I was perusing the aircraft this morning and wondered, how bad in a good way is The German Jet? It seems like bringing one would wreck anyone’s day. Is this an automatic take for the Germans, or not as good as it looks like on paper? It’s got compelling scores for attacking soldiers and vehicles, and it also has the nasty 5 armor on an aircraft for staying power.
IMO, planes are broken in the game and the Me262 is the most broken plane. Its kind of like the US Ranger but up in the sky. Having said all that, if I was going to play a plane the 262 would be my first choice, defence 5 is a challenge for any AA gun in the game except the Bofors.
When you go home, tell them of us and say, For your tomorrows these gave their today. ~J.M. Edmonds
I was asked why I thought planes are broken in this game. The reason I feel this way is that beyond 0-1 none of the attacks are subject to defensive fire before. There is almost no chance in diverting them before their attacks like in WaS where they have an air-defense phase. You simply drop a plane in AAM anywhere that does not envoke defensive fire and shoot away without any chance of retaliation until the regular combat phase begins. Even if you do manage to shoot a plane down with defensive fire it still gets to attack with disrupted dice. Then they introduced facing for planes later which made them even more broken.
Maybe I am way off on this but its the way I see it. I would be interested in others opinions.
When you go home, tell them of us and say, For your tomorrows these gave their today. ~J.M. Edmonds
Aircraft in AAM are an abstract at best, using WotC rules. I have seen houserules that make their use a bit more realistic. Air to Air combat is more so. One houserule I recall was a "Flight Path", a line of travel across the map. Another was Defensive Fire from AA capable weapona out to 4 hexes. Aircrraft are mainly a Ground Attack/Support unit in AAM. With adaptations like these, planes, in my opinion, do add to the game. The BOFORS is almost unsporting......Wirbelwind is a rude fellow also as is the SdKfz 7/1 Quad 20...... Interesting topic, I for one like the planes & still use the little ones.....can't wait to try out the Me 262 I picked up awhile back...... Happy New Year to All Forminians
The Me 262 & the Dornier Do 335 have SA's that only involve Air to Air really. They do look prettty neat though..... The Ace's mostly are Air to Air as well, the Defensive Fire out to 4 hexes vs Aircraft can be nice. Flightpaths & Facing come into play then vs planes & ground targets. Planes might not pass each other. A Flightpath follows a hexrow, approach & depart, from any hexside that can trace it's course across the map along a line radiating from the Target Hex. You might overfly "Other Unpleasantness"........other things that can shorten your flight! Another rule I've tried is only vehicles, MG's, AA can shoot at planes. Planes are abstract in the land gaming scheme of things, using them is a personal choice. Too Powerful.....too weak......weird.....odd......interesting.......worthless....... I enjoy the option they provide to the game. Anybody else got thoughts.
In a standard point game with the race to take the objective and hold it. I usually ignore planes if I see them on the board unless I don't have a shot at another unit or don't have a move to make. They can't hold on objective and cost quite a bit of money and for the 'Jets' they can't attach soldiers in towns, forests, and marshes.
I don't know, hard to see in the marshes, tall grass, and you are flying overhead at a high rate of speed. Each turn in AAM is roughly 1 minute in duration.
We tried a house rule similar to the WaS aircraft rule with an air defense phase (immediate results) then the air attack phase (those who survive the air defense). It kinda worked but then the planes were costed too high to bother with considering it may not even get to do a single attack before being shot down.
When you go home, tell them of us and say, For your tomorrows these gave their today. ~J.M. Edmonds
Depend of your points team. Its not the same including planes in a 100 pts or a 200 match. You can gain medium tank superiority, aircraft strafe or bombers, giant tanks, multiple MG, 5/5 peloton. What rules is important, year, because Me262 is 44, Aircraft expanded rules influence in use more antiair units. In Early years aircraft are decisive, its a interesting risk take points in Stukas 43 or Mess 110 with 5 dies agains french tanks. With Angels 20 you can use 30 planes in the Axis side in European theatre.