WWI Night Fighting Rules and Equipment

[OldGuy59]

Yet another treasure from the Cirque Volant, our French equivalent site (Thanks Pierre):

Night Fighting

Ref: Règles liées à la nuit

Attacks and night raids were common during the First World War. Taking advantage of a moonless night, on 8 September 1915, four zeppelins tried to bomb London. Here are some rules allow for night play.

Rules relating to Night Fighting

At night, it's dark. Shooting in the dark is not easy. Imagine the guys in the trenches, in the cold, darkness and fear. Suddenly the roar of planes and machine gun fire falling all around. No choice but to shoot, even if it is at allied planes, as the bullets hiss by.

- In the sky, the airplanes could be made out against the light of the stars. However, accuracy is impossible given the lack of clarity, and no plane has the bonus of 1 for two consecutive shots on the same target. The rest of the fight takes place normally.

- Anti-aircraft guns. In the dark, it is difficult to aim at aircraft. Placement of the target follows the normal rules, with the following exception. Using a range ruler, drop a target token from a half-ruler height, above the desired target location. The place where the token falls mark the target. If the Gunner is not satisfied, he can ignore the first drop, and try again. The second drop location will be the target, and the first drop is ignored, even if the second drop is worse.

- Machine guns on the ground and infantry in the trenches are literally blind. Aircraft are indistinguishable as it is not possible to make out the roundels in these circumstances. So infantry and machine guns shoot at the nearest aircraft in their arc of fire.

- But defenders may have large search lights (See below). These searchlights project a cone of light that allows defenders to identify enemy aircraft. Each turn, after the pilots have chosen their maneuver cards, the defenders place the light beam templates. Movements take place normally. At the end of each of the three phases, if an enemy aircraft is in a cone of light, it may be the target of land forces which are within reach, according to the normal rules. Similarly, an allied aircraft in a light beam will not have to suffer the fire of allied infantry.

[Note:] However, these search lights are not very resilient. If a plane shoots at long range, they are destroyed in the first point of damage. If a plane shoots at short range, they are automatically destroyed.

- A plane that is on fire is an ideal target. All those who shoot at it have a +1 bonus to their damage cards. Ground forces can shoot at it, even if it is not illuminated, when it is in range.

Equipment for Nighttime Bombing Defense

Ref: Matériel pour les Batailles nocturnes

We are in need of equipment for night scenarios.

So we made search lights and light beams. Search lights were used early in the war to protect against night bombing, mostly against zeppelins that hit England several times.

This search light card can be placed anywhere in the field, it generates the light beam below, whose tip is placed in the center.



The beam of light is placed at the beginning of the turn, after the selection of aircraft maneuver cards, but before the first is revealed. At the beginning of each round, the beam can be rotated. Any aircraft which is touched by the beam is considered illuminated.


This template is to be printed on an A4 page, which gives its approximate dimensions. A little trimming with scissors is advisable (the white parts, anyway).