Introduction
"Yankee Tomahawk fighters at 12:00 high," shouts the Japanese pilot to his wingman. As the American fighters dive to medium altitude, the Japanese Zero leader is able to maneuver his fighter into attack position. Two bursts from the plane’s machine guns damage the Tomahawk. The Japanese have taken the initiative and the fight to the Americans.
Subscribe Today
As I looked at my cards in my second run through of Zero!, GMT’s Pacific edition in its Down in Flames series, I realized that my early lead would be short lived. My hand did not have enough offensive firepower to finish off the Tomahawk leader. Sure enough, four turns later in this quick paced game, three of my four fighters had plummeted to earth, victims of my opponent’s skillful card play. Fortunately, I "survived" to fight another day.
Game Overview
Zero! is a card game which recreates fighter dogfights between two or more players during the opening months of combat in the Pacific Theater. The aircraft cards in the Basic Game represent several types of Japanese, American and British fighters that came into existence between 1938 and 1942. Zeros, Wildcats, Hurricanes, Nates, and Tomahawks are examples of the aircraft players may select at the beginning of a game.
There are two types of fighter cards: Leaders and Wingmen. Together, the leader and corresponding wingman card make up an element. A player or players control one or more elements during the game. The beautifully illustrated cards give the necessary combat ratings for each Leader aircraft. Performance, bursts, horsepower, and bombing capability (Campaign Game) are the four combat ratings for each fighter. A Wingman card shows offensive and defensive ratings instead. Usually, a player will hold five or six cards in his hand, which represents the performance rating of the aircraft.
During the course of a game turn, players perform for each element the following steps: wingman attack, altitude adjustment, play cards, and discard/draw step. Play cards is the most important part of the player turn, for it is during this step that the player will play cards from his hand for his leader, one card at a time, in order to gain an advantaged or tailing position in order to engage an enemy aircraft. Maneuver and half loop cards are used for this purpose. The opposing player has the opportunity to respond immediately by playing an appropriate card, such as barrel roll or tight turn, to cancel the attacker’s card. The attacker can respond to the defender by playing an appropriate response, such as ace pilot, then the defender can play, and so on, until the action (change of position or damage) takes effect or was negated. Then, a new action can be initiated. If a favorable attack position can be achieved, Out of the Sun or In My Sights cards can be played to inflict damage.
Wingmen attack and defend using mini hands based on the offensive and defensive performance ratings of the aircraft. Wingmen can attack other wingmen or leader aircraft. A wingman’s mini-hand can be used to improve the position of its leader versus an engaged enemy leader. Or, the wingman can play "Out of the sun" or "In my sights" cards to inflict damage. Unlike a leader, wingmen are not restricted by burst limitations. So, if the right cards are drawn, a wingman can do substantial damage.
A dogfight in the basic game lasts six turns, and then points are scored for damaged and destroyed aircraft. The player(s) with the higher score wins.
Campaign Game
Bombers make their appearance in the campaign game. Light bombers are treated like fighters in most respects, and light bomber leaders play cards and are subject to positioning from enemy fighters. Medium and heavy bombers "fly" in two plane formations, and can be targeted by fighters. These bombers defend against attacks using their turret defense ratings, as well as the turret support rating from the other aircraft in the formation.
Pages: 1 2 3
Help Armchair General by bookmarking to
