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Hello all,
I finished reading through the rules of Aeronautic Imperialis. Allow mw to give you a run down of this new FW book.
Well it darn pretty, as you can expect with the FW books. If you were, like me, a kid that loved getting those big massive airplane books filled with modern, WWI, WWII planes painted in different camo schemes this will be a joy to have.
The core rules are 14 pages long. It is a simple and straight forward game. A hard core flight simulation this is not.
The Aircraft stats:
Aircraft have different stats, but you soon discover most combat have the same general ?flight? characteristics. Because of it?s simplicity you won?t see a huge difference between the flight patterns of a Thunderbolt and a Lighting.
Hits: Usually 2 for a standard fighter. The big boys have up to 14.
Thrust: This allows you to change your speed at the beginning of your move.
Maneuver rating: 1 of three rating, low (bombers), High (Fighters), Very High (Eldar) you maneuver rating determines which of the 10 maneuvers in the game you are allowed to perform.
Armament: The aircraft difference really shines through in there weapons load out. Each weapon array modeled on the min is represented by its own stats line, which is really nice. Many of the aircraft, especially imperial, have many options for there under wing stores. From a ground attack load to and air to air load. Weapons sometimes have special rules.
Special Rules: Some aircraft have special rules; nothing complex. For example, Eldar have holo fields.
Movement:
Aircraft can choose one of 10 maneuvers depending on there maneuver rating. Low can choose between maneuver 1-4, High gets to do 1-8, and very high get to do 1-10. Aircraft choose the maneuver write it down. Then players alternate moving aircraft.
While you are required to do your maneuver you still have some flexibility. The exact location of when you perform it is determined when you move your aircraft. Also some maneuvers have options. For example, when you perform a turn you don?t choose left or right until you move the aircraft. So while you?re locked into a certain maneuver the details of that happen at the time of movement.
The actually maneuver cards are pretty neat and I thought this was an awesome idea for a hexless mini aerial combat game. When you what to perform the maneuver place the card in front of the aircraft. Follow the flight path through the end of the maneuver. When you?re done the end of the flight path should be at the back of the aircraft. That?s a neat idea.
Firing:
There are 3 range bands in the game, these are constant. Each weapon has so many dice at a certain range. Some weapons are good at long range (missiles) while some can only firer when things get closer (big shootas). Each weapon has an arc of fire. Roll the dice and see if you hit the base number; adjusted for altitude. You can only shot target with one altitude difference. If you hit, roll to see if you damage. This is based on the weapon type. Each hit inflicts one damage. Some weapons have the special role well if you roll high on damage you do double damage.
Tailing gives you the advantage of a free shot before movement begins.
There are also rules for AAA fire, bombing, and strafing. All simple and straight forward.
Advance rules:
There are two pages of advance rules that cover aces, ammo, advance tailing, and pilot skills to name a few of these.
Army list:
There is a short, very short, army list section that list the points per aircraft
Pretty pictures:
Each aircraft has a full glory section with description, background, schematic, and lots of different camo theme pictures. It has about 3-5 pages per aircraft.
Campaign rules:
I haven?t read these yet but there are campaign rules with the ability to build up pilots and such.
Modeling:
There is a nice little section about painting and terrain. Small but it has more pictures.
Well there you have it. My general thought is over all nice. The rules are simple but I think they will be fun. I was surprised when you had the flexibility to ?tweak? your flying when you moved. I?m used to Blue Max where you write orders then everyone performs it. This may prove either too easy or interesting.
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