Flying Circus

David Bolton

I imagine, looking at the ratings in S&T that a lot of copies of
'Flying Circus' will be gathering dust in cupboards all over the
country, which is a shame because the game can be improved.

Firstly, the map should be numbered, as the variation described here
uses Simultaneous Movement. The top left-hand corner hex is 0101, top
right-hand corner hex is 4501, and so on. By this numbering, target hex
A is 0812 and hex B is 2014, and so on.

Sequence of Play 

The new sequence of play is as follows: 

1. Sighting phase: players determine which aircraft are able to see an
opponent (explained later on).

2. Aircraft sighted, that are on the same altitude and in range,may be
fired at, and may return fire. Any damage is registered in the speed
counters, and ammunition counters are reduced.

3. Players plot movement, in accordance with the plotting rules which
are explained later. 

4. The aircraft are moved.

Field of Fire Modification

The field of fire, of rear swivel-mounted guns and rear ring-mounted
guns, remains the same as before, but for forward firing guns it is
slightly modified: at 6-8 hexes range, the hexes on either side of the
field of fire can be fired into, this simulates the pilot's ability to
'yaw' the aircraft through about 15 degrees to either side.

The table below is used to introduce some difference between target
aspects of aircraft in different situations i.e. an aircraft flying
across the field of fire is harder to hit than one which is being
chased.

                            Range
Target                      1-4 5-8

Receding                     1   2
Moving across field of fire  2   2
Being attacked frm above    -1   0
Diving                       0   1

The numbers are to be added to the die roll, e.g. an aircraft which is
attacked from above at 3 hexes range, if a 3 is thrown it becomes a 2. A
one stays a one, six a six.

When an aircraft is hit there.is a chance that the pilot could be killed
outright, and in a two-seater either or both occupants could be killed.

                    Damage
                    1   2   3   4   5   6
Dice-throw to kill  1   1   1-2 1-2 1-3 1-3

Whenever an aircraft is hit shake on the above chart, shake twice for a
two-seater.

Plotting Movement 

In a move an aircraft may dive, climb, increase or reduce speed.

Increase speed by X  'IS X'
Decrease speed by X  'RS X'
Climb                'CL'
Dive                 'DV'

Anywhere on the map one or two direction roses may be drawn to help
plotting.

                        A
                      F   B
                      E   C
                        D

An example of plottlng: an aircraft moving at a speed of 10 and also
climbing, must reduce speed by at least 1 mp.

The plot would be RS 1 CL 4A 3F, from which it can be seen that the
aircraft also turned .

If two aircraft at the same height wish to complete their movement in
the same hex, both players throw a dice. The player throwing the higher
number may then move his aircraft into the hex. If both dice are the
same then the aircraft have collided and are removed from play. If the
aircraft which had to turn away, was a B or D turn mode air craft, then
it must begin its turn in the previous hex.