"Making Aerial Intercept Games Interesting?" Topic

Planning on running some of these later this year, and am curious to see what people think would make them interesting?

Seems to me they can be a bit more challenging to get right, especially for multiple players on each side, since play-balance is an issue, but also potentially boredom, and lack of action. Very different than your usual furball I suspect.

I'm worried that in some cases no intercepts may occur at all, and in others that perhaps they'll be a bit too easy.

Might be possible to work around that a little by having each player responsible for several aircraft, so they've got more to do, and to have several chances at some action occurring. Perhaps, if pairs of aircraft or more are involved in different units, letting each player be the lead commander for one, and then acting as wingmen for the others.

Also thinking of perhaps some sort of map plotting/movement, and/or a planning phase to enhance the above, but keeping it fairly quick and simple, if possible, to keep most of the games focused on the minis on the tables.

Anyone done something similar, or wanted to do so?

What made/would make the game(s) more interesting for you?

Not sure if this applies, but I have a plan for a 'campaign' where players have a number of planes and a number of objectives to attack and defend. They secretly assign numbers/types of aircraft to each mission and these get played out in sequence. That way neither side knows what to expect in any particular game.

Might be possible to work around that a little by having each player responsible for several aircraft, so they've got more to do, and to have several chances at some action occurring. Perhaps, if pairs of aircraft or more are involved in different units, letting each player be the lead commander for one, and then acting as wingmen for the others.

I don't know all of the details of what you're planning but THIS in particular seems like an excellent idea. If you have several flights, some of which may not engage, making sure every player is in more than one flight seems like the best way to go.

-Will

I've played a number of intercept games, and have to agree with the sentiment of, if at all feasible, allowing people to play with multiple aircraft- that way they have more than one bite at the apple. It depends on the rules you use, though. If the game is too complex to allow for multiple aircraft to be played realistically by new players, then this could backfire.

However, in the games I've played that I enjoyed, I had multiple aircraft so that if one or two missed their intercepts, I didn't care, as I was still able to concentrate on the ones that did.

One particular game I played was American Naval fighters in the pacific intercepting Betty bombers with Ohka bombs. I played on the allied side with mostly Hellcats, but a few Corsairs against Betties with Zeros providing escort. We had a blast, but we were using Luftwaffe 1946 rules and so I was able to handle 3 separate groups of 2 fighters pretty easily. We skewered the zeroes, and then concentrated on the Betties, with only 1 being able two able to get their Ohka bombs launched. We shot one down and the other nailed its target.

It was a blast because everyone had multiple planes to control. I doubt if I would have enjoyed it if I only had one plane- especially the Corsairs, who ended up being out of position to do much.

Could you describe what you're trying to do in a little more detail? Do you already have rules picked out?

There are at least two board games that you should check out, both designed by Lee Brimmicombe-Wood and published by GMT Games: Nightfighter and Wing leader.

Thinking about some bomber raids, primarily, but the above works for intercepts of fighters, and/or fighter-bomber raids too.

Want to do some Cold War bomber scenarios, in various time periods 1950s – 1970s+), with and without nukes. Of course, this would also be fun with WWII night bomber raids too (perhaps even daylight raids by the Americans as well).

Will probably use the AirWar:C21 rules, with custom, home-brew add-ons, as needed. That should make games relatively quick playing, but still interesting.

I'd like a lot of "ground" to fly over, so either need a very large table, or to downsize the minis considerably. Might even need to switch to small counters instead for the aircraft.

I like the multiple targets idea, and having the attackers pre-plan their attack routes, and/or choose from a selection of options, depending upon the number of players, and time for the game.

Having the defenders try to figure out which targets to defend should be entertaining. Some sort of points system might make things even more interesting, but it may be difficult to balance that out for both sides, in play.

Thinking of limiting the interceptors, based upon fuel capacity, though for a nuke attack that limitation goes out the window (pilots will be ordered to fly until their tanks are empty, one way). Still might work for really short-legged fighters over large areas (this is where I think the map comes in, and is useful).

Might need to recycle the tables several times to represent deep penetration raids, with adjustments to targets and terrain, as the bombers fly over them and then approach the next terrain/air defense sector(s).