Fight for the Sky

Fight for the Sky Rulebook

Table of Contents

How to Set Up the Basic Game

Before going any further you should check that you have a two piece game board, a set of push out cardboard playing pieces and a roster sheet for each player as well as this booklet. Do not break out the playing pieces yet, first take the game board and place the two halves together to form a map of south east England. Compass bearings are given on both halves as a guide.

There are a number of features on the map that have a direct effect on play, the terrain key in the north east corner of the board shows you what they are. Ignore the various tracks and boxes for now, these will be explained to you later.

You will see that a hexagonal pattern has been printed over the map, this is used to show where playing pieces are and is important for movement and combat as will be shown later. Along the north edge of the map you will find a row of letters, these can be used to identify any hex on the map. To pinpoint Biggin Hill for instance you should look for the letter "E" and count down 5 hexes, on the fifth hex you will find that historic airbase. Manston is on P5, Tangmere on A9 and the most northerly raid assembly hex is on U6.

You are now ready to set the game up, decide who will control the RAF, that player sits at the north edge of the map and the Luftwaffe player sits at the south edge.

Look at the cardboard playing pieces now, these are called counters and are used to represent the aircraft that fought (unit counters) or are markers that are moved on the loss and turn tracks during play. You will see that the unit counters are coloured to show which side they belong to, the RAF units have a blue background and the Luftwaffe units are grey.

There are two classes of aircraft in the game: fighters and bombers. The RAF have two types of fighter which can be easily recognised by the colour of their aircraft symbol, green for Hurricane and red for Spitfire. The aircraft type is also listed on the back of the counter along with the unit's Squadron number and home base. Some units bear the name of a sector airfield in brackets, ignore this and the RAF roundel on the front as these play no part in the Basic Game.

[Counter diagram: front shows Home Base, Aircraft Symbol, Squadron No. and Roundel (example: a Gravesend counter, squadron 501). Back, with the sector airfield labelled: Squadron No., Aircraft Type (Hurricane), Home Base (Gravesend), Sector Airfield (Biggin Hill).]

[Aircraft types key: Spitfire (RAF, red aircraft symbol), Hurricane (RAF, green aircraft symbol), Me109, Me110, Ju87 (Stukas), Do17, He111, Ju88.]

The Luftwaffe player has fighters and bombers in his command. Units 11 to 48 are bombers, 49 to 76 are Me109 fighters and 77 to 86 are Me110 fighters. Units 29 and 30 are Ju87's (Stukas) and the other yellow bombers are He111's. Units 19, 20, 27 and 28 are Ju88's, the rest of the black bombers are Do17's. Ignore the Maltese cross shown beside the aircraft symbol.

[Counter diagram, Luftwaffe side: front shows Aircraft Symbol, Maltese Cross and Unit No.; back (face down) shows the Direction Arrow.]

Push out the RAF counters and pick out the following Squadrons: 32, 41, 54, 56, 65, 74, 501 and 610. Put each of these units on its home base with the aircraft symbol face down to show it is on the ground. Place the other RAF counters into the game box, you do not need these for the Basic Game.

The Luftwaffe player now takes 24 of his units and makes them up into four formations as follows:

Formation One: 15, 16, 17, 18, 21 and 22
Formation Two: 31, 32, 33, 34, 50 and 51
Formation Three: 35, 36, 37, 52, 53 and 54
Formation Four: 38, 39, 40, 41, 42 and 55

Set these formations to one side and put the rest of the Luftwaffe counters into the game box along with the Day Turn marker. Put the Game Turn marker on box "1" of the Turn Record Track located on the south edge and put the two loss markers aside for the moment, these will be brought into use shortly.

[Loss markers: RAF Loss Marker and Luftwaffe Loss Marker, each marked LOSSES.]

Leave all these counters in position, they will be used later during examples of play.

How to Play

Fight for the Sky is played in game turns during which each player moves his units and attacks in an attempt to shoot down enemy aircraft and bomb military targets. A typical game turn would consist of the following actions: first all Luftwaffe formations on the board are moved then the RAF player moves his units and intercepts. The RAF player now attacks every formation that he has intercepted and both sides engage in a dogfight. Finally, Luftwaffe formations that are in their target hex attack the target and check for bomb damage. The Luftwaffe player now moves the Game Turn marker one box to the right on the Game Turn Record Track to indicate the start of a new turn. Repeat these steps until all Luftwaffe formations have carried out their raids and returned home.

How to Move and Intercept

Each unit is given a movement allowance that represents its airspeed, the allowance given depends on the aircraft type:

Hurricane = 5, Spitfire = 6
Me109 = 6, Me110 = 5
He111 = 3, Ju87 = 3
Do17 = 4, Ju88 = 4

Units move across the board following the hexagonal pattern. They move from one adjacent hex to another deducting 1 from their allowance for each hex entered. Once a unit has used up its full movement allowance it must stop and move no further on that turn.

Luftwaffe units must spend their full movement allowance on game turn 1 "Assembling" their formations over the coast of France. To assemble a formation simply place it on one of the four raid assembly hexes. On game turn two the Luftwaffe formations must move off the assembly hexes towards their targets.

RAF units start the game on the ground at their home base, they may take off during the RAF movement on any game turn. To take off simply turn the unit counter over so that the aircraft symbol is showing then move it any number of hexes up to its full movement allowance.

RAF units that finish their movement on the same hex as a Luftwaffe formation are considered to have intercepted it and they must attack as soon as all movement has finished.

To get the feel of how to move and intercept we can play through a couple of moves using the RAF units in place on the board and the four formations already made up. The RAF player is not normally told the starting point for each formation but for this example set them up as follows: Place Formation One on U6, Formation Two on S9, Formation Three on Q10 and Formation Four on Q12. Make sure the formations are face down with the direction arrows pointing north west. The RAF player notes this activity and decides to move half of his available units to meet the incoming raids, the units at Hornchurch are kept back in reserve. 56 Squadron at Rochford takes off and moves its full allowance as follows: K3, K4, K5, K6 and L7. Make sure you turn it face up so that you can see the aircraft symbol, this tells you it is in flight. 501 Squadron at Gravesend moves I5, J6, K6, L7 to L8 where it must stop. The units at Biggin Hill move directly south east, 32 Squadron stops at J8 and 610 Squadron carries on to K8. Move the game turn marker on to box 2.

The Luftwaffe player now moves all his formations along raid flight paths towards their targets. Formation One moves T6, S7, R7 to Q6. Formation Two moves R9, Q8, P8 to O7. It must stop there because the bombers in the formation have used up their full allowance, the escorting fighters must stay with the formation and they lose the balance of their allowance. Formation Three moves north west for two hexes then south west as follows: P10, O9, N10, M10. Formation Four goes P12, P11, P10 to O9. Formation Two has now crossed a coastal hex in England. It is turned face up and the RAF player may look through the units to see what is there before moving his own units. He does so and finds that the formation contains 2 fighter and 4 bomber units, a tempting target that he cannot resist.

56 and 501 Squadron move onto O7 and intercept Formation Two. 32 and 610 Squadron move on to M10 and intercept Formation Three, the RAF player is not told what is in the formation until the attack actually takes place. Finally 41 and 54 Squadron take off from Hornchurch and move south east to L8. When you have moved the units leave them in position on the board for use in later examples.

Notes on Movement

Every unit starts each game turn with its full movement allowance available to it. Once a unit stops moving it loses any unused portion of its allowance.

All units in a formation must move together throughout the game, the movement allowance of the slowest unit in the formation governs how far that formation can move. No more than one formation may be in a single hex at the end of movement.

Starting on game turn 2, every formation must move its full allowance following a raid flight path towards its allocated target. To follow a flight path you must move in the direction of the arrows printed on the map.

Formations must move every turn until they reach and bomb their target hex. On the turn after it completes its bombing mission a formation must move towards the nearest raid assembly hex using the most direct route, flight paths are now ignored.

Returning formations use 1 from their allowance to move onto an assembly hex, once they do so they are considered to have returned to France.

A formation that moves across a coastal hex in England is considered to have been spotted by the Observer Corps. It is turned face up and the RAF player may look through it to see what units are there. He may do this only on the turn that the coast is crossed.

Once a formation has been turned face up it stays that way for the rest of the game. The Luftwaffe player may always choose which aircraft counter to leave on top of the stack. He may alter this at any time during his movement to confuse his opponent.

If a formation accidentally strays onto an urban hex when returning to France it is attacked by the anti-aircraft defences. Use Steps (1) to (3) in "How to Bomb" when doing this, ignore flights aborted.

RAF units may move across the board in any direction they choose, they can use up as little or as much of their allowance as they choose.

RAF units may combine or separate as often as they want as long as there are no more than two of them in a hex at the end of movement.

RAF units that take off do not land again in the Basic Game.

RAF units may never enter a raid assembly hex.

How to Attack

When all movement has finished the RAF player must attack every formation that he has intercepted and a dogfight develops. A dogfight takes place in the following manner:

(A) The RAF player announces which formation he will attack.
(B) RAF units attack escorting fighters.
(C) Escorts fight back.
(D) RAF units attack bombers.
(E) Bombers attack back.

Repeat these steps until all the intercepted formations have been attacked. More details on how to carry out these actions are given below but first you will need to look at the roster sheets used by both players during the game. Separate them so that each player may study his own roster.

Look at the RAF Basic Game Roster first, here you will see that each unit in the game is shown with a row of boxes to the right of its squadron number. Each blank box represents a flight of aircraft, this is important when working out attack results.

The Luftwaffe Basic Game Roster gives the same details for each of the formations in use. You will also see that there is a panel at the bottom of each formation, this is used to record the target that it will attack.

On the back of each roster sheet you will find the attack table, this is used to work out aircraft losses during the dogfight. Ignore the other tables for now, they play no part in the dogfight sequence. Read through Steps (1) to (7) below then play through the next example which will show you how to dogfight.

[Attack table diagram: the booklet shows a sample of the attack table with labelled parts: RAF Aircraft Type, Attack Table (rows of RAF attack strength against columns for the die roll 1 to 6), RAF Die Roll, Luftwaffe Die Roll, RAF Attack Strength, Luftwaffe Aircraft Type (Me109, Me110, Ju87, Ju88/He111/Do17 columns) and Luftwaffe Attack Strength, with the example circled for an RAF Hurricane attacking with a die roll of 2 at attack strength 10, giving 1 aircraft shot down, and a Luftwaffe Me109 attacking at strength 6 with a die roll of 3, giving no aircraft shot down. The full table is printed on the back of the roster sheets and is not reproduced in this booklet.]

Step (1) The RAF player attacks any fighters in the formation, these are considered to be Escorts. To do this he adds up the total number of flights taking part in his attack. He gets one flight for each blank box shown on the roster sheet to the right of the attacking squadron numbers. He now adds on a bonus of 2 flights for attacking escorts, this total is his attack strength.

Step (2) Look at the attack table now, there you will find a row of columns numbered from 1 to 6. The RAF player throws a six-sided die, the number rolled tells him which of the six columns he must use to calculate how many aircraft he shoots down.

Step (3) The RAF player now looks at the two columns on the extreme left of the table. He locates the one that bears the name of his attacking aircraft type and looks down the column until he finds the number equal to his attack strength. He looks along that line to the column found in Step (2), the number there shows how many aircraft he has shot down.

Step (4) The Luftwaffe player records the aircraft shot down by moving his marker along the Losses Track on the south edge of the board. The marker is moved one box to the right for each aircraft shot down.

Important: Every time your loss marker reaches box 4 on the Losses Track you must lose a flight from one of the units just attacked. To record the loss of the flight tick off a box on the roster sheet against the unit that you choose. Once a unit has lost all its flights remove the counter from the game.

Step (5) The surviving Luftwaffe fighters attack back using the same procedure outlined above except that they do not get a bonus when working out their attack strength.

Step (6) The RAF player now goes on to attack the bombers in the same way but with two modifications. He adds up the number of attacking flights as before then takes away a number equal to at least one third of the surviving escort flights. These are considered to be screening the escorts. He now gets a bonus of 4 for attacking bombers to arrive at his attack strength.

Step (7) The surviving bombers attack back as in Step (5) above.

Example: Let's go back to the game board now and play through the two attacks set up on O7 and M10. Take O7 first, the Luftwaffe units are taken off the hex and spread out so that both players can see them, leave the RAF units in place to mark the hex. The escorts are attacked first, both RAF Squadrons are at their full strength of 4, this means that 8 flights will make the attack. The bonus of 2 for attacking escorts is added to this giving an attack strength of 10. A die is rolled and the result is a 2. (The end of this sentence sits against the diagram in the scan; the RAF die roll shown in the diagram is 2.)

Example, continued: 2. Find that column on the attack table then look down the Hurricane column until you come to the number 10. Cross reference this line with column 2 and you will find that one aircraft has been shot down. The Luftwaffe player puts his loss marker on box "1" of the Losses Track then his escorts attack back. These are at full strength which gives him an attack strength of 8, he rolls the die and gets a 3. There is no 8 on the Me109 column so he has to use the lower number of 6. This line is cross referenced with column 3, the result is no aircraft shot down.

The RAF player now goes on to attack the bombers, his squadrons are still at full strength but he must screen the escorts with 3 flights. This reduces him to 5 before he gets his bonus of 4 for attacking bombers giving him an attack strength of 9. His die roll this time is 4 which means he shoots down 1 more aircraft and the Luftwaffe marker is moved up to box "2". The bombers now attack back, the aircraft symbols are black which means these are Do17's or Ju88's. Since both these use the same column on the attack table there is no need to work out their exact type. There are 16 flights involved in the attack, using line 15 the Luftwaffe player will need a 3, 4, 5, or 6 on the die roll to shoot anything down. He throws a 2 and declares to his opponent that the dice must have been manufactured in Britain - nothing is shot down. This dogfight is now finished and the formation is put back on O7. Put it on top of the RAF units to remind you that the units have fought.

Both players move on to the next dogfight where a Hurricane Squadron and a Spitfire Squadron have joined forces to attack the formation which is still face down. Take the Luftwaffe units and spread them out face up, the RAF player now sees that he is up against 3 fighter and 3 bomber units. He is attacking with two aircraft types and must combine their flights when working out his attack strength. In such a case you always assume that all the aircraft involved are of the inferior type therefore he must use the Hurricane column on the attack table. He has an attack strength of 10 and rolls a 4 to shoot down 1 aircraft, the Luftwaffe marker goes up to "3". The escorts attack back with 12 flights of Me109's and lady luck smiles on them, a throw of 6 and they shoot down 2 aircraft, the fortunes of war seem to be changing at last. Put the RAF marker on box "2" of the RAF Losses Track. The RAF must leave 4 flights to screen the escorts, the bonus of 4 added to the flights that get through to the bombers gives them an attack strength of 8. The fighters are still considered to be a mixed force of Hurricanes and Spitfires, use the Hurricane column. The die roll is a 5, one aircraft is shot down and the Luftwaffe marker goes up to box "4". A full flight has now been destroyed and the Luftwaffe player must take the loss from one of the bomber units just attacked. He decides to take it from No.35 and ticks off a box on the roster sheet to show that it only has 3 flights left. The bombers attack back with a die roll of 5, one aircraft is shot down and the RAF marker goes up to box "3". Put the formation back on M10 and leave all the units in place for the next example.

Notes on Attack

If a formation is not escorted the RAF player attacks with all available flights.

Loss markers are kept off the board at the start of the game and are placed on the Losses Track only when the first aircraft are shot down. When this happens find the box with a number equal to the quantity shot down and place the marker on it.

Further losses are recorded by moving the marker one box to the right for every aircraft shot down. If your marker is on box "3" and you lose 2 aircraft move it up to box "4" and record the loss of a flight then move the marker on to box "1". If the marker is on box "4" and you lose 2 aircraft move it to box "2". Remember every box represents one aircraft shot down.

When two types of aircraft combine to dogfight always use the inferior aircraft type column. Thus if 2 Me109 units combine with an Me110 you would use the Me110 column on the attack table.

When locating your attack strength on the attack table always use the nearest lower number if the exact number is not shown, e.g. 5 flights of Spitfire attack as if they have an attack strength of 4.

How to Bomb

A formation that has moved onto its target hex must bomb it after all dogfights have been fought through. Before it bombs, the formation must undergo attack from the anti-aircraft defences on the hex, this may result in the loss of aircraft and may also cause a number of bomber flights to abort their mission. Read through the following then play out the example below.

Step (1) Add up the total number of bomber flights in the formation then look at the anti-aircraft table on the back of your roster sheet.
Step (2) On the left you will find four columns, find the one that contains a number equal to your bomber flight total. Look down that column until you come to a number that is equal to the anti-aircraft value of the target hex.
Step (3) On the right there is a row of six numbered columns each of which is split into two headings, hit and abort. Throw a die to find out which of these columns is used, look down that column until you come to the line found in (2) and you will see what effect the anti-aircraft fire has had. If a figure appears under "hit" the Luftwaffe immediately loses that number of aircraft. A figure shown under "abort" tells you how many flights have been deflected from their target. Aborted flights are not lost from the game, simply deduct them from the number of flights that bomb the target.
Step (4) Add up the number of bomber flights that may now bomb the target taking into account the effects of the anti-aircraft fire. This is your attack strength.
Step (5) Look to the left of the bombing table and find the line that contains a number equal to your attack strength.
Step (6) Roll a die to find which of the columns to use (ignore column "7" in the Basic Game).
Step (7) Cross reference the line and column to see how many hits have been scored on the target. Record any hits on the bomb damage table which is on the RAF roster sheet.

Repeat these steps until all bomb attacks have been made.

[Anti-aircraft table: the full grid is printed on the back of the roster sheet and is not reproduced in this booklet's diagram transcription. The diagram shows four flight-total columns (1-4, 5-9, 10-18, 9+) against the anti-aircraft value of the target hex, and six die-roll columns each split into Hit and Abort. The example in the booklet uses 11 bomber flights, an anti-aircraft value of 1 at Rye, and a die roll of 4, giving 1 aircraft shot down and 1 flight aborted.]

[Bombing table, from the booklet diagram. Die roll across the top, attack strength down the side; "-" means no hit.]

Attack Strength	1	2	3	4	5	6	7
1-3	-	-	-	-	1	1	1
4-7	-	-	-	1	1	1	2
8-15	-	-	1	1	1	2	2

Example: For this last example we will use Formation Three, move this from M10 onto the radar station at Rye, this is its target. 41 and 54 Squadron move from L6 to K9 and intercept. Take all other units off the board and put them to one side ready to start the game properly.

The Spitfires attack the escorts at strength 10 and shoot down 1 aircraft, move the losses marker back down to box "1". The escorts attack back with their twelve flights and roll another 6 shooting down 2 aircraft. The RAF marker is moved up to box "4" then back to box "1" and a flight is ticked off. The RAF player decides to take the flight off 41 Squadron. The RAF units now attack the bombers and throw a 6, 2 aircraft are shot down and the Luftwaffe marker goes up to box "3". The bombers shoot back and miss!

All dogfights have now been completed and the bombers attack their targets. First they are shot at by the anti-aircraft defences. Rye has an AA value of "1", the RAF player rolls a 4 against the 11 bomber flights which means 1 aircraft is shot down and 1 flight aborts. Move the marker up to box "4" and tick off another flight box belonging to unit No.35. There are now 10 bomber flights left in the formation less the one that aborted, that gives the bombers an attack strength of 9. The Luftwaffe player rolls a 5 and scores 1 hit on Rye. The RAF player ticks off a box on the Bomb Damage table found on his roster sheet.

How to Win the Basic Game

The game finishes when all Luftwaffe formations have bombed their targets and returned to France. At that time both players add up their victory points to see who wins. Victory points are allocated for bomb damage and aircraft losses. The Luftwaffe player gets 1 point for every hit scored against a target and 2 points for every RAF flight shot down. The points given for hitting a target may never be more than the anti-aircraft value on the target hex, this means you could get a maximum of 1 point for Rye and up to 3 points for Dover. The RAF player gets 1 point for each Luftwaffe fighter flight shot down and 2 points for each bomber flight shot down. To work out the victory points for each player consult the bomb damage table and Basic Game rosters, ignore any aircraft losses shown on the Loss Tracks at the end of the game.

Now you know how to move, attack and win Fight for the Sky, play through a few Basic Games before moving onto the Intermediate Game. Set up the RAF units on their bases then make up the four Luftwaffe formations exactly as described in "How to Play". The Luftwaffe player now secretly notes down the target for each formation on his roster sheet then places these on any raid assembly hex of his choice. The targets are not revealed to the RAF player until they are attacked and he is not told what formation is being placed on each assembly hex. The Luftwaffe player may attack any of the following targets - Dunkirk, Manston, Dover, Hawkinge, Lympne and Rye.

Intermediate Game

The Basic Game in Fight for the Sky is intended to introduce you to the system of movement and attack used in the Intermediate and Campaign Games. It is representative of a short sharp raid on the south east corner of England and requires a minimum amount of planning for both players. The Intermediate Game covers a full day's flying and goes into the subject of aerial warfare more deeply by introducing such elements as endurance, refuelling and organisation.

How to Set Up the Game

The RAF player takes all twenty of his units and places each one face down on its home base. The Luftwaffe player takes all his bomber units and separates them into 3 groups as follows:

Units 11 to 22 form Group 1
Units 23 to 28 form Group 2
Units 29 to 48 form Group 3

You will notice that the Maltese cross on the front of each counter is positioned to show at a glance which group each unit belongs to. He now takes his fighter units and separates them into aircraft types.

How to Move

Use all the Basic Game movement rules but add in the following modifications. To take into account the limited range over which they could operate the following aircraft types must land after a certain number of turns in the air. Spitfires and Me109's must land after 6 turns, Hurricanes after 8 turns, Me110's after 10 turns and Ju87's after 12 turns. Look at the RAF Intermediate and Campaign Game roster, the first column to the right of each squadron number is used to record the turn by which the unit must land. If 17 Squadron took off on game turn 2 it would have to land by turn 9, that number would be written in the box as a reminder to the RAF player.

Once a unit lands it must stay on the ground for two full turns to refuel after which it is free to take off again. Thus if 17 Squadron took off on turn 2 then landed on turn 9 it would not be able to take off again until turn 12, this fact is recorded in the second box to the right of the squadron number.

The Luftwaffe player keeps track of his own units in the same manner using the Luftwaffe Intermediate and Campaign roster.

Notes

A unit that fails to land on or before the turn indicated on the roster sheet is treated as shot down. Remove the counter from the game and tick off all of its flights on the roster, these count towards the victory points at the end of the game. A unit that fails to land by the end of the game is treated in the same way.

RAF units may land at any friendly airbase, if they land at their home base they take 2 turns to refuel, if they land at any other base they must take 4 turns to refuel.

The time required to refuel at an airbase is increased by 1 turn for every bomb hit scored on the base. Units on the ground refuelling when a hit is scored must delay their return to the game by 1 turn, alter your roster to record the fact. Otherwise units on the ground are not affected by bombing.

Duxford, Debden, Martlesham and Tangmere are off-map airbases. A unit must take 3 off its allowance to leave or enter each of these bases. Thus 85 Squadron based at Martlesham can only move 2 hexes away from J1 on the turn it takes off, etc.

Luftwaffe units are considered to have landed once they move back on to a raid assembly hex.

Luftwaffe units that have landed are put into the "Returning" boxes on the south east corner of the board. Fighters must stay there until they become available to fly another mission. They may fly a maximum of two missions per game. Bombers may fly only one mission per game.

How to Make Up Your Formations

In this game the Luftwaffe player is free to choose which units he will combine to make up his formations. He may put together up to 4 formations per turn and place them on the raid assembly hexes once all his other units have moved. As with the Basic Game, it takes a formation its full allowance to "Assemble" in this way. Formations may be fed into the game in any order and on any turn the Luftwaffe player chooses. There are a number of restrictions however, these represent the restraints imposed by the Luftwaffe's organisation.

Bombers from different groups may not be put into the same formation.
Bombers with a movement allowance of 4 may not be in the same formation as bombers with an allowance of 3.
A maximum of 6 units may be used to make up a formation.
No more than 3 fighter units may be put into a single formation.
Me109's and Me110's may mix freely in any formation.
Fighters in the "Returning" box that are available to fly their second mission may be put into a formation. Do not take them from the box until the turn in which they are to be put into their new formation.

Escorts must stay with their formation until lack of fuel obliges them to return to France. Thus if a number of Ju88's set out from Q12 with an escort of Me109's, the fighters would move as far as hex row E before they had to turn back.

How to Plan Your Raids

Each time you make up a formation you must select a target that it will bomb. Look at the Luftwaffe Intermediate and Campaign roster sheet, there you will see a column of targets, each one is an airfield, sector airfield or radar station. You will note that the bomber units are listed to either side of this column, to record the target allocated to a unit simply draw a pencil line from the box containing the unit number to the panel with the correct target name. Escorts in a formation automatically move with it, there is no need to note their target hex on the roster but you should keep track of the turn they must land.

Notes

There is no limit to the number of formations that may attack a single target during the game.

A formation must always carry out a raid once committed even if the target is destroyed by another formation before it arrives.

If a formation cannot enter its target hex because another formation is already there, it must stop in an adjacent hex and move onto the target next turn. If your planning has gone badly awry this may result in a large line of formations waiting to get at the same target.

Bombers must proceed to and bomb their targets even if to do so means that they do not get back to France before the end of the game.

How to Attack and Bomb

Use all the Basic Game rules but add in the following. The RAF player adds 1 to his anti-aircraft value when attacking Ju87 units on the anti-aircraft table. His value may never go above 6.

The Luftwaffe player adds 1 to his die roll when bombing with Ju87 units.

These rules are cancelled if there are other bomber types in the formation with the Ju87's.

Since you may now bomb a target with more than one formation it is possible that you will run out of boxes on which to record hits. Any such overkill is ignored and does not count for victory points. E.g. Rye has only 3 boxes, once these have been marked off it is destroyed and any further hits on that target are ignored. The anti-aircraft value of a hex is lost when the target on it is destroyed.

The anti-aircraft value on P7 may never be lost in this way. It is considered to be sited in the urban area of Dover which cannot be destroyed. When attacking the radar site on this hex the Luftwaffe player does undergo attack from the Dover anti-aircraft value of 3.

How to Win

The Intermediate Game finishes when all Luftwaffe formations have bombed their targets and returned to France or at the end of game turn 16, whichever comes first. At the end of the game each player adds up his victory points and the player with the highest total is the winner. The RAF player gets 1 point for each Luftwaffe fighter flight shot down and 2 points for each bomber flight shot down.

The Luftwaffe gets 2 points for each RAF flight shot down, 1 point for each hit on a radar station and 1 point for each hit on any air base west of hex row L.

Optional Rules

Sector Airfields

So far the RAF units have been allowed to move across the board combining with any other friendly unit as desired. This makes for a free moving game but does not take into account the organisational restrictions placed on the RAF at the time. During the Battle for Britain, RAF Squadrons were guided to their targets by controllers who were based at the various sector airfields. Every RAF unit is now considered to be controlled by a specific sector airfield. Look at the back of your unit counters, where a name is shown in brackets your unit is controlled from that sector airfield otherwise it is controlled from it's home base. You will see that the roundels on the front of the unit counters are positioned to show which units are controlled by the same sector airfields, this is useful when in flight. Only units controlled by the same airfield may be on the same hex at the end of movement.

A sector airfield can control up to 3 units every turn thus only 3 out of the 4 Biggin Hill Squadrons may be in the air at any one time.

The control capacity of a sector airfield is reduced by 1 for every 2 hits scored against it.

RAF Squadrons that intercept a formation must stay with it and attack every turn until lack of fuel obliges them to land. A Squadron engaged in this way with a formation that is returning home may if it wishes, disengage once the units cross the English coast. For the purposes of this rule we suggest that the Luftwaffe moves his formation plus the RAF units together to avoid confusion.

Hunter Packs

During the campaign the Luftwaffe was capable of launching aggressive air patrols, the fact that they did not do so to any large extent is now a matter of history. To recreate this ability add in the following rules.

When making up his formations the Luftwaffe player may put together air patrols of up to 3 fighter units in strength. Each patrol enters the board in the same way as a formation and counts against the total of 4 brought on per game turn. When an air patrol is put together the Luftwaffe player must designate a single hex which is its patrol area, jot this down on the roster sheet to the side of each unit number. On the turn after it is placed on a raid assembly hex the patrol must fly direct to its patrol hex and stay there until lack of fuel obliges it to return to France or until an RAF unit moves to within 3 hexes of its position. When all normal movement has finished a patrol may move onto and attack any RAF units up to 3 hexes away, this can be done even if a Luftwaffe formation is also on the hex. The attack sequence is now altered as follows:

(1) RAF attacks patrol - patrol records losses
(2) Patrol attacks RAF - RAF records losses
(3) RAF attacks escorts - escort records losses
(4) Escort attacks RAF - RAF records losses
(5) RAF attacks bombers - bombers record losses
(6) Bombers attack RAF - RAF records losses

A patrol that has moved and attacked in this way must return to its patrol hex during the Luftwaffe movement on the following turn.

There is no limit to the number of times a patrol may move from its patrol hex and attack in this manner. Thus it can move up to 6 hexes per turn: 3 to return to its patrol hex during movement and a further 3 to intercept when all other movement has ceased.

No more than one patrol may occupy a single hex.

RAF units do not need to screen a patrol thus they may use their full strength to attack escorts.

Tactical Advantages

In practice the RAF normally achieved a tactical advantage over the slow moving bomber formations. Fighter patrols would have been less vulnerable in combat and could possibly have gained a tactical advantage although the RAF's use of radar would make this difficult. To recreate this, roll a die before combat takes place between the RAF and a Luftwaffe patrol. On a throw of 1 - 4 the RAF gets a bonus of 1 flight, on a roll of 5 no advantage is gained by either side and on a 6 the Luftwaffe gets a bonus of 1 flight.

Airfield Capacity

In reality an airbase was capable of servicing only a limited number of aircraft at any one time. To reflect this you should restrict the number of units that may be on the ground at each airfield as follows: Hornchurch 4 units; all other sector airfields including Duxford, Debden and Tangmere 3 units; Martlesham 2 units; all other airfields 1 unit.

Preplanning

It takes a considerable amount of preplanning to launch a bomber offensive, time tables have to be worked out and targets pre-selected, etc. To recreate this the Luftwaffe player should work out all his raids at the beginning of the game noting the take off time and targets for each unit on a sheet of paper. Fighters that are to act as escorts for one or more formations must be allocated at this time and fighters that are to act as patrols only must also be designated along with their patrol area and take-off turns.

Once he has set out his plans in this way the Luftwaffe player is committed, and may not change them throughout the game.

When using this rule in the Campaign Game you should pre-plan at the start of every day turn.

The Campaign Game

This is an extension of the Intermediate Game that covers the fighting from August 11th to August 18th, 1940, the period during which the Luftwaffe hoped to destroy the RAF as a prelude to Operation Sealion, the planned invasion of Britain. The Campaign Game lasts for 8 day turns, each of which consist of up to 16 game turns. Each day turn is played as if it were an Intermediate Game and ends when all Luftwaffe units have returned to France or game turn 16 has been completed. Use the day turn marker to record the passage of time on the day turn track.

The game ends when one of the following conditions has been met:

(1) All RAF units have been shot down
(2) All Luftwaffe units have been shot down
(3) The Luftwaffe player announces that his units will fly no more missions
(4) The last game turn of August 18th has been played through.

At the end of the game each player adds up his victory points, the one with the highest total wins. The RAF player gets 2 victory points for every bomber flight shot down and 1 point for each Luftwaffe fighter flight shot down.

The Luftwaffe player gets 2 points for each RAF flight shot down. He also gets points for every target that he destroys, a target is considered destroyed when all its boxes have hit marks on them, the victory points for each target is shown on the bomb damage table and in the target panels on the Luftwaffe roster sheet.

Notes

Luftwaffe units may not fly missions on two consecutive days, they must spend one day turn in maintenance after a day's flying. To keep track of this you should do the following. Hold all units available to fly missions off the board in secret. Introduce them to the game in the normal way and, when they have completed their missions put them into the "Returning" box as described earlier. At the end of each day turn take all units from the "In Maintenance" boxes and put them beside the units that are still available. Next put all units in the "Returning" boxes onto the appropriate "In Maintenance" box.

Optional Rules

The above rules allow the Luftwaffe player to throw in all his forces on day turn 1 if he so wishes. In reality this did not happen, units were committed gradually as the Luftwaffe High Command tried to perfect its tactics. To bring these effects into the game the Luftwaffe player rolls a die at the beginning of each day turn to see how many of his available units he may fly that day. Cross reference the die roll and the day turn on the table below to get the result.

Die Roll	11 Aug	12 Aug	13 Aug	14 Aug	15 Aug	16 Aug	17 Aug	18 Aug
1	16	12	32	24	16	12	16	16
2	20	16	28	30	18	16	16	20
3	24	20	24	36

Maintenance

Me109's required less maintenance than other Luftwaffe aircraft types. To take this into account only half the Me109's in the returning box at the end of the day need to be moved to the "In Maintenance" box, the rest are available for use on the following day. If you have an odd number of Me109's put the extra one with the available units.

Weather

To take into account the effects that weather can have in aerial war you can add in this rule. At the start of every day turn throw a die and look at the table below to see what weather conditions are for the day.

Die Roll	11 Aug	12 Aug	13 Aug	14 Aug	15 Aug	16 Aug	17 Aug	18 Aug
1	POOR	POOR	POOR	POOR	POOR	POOR	POOR	POOR
2	CLOUDY	CLOUDY	CLOUDY	CLOUDY	CLOUDY	CLOUDY	CLOUDY	CLOUDY
3	CLOUDY	CLOUDY	CLEAR

Clear weather has no effect on play but during cloudy or poor weather the following units must roll a die to see if they make contact with the opposition:

(1) Patrols that have moved to intercept RAF fighters
(2) RAF fighters that move onto a formation to intercept it
(3) Formations that move onto their target hex or stray onto an urban hex

In cloudy weather a die roll of 1 to 4 means that contact has been made, in poor weather you need a 1 or 2 to make contact. The movement allowance of all types is reduced by 1 during poor weather.

Notes

If a patrol fails to make contact it may not attack or be attacked by RAF fighters in the hex.

Fighters that fail to make contact with a formation may not attack or be attacked by it, they may move onto the formation during the next game turn and try again. Once it makes contact with a formation an RAF unit may stay in contact with it by moving onto it turn after turn.

If a patrol fails to make contact with an RAF unit, that unit may still attempt to make contact with a formation in the same hex.

Before a formation bombs its target hex it must try to make contact, if it fails to do so, the anti-aircraft guns don't fire, no bombs are dropped and the formation heads back to France next turn.

When a formation strays over an urban hex the anti-aircraft guns may fire only if contact is made.

Stukas

During the Battle of Britain the Ju87 dive bombers were found to be particularly vulnerable during fighter interception. When attacking a formation that contains Ju87's the RAF player may do the following. During his attack on the formation's escorts he can insist that the Luftwaffe player allocate any flights destroyed to the Ju87's instead of the fighters.

As soon as 3 flights of Ju87's have been destroyed the surviving units may fly no more missions during the game. Any units already on the map will complete their mission, they are grounded on their return to France.

(The final page's "Notes" panel is blank in the scan; it carries the illustrated photographs only.)