Air power.........

[John Given]

I noticed in Divided Ground - Vietnam there is a "Spooky" Hercules Gunship (a large armed cargo plane) that appears in some scenarios. This aircraft is very well armed, fast, and has a high defense factor. It can be moved around the board like any other unit, though if it goes "low ammo" it may not fire. It also has high victory point value...

IMO, the "stationary bomber" would probably be best handled by making it like the version in DG-VN I just described - i.e., making it a movable, flying unit. I've controlled those big gunships before, and I must say, it's enjoyable, and does not smack of anything gamey.

As far as how to handle any fixed, grounded, airport-based planes themselves (if I were designing the game), what I would do is make each one a single SP, give a low defense factor (they are stationary and unarmored), and firepower commensurate with a grounded bomber; i.e., a single 20mm or some such, which would represent the crew trying to protect their plane. However, I'm not sure it's realistic that an aircrew would try to repel an enemy from inside a grounded bomber - I would think they'd just run when enemy troops approached...if they could not get airborne beforehand. It'd probably be more realistic to simply make the bomber a movable unit that would have to put itself in danger (getting close to the enemy) in order to attack.

As far as the submarine KKR is upset about - I would think most subs, in game terms, would be able to offer resistance equivalent to a 37mm AAA gun, as they were often equipped with medium to large caliber AAA guns. Also, I would think that nothing short of tank fire would take one out, so they would likely have a fairly high (hard) defense value as well.

Fortunately, those kinds of above changes would be easy for Jason and the design team to implement. I'm impressed with the upcoming option to toggle the new assault and variable visibility rules too.

Anyway, my 2 cents on the things. Looking forward to your comments fellas.

:)