Nieuport 16 Shooting Query.

[gully_raker]

G'day All!
I have a query regarding the Nieuport 16 from the Balloon Busters set.
If the N16 is making a run against the Balloon which requires certain Manouvers to hit the Balloon with its Rockets can it still fire its Machinegun at an Enemy Aircraft that is visable in line of sight under the Balloon as it makes its 3 card run?

[Oberst Hajj]

From the BD rule book:

ROCKETS
Some airplanes were equipped with incendiary rockets. These
Le Prieur rockets were rarely of any use against aircraft and they
never attained any success against dirigibles, but they were quite
effective against balloons. Le Prieur rockets fired electrically and
only launched after a short delay. When creating scenarios, you
can decide that one or more planes have rockets. If so, put two
rocket counters on the planes’ control boards.

To fire rockets, the airplane must do either a “straight” or a
“stall” maneuver and have the target in its front arc of fire at one
ruler of distance or less. Players may fire machine guns or rockets,
but not both. When firing rockets, the player can decide to
use one or both of the counters. If a plane fires only one of its
initial two rockets, it can fire the other one later on.

The target is hit after the next maneuver if all three of the following
happen:

1) this next maneuver is again either a stall or a straight;
2) after this second maneuver the same target is in the plane’s
front firing cone, or the airplane overlaps the target;
3) the firing airplane does not draw any card with a special damage
symbol because of enemy fire in these two rounds of maneuvers.

I have highlighted the important parts. The first part clearly states that you can not do both. Now, that part is in the first section which could lead to a little "rules lawyering" where someone argues that they could fire the MGs after the 2nd required straight/stall. If you look a requirement #2, it states that the same target has to be in the front arc. This implies that you still have to be targeting the balloon or the rocket will miss. You are only allowed to target one target per round... so the answer would be no, you could not fire your rockets at the balloon and your MGs at a plane until after your rockets have hit (unless of course you decide to let the rockets miss so you can take the shot at the plane).

[gully_raker]

Thanks Herr Oberst!
Just goes to show a "careful" read of the Rules will reveal ALL!

[Oberst Hajj]

No worries mate!

[Rabbit 3]

G'day All!
I have a query regarding the Nieuport 16 from the Balloon Busters set.
If the N16 is making a run against the Balloon which requires certain Manouvers to hit the Balloon with its Rockets can it still fire its Machinegun at an Enemy Aircraft that is visable in line of sight under the Balloon as it makes its 3 card run?

Why do I get the impression that in this situation as presented SOMEBODY is going to crash into the balloon!

Incidently, this rule from the basic rules set should also probably apply

Fighter airplanes can fire at a single target each phase, choosing one if there are several possible targets. Planes cannot fire through another plane base, enemy or friendly (and a balloon base counts as one). If it is not possible to reach any point of the target base from the center of the firing plane passing through the front side of the firing base without crossing another base, then the aim is blocked.

If the enemy plane is UNDER the balloon (B***** stupid place to be) then it has to be on top of the Balloon`s base or just on the far side, dosn`t it.