Over the Lines Campaign Rules
WWI Aerial Combat
©1996,2001 Daryl Poe

Campaign Rules

The campaign rules add a bit of continuing flavor to a series of scenarios. As the scenarios progress, the pilots gain in skill and awards, and the players become attached to their favorites.

The pool of players will want to divide up into two teams. One team plays German, while the other plays either British or French. Each player will control a roster of three active pilots for one team or the other. The players each choose which side they will play on, with a mind towards equality in the number and skill of opponents. The British/French players must choose which nationality they will play, though they may not change their mind without restarting their unit from scratch.

A player may only switch teams when one of his pilots has been shot down (the player's surviving personnel go to the rear to train new pilots -- they're out of the game unless the player again changes sides). A side-change must be agreed to by both sides, with a goal of keeping the sides roughly even.

Missions

Though some groups of players may prefer to play sequentially, season by season and year by year, it may be hard to hold the attention and interest of players during a series of scenarios during which one side has a technological advantage. Many groups prefer instead to let random rolls determine the season of the scenario.

All missions will take place between Summer 1915 and Autumn 1918, with missions in the latter years more frequent. Roll on the Setup Tables to determine:

The year
The season
Roll for Cloud Cover (if using "Cloud Rules")
The time-of-day (if using "Sun Rules")
The Mission Type (appropriate Advanced Rules must be used, e.g. Bombing for a Bombing Mission)
The Aggressor
Other mission-specific selections

The number and class of planes is determined by the mission and the number of players on each side -- see the mission rules for details. The exact type of plane to be flown will be covered under Plane Selection below.

Squadron Rosters

As soon as the date, mission, and size of the fight has been determined, the players must decide which of their pilots will fly the planes in the mission. (There may be times and missions that you may want to avoid with your best pilot.) Of course, each player should fly roughly the same number of planes as his compatriots.

Pilots will gain in skill and abilities as they earn experience and victories. A pilot fresh from flight school will be considered Green and will suffer minor penalties in combat, as detailed in the rules above. If a plane fired upon an enemy aircraft (with a chance of hitting), or was fired upon, each crew member gains one Mission worth of experience. For every hostile aircraft shot down, the crew member that fired the final shot on the target gets one Kill. (In the case of a tie, if the players cannot come to agreement, cut cards to see who gets credit). As pilots gain experience, they progress in skills and may be rewarded with medals.

Any crewman that takes a light wound may not participate in subsequent actions in the same season. Any crewman that takes a heavy wound may not participate in that season or the following one. Note periods of inaction on the crewman's record sheet.

Initial Roster

The initial roster for each player will consist of one Regular with 1d6+4 Missions and two Regular pilots with 1d6+2 Missions. All have zero kills. Roll on the Heritage Table for each pilot.

Rank

Starting rank of the personnel in the initial roster is rolled on the Rank Table at right. The higher ranks can only be reached via advancement.

Advances in rank can happen at every five kills -- roll a 5 or 6 on 1d6 to advance. Add +1 to the die for each previous failed roll at the current rank.

Flight Leader

The participating pilot with the highest rank is considered the Flight Leader. In the case of a tie, the one that has flown the most missions is selected. If it is still a tie, highest dice roll becomes the Flight Leader for the current mission.

Heritage Table
2d6 Roll	British	French	German
2	Australian	French	Saxon
3	S. African	French
4	English	American
5		Other
6		French	Prussian
7			Prussian
8	Canadian		Bavarian
9	Welsh		Bavarian
10	Irish		Wurttemburger
11	Scottish
12	American

Rank Table
1d6 Roll	British	French	German
0-1	Sergeant	Sergent	Unteroffizier
2	2^nd Lt.	Adjudant	Vizefeldwebel
3	Lt.	Adjudant	Vizefeldwebel
4		Sous-Lieutenant	Leutnant
5		Sous-Lieutenant
6	Captain	Lieutenant
-	Major	Capitaine	Oberleutnant
-	Lt. Col.	Commandant	Hauptmann
Replacement personnel: -1 die roll modifier

Replacement Personnel

Any crewman killed will be replaced in the next mission by a new crewman. All replacements will have no Kills, and in many cases will be Green -- see the Replacement Table at right, with die roll modifiers depending on the year and season of the current mission. The replacement's starting rank is rolled on the Rank Table, but a -1 die roll modifier is added, leaning towards lower ranks.

The national heritage of the replacement is rolled on the Heritage Table. This is really just for flavor and only matters for eligibility for certain medals.

Replacement Table
1d6 Roll	Skill Level	Missions Flown
0-4	Green	0
5	Inexperienced	1
6	Inexperienced	2
7	Regular	3
Entente Aut 1916-Spr 1917: -1 Entente 1918: +1 German 1916: +1 German 1918: -1

Plane Selection

Though the missions are not flown in calendar order, the squadrons must keep track of which planes are in use by the squadron as they advance through the war. The seasonal Squadron History starts out empty. When a mission is flown, the type of plane used by the squadron during that season is recorded on the Squadron History.

If a mission has already been flown by that squadron during the year and season of the scenario, the planes that were used last time must be used again (though there may be some minor changes due to combat losses, to be discussed later).

If the squadron has not yet flown a mission in that season, examine the Squadron History and back up season-by-season until a season is found where the plane types are noted. The squadron always has the option of flying that same type of plane in the current scenario, unless it has gone out of service. The previously-used plane type (if any) is the first guess -- the default -- plane type to be used in the current mission.

In the time since the last mission, some or all of those planes may have gone out of service. Examine the Plane Vintage Charts for the nationality and date in question. If the default plane type is not available with any roll, it is considered out of service, and the squadron will be reequipped with a new type.

Even if the default type is still in service, the Flight Leader may request new aircraft, as long as no mission has previously been flown in that season. To request a new type, roll 2d6 on the appropriate Vintage Chart. Squadrons with a Preferred Flight Leader can roll twice pick which roll they want to keep. The rolled type may be used in preference to the default type. (Players cannot change their mind about which personnel will participate in the mission -- you flew what was available.)

Mixed Squadrons

The British in 1915 and 1916, and the Germans throughout the war, operated squadrons of hetrogeneous fighter types. Rather than roll for a single fighter type for the entire squadron, the rolls and Squadron History must be done as two half squadrons, frequently resulting in two different fighter types in use. (Observation planes and bombers do not use this rule -- the same bombers or observation planes in a particular scenario will all be of the same type.) When picking a default type for the British in 1917 or 1918, if you look back into the time of split squadrons, either type may be used as the Default Type for the mission.

When a mixed squadron is flown, half must be of each type. If there are an odd number of planes, the Flight Leader may choose the type of the odd plane. which type the odd one is).

Replacement Planes

Destroyed planes will be replaced. For the French or the British in 1917/1918, the replacement is of the same type as the rest of the squadron is flying. The squadron remains homogenous.

For the Germans and the British in 1915/1916, the replacement may be of a different type than the rest of the squadron, or even the half-squadron. On the appropriate Vintage Chart, make a roll for each replacement plane (this time with no extra rolls for Preferred Leaders). If the roll matches one of the plane types already in use by the squadron, use that as the replacement. In this case there is nothing to add to the Squadron History -- the combat losses have merely been replaced by types already in use by the squadron.

If the roll doesn't match the types, roll on the same chart again. The plane rolled is the replacement type, even if it is an "oddball" that doesn't match the rest of the squadron. (This two-roll sequence increases the chance of a replacement that matches the squadron but leaves the door open to the oddball.) The Flight Leader may allocate the oddballs to any pilots he chooses -- usually older types go to more inexperienced pilots. Though the oddballs are recorded on the Squadron History (since the next mission in the same season would use the same replacements, assuming they survive), they are ignored when looking for Default Types in a different season.

Medals

Each medal won by a crewman increases his fame and counts as an additional Kill and an additional Mission. Separate tables list the awards and the rolls necessary to be awarded the medal. Each crewman can only receive each medal once, though bars may be available to denote subsequent awards. After each mission, each crewman rolls for each medal he's qualified for.

Tables to Come

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