Feedback on Ammunition Rules
So I'm writing rules for a fighter sweep mini-campaign, and I wanted to keep track of ammunition so players couldn't just continue to sweep northern France indefinitely looking for targets if their plane has an insane range. I've written up some rules for this, and I was wondering if I could get some advice and feedback on this - if the rules are good/bad, easy/hard to understand, etc.
Ammunition
Fuel is not the only limiting factor of how long a Rhubarb can last – if a plane runs out of ammunition, there’s not much more damage they can do to enemy targets or fighters. This prevents planes with large fuel reserves being able to do a complete tour of France and racking up a career’s worth of kills in one sortie.
To avoid overcomplicating things, ammo is measured in seconds of firing instead of individual bullets. Each time a plane fires at a target, one second of ammo is removed from its stores. This means that a plane with 21 seconds of ammo can fire regularly a total of 21 times throughout the whole sortie.
However, there may be situations where a pilot wishes to conserve ammo, or wants to ensure that they hit their target. We allow for this in allowing bursts to last for half a second and two seconds, as well as for the regular one second.
Half-Second Bursts
It is possible to fire in a half-second burst, dealing lower damage to any given target but conserving ammunition and allowing you to make more attacks over the course of a Rhubarb.
After declaring which target you are going to fire against, before damage counters are drawn, you may declare that you are firing a half-second burst. This can be declared against both targets on the ground and in the air. For each counter that would be drawn, draw two and use the one with the lower value, discarding the other one. This process is known as “halving” your damage.
Example: A Spitfire Mk. I is firing at a small Fi 156 Storch desperately trying to fly away. The Spitfire player declares they are firing a half-second burst. The attack is at short range, so the attack deals two B counters of damage. First, a 0 and a 2 are drawn, so the 2 is discarded and the first damage counter is a 0. Then, a 5 and a 7 are drawn, so the 7 is discarded and the second damage counter is a 5. Since this comparison is done with each counter during the attack, the final damage dealt is 0 and 5 instead of the overall lower values of 0 and 2.
If two counters have the exact same damage value, but one has special damage, the one with special damage counts as being higher. Otherwise, only consider the damage value on the token for the purposes of comparison. Any special damage applicable to the target is applied.
Example: In a later turn, the Spitfire is still firing at the Storch. This is also a half-second burst at close range, dealing two B counters of damage. Two counters are drawn – a 2, and a pilot wounded with a 2. Since the pilot wounded with a 2 is special damage, it counts as being higher than the regular 2 and is discarded. For the second counter, a 5 and an engine damage with a 3 are drawn. Since the 5 has a higher damage value, the engine damage with a 3 is used. The Storch suffers all the effects of having a damaged engine for the rest of the encounter.
When removing ammo from your ammo count, instead of removing one full second of ammo, remove one half of a second.
Example: Before the Spitfire fired a half-second burst at the Storch, they had 21 seconds of ammo left. Afterwards, they had 20 ˝ seconds of ammo left.
If you would be forced to “halve” your damage by another rule, you may not fire in a half-second burst.
Two Second Bursts
If ammo conservation isn’t considered important, but staying out of the target area is, then firing a two second burst might be a good idea to ensure the target is hit. This only applies to ground targets, as their stationary nature (or extremely low relative speed when moving) makes firing longer bursts a more likely way to hit – most planes will simply take evasive manoeuvres and spoil the shot.
After declaring which ground target you are going to fire against, before damage counters are drawn, you may declare that you are firing a two-second burst. A ground target is defined as any target that isn’t a plane flying in the air (including naval targets, planes on airfields, etc.). For each counter that would be drawn, draw two and use the one with the higher value, discarding the other one. This process is known as “doubling” your damage.
Example: A Hurricane Mk. IIc is firing at a flak gun on the ground. Hoping to kill the gun in one shot, the Hurricane player declares they are firing a two second burst. The attack is at long range, so the attack deals two C counters of damage. First, a 0 and a 5 are drawn, so the 0 is discarded and the first damage counter is a 5. Then, an 8 and a 6 are drawn, so the 6 is discarded and the second counter is an 8. Since this comparison is done with each counter during the attack, the final damage dealt is 5 and 8 instead of the overall higher values of 6 and 8.
If two counters have the exact same damage value, but one has special damage, the one with special damage counts as being higher. Otherwise, only consider the damage value on the token for the purposes of comparison. Any special damage applicable to the target is applied (although since two-second bursts are only applicable to ground targets, there aren’t many situations where this is useful).
Example: In a later turn, the Hurricane is firing at a He 111 on the ground at an airfield. This is also a two second attack at long range, dealing two C counters of damage. Two counters are drawn – a 3, and an engine damage with a 3. Since the engine damage is a 3 with special damage, it counts as being higher than the regular 3, and the regular 3 is discarded. For the second counter, an 8 and a smoke with a 5 are drawn. Since the 8 has a higher damage value, the smoke with a 5 is discarded. The He 111 suffers from having a damaged engine as normal.
When removing ammo from your ammo count, instead of removing one second of ammo, remove two seconds.
Example: Before the Hurricane fired a two second burst at the He 111, they had 7 seconds of ammo left. Afterwards, they had 5 seconds of ammo left.
If you would be forced to “halve” your damage by another rule, firing a two-second burst will only negate the effects of this “halving” and result in damage being drawn normally.
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Originally Posted by OldGuy59
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