As a designer, I like to focus on why things happen in campaigns, operations, and battles.  In old school terms, I “design for cause.”  This tends to make my games more complex, but I hope players come away with a better understanding of why their game progressed the way it did beyond “he had better cards” or “the dice hate me.”

In World War II carrier battles, there were eight factors of significant importance in determining how attacks took place and their outcomes:  wind, weather, range, reconnaissance, CAP (Combat Air Patrol), coordination, targeting, and training – WWRRCCTT.  All are interdependent to some extent and have an impact in Imperial Eagles (at least in the Advanced Rules).

Since the Japanese need someone to fight, this second article for Inside GMT will describe the planes with which the Allies oppose them in Imperial Eagles.

The US Army Air Force has aircraft in almost every campaign in the game, and more models than any other service.  These are the planes which held the line in the Pacific for the first two years, showing incremental improvement through the end of 1943 while the more modern types went to Europe first.

For anyone who’s ever played Down in Flames, their first question is probably, “what aircraft do we get in Imperial Eagles?”You’ll be getting a mix of old and new, with even the “repeats” brought up to Wild Blue Yonder standards.  As befits a game featuring Imperial Japanese aviation in World War II, this first article for Inside GMT will describe the planes the Japanese bring to the fight.