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Thread: Altitude rules

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  1. #1

    Default Altitude rules

    I have only played about 25 or so games.
    My friends and I have yet to work in altitude rules.
    Do they slow the game down alot? They would seam to do so. Do I lose anything by keeping it simple?
    Thanks

  2. #2

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    My group mainly plays WWI and we've yet to add in altitude to our WWII games. That being said, we played with out altitude in WWI for a very long time do to not wanting to slow the game down. Counting the number of pegs under a plane and counting up the climb counters just did not seem that much fun. Not to mention moving the mini and it's base around on the table when adding and removing the pegs.

    To solve this, we started using bases with altitude dials on them. That solved the peg problem. To handle the climb counter issues, I came up with "SAR", Simplified Altitude Rules. Wanting more realism and not liking the fact that my new rules completely got rid of the different climb rates that planes had, I came up with what I called "SAR+", Simplified Altitude Rules plus climb rates. I personally think these are very elegant rules for altitude and climb rates. Once your group decides to use them, there are no real rules to remember, everything is built right into your maneuver deck.

    For those that want to still you the official altitude rules and still help speed up game play, I created my new line of flight stands. This puts an easy to use dial right on your plane for both altitude and climb rate.

    Oh, and adding altitude is very much worth it... talk about adding another dimension to the game!

  3. #3

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    Everything you say is what I have been thinking. We just are not has far along in the playing. In time I suppose.
    Thanks for the insight.

  4. #4

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    We have found that using altitude rules do enhance the game quit a bit. We don't use pegs, for as Kieth has noted, using the pegs can slow down game play. We use an altitude disk/marker to note our altitudes, and it works well for us.

  5. #5

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    Morten Broested
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    I have a set of houserules that I fthink feel more like real dogfights mainly becasue of my altitude rules. They use the normal cards, but and actually increase lethality (speeding things up). Now I only need to translate these rules into english.....

  6. #6


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    Brian
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    didnt use the altitude at first, but got to realise that unlike WW1 planes, WW2 could and did use altitude to much better effect thus, it was best to incorporate them. It adds another interesting aspects and tactical feature. with only a few planes a side as I usually play, the fiddling isnt too bad and I actually prefer the peg stands as you can easy see who is higher than who.
    DONT like the fact that climbs are a stall move - WW2 planes could climb faster than WW1 and thus I have printed my own climb cards so that the climb has a better forward movement aspect. Likewise I simply have all planes climb at rate 3... is easier.
    In summary, air combat in the WW2 era is all about position advantage. using altitude gives VERTICAL positional advantage, so its worth using.

  7. #7

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    Quote Originally Posted by BD Ford View Post
    DONT like the fact that climbs are a stall move - WW2 planes could climb faster than WW1 and thus I have printed my own climb cards so that the climb has a better forward movement aspect. Likewise I simply have all planes climb at rate 3... is easier.
    I came up with my Simplified Altitude Rules with Climb Rates to do basically what you are talking about... but with out having to keep track of climb rates or making new cards. It was for WWI, but could be used in WWII just the same.

  8. #8

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    If you don't use altitude rules (and I generally don't, though I've experimented with them a bit), aren't you giving a-historical advantages to some aircraft over others? I never thought about it this way before, but without altitude rules, my Stuka dive-bombers are just as good at climbing as any fighter in the game. Seems like playing with altitude will make outcomes a bit more 'historical.' Perhaps this is how I can sell playing with altitude rules to my group?

  9. #9

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    We use the hight rules with a dice to count the climb rate till the next peg. There has been many a time when flying that I have gone as low as possible to escape from a fight One surgestion is to glue the bottom flight peg into the base this makes it esier to addust the hight pegs and makes the model esier to move around the table.

  10. #10

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    ok boy but gaming without altitude its a very simply game !! yuo can use altitude to make a tactical manouver and palying without peg have no sense ,you play with minis because you can see it and make the play more real , and see 2 plane on different quote it part of it!!

  11. #11

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    Well the altitude rules read like they are going to slow things down. But once we tried them, we discovered they didn't slow the game anywhere near as much as we thought they would. Yeah it's not as fast as not playing with altitude, but we found you can do your bookkeeping between phases or when others are drawing damage.

    Now we always play with it, even new players are taught it their first game.

  12. #12

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    We've found using simple altitude rules (1 climb/dive card = gain/lose one flight level) makes for a slightly longer, but vastly more interesting game. There are far fewer collisions and suicidal head-on firing passes, and you have a chance to climb or dive away from an opponent and limp home in a damaged plane. It's also useful for dealing with 2 seaters, getting behind and under in their blind spot!

    Nobody I know wants to mess with climb counters or whatever just to go up or down a level, and we figure most WWI planes would fly more or less in a similar envelope because they tended to fall apart if you pushed them to the limit We use poker chips numbered 1, 2 or 3 stacked on the player board to show where everyone's at. The Gatorade bottle is optional.
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails WoW 5-30 2011 007.jpg  



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