Many strange situations crop up when playtesting even when that game is the sixth (or seventh? – TBD) game in the series. In this case, the playtesters ended up in a situation that required some working through the nuances of the rules. It didn’t break anything or require adding new rules, but it presented an interesting Air Strike Interception situation that I thought would be enlightening to share.

The initial situation is depicted below. The Allied player declared an Air Strike Mission against the Port in Jask consisting of two B-1B Strike air units escorted by a single F-22A. The non-Allied player rolled exceptionally well and received an Early Detection result allowing an intercept by one J-20 and one J-11. In and of itself, that’s not interesting, but the subsequent discussion about the possible permutations highlighted the micro-decisions available in even just one small area of play.

As the intercepting player, the non-Allied player gets to choose which of the interceptors engage which of the strike mission units [24.4.1 #2]. And this is where it starts to get interesting.

Before we get to that part, though, it’s important, for those not familiar, to understand the ratings on the counters. The parts we’re most interested in are the Air to Air (A2A) Value, which is the leftmost number on the bottom of the counter and the letter “S”, which denotes a Stealth air unit. In addition, the number of * on the A2A Value is important. A single * indicates Stand-off capability. Two ** indicates the unit has Long Range and Stand-off capability.

We also need to take a slight digression to discuss how air combat is conducted. There are three stages of air to air combat: Long Range, Stand-off, and Dogfight (in that order). You always start with the stage for which a unit has the appropriate rating. Then, you fight in rounds per stage applying results. At the end of any round, either play can declare an Abort for any unit. [22.6.3/22.6.5/22.6.6] One thing to note is that Stealth air units cannot be fired up on during Long Range or Stand-off stages.

One final concept that we need to understand is Re-engagement [22.6.4.2]. This is only possible in Interception Air Combat, and it is key to the discussion we’re about to have. This allows a unit to “re-engage”, i.e., conduct combat, against a different unit in each stage if its opponent is destroyed or aborted.

So, all that said, as the interceptor let’s look at the non-Allied player’s options in terms of which units to engage. Since the Allied player sent only a single escort, the non-Allied player has a chance to get a shot on a B-1B.

Option 1

The non-Allied player could choose to engage as follows:

Following along with the sequence of Air Combat, we start with the Long Range stage. There is no exchange of fire in this case, though as both Long Range air units are Stealth (“S” in the upper left), but the stage still occurs. Since one stage is complete, as the intercepted player, the Allied player may elect to Abort any or all air units first. Rather than risk losing a B-1B, the bombers Abort. Now the Allied player has an interesting choice. Should the F-22A stay, there will be another round of combat during the Stand-off stage. Neither non-Allied air unit can fire on the F-22A since it’s Stealth, but the F-22A can fire on the non-Stealth J-11. Depending on the result of that fire, the F-22A can then stay for the Dogfight stage, in which it will fire first, since it’s A2A value is higher than any other air unit in the fight.

So, if, during the Stand-off stage, the F-22 Destroys, Damages, or Aborts the J-11, it will be left facing either just the J-20, which it will fire at first, or both (in the case of a Damage), but the J-11 will be reduced to a “3” A2A value. Worst case is that the F-22A misses the J-11, however, in that case, the F-22A could just Abort after Stand-off.

Option 2

In this option, the non-Allied player could engage as follows:

In the Long Range stage, this allows the J-20 to take a shot at the B-1B while offering up the J-11, which can’t fire back, to the F-22A’s Long Range fire. Either way, the other B-1B will Abort after this stage. At which point, if the F-22A has dispatched the J-11, it can re-engage the J-20 during Stand-off (which will result in no shots since both are Stealth). Worst case, is that the F-22A misses the J-11 leaving both non-Allied planes available for Stand-off which puts us back where we were above with the F-22A firing at the J-11 during Stand-off, etc.

Which Would You Choose?

I hope you enjoyed this little nugget. Let me know, in the comments below, as the non-Allied player, which option you would choose?

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