Interceptor Ace Daylight Air Defense Over Germany, 1943-44
Game Review. Publisher: Compass Games Designer: Gregory M. Smith Price $75
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Passed Inspection: Wellwritten rule book with examples and an index, easy to learn and fun to play,immersive almost role playing game like play, beautiful components, addictive
Failed Basic: Would have liked to have seen rules for theMe163, Me262, Dornier Arrow and other late war fighters; also a way to trackdays between missions would be nice; would also like to see a squadron successtable and rules for late 1944 and 1945 operations
March 7th – 2nd mission Lt Marten flying Lion's Claw, aBf109 G4 Jg27 is my home squadron. B24raid on the Ruhr. Good weather. Intercepted a formation of B24 Liberators. Noenemy escorts are visible- I and my wingman approach a B24 from 12 O'clocklevel. We fire from long range hitting the port wing badly. The B24 flips aspieces of the wing break off and the B24 enters a diving spin. No parachutesseen. We gain altitude in a climbing turn and attempt a pass on anotherB24.
We target a second B24 and attack again from 12 O'clock but thistime from higher altitude. We take accurate fire from long range from thegunners of this plane. My wingman gets solid hits around the cockpit of the B24and around the top turret but his plane is hit and breaks off. The enemymachine gun fire hits my plane but then stops as I hit the fuselage just pastthe cockpit. The plane suddenly explodes and I find myself just missingthe debris. As my wingman plane is damaged and my MG151 20mm cannons areout of ammunition, we head back to base. Both of us land safely. The crew chief says our planes will be back in shape later today. One kill for me. One kill for my wingman, Gibson.
Meanwhile an Me 410 tangles with aP38 flying cover for another bomber group: 'I hit the P38 and damage his port wing andhis oxygen system. He turns hard to starboard and his weapons hit my tail anddoes minor wing damage to our plane. We press on and use an extended burstwhich wounds the pilot and knocks out his cannons. He performs a split S and welose him. We circle back around and see him ahead and diving. We don'thave the speed to catch him so I break off the pursuit.'
These two after action reports are based upon some of my play throughs ofCompass Games' newest release 'Interceptor Ace' and like their game from lastyear, 'Night Fighter Ace' – they have scored a clean kill with this great game!
The game boasts impressive artwork by Knut Grunitz and Terry Leeds.
The game components include:
1 counter sheet of 9/16' units-counters
15 double sided aircraft display mats
4 player aid cards
1 bomber target mat
1 fighter target mat
1 pilot awards display mat
1 air operations display mat
8 ace pilot cards
60 combat cards
1 24 page rule book with a complete index
a pad of log sheets to track your plane and pilots
2 6 sided die, 1 10 sided die and 1 20 sided die
Additional counters for Night Fighter Ace are included in Interceptor Ace.
To get started with Interceptor Ace, first you name your pilot and gunner(if you have a two seat interceptor) as well as your wingman and either pick astarting base (some bases have different starting aircrafts available so if youreally want to fly a Bf110, for example, pick a base that houses that type ofaircraft) or roll a 20 sided die to get a random base. Some bases have more than one startingaircraft type so if, for example, you pick or roll Wevelgem, you can start witheither a Bf109 G-1 or R-2 or G-4 or a Fw190 A-4. Each base is also noted for which Jagdgeschwader (Interceptor Wing) or Zerstörergeschwader(Destroyer/Heavy Fighter Wing) is based there.
You either start on March 1943 or pick a later date to start your game. Each month, you'll fly up to 8 sortiesdepending on the weather. In April 1943,you'll have fewer sorties owing to fewer Allied bomber raids. You can also play a scenario as a one offgame. You don't have to play thecampaign game.
You pick your aircraft display mat and then pick one skill to give to yourpilot. As you fly more missions, yougain more skills to outfit your pilot with. Some skills allow you to avoid one drastic damage per sortie while othersmake you a better marks man, give you more daredevil flying skills, etc. As you fly and shoot down enemy planes, youalso get to increase your prestige which gives you access to new, more advancedaircrafts. This role playing element isthe core of the game and forms the campaign narrative of your pilot and hiswingman or crew.
You then get your airplane ready for combat. You add ammunition counters to the spaces for your plane's cannons ormaybe even rockets. Machine guns areconsidered to have unlimited ammo for game tracking purposes. Each ammo counter represents from a few roundsto a dozen or so rounds depending on the size of the shell. Some planes can be equipped with Werfergranate21 rockets or even a 75mm anti-aircraft/anti-tank gun!
You then place your wingman on the status indicator showing that he ispresent. During the course of the mission,he may become separated from you or even get wounded or die. As he gains experience points, your wingmanalso can gain skills just like you can.
A scoring system for keeping track of how you well you did during the campaignis included but I also wish a table was included that showed how well yourfighter wing did in the battle on that particular day. I may have to write one up. As it is right now, you and your wingmanexist in a bubble instead of dynamically with your squadron or fighter wing.
Once you have your plane loaded out and your wingman ready to fly, then youdo the following:
1) Roll on the Raid Chart todetermine the type and location of the Allied raid.
2) Roll for the weather. This can affect your entire mission of the weatheris really horrid.
3) Take off and roll to intercept the raid. If you don't intercept the raid, move your plane in its territorialendurance box to try and intercept stragglers (or intercept enemy fighters) orif you are running low on fuel, head back to base.
4) If you intercept the raid roll to see what type of bombers are in theraid and if they have fighter escort.
5) If you encounter enemy fighter planes, either engage them or fly straightthrough to the bombers if you can. If youtangle with fighters, determine what type of fighters are escorting the raid(Spitfires, P47s, P38s or P51s – based on location and time period) and thenplace the enemy fighters and your fighter and wingman on the Fighter TargetMat. If you survive, you can either turnback or try and shoot down a bomber or two or return to base.
6) If you take on the bombers, break out the Bomber Target Mat and determineat what altitude and position you approach the bombers. Take incoming defensive fire and then try andshoot down a bomber. If you survive andthe bomber survives, either break off your attack or attempt to close on thebomber and start again. Beware of B17box formations –they can kill a German fighter faster than anything.
7) If you have ammo and a functional aircraft after your passes, you can tryand pick another bomber and try again.
8) Assuming you survive your encounter, try and make it back to your base ora closer base if necessary. Then try andland. If you are alive, file your reportand head to the bar for a drink or two and maybe some dinner.
This game uses a similar system to Night Fighter Ace so if you know thatgame, you can learn this one in no time at all. In fact, Interceptor Ace, Night Fighter Ace and Legion War Games' Targetfor Today, if taken together, create an almost completely integratedexamination of both the Allied bombing campaign and the German efforts to fightthe Allied bombers off. All three gamesare excellent!
Combat results are obtained through drawing Combat Cards. Each weapon on an aircraft has a numberassociated with it. Let's say you areattacking with machine guns (offering three points of combat factors) plus 20 mm cannons (which offer 6 points of combatfactors) – that gives you 9 points of attack strength. You draw a Combat Card which provides threedifferent types of combat results – the first line includes damage by attackstrength aka weapon firepower. Let's saythat my 9 points of attack strength / firepower results in 4 hits to the bomberor fighter. I then go to the airplanedamage charts and roll damage to the enemy plane. I can try and hit either wings or the fuselageand if I have specific skills, I can even try and hit specific systems such asthe enemy's engines or fuel tanks. Additionally, when attacking you have the decision of using an extendedburst of fire power – this could do more damage to the enemy but you'll end upusing ammo faster or maybe even jamming your cannons.
The second line of information on the Combat Cards is the Defensive Actionor Wingman's action. If it is aDefensive Action, this applies to your attack on an enemy fighter and includessuch actions as barrel rolls to avoid damage and such. If it applies to your Wingman, he may get anextra attack or possibly missing an action this turn due to being busy with atechnical issue on their aircraft.
The third line is the Defensive machine gun fire from the bomber or reargunners attack for aircrafts with rear gunners such as the Me 110.
So how well does the solo system workas it relates to controlling the enemy bombers and fighter planes? The bombers are easier to create AI for asthey, primarily, just fly straight ahead without tons of maneuvering. Depending on whether they are in tight orlose formation, their weapons can tear you up. The combination of 50 caliber and 30 caliber machine guns arenasty! Unless the crew are hurt, theywill just fire away at you.
Fighters, on the other hand, are a different kettle of fish. Gregory Smith did a great job on the FighterTarget Mat. Dogfights are fast and furious and includerules for altitude and speed differences, position of both fighters, out of thesun surprise attacks, etc.
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As I previously stated, when engaging in a fighter interception, the firstthing that must be determined is whether you are going to try and speed pastthe American fighters and attack the bombers or engage the fighter. If you ignore the enemy interceptor, you willprobably find him on your 6 after you attack the bomber. This is not healthy and may end your career.
If you engage the fighter, you must first find out what positions your twoplanes start at. Either head on,advantaged, disadvantaged, tailing or tailed. Additionally, you or the enemy may surprise one or the other from 'outof the sun'. There are different modifiersbased upon the position of the attacker to the defender. The same Combat Cards are used but you justuse different lines on the cards for the defensive actions and damage.
The Combat Cards are ingeniously designed and easily provide the AI for theencounter. It was owing to a Combat Cardthat the P38 in the dogfight narrative at the beginning of this review decidedto Split S and dive away from me. Thisworked out realistically based upon the damage I had done to the plane.
There are additional rules for flak and aircraft repairs, rebasing,cooperative play and even assassinating Hitler during an awards ceremony.
Interceptor Ace demonstrates that you can have a fun, historically accurateand engaging game without overloading the player with a plethora of rules. The AI engine hides in the game and workswonderfully.
There are a few bullet holes in the game's fuselage though. There are a few typos which don't detractfrom the game. For example, Rule 7.2.1refers to the Allied fighters you may encounter as only being P47s andSpitfires but the game actually includes those two plus P38s and P51s.
Even though the designer says that late 1944 and 1945 missions would be tooone sided from the German perspective and nearly impossible to live through, Iwould at least like to be given the chance to fly late war missions. I would have liked to have seen rules for theMe163, Me262, Dornier Arrow and other late war fighters even if it means thegame being more difficult. Maybe we can convinceGreg Smith to write an expansion!
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It would also have been nice to have a simple table to roll on to find outhow many days have passed between sorties. For my game, I just rolled a 6 sided die and then adjusted based uponhow late in the month I was playing.
An average sortie can take as long as 45 minutes or as short as 15 minutesso you can get in multiple plays in an afternoon or evening.
A deck of Ace Cards is also included. These cards allow you to add historical ace pilots to your plane and seehow well they fair during your missions. I was hoping they had included Adolf Galland in the list but alas it wasnot to be. It could be that he was not included because during the time periodcovered in the game he was flying a desk more than a fighter plane.
I just love this game. It's easy to learn, fun to play and veryaddictive. Make sure you have a copy ofInterceptor Ace in your gaming hanger pilot and that's an order!
Armchair General Rating: 96% (1% is bad, 100% is perfect)
Solitaire Rating: 5 (1 is not suitable, 5 is excellent solo play)
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About the Author
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A college film instructor and small business owner, Richard Martin has also worked in the legal and real estate professions, is involved in video production, film criticism, sports shooting and is an avid World War I and II gamer who can remember war games which came in plastic bags and cost $2.99 (he's really that old)!
