This time I’ll address how strike missions have changed in WBY, which is where the most notable differences from the previous rules are.  Most of the changes have one or two main purposes.

Over the years, many players have noted that the Bomber most definitely does not “always get through,” and even less frequently gets home.  This is particularly true for early war Medium Bombers with their feeble Turret Support ratings.  So a number of changes have been made to make bombers at least a little more survivable.

Also, perceived lengthy play times may have discouraged players from attempting campaigns in the past.  As you’ll see in the next installment, WBY includes a couple progressive campaigns and an Operation that can include a LOT of missions for those who want an extended experience.  But it also includes three campaigns with at least one phase as short as three or four missions.  And the average campaign bombing mission now plays more quickly.

Mission Duration

The Over Target Phase of a strike or reconnaissance mission has been cut from three turns to one, with the Ingress and Egress Turns eliminated.  So where an average mission in previous volumes had 2 Target-Bound, 3 Over-Target, and 1 Home-Bound Turns, an average WBY mission has 3, 1, and 1 and thus one less turn in total.  Area Flak now occurs at the end of the last Target-Bound Turn and the Over-Target Turn, and is so noted on the revised Campaign Mission Turn Track.

Testing showed the VP results are roughly the same for an otherwise-identical “old style” mission compared to one of these new missions.  So those wanting to use this new system to play older campaigns simply have to add one Target-Bound Turn and eliminate the Ingress and Egress Turns from each mission to achieve comparable results – in less time.

Also, instead of adjusting the Home-Bound duration when Damaged bombers come off target, we add an extra “Straggler Turn” at the end of the mission only if any Damaged strike aircraft are still flying at the end of the last Home-Bound Turn.  So if all Damaged aircraft are shot down before the end of the last scheduled turn, the Home-Bound Phase is not extended.

Fighters Over Target

Intercepting Fighters no longer have the option of freely following the bombers Over Target, and may now do so only if allowed by a Resource.  This is much more realistic, and on average reduces by two the number of turns bombers are attacked by fighters.

Overall, the combination of one less turn per mission, less-frequent addition of an extra Home-Bound turn, virtually no decision-making on Fighters going Over Target, and not having to resolve flak for all the Fighters that no longer do so speeds completion of each mission by about 20%.

Attacking Bombers

The only significant increase in complexity in WBY is from expanded rules allowing escorts greater ability to intervene when interceptors attempt to attack bombers.  Unengaged escort Leaders can still play response cards to counter Maneuver and Half Loop cards played by attackers attempting to designate a specific target and gain Bursts.  If the response succeeds, an attacking Fighter Leader only gains +1 Burst instead of +2.  Also, when the attacker doesn’t attempt to single out its target, an escort may now play Maneuver, Half Loop, or Full Throttle cards of its own to divert the attack onto itself instead of a bomber.  And escorts may intervene similarly to protect fighter-bombers and Light Bombers as well as formation aircraft.

As part of this procedure, Wingmen attacking Medium and Heavy Bombers no longer draw an expanded mini-hand equal to their Offense + Defense ratings immediately upon declaring an attack.  Instead, they draw normal Offensive mini-hands, and only get to draw the additional cards if there is no successful escort intervention.  This reduces the ability of Wingmen to single out a bomber, and also limits the unwarranted extra deadliness of Wingmen diverted from attacking a bomber to an intervening escort.

Bombers themselves gain a little better defensive fire.  Formation aircraft are now always considered In Formation unless they are knocked out by being Damaged (flipped) or taking a Cockpit Hit.  This is important because five of the added Action cards have a “Special Spoiled Attack” symbol that applies when a bomber is In Formation but has 0 Turret Support.  Now all those feeble early war Medium Bombers with Turret Support ratings of 0 still get at least a little benefit from being In Formation.

And interceptors attacking bombers no longer get to dodge return fire by playing a response card with no penalty.  If they respond, they must also discard one additional card – and that card is chosen at random!  This sometimes makes a tough choice for an attacker:  should I counter those 2 Hits from the bomber at the risk of losing that IMS card I need to shoot the bomber down?

Flak

Anti-aircraft fire against aircraft at Very Low altitude is now somewhat less effective.  Area Flak has been reduced against aircraft using Level or Saturation Bombing, eliminating the previous disincentive to use Saturation Bombing at Very Low altitude.  And OotS cards no longer score Hits as Target Flak results at Very Low altitude except against Torpedo Bombers.  Both these changes are based on a generalization that Area Flak represents mostly heavy AA guns while Target Flak is mostly light automatic weapons.  Heavy guns aren’t very useful against aircraft coming in fast “on the deck,” while light weapons are less likely to score a single devastating hit.

Taken together, these changes improve the chances of bombers reaching their targets and returning to base afterwards.  Even those wretched Blenheims are more likely to get through – though it’s still a dicey proposition!

Jettisoning

In previous volumes, players with fighter-bombers were incentivized to jettison their ordnance and engage in air-to-air combat with the interceptors rather than trying to strike the target.  To change this, players are now awarded 1 VP for each enemy aircraft that voluntarily jettisons its ordnance.  In combination with the inability to know the contents of your hand before deciding to jettison, this shifts the calculus towards continuing with the mission.

Mission Targets

Strafing – Only those that are appropriate strafing targets are marked with a strafing icon:  no more strafing Cities and Factories.  And just as Corsairs & Hellcats included Fortified Targets where appropriate, WBY introduces Strafing Missions against air base and Railyard targets that allow the strike player to score some VPs even without inflicting enough Damage Points on the target to reach Success Level 1.

Radar Station – This target (appearing previously only in the Battle of Britain campaign in Rise of the Luftwaffe) is one of only two targets that have been revised.  It’s now tougher to achieve results, but the VP rewards are greater.

Reconnaissance – Previously known as Patrol, the VP awards for this mission are now smaller.  Since the result is determined by the draw of a single bomb card, this reduces the extreme luck factor and also brings the results into line with other missions.

Tank Farm – One of two new targets, this is akin to the Oil Refinery target but suited for smaller strikes (just as the Factory Complex is a smaller version of the Industrial Center).

Tanker – This new target is similar to the Freighter, but reflects the ability of oil tankers to sustain more damage and still remain afloat.

The other 28 Missions in the game are unchanged, except for the addition of Strafing icons as previously noted.  They include most of those appearing in the previous four volumes .

Disengagement

Players have often complained about losing Victory Points for Fighters that go down as a result of running out of fuel in missions where that is possible – no matter how many times you remind them they can avoid this fate by voluntarily disengaging first!  Now, the Disengagement Table is a little less punitive, and Disengagement VPs are awarded only for Voluntary Disengagement during a Dogfight.

And that’s pretty much it for substantive changes.  Next time I’ll list the specific campaigns in WBY and describe how they’ve changed when they cover the same periods as those previously published.

Previous Article in the Series: Into the Wild Blue Yonder: Campaign Rules, Part 1

Next Article in the Series: Into the Wild Blue Yonder (Part Five): Land Campaigns

Author: Chris Janiec