Mr Tumbling Dice, Paul Sulley, asked me for some reason to proofread and edit the Wings at War rule booklets to see if I could make the movement, energy management and action point system less opaque for customers. Apparently, he's had a lot of emails from prospective players who are confused by the text and who have given up on the game before they've had a chance to try it out. I thought the best way to clarify things would be to produce a set of 'box out' example moves including one turn that works and another where the flight parameters are exceeded, resulting in too much energy at the end of the turn and a spin, resulting in a crash. Here's the first example using the Desert Spitfires rules as a template, although the idea would be to modify this to fit the other rules in the series. Any feedback would be very welcome.
Hi Jim. Have you considered putting a running total of energy, maybe in brackets, next to the turn every cost? That way the reader could follow the mechanics action by action.
ReplyDeleteGood idea. I decided to leave the energy calculation to the end because it causes the most confusion. Players think you adjust energy as you go along but it only happens at the end of the turn. I think the biggest misconception is that action points and energy are the same thing, which they are not.
DeleteI agree that adding a running total of energy would be good, and suggest adding a count down for action would also be helpful.
DeleteI suggest the energy costs should be more radical to demonstrate how much they change. Perhaps more of dive/turn/attack/climb than climb/move/move/attack.
Yes, the second example will have more complex manoeuvres
DeleteHi Jim, I find that example simple enough to follow. I guess the two cases that people probably need to have explained are (1) variable AP costs, especially as the last action in a turn, so that AP usage exceeds starting energy & (2) Climbing despite low energy (maybe energy = 2, so that starting energy reaches 0 on the following turn)
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely, the second walk through has both of those things included.
DeleteYour energy summary math is wrong. It should be 6 - 2 + 0 + 1 + 0 = 5.
ReplyDeleteThanks. I'll change it
DeleteYep, already changed to Energy Gain / Loss
ReplyDeleteHi Jim, in addition to the above, show the difference between 'Power' and 'Move'. Each enables the plane to fly 5" forward, but only one leads to a gain in energy. Probably by throttling up. I think a clarification for this choice would help.
ReplyDeleteAs I have the rules, but not played them yet, I do have a question: why not use power in both moves to get back to 6 energy points? Likely additional power is limited and the players will have to make a choice about its use.
Regards, Swen
I can add the Power effect in brackets 👍
ReplyDeleteI didn't want to get back to energy 6 as I wanted to show that it is the maximum energy rating. I think it should really be called the Energy Limit in the rules, as Energy Rating is a bit confusing.
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