S3#109 - Fight Above Etna - Sicily July 1943

Game Settings

  • Luftwaffe Players(gold) - 28 est
  • Allied Players(green) - 39 est
  • Icons – d24 friendly, d12 range, d6 enemy plane
  • Clouds - clear skies
  • Radar – 30 mile radius, grey dots, in-flight arrow. Minimum alt is 500 ft.
  • Flak - AAA limited to 30,000ft in height.
  • Allied Airfields(green) - Southern Sicily and Malta
  • Luftwaffe Airfields(gold) - Sicily
  • Fuel Multipler - set at 1.0 for all planes.
  • Rebuild Time - 300 mins
  • Game Length – 180 mins
  • Lives – 3 lives per frame, 1 per aircraft type assigned.
  • Game Scale - 1 squad = 1 historical unit and 1 frame = 1 set of operations.

Basic Rules

Initial Format - changes after in bold italics.

1. Frame Timeline - pilots should report in at least 10 mins before T+0 to get organized and receive any last minute order changes.

  • T+0 - Pre-Dawn(04:00), flight enabled for all aircraft.
  • T+160 - Last surface attacks completed all a/c must disengage ASAP. Torps\bombs must hit before T+160 to be counted.
  • T+180 - Dark(12:00), all squads must be in tower or land in the dark.

2. Pilot Lives - Pilots have three lives to live during a frame. Only those aircraft indicated for each squad on the A/C table qualify for the three lives. Ask the CM to reset you when you loose one of your lives non-operationally. Players may switch aircraft types during a frame but once they loose a life(aka bail, ditch or die) in an aircraft type they cannot use it again in that frame. This is pilot's honor. A significant change in the S3s but hopefully will allow more fighter pilots fly strike and give us more bomber\strike aircraft sorties each frame. Without bomber\strike pilots the S3s are just an old-fashioned squad duel.

3. Operational Restrictions - each side may only conduct operations in the area outlined in the game map.

4. Ord\Aircraft Restrictions - all bombers and the FW190F8 must carry ord and conduct missions accordingly.

5. Aircraft Minimum Fuel - all aircraft must take at least 100% internal fuel with or without drop tanks.

6. Squad Aircraft - each pilot may fly aircraft listed for their squad on the A/C table. These aircraft will change over the course of the series as noted on the table. Once you loose a life in 1 aircraft type you must switch to another. All players have the option to fly the penalty planes for each side as one of their aircraft types. At no time may the exceed three lives or a\c types.

7. Squad Basing - each squad must begin play at their own at-start airfield. After initial roll they may base from anywhere. Pilots that loose a life are allowed to choose another field other than the one they initially started at without it considered teleporting.

8. Aircraft drones - every player that uses an eligible bomber a\c in a frame may take up to 3 wingman with their lead aircraft.

9. Improved FMs - new FMs are being developed from last year so it is best to test them out beforehand as they will handle differently than in 2016-17. Bombers and most strike a\c are the quasi-FMs which we have been using for a couple years now.

10. Bomber Hardness - bufftuff will be at 1.0 with effective otto in this event. Bomber hardness continues to be an issue and needs further testing.

11. Airstarts - during the series a 20,000ft airstart will be enabled at F2 for the Axis and F212 for the Allies. At beginning of play these are the only airfields that may start overstacked with more than one squad assigned to it.

12. Capured Fields - at the end of the frame any enemy fields closed during play that are linked via road\rail net to an open friendly field will be friendly next frame. A road link to a closed friendly field does not count nor does a road link that has an open enemy location(s) anywhere along its supply line. A road\rail link through more than one closed enemy field is allowed as long as the first friendly location reached is open and supplied. Some fields are close together and the CM will rule if it is not clear which one is captured or not. Supply sources are all Allied beachheads, Ports or Docks in Sicily.

13. Closed Fields - at the end of the frame any enemy fields that are closed but cannot link to an open friendly field will remain closed for the rest of the series or until finally linked to an open friendly field. Only the location status at the end of the frame is considered and not results during play. This will cause several road\rail nets to be stalemated and other routes will need to be attacked. To facilitate closure all AAA as well as house and huts are not required to close. Vehicles, artillery and AT guns are required.

14. Safe Ditch - if you run off the field and ditch within 10 miles(52800ft) of the tower the ditch is NOT awarded a kill. It is assumed that aircraft and pilot can be salvaged.

15. Ditch Forced Exit - you have 5 seconds to exit a ditched aircraft. This stops trying to outlast a kill message, drawing ack fire or passing along intel at a nearby field.

16. Penalty Planes - players that commit errors in basic rules and do not attempt to correct the error during play will have a penalty plane assigned to them for the next frame. They must fly 3 lives in that aircraft type. Examples of penalty plane errors include teleporting fields when not allowed by special rules, gunning from ships or flak positions. If a player immediately addresses the error they will not be assigned a penalty plane but always inform the CM so the log entry will be ignored. It is up to each squad to make sure the penalty planes are flown.

  • Axis Penalty Planes - FW190F8
  • Allied Penalty Plane - B25D

17. Victory Points - points are awarded to each side in three categories; A/C kills, BDA, Closed fields, Captured fields and Pilot Losses. Relative points is available in the summary for this event.

18. Victory Conditions - The side with the most VPs at the end of the series wins.

19. S3 Clarifications - the S3 staff reserves the right to make a ruling on questions or game situations not answered completely or missed by the rules. For further clarification please post on the S3 forum or email Jabo.

[ Aircraft - Series Map - Player Rules ]