NIGHTFIGHTER 1 NIGHTFIGHTER Air Warfare in the Night Skies of World War Two RULE BOOK Design by Lee Brimmicombe-Wood © 2011 GMT Games, LLC P.O. Box 1308, Hanford, CA 93232-1308, USA www.GMTGames.com © GMTGMT Games 1109 LLC, 2011 2 NIGHTFIGHTER CONTENTS 16.0 ADVANCED FOG OF WAR 13 1.0 Introduction 3 17.0 ADVANCED Combat 13 1.1 Rules 3 17.1 Firepower 13 1.2 Players 3 17.2 Experten 13 1.3 Scenarios 3 17.3 Aircraft Destruction 13 1.4 Scale 3 17.4 Bomber Response 14 1.5 Glossary 3 18.0 Altitude ADVantage 15 2.0 COMPONENTS 4 19.0 AI Radar 15 2.1 Maps 4 19.1 AI Radar Introduction 15 2.2 Counters 4 2.3 Play Aid Screen 5 20.0 OBLIQUE GUNS 16 2.4 Dice 5 20.1 Schräge Musik 16 3.0 SETTING UP PLAY 5 21.0 HIGH AND Low Altitudes 16 3.1 Set Up the Table 5 21.1 Low Altitude Operations 16 3.2 Scenarios 5 21.2 High Altitude Operations 16 3.3 Environment 6 22.0 FLAK 16 3.4 Scenario Setup 7 23.0 RADIO Beacon BOX 17 4.0 SEQUENCE OF PLAY 7 24.0 ADVANCED Electronics 17 4.1 End of Game 7 24.1 Special AI Radar 17 5.0 FOG OF WAR 7 24.2 Warning Devices 17 5.1 Map Information 7 24.3 Navigation Radars 17 6.0 AIRCRAFT Data Charts 8 24.4 Serrate 18 24.5 Jamming 18 7.0 MOVING BOMBERS 8 7.1 Bomber Facing 8 25.0 Ground Control INTERCEPT 18 7.2 Bomber Movement 8 25.1 GCI Search 18 25.2 MEW 19 8.0 ENTERING BOMBERS 9 8.1 Entry Chits 9 26.0 NAVAL ACTIONS 19 8.2 Bomber Entry 9 26.1 Task Forces 19 26.2 Flare Droppers 19 9.0 MOVING FIGHTERS 9 26.3 Torpedo Bombers 19 9.1 Movement Points 9 9.2 Moving 9 27.0 Intruders 20 27.1 Picking Intruders 20 10.0 BASIC TALLYING 10 27.2 Intruder Behavior 20 10.1 Tally Roll 10 27.3 Tail Warning Radar 21 10.2 Maintaining a Tally 10 28.0 OPTIONAL RULES 21 11.0 BASIC Combat 10 28.1 Following Corkscrews 21 11.1 Deconfliction 10 28.2 Alerted Bombers 21 12.0 EQUIPMENT 10 28.3 Searchlight Confusion 22 13.0 Radar SEARCH 11 28.4 Attack Position 22 28.5 Green Pilots 22 13.1 Radar Search Counters 11 28.6 Advanced Tallies 22 14.0 SEARCHLIGHTS 12 NIGHTFIGHTERS 22 14.1 Searchlights and Cloud 12 14.2 Searchlight Zones 12 ChronologY 26 14.3 Flare-Illumination 12 RECOMMENDED READING 27 15.0 ADVANCED TALLYING 12 DESIGNER’S Notes 27 15.1 Tallying Fixed Enemies 12 CREDITS 27 © GMT Games LLC, 2011 NIGHTFIGHTER 3 1.0 Introduction Nightfighter allows players to fight tactical air battles between 1.3 Scenarios nightfighters and bombers in World War Two. The scenarios There are a number of scenarios in Nightfighter, each depicting show the development of nightfighting from early “cat’s eye” a different stage in the development of nightfighting. incarnations to late-war radar intercept techniques. Scenarios are found in the scenario book arranged in rough chronological order. Every scenario has variants that make 1.1 Rules alterations to the basic scenario. Players are encouraged to This book describes the rules of the game. Rules are play these variants. numbered and cross-references to other rules are listed [in square brackets]. Design notes in italics describe the rationale 1.4 Scale behind the rules. Each unit counter in the game represents a single bomber or nightfighter aircraft. Each hex on the map is approximately a 1.1.1 PROGRAMMED INSTRUCTION mile across. Each game turn is roughly a minute in length. This rule book is organized so that you only need to read the rules required to play the next scenario. At various points 1.5 Glossary in this rule book, you are invited to stop reading and play a The following is a list of terms commonly used in the game. scenario using the rules you have learned. AI Radar. AI stands for “Airborne Interception.” AI was the 1.2 Players name given to radar systems mounted on aircraft [19.0]. Nightfighter requires two participants: a player and an umpire. Attacker. The umpire-controlled bomber and intruder force. The umpire officiates the game and controls the attacker Bomber. A bomb-carrying aircraft controlled by the umpire. forces while the player controls the defenders. Bombers do not fly freely but behave according to strict rules. 1.2.1 COMBATANTS Most bombers have gun turrets to defend themselves and may All forces in the game are divided into attacker (umpire) and try to evade attacks by nightfighters. defender (player) forces. Attackers represent bombers and As the majority of attacker aircraft in the game are bombers, intruder fighters while defenders represent the nightfighter the term “bomber” is used to mean “bomber or intruder” in forces deployed to stop them. these rules. Rules that apply to bombers should also apply to 1.2.2 BlinD PLAY intruders unless specified otherwise. The game is designed so that the player plays “blind.” There Defender. The player-controlled nightfighter force. are two maps in the game: one each for the umpire and Distance. Distance on the map is measured by counting the player. The umpire’s map tracks the positions of both the number of hexes from one hex to another, by the shortest attacker and defender forces. The player’s map is printed path. Count the destination hex but not the start hex larger but is otherwise identical to the umpire’s map. It only [2.1.4]. shows the defender forces and those attackers that have been Facing. The direction an aircraft points on the map [7.1, 9.2]. fixed or tallied. The play aid is placed between the two maps An aircraft must face one of the six adjacent hexes [2.2.1]. as a screen to prevent the player seeing the umpire’s map [3.1]. The umpire, of course, can look at both maps freely. Fix. If a bomber or intruder is fixed, its location is known to Rule 5.0 describes this in more detail. the player. Aircraft are fixed by searchlights [14.2.1] or AI radar [19.1.2]. Intruder. An attacker nightfighter that is controlled by the umpire. The role of intruders is to hunt down and kill defender nightfighters [27.0]. Nightfighter. Sometimes simplified to ‘fighter’. This is a gun-armed fighter aircraft controlled by the player. Many nightfighters are equipped with AI radar and other electronics that help them find and fix bombers. Player. The player controls the defender nightfighters. Tally. A visual sighting of an enemy aircraft is called a tally. This represents spotting an enemy and obtaining positive identification of that aircraft [10.0, 15.0]. Tally Number. The final digit of an aircraft’s ID number. It is printed larger than the rest of the numbers on the counter [2.2.1]. Umpire. The umpire officiates the game and controls the ILLUSTRATION: The umpire on the right masks his smaller map attacker forces of bombers and intruders. with the play aid. He has a perfect view of the larger player’s map Visible Range. The distance at which an enemy aircraft can be (to the left) and can update it with information as necessary. seen from another aircraft [3.3.2]. © GMT Games LLC, 2011 4 NIGHTFIGHTER 2.0 COMPONENTS 2.1.4 DiSTANCES All distances on the map are measured in hexes. To count A complete game of Nightfighter contains the following the distance between aircraft, determine the shortest path in components: hexes from one aircraft to the other and count the number of One rule book hexes. Count the hex the target aircraft occupies but not the One scenario book hex the first aircraft occupies. One rules supplement book When measuring distance to two or more bombers, the closest is the one that is the fewest hexes away. One 11” x 17” umpire’s map One 17” x 22” player’s map 2.1.5 PLAyer’s MaP The player’s map displays various tracks and boxes: One sheet of 5/8” counters (88 counters) Game Turn Track. Place the game turn marker One sheet of 1/2” counters (280 counters) on this track to mark the current turn. Move it One play aid/umpire’s screen one space along the track at the end of each One patrol display turn. After 20 game turns move the counter Six six-sided dice, four in one color, two in another to the 1 box and flip it to its “+20” side. Spaces marked with an asterisk (*) indicate those turns where certain 2.1 Maps aircraft can move an extra hex [7.2, 9.1]. There are two near-identical maps. The smaller one is used by The game turn track is also used to track Victory Points and the umpire and must be kept hidden from the player’s sight. flare duration [26.2.2] in naval actions. The player uses the larger map. Environment Status Boxes. Boxes that are used to indicate 2.1.1 HEX GRID moon phase, visibility and cloud. During set up place markers Each map is gridded with hexagons (or “hexes”). The maps in each appropriate box [3.4]. are 18 hexes wide by 27 hexes long. Each hex has a unique 2.2 Counters four-figure ID number in which the first two numbers are the hex COLUMN and the second two indicate the hex ROW.