Rule Book V2.0.2

Wing Leader 1 Rule Book v2.0.2 TABLE OF CONTENTS 1.0 INTRODUCTION 2 10.0 AIR COMBAT 24 2.0 COMPONENTS 4 11.0 ESCAPE 31 3.0 SQUADRONS 6 12.0 ENDING THE GAME 31 4.0 ENVIRONMENT 8 13.0 ADVANCED WING LEADER 32 5.0 SET-UP 11 14.0 SURFACE UNITS 35 6.0 SEQUENCE OF PLAY 13 15.0 BOMBING 40 7.0 SITUATIONAL AWARENESS 14 16.0 INDEX 46 8.0 MOVEMENT 16 17.0 CREDITS 47 9.0 COMMAND & CONTROL 18 GMT Games LLC • P.O.Box 1308, Hanford, CA 93232-1308, USA • wwwGMTGames.com #1612 © GMT Games 2016 2 Wing Leader 1.0 INTRODUCTION Wing Leader Series. Wing Leader is a series of games. There Wing Leader is a game of World War 2 air combat, in which fighter air- are two core volumes. The first, Wing Leader: Victories 1940- craft try to intercept and break up formations of enemy raiders. 1942, covers the key aircraft and battles of the early war and the second, Wing Leader: Supremacy 1943-1945, takes the series up The basic unit in Wing Leader is the squadron or flight. Unlike conven- to the war’s end. Further expansions fill in gaps in the aircraft tional air games, where the world is viewed from above, in Wing Leader inventory and add more scenarios. players view the air battle from the side. 1.0.1 Rule Book This rule book describes the rules of the game. Rules are numbered. Cross-references to other rules are listed in [square brackets]. Notes in the sidebars describe the rationale behind the rules, along with examples, illustrations and other useful information. Design notes are presented in shaded boxes and describe the rationale behind the rules. Language. The rules use British English in preference to Amer- The advanced rules and rules for surface units and bombing [13.0-15.0] ican usage. are recommended only when players have tried a few of the early scenarios and picked up the basics of play. Rules Editions. Major rule changes from edition v1.0 are indi- 1.0.2 Scenario Book cated with sidebar entries starting with the t symbol. The scenario book lists various historical situations to set up and play. The book you hold in your hands is the ‘living rules’ set, in- corporating errata and clarifications. Text changes from edition 1.0.3 Rules Editions v2.0 are marked in blue. The Wing Leader series employs a common set of rules. This version ‘Living rules’ with corrections and changes can be found at incorporates changes that supersede earlier editions of the rules. www.gmtgames.com 1.1 GLOSSARY The following are important terms used in the game. Adjacent. An adjacent square on the map is one of the 8 squares next to the square a squadron occupies. Adjacency exists diagonally as well as orthogonally (see sidebar). Altitude/Height. Altitude is the number of squares a squadron is above the ground. Altitude levels are printed on the map and go from 0 to 19. The terms altitude and height are used interchangeably in the game. The terms ‘higher’, ‘lower’, ‘above’ and ‘below’ refer to the relationships between heights. A squadron at altitude 7 is higher than one at altitude 6 and below one at altitude 8. Alert. An alert fighter squadron is aware of the presence of enemies. A squadron that is not Alert is Unalert. Available. An Available fighter squadron is one that is unbroken AND does not occupy the same square as an enemy squadron that has tallied it. A fighter squadron that is broken or occupies the same square as an enemy squadron that has tallied it is Unavailable. Adjacent. The arrows point to the eight squares adjacent to this Basic Speed and Turn. A squadron’s speed or turn values, as printed on Bf 109G squadron. This squadron is in level flight (see glos- the Aircraft Data Card, modified by weapon loads, climbing and diving. sary). (See also Combat Speed and Turn.) Bomber. Bombers are squadrons marked with a Bombing mission mark- er. Broken. A broken squadron has lost strength, is scattered, or been ren- dered ineffective. The opposite of Broken is Unbroken. Climb. A squadron increases altitude. Combat Speed and Turn. A squadron’s basic speed or turn values modified by factors that only apply to combat. (See also Basic Speed and Turn.) Disrupted. A disrupted squadron has become less organised and a few aircraft have gone home, making it harder for the remaining aircraft to provide mutual support. © GMT Games 2016 Wing Leader 3 Distance. Distance on the map is measured by counting the number of squares from one square to another, by the shortest path. Squares can be counted diagonally. Count the destination square but not the start square (see sidebar). Dive. A squadron decreases altitude. Enemy. All squadron and surface units belonging to the opposing player are termed the enemy. Scenarios usually define one map edge as the enemy map edge. (See also Friendly.) Fighter. Fighters are squadrons marked with Escort, Sweep or Intercept mission markers. Fighter-Bombers. Fighter-bombers are Fighter class squadrons that carry bomb loads and are marked with Bombing mission markers. They start scenarios as bombers and can change to fighters as the scenario progresses. Flight. See Squadron. Formation. To be ‘in formation’, friendly squadrons have to be in the same or an adjacent square to another friendly squadron AND facing in the same direction. Formations can comprise long chains of adjacent squadrons. Distance. The Bf 109G squadron is a distance of four squares Friendly. All squadron and surface units belonging to a player are re- from the Spitfire IX squadron. garded as friendly to that player. Scenarios usually define one map edge as the friendly map edge. (See also Enemy.) Initiative Order. The order in which squadrons move. Level Flight. A squadron faces directly toward the left or right map edge and is not angled so that it would climb or dive with its next move. Line of Sight. An uninterrupted line between two squadrons on the map, or between a squadron and a surface unit, that permits a squadron to tally an enemy squadron or a surface unit to directly fire flak at it. Loss. A loss is a shot-down aircraft. Though units are squadron-sized, the game measures casualties as individual aircraft losses. Modifier. Die rolls in the game are subject to modifiers. Add (or subtract, if negative) the modifier values from the roll to get the final total. Modi- fiers are cumulative. Squadron. A squadron is a unit of aircraft flying together. A flight is a unit roughly half the size of a squadron. For the sake of brevity these rules use the term ‘squadron’ to refer to squadrons and flights. All rules that apply to squadrons also apply to flights except where specifically indicated. Straggler. A straggler is an aircraft that has become separated from its squadron, making it vulnerable to attack. Sun. Enemy squadrons in the direction of the Sun (referred to as ‘in the Sun’) are more difficult to tally. PHOTO: A squadron of Hawker Hurricane fighters in Tally/Tallied. A tally means that a squadron has spotted an enemy and is the kind of tight formation that the game treats as Rigid doctrine. engaging it. The enemy squadron is referred to as ‘being tallied’. Unavailable. See Available. Unalert. See Alert. Unbroken. See Broken. 1.2 FRACTIONS Some game rules require the players to multiply or divide numbers. After Multiple Division. Where asked to divide then divide again, division all fractional values are rounded to the nearest whole number round fractions after each operation. So half of 5 would be 2.5, (as zero is also a whole number, round to that if it is the nearest). Frac- rounded to 3. If halved again the result would be 1.5, rounded to 2. tions of 0.5 are always rounded up. © GMT Games 2016 4 Wing Leader 2.0 COMPONENTS The box should contain the following game components: This section describes the components used in the game. Rulebook 2.1 COMPONENT NOTES Scenario book Map board Scenario Book. The scenario book contains a number of scenarios, each Sheets of counters and markers (3 sheets in WL: Victories; describing a different historical situation and information for setting up 4 sheets in WL: Supremacy) and playing that scenario [5.1]. Sheets of Aircraft Data Cards (5 sheets in WL: Victories; Additional scenarios will appear in future game expansions, in maga- 6 sheets in WL: Supremacy) zines, or online. Player aid cards (2 Combat Cards, 1 Bombing Card) 1 Battle Display (WL: Supremacy only) Map. The map shows a grid of 26 squares in length by 20 squares high. 2 Wing Displays (Okay, the squares are rectangular, but we call them squares anyway.) 2 six-sided dice Each square has a centre dot used in determining whether cloud blocks line of sight [4.6.1]. The long bottom edge of the map is marked with the ground. This is ‘down’. The opposite map edge is ‘up’. So the map shows movement from side to side and in height above the ground. The row of squares nearest the ground is marked as altitude 0 (zero). Squadrons cannot fly any lower than this. Each row above this is numbered up to altitude 19, which is the highest any squadron can fly. Each vertical column on the map is lettered, from A to Z. It is possible Squadron Counter. This illustration shows both sides of a to note the position of a squadron on the map grid by writing its column squadron counter.

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