Richthofen
Richthofen Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Introduction
"Richthofen" is a WWI Air Combat Card Game. You play the part of a famous fighter pilot ace, taking to the skies to engage your enemy in the life and death struggle of air combat in order to shot your opponent's aircraft down.
Objective
Shot down your opponent by reducing their Airframe from 8 to 0.
Components
- 31 German Action cards
- 31 Allies Action cards
- 4 German Pilot cards
- 4 Allies Pilot cards
- 1 Airframe card & 2 cubes
- -or- 2 d8 dice
Setup
Place 1 Red cube & 1 Blue cube at '8' point on the Airframe card, or use d8 dice and set it to number '8'.
Determine which side each player will be playing for and sort all of the Action cards & Pilot cards into piles, separated by the medal icon on the card. The Blue Max for the Germans, or the Victoria Cross for the Allies.
Select a random pilot card and place your pilot card in the middle of the table and draw 4 cards into your hand.
Maneuver Symbols
The rulebook's card illustrations show the maneuver symbols as follows: Climb (red triangle), Bank Left (blue square), Bank Right (blue circle) and Dive (blue X). The page 1 callouts mark one Attacking Maneuver and two Defensive Maneuvers on each Action card.
Sequence of Play
The sequence of play in a dogfight is listed below.
I. Determine initiative II. Play maneuvers III. Produce burst damage (attacker); -or- IV. Attempt to gain the advantage (defender)
This sequence continues until someone has been shot down.
I. Determine Initiative
When pilots are disengaged, you need to determine initiative. Flip over the top card of your deck, compare burst values, high score wins the initiative. If tied, determine initiative again. The winner of the initiative is the attacker and the loser is the defender.
Example: German player wins the initiative with 3 Burst Value, hence becoming the attacker for this turn.
II. Playing Maneuvers
Maneuvers are only played during a dogfight, and are used to simulate aircraft maneuvering into a position to fire its guns on an opponent. A player must play a maneuver from a card in their hand.
The defender chooses one of the two defensive maneuvers printed on any of the cards in his hand. Plays the card, by placing it on the table, matching the arrow on top of their Pilot card to the selected maneuver and announces the maneuver that they are performing.
The attacker must play a maneuver from their hand. If the attacking maneuver does not match the maneuver that the defender played then the attacker has failed to match maneuvers. (See IV. Gaining the advantage).
If the attacking maneuver matches the defensive maneuver, the attacker can produce Burst Damage.
Example: Albert Ball is using 'Bank Right' maneuver as the defender.
III. Produce Burst Damage
Once maneuvers are matched, the attacker can produce burst damage. This is called "Fire". To "Fire", flip over the top card of the attacker's deck, the Burst Value that is printed on that card is the number of burst damage you subtract from the defenders Airframe value.
a. The attacker now has one chance to modify the Burst Damage produced. This is done by playing an appropriate card from the attacker's hand. If the attacker can not or does not wish to play a card from their hand, then they pass.
b. The defender now has one chance to modify the Burst Damage produced. This is done by playing an appropriate card from the defender's hand. If the defender can not or does not wish to play a card from their hand, then they pass.
IV. Gaining the Advantage
If an attacker is unable to match a defensive maneuver, the defender gets a chance to gain the advantage, and avoid becoming disengaged. To gain the advantage, the defender needs to match the last attacking maneuver played by the attacking player. If the defender matches the maneuver then the defender becomes the attacker. If the defender fails to match the maneuver then the pilots are considered disengaged.
Shot Down
When an aircraft's airframe value has been reduced to zero (0) or less, the aircraft has been shot down.
Loss of Control
During the game a pilot may lose control of his plane either by stalling the aircraft or going into a spin as the result of failing an "Advanced Maneuver". (This document does not define "Advanced Maneuver"; the term is transcribed as printed.) To resolve the effects of a stall or spin, flip over the top card from your deck, if the burst value is a 4 then you are unable to regain control of the aircraft and crash, losing the game. Any other burst value means that you have regained control of your aircraft, and you suffer 1 Airframe Damage to your aircraft. If the defender loses control of their aircraft, the attacker can immediately "Fire" once. The pilots are now considered disengaged.
Discarding
All used cards go into the discard pile. When your deck runs out of cards, shuffle your discard pile and use it to replenish your deck.
Hand Size
Hand size is a minimum of four (4) cards. If you ever have less than four (4) cards in your hand, draw up to four (4) cards.