When activated an aircraft is assigned to either:
- Aerial Reconnaissance (Requires a Staff Order or Special Air Mission)
- Ground Attack (automatic unless assigned to Reconnaisance)
Ground Attack Mission
An aircraft can attack any visible enemy unit. Place the aircraft next to the target unit. Enemy Anti-Aircraft units can use opportunity fire against the attacking aircraft (see Anti-Aircraft Fire).
After resolving any Anti-Aircraft Fire, and if not driven from the table or Dispersed, the aircraft attacks.
Target Type
- Firepower Targets4+
- Anti-tank Targets4+
The attack is not modified by angle of attack and is made against a unit’s lowest Reaction Die value.
A US aircraft attacks a Panther Ausf G. The Panther has RD 8D/6D. If the Panther is hit it rolls its 6D Reaction Dice. Light Cover: Units attacked by aircraft do not gain light cover dice.
Combat Results
Apply combat results as normal.
- Any unit Forced Back by an air attack moves towards its Friendly Table Edge.
- The aircraft is removed from the table after making its attack.
Attacks Against Blinds
An attack against a Blind is handled the same way as artillery interdiction fire (see Interdiction Fire in the Combat HQ rulebook).
- The aircraft attacks with a 5+ TN.
- The Blind rolls 4D Reaction with a 5+ TN.
- Any hits cause suppressions.
Hidden Units
An aircraft with a ground attack mission cannot attack or attempt to spot hidden units as it is flying too fast to search for hidden enemies.
Friendly Fire
Friendly fire occurs when an aircraft rolls more 1s than 6s with its Attack Dice.
- The aircraft has misidentified its target and attacks a friendly unit.
- Your opponent takes your aircraft’s Attack Dice and uses them to attack the closest friendly unit within 9” of the original target.
- If there is no target within 9”, no attack takes place – your aircraft has identified its target as friendly and doesn’t fire.
After the number of aircraft has been determined, a roll is made for each aircraft’s arrival. The player with air superiority rolls one Air Mission Dice per aircraft, then allocates the dice to his Dice Chains.
Air Power Dice are used to determine how many aircraft are available each turn.
World War Two saw extensive use of air power with planes attacking enemy forces in conjunction with ground forces. Air power is not essential – you can easily ignore it. Maybe bad weather prevents attacks onto the battlefield, or air superiority is so contested that no planes ever make it past the enemy fighter screens.
