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| City: | Michigan  | | Personal Data: | Male, born: June 29 1955 | | Membership | 18years 215days ago. | | Last Login | 14years 117days ago. | | Last Move | 14years 53days ago. | Graywolf is currently  | Send a mail to Graywolf |
| | Message text While I'm new to the club I have been gaming in one fashion or another for over thirty years. The first question that comes to my mind is "What is the intent of the rule and how does it apply to the event it is trying to simulate?"
WWI pilots did not just get up in the morning, have a cup of coffee and say 'Well I think I'll have a flyabout and knock down a few Jerrys (or Brits) today! Typically they were given a sector to patrol, an escort mission, etc. If you look at it from that perspective. Abandoning your sector and leaving it under enemy control is one of the worst failures of duty. Pilots displaying such behaviour were not pilots for very long. The lone exception being when the pilot's plane was severly damaged, out of gas, or out of ammo. Then it was considered the better part of discretion to save a valuable airplane (and if you read the histories, an even more valuable pilot) to fight another day.
So if the intent of the rule on exiting the map is looked at in terms of the real life responsibilities of the pilots involved the only justifiable reasons for exiting your sector early are; severe damage, lack of gas or ammunition. I don't think anyone will argue that a pilot with half a tail, a dead observer and no gas should be forced to glide around throwing spare objects from his cockpit at the other pilots until he's shot down.
So there are justifiable reasons for a pilot to exit early On his side of the map (I'll address that in a minute). How many points that pilot receives (half, one-third, one-quarter) is up to the game designers and the gaming community to reach a consensus on.
Now there are three sides on the map. What do these really represent? The left side is Allied air space. The right is German air space. If a pilot exits on his own side of the map he's fine, even if he crash lands the plane at that point he's recovered by friendly forces and rushed to the hospital, or he limps home to his aerodrome and is regarded a hero for saving his airplane.
But what if he exits on any of the other three sides? If he lands in enemy space and he's not shot out of hand, he's hauled off to cool his heels in a prisoner of war camp.
That leaves the top and bottom of the map. These represent no-man's land. A brutal and desolate place during the first war. By all descriptions a pilot would be better served landing in enemy space and taking the POW camp in favor of no man's land. So, now we have a pilot who exits on the top or bottom of the board. We are assuming that when he exits via the top or bottom that he does not have sufficent fuel to reach his own lines. He is going to land in no man's land and if the enemy doesn't shoot him first his own side just might if he makes it back.
The rules of disengagement should reflect these realities:
1)If a pilot exits to his home air space due to reasons of duress (no ammo, no fuel, wounded, dead observer, damaged aircraft) Even though he has ceded that sector to the enemy he has in essence saved a valuable aircraft to fight another day and should be rewarded (1/2 points, 1/3 points, whatever).
2)If a pilot exits any side of the map with a perfectly functional aircraft he has ceded that sector to the enemy and should receive no points at all. The reasoning behind this is:
....A) If he exits to enemy space, He's ceded his sector to the enemy, he's lost his airplane, or worse, the enemy now has use of it. And he's a POW for the rest of the war.
....B) If he cuts are runs for home with a functional aircraft he's court-martialed for either dereliction of duty or cowardice before the enemy.
....C)If he runs before the enemy and then loses a valuable aircraft in no-man's land he'd better hope the enemy finds him first.
So what it comes down to is there should never be a reason for abandoning the field in any direction other than those reasons of duress already mentioned. In real life terms it would be seen by higher command as either dereliction of duty or outright cowardice. both actions would have dire consequences for the pilot involved and the rules should reflect as much.
Having said all this, implementing these rules would require some tinkering with the scenarios. The game boards are riduliously small for an air warfare game. I would think a 12 x 12 would be the smallest even for 2 player engagements if the consequences for exiting are that severe. (even for the short time that I've been playing I've been forced off the board once with a plane that would only make right turns).
But that's a discussion for another day.
Regards,
Graywolf |
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