Update!
Finally! Finally! I sat down with my gaming buddy and we played two mock 1 v 1 battles using the air combat rules. It was a riot!
He was flying a P-51D and I was flying a FW 190A-8. We randomly rolled pilot skill levels (1d10).
To start you make a tactician check (Int. roll) to see who has the advantage, higher postition number. We just rolled a d20 and modified the roll by our pilot skills. He won advantage the first go around and I won the second.
In the first combat he shot me down I ejected by died on the rocks below, we rolled it just for silly. We didn't quite finish the second but I had 2 damage points left and he had 19.
It took us no time at all to pick it up, about half way through the first combat we had it down. The positions system is beautiful in its simplicity and could easily keep a smooth flow during a role play session. The photocopiable record sheets in the back of the book were very handy and allowed for easy record keeping.
The only caviat we ran into was when we both ended up at position 10. From the rules I understand that you can only shoot at a target with a lower position than your own. If you share the same position number, each side roles to manuver until someone has the advantage. Well in this case we were both at position 10 and the rules say 10 is as high as you can go. Meaning at this stage no one could get the upper hand. I guess you could voluntarily give up position but who is going to do that and the only way to loose position is to attack or as a result of damage. The rule book says nothing about such an evantuality so, we reset. We did a new tacticians roll set the looser at position 5 and the winner at his new position. No big deal.
The criticals were exciting and those 20 mm gun pods are nasty. To bad they only have enough ammo for 5 bursts. The .50 calibar machine gun is a work horse and with the +1 to hit for each addition gun in a group makes the P-51, P-38, and especially the P-47 deadly.
Next we are going to try out the bombers. These rules look slick too. The interceptor declares attack first specifying range bursts etc. but the gunners on the bomber shoot first. It is ruled that they are perpetually readying actions. So, the range the gunners fire at is determined by the intercepter. No more than three gunners can shoot at the same intercepter. In formation, the bombers remain at position 5 and stay there. If a bomber looses position it is considered out of formation and not longer has the protection of the other bombers. A lone bomber is in a world of hurt. I can't wait.
Just a quick thought. These rules would work swimmingly in Star Wars. I think a manuverability rating would be required for all the star ships, do they have one already? You can keep the Star Wars damage model but for everthing else I think this could work. When I get my hands on the revised rules I will look at porting these rules over.
