Down in Flames: Wingmen Expansion
Down in Flames: Wingmen Expansion Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Winning
The player, or team, that ends the battle with the most VPs wins. Score VPs equal to an Aircraft's full VP value for Destroying it, or score half an Aircraft's VP value (rounding down) if it ends the battle Damaged.
Revised Player Sequence of Play
Each player resolves the actions for both his Leader and Wingman before the next player takes his turn.
Leader Step
- Pre-Turn Draw Cards
- Adjust Altitude
- Speed Maneuvering
- Actions
- Discard
- Post-Turn Draw Cards
Wingman Step
- Adjust Altitude (Closer to Leader's Altitude)
- Declare the Targeted Enemy Aircraft
- Draw Wingman's "Attack" cards
- Speed Maneuvering
- Actions
1st Player Penalty
The first player starts the battle by only drawing starting cards equal to his Leader's Performance minus the Leader's Pre-Turn Horsepower rating. Also, the Leader does not draw cards during his Pre-Turn Draw Cards step.
His Wingman only draws half its normal Attack cards (rounding up).
This penalty only applies during the first turn.
Example: The Bf-109E Leader starts the battle holding only 4 cards, and would not draw cards at the start of its turn. Its Wingman would draw only 2 cards during its first turn.
Target Selection
Declare one enemy Aircraft at your Altitude to play cards against. The front-most Aircraft in a chain cannot play cards against any Aircraft in the chain, other than the (1, 2, or 3) Aircraft cards directly Positioned on it.
Example: The Bf-109E Leader is being Tailed by a Spitfire Wingman, who is Disadvantaged to the Bf-109E Wingman. The 109 Wingman is being Tailed by the Spitfire Leader. The 109 Leader can play cards against the Spitfire Wingman, but not the Spitfire Leader.
If a Leader or Wingman declares an attack against a Leader, and the defending Leader's Wingman is unengaged and at the defending Leader's Altitude, the defending player may redirect the attack from his Leader to his Wingman.
If the target of an attack is a Wingman, the defending player draws cards equal to his Wingman's Defense rating.
Wingman Step
Declare the enemy Aircraft your Wingman will target before drawing cards. If the enemy Aircraft is a Fighter, draw cards equal to your Wingman's Attack rating. If the enemy Aircraft is a Bomber, draw cards equal to your Wingman's Attack plus Defense ratings. A Wingman can only declare one Aircraft to be a target during its turn.
- Wingmen use Speed Maneuvering just like Leaders.
- Wingmen play Action cards just like Leaders.
- Wingmen are limited by Bursts just like Leaders.
- Wingmen hold and adjust Position just like Leaders.
- Wingmen can give up Position just like Leaders.
- Wingmen suffer Hits just like Leaders.
Altitude
Give each Wingman an Altitude counter at the start of the battle. A Wingman must start a battle at the same Altitude as its Leader.
Wingmen Climb, Dive, Vertical Roll, Adjust Altitude, and follow Altitude changes just like a Leader, except:
- A Wingman can only change Altitude if the change will take it closer to its Leader's Altitude.
Example: The Spitfire Leader and Wingman are at Medium Altitude. The Wingman is Tailing the 109 Leader. The 109 Leader Dives to Low. The Spitfire Wingman cannot follow because the Altitude change would take it farther from its Leader's Altitude.
- During a Wingman's Adjust Altitude step, if it is at a different Altitude than its Leader, the Wingman must Adjust Altitude to bring it closer to its Leader's Altitude.
- Do not discard or draw Wingman cards when a Wingman changes Altitude.
Altitude counters affect a Wingman as follows:
- Adjust the Wingman's Attack rating as if it were Pre-Turn Horsepower.
- Adjust the Wingman's Defense rating as if it were Post-Turn Horsepower.
Wingmen Discard
Discard all cards remaining in a Wingman's hand when it finishes resolving actions.
Discard all cards remaining in a Wingman's hand when the Aircraft attacking it declares that it will not play another card or action against the Wingman.
Leader Shot-Down
If your Leader is shot-down, continue playing the mission with just your Wingman card. The Wingman is then free to adjust Altitude without restrictions.
Campaign Missions
Each Fighter listed as an Interceptor or as an Option indicates 1 Leader. Add one Wingman of the same Aircraft type for each Leader appearing in a mission.
Example: In the Aces High Campaign "Poland 1939", the Axis player is attacking Target #1 with a bombing Bf-109E. He selects Option #1, one Bf-110C. He adds 1 Bf-110C Wingman to his forces. The Allied player selects Option #5, one P.11c, in addition to his P.11c Interceptor. He adds 2 P.11c Wingmen to his forces.
Double the number of Bombers appearing in each mission.
Example: If the map shows 2 Bombers, add 2 more Bombers to the Mission. If the map shows a Fighter acting as a Bomber, add its Wingman to the Mission.
Example: To continue the previous example, the Axis player adds 1 Bf-109E Wingman, as a Bomber.
Example: In a different mission, the Axis attacks Target #7 with 2 Ju-87Bs, and chooses Option #5, one Bf-109E and one Bf-110c. He adds a Bf-109E and Bf-110C Wingman to his forces. The Allied player chooses Option #1, one P.11c, in addition to the P.11c Interceptor. He adds 2 P.11c Wingmen to his forces. The Axis player then adds 2 Ju-87Bs to his forces for a total of 4 Ju-87Bs.
Double the Damaged/Destroyed values of the Targets.
After calculating Victory Points for each player, divide the VPs by 2 (rounding up).
Example: The Axis player scores 41 Victory Points for Damaging and Destroying Allied Aircraft and for Damaging the Target. His score is halved to 21.
Sample Turn
This is a classic match-up of Spitfire Is vs. Bf-109Es.
Spitfire Turn
The Spitfire Leader starts his turn at Medium Altitude. He starts with only 4 cards in his hand and does not draw cards during the Pre-Turn Draw Cards step.
He declares the target to be the 109 Leader. The 109 player chooses not to redirect the attack to his Wingman.
The Spitfire Leader and 109 Leader then play cards back and forth, and when all is done, the Spitfire is tailing the 109 and has inflicted 3 Hits, which is enough to flip the 109 to its Damaged side.
The Spitfire player performs his Wingman step. The Wingman can target any Aircraft at his Altitude level. He targets the 109 Leader. The 109 player redirects the attack to his Wingman.
The 109 player draws 3 cards for the Wingman's hand because he has a Defense rating of 3. The Spitfire player draws 2 cards because his Spitfire Wingman has an Attack rating of 3 and it is the first turn. These 2 cards are not added to the Leader's hand.
The Spitfire Wingman then plays cards as normal, and after going back and forth a few times, ends up Advantaged on the 109 Wingman. The Spitfire Wingman has no more playable cards, so both Wingmen discard all the cards remaining in their hands.
Here's what it looks like now...
Bf-109 Turn
The 109 Leader then takes his turn.
He chooses to Climb and discards 1 card for Climbing. The Spitfire Leader has the choice to follow by discarding a card. He chooses not to follow and the Spitfire Leader loses his Position on the 109 Leader.
The 109 Wingman takes his turn and is forced to Climb to High during his Adjust Altitude step to get closer to his Leader's Altitude.
The Spitfire Wingman cannot follow the 109 Wingman's Altitude change because it would take him away from the Spitfire Leader's Altitude. This ends the turn.