Gun Jams as applied to SE5a's.

[gully_raker]

:salute: G'day All! Whilst playing the Aces High game the other night & flying James McCuddens SE5a the thought occured to me that with the SE being equipped with both a Vickers & Lewis Gun then perhaps the Gun Jam rule should be modified.

So here are my thoughts on the matter:

1) If a Red gun jam card is drawn then the Vickers gun is Jammed & the Lewis needs reloading which will be done after the next Manouver card is played. B Damage card if any Damage caused.

2) If a Green jam card is drawn then the Lewis can continue to be fired but any damage caused will be drawn from a "B" Deck.

Please give your thoughts & vote on the Poll!:)

[The Cowman]

I had a similar discussion with a local player about this subject as it applied to his Fokker E.IV with its 3 guns... he figured since it used both an A and B card that a Jam would only take away one of the cards...

[wargamer]

lol another can of worms.... with this logic... any A card could be argued to be totally jammed on say a green jam, and only one of em jammed on a red? or vice versa, whichever color you prefer?

Actually might make sense that way...

[Tommy Z]

....I would add you can't fire and clear a jam at the same time, the logic works for me. :guns:

can fire at reduced rate...still takes 3 consecutive cards to clear jam/reload.

[Marechallannes]

Nice houserule for more realistic gaming.

I stay with the complete jamming - the pilot needs the time to fix the one jamming machine gun.

[itchy]

yeah we play with complete jamming as already stated the pilot needs time to clear the jam, we did try to keep count of the turns the pilot didnt fire the other gun and when they reached three turns without firing the other gun ,the jammed one was clear but went back to complete jammed rule.

[macka321]

We give the lewis 4 rounds of ammo before it has to reload. The pilot has the option to fire as A or B but can only fire as B if the lewis is empty.
Reloading takes 3 turns without firing or steep man.
We also do the same for rear gunners 4 rounds for the lewis and 5 for the spandu. It only takes an obs 2 turns to reload a B gun and 3 for an A.

[Flying Officer Kyte]

We just play it as any gun jam, play B only if you want to continue shooting. If second card is drawn during first jam, both guns are jammed. To clear no shooting for three cards.
I tend to leave combat if I can disengage. Fly out, Immelmann and back in. I'm not quite sure about unjamming whilst executing an Immelmann, but usually at least three straight cards come somewhere in the sequence before you get back into range.
Rob.

[Madboyo]

I like this as a house rule. In the rule book it states:
A player must reveal damage cards that have the (jammed guns)
symbol. The airplane that fired at him has jammed his guns and cannot fire
after each of the next three maneuvers.

Therefore after a jam no guns fire.....

[Doug]

I find it difficult to decide either way because each gun had different ammo feeds so some guns were more prone to jamming than others just how you work these into rules without the rules becoming over complicated is up for cojuncture, though Barry's ideas do that. In the end I have opted for both guns jamed!

[Shiraz68]

A pretty subjective question IMHO. What works for one player or club/group won't work for another.

I would just stick with the standard rule on jamming as mentioned by MadBoyo. The rules are simplified to aid game-play, so if we keep 'modding' then we might as well come up with a whole new ruleset.

That said, I do understand that club rules can be used to make the game much more fun & interesting but in this case I think it would overcomplicate things as you would then need to look at all aircraft that had different weapon configurations.

[IRM]

Just using standard rules for one-off games, but for campaign missions my house rules have Green Jams only stop one gun (in the case of the SE5a or other mixed-gun planes I just dice for which since I also use ammo rules) and it takes three consecutive non-steeps with no firing to unjam.

[CappyTom]

Nice house rule. We just use jammed is jammed unless you use bullet check. But in the house rule you could say " use a B deck but every time you shoot you can't count that as a turn towards unjamming your guns. That said if you have jammed guns and you had two turns without shooting then you shoot on the third you must wait one more turn with out shooting before the guns are unjammed.

Tom

[grumpybear]

I like the idea but think it complicates play a little much, therefore voted jamed is jamed. But might give it a try soon.

[va beach ace]

I think that which ever gun is being fired at that time then that is the gun that jams. if you are using bothbad guy in front and behind, then you say what gun you are drawing for

[gully_raker]

:thumbsup: Thanks Chaps for your input & thoughts.:salute:

[Hunter]

Just using standard rules for one-off games, but for campaign missions my house rules have Green Jams only stop one gun (in the case of the SE5a or other mixed-gun planes I just dice for which since I also use ammo rules) and it takes three consecutive non-steeps with no firing to unjam.

Pretty much how we play it here in Phoenix. But, I like Barry's thoughts and will be considering incorporating them with new ammo rules and see how it plays out.