How Many Planes Can One Person Manage - Trial Results

[hoady02]

Today we had planned to pit our newly painted Spits and Me109's against each other. We wanted to test out how many planes was reasonable for one person to manage. So we tried four a side.

After a drama with the stands, we got to work. http://www.wingsofwar.org/forums/sho...370#post170370

The dreaded Hun crosses the Channel... Mark's models sport round things up front. I think they are props. Nice job he did too.



The RAF rise to the skies to battle the Germans. Curse you Red Baron! Um, that's not right is it...



A lucky shot and one of the blighters bites the dust. Four to three. I like them odds!



Ouch, down goes a Spit! Bugger!



The Empire Stikes Back! (Always wanted to say that)! Another one bites the dust!



But with a few key hits the tables turned and soon there was one spit left.



A two turns later the last Spit went down. Oh dear!

Well what did we learn? Four planes each was easy to control as long as both players followed the same steps no-one got confused. Having a card which matched the aircraft seems to be a simple way of adding extra control and we will organise this before the next game. I think with those simple steps we can control up to six fighters each, plus bombers.

But would love to hear from others here about their experiences controlling bigger groups of models. Have you tried it and and what worked (and didn't work for you)?

Cheers,

Geoff

[Carl_Brisgamer]

Great photos, love the minis.

I have played 2-3 fighters per player, and 3 bombers per player. I try to keep them as a tactical element - early RAF and Japanese for instance flew vics of three, whilst Luftwaffe and US flew in pairs, two pairs per flight. Generally fighter aircraft in the same formation will use the same cards, nice to have someone watching your back. Although once a 'furball' develops all bets are off. Bombers must maintain formation unless engine damage or some other special effect spoils the party.

[Dark Horse]

I've played 8 planes aside with 2 players - Zeroes vs Wildcats - but it did take most of the day & my opponent kept getting his flight card decks mixed up...apart from that it was fun.

[Boney10]

Max I have commanded is three planes, as long as the decks are separate and you do things in order it woks ok, well it did for me

Question about the pics, what are the dice for ?

[hoady02]

Max I have commanded is three planes, as long as the decks are separate and you do things in order it woks ok, well it did for me

Question about the pics, what are the dice for ?

Good question!

Altitude level. Primitive but effective!

[Boney10]

Now you said it, it makes sence thank

[Doug]

For WW2 I general fly 2 x fighters (Both aircraft the same type) at once, pilot and wingman and for me that is as hard as I want to make the game. Though for bombers I fly 3 as they are generally flying straight and level (however there are exceptions).

[nillu]

I can play 2 planes at once only if they both use same manouver deck. Otherwise manouvers can mix and all ends up i certain chaos.

Lovely play for me is to fly 2 dive bombers in line formation (one after the other). Is such case everyone else fly just one fighter.

Flying 3 fighters? I couldn't manage that. Probalby it would be too snail...

[Kaiser]

If you want it historically correct then try these:
Luftwaffe, USAAF: 2 aircraft per player (a Rotte or Wing). While one goes for the target use the other to watch his back.
early RAF: 3 aircraft per player (a Vic) but you should try to maintain formation.
IJNAF and IJAAF: 1 aircraft per player but at least 3 of the same type. Why? Japanese flew in 3 but had nearly useless radios. All other had to communicate via WWI methods.

[Nightbomber]

I try not to command more than 1 plane when playing F2F. Otherwise it goes messy and it's not fun. Commanding planes with some AI by solo rules is another story and works well.

[Fritzthefox]

It was a very worthwhile play test (to see how many we could handle) that worked surprisingly well. We actually flew them in sections/rottes with 2 groups of two each and arranged our consoles accordingly on our table edges. Once we got into the swing of things it didn't slow the game down at all, I think about an hour and a half (with a short break for lunch in between) which was not bad for eight aircraft on the table at once and two novice players

Hoady and I are working on a B o B campaign in the near future which we are really looking forward to developing and play testing. Looking forward to next Friday buddy.

[FrankJamison]

If I fly more than two of the airframe at one time, I get confused and mix up their maneuver cards. A sign of age I guess. However, if we're talking multiple models (two Zeros and two Vals or two Bf-109s and two Stukas) I usually manage well. It's just a matter of slowing down.

We use twelve sided dice (from my ancient D&D days) for altitude when going by the optional altitude rules and they work quite well.

[Tommy Z]

I don't mind flying 2 of the same type. Any more & I get confused!

[Zoe Brain]

For WWII - 2 of the same type, flying as a pair.

For WWI - one each, though one fighter and one 2-seater recon/bomber works well too.

[ptownhiker]

The fewer planes each player runs, the faster the game goes. When I have played in games where each person ran one plane each, the turns proceeded faster than I expected. The downside is that once you are shot down, you are done. With fast game play, however, you don't have long to wait until the next game. I have found a comfort level in running two fighters and one bomber. I have to pay attention to the two fighters, making sure that there is some difference in their paint schemes (one with a stripe, one without), or else I get the decks confused.

The largest game I ran was a Battle of Britain game at a convention in March. I had players cycling in and out of the game so I witnessed immediately the impact of a changing planes to player ratio. At one point in the game, I had only one German player running three bombers and three or four fighters. The game slowed to a crawl. Once a another German player joined the game, the pace of the turns picked up considerably.

[CappyTom]

I will usually fly 2 planes with no trouble if they are fighters. For bombers I use a thin sheet of plexiglass.

[richard m schwab]

Geoff

I have tried four planes and they were all bombers. That was a challenge. Normally two planes will keep most people occupied in a game. If you fly two different plane types with different maneuver cards it is easier. After a game David and i played in August, i spent five minutes straightening out two I Decks. The player had used mixed them to the point i do not know how he played them!!!! In the shot below everyone was flying at least two planes!



Rich