Does a strafing fighter block Interceptor?

Further, P-51 has the P-38 completely covered for a point more. P-51 rolls 9 dice all the time rather than 7, and its condit
ional +2 dice is completely controllable by the Allied player.

And by the way. All I said was Andy kicked up a huge fuss over it. I never said he's a terrible person, or a bad player, or anything else. Just that in this case, he was over-valuing Interceptor. A lot.

My more lengthy take on this - Interceptor is badly overvalued on many of the units itappears on given the current state of the game (6 official decks, 5 team decks, and about a half dozen 'widely accepted' player decks). I think fighters with Interceptor have a place in weird formats (Ex: night games in particular, where you can't depend on an opposing fighter being there to oppose you, or in unusual daylight games where an opponent brings ZERO air cover, or in late game situations when an opponent is just out of fighters to oppose you). As written with the current unit list available to most Navies, it is horribly easy to block in a typical daylight game above 100 points, and therefore I think it is of little actual value in game for the most part.

If the P-38 had just been a straight-up 8 AA fighter for its current points, either dropping Interceptor all-together or dropping it to simply Interceptor (1), we might have had a decent plane for its 9 point cost. As is, I'd rather spend that one extra point and take 2xP-40s. Hands down, the better option 99% of the time. Which is sad for such an iconic plane.

I think its important to remember Interceptor is a Set 2 SA. When introduced on the Bf-109 (still by all accounts, a very good carrier fighter), the ONLY other fighters in the game: Sea Hurricane Mk.IB, F4F Wildcat, A6M2 "Zeke", C.202 Folgore, Beaufighter TF Mk.X, F6F-3 Hellcat. That's a VERY short list! Most of those fighters have Escort, but not every Navy had a fighter under Historical Limits. At the time, Interceptor absolutely had a place. As a USN player, you might actually try to send 4 unescorted Dauntlesses or Avengers in after a target, but those Bf109s really screwed with that approach. And you could safely bring the Bf109 with bombers, because it had Escort as well.

That changed after Set 2. In the next 4 sets, we got these Fighters: F4F Martlet Mk.II, RE.2001CB Falco II, A6M5 "Zeke", Dewoitine D.520, F4U Corsair, N1K1-J 'George', P-40E Warhawk, B-239 Buffalo, A6M2-N “Rufe”, F4U-1D Corsair, Lend-Lease Hurricane Mk. II, FW-190A, Elite A6M2 Zero. Out of those 13 planes, 5 got Interceptor, but the Escort SA continued to proliferate, as did higher natural AA values (looking at you Corsair). Of the 4 planes that got Escort, I'd consider 2 very good for their cost (P-40 and LL Hurricane), 1 about Average (D.520), 1 situational (Rufe, at Night), and 1 just overcosted (Fw-190 - at 8 AA with no escort stuck on a land base, this should be an 8 point plane).  As RB and WOTC added more sets, everybody got fighters. Escort is a potent SA, so everybody was encouraged to take fighters with it. Which meant fighters became way more common, and Interceptor just got harder and harder to trigger.

So I view Interceptor as a SA that, once upon a time, had a legitimate use. However, the addition of many more fighters in the many decks that have followed, including the proliferation of the Escort SA, the happy Interceptor hunting ground has steadily dried up. Not a horrible SA when first designed, but a SA that the original game designer, and those that followed him, intentionally or unintentionally, gradually walked away from.

Personally, I pick up a nerf football and spike it against the wall in my living room when Interceptor triggers during an online game. Its more rare these days than actually getting to use CAP - like NFL lineman scoring an 80 yard touchdown off a fumble. As the Coach once said, "act like you've been there before and just hand the ball to the ref". In the case of Interceptor, it now triggers once or twice in a career, and the lineman SHOULD spike it. He HASN'T ever been there before.

Cheers gents.  Sorry for the ramble...I drink wine...I ramble. 


     Must be a good wine, because that was nicely said; believe thats what I was trying to say but unfortunately i wasn't drinking.

One point if i may; there has been a lot added to the game to make the Air Attack on Ships hard enough so adding a new and interesting Interceptor SA
     although appealing to most i would not be in favor of;
I look at the original as good enough; true it should not add much to a units cost and just be available to keep your opponent from not doing what he should be.

   Have to agree on your assessment of the P-38  would have been a better way to go.