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Thread: Ace card and aircraft special card Qs

  1. #1

    Default Ace card and aircraft special card Qs

    Hi all,
    I have a couple of questions regarding Ace cards and aircraft feature cards.

    1) If a pilot card features an ace ability/abilities, eg Gruber, does he automatically get those if you play ace rules? If so, do they count towards however many skills you have agreed upon?

    2) if you are playing ace rules do the airplanes automatically get their specific abilities/flaws? I can’t see why you would choose ‘unreachable machine guns’ otherwise.

    3) with a pilot that has more than one level, eg Ansillotto, do those levels refer to how you are using the airplane? In his example, does level 1 refer to ‘rockets and machine gun’, and level 2 to ‘rockets only’ (hence the manoeuvrability skill)?

    Cheers, Peter.

  2. #2

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    Would help if I add the pictures!
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  3. #3

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    Quote Originally Posted by Pilot Pete View Post
    Hi all,
    I have a couple of questions regarding Ace cards and aircraft feature cards.

    1) If a pilot card features an ace ability/abilities, eg Gruber, does he automatically get those if you play ace rules? If so, do they count towards however many skills you have agreed upon?

    2) if you are playing ace rules do the airplanes automatically get their specific abilities/flaws? I can’t see why you would choose ‘unreachable machine guns’ otherwise.

    3) with a pilot that has more than one level, eg Ansillotto, do those levels refer to how you are using the airplane? In his example, does level 1 refer to ‘rockets and machine gun’, and level 2 to ‘rockets only’ (hence the manoeuvrability skill)?

    Cheers, Peter.
    All ace rules are optional.

    1) if using Ace rules, Identified aces, with names known, have the abilities on their cards, but only those abilities. If including other aces, those without cards, but whose names and abilities are known to you through research, use their reputed abilities. If using anonymous pilots who didn’t get publicity, anything goes, but you'd need to tell a good story to justify more than one, or at most two abilities. Plenty of unknown pilots would have had one.

    2) Aircraft special characteristics should always be used, unless playing a simplified game, with no optional rules. To use Ace abilities without aircraft characteristics would be to strain at a gnat, while swallowing a camel. Or even an SE5a. We use aircraft characteristics, but usually with anonymous pilots with no special abilities. Really though, whatever you find is most fun.

    3) No. Taking the example of Ancillotto, there is no evidence that the Nieuport 11 had appreciably different performance when fitted with a single lewis over the top wing, and when not, regardless of who was flying it. As regards Ancillotto himself, he scored kills before his posting to 77a squadriglia where he did his balloon busting, as well as after. 77a converted to Hanriot HD1s in 1918 and Ancillitto's last kill was a German Pfalz III attacking his airfield in October 1918. Before then he pioneered nightfighting frim February 1918 , scoring several kills against Austrian HB C.Is at night in September.
    Pedants (like me) would have him gain his balloon busting ability after his 4 victories in November 1917, then his maneuverability well after flying through the AH balloon on 5 December 1917, probably from February 1918 and his 9th kill.
    Andrea gave him balloon busting from 30 November 1917, his 5th kill, then maneuverable pilot from August 1918, and his 10th kill.

    Unless you are going to go to those lengths in historical research...
    1. Use aircraft characteristics.
    2. Use ace abilities if you wish, but sparingly, for play balance.
    3. Don't worry about fine details and interactions unless prepared to research your history.
    Last edited by Zoe Brain; 03-28-2021 at 00:24.

  4. #4

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    Note that most AUSTRIAN BUILT D.IIIs - actually Oeffag 153s - had buried Schwarzlose MGs. Some Oeffag 53s, Austrian built D.IIs, had a single Schwarzlose MG, easily accessible, firing at an angle over the top wing.

    German built ones had non buried Spandau MGs.

    So if you do want to discard this rule, one which does tend to be infuriating unless you're prepared to leave combat early, just say the pilot is flying a German built machine today.

  5. #5

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    Thanks for your help, Zoe.

  6. #6

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    I find that ace abilities and aircraft abilities can be used to intuitively balance out a scenario: better still is for a gamemaster to only inform the concerned side of the latter, and the former only when it becomes obvious. Such limited information games get to be challenging for those who have played many many games, and what something other than the same old, same old.



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