swing-Wing, Engine Out, Compressor Stall
Glossary 52
Birds of Prey – Rulebook
Box Contents
Booklets
ADA 31000-RB Rulebook (cover is an illustrated time-line of the missiles in the game box)
ADA 31000-SC Scenario Booklet (cover is an illustrated time-line of the aircraft in the game box)
ADA 31000-TU Tutorial Booklet (cover is the game box illustration) color in Deluxe edition, otherwise gray scale
Table-Top Components
Two 37” x 24” double-sided map sheets Three ten-sided dice
Tilt-blocks: one bag of red and blue components Altitude-tiles: two bags color-coded components
ADA 31000-A Box-mini sheet two each in the Standard edition, four each in the Expanded and Deluxe editions
ADA 31000-B Box-mini sheet two each in the Standard edition, four each in the Expanded and Deluxe editions
ADA 31000-Y Small sheet of Superfortress counters one each in all editions
ADA 31000-Z Small sheet of additional initiative counters one each in all editions
Move-Aids
ADA 31000-C Red Aircraft/Systems Control Cards one each in the Standard edition, two each in other editions
ADA 31000-D Blue Aircraft/Systems Control Cards one each in the Standard edition, two each in other editions
ADA 31000-N Performance/Turning Nomographs two each in all editions
Play-Aids
ADA 31000-E Sequence of Play / Pips & Tasks Aid
ADA 31000-F Visual Sighting Aid / Crew G-Effects Aid
ADA 31000-G Infrared Missile Sensors Aid / Radar Sensors Aid
ADA 31000-H Gun Combat Aid / Damage Effects Aid
ADA 31000-I Missile Combat Aid / Stalls & Departure Aid
ADA 31000-J Miscellaneous Aids / Initiative Aid
Aircraft Data Cards ADA 31000-ADC01 – ADC24

-ADC01 MiG-15bis “Fagot-B” -ADC02 F-86F Sabre (early) -ADC03 MiG-17F “Fresco-C”
-ADC04 Hunter FGA.Mk 9 -ADC05 MiG-19S “Farmer-C” -ADC06 F-104A Starfighter
-ADC07 MiG-21F-13 “Fishbed-C” -ADC08 MiG-21MF “Fishbed-J” -ADC09 Mirage IIIC
-ADC10 F-8E Crusader II -ADC11 F-4J Phantom II -ADC12 F-4E Phantom II (early)
-ADC13 Lightning F.Mk 6 -ADC14 F-5E Tiger II -ADC15 F-14A Tomcat
-ADC16 MiG-23MS “Flogger-E” -ADC17 Mirage F1EQ -ADC18 JA 37 Jaktviggen
-ADC19 MiG-29 9.12 “Fulcrum-A” -ADC20 Mirage 2000C S4 -ADC21 F-15C Eagle MSIP II
-ADC22 Su-27 T-10S “Flanker-B” -ADC23 F/A-18C Hornet (early) -ADC24 F-16C block 30 Fighting Falcon
Missile Data Cards ADA 31000-MDC1 – MDC6

MDC1 -A AIM-9B Sidewinder -B AIM-9D Sidewinder -C AIM-9E Sidewinder -D AIM-9J Sidewinder (early)
MDC2 -A AIM-9L Sidewinder -B AIM-9M-1/-2 Sidewinder -C AIM-7M Sparrow -D AIM-120A AMRAAM
MDC3 -A AIM-7E-2 Sparrow III -B AIM-7F Sparrow -C Skyflash -D R-27R “AA-10A Alamo”
MDC4 -A R-3S “AA-2A Atoll” -B R-13M “AA-2D Atoll” -C R-60 “AA-8 Aphid” -D R-73 “AA-11 Archer”
MDC5 -A R.530 EM -B R.550 Magic -C Red Top -D Shafrir 2
MDC6 -A Super 530F -B Magic 2 -C Python 3 -D AIM-9P-2 Sidewinder
Key Game Concepts

Rulebook Approach
The Birds of Prey Rulebook presumes that you have read the Birds of Prey Tutorial, which “Darkstar, picture?”
introduces terms and gives examples of concepts in play. This rulebook provides concise In addition to the Birds
rules without the additional explanation needed to teach them for the first time. of Prey Tutorial, there is a
Game Components
volunteer group online
to answer questions
Birds of Prey: Air Combat in the Jet Age includes the following components: and help you learn the
game. This team uses the
Control Cards (CC) each track the state of up to two aircraft, their systems, and any callsign “Darkstar” (this
missiles they launch. The front of the sheet is the Aircraft Control Card (ACC), while the being an AWACS callsign
reverse is the Systems Control Card (SCC). Red cards are for players facing the east map used in exercises and
edge and blue cards are for those facing the west map edge. simulation.)
Nomograph Cards contain visual calculators. The front of each sheet is the Performance You can contact the team
Nomograph, while the reverse is the Turning Nomograph. online on the forums at:
www.adastragames.com
Aircraft Data Cards (ADCs) contain game information about specific aircraft. The front or the playtest group at:
contains data needed for game play, while the reverse has information for setting up groups.yahoo.com/airbattle
scenarios using the aircraft. Also check out the Birds of
Missile Data Cards (MDCs) contain game information about specific missiles. Four are Prey homepage, at:
printed on each sheet, which may be separated into individual MDCs. www.airbattle.com
Play Aids show the processes and modifiers used to determine the outcome of game Please feel free to ask
events other than basic flight. “Darkstar, how do I…”
Box Miniatures Sheets are die-cut, full-color cardstock sheets that include all of the
on-map markers for aircraft (box miniatures) and missiles (tent miniatures), as well as
miscellaneous counters.
Box miniatures are fold-up boxes with representations of an aircraft’s top, bottom, Arts & Crafts Phase
front, back, and right and left sides. Box-miniature assembly
Tent miniatures are fold-up tents with side views of a missile. instructions are found in
Counters are single-sided square markers used to mark noteworthy events or show the Birds of Prey Tutorial.
initiative states. You’ll also find how best
Tilt Blocks are plastic pieces with a notch used to position box miniatures at 30º and 60º to write on and erase
increments of pitch and roll. Tilt blocks are red or blue to match the control cards. marks from the play aid
laminated surfaces.
Altitude Tiles are plastic squares that stack under the tilt blocks to indicate the altitude
of the aircraft. Altitude tiles are white (1 altitude step), light blue (5 steps), dark blue (25
steps), or black (100 steps).
Maps are two-sided hex sheets with compass roses. They are designed to be set side by
side to extend the play space. Unless otherwise indicated, Birds of Prey scenarios use the
sides of the maps with the smaller hexes.
Dice in Birds of Prey are rolled singly to generate results of 0 to 9 or in pairs to generate
percentile results from 00 to 99 (reading the result of one die as the tens digit and the
other as the ones digit). The dice are in different colors, to differentiate between the tens
and ones digits.
Dice and Probability
Two kinds of die rolls are used to resolve probabilistic events: d10 and Pips Table rolls.
Modifiers may be added to or subtracted from the result.
Making a Pips Roll A d10 roll uses one 10-sided die and results in a number from 0 to 9 (in Birds of Prey, the
Using Pips Column 3, find zero face is read as ‘0,’ not ‘10’).
the result for a rolled 75. A Pips Table roll uses a percentile dice roll and the Pips table in the play aids. Read down
Move to the 3 column and the appropriate Pips Column to the first number in the table that equals or exceeds the
find the first value that is percentile roll, then read the value at the left or right end of the row to determine the
equal to or greater than result (also known as the pips).
the rolled value, in this For pips columns of 25 or greater, generate a pips result by summing the results from pips
case 91. Then track across
column 24 and the pips column of the remainder (desired column – 24). Only roll once.
that row to the column at
the extreme left or right to A pips roll with a column of zero or less results in automatic failure. A modified percentile
find the result, here a 2. roll of zero or less also results in a failure regardless of column (can occur in a gun attack).
Pips Table
1 2 3 45 6
RoundingRating / Pips Column
7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24
0 77 60 36 13In Birds
22 8 4 of Prey,
3 1fractional
1 0 values
0 0are 0
usually rounded to the nearest whole number value. 0
1 97 90 73 40A value
55 28 19of 13 0.50 9or more
6 rounds
4 2 up 1 to11, while
0 0a value
0 of 0.49 or less rounds down to10.
2 99 98 91 67Some
80 54 rules
42 32 have23specific
17 12rounding
8 6 instructions
4 2 2 that
1 override
0 0 this
0 general
0 case. 2
3 99 98 93
85 75 64 53 43 34 26 20 15 11 8 5 4 3 2 1 1 0 0 0 3
Speeds and changes to speed measured in knots are always rounded to the nearest value
4 99 98
94 89 81 72 62 53 44 35 28 22 17 13 9 7 5 4 2 2 1 1 4
divisible by 5. So, 12.5 rounds to 15, while 12.4 rounds to 10.
5 98 95 91 85 78 70 61 52 44 36 30 24 19 14 11 8
99 6 5 3 2 5
6 99Load,
98 Average
96 93 88 Load, 83 and
76 Turning
68 60 G52 are 44
always
37 rounded
31 25 20 to the
16nearest
13 10value 7 divisible
6 6 by
7 0.5 G. So, 7.25 rounds to 7.5, while 7.24 rounds
99 98 97 94 91 86 80 74 67 59 52 45 38 32 26 22 17 14 11 to 7.0. 7
Pip Result
8 99 99 97 95 93 89 84 79 72 66 59 52 45 39 33
Always round values when writing them in boxes on the control cards, not at other times. 27 23 19 8
9 99 98 96 94 91 87 83 77 71 65 58 52 45 39 34 28 9
10
11
Using Tables and Nomographs
99 98 97 95 93 90 86 81 76 70 64 58 52 45 40 10
99 98 97 96 94 92 88 84 80 75 69 63 57 51 11
12 When looking up a result on99a table, 99 98 if the
97 exact
95 input
93 90value 87 does
83 79 not appear,
74 68 always63 12use
13
A rolled 73 would have the next higher value. (Example: on the
99 2
98column
97 96of the
94 Pips
92 Table,
89 86 rolls
82 of7861 to
73 89 13
use the
14
generated a 1 result. next higher value, 90, giving a result of 1.)
99 98 98 97 95 94 91 88 85 81 14
15 Similarly, when a nomograph input value falls 99 between
99 98 two 97 tick
96 marks, 90 87use15
95 93 always the
16 99 98 98 97 96 94 92 16
next highest value on the scale.
Zero,17not my hero 99 99 98 97 96 95 17
Unlike18some games, a Nomograph Results that fall between two tick marks are always rounded
99 98 98 to the
97 nearest
18
19low in Birds of Prey
zero is value shown on the scale, following the normal rounding rules. If you 99 99 98which
can’t tell 19 is
and not
20 made into a ten. nearest, round to the higher of the two adjacent values. (Don’t spend a lot of time fiddling
99 20
Similarly, percentile rolls to find the exact fit). Points
Activity Points available each game turn
of two zeros generates a Some nomographs have two scales for
Crew Quality –2the same –1 value on 0 one or+1more axes, +2 such+3 as the
Aircrew Tasks
zero, not one hundred. low speed and high speed
Available scales on the
Points 5 Turning 5 nomograph.6 Always
7 use7the correspond-
8
Task ing Crew
input andCost output
Notesscales in these cases. The alternate scales are printed in different
Red, then
Visual Search Blue
(v) V colorsAnyand are oriented
2 Attempt similarly
a Visual(each
searchto the left of its axis, for example). When there is a
Quick Search
You’re welcome (v) to use Qchoice Any(such as1 between
Attemptlow-speed
on a missedand high-speed
maintain scales), use
roll, received comm,the HUD
scalesbox
thatorproduces
datalink.
Padlock Tally (v) you like P the line
Any that is
2 Maintain a visual tally automatically. Only one allowed in a game turnas the
more perpendicular to that axis. (Nomographs become less accurate
any convention
Tally Maintenance
for determining which
(v) T line crosses
Any the
1 axis at an acute
Attempt angle.)
to maintain tally of an already sighted aircraft
Scale
Tally
die ofFriendlies
a percentile (v) set is Z Any 1 Maintain tally of any number of friendly aircraft (both need operable radios)
Fix Order
the tens andof Flight
which is the X Pilot 1 Fix order of flight during the initiative process
ones, as long as
Guns Engagement (f) it is stated Flight Point
GEachPilot 2
Counts as a padlock
(FP) represents or a tally
400 feet, and maintenance
each hex is 400 plus fix,across.
feet playersOnechoice
nautical
before rolling. All other sighting tasks are doubled, may not padlock another
mile is 15 hexes, while a kilometer is approximately 8 hexes.
1 AP counts as tally versus threat, 2 AP counts as padlock versus threat
Guns Defense (f) J Pilot var
Altitude is measured in Steps
All other of 200
sighting feet,
tasks with
are zero being
doubled, may notSeapadlock
Level. Altitude
another in steps is
Missile Defense Mequal to 5 times
Pilot 1 the altitude in thousands of feet.
Strain S Any var Modern G-train: max 2 AP; Early G-train: max 1 AP; Untrained: none
Each game-turn is 6 seconds long and is subdivided into 10 “ticks” of 0.6 seconds each.
Extra Control C Pilot var Up to 2 AP
Communications
ADA 31000-RB Receipt —6 Any 0 If engaged or defending, Birds roll 3+ on d10
of Prey – Air Combat in the Jet Age : 2013/08/27 : v1.1.16
Operate Radar (sw) R Any var Up to 3 AP
Position & Altitude
Position is defined by a hex location on the map. Aircraft positions are marked using a
box miniature and missile anchor positions are marked using a tent miniature, with or
without tilt blocks depending on the aircraft’s attitude. Place any aircraft and missile
miniatures inside hexes, never on edges between hexes. Other locations or events may be
marked using a flat counter.
Altitude Tiles indicate the altitudes of each aircraft or missile miniature. Place altitude
tiles under the tilt blocks of an aircraft or directly under any miniature that is not using, or
does not need, a tilt block.
Range
Range between positions is counted in flight points. When counting horizontal range,
each hex counts as one flight point.
Slant range takes altitude differences into consideration. The slant range depends on the
horizontal range in hexes (H) and the altitude separation in steps (V) between two loca-
tions as follows:
If V≤H, slant range is H
If V>H, slant range is (H+V)/2
Speed, KEAS & Mach

Every aircraft has a Speed measured in knots (nautical miles per hour). Track speed to the
nearest 5 knots; speeds cannot fall below 0 nor increase above 1000. Speed determines the
number of Flight Points an aircraft has in a game-turn, which determines how far it will
move with each tick. The Speed-to-FP Table on the Turning Nomograph Card performs
this conversion.
Movement through the air produces dynamic pressure, which is the source of all the
aerodynamic lift and drag experienced by the aircraft. In the game, dynamic pressure is
measured in terms of the speed at sea level that would produce the same airflow. This
value is called “knots equivalent air speed” (KEAS). An aircraft traveling 400 knots at
sea level will also be at 400 KEAS. As the altitude increases and the air thins, that same
400 knots produces a lower and lower KEAS. KEAS determines the aircraft’s maximum
allowed lift, its form drag, and its turn drag using the Performance nomograph.
The ratio of an aircraft’s speed to the speed of sound is its Mach number. Since the speed
of sound varies with temperature, and the temperature of the atmosphere falls with alti-
tude, the Mach number for a given speed will increase with altitude (up to approximately
36,000 feet, where the temperature becomes basically constant up to 80,000 feet.).
Mach numbers below 0.9 in the game are called Slow (these are subsonic speeds). Mach
numbers between 0.9 and 1.0 are called LTD (for “low transonic drag”) while those
between 1.0 and 1.1 are called HTD (for “high transonic drag”). These ranges correspond
to form drag values printed on the aircraft data cards. Round Mach values above 1.1 to
the nearest tenth (1.2, 1.3, and so forth), with a maximum of 3.0.
3D Operations
The PHAD’s Cousin PHAD: Pitch, Heading, and Attitude Display
Other Ad Astra titles use
The Pitch, Heading, and Attitude Display (PHAD) is used to determine orientation,
the AVID, which was
derived from an earlier movement, and bearings in three dimensions. The PHAD represents a sphere as viewed
version of the PHAD. If from above, consisting of mainly hexagonal cells arranged in four concentric rings. Each
you’re coming in to air cell has a heading and a pitch value (for example, 030 +30).
combat from the AVID, A cell’s pitch value is defined by the ring it occupies. The center hex is a ring by itself, cor-
here’s a highlight of the responding to 90° of pitch. The successive surrounding rings correspond to 60°, 30°, and
significant changes. 00° pitch. Except for the outermost ring, each ring serves double duty, representing both
Convention: The spaces positive and negative pitch values. Items on the PHAD are circled to indicate they are in a
on an AVID are called level or positive pitch ring (at or above the horizon). Items in a negative pitch ring (below
windows. The PHAD the horizon) are not circled.
refers to them as cells.
The 00° (level) pitch ring includes items that are slightly below the horizon, as this ring
Geometry: The AVID’s
amber ring (00 degree corresponds to every pitch from -15º to +15º. Unlike the other rings, the cells of this ring
pitch ring) is rotated 15 are not hexagons. All of the pitches in the 00º ring are considered “level.”
degrees from the PHAD’s. The heading value for each cell is printed within it. Each heading value corresponds to a
This means the 00 pitch “wedge” on the map. There are 24 such wedges that are 30° wide: 12 “normal” headings
ring’s cells don’t line in the ±30° rings (000, 030, 060 … 300, 330) and 12 “offset” headings in the 00° ring (015,
up with the hex grain, 045, 075 … 315, 345).
but also means that all
PHAD cells have exactly There are six wedges in the ±60° rings that are 60° wide, indicated by an “E” for “ex-
6 adjacent cells to them, panded”: 000E, 060E, 120E, 180E, 240E, and 300E. The ±90° cells correspond to all heading
which makes angular values and are therefore labeled “All +90” and “All -90.”
distances between cells Every aircraft in play uses its own PHAD. Two PHADs appear on each Aircraft Control
more consistent. Card to allow players to fly two aircraft at once.
Presentation: The AVID
uses color coding to
indicate pitch angles; the
PHAD uses tinting of the
overall control card’s base
colors to the same effect.
(Except on the 30 degree
pitch ring, which is
yellow on both PHADs).
The AVID also uses a
more cylindrical display;
believing this made
edge-to-edge transitions
much simpler to teach.
The PHAD’s use of hexes
wa found to be faster
when counting distances,
particularly for keep-
ing the aircraft attitude
marks three cells from one
another.
Bearings
A bearing line is a direction in three dimensions, expressed as a PHAD cell. It is derived Look the other way
from two positions, usually two aircraft or an aircraft and a missile. “Shooting a bear- When shooting bearings,
ing” is the process used to determine the unique PHAD cell that the bearing line falls in. it’s useful to provide the
Shooting bearings is essential to sound air combat maneuvering and to the mechanics reciprocal bearing to the
of the game. target to speed up play,
as the bearing will always
Bearings have a start and an end point, and the player determining a bearing is called the be the exact opposite. For
“shooter” and is often assumed to occupy the start point. The end point is often referred example, if the target of
to as the “target.” Shooting a bearing requires three steps: your bearing is in 210-60,
1) Determine the pitch ring of the bearing the reciprocal bearing is
030+60. That reciprocal
2) Determine the heading of the bearing
would be the target’s
3) Resolve any heading ambiguity bearing to you.
Bearing Pitch Ring Find the horizontal (H) range in hexes and vertical separation (V) in
steps between the start and end positions. The pitch ring is positive if the end is higher Recording a Bearing
than the start, negative otherwise. The pitch ring is found as follows: Note a bearing on the
If H≥2V, pitch is 00° PHAD by writing the
target’s identifier (usually
Else, if 5H≥3V, pitch is 30°
a number) in the bearing’s
Else, if 7H≥V, pitch is 60° PHAD cell.
Otherwise, pitch is 90° Circle the bearing if the
PHAD cell is in a positive
The Visual Sighting Aid contains the Vertical Arc Limits table, which will let you find the or 00º pitch ring.
pitch at longer ranges with a simple look-up. To use this table, find the row for the exact
number of hexes separating the two objects and then go across from left to right until you
find the first value equal to or greater than the altitude difference between the two objects.
Read the pitch off the top of that column.
If the range is 8 hexes or less and the vertical separation is 16 steps or less, use the 3D
Movement diagram instead. Find the dot corresponding to the H and V values, and read Bearings in AVIDland
the pitch ring from the color coding. For bearing determination, a dot touching an edge The algorithms used to
between two cells is in both cells and the shooter chooses with one to use. (This takes shoot a bearing on the
precedence over the result of the formulae above and the vertical arc limits table.) PHAD are different from
Bearing Heading Headings must correspond to PHAD cells, so allowed headings are the ones for the AVID,
because the AVID uses
determined by the pitch ring of the bearing:
the same increment for
±90°: heading is “All” (the heading doesn’t matter) altitude as it does for hex
±60°: Extended (‘E’) headings size, while the PHAD
uses a vertical distance
±30°: “normal” headings (end in ‘0’)
that is half the horizontal.
00°: “offset” headings (end in ‘5’) This allows the formulas
Determine the heading by looking at the line between the start and end positions and for comparison to be
comparing it to the 2D (Map) Movement diagram. If the range is greater than 8 hexes, more representative of 30
degree angles, and maps
determine the closest normal heading (for 30° and 60° pitches) or use the bounding
more readily to the verti-
hexrows (for 00° pitch).
cal move tool.
Ambiguity If the heading or pitch sits on the boundary between two values, the shooter This is a place where the
chooses which one to use. For the reciprocal bearing, the other player makes their own PHAD aims for preci-
independent choice for the ambiguous situation. sion and the AVID aims
PHAD Distance The distance between two bearings on the PHAD is always the shortest for lower arithmetic
count from one cell to the other. If one cell is in a positive pitch ring and the other is in a overhead. (Birds of Prey
cuts arithmetic load with
negative pitch ring, the path must pass through a cell on the equator (in the 00° pitch ring)
the 3D move aid and the
before counting to the other cell.
vertical arc limits chart.)
015 165
5
N 000 ±90° 180 S All
345 195 015 165
±60° N 000 ±90° 180 S
345 195
e PHAD Marks ±30° 330E 210E
B10 Record Plotted Segments ±60°
5
±0°
330 210
p 330E 210E
t Box-Mini 270E ±30°
E ±0°E
Aircraft Attitude
5
te Tiles 300 240 075 105330 270E 5 210
075 105 075
315 225 5 5
270 045 090 300
135 240
045 090 135 045 0
More 285 255 Three PHAD cells define an aircraft’s
AVID Differences 060 attitude
120(its orientation
315 270
in three
225 dimensions): Nose,
060 120 5 W Canopy, and Wing (actually the Right Wing). Each of these cells is always three cells away 060
Remember that the AVID
5 5
030 090E 150285 255
030 5
is Ad Astra’s090E 5 150
derivative of from both of the others. Use the symbols below to indicate W
each of these cells on the 030 5 09
PHAD, depending on pitch ring:
030E 150E
the
030EPHAD, used 150Ein space 030E
All
games Positive
such as Negative
Attack Vec- NPositive
015
000 Negative
165 up down
5
5
All ±90° 180 S Nose + 015 + A
000 tor:or 00º Pitch
Tactical
±90° Pitch
and Saganami 180
165
S or 00º
345 Pitch Pitch 195
Canopy N^ ^ 000 ±90°
±60°
Velocity Island Tactical Simulator. 195
Nose + +
330E 210E
Wing (right) – 345 –
±60° Velocity   ±60°
Lift There are six attitude Canopy ±30° (when pointing)
^ 330 ^
5
5
∆ ∆
±0° (when pointing) Lift ∆ ∆
330E 210E 210 330E
Wing (right) –
270E
30°
5 markers on the AVID, – ±0°
±30°
5
330 while the 5
270EPHAD uses210 Velocity  300
 240 330 27
three
300 in most5 situations.
5
240 (A common Lift system of notation
∆ 315 minimizes
∆ 270 errors and
225 makes it easier for other players to 300
5
read an aircraft’s attitude and to find the key cells quickly.)

H ≥315 V Separation of the
270
ment communities, led
+16develop-
225
m
An
G
aircraft normally moves in the
285 255
direction
W of the Nose
Fuel
cell.
pts AB
Aircraft
carry
flying
Dry carry
with very
315
high
2
– + 2D Movement 090 H
Altitude Change Track (steps)
255 +14
to the 285 AVID and PHAD angles of attack m (are pointing), or that have120 departed controlled
Stores Drag flight,Hex may move in a
285
5 W 21 1 1 21 060 075 105 W
6 using if 5Hthe exact+12
≥ 3V opposite different direction. When this occurs, add two more symbols to the PHAD:
22 2 2 22
map
7 orientations +10and
Weight Altitude
8 23 3 3 23 045 Positive Negative 135 Positive Negative
conventions for +8 indicating or 00º Pitch Pitch
24 4 4 24 Wing or 00º Pitch
Loading Speed Pitch
py that an orientation symbol 030 150
(right) 25 5 5 25 Velocity   Nose + +
is on the top or bottom
ity (when pointing)
+6
en pointing)
of the spherical +4 reference
26 6 6 26 Lift ∆ ∆ Canopy Safe Load
^
KEAS
^
27 7 7 27 015 Wing
165 (right) – –
frame. (Birdsif H ≥ 2Vof Prey uses
28 8 8The 28 Lift cell is always three PHAD cells away fromVelocity both Aero
the Velocity
Load Limit and MachWing cells. The
+2
3D Movement
a standard mathematical
F
m 0
convention of circling 0
29 9if 7H9<Velocity
V
29 cell
000 is always three cells away from the WingLiftcell.
180

∆

∆
30 101 10Except Engine Output Engine ∆Speed +
in these special circumstances, the Velocity cell is the same as the Nose cell and the
G
ry Dry carry 1 30
vectors that+16 head –22up out if 7H ≥ V
— track climbs & dives separately
+16
31 11 11231 m
of the page.) Lift3 cell is
345 the same as the Canopy cell.
– +An aircraft moves
195 in the direction of the –Velocity
2D + Form Form ∆090
Movement H
Altitude Change Track (steps)
+14 –4 32 12 12 32 +14 Stores Speed
4
cell, which 5 usually means the+12 direction of the Nose cell.
Hex m
+12 –6 33 13 13 33 21 1 1 21 060 075 105 120
6
Angle Determination
if 5H ≥ 3V Lift Used Greatest Load Used
Altitude 34 14 14 34 330 7 22 2 2 22 210
+10 –8 8 +10
35 15 15 35 23 3 3 23 045 – 135
8 315 225 DpG Average Load Turn
Speed +8 –10
There are a number of angles important to playing Birds
+8
030 of Prey that × express = the relative
∆Speed
24 4 4 24
Nose and Velocity,
7 36 16 16 36
300 25 5 240
150
37 17 17position, ∆Speed ±
5 KEAS
6 ts
inCanopy and Lift
+6 –12 37 orientation and 285motion+6 between255 two
5 25
aircraft. To calculate
∆Altitude an angle,
Gravity count the
Po 26 6 6 26
unless39 19 19PHAD cells between the specified 270 marks and/or bearings. Trace the shortest route = pos-
Altitude Change (Steps)
38 18 18 38
e nt talRemember
) that
+4 –14 +4 165
m on 39 27 7 7 27 015 End Speed Net ∆Speed
o
z
t rMach
i the aircraft
1 cell = is
1 in
FP
+2 a
–16 special sible from one cell to the
if H other,
≥ 2V +2 counting the destination cell but not the cell of origin. If
40 20 20 40 28 8 8 28
count FP from orange
circumstance that causes one mark is in a positive pitch ring and the other is in a negative pitch ring, trace the route
29 9 9 29
0 0 000 18
them
Engine Speed∆
+to separate, the to a cell in the 00° ring before tracing it to
30 10 10 the30destination cell. The result (between 0 and 6)
Velocity mark –2 is identical is the value of the angle. In all –2 cases 31 “the
11 aircraft” in345
question is the one you’re measuring
— track climbs & dives separately
11 31 19
–
to the Nose mark and the
Form ∆Speed –4 the angle from, even when comparing –4 the
32 12 12 32distance in PHAD cells to an orientation mark
Lift mark is identical to on the target 33 13 13 33
–6 –6
the Canopy mark.
Greatest Load Used
330 210
–8 AoN (Angle off Nose) the–8 distance from the aircraft’s Nose mark to the bearing.
34 14 14 34
Velocity
– = Nose 35 15 15 35 315 225
AoC (Angle off 8 Canopy) –10 the distance from36 the aircraft’s Canopy mark to the bearing.
age Load Turn
=
∆Speed
Lift = Canopy
–10
7 36 16 16
AoT (Angle 300 240
Gravity ∆Speed ±
The special –12 circumstances
6 soff Tail) the distance
–12 37 from
17 17the 37 bearing and the target’s285 Nose mark.
5 Point 38 18 18 38
255
are pointing, –14spinning TCA4 (Track nt l)Crossing Angle) –14the distance between the aircraft and target270 Velocity marks.
3 veme onta
Net ∆Speed =
39 19 19 39
and supermaneuvering. o
LCA i z
(ho(Lift Crossing Angle) –16the distance between the aircraft and target Lift marks.
–16 2 2 M r 1 cell = 1 FP
40 20 20 40
(Supermaneuvers will 1 be 1 count FP from orange
covered in a follow-on Reciprocal AoN the AoN from the target to the shooter.
product. Think Raptor.) Reciprocal AoC the AoC from the target to the shooter.
Example: An aircraft‘s Nose is at 030 +30, its target‘s Nose is at 090 –30, and the bearing
from the aircraft to the target is at 060 +30. The AoN is 1. The AoT is 2 (counted through
the 00° pitch ring). The TCA is 3.
Aspect
Body Diamond diagrams show various arcs and regions relative to an aircraft. The
principal function of the body diagram is to find the relationship between an aircraft and
other aircraft, which is called Aspect. An example body diamond is shown below.
Angle off Nose Angle off Nose
Angle off Canopy
Angle off Canopy

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 0 1 2 3 4 5 6
0 0
1 1
2 2
3 3
4 4
5 5
6 6
Body Diamond Advantage Arc
Any bearing line from an aircraft lies in one of the 28 boxes on this diagram. To determine
which, find the AoN and AoC. This combination is the Aspect and is written as two
values within square-brackets, as:
[ AoN, AoC ]
Find the column for the AoN and the row for the AoC on the body diamond diagram.
The intersection of these two is the correct body diamond square. The dark grey squares
above show physically impossible angles, due to the fact that the Nose and Canopy are
always three cells apart. The gold cells (medium grey, when not printed in color) show the
advantage arc, which is especially important for fixing (part of the order of flight process).
Finally, to help understand what the body diagram represents, a small image of an aircraft
has been superimposed here. It shows that the cell at the left represents the Nose, while
the cell at the right is the tail. Straight up along the Canopy is the cell at top, and straight
down the belly of the aircraft is the bottom-most cell. The centermost cell at [3,3] runs
down the wing line. The body diamond is symmetrical from the left to the right of the
aircraft, and does not need to make a distinction between the two.
The playaids show a number of body diamond diagrams with various modifiers or
highlighted arcs. All are basically the same as this one and players need only remember
that the aircraft Nose is on the left and the Canopy is at the top to remember that the AoN
runs left to right and the AoC runs from top to bottom.
The lower-right side of the body diamond doesn’t match the other three corners, as three
added calls are valid: [4,6], [5,5] and [6,4]. This is caused by a path around the PHAD at
certain attitudes where the spherical path is fourteen cells, rather than the normal twelve.
In almost all cases, the added cell acts identically to the one to its immediate left.
Flying in the SoP

Turns, Ticks, and Segments
Aircraft plots and executes its moves in segments, not one tick at a time or a whole game-
turn at a time. A segment may be as short as a single tick, as long as a whole game-turn
(10 ticks), or any number of ticks in between.
There are four kinds of segments: straight, turning, unloaded, and barrel roll. Straight
Other handy notes segments do not change an aircraft’s pitch or heading (the Nose cell does not move on
When filling out the Form the PHAD). Turning segments change pitch and/or heading, and cause the Nose cell to
+ Stores Drag table, it is move, except in the case of partial turn segments (which can only occur as an aircraft’s
also handy to circle your final segment of movement). Unloaded segments can occur as controlled maneuvers (un-
WL (wing-load, from the loads) or as uncontrolled flight (stalls and departures) and ; unloaded segments resemble
aircraft’s weight) on the turning segments, where an aircraft unloads long enough, has its Nose pitch down to a
top axis of the perfor- “lower” PHAD cell. Barrel roll segments displace the aircraft perpendicular to the direc-
mance nomograph, your tion of flight and may also move the Nose mark toward or away from the Wing cell.
Max-Lift (found on the
ADC) on the right axis, Every segment has a Segment Duration of 1 to 10 ticks, which may be freely selected by
and your Max Safe Load the player (in straight and some unloaded segments) or determined by game mechanics
on the left axis. These (in turning, other unloaded, and barrel roll segments). The total duration of an aircraft’s
values rarely change segments must add up to 10 ticks each game-turn. (A plotted segment that would cause
during play, but are used an aircraft to go past the tenth tick gets cut off during movement.) To execute a segment,
frequently. use the Speed-to-FP Table to determine how many flight points to move, which is called
the Segment Length. Sum the total ticks the aircraft has stepped through (including this
No Afterburner? segment and all previous segments) and cross index that with the speed of the aircraft.
If your aircraft has a The result is the cumulative number of FPs the aircraft will have spent up through the
non-afterburning engine, end of this segment. To find the number of FPs to expend in this segment, subtract the
it is very unlikely it will FP value for the tick that ended the previous segment (or zero, if this is the first segment)
fly at supersonic speed. from the FP value for the tick ending the current segment.
You probably don’t need
to fill out the fields for the
various Mach numbers.
The Form + Stores Drag Table
Only fill out the fields for For each aircraft, fill out the Form + Stores Drag table in the middle of the Performance
Slow, LTD and HTD. nomograph before beginning play. For each Mach number (or named range), find the
matching Drag value in the Form Drag table on the ADC. Add the aircraft’s total Drag
The Bug and JSOW Points from stores to each basic Drag value and record the totals in the table.
The ADC stores tables list Stores points and drag points from stores are not the same. The Stores section on the
a set of typical stores for reverse of the ADC shows many of the external stores that the aircraft can carry and
the aircraft. We’ve tried how many stores points each item costs when carried at the particular station. Total the
to include all air-to-air stores points of all stores carried by the aircraft. The Drag Pt. per Stores Pt. entry gives the
weapons carried by the conversion from Stores points to Drag Points. For every full unit of Stores points, add 1
type, plus any fuel tanks drag point to the aircraft’s Form Drag (in other words, drop fractions).
and pods that are specific Example: An aircraft that gets +1 per 6.0 carries a total of 15 Stores points. It adds 2 Drag
to the aircraft. Points to its Form Drag value at every speed.
After these items, we add
Some stores entries show how many of an item the aircraft can carry on a station, fol-
as many known air-to-
ground stores as space lowed by the stores points per item. Multiply the number of items by the stores points per
permits. For many types item to find the total stores points.
this list is incomplete. For In a few cases, a particular item’s Stores Point value varies depending on the station
example, the F/A-18C where it is carried. This generally represents recessed, conformal or wingtip stations
ADC does not show its versus standard pylons.
ability to carry JSOW.
Sequence of Play
(SoP 01) Activity Point Recovery all aircraft
(SoP 02) Declarations all aircraft
Set throttle (AB, Mil, Idle)
Set radar mode
Select weapon
Set DDS program
Declare initial gunshot and record parameters
Declare a missile snapshot attempt
Select manual swing-wing position
(SoP 03) Flight
Plot class A Aircraft without fixes plot all aircraft in class
move class a Fixed aircraft in Plot class A move each in initiative order
Plot class B * Aircraft fixing an aircraft in the previous group plot all aircraft in class
move class b * Fixed aircraft in Plot class B move each in initiative order
* Repeat the cycle of Plot class and move class until no fixing aircraft remain
move class y Unfixed aircraft move each in initiative order
move class z Unspotted aircraft (with sight of an opponent) move each in initiative order
Flight Special Actions
(Advanced) G-Onset as each aircraft completes its plot
Performance as each aircraft completes its movement
Missile Flight following target (and firer for RH movement) movement
(SoP 04) Flight Effects all aircraft
Structure G-Effects
Crew G-Effects
(Advanced) G-Onset checked during aircraft plot steps, not during flight effects
(Advanced) Crew Fatigue
Recovery from Crew G-Effects
(SoP 05) Spin Recovery all aircraft
(SoP 06) Departure all aircraft
(SoP 07) Combat
Initial Gunshots each aircraft in initiative order
Missile Attack each aircraft in initiative order
Normal and Tracking Gunshots each aircraft in initiative order
Missile Launch each aircraft in initiative order
Second IR Missile Slaved Sensor Acquisition (non-IR missiles use aircraft radar) each aircraft in initiative order
Second Missile Launch each aircraft in initiative order
(SoP 08) Initiative
Initiative Rolls all aircraft
Fixing and assigning each aircraft in initiative order
(SoP 09) Visual Sighting each aircraft in initiative order
Aircrew in grey-out or black-out declare FoV before own sighting attempts
Adjust order of flight due to changes in sighting (newly unspotted, newly spotted, lost sight of fix target)
(SoP 10) Sensor each aircraft in initiative order
Attempt conversion of previous turn Stabilized Sensor acquisitions into tracks
Sensor Track Maintenance
Sensor Acquisition
(SoP 11) Administrative all aircraft
Change manual swing-wing position
Update wing load and stores drag
Ejection
Activity Point Recovery (SoP 01)
Crew Quality and Reset the available activity points (APs) of all conscious crew members to the full value
Pilot Quality for their Crew Qualities. (Unconscious and dead crew members lose all APs!) Crew
We often interchange members may not accumulate APs from turn to turn.
these very similar terms. Crew Quality –2 –1 0 +1 +2 +3
Crew quality (CQ) can be
applied to any member of Activity Points 5 5 6 7 7 8
the aircraft’s crew, while
Pilot Quality (PQ) refers
to the person flying the Declarations (SoP 02)
plane at this time. Crew members declare actions in this phase that cannot be changed later in the game-
turn. System settings retain their state from the previous game-turn, if not set in this
turn’s declaration phase.
Unconscious and dead crew members cannot make declarations.
Some declarations have an associated task and require activity points to perform. The
Crew column on the Aircrew Tasks play aid shows whether any crew member may
perform the task and make the declaration, or only the pilot.
Set Throttle
The crew member flying the aircraft (typically the pilot) sets the throttle to Idle, Dry, or
Afterburner (if available). An exact Engine Output value need not be selected at this time.
Setting the throttle does not require activity points.
If not set in the Declarations phase, the engines operate at the throttle setting from the
previous game-turn.
Select Weapon
An aircraft may have any one weapon type selected. Each missile type is considered a
separate weapon type. If an aircraft carries sub-variant weapons of the same basic model
(for example, a mixed load of AIM-9L and AIM-9P Sidewinders), select one of the sub-
variants. The aircraft will then fire that sub-variant until it is exhausted and will then
automatically select the other sub-variant. This also applies to radar and IR versions of
a missile type, like the AIM-4 Falcon. The aircraft will fire all of the missiles of the same
(selected) seeker type and will then automatically select the missiles of the other seeker
type. Many Soviet missile types with both radar and IR versions will instead alternate
seeker types, first firing an IR missile and then a radar missile (the MDCs will note these
missiles). A few aircraft select part or all of their gun battery when selecting Guns.
An aircraft with “Hot Guns” may fire its guns while another weapon is selected.
A missile must be selected in the Declarations phase in order for it to be operated in the
Combat or Sensors phase of the current game-turn. An aircraft may select Guns at any
point before the Combat Phase (SoP 07).
Select Weapon is an Offensive Systems Cockpit Action.
Set Sensor Mode
Each sensor on an aircraft can be set On or Off and some may be set to a specific mode.
Setting a sensor mode must take place in the Declarations phase in order for it to be used
in the Sensors phase of this game-turn.
Set Mode is a Sensor Systems Cockpit Action.
Declare an Initial Gunshot
An aircraft in position for a gunshot that did not attempt a normal or tracking gunshot in
the preceding turn may declare an initial gunshot. This gunshot is resolved in the Combat
Phase (SoP 07).
Immediately record the Target, TCA, LCA, and range for the shot.
Declaring an initial gunshot requires the shooter to use the Guns Engagement task.
Declare a Missile Snapshot
An aircraft that has fixed a target in Snapshot parameters may declare the intention to
make a snapshot. Snapshots also require that the missile be selected and the target within
the extended FoV of that missile. An FoV that ends with a plus-sign increases its FoV by
one for snapshots. If the missile’s FoV does not have the plus-sign suffix, its extended FoV
is the FoV listed on the MDC.
The snapshot capable must have some sensor aware of the target at this point, that is
capable of handing-off to the missile. This will often be a HMS/HMD system.
The player must record the Target and the firing aircraft’s starting Nose position. (Use the
Initial Shot box on the ACC to contain this information.)
Declaring a missile snapshot requires the shooter to use the Weapon Launch action (an
Offensive Systems Cockpit Action), whether the missile is actually fired or not. The
shooter will likely need to perform a Sensor Handoff task to cue the missile onto its target.
Position Manual Swing-Wing
The pilot of a swing-wing aircraft may change the wing position.
Wing position changes take effect in the Administrative Phase (SoP 11), provided that the
restrictions indicated on the ADC are met during the game-turn.
Automatic swing-wing aircraft do not need to declare wing position changes. However, a
pilot can override an automatic swing-wing with a Position Manual Swing-Wing ac-
tion, which both places the wing in manual mode and sets it to a specific position. The
automatic swing-wing will then operate as a manual swing-wing until the pilot sets the
swing-wing back into automatic mode using a Position Manual Swing-Wing action.
Position Manual Swing-Wing is a Configuration Cockpit Action.
Setting Decoy Program
A crew member may set a DDS (Decoy Dispenser System) to dispense the same number
of decoys every turn until it runs out of decoys or a crew member uses a Setting Decoy
Program action to turn off the program. Once a DDS program is set, it no longer requires
action by crew members to continue dispensing decoys. The similar Manual Decoy
Release action only dispenses decoys in the turn it is employed.
Setting Decoy Program is a Defensive Systems Cockpit Action.
High Speed
Flight Phase (SoP 03)
Each aircraft’s flight is broken into Plotting and Moving. The order of these operations is
Aircraft traveling fast
determined in the previous game-turn’s Initiative Phase (SoP 08). Plotting is performed
enough may have KEAS
values above 600, which is entirely on the play-aids and is done simultaneously by all aircraft in a given Plot Class.
the upper end of the scale. Plotting results in a set of movement segments which are recorded on the Plot PHAD (top
These aircraft should us center of the ACC). Movement translates the plotted segments into aircraft position and
the High-Speed KEAS attitude changes on the game map. Movement is done in initiative order within Move
scale instead and put the Classes.
notation “Fast” next to Steps for the Plot and Move operations have hints to lead players through their execution.
the Q-mark as a reminder. Each plot step is marked with a “p” subscript, while movement steps are marked with an
Fast aircraft use the blue
“m” subscript. Aircraft generally run through the steps of the Plot and Move operations
values for Max G and
multiple times (once for each segment).
Turn Drag.
Determine Initial Aircraft State (Meta-Step Ap)
Low Speed All aircraft determine their Initial State, which requires finding some basic performance
parameters. Players should do this at their earliest opportunity, regardless of plot class.
Aircraft traveling slowly
may have the Q-Mark in Find KEAS from altitude and speed (Ap1) Span speed (from the ACC) and altitude (also
the shaded areas to the on the ACC) with a straightedge and make a mark on the KEAS axis. Use the matching
lower left of the scale scales on the speed and KEAS axes (for speeds up to 240 knots use both right-side scales;
called the Controllability otherwise, use both left-side scales). Record KEAS on the ACC.
Region. These areas are
Find Mach from altitude and KEAS (Ap2) Span altitude (from the ACC) and KEAS (found
labeled “Marginal (1)”,
“Low (2)” and “No (3)”, in step Ap1) with a straightedge and make a mark on the Mach axis. Use the matching
representing increasingly scales on the KEAS and Mach axes (either both right-side or both left-side scales; use
unstable flight as energy the scales the produce the line more perpendicular to the axes). When using the left-side
diminishes. If the Q-Mark scales, if the mark intersects a color-shaded regions on the Mach axis, record the name as-
intersects one of these sociated with the color: Slow, LTD (Low Transonic Drag), or HTD (High Transonic Drag).
regions, the aircraft is Otherwise, record the Mach number on the ACC, rounded to the nearest tenth of a Mach.
subject to all penalties of
Make Q-Mark from wing load and KEAS (Ap3) Span wing load (from the ACC) and
the region as described in
KEAS (found in step Ap1) with a straightedge and make a mark on the Q-Mark diagonal
the Departure chapter.
line. The Q-Mark is the intersection of the drawn line across the diagonal, and must
remain in place throughout the entire Flight Phase.
Speed-to-FP reminder Do not attempt to round the Q-Mark or assign it a value. The numbers on the diagonal
The Speed-to-FP Table line are values for Engine ∆Speed and have nothing to do with the Q-Mark.
is additive. Using the
Because the wing load is used extensively, you may save time by circling or otherwise
row corresponding to
the aircraft’s speed and marking the correct value. Update it as required by weight changes, should they occur.
counting from the seg- Find Aero Load Limit from Q-mark and maximum lift (Ap4) Span the Q-mark (found in
ment’s starting tick, count step Ap3) and maximum lift (found on the ADC) with a straightedge and make a mark on
the Segment Duration the Aerodynamic Load Limit axis. Find the nearest value and record the Aero Load Limit
in columns to the right on the ACC.
to find the segment’s
ending tick. The Segment Plotting (Meta Steps Bp through Ep)
Length is the FP value During a plot phase all aircraft in a Plot Class plot simultaneously.
of the ending tick minus
Each game-turn is broken into 10 ticks. A tick is the smallest unit of time in the game.
the value at the starting
tick. Circle the value at A game-turn’s plot is broken into one or more segments. A segment has duration of 1 to
the ending tick and line 10 ticks and the durations of an aircraft’s segments each game-turn must total 10 ticks,
through those to the left. exactly.
A segment’s starting tick
There are four types of segments: straight, turning, unloaded, and barrel roll.
is the ending tick of the
previous segment, or an An aircraft travels a number of Flight Points (FP) in a game-turn that is determined by the
imaginary zero column at aircraft’s Speed. The total number of FP per game-turn is shown in the 10-tick column of
the start of the game-turn. the Speed-to-FP Table.
Because the number of FP is only divisible by the number of ticks in the ten and twenty
FP rows, equal duration segments for a given speed often have different FPs. Fluid Nomography
Determine the Movement Vector, which will be either a cell or edge between two cells. In practice, this procedure
is very fluid and doesn’t
Record each segment’s FPs on the Plot PHAD at the movement vector.
always follow this linear
The Plot PHAD is the only place where a mark is legally placed on a cell edge. (You may process. Players often
temporarily note bearings on a PHAD cell edge, but you must choose which side of the make several T-marks
edge it actually falls on. Note this by placing the bearing mark touching the edge, on the corresponding to dif-
chosen side. If you give the bearing to an opponent, give it as an edge because your op- ferent Turn-G values so
ponent can choose to have the bearing fall on either side of the edge.) they can compare them.
They also often trade TPs
Straight Flight for time (Ticks) using
Straight flight refers to flight without changes in pitch or heading. It may be conducted at the nomograph first one
any pitch angle. When straight segments are at 0° or ±30° pitch, the aircraft is loaded at 1 way and then the other.
G, must pay turn drag for that load, and counts the segment as load 1.0 for average load. This is perfectly legal,
Straight segments at 60° or 90° pitch count as load 0.0 for average load. even encouraged! As you
become more comfortable
Record the load (“Turn Gs”) for the segment (Bp5) Based on the pitch ring occupied by the with the game mechanics,
aircraft’s Nose, determine the load (either 1.0 or 0.0 G). you will find yourself
Select the segment duration (Bp7) Select the duration of the straight segment in ticks, up naturally doing the same.
to the number of ticks remaining for this game-turn.
Find the FPs for the segment (Bp8) Using the duration selected in the previous step, find
the FPs for the segment on the Speed-to-FP Table. (Advanced)
Record the segment on the Average Load table and Plot PHAD (Bp10) For each tick in this Inverted Flight
segment, record the load (either 0.0 or 1.0 G) on the Average Load table. Straight segments longer
than three ticks with nose
The movement vector for a straight segment is the current Nose cell. Record the FPs for
mark in 0º or ±30º pitch
the segment in the Nose cell on the Plot PHAD. ring and the canopy mark
Move PHAD Marks (Cp) If rolling, update the Canopy and Right Wing marks on the lower than the nose mark
Aircraft PHAD. (in a pitch ring closer to
–90º than the nose.) count
Turning Flight as negative 1.0 load.
To the novice, pitching and turning seem unrelated. In practice, jet fighters turn by rolling
to put the Lift vector in the intended direction, then rotating the aircraft around the axis
joining the wingtips. In unbanked flight, this changes the aircraft’s pitch. When an aircraft
is banked onto its side, this rotation simply changes heading to produce a level turn. At Using the Vertical
a lesser or greater bank angles the rotation changes both pitch and heading, producing Effective vertical turning
an oblique turn. A segment involving pitching/turning is called a “turning segment,” is a trade of speed and
altitude. Turning in the
because it always changes the aircraft’s Velocity mark (its Velocity or Nose cell), whether
30º pitch ring uses fewer
this changes pitch, heading, or both.
TP per cell than the same
Moving the Nose cell requires collecting Turn Points (TPs), which involves using the turn along the 00 ring.
Turning nomograph. To use the nomograph, lay a straightedge connecting the aircraft’s When the Nose is in
current Speed (not KEAS) with the desired number of Turn-G’s and make a mark where the 60º pitch ring, a 6TP
this crosses the central diagonal line, called the “T-mark”. Then, position the straightedge PHAD cell move yields
so it passes through the T-mark and the segment duration in Ticks. The number of TPs a 60 degree net heading
accumulate in this segment can be read off the top scale, where the straightedge crosses it. change.
(You’ll soon learn that
The Earth’s gravity affects Turn-G’s. Pulling the Nose higher requires overcoming gravity.
the freedom of maneuver
Conversely, when the Nose is pulled down, gravity assists the turn. The effect is modeled in the vertical comes at a
by the thick colored borders around the 30° pitch ring on the PHAD, called G Lines. These price. Remember- energy
indicate that gravity comes into play whenever the Nose is crossing into or out of the is never lost, it simply
30° or 0º pitch rings in either direction. If the Nose is moving to a higher (more positive) changes form. The price
pitch ring, the Turn-G is 1.0 less than the Load Used. If the Velocity is moving to a lower of a climb to turn in the
(more negative) pitch ring, the Turn-G is 1.0 g more than the Load Used. This means that vertical is refunded when
the Turn-G for an aircraft may change from segment to segment even if the Load Used the pilot initiates a dive.
remains constant. So, an aircraft pulling 6 g’s (Load Used = 6) while pulling the Velocity
up from 0° to +30° would have only 5 Turn-G’s. As the Nose continued going up from
+30° to +60°, the Turn-G would remain 5. But once the Velocity crossed into +60°, the turn
from +60° to +90° would be at 6 Turn-G’s because the Velocity would not be crossing a
G-line. This may require additional T-marks on the nomograph to account for changing
conditions over the course of a maneuver, even when maintaining a constant load.
Moving the Nose from one PHAD cell to an adjacent PHAD cell normally requires 6 TPs.
Turning Example 1 Because of the geometry of a sphere, a special case applies when turning from one 30° cell
Turn Amount 120º to an adjacent 30° cell. This only requires 5 TPs, and is indicated on the PHAD using small
Segment Length 9 diamonds containing a ‘5’ as a reminder to players. This only applies for turns within the
Start Nose 045 +00 30° ring, and does not apply to turns into or out of the 30° ring in either direction (those
End Nose 285 +00 require 6 TPs like all other turning.)
Right Wing All +90 To execute a turning segment, a player collects the necessary TPs (5 or 6 per cell turned).
Movement vector is the Any additional TPs may be carried using the TP Carry track on the aircraft control card.
center-most cell or edge, Any existing TP carry is always added to the total TPs collected in the current segment.
which yields 345+00. TP carries are retained through straight and unloaded segments. The TP carry can be
Multiturn segment length voluntarily discarded by the player, and if an aircraft rolls its Canopy two or more cells
is 7 FP (from 9FP vs 120º.)
during a segment, any TP carry is automatically lost.
Turning Example 2
Multi-Turns
Turn Amount 60º
Segment Length 5 Players can save time and effort executing turning segments that move the Nose multiple
Start Nose 150 –30 cells, instead of several 30° segments. This is called a multi-turn but it is really the normal
End Nose 180 +30 turning process. To perform a multi-turn, an aircraft collects sufficient TPs in a segment
Right Wing 240 –30 to satisfy the requirement of 5 or 6 Turning Points (TPs) multiple times. An aircraft that
In a 60° multi-turn, the collects 12 TPs would be able to make a 60° multi-turn, while an aircraft that collects 15
multi-turn segment length TPs while turning in the 30° ring could make a 90° multi-turn.
equals the base segment Multi-turns are only allowed if the Turn-Gs do not change throughout. If a multi-turn
length, or 5 FP. crosses some portion of a multi-turn crosses a g-line, but other portions do not, the player
The movement vector is must either break the segment into multiple segments of constant turn-G, or apply the
165+00, halfway between greatest Load needed to generate the constant Turn-G. Breaking the segment up is more
the start and end Nose work for the player, but often minimizes the induced drag from the turn.
positions on the path
three cells from the Wing. The FP length of a multiturn of 90 degrees or more does not equal the length of the
segment because the move cuts across the circle the aircraft is actually following. The
Turning Example 3 Turning Flight Points Nomograph (in the center of the turning nomograph) performs the
Turn Amount 120º FP factor calculation by drawing a line from total segment length though the amount of
Segment Length 9 turning to find the turning flight points for the move.
Start Nose 090 –30
End Nose 180 –30 At very low altitude, a multi-turn may hide that the aircraft’s path would pass through
Right Wing 330 –60 the ground. If there is some question of this occurring, a player may need to check by run-
An aircraft conducting a
ning the multi-turn as a serious of individual 30º turn segments. If asked to do so by other
90° multi-turn in the –30° players or if they suspect this is the case, a player is obligated to check. If the ground is
ring (using 15 TPs) from not intersected, use the original multi-turn segment for the plot.
090–30° to 180–30° has a
Incomplete Turning Segment
segment 7 FPs long. It will
move 7 FPs in a turning If, at the end of a game-turn, a turning segment can not generate enough turning points
segment from 120–30 to to move the Nose at the selected Turn-G, the aircraft flies an incomplete turning segment.
150–30, which are the two The generated TP are recorded as TP Carry and the segment is plotted like a 30º turning
cells closest to the center segment, but do not change the position of any PHAD marks at the end of the segment.
of the path between the
start and end positions of
the Nose.
Minimize Carry
Every turning segment should have the shortest duration possible that turns the desired Prefer Multiturns
number of facings at the selected Turn-G. Any ticks past this duration become part of the Multi-turns should be
next segment. your preferred method
Movement Vector of turning. Look for these
opportunities and use
For any turn, whether it is starting around the first 30º of facing or moving the Nose them, as they both to
multiple cells, has a movement vector where the segment’s FP is plotted and eventually speed-up play, and avoid
flown and an end position for the aircraft’s Nose. rounding penalties on the
The end Nose position is a cell that is the number of cells turned (1 per 30º of turn) away Ticks axis.
from Nose, that is on a path three cells away from the Wing. The direction of displace- Multi-turns actually
ment heads towards the Canopy for positive g turning (the usual case) or away from the generate more accurate
Canopy when performing a negative g turns. results, by lowering the
amount of rounding.
Incomplete turning segments use the end Nose position for a complete 30º turning, but do
not change the position of any PHAD marks at the end of the segment.
The movement vector is the center-most cell or edge between two cells that lies on a path
between the start and end Nose position, and that is three away from the Right Wing
mark. If the Nose is moving an odd number of cells, the movement vector will be on an
edge between cells. It will be in a cell when the Nose is moving an even number of cells.
Plotting a Turning Segment
Select the load for the segment (Bp5) Select a load for the segment. If the turn will cross a
G Line, adjust the load to find the Turn Gs. If not, Turn Gs equal the selected load. Record
the Turn Gs in the box for step 5.
Make the T-Mark (Bp6) Span Turn Gs (found in step Bp5) and Speed (found in step
Ap1) with a straightedge and make a mark on the T-Mark diagonal line. The T-Mark is
the intersection of the drawn line across the diagonal, and must remain throughout the
segment.
Do not attempt to round the T-Mark or assign it a value. The numbers on the diagonal are
for determining FPs in multi-turn segments and have nothing to do with the T-Mark.
Find Turning Points (Bp7) Select the duration of the turning segment in ticks, up to the
ticks remaining for this game-turn. Span this Segment Duration and the T-Mark (found
in step Bp6) with a straightedge and make a mark on the Turning Points axis. Record the
number of Turning Points produced in the box for step 7.
Find the FPs for the segment (Bp8) Using the duration selected in the previous step, find
the FPs for the segment on the Speed to FP Table.
If this this is a multi-turn of 3 cells or more, find the FPs for the segment (Bp9) Span the
FPs for the segment (found in step Bp8) and the number of cells in the multi-turn on the
diagonal line with a straightedge and make a mark on the Turning Flight Points axis.
Record the Turning Flight Points in the box for step 9.
Record the segment on the Average Load table and Plot PHAD (Bp10) For each tick in this
segment, record the load (selected in step Bp5) on the Average Load table. Then record the Find Turning Points
FPs (or Turning FPs, if step 9 applied) for the segment on the Plot PHAD (on the ACC). In practice, you will
If this is a turning segment with a single turn, record the FPs on the border between the often run this step
starting and ending cells. If this is a multi-turn, see that rule for the proper positioning of backwards, starting with
the FPs. the number of Turning
Move PHAD Marks (Cp) Update the Nose and Canopy marks to reflect their new PHAD Points you need for the
position. If rolling while turning, update the Canopy and Right Wing marks after updat- segment and running a
ing due to turning. line from that number
through the T-Mark to
find a Segment Duration.
Negative Loads Advanced Rule
Negative Loads occur when the aircraft “pushes”, generating lift towards the bottom of
the aircraft instead of “pulling” to generate lift along the Canopy vector. Negative Load
turns are conducted just as ordinary turns, except that the Nose vector moves away from
the Canopy rather than toward it.
Negative Loads are treated as positive values for calculating average load. When negative
loads are used in a game turn, multiply the DpG value by 1.5 when finding Turn Drag.
When using a mix of Negative and Positive Loads in a single game turn, Flight Effects
must be checked against both the greatest positive load and the greatest negative load.
Neither aircraft nor pilots are designed to accommodate Negative Loads, so there are
additional effects rolls that must be made any time Negative Loads are used. Aircraft may
not release or jettison external stores while under negative loads. Rail launched missiles
may be employed, but dropped and ejected missiles may not.
Some ADCs will note the chances of various problems occurring while the aircraft is
under negative loads, such as the engine flaming out.
Unless stated specifically on the ADC, the Safe Load of an aircraft is -3.0 negative load.
Pointing Advanced Rule
When an aircraft flies at a high angle of attack, the Nose may point ahead of the aircraft’s
direction of travel (as represented by the Velocity mark). In these situation, we add the
Velocity and Lift marks to the normal three marks on the PHAD (Nose, Canopy, and
Wing). The aircraft moves in the direction of its Velocity cell, but its sensors, canopy modi-
fiers, and weapon arcs are all based on the position of its Nose cell.
Pointing occurs in the last segment of movement when the aircraft’s load-derived lift
value (different from the Lift mark) is in the gold shaded region of the ADC’s AoA Effect
table. (Find the load-derived lift value, following the procedure for step Ep14 in Turning
Segments, by drawing a line across the performance nomograph from the Load Used,
through the Q-Mark to find lift).
When an aircraft is pointing, the Nose and Velocity cells are one cell apart. After any
PHAD mark movement from the last segment, move the Nose and Canopy marks as if
the aircraft were pitching one cell, leaving the Velocity mark in the Nose mark’s starting
cell and the Lift mark in the Canopy mark’s starting cell. The Canopy and Lift marks
must end one cell apart, three cells away from the Wing cell, and three cells away from
the Nose (for the Canopy cell) or the Velocity (for the Lift cell).
Pointing remains in effect until the start of the next game-turn’s movement phase. At this
point, move the Nose to the Velocity mark and the Canopy to the Lift mark.
Unloaded Flight Advanced Rule Unload Basics
Unloading consists of flying so that the wings generate little or no lift causing the aircraft An aircraft unloads for
to fly a ballistic path with no turn drag from the wings. Departed aircraft may be directed 6 ticks with the nose at
to fly an involuntary Unloaded segment. An aircraft with its Nose cell at + or –90° may 000+30 and speed 360.
not fly an Unloaded segment voluntarily. An aircraft with its Nose cell at + or –90° that The aircraft acquires 120
must fly an involuntary Unloaded segment (such as during Spin Gyrations) instead flies PdPs (6 ticks x 20). As this
is less than speed 360, the
a Straight segment, during which it cannot roll. An unload segment can not have its nose
aircraft does not pitch
pass through the –90º pitch, although the nose can end here.
down. Had the aircraft
To fly an unloaded segment, the player chooses a Load of 0 (zero) and selects a duration. been flying a woeful
During the unloaded segment an aircraft loses altitude steps equal to the duration of the speed 60, it would pitch
segment (in ticks) divided by 3 (round normally). Also, gravity causes the aircraft’s Nose down two cells.
to pitch down. The aircraft acquires 20 Pitchdown Points (PdPs) for every tick of segment They find the pitchdown-
duration. When the total equals the aircraft’s speed in knots, the Nose will pitch down. If target at 015+00.
the aircraft is sufficiently slow, one or more pitch downs may occur during a segment. Finding a 5 FP segment
Determine the Pitchdown-Amount by dividing the PdPs by the aircraft speed and carry- length, this is recorded on
ing any remaining PdPs into a later segment. (Do not round the pitchdown-amount.) Find the edge between 000+30
and 015+00. Furthermore,
the Pitchdown-Target, by selecting with a cell that is pitchdown-amount cells below the
they record a 2 step
nose, with the same heading. If pitchdown-amount is zero, use a value of one while
altitude loss, for the five
finding the pitchdown-target. If there is any ambiguity in the nose position, use the ticks divided by two.
method described below in “Pitching Down” to find the exact cell. The Movement Vector
is the center-most cell or edge between the nose and pitchdown-target. Pitch Down Example
If the last tick of the game-turn is part of an unloaded segment, record any unused PdPs Consider an aircraft with
in the Pitchdown box on the ACC. An aircraft loses all of its PdPs the moment that it the following orientation:
begins any segment that is not an unloaded segment. Nose 030+60
Canopy 150+30
Select the segment duration (Bp7) Select the duration of the unloaded segment in ticks.
Wing 090–30
For voluntary unloaded segments, select a duration in ticks. The minimum duration is Velocity 000+30
either 5 ticks or the ticks needed for the aircraft’s Nose to pitch down, whichever is less.
To conduct a pitch down,
Involuntary unloaded segment use the duration mandated by the departure rules.
the player first moves
Find the FPs for the segment (Bp8) Using the duration selected in the previous step, find the Nose to 030+30
the FPs for the segment on the Speed-to-FP Table. Record this on the movement vector. (preserving heading). The
Record the segment on the Average Load table and Plot PHAD (Bp10) For each tick in this Velocity must be moved
to 015+00 because drop-
segment, record the load (0.0) on the Average Load table. Uncommanded unloads may
ping it to 345+00 would
specify a load, which is used instead of 0.0. Then record the FPs for the segment on the
change the distance to
border between the starting and ending cells on the Plot PHAD (on the ACC). the Nose. The wing and
Move PHAD Marks (Cp) If the aircraft pitches down, update the affected PHAD marks. Canopy are both one ring
Rolling is prohibited when unloading. Record an altitude loss equal to segment duration from the horizon, so the
divided by 3 (round normally) and record any unused PdPs in the Pitchdown box. wing is moved next. It is
moved to 120–30 since a
Pitching Down When an aircraft pitches down, adjusts the aircraft’s PHAD markers as
move to 105+00, while
follows. First, move the Nose and Velocity (if separated) marks pitchdown-amount cells 3 cells away, is also a
closer to the –90° ring while maintaining their current headings. If the current heading change in the pitch ring
cannot be maintained (such as when pitching down from +30° to 0°), the player selects and this change must be
one of the two alternative headings, but the Nose and Velocity marks must maintain the minimized. Finally, the
same distance from one another. Canopy is adjusted to be
Next the player determines the next vector to move by determining whether the Wing or three away from both the
Canopy is closer to 0° pitch (the horizon). If they are equidistant from the horizon, use the Nose and wing, which
moves it to 150+60. The
Wing vector. This second vector is moved the shortest possible distance across the PHAD
final orientation is:
that will bring it to a distance of 3 cells from the Nose. If there are two possible choices for
Nose 030+30
the destination, choose the cell that is closest to the original pitch ring of the vector.
Canopy 150+60
Finally, the player adjusts the third vector (Canopy or Wing) to bring it to a legal location Wing 090–30
3 away from both the Nose and the second vector, along the shortest possible path. Velocity 015+00
Barrel Rolls Advanced Rule
An aircraft performing a barrel roll rolls constantly while maintaining a “pull.” Unlike a
turn, the roll constantly changes the direction of the Lift vector, so the aircraft ends up fly-
ing in roughly the same direction as when it began the barrel roll, but offset laterally. The
direction of this offset depends on both how far the aircraft rolls and the whether it rolls
to the left or right (from the looking forward in the cockpit, perspective). An aircraft must
complete a barrel roll segment in a single game-turn (no carrying across game-turns).
Select the degree, direction, and load for the segment (Bp5) Choose a half (180°) or full
(360°) roll and declare the direction of the roll (left or right). Select a Load of at least 2.5 for
the segment and record it in the box for step 5.
Make the Roll-Mark (Bp6) Span Turn Gs (found in step Bp5) and Speed (found in step
Ap1) with a straightedge and make a mark on the T-Mark diagonal line. The Roll-Mark
is the intersection of the drawn line across the diagonal, and must remain throughout the
segment.
Do not attempt to round the Roll-Mark or assign it a value. The numbers on the diagonal
line have nothing to do with the Roll-Mark.
Find Turning Points (Bp7) Select the duration of the barrel roll segment in ticks, up to the
Finding the Duration ticks remaining for this game-turn. Span this Segment Duration and the Roll-Mark (found
in step Bp6) with a straightedge and make a mark on the Turning Points axis. Record the
In practice, you will often
number of Turning Points produced in the box for step 7. Completing a half roll (180°)
run step (Bp7) backwards,
starting with the number requires exactly 9 TPs, marked with the green half-circle arrow. Completing a full roll
of Turning Points needed (360°) requires exactly 18 TPs, marked with the green full-circle arrow. You cannot carry
to complete the barrel roll over barrel roll turning points from game-turn to game-turn.
and running a line from Find the FPs for the segment (Bp8) Using the duration selected in the previous step, find
that number through the the FPs for the segment on the Speed to FP Table.
Roll-Mark to find the
Segment Duration. Verify the necessary roll capability Using the load selected in step 5 as the Greatest Load
Used value, determine the Lift Used during the segment (follow the procedure for step
Ep14). Check the ADC and determine whether the aircraft can produce 6 points of roll
(for a half roll) or 12 points of roll (for a full roll) during the barrel roll segment. You can
use any roll rate during a barrel roll. See Rolling, below, for the details on roll rates. If the
aircraft cannot roll enough to perform the barrel roll, either return to step Bp5 and choose
a different Load or abandon the barrel roll and fly a different type of segment in its place.
Record the segment on the Average Load table and Plot PHAD (Bp10) For each tick in this
segment, record the load (selected in step Bp5) on the Average Load table. Then record the
FPs on the Plot PHAD as follows:
Full Barrel Roll: place FP in the cell that is three from the Canopy, one from the nose
and either two (if right) or four (if left) from the Right Wing mark.
Half Barrel Roll: place FP on the cell-edge between the Nose mark and the cell three
from the Canopy and either two (if right) or four (if left) from the Right Wing mark.
Move PHAD Marks (Cp) Full Barrel Rolls do not change the PHAD marks. Half Barrel
Rolls change the PHAD marks as follows:
Right: Move the Nose mark one cell to a position two from the Right Wing mark (one
cell right) and three from the Canopy mark, then move the Right Wing to be three
away from the other two. Finally, roll the aircraft six cells in the clockwise direction.
Left: Move the Nose mark one cell to a position four from the Right Wing mark (one
cell left) and three from the Canopy mark, then move the Right Wing to be three away
from the other two. Finally, roll the aircraft six cells in the clockwise direction.
Rolling
Rolling (also known as banking) rotates an aircraft around its length. The Nose stays
fixed, but the Canopy and Wing marks move together. A right roll moves the Canopy
mark toward the Wing cell. A roll in the opposite direction is a left roll.
Aircraft have roll rates that vary with the current Lift. Each point of roll rate represents
both the Wing and Canopy marks moving a single PHAD cell, per FP (not tick!) flown in
a straight, or barrel roll segment. The accumulation of cells to be rolled in a segment is
referred to as Roll Points (RP).
Rolling occurs at the end of a segment, in the Move PHAD Marks (Cp) step. If rolling
while turning, rolling is performed after the turn has been updated on the PHAD. Rolling
is performed before pointing is performed.
To Roll, move the Canopy mark roll points or less cells, to a cell three away from the Nose
cell. Then, move the Wing mark so it is three cells away from both the Canopy and Nose
cells, as always. The Wing mark should move the same distance as the Canopy mark.
Select the Type of Roll
Rolling, especially while pulling many Gs during a turning segment, can cause the pilot
to lose control of the aircraft. This propensity is tracked with Departure Points (DP),
which are held until the end of the turn to check for Departure. Associated with this is a
set of shaded areas on the lower-left of the Q-Mark axis called the Controllability Region.
Aircraft with their Q-Marks in the Controllability Region are so low on energy that they
become increasingly unstable. See the Departure rules for details.
Aircraft have three different roll rates listed for each Lift value, which are:
Safe Rolls (listed in the Srr column in slightly smaller green text) can be performed
without generating DP, even if performed in the Controllability region.
Normal Rolls (listed in the RR column, in white or black text) generate 1 DP for every
2 points of roll performed in the Controllability Region.
Boosted Rolls (listed in the Brr column, in slightly smaller orange text) generate
one DP for every FP on which they are performed and 1 DP for every 2 points of roll
performed in the Controllability Region.
Sustained Rolls All of the listed roll rates are “Initial Roll Rates” and count for the first FP
of rolling. Subsequent FPs generate 1.5 times the listed roll rate.
Snap Rolls An aircraft may generate the Sustained Roll Rate on the first FP of rolling by
using a snap roll. Each roll point generated above the Initial Roll Rate causes 1 DP.
Rolling While Turning Rolling is restricted in turning segments. While turning, the
Of Incomplete Turns
aircraft may only roll 0, 1, or 2 cells during a segment. If the Normal Roll Rate entry ap-
Rolling while turning
pears in white on a dark green background, the aircraft may accumulate 2 RP per turning
only occurs at the end
segment. If the background is light green, it may accumulate 1 RP in a turning segment. If of complete turning
there is no background color, the aircraft may not roll while turning. (Aircraft may not use segments.
their Safe or Boosted roll rates while turning.)
Rolling is not permitted at
Rolling While Unloaded Aircraft may not roll during Unloaded segments. the end of an incomplete
turning segment or at a
Finding the Roll Rate mid-point of a multi-turn.
Roll Rates are shown on the ADC’s AoA Table and are indexed by lift. To find the roll rate (The end of a multi-turn is
for a given segment, take the lift of the segment by drawing a line on the performance a legal point to roll, as this
nomograph from the segment’s selected load, through the Q-Mark to the Lift axis. This is the end of a complete
procedure is identical to step E14, except that it uses the current segment load instead of turning segment.)
the greatest load used during the entire game turn. Remember that most straight seg-
ments, particularly short rolling segments, are flown at 1.0 load.
Performance (Meta Steps Dp through Ep)
As aircraft maneuver they change speed. These speed changes are complex, based on
numerous factors related to the aircraft’s speed, weight, wing area, Mach number, throttle
setting, external stores, and angle of attack. The Performance nomograph handles all of
these factors for you, condensing them down to simple addition and subtraction.
Average Load
Calculate the Average Load (Dp11) Sum the loads of all 10 ticks, then divide by 10 to find
the Average Load for the game-turn. Record the Average Load on the ACC.
The players in a game may agree to use the greatest Load used on any tick as the Average
Load. This saves a step, but sacrifices some accuracy. (All players should use the same
convention. A player using average load, when the rest of the players do not, will enjoy
an unfair advantage.)
Engine
Find KEAS from altitude and speed (Ep12) On the ADC Engine table, find the first Alt
value greater than or equal to the aircraft’s starting altitude in steps. There are two entries
to the right of this value, giving the Engine Output for AB (afterburning) and Dry (non-
afterburning) throttle settings (aircraft without an afterburner have only a Dry column).
Off the Charts The value corresponding to the current throttle setting is used for the engine speed
It is possible for a plane to change procedure.
have a Form Drag value On the Performance nomograph, span the Engine Output and the aircraft’s Wing Loading
greater than supported with a straightedge and make a mark on the diagonal Engine ∆Speed axis. Find the near-
by the nomograph. If this est value and record it in the Engine ∆Speed box on the ACC.
occurs, perform the Form
∆Speed calculation for The player may choose to take less thrust (use a lower Engine ∆Speed value) to moderate
the greatest Form Drag airspeed. If the throttle setting is afterburner, the chosen Engine ∆Speed value may not be
that generates a result less than the maximum thrust that would be produced by using the Dry setting.
and then add the result
for running the Form Form Drag
∆Speed operation with Find KEAS from altitude and speed (Ep13) Using the Form + Stores Drag table on the
the remainder. Performance nomograph, look up the aircraft’s Mach region or Mach number in the Mach
If the Form ∆Speed result column and find the corresponding form drag value in the Drag column. (Any Mach
goes off the top of the number below 0.9 is considered “Slow.”) On the Performance nomograph, span the Drag
chart, redraw the Q-Mark number and the Q-mark and make a mark on the Form ∆Speed axis. Find the nearest
using the High-speed value and record it in the Form ∆Speed box on the ACC.
KEAS axis and find the
An aircraft can employ its Speedbrakes to generate additional form drag. The player may
result on the High-speed
add a value between 0 and the ADC Brakes value to the Form + Stores Drag value at the
Form ∆Speed axis.
current speed. This combined value is used as the form drag value to find Form ∆Speed.
Turn Drag
Of Max Aero Load
Find Lift Used from Q-Mark and Greatest Load Used (Ep14) Find the highest value re-
Max Aero Load (Ap4) is
corded on the Average Load table; this is the Greatest Load Used (record it in the Greatest
a guideline to keep you
Load Used box on the ACC). On the Performance nomograph, span Greatest Load Used
from using a Lift greater
than Max-Lift. and the Q-Mark (made in step Ap3) with a straightedge and make a mark on the Lift axis.
Record Lift Used on the ACC.
If Lift Used is greater
than Max-Lift, the aircraft Find Turn ∆Speed from Greatest Load Used and DpG (Ep15) In the AoA Effect table on the
automatically departs ACC, find the Lift Used in the Lift column. Find the corresponding DpG (Drag ∆Speed
controlled flight with a per G) value and record it on the ACC. Multiply DpG by Average Load to find Turn
Departure Check of: ∆Speed and record it on the ACC.
– (d10 roll / 2)
Calculate Turn Drag using
the values for Max-Lift.
Movement (Meta Steps Fm through Jm)
During a movement phase all aircraft in an initiative class move in Base Initiative order.
Determine the Exact Altitude Change for the Segment (Fm) Every segment has both
horizontal (hexes) and vertical (steps) parts. The 3D Movement (Fm) aid on the Aircraft Examples Abound
Control Card is used to determine how many hexes and how much altitude change If any of looks seems
result from the segment. The play aid consists of a diagram with color-coded wedges complex, the tutorial has
corresponding to all pitch angles. The orange cell in the center marks the position of the detailed examples to walk
aircraft at the start of the segment. To find an allowed move, starts at the orange cell and you through learning
these operations. (It is
counts out one cell for each FP of segment length within the wedge corresponding to the
not as difficult as it might
pitch ring of the aircraft’s current Velocity cell. If a dot is cut by two colored pitch wedges,
seem at first. Seriously.)
it is a legal position for either.
In fact, we recommend
After selecting a legal cell, choose either its center dot, or another dot of the same color new players read and
touching the cell, as the end point of the move. (Moves of one FP in the ±60 pitch ring play the tutorial, before
only have a light-colored dot on the edge of the cell, and aircraft in those pitch rings may reading the rulebook.
not move to the dot at the center of the cell). Each dot represents a combination of hori-
zontal (hexes) and vertical (steps) movement. Find the altitude change for the dotted line
passing through the end point. (Odd-numbered altitude changes are not labeled, but still
have unique values.) Return to the end point and read up or down the row of cells to find
the Movements Points (horizontal movement) for this segment.
Record the Altitude Change for the Segment (Gm) Record the altitude change by crossing
out the appropriate number of steps on the Altitude Change Track (Gm), immediately
right of the 3D Movement aid. Do not erase previous changes; record positive changes
on the “+” track and negative changes on the “–“ track. (At the end of the aircraft’s entire
move you will add these up.)
Determine the Exact Horizontal Movement for the Segment (Hm) Once the number of
hexes moved is determined, the 2D Movement (Im) aid is used to adjust the position of
the aircraft on the map. The PHAD cell of the current Velocity mark is used to determine a
wedge of possible destinations, just like the color-coded fans on the 3D Movement aid. An
aircraft may be moved to any legal hex within this wedge at the correct distance from its
current location.
The 2D Movement aid shows alternating colored bands corresponding to legal moves for
normal headings: those ending in a ‘0’. The wedges for offset headings (those ending in
‘5’) are the regions between the colored lines radiating from the center orange hex. These
wedges are labeled in black boxes with highlighted numbers for normal headings, and in
colored numbers for offset headings. The extended headings (those ending with an ‘E’)
are not shown separately. They consist of the appropriate colored wedge, extended out
to the purple lines on either side. So the 330E heading consists of everything between the
line running out to the 300 label, and the one running out to the 000 label.
An aircraft moving in the ±90 wedge may move horizontally in any direction, but may
not “double back.” It must end the segment as many hexes from its starting hex as it had
MPs for the segment.
To move players use the hexes for the current segment determined on the 3D Movement
playaid. To find a legal ending hex, a player starts on the central orange hex of the 2D
playaid and counts out a distance equal to the number of hexes he must move. Any hex
in the correct wedge at the correct distance is an allowed destination, with exceptions as
noted in the rules that follow.
A hex filled with two colors or with a side-colored line passing through it is a legal move
for either wedge.
Orient Box Mini, Update Tiles (Meta-Step Im)
Reorient the box miniature to match the PHAD and update the stacking tiles to show the
new altitude of the aircraft.
Use the following process when orienting the box miniature:
If the aircraft’s Nose mark is in the +90 or –90 pitch ring:
1) Place the box miniature sitting on its tail (if its Nose cell is at +90 pitch) or on its
Nose (if its Nose cell is in –90 pitch).
2) Point the box miniature’s Canopy face to the heading of the Canopy mark.
Otherwise:
1) Point the box miniature’s nose face to the heading of the aircraft’s Nose cell.
2) Set the box miniature’s pitch to match the pitch of the aircraft’s Nose cell.
If the Nose cell is in the 00 pitch ring, no tilt block is needed for pitch.
If the Nose is in the –30 or –60 pitch ring, place the Nose face of the box miniature
facing into the tilt block.
Similarly, if the Nose is in the +30 or +60 pitch ring, place the Nose face of the box
miniature facing away from the tilt block.
3) Set the box miniature’s roll to match the aircraft’s Canopy and Wing cells.
3a) If the aircraft’s Wing cell is in the 00 pitch ring or if the Canopy is in a +90 or –90
pitch ring, no tilt block is needed for roll.
If the Canopy cell is in a positive pitch ring, place the box miniature on its bottom
face.
If the Canopy cell is in a negative pitch ring, place the box miniature on its canopy
face.
3b) If the Canopy mark is in the 00 pitch ring, no tilt block is needed for roll.
Roll the box miniature onto a side face so that the Canopy face points in the head-
ing of the Canopy cell. (Do not change the heading of the box miniature.)
3c) Otherwise, you need a tilt block to show roll.
If using a pitch tilt block, place the roll tilt block’s notch side into its face.
Use whichever Canopy or Wing mark is in the thirty-pitch ring to help place the
box miniature into the roll tilt block.
Stack the correct number of altitude tiles under the tilt blocks or directly under the box
miniature to show the aircraft’s altitude. All aircraft in the game may use the same base
altitude to minimize the use of altitude tiles and to make it easier to calculate relative
altitudes. Record any base altitude in the Tile Base Altitude box at the top of each ACC.
Subtract the Tile Base Altitude from the actual altitude of each aircraft to determine how
many stacking tiles to place under that aircraft. Altitude tiles are stacked like poker chips
and are in the following denominations:
Color Altitude Steps
Black 100
Dark blue 25
Light blue 5
White 1
Stack the largest denomination in use by an aircraft on the top of the stack and graduate
down to the smallest denomination on the bottom of the stack. You can then easily make
small changes in altitude by adding or removing tiles from the bottom of the stack.
Gravity
Find KEAS from altitude and speed (Jm16) Find the net change in the aircraft’s altitude
from the Altitude Change Track on the ACC. On the ∆Speed Due to Gravity table, find
the row corresponding to the aircraft’s speed and read across that row to the first entry
greater than or equal to the altitude change. The number at the top of the column is the
speed change in knots. The sign of the speed change is the opposite of that for the change
in altitude: a net climb (positive) produces a loss in speed (negative), while a net dive
(negative) produces a gain in speed (positive). Record the value, with the appropriate
sign, in the Gravity ∆Speed box on the ACC.
Net Speed Change
Add up the Engine, Form, Turn, and Gravity ∆Speed values to get the net change in speed Shoot ‘em
(Net ∆Speed) for the aircraft. Add the aircraft’s Speed from the start of the turn to the Net
If You Got ‘em
∆Speed to find the aircraft’s End Speed. The End Speed becomes the aircraft’s new Speed Once you finish moving,
you should shoot bearings
for next turn; record the new Speed on the ACC.
to any opponents that
If the new speed is below 40, the aircraft immediately loses one altitude step, sets its have already moved.
speed to 40, and receives 4 additional Departure Points for the upcoming Departure If you announce your
Check. move is complete on the
Add the aircraft’s Altitude from the start of the turn to the ∆Altitude to find the aircraft’s map before finishing up
new Altitude for next turn. Record the new Altitude on the ACC. performance, they may
shoot the bearing for you,
while you dot the i’s and
cross the t’s.
And once you’ve moved,
take the bearings of the
other opponents as their
moves complete
(See the sidebar on
reciprocal bearings to
learn how to share your
bearing with the plane at
the other end.)
Flight Effects (SoP 04)
During flight an aircraft’s maneuvers may exceed the safe limits of aircraft and crew. In
the Flight Effects Phase players check what effects these excesses cause.
Overspeed Effects
Aircraft have an Overspeed Limit. Unless otherwise noted on the ADC, this value is 800
KEAS.
If the line on the Altitude-Speed-KEAS nomograph intersects the KEAS axis at a value
equal to or greater than the Overspeed Limit (before rounding), the aircraft is subject to
Overspeed effects. Rounding has no effect on this determination, only the physical loca-
tion of the line.
The shaded Overspeed Region on the KEAS axis shows the typical 800 KEAS limit.
Check for Overspeed Effects by rolling on the Pips table using a Pips rating calculated as
follows:
Overspeed Pips Rating = (KEAS – Overspeed Limit)/40 (round up)
The Overspeed table in the play aids indicates the effect of the Pips result:
No Effect indicates that there were no effects due to overspeed this game-turn.
Take n Damage causes the indicated number of damage points to the aircraft.
Take n Damage and Criticals causes the indicated number of damage points to the
aircraft, plus a single critical hit to each of the indicated subsystems (either Engine or
Engine and Structure).
Aircraft Destroyed immediately removes the aircraft from play.
Structure G Effects
Overstress Points track weakening of the airframe due to G effects and increase the risk
from subsequent Structure G Effect checks. Overstress points are cumulative and are
never lost.
If the Greatest Load Used during a game-turn is greater than the aircraft’s Safe Load at its
current Wing Load (shown on the ADC), the aircraft must check for Structure G Effects
using the procedure on the Structure G Effects play aid. Structure critical hits add to the
Greatest Load Used, so that an otherwise safe maneuver might become dangerous due to
prior damage. The following effects are possible:
No Effect indicates there were no issues due to Structure G effects this game-turn.
Airframe Overstress causes one Overstress Point to the aircraft.
Airframe Damage causes one damage point and one Overstress point to the aircraft.
The aircraft then suffers Structure critical hits equal to the Pips result from a roll on
the Pips table. The Pips rating is the total damage points that the aircraft has suffered
so far, minus 1.
Aircraft Destroyed immediately removes the aircraft from play.
Unless specified differently on the ADC, the Safe Load for negative load is 3.0 G. Use the
absolute value of the negative load for Structure G Effects (treat the value as positive).
Crew G Effect (Overall)
There are two ways to incur crew G effects: general crew G effects, due to the load pulled
during the turn, and G Onset (an advanced rule), when the load pulled increased from
the previous game-turn. The crew G effects are carried from turn to turn and may only be
decreased during the Recovery Phase (SoP 05).
Crew G effect states are, from best to worst:
Normal The crew member is not suffering any ill effects due to gravity.
Grey Out A crew member in grey out has a field of view restricted to a single PHAD
cell (of the player’s choice) and the six adjacent cells. The crew member may only
Padlock aircraft and make visual searches and Tally attempts in the field of view. The Negative G… Bad
crew member makes Visual Search attempts with an additional –1 to the Pips rating, For all crew G effect
and makes Tally rolls with a –1 modifier. The crew member loses awareness of all checks, multiply negative
aircraft outside of the field of view. load value by –3.
(So -3.0 load is equivalent
Black Out A blacked-out crew member is still conscious, but has a field of view re- to 9.0 positive load.)
stricted to a single PHAD cell. The crew member may only Padlock aircraft and make
Ignore affects of G-suits,
Tally attempts in the field of view. The crew member may not make visual searches G-training and straining.
and makes Tally rolls with a –3 modifier. The crew member loses awareness of all
aircraft outside of the field of view. Crew G-Effect table
Loss of consciousness (LOC) means the crew member is rendered unconscious by the 0+ Normal
G forces. Unconscious crew members can take no action, may not fly the aircraft, and –1 to –2 Black-out
lose all awareness. Make a Pips roll with a Pips rating of 6 plus the crew member’s –3 to –4 LOC
Fatigue points, minus 2 if using a positive pressure mask. The Pips result is the LOC 2x LOC value
value. –5 or less LOC+Wounded
2x LOC value
Straining
At any time before making a crew G effect-related check (G Onset, Crew Fatigue, or Crew
G Effects), a crew member may use the Strain task. The number of activity points spent on
the task determines the modifier to the check.
Crew G Effects Order
If playing with the G Onset advanced rule, check for G Onset during the Flight Phase
(SoP 03) at the end of Plotting.
During the Flight Effects phase, check for crew G effects in the following order:
1) Crew Fatigue Advanced Rule
2) Crew G Effects (GLOC Check)
3) Crew G Effect Recovery
G Onset Advanced Rule
If an aircraft’s Greatest Load Used this game-turn is 5 or more greater than Greatest
Load Used last game-turn, check G Onset for each crew member using the Crew G Onset
procedure.
Straining applied in the previous turn can reduce the effects of G Onset. Please refer to
the play aids for the full G Onset procedure.
Crew Fatigue Advanced Rule
Each turn that a crew member Strains, roll a d10 and follow the Crew Fatigue procedure
on the Crew G Effects play aid. If the result is less than zero, the crew-member gets a
fatigue point. Fatigue points are tracked from turn to turn.
Recovery from Grey-Out or Black-Out
Crew members who suffered Grey-out or Black-out on a previous game-turn recover to
normal when they suffer no crew G effects (other than “Normal”) for an entire game-turn.
Otherwise, if the net effect pips are positive, the crew member recovers one step (from
Black-Out to Grey-Out to Normal).
Recovery from LOC
Reduce the LOC value by 1 in each Recovery phase. In addition, if there is a conscious
crew member aboard, make a Pips roll with a Pips rating of 3 and reduce the LOC value
by the Pips result. (This represents the other crew’s frantic intercom calls.) When the value
reaches 0, the crew member regains consciousness with no awareness and no AP avail-
able. AP Recovery proceeds normally after recovering from LOC.
Recovery from Crew Fatigue
Crew members who spend no APs on straining and suffer no crew G effects (other than
“Normal”) may reduce their fatigue points at the end of the Recovery Phase. Most crew
members reduce their fatigue points by 2. Crew members using positive pressure masks
reduce their fatigue points by 3.
Spin Recovery (SoP 05)

High–speed departures and non-spinning low-speed departures recover during the
Flight Phase (SoP 03) after flying their first two ticks in an unloaded segment.
Spin Recovery During the Recovery phase after movement, players may check to see if
the aircraft has exited spin and resumed controlled flight. This process has four possible
results.
Enter Flat Spin / Deep Stall The aircraft enters an unrecoverable stall: remove the
aircraft from play at the end of the game-turn.
Crew ejecting from an aircraft lost due to entering Flat Spin / Deep Stall do not suffer
the “aircraft destroyed this turn” modifier (unless aircraft is destroyed in the interven-
ing Combat Phase).
Continue Spin, Weaken Departure Check The aircraft continues spinning and adds 1
to the Departure Check (departure check is negative, so this moves it 1 closer to 0).
Recover to High-Speed Departure The aircraft enters High–Speed Departure during
the next game-turn.
Recover to Normal Flight The aircraft enters normal flight and suffers one Overstress
point.
Attempting to recover from a spin is optional, and consumes all of the pilot’s remaining
Activity Points.
If the aircraft receives a “Recover to…” result, reorient the box-miniature as follows:
4) Move the Nose mark to the Velocity cell.
5) Move the Canopy mark the shortest distance to a cell three away from the Nose
cell.
In ambiguous cases, choose the cell with the highest pitch. The player chooses
among cells of equal pitch.
6) Move the Wing mark to its legal cell three away from the Nose and Canopy cells.
Departure (SoP 06)
Departure Points
Aircraft may collect Departure Points (DPs) as they fly, as listed on the Departure play
aid and the ACC. An aircraft that accumulates any DPs during a game-turn makes a
departure check at the end of the turn. If a departed (but not spinning) aircraft remains
departed at the end of the turn, it may collect additional DPs during the turn for the
maneuver imposed by the system, as indicated on the Departed Flight play aid.
An incomplete turning segment counts as a single facing change for collecting departure
points. (Turning points carried out of a completed turning segment do not generate an
additional departure point.)
Departure Checks To maintain control of an aircraft, the pilot must make a departure
check by making a roll on the Pips table. The Pips rating for the departure check is the
Depart value from the ADC plus Pilot Quality plus Activity Points spent on the Control
task. Subtract the accumulated DPs from the Pips Result to find the Departure Result.
Pips Rating = Depart (ADC) + PQ + AP
Departure Result = Pips Result – Departure Points
If the Departure Result is 1 or greater, the pilot maintains control and continues to fly
normally. If the Departure Check is 0 or less, the aircraft departs and moves as described
below.
Departed Flight There are two modes of departure, depending on the aircraft’s Q-Mark.
High Speed Departure (also known as Maneuvering Departure) occurs when the Q-Mark
is above the Controllability Region. Low Speed Departure occurs when the Q-Mark falls
within the Controllability Region. Departed aircraft may not fire weapons or fix initiative
until after they recover.
High-Speed Departure causes the aircraft to fly a two-tick non-rolling unloaded segment
at the start of the game-turn and then recover to normal flight for the rest of the game-
turn. Each of the two ticks counts as 3.0 Load for finding Average Load.
Low-Speed Departure causes a Spin Check. Roll a d10 and add the Departure Result
value. If the spin check result is zero or more, the aircraft performs a High-Speed Depar-
ture. If less than zero, the aircraft spins.
Too-Slow Flight If an aircraft’s new speed is below 40, the aircraft immediately loses
one altitude step, sets its speed to 40, and receives 4 additional Departure Points for the
upcoming Departure Check. This applies to departed aircraft.
Spinning
While spinning, an aircraft will perform Spin Gyrations, as described on the Departure
play aid, and its crew members lose all awareness and sensor tracks. The aircraft flies
the entire turn unloaded and the Velocity mark falls pitches down 1 cell towards -90, or
remains in the -90 cell if already there. See the unloaded flight rules for instructions on
how to move the Velocity vector. (This pitch-down is separate from the effects of any
unloaded flight while departed.) If the Velocity mark is in the +90 cell, the Nose mark will
determine the movement. In the Performance phase, calculate Turn Drag as though the
aircraft had spent the entire game-turn at its highest non-pointing DpG value, and then
double the Form ∆Speed result.
Spinning aircraft always move first in the order of flight (Plot class A, move class a).
Gun Combat (SoP 07)
Engagement
Firing aircraft guns requires keen concentration by the pilot, represented by the Engage
task. An aircraft may only fire guns at a target that the pilot of the firing aircraft has
engaged during that turn. An aircraft may only fire it guns at a single target during a
game-turn.
A pilot may engage a target within a range of 30 FPs that either starts or ends the turn at
AoN=0. See the Engage task for details.
To attempt an Initial Shot, a firer must declare engagement by its turn in the Declarations
phase. To attempt a Normal Shot or a Tracking Shot, a firer must declare engagement
by the end of the Movement Phase. A pilot that declares an initial shot may not attempt
another type of gunshot that turn.
Sighting When Engaged Using the Engage task doubles the AP costs of all sighting tasks.
At the player’s choice, engagement counts as either a Padlock of the target or a Tally
Maintenance and a Fix Attempt against the opponent.
A pilot may only engage a single target. When engaging a target, a pilot may not Padlock
any other aircraft in the same game turn.
Aspect
To employ guns a target aircraft must be within any of the numbered cells of the Gun
Combat Other Aspect Table (below) at both the start and end the turn.
Angle off Nose If the target aircraft is at AoN=0 at the start of the
turn, an Initial Shot can be attempted at the starting
Angle off Canopy
0 1 2 3 4 5 6
0 12 range. Like all gunshots, an Initial Shot is resolved in
1 14 10 – the Combat phase, so the firing pilot must record the
2 15 12 – – 10 LCA, TCA, range, and aspect to the target at the start
3 16 13 11 – – 9 12 of the turn. Record this information in the Initial Shot
4 14 – – – 8 8
box on the Aircraft Control Card. An initial shot must
5 – – – –
– – be announced by a player in the Declarations phase
6
and doing so precludes making a tracking or normal
Other Aspect Table
shot in that turn.
The Other Aspect modifier for Initial shots is the aspect to the target aircraft after all
movement. The range for an initial shot is the start of turn slant range minus the Rela-
tive Speed at that point (see the Gunshot Play-Aid for how to find Relative Speed). If the
range of the initial shot is less than zero, no shot is possible.
If the target aircraft is at AoN=0 after all movement, a Normal Gunshot can be attempted
at the ending range. The Other Aspect modifier for Normal Shots is the aspect to the
target aircraft before all movement.
If the target aircraft is at AoN=0 before and after all movement and an initial shot was not
previously declared, one Tracking Shot may be attempted at the ending range. The Other
Aspect modifier is 16 (the modifier for aspect [0,3]). The attack may be resolved with all
modifiers as either an Initial or Normal shot (plus the tracking shot modifier), at the firer’s
choice.
All gun combat is resolved in the Combat phase. An aircraft can only make one gun at-
tack during a game-turn.
Guns Defense
A target that is aware it is being engaged (has sight of the engaging aircraft or receives
an attack warning) can perform a guns defense task of 1 or 2 AP. More AP gives a bet-
ter chance of not being hit by a guns attack. The 1 AP guns defense allows as free Tally
attempt against the engaging aircraft, while two AP guns defense as allows a free Padlock
of the engaging aircraft. Guns defense doubles the AP cost of all other sighting tasks.
Pipper On
Before shooting, the attacking aircraft must be maneuvered so that the gunsight (pipper) Lining Up a Shot
is brought on target. This maneuvering falls below the resolution of the PHAD and the The modifiers of TCA and
hex-grid and thus is represented abstractly. LCA in the Pipper On can
make or break a shot, the
To put the pipper on target, make a Pips roll following the procedure on the Pipper On same as being in or out of
play aid. A result greater than 0 puts the pipper on target. If the pipper-on attempt in phase with a bandit can
unsuccessful, no shot is fired. do the same in the real
The target defensive value depends on two angles from the PHAD, the Track Crossing world.
Angle (TCA) and the Lift Crossing Angle (LCA). TCA is defined as the shortest distance When preparing to take
in PHAD cells from the firer’s Velocity to the cell occupied by the target’s Velocity. It is a gunshot, consider the
often useful to mark the target’s Velocity cell on the firer’s PHAD to make this easy to ramifications of being
count. LCA is defined as the shortest distance from the firer’s Lift vector to the target’s greatly out of alignment
with the bandit in nose or
Lift vector. (Remember the Velocity mark is normally in the same location as the Nose).
lift position, and consider
Firing maneuvering appropriate
When the pipper is on target and the range is less than or equal to the greatest range entry to the problem before you.
They don’t call them “gun
on the gun table of the firing aircraft’s ADC, the pilot may shoot. The firer consumes one
solutions” for nothing!
shot with each firing. The number of shots that the gun may fire during the game is listed
under Shots in the gun section of the ADC.
All attacks in the same sub-phase occur simultaneously. (The sub-phases are: initial shots,
missile attack, normal and tracking shots. Normal and tracking is one sub-phase.)
The gun-shot process is detailed on the Gun Combat play aid. Unlike any other roll on
the Pips table, Gunshot resolution applies modifiers to the d100 roll that is indexed on the
Pips table (as opposed to modifying the Pips value or the Pips result). Because of this, the
Gunshot Resolution procedure has a unique two-line layout. The target suffers Damage
Points equal to the Pips result.
In addition to damage points, the target may suffer critical hits. Make a Pips roll using the
gun’s Crit rating (from the ADC) as the Pips value. The target suffers a number of critical
hits equal to the lesser of the Pips result or the Damage Points that the shot inflicted.
Missile Combat (SoP 07)
The sensor on an IR missile must acquire the target before the missile may be fired. RH
missiles require that the firing aircraft has a radar track on the target at the moment of
launch and throughout their flight. AH missiles require that the firing aircraft has a radar
track on the target at the moment of launch, but maintain their own track after that.
Missile pairs of the same type (or matched IR and RH pairs of Soviet-made missiles) may
each attempt to acquire and launch at a single target. The first missile makes its acquisi-
tion attempt in the Sensor phase. If the first missile successfully launches in the Combat
phase, the second missile may make its acquisition attempt; if the acquisition attempt
succeeds, the missile may launch. If the sensor phase lock-on fails or if the first missile
Pair Launches fails to launch, no sensor attempt may be made during the combat phase. Second IR mis-
Some missile systems siles attempt acquisition using the Slaved IRM Acquisition process. Second AH and RH
supported launching two missiles automatically acquire the target, so long as the launching aircraft retains a radar
weapons simultaneously track on the target.
(versus the separated
launch of a missile and a Launch and Boost
follow-on missile.) This Missile launch takes place in the Combat phase. Each missile must roll to launch success-
capability will be noted fully, using the Missile Launch procedure on the Missile play aid. The Reliability number
on the ADC. on the MDC may be modified by the scenario. If the greatest load used by the aircraft
In a pair launch, both during Movement phase exceeded the missile’s Launch G, find the difference and write it
missiles are launched and in the Load over limit box (you will then double this value, per the procedure).
boosted simultaneously at
the same target. If the launch roll succeeds, immediately fly the missile in a straight segment FPs equal
to the Boost Distance from the MDC. The missile flies in the direction of the launching
Each missile makes its
own launch roll and, if an aircraft’s Nose cell. The missile can choose among legal end positions just as if it were an
IR missile set, the second aircraft. Place an anchor (missile counter) at the ending position on the map. Record the
of the pair must make a hex, altitude, and boost direction on the Systems Control Card (SCC, the reverse of the
slaved acquisition attempt ACC).
before attempting to Find the bearing and range from the anchor to target. Count the distance in PHAD cells
launch. from the boost direction to the bearing. If this exceeds the missile’s OBA (Off Boresight
Angle, from the MDC), remove the missile from play.
The Odd Couple Find the missile’s speed by adding the launching aircraft’s speed in FPs to the Missile
Soviet fighters were long Boost Speed (from the MDC). Look up this speed on the Speed/Bleed table, find the cor-
thought by the West to responding Bleed value. If the firing aircraft was pointing, add the missile’s Facing Bleed
support firing of similar value to the Bleed value, look up the revised Bleed value on the Speed/Bleed table, and
missiles with different find the missile’s new speed. The Speed/Bleed table can run in either direction, depend-
sensors (such as the R-23T ing on circumstances. Record the missile’s Speed and Bleed values on the SCC.
and R-23R) at a single
target if the firing aircraft Boost-Maneuver Capable Missiles
has a radar track on the If a missile is boost-maneuver capable, its boost segment can be a turning segment that
target. The RH missile changes facing by up to OBA cells. The number of cells turned is selected by the player.
must be selected and The direction of facing change is not limited by Wing or Canopy mark and may be made
must launch successfully in any direction from the launch aircraft’s nose cell.
during the Combat phase.
The IR missile uses the If the target is at AoN=0, the missile generally flies a straight segment.
normal procedure for a Making a boost maneuver doubles the facing bleed during boost.
follow-on IR missile shot.
There is recent research Snapshot Launch
that indicates the Soviets If the aircraft declared a snapshot attempt in the Declarations Phase, the target was in
didn’t actually pair mixed snapshot parameters at that time and the aircraft now has the target within the missile’s
sensor types of a missile FoV, a snapshot attempt may be made. To make a snapshot, the missile sensor makes a
for this sort of launching slaved IRM acquisition, adding the number of cells the launch aircraft’s nose moved in
and the entire concept this game turn to Noise. If the missile sensor acquires the target, the missile is launched
was just a misconception. and boosted with the standard procedure.
Follow-on Missile Launch and Boost
If a missile is successfully launched, an aircraft may be able to launch a second missile in
the same game turn. This second attempt is called a “follow-on launch.” This abstractly
represents a launch taking place part-way into the next game turn. The missile will be
boosted beyond the first, but will travel a shorter distance in its first turn of flight.
If an aircraft attempts a follow-on missile shot, run the launch procedure is run normally.
If the follow-on launch is successful, the missile is boosted as if the Boost Distance was
equal to the MDC Boost Distance value plus half of the launch aircraft’s speed in FP (the
tick five value on the Speed-to-FP Table). The speed after launch for a follow-on missile is
determined using the normal boost procedure.
Restrictions on Follow-on Launch
Single-shot missiles may not make a follow-on launch.
Aircraft making a snapshot launch in the current game turn may not make a follow-on
launch. (Snapshot capable missiles, if launched normally, may make a follow-on launch.)
When initiating a follow-on launch, an IR missiles makes a slaved acquisition attempt
against the target that the preceding missile was fired at. If this succeeds, the missile may
attempt its follow-on launch. If the acquisition fails, it can not attempt a follow-on launch
this turn and the IR missile may not make any acquisition attempt in this game-turn’s
sensor phase.
RH and AH missiles use the aircraft’s radar lock for their launch and therefore may
always be used in a follow-on launch.
Missile Flight
IR and AH missiles move immediately after their targets. RH missiles move after both
the target and the launching aircraft have moved and are lost if the guiding aircraft loses
its radar track of the target. Once the target aircraft has moved, find the bearing line
and range from anchor to target. Also, find the average of the anchor’s altitude and the
target’s altitude at the end of movement.
Count the number of PHAD cells from the Boost Direction to the Target Bearing. Multiply
this distance by the Turn Radius for the Average Altitude (on the MDC). If this is greater
than the current range, remove the missile from play (it was defeated kinematically) .
Count the PHAD cells from the bearing to target at the start of the turn to the bearing to
target at the end of the turn. Multiply this value by the missile’s Facing Bleed for the aver-
age Altitude (on the MDC). Add the result to the Missile’s Bleed value.
Add the Missile Game-turn Bleed value for the average Altitude to the missile’s Bleed
value. If the missile’s bleed exceeds 72, the missile stalls and is removed from play.
Look up the adjusted Bleed value on the Speed/Bleed table and find the missile’s new
Speed. Record the new Speed and Bleed values on the SCC. Add the average of the start-
ing and ending Speed values to the Distance and record the new Distance on the SCC.
If the range to the target is less than the Distance, the missile attacks its target.
Follow-on Missile Flight
On its first turn of flight (the game turn after boosting), a follow-on missile uses the
normal flight procedure, except that both missile game-turn bleed and missile cumulative
distance are halved. On subsequent game turns, the follow-on missile is no different from
any other missile.
Missile Attack
When a missile attacks, both the missile and the defender generate result values. Follow
the procedure detailed in the play aids. If the missile’s attack value exceeds the defense
value, it hits. If the missile’s attack value equals the defense value of a target that is not
defending, it hits.
If the missile hits, subtract the defense result from the attack result and record this value
in the Excess Pips box of Direct Hit procedure.
Missile Damage is determined by making a Pips roll using the missile’s Warhead Rating
as the Pips rating The missile inflicts damage points equal to the Pips result. The attacker
then checks for a direct hit by following the Missile Direct Hit procedure. If a direct hit is
achieved, the missile inflicts one critical hit for every damage point. Otherwise, every odd
damage point inflicts a critical hit.
Missile Defense
If the target was aware of the missile at launch or is warned of the launch by an ally’s
radio message (the Warn subtask of the Defensive Systems Cockpit task) the target can
defend against the missile. Unlike guns defense, Missile Defense does not affect the
defender’s sighting ability.
Damage
Damage is determined by procedures on the play aids. For each damage point that an air-
craft suffers, mark off one box on the Damage track on the ACC. In addition to the dam-
age points, the procedure for each weapon may inflict critical hits. Weapon and warhead
types determine how critical hits are randomized on the critical hit tables.
Resolve each critical hit with two die rolls. The first d10 assigns the critical hit to an
aircraft system (shown in bold), such as Structure. The second d10 gives the specific result
for that aircraft system. Hits to the Controls system do not roll a second die; instead the
first hit gives the first result, and the second hit gives the second result. Record the system
and the specific effects in the Damage box. (You may need to use scratch paper to record
the critical hits suffered by heavily-damaged aircraft.)
Critical hits on one engine have no effect on other engines. Assign each critical hit to a
random engine, unless the warhead type assigns multiple critical hits to one system.
Aircraft Systems
Sufficient critical hits to critical aircraft systems will destroy an aircraft. The [bracketed]
value for a critical system is the number of hits to that system that will destroy the air-
craft. The specific results suffered by a critical system make no difference, only the total
number of hits.
Damage Capacity
An aircraft is shot down when it receives total damage points equal to or greater than the
Damage rating on the ADC, or if a critical (bracketed) system take hits equal to its brack-
eted value. After crew members attempt to eject, remove shot down aircraft from play.
Damaged systems can cause additional damage to the aircraft unless attended to by the
crew. See the Administrative phase (SoP 11) for the details of progressive damage and see
Activities for details on damage control.
Order of Flight Determination (SoP 08)
Determining Initiatives Late Initiative?
At the start of each Initiative Phase, all aircraft determine their Initiative. Why is initiative where it
Determine Initiative for each aircraft by rolling a d10 and adding the pilot’s Crew Quality. is in the SoP? Most games
have “Initiative” as the
Subtract 3 from the roll of any aircraft that departed, whose pilot has no visual awareness
first step of the turn; while
of enemy aircraft, or whose pilot is unconscious (this modifier applies only once, regard-
Birds of Prey has it quite
less of how many conditions an aircraft meets). Add 3 to the roll of any aircraft that has late in the game-turn.
not been spotted by any enemy crew members, but whose crew members have spotted
Placing initiative at the
an enemy aircraft. Any aircraft with equal Base Initiatives will roll off with unmodified end of the game-turn
d10 rolls until all aircraft have unique Initiatives. Each roll off adds a decimal place to the simulates task starva-
original Initiative. (For example, an aircraft starts with an Initiative of 5 and is forced into tion that can overwhelm
two roll-offs, rolling a 3 on the first and a 7 on the second. Its Initiative is 5.37). pilots. The task points
needed to make a fix or
Making Fix Attempts spotting attempt may
After determining Initiative, pilots make Fix attempts in Initiative order, from lowest to have already been used
highest. Each pilot may make only one Fix attempt, which costs 1 AP. A pilot may not on straining and sighting
attempt to fix a friendly aircraft. prior to Initiative.
In order to attempt a Fix:
The pilot making the Fix attempt must have visual awareness of the target aircraft. Fixes in Gun Combat
The bearing from the fixing aircraft to the target aircraft must be within the orange When fighting with guns,
“advantage arc” shown on the fixing aircraft’s Canopy diagram. a pilot using the engage
The Fix attempt succeeds if: or guns defense task may
only fix the aircraft that is
( d10 roll + fixer Pilot Quality – AoN to target – AoT to target ) ≥ 1 the subject of that engage
or guns defense task.
Establishing Initiative and Movement Classes
Aircraft plot and fly in groups called initiative classes. Aircraft are placed into plot classes
by fixing other aircraft. Plot class is noted with an upper case letter and determines the
order in which aircraft must complete their plot phases. The first initiative class (plot
class “A”) contains all aircraft whose pilots have not fixed another aircraft (including all
aircraft that have departed, whose crew members have no visual awareness of enemy
aircraft, or whose pilots are unconscious). Each subsequent plot class contains all the
aircraft that fixed an aircraft in the immediately preceding plot class. Aircraft in a fix loop
plot in class “B.” A fix loop is group of aircraft that are fixing, and being fixed by, other
aircraft in the group, creating an endless loop. For example, Red 1 fixes Blue 1, which fixes
Red 2, which fixes Blue 2, which fixes Red 1. A fix loop may consist of two aircraft that
have fixed each other.
Aircraft are placed into movement classes by fixing other aircraft and by being fixed
by other aircraft. Movement class is noted with a lower case letter. The first movement
class (movement class “a”) contains all aircraft that have been fixed by other aircraft, but
whose pilots have not fixed another aircraft. Each subsequent movement class contains all
the aircraft that fixed an aircraft in the immediately preceding movement class. Aircraft
which were not fixed by any other aircraft, but have been spotted by an enemy move in
the second-to-last movement class (movement class “y”). Aircraft whose crew members
have spotted an enemy aircraft and which have not been spotted by any enemy move in
the last movement class (movement class “z”). Aircraft in a fix loop that are also fixed by
an aircraft outside the loop move in class “b.” All other aircraft in fix loops move in class
“y.” (If there are no fixes, all aircraft will plot in class A and move in class y or z, depend-
ing on whether or not they have been spotted.)
Within a movement class, aircraft move in order from lowest Initiative to highest.
Visual Sighting (SoP 09)
Visually sighting aircraft affects order of flight, and is a prerequisite for fixing and for
many combat actions. Sighting has two aspects. First, a crew member may find an un-
spotted target aircraft in the sky using a visual search. A successful search result means
that the target aircraft is spotted. Second, the crew member must maintain the spot every
game-turn using either a padlock or a tally. A spot usually may be maintained more easily
than searching for the aircraft anew, but if the spot is lost the target must be searched for
again.
Crew members resolve visual sighting in Initiative order, from lowest to highest (the own-
ing player decides the order for crew members in multi-crew aircraft). [Players’ Note: In
actual play, the order in which aircraft make spotting attempts seldom matters. All play-
ers should resolve their Visual Sighting activities simultaneously, unless necessary.] Each
crew member spots aircraft and maintains spots separately. A crew member declares and
resolves one visual sighting action at a time. Following all visual sighting attempts, there
may be adjustments made to the order of flight if aircraft become unspotted or unspotted
aircraft become spotted.
Some tasks directed at particular enemy aircraft (Guns Engagement, Guns Defense)
double the AP cost of Visual Sighting tasks against all other aircraft. The Hands Off
Switch Task adds 1 to the AP cost of all Visual Sighting tasks.
Searching Crew members may make any number of search attempts against any number
of targets, limited only by APs. A crew member that fails to spot a target may c make
search additional search attempts against that target in the same game-turn. A crew
member searches for an aircraft by paying the appropriate cost in activity points (usually
2 AP for a normal search). Find the Search Value on the Search Value table (on the Visual
Sighting play aid). Modify the search value to determine the final Pips Column for the
search attempt.
Canopy Modifier Find the Canopy Modifier using the AoN and AoC on the Canopy
body diamond on the searching aircraft’s ADC. Regular searches may not be made in
an aircraft’s blind arc (defined below). Different crew members in multi-crew aircraft
may use different Canopy Diagrams.
Target Aspect Find the Target Aspect modifier by using the Reciprocal AoN and
Reciprocal AoC on the Target Aspect body diamond on the Visual Sighting play aid.
Visual Range Find the slant range to target; if the target is below the searching
aircraft, add the altitude difference.
Blind Arc The lightly-shaded region of the Canopy body diamond, containing all of
the cells with modifiers of –4 or worse.
Make a Pips roll; if the Pips Result equals or exceeds the Target Value (computed on the
Visual Sighting Playaid), the crew member spots the target aircraft.
Maintaining Spots Every turn, crew members may use the Tally task to attempt to keep
spotted aircraft spotted. For each previously-spotted aircraft, the crew member pays
the appropriate Activity Point cost and determines the Tally Range. If the Tally Range is
zero or less, the target is automatically tallied; otherwise, roll a single d10 and modify it
as listed on the Visual Sighting play aid. A final result of zero or more keeps the target
aircraft spotted. If the Tally roll fails, the crew member may immediately spend 1 AP
to make a Quick Search. Resolve the Quick Search as a regular Visual Search attempt,
except that a crew member may make a Quick Search in the blind arc on the Canopy body
diamond. If successful, the target is spotted once again. If the attempt fails, or if the crew
member declined to make a Quick Search, the crew member no longer has the target spot-
ted (but may still attempt a normal search for it).
Tally Range Take the Visual Range and subtract the target’s Auto-Tally value (from
the ADC).
Maintaining Friendlies Thanks to low-level communications, it is reasonably easy to
keep track of friendly aircraft in a dogfight. Crew members can use the Maintain Friend-
lies task to gain visual awareness of all friendly aircraft, so long as each aircraft has a
working radio (the sighting aircraft needs a working radio to make any tallies and the
other friendly aircraft need working radios to be tallied). Aircraft without working radios
must use the regular sighting rules to spot friendly aircraft. Aircraft must use the regular
sighting rules to spot friendly aircraft without working radios.
Padlocks A crew member may select any one aircraft that is already spotted and pay 2 to
automatically keep it spotted. The target is then padlocked. No Tally roll is made and no
arc or aspect restrictions apply. Declare a crew member’s padlock, if any, prior to resolv-
ing that crew member’s sighting and spot maintenance attempts. A crew member may
not padlock an aircraft if the Visual Range is more than 10 times the aircraft’s Auto Tally
value. A pilot who engages an aircraft may not padlock any other aircraft.
Blind Arcs Because of the dynamic nature of air combat, aircraft that might be temporar-
ily out of sight due to blocked lines of sight tend not to stay there. This makes Tallies and
Quick Searches possible even if the target is below and behind the searching aircraft.
However, normal visual searches cannot be made in any direction with a Canopy modi-
fier of –4 or lower.
Adjust Order of Flight due to Visual Sighting Changes
Under certain circumstances, changes in sighting adjust the order of flight.
If a Fixing Aircraft Loses Sight of its Target the fix is lost. Move the fixing aircraft to plot
class A. If the target aircraft becomes entirely unfixed (i.e. no other aircraft fix it), place it
in move class y.
If an Opposing Pilot Sights an Unspotted Aircraft place the newly spotted aircraft in
move class y.
If an Aircraft becomes Unspotted by All Opposing Pilots place it in move class z.
In addition to not being sighted by any opposing pilots, remember that to be unspotted,
the aircraft’s pilot must have sight of at least one opposing aircraft.
Once any class changes have been made, make sure that aircraft in each move class are
placed in base initiative order.
Sensors (SoP 10)
During the Sensor phase, sensors that do not already have awareness of a target attempt
Acquisition. Sensors that have awareness from the previous game-turn attempt Mainte-
nance. Success indicates the sensor has awareness of the target, while failure indicates the
loss of awareness by the sensor. A given sensor may only make one attempt (Acquisition
or Maintenance) against a specific target within a game-turn. While most sensors may
only make an attempt against one target per game-turn, a few sensors may make attempts
against multiple targets within a game-turn.
Aircraft resolve sensor use in the order in which they will move. When an aircraft has
multiple sensors, the owning player chooses the order in which to use them.
A target must be viewable by a sensor for the sensor to attempt Acquisition or Mainte-
nance. Each sensor has an arc that is defined by either a body diamond or an AoN value.
If the bearing to the target is outside of this arc, the sensor cannot attempt to acquire or
maintain awareness. Each sensor type has an arc diagram showing aspects critical to
acquiring and maintaining awareness of a target aircraft. Once a missile is in flight and
has completed its boost phase, its target is always “in arc” for the missile’s infrared or
radar sensor (this is because missile flight is abstracted).
The ending Aspect to the target (after all movement) is used to determine whether a
sensor can be employed. For radars, the bearing to the target must be in an orange aspect
cell on the diagram for the radar’s current mode. Bearings to unfilled cells are not valid
for the radar. All other sensors are rated in terms of AoN. Targets bearing at this AoN or
less are within the sensor’s field of view (FoV) and may be sensed. An ADC may impose
additional arc restrictions on the aircraft’s sensors.
Sensors must initially acquire a target and on subsequent game-turns may attempt to
maintain track of the target. Sensors that fail to maintain track of the target immediately
lose that track. Sensor operations are generally performed in the Sensors phase.
Infrared-homing missiles (IRMs) may attempt a special sensor acquisition during the
Combat phase, immediately following the aircraft’s launch of another missile. (Gener-
ally, these missiles must be of the exact same type. Some Soviet-designed missiles made
in matched sets of radar and IR variants are allowed to have the IR weapon acquire and
launch with this operation). This acquisition attempt is cued by the sensor on the just-
launched missile, so it uses the Slaved IRM Acquisition procedure. If this acquisition is
successful, the second missile immediately makes its launch attempt during the same
Combat phase. Making a sensor attempt during the Second Missile portion of the Combat
phase does not preclude normal sensor attempts during the Sensors phase.
Missiles in flight must check sensor Maintenance. If a missile’s associated sensor misses
the Maintenance check, that missile is removed from play. IRM and AHM missiles have
on-board sensors that are checked individually. RHM missiles check both their onboard
sensors and the launching aircraft’s radar and are lost if either sensor fails its Maintenance
check. An RHM in flight uses the launching aircraft’s radar value and either the missile’s
ECCM or the launching aircraft’s radar’s ECCM, at the choice of the player that launched
the missile.
Infrared and Optical
The seekers on IRMs are normally oriented in the aircraft’s direction of flight. Normal
seekers and IRST systems can only make acquisition attempts at AoN=0 (in the aircraft’s
Nose cell), but can maintain acquisitions out to the AoN listed on the on the MDC or
ADC. Cued IR seekers and some IRST systems can search i within a defined AoN. While
each IRM has its own sensor, only one missile at a time may have an active sensor.
Slaved Infrared Missile Sensors are cued by another sensor (typically radar, HMD or
HMS) using the Slaved IRM Acquisition process. Cued sensors ignore other targets in
their FoV. Note that slaving an IRM to another sensor usually requires the pilot perform
the Systems Handoff subtask of the Sensor Systems Cockpit task. Only IR Missiles
marked “Y” for Sensor Cued may be cued by another sensor.
Boresight Infrared Missile Sensors are resolved using the IRM Acquisition process. If
more than one target is in the AoN=0 acquisition arc, the IRM sensor will only attempt to
acquire a single target specified by the player.
A result of zero from the IRM Acquisition process results in a false target lock. The sensor
becomes focused on something other than the desired target. The sensor may not make
another acquisition attempt until the pilot performs the Dump subtask of the Sensor
Systems Cockpit task.
IRM Modes a pilot can switch the IRM between available modes (Boresight, Sensor
Cued) using the Mode Change subtask of the Sensor Systems Cockpit task. The availabil-
ity of these modes is noted on the Missile Data Card for each weapon.
Once a mode is set for an IRM, all subsequent missiles of the same type are also set into
that mode. An IRM without a mode set defaults to Boresight.
IRST Sensors can acquire targets at AoN=0 and can maintain targets out to an AoN given
on the Aircraft Data Card. If more than one target is in FoV, the IRST sensor makes acqui-
sition checks against all targets in its FoV. The player then chooses which acquisition to
retain (all others are lost). An IRST sensor cued by another sensor can acquire targets out
to AoN listed on the ADC. A cued IRST sensor only attempts to acquire the designated
target, no matter how many targets are in its FoV.
Maintaining Locks Like visual spots, IR seeker locks may be maintained after they are
acquired. Their is a separate process for IRM Maintenance and IRST Maintenance. Sensor
mode does not matter for IRM Maintenance. The target must remain within the sensor’s
AoN for the sensor to keep the target acquired.
Radar
Radar systems work much like IR systems. They have arcs and rating values, they must
roll for success to gain awareness of a target, and they must roll to maintain awareness
of a target each game-turn. Unlike IR systems, there are two kinds of radar spots, called
acquisitions and tracks. Acquisitions generally do not generate sufficient information to
guide radar homing missiles, while tracks do.
A radar system may operate in any of the modes listed in the sensor information on the
ADC. Switching between modes takes a Switch action during the Declarations phase. A
radar that changes modes can maintain its acquisitions and tracks up to the limits allowed
by the new mode. Each of the six modes has an abbreviation, used on the ADCs: Bore-
sight (Bo), Dogfight (Dog), Supersearch (SS), Single Target Track (STT), Search (Srch), and
Track While Scan (TWS ). Search and Track While Scan are stabilized modes. (The proper-
ties of these modes are described at the end of this section).
Stabilized radar mode arcs are defined in terms of the local horizontal instead of the
Canopy orientation of the searching aircraft. The arc diagram for a stabilized radar mode
does not use AoC on the vertical axis. Instead, it uses the pitch value of the bearing line.
Stabilized modes cannot be used if the searching aircraft’s Canopy cell is at 0° pitch or
lower, if its Nose cell is at +60° pitch or higher, or if its Nose cell is at –60° or lower. For
example, if the bearing to the target was 120+30° and the aircraft’s Nose cell was 150–30°,
the pitch value of the bearing line would be +30° and the AoN would be 2, so the target
would be at the intersection of the +30 Pitch row and the AoN 2 column on the Search or
TWS arc diagram, placing it in arc.
Radars ratings have two values separated by a lower-case “e.” The values are:
[Radar value] e [ECCM value]
Both ratings are used when acquiring and maintaining a radar acquisition or track. To
acquire a target, the searching player verifies that the line of bearing to the target is in the
correct arc and generates a Pips roll, as directed by the play aids.
ECM/ECCM and positional factors (lookdown) are grouped into a set of Track modifiers.
These modify the chance of successfully gaining and maintaining track of an aircraft.
Among these is the Lookdown rating. If this value is greater than zero, make a Pips roll
using the Lookdown rating as the Pips rating. The Pips results is the Lookdown Modifier.
If the Lookdown rating is zero or less, or if none of the Lookdown conditions apply, do
not make a Lookdown Pips roll; the Lookdown Modifier is zero.
Tracks Each radar mode changes acquisitions into tracks in a different way. Boresight and
dogfight mode acquisitions become tracks immediately. Supersearch and TWS acquisi-
tions become tracks after one game-turn.
To change a stabilized mode acquisition into a track (other than TWS), the player must
roll a d10 at least one game-turn after the acquisition. The roll is modified as indicated on
the Radar Seekers playaid, and on a net roll of 0 or better, the acquisition becomes a track.
Maintaining Acquisitions and Tracks Acquisitions and tracks are maintained in the Sen-
sor phase. The target must be in the arc for the radar’s mode. For each target, roll a d10
and follow the procedure for the radar’s mode (TWS, STT, or other) If the modified roll
equals or exceeds the target value, the radar maintains the acquisition or track. Otherwise,
it loses awareness of that target.
Clearing Acquisitions and Tracks A crew member may cause a radar to lose all of its
acquisitions and tracks by using a Switch action in the Sensor phase.
Selecting the Closest Target Unless otherwise noted, radar modes prefer to select the
closest target (or targets). If this is the case, select the target at the shortest slant range. If
multiple targets are equally close, choose the target with the largest signature of those at
the closest range. If insufficient to make the selection, roll randomly to select amongst the
targets of largest signature at the closest range. A radar that is cued by another sensor can
ignore closer targets to attempt to acquire or track the designated target. Once a target
is tracked, it is not lost because another target comes closer (unless the player decides to
attempt acquisition of the new, closer target).
Boresight Mode attempts to acquire the closest target. Boresight acquisition attempts
may be made against targets at the start and ending positions. Once a target is acquired
in boresight mode, it may be tracked out to AoN=1. Only one acquisition or track may be
kept at one time. Making an acquisition attempt will cause the radar to lose any existing
acquisition or track.
Dogfight Mode attempts to acquire the closest target. The radar may keep one acquisition
or track at a time. Making an acquisition attempt will cause the radar to lose any existing
acquisition or track.
Supersearch Mode can acquire one new target per game-turn and can retain any number
of acquisitions. The radar automatically tracks the closest acquisition.
STT Mode is required for a radar to guide RHMs (it is not used for AHMs).A radar in
STT mode may not make an Acquisition attempt and may track one target. An aircraft
may only select STT mode if it already has a target tracked and in the STT arc. A radar in
Boresight mode automatically shifts into STT mode when its aircraft fires an RHM (this
does not require a task). A radar in any other mode must make the change to STT mode in
the Declarations Phase with a Switch action (as for any other mode change).
TWS Mode A radar in TWS mode with fewer than four tracks starts the sensor phase by
converting its closest acquisitions into tracks until it has no more than four tracks. If the
radar has four tracks, its crew may then use a Switch action to convert an acquisition to
a track, which causes the radar to lose one of the existing tracks (player’s choice). In the
Sensor Acquisition sub-phase the radar attempts acquisitions on all targets within its arc
Radars in TWS mode automatically succeed when converting an acquisition into a track.
Search Mode attempts acquisitions on all targets within its arc. In the Sensor phase of a HMS versus HMD
subsequent game-turn, the radar operator may attempt to convert one acquisition to a There are two Helmet-
track. Once a track is made, all other acquisitions are lost. No new acquisitions may be Mounted systems used
attempted until the track is lost. for interfacing the crew
and aircraft systems.
Missiles A Helmet-Mounted Sight
RHMs and AHMs do not acquire targets on their own. An RHM pursues the target (HMS) allows crew to
tracked by the launching aircraft’s radar. AHMs receive target tracks from the carrying handoff awareness to
aircraft before launch and then track the target themselves after launch. aircraft sensors (including
missile sensors) using the
Electronic Support Measures Sensor Handoff task, but
Electronic support measures are devices such as radar warning receivers, missile attack can not display tracks
warning systems, and passive RF detectors that alert crew members to the electronic from aircraft sensors.
environment around them. A Helmet-Mounted Dis-
The effects of Electronic Support Measure operation is specified in Integration, as RWRs. play (HMD) works like
an HMS, but also displays
Integration sensor tracks to the crew
Many sensors can be cued by other systems, allowing them to be aimed at specific targets who can use the Tally task
no matter how many targets are in the sensor arc. A cued sensor attempts Acquisition to gain visual awareness
using the Maintenance procedure with an additional ‘+1’ modifier (for the better), rather of the target.
than the Acquisition procedure. The Sensor Integration table in the play aids describes
which sensors can cue other sensors. EO Sensor
Some aircraft have an
Radar Track Electro-Optical Sensor
• Handover to Sensor Cued-capable IR missiles (essentially a telescopic
make Slaved IRM Acquisition roll to receive handover television camera) for use
• Handover to IRST or EO/IR identifying targets at long
range, that is not intended
make IRST Maintenance roll to receive handover
for dogfighting.
• Display on HUD or HMD (not HMS) An EO Sensor can identify
automatic any aircraft tracked by the
• Pass via datalink aircraft radar at the cost of
automatic 1 AP and doubles the AP
cost of all other sighting.
IRST Track Identification gives the
• Handover to Sensor Cued--capable IR missiles crew member the type of
make Slaved IRM Acquisition roll to receive handover aircraft (major model, not
the exact variant) and its
• Display on HUD or HMD (not HMS) operating nation (by the
automatic national insignia.)
HMS/HMD/Datalink Cue
• Handover to Sensor Cued-capable IR missiles GCI Datalink
make Slaved IRM Acquisition roll to receive handover Some aircraft have a
• Handover to radar in Boresight or Supersearch mode datalink for receiving data
make a Radar Maintenance roll (with a +1 modifier) to receive handover from Ground Control of
Intercept centers.
• Handover to IRST
make an IRST Maintenance roll (with a +1 modifier) to receive handover This type of datalink is
not useful in a dogfight. It
• Display Datalink Cue on HUD or HMD (not HMS) may be used in a scenario
automatic setup to give initial sensor
contact, working like a
RWRs
normal datalink in the
• Normal RWRs act like a comms warning task game’s first sensor phase,
• Modern RWRs act like datalink information or as directed by any SSR.
Administrative (SoP 11)
Record any stores changes for aircraft, such as fired missiles or jettisoned fuel tanks. Re-
calculate the weight of each aircraft that had stores changes or that expended a Fuel Point
and update the Wing Load and stores drag of each of these aircraft. Change the wing
positions of swing-wing aircraft according to the rules for their automatic swing-wing or
manual changes specified in the Declarations phase.
Erase any extraneous marks on the play aids and movement aids, including all of the
calculations on the ACC. Record the new hex, speed, and altitude for each aircraft.
Crew members may perform Damage Control on systems that suffered critical hits on
previous game-turns. The Damage Control task treats one system; circle the name of
the treated system in the Damage box. A treated system that suffers another hit must be
treated again; erase the circle around the name of the system.
For each damaged system which a crew member has not treated with Damage Control,
roll a d10 and apply the result from the Progressive Damage table.
Aircrew Tasks
Pay for each concentration task each time a crew member uses it.
Padlock A crew member may select any one aircraft that is already spotted and pay 2
activity points to guarantee it will remain spotted this turn. The target is then padlocked.
No maintenance roll is made and no arc or aspect restrictions apply.
Declare Visual Sighting phase, before any Maintain Tally or Search attempts
Effect Target is spotted until the next game-turn’s visual sighting phase
Cost 2 activity points
Requirements Visual Sight of the target from the previous visual sighting phase
Restrictions Only one Padlock allowed during the sighting phase
If engaging, may only Padlock the target aircraft
If in guns defense, may only Padlock the attacking aircraft
Tally A crew member may attempt to maintain a spot of a target. If a tally attempt fails,
the crew member may attempt a single Quick Search for the target, using the same
process as the Visual Search task. Also, a crew member may attempt to spot a target based
on communications from friendly aircraft or from sensor information.
Declare Visual Sighting phase
Effect maintains awareness of the target until the next game-turn’s visual sight-
ing phase
Requirements Previous awareness of the target, including from a friendly radio call, or
other sensor shown in the HUD (at AoN=0; only pilots have HUDs) or
HMD display (at any AoN)
Received comms from a friendly aircraft or from another crew member in
the same aircraft on the presence of the target or
Datalink from a friendly aircraft with a sensor contact with the target or
Sensor contact with the target at AoN=0 and a HUD (pilot only) or
Sensor contact with the target and a HMD.
Tally Friendlies A crew member may maintain awareness of friendly aircraft. If your air-
craft has an operating radio, you may visually sight all aircraft in your own flight that also
have operable radios with one Tally Friendlies task, regardless of previous awareness.
Effect Friendly aircraft are spotted until the next game-turn’s visual sighting
phase
Requirements Functioning radio
Restrictions Visual sighting arc limits imposed by crew-G effects restrict tally
friendlies.
Spin Recovery The pilot of a spinning aircraft attempts to recover.
Declare Automatic, required of pilots
Effect target is spotted until the next game-turn’s visual sighting phase
Cost All activity points
Visual Search A crew member may select any one aircraft and pay 2 activity points to
attempt to spot it.
Requirements The target may not be in the searching crew member’s blind arc (any cell
on the Canopy diagram with a modifier of –4 or worse).
Quick Search A crew member may select one eligible aircraft and pay an activity point to
attempt to spot it.
Declare Visual Sighting phase. If triggered by a failed Tally attempt, it must im-
mediately follow that failure.
Cost 1 activity point
Requirements Failed Tally attempt
Fix A pilot may select one eligible aircraft and pay an activity point to attempt to spot it.
Declare Initiative phase, when the aircraft’s initiative comes up.
Effect Determines initiative and move classes.
Requirements Pilot must have the target of the fix attempt spotted and in the aircraft’s
advantage arc.
Pilots of departed aircraft may not attempt to fix aircraft.
Pilots performing the engage or guns defense task may only attempt a fix
against the subject of the engage or guns defense.
Strain A crew member may attempt to resist G-effects.
Declare Flight phase, when executing the aircraft’s movement.
Effect Straining provides modifiers on all G-effects checks.
Cost 1 or 2 activity points
Requirements Only G-Trained air crew may strain. Aircrew with early G-training may
expend up to one AP straining. Aircrew with modern G-training may
expend up to two AP straining.
Guns Engagement A pilot may attempt to fire guns at a target.
Declare Initial shot in declarations phase, normal or tracking shot in combat phase.
Effect Allows gunfire at the target, either Padlocks the target or allows both a Fix
attempt and a Tally attempt against the target.
Requirements Target is spotted by the pilot, range is 30 FP or less, and the aircraft either
starts or ends the Flight phase with the target at AoN=0.
Restrictions The pilot may not Padlock or attempt Fix against any aircraft other than
the target of the Guns Engagement. May not use Guns or Missile Defense.
Double the cost of all other sighting tasks.
Guns Defense A pilot with awareness of an engaging enemy may reduce that enemy’s
chance of hitting with gunfire.
Declare Prior to resolving any gun attack.
Effect Modifies the Pipper-On result of attacks against the aircraft by the subject
aircraft. Spending 1 activity point on Guns Defense gives a free Tally
attempt against the engaging aircraft. Spending 2 activity points on Guns
Defense gives a free Tally attempt or Padlock against the engaging aircraft.
Requirement: The pilot must have spotted the engaging aircraft.
Restrictions The Guns Defense task affects a single engaging aircraft.
May not use Missile Defense or Guns Engagement. May only padlock the
aircraft defended against. Double the cost of all other sighting tasks.
Aircraft may only attempt to fix the aircraft being defended against.
Missile Defense A pilot with awareness of an attacking missile may reduce that missile’s
chance of hitting.
Declare Combat phase, when executing the missile’s attack.
Effect Missiles miss when the Defense result equals the Attack result.
Requirements Awareness of the attacking missile
Requirements May not use Guns Defense or Guns Engagement.
Communications Receipt A crew member may receive a message from a friendly aircraft.
Declare At the moment of use
Effect Receiving a message may provide awareness of an enemy aircraft or mis-
sile, allowing activities that require awareness and avoiding some adverse
modifiers.
Requirements Working radio on the receiving aircraft. Friendly aircraft or crew member
in same aircraft has awareness and working communications.
Restrictions If engaged (Guns Engagement) or defending (Guns Defense or Missile
Defense), or if the crew member has no remaining APs, roll d10.
On 3+ the message is received.
Control A pilot may attempt to resist departure from controlled flight.
Declare Departure phase, immediately before checking for departure.
Effect Modifies departure checks.
Sensor Handoff A crew member may pass a tracked target from one sensor to another.
Declare Sensor phase
Effect The receiving sensor attempts to track the target using the procedure
specified under Sensor Integration in the play aids.
Cost 0 to 2 activity points, depending on cockpit type
Requirements A sensor on the aircraft must have a track on the target aircraft.
Restrictions This is a hands-off switch action if the cockpit is non-HOTAS.
If attempting a sensor handoff to an IRM, the missile must have a “Y” for
Sensor Cued.
Damage Control A crew member may attempt damage control on one sub-system.
Declare Administrative phase
Effect The aircraft can no longer suffer progressive damage from that sub-
system.
Requirements The aircraft may fly at no greater than 1.5 G load or damage control fails.
A crew member may not perform damage control on a system on the same game-turn
that it suffered damage.
Radar Operation A crew member may attempt to acquire or track targets with the air-
craft’s radar.
Declare Sensor phase
Effect The radar may roll to acquire or track targets.
Cost 0 to 3 activity points
Requirements Target aircraft must be in the field of view of the radar in its current mode.
Hands Off Switch Action A crew member may perform any number of tasks or actions
that require taking one’s hands off of the throttle and/or control stick.
Declare At time of task or action
Effect The crew member performs the task or action.
Requirements Only applies if the cockpit is non-HOTAS.
Restrictions Adds 1 activity point to the cost of each visual task (Visual Search, Quick
Search, Padlock, Tally, Tally Friendlies, Guns Engagement, and Guns
Defense). This addition only applies once per visual task, regardless of
how many Hands Off Switch Actions the crew member performs.
Cockpit Actions
The costs of Cockpit Actions vary with the aircraft’s cockpit type (shown in the Character-
istics section on the ADC). Some cockpit types allow a crew member to perform several
actions in the same class for a single cost.
Basic cockpit pay separately for each Cockpit Action task
Regular, Improved, or Advanced cockpit for each Cockpit Action class, find the
most-used task in that class and pay a cost equal to the number of times that task was
used.
Improved and Advanced cockpits allow each crew member to ignore one cockpit
action for purposes of determining AP costs each turn. For example, a crew member
in an Improved cockpit who performed a warning call action, but no other Defensive
Systems action, would not pay the AP cost for using Defensive Systems actions.
Cockpit actions come in four classes:
Offensive Systems: weapon select (sw), launch (sw), shot call
Defensive Systems: decoy release (sw), set DDS (sw), warning call
Sensor: set mode (sw), designate (sw), recycle/dump (sw)
Configuration: stores jettison (sw), tally call, general comm.
Actions marked with “sw” require the crew member to use the Hands Off Switch Action
task if the aircraft does not have HOTAS. HOTAS is listed in the Characteristics section of
the ADC: “Y” indicates that the aircraft has HOTAS, “N” indicates that it does not.
Cockpit type also determines the cost of the Sensor Handoff task. Crew members in Basic
and Regular cockpits pay the cost once for each handoff (each transfer from one sensor to
one other sensor). Crew members in Improved cockpits pay the cost only once, regard-
less of how many handoffs they perform. Crew members in Advanced cockpits never
pay to perform handoffs and so may perform as many handoffs as they like (in effect, a
single sensor having awareness of a target allows an aircraft with an Advanced cockpit to
attempt to handoff to every other sensor on the aircraft, even including visual sighting by
crew members with a HUD or HMD who meet other requirements.
Aircrew
During flight the aircraft’s maneuvers may exceed the safe limits of aircraft and crew. In
the Flight Effects Phase you check for resulting problems. Individual crew members may
be affected by excessive g-forces or aircraft damage, impairing their ability to perform
their assigned duties.
GLOC Protection
Several systems worn by aircrew and incorporated into the aircraft lessen Crew G-Effects.
Reclined Seats installed in some aircraft diminish the height difference between a
crew member’s heart and head, lessening the effort to push oxygen to the brain.
Because reclined seats make many tasks more difficult outside of a dogfight, they are
installed in only a handful of aircraft types.
Early G-Suits use a series of air bladders in the legs of the suit to help push blood
from the legs back up into the rest of the body. Mechanical systems in the aircraft in-
flate the bladders in response to the aircraft’s maneuvering. These suits are sometimes
called “Speed Jeans.”
Modern G-Suits use air bladders on the limbs and torso to limit blood pooling in the
extremities and help push blood up towards the brain. Computer-controlled systems
in the aircraft carefully inflate the bladders.
Immersion G-Suits feature liquid-filled bladders that shift due to the load on the
aircraft with no external input. This pressure forces blood out of the aircrew’s extremi-
ties. Additionally, the suit supports the shape of the torso and is less fatiguing than
other G-suits.
The immersion G-suit is typified by the Swiss “Libelle” G-protection system.
Positive Pressure Masks are computer-controlled breathing systems that modulate
the air supply pressure to do some of the work of breathing for the air crew. This
limits fatigue and improves overall G-resistance and recovery from crew G-effects.
The Positive Pressure mask is typified by the US “Combat Edge” breathing system.
G-Training
Crew members can mitigate the effects of G-loads through training that familiarizes the
crew with G-effects and teaches specific techniques of controlled breathing and muscle
contraction, called “straining.”
Untrained indicates the aircrew has had no training.
Untrained aircrew may not “strain.”
Early G-Training was typical for fighting forces worldwide during or shortly after
World War II.
Aircrew with early G-training may expend up to one AP straining.
Modern G-Training was introduced to Western forces in the 1970s and soon spread
worldwide.
Aircrew with modern G-training may expend up to two AP straining.
Wounded
A crew member may receive a wounded result due to combat damage or negative G load.
Wounded crew members:
• Cannot strain
• Add one AP to all tasks cost
• May not engage a target
• May not fix a target
• Suffer various die roll penalties listed in the playaids
A second Wound result kills the crew member.
LOC (Unconscious) or Killed
A LOC (unconscious) or killed crew member may make no declarations, may not perform
any activity (including free cockpit actions), loses all awareness, and may not receive any
communications (except that unconscious crew members may subconsciously hear the
other crew member’s frantic intercom urges to wake-up, described in LOC Recovery.)
Killed crew have no chance of recovery. Involuntary Unload
If the unconscious or killed crew member is flying, the aircraft becomes uncontrolled. Remember that when
flying at +90 or -90 pitch,
Uncontrolled Aircraft an involuntary unload
If the crew flying the aircraft (generally the pilot) loses consciousness or is killed, the segment is flown as a non-
aircraft becomes uncontrolled. Uncontrolled aircraft fly an involuntary unload segment rolling straight segment.
for their movement and may not change the throttle setting. The speedbrake, if in use
when the aircraft becomes uncontrolled, stops being used (does not add to form drag.) Using Play When
An aircraft that becomes uncontrolled due to G-Onset induced LOC has all segments of Uncontrolled
their plot, starting at the one causing LOC, replaced with an involuntary unload segment. The player flying an
uncontrolled aircraft is
Non-pilot flight allowed to use the “play”
Some aircraft have a second crew member that may fly the aircraft. Crew listed as “pilot” within the move-aids for
and “copilot” are always permitted to fly the aircraft. Another crew member, such as a the wedge the aircraft is
weapon systems operator (WSO), may only fly the aircraft if permitted by an ADC note. flying in.
0,1 fully CCW
In any game turn following the crew member flying the aircraft being incapacitated (LOC
or dead) the other crew member permitted to fly the aircraft may spend four AP to take 2,3 halfway CCW
control of the aircraft. This crew member may then fly the aircraft normally, starting in the 4,5 mid-wedge
following game turn (the aircraft will be uncontrolled for at least one game turn.) 6,7 halfway CW
A crew member permitted to fly the aircraft may take control of the aircraft from a non-in- 8,9 fully CW
capacitated crew member using the same process, except that this does not leave a period
where the aircraft is uncontrolled (unless the flying crew member loses consciousness due
to G-Onset in the turn when the other is taking control.)
Special Rules
Jettisoning External Stores
Aircraft may jettison external stores during the Flight phase using the Configuration
Cockpit Action: Jettision Stores. Jettisoning may occur during either straight or turning
segments of at least 2 ticks duration, during which the aircraft’s Lift vector must remain in
the +60 and/or +90 rings. During a turning segment, the aircraft may not exceed a Load
of 2.0 G. Stores may not be jettisoned if the aircraft is flying with negative load. Make the
weight and stores drag changes in the (SoP 11) Administrative Phase.
An aircraft may never jettison stores during a segment in which its Nose and Velocity
marks do not occupy the same cell (due to pointing, supermaneuver or departure).
Fuel
Aircraft carry limited amounts of fuel, listed on the back of the ADC in Fuel Points. When
an aircraft receives enough cumulative Power from its Engine table, it expends a Fuel
Point. Each turn, an aircraft accumulates points equal to its power setting. Add the points
to the Dry carry or AB carry box, depending on the aircraft’s throttle setting this turn
(track Dry carry and AB carry separately; they never add together or affect one another).
When the accumulated points equal or exceed the Usage listed in the appropriate column
of the Fuel row of the aircraft’s Engine table, it expends a Fuel Point and retains any
points in excess of the Usage number as a carry.
Example: A half-loaded F-15C has 67 fuel points on board. The pilot selects AB power at
level 60 (12,000 feet), yielding 20 Power. Since this exceeds the AB Usage of 16, the F-15C
immediately expends a fuel point, and carries the remainder of 4 (writing it in the AB
carry box. Using the same power setting on the following turn, increases the AB carry
to 8. Now the pilot pulls back into Dry for turn 3, getting 12 Power. This is less than the
Dry Usage of 45, so no fuel is expended and the full 12 is recorded in the Dry carry box
(Dry carry and AB carry are completely separate). If the aircraft stays in Dry power at this
altitude it will expend its first fuel point on turn 6, when the Dry carry reaches 48 (the
remainder of 3 will go back into the Dry carry box).
Each Fuel Point weighs 100 pounds. During the Administrative Phase, recalculate the
weight and Wing Load of each aircraft that expended a Fuel Point.
Some scenarios will specify Bingo limits, or the amount of fuel that an aircraft must have
remaining at the end of the scenario to return to base safely. Aircraft whose remaining
Fuel Points fall below the Bingo limit may run out of fuel and crash, counting as de-
stroyed aircraft for victory conditions. See the special rules listed in these scenarios.
Supermaneuver
Supermaneuvers are controlled excursions of pitch or yaw that allow the Nose of the air-
craft to be pointed along a different direction than the Velocity. Rules for supermaneuvers
will appear in future expansions with aircraft capable of performing them.
Collisions
Aircraft ending a turn in the same hex at the same altitude may collide. Each pilot makes
a Pips roll; follow the procedure on the play aid. If the final result is positive, the aircraft
collide and roll for damage on the column of the Pips table for two times the final result.
Each aircraft suffers one critical hit for each DAM point suffered.
Ejection
Crew members may eject from an aircraft when it is destroyed or in the Administrative
phase. Follow the Ejection procedure in the play aids to determine is the crew member
ejects successfully. A crew member who fails two ejection attempts may no longer attempt
to eject. Successful ejection is followed by the Post-Battle Fate procedure.
Post-Battle Fate
The playaids contain a process for determining post-battle fate of ejected crew members.
Roll individually for each crew member.
Post-battle fate is for entertainment purposes and has no direct effect on game play.
Weather
Birds of Prey is a game about dogfighting, and dogfighting is impossible in bad weather.
Because of this, the only weather in the game is haze and clouds, which affect visual
sighting. See the visual sighting rules and play aids for the effects of haze and cloud.
Scenarios will specify the altitude ranges affected by haze or clouds.
Manual Swing-Wing
Aircraft with manually operated swing-wings are noted in the ADC notes section. The
ADC flight data has added columns for performance at various wing positions. The flight
data is used normally, but must be read from the column for the current wing position.
Changing the wing position in a Manual Swing-Wing aircraft is a Configuration Cockpit
Action, and counts as a Switch Action (sw) even if the aircraft has HOTAS (it pays the full
cost of the Switch Action as a hands-off activity.)
Changing the wing position is announced in the Declarations phase, and the AP cost is
paid at that time. Unless restricted by an ADC note, the wing may be commanded to any
position, regardless of its starting position. The wing position is changed in the Adminis-
trative phase and any performance change takes effect in the following game turn.
Some aircraft have ADC or SSR limitations that keep the wing from changing position if
certain conditions are exceeded. If these limits are exceeded, the wing does not change
position until the Administrative phase of the first game turn when the limits are not
exceeded. AP is only paid in the Declarations phase when the change was commanded.
Automatic Swing-Wing / Auto-Sweep Wing
Aircraft with automatic swing-wings (also called auto-sweep wing) are noted in the ADC
notes section. The automatic swing-wing is programmed to position itself based on the
aircraft’s current mach number. Changing the wing position of a Automatic Swing-Wing
aircraft is implicit and need not be recorded, beyond recording the mach number (Ap2).
The ADC flight data has added entries for performance at various mach numbers, repre-
senting the wing positions chosen by the aircraft. Most flight data is used normally, but
must be read from the section for the current mach number.
There is a nomograph used to find Drag per G (DpG) for step Ep15, as well as showing
max-lift and pointing range for each mach value. To use this nomograph, set a ruler on
the ADC (don’t draw, as the card is not laminated), with the Lift Used (found in Ep14) on
the left scale and Mach (from Ap2) on the diagonal scale. Read DpG off of the right scale.
Max-Lift is read off the right scale, at the blue triangle for each mach range. Pointing, if
applicable, is shown with a gold bar descending from that triangle. The aircraft is
pointing at any lift that touches the gold bar for the current mach.
Engine Out
When an engine is lost due to damage or compressor stall, that engine’s output is zero.
Engine output is proportional to the number of operating engines, thus the aircraft’s
aggregate Engine Output is:
Engine Output = ADC Engine Output * ( # operating engines / total # of engines)
Multi-engined aircraft that lose some (but not all) engines collect 1 departure point per
throttle step (using the steps from the Compressor Stall rule) in the game turn an engine is
lost. If the engine is lost due to damage, a departure check is made immediately.
52 Birds of Prey
Compressor Stall
If an aircraft noted as “subject to compressor stall” has its Q-Mark in the controllability
region and changes throttle setting, there is a chance of compressor stall.
For purposes of this rule, the throttle is broken into four steps:
Idle: throttle declared idle in the declarations phase, Engine Output = 0
Normal: throttle set to Mil, Engine Output from 1 to (½ x Mil ADC entry)
Mil: throttle at Mil, Engine Output from one greater than Normal to the Mil ADC entry
AB: throttle at AB, Engine Output from one greater than Mil to the AB ADC entry
Anytime the Q-Mark is in the Controllability region, and the pilot advances the throttle
more than 1 step (from Idle to Normal to Mil to AB), he rolls on the Pips table with a
column of two times the number of steps advanced.
Result roll:
0–1 Throttle advances normally
2 Throttle advances only 1 step
3 Single engine Compressor stall, roll d10 to determine which engine stalls
4+ Two engines Compressor stall
When compressor stalled, the engine is at Idle power and its throttle setting cannot
change. To recover, aircraft must equal or exceed 240 KEAS. Roll d10 plus Departure net
value (if any) with successful restart on 1+. The restarted engine starts at idle power and
Glossary may have a chance of compressor stalling again when the throttle setting is changed.
AB Afterburner (engine power setting) IRM Infrared-Homing Missile

ACC Aircraft Control Card IRST Infrared Search and Track system
ADC Aircraft Data Card MDC Missile Data Card
ADC Aircraft Data Card RHM Radar-Homing Missile
AHM Active Radar Homing Missile RIO Radar Intercept Officer
AtA Refuel Air-to-Air Refueling Capability RR Roll Rate
Bo Boresight (radar mode) RWR Radar Warning Receiver
Brr Boosted Roll Rate SCC Systems Control Card
DDS Decoy Dispenser System Srch Search (radar mode)
DpG Drag per G Srr Safe Roll Rate
Dog Dogfight (radar mode) SS Super Search (radar mode)
FP Flight Point STT Single Target Track (radar mode)
GCI Ground-Controlled Intercept TP Turning Point
HMD Helmet Mounted Display TWS Track While Scan (radar mode)
HMS Helmet Mounted Sight WL Wing Load
HOTAS Hands On Throttle and Stick WSO Weapon Systems Officer
HUD Heads Up Display (only pilots have HUDs)
Ask “Darkstar” your Birds of Prey rules questions on the forums at: http://www.adastragames.com
Be sure to register your game for a free registration pack at: http://services.adastragames.com
Free registration pack has PDF format data cards for:
F-86F-40 Sabre AIM-9G Sidewinder
F-4E Phantom II (slatted) AIM-64A Phoenix
F-16A Fighting Falcon (early) Super 530D
J-7 II / F-7B Fishbed PL-2A
Birds of Prey ©1997–2013 Tony Valle and Philip A Markgraf 2013/08/27 : v1.1.16

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Air Combat in the Jet Age

VALLE & MARKGRAF

published by Birds of Prey –Air Combat in the Jet Age

Aircraft Data Cards ADA 31000-ADC01 – ADC24

Missile Data Cards ADA 31000-MDC1 – MDC6

Key Game Concepts

Speed, KEAS & Mach

read an aircraft’s attitude and to find the key cells quickly.)

Angle off Canopy

Flying in the SoP

Spin Recovery (SoP 05)

AB Afterburner (engine power setting) IRM Infrared-Homing Missile

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