Section Leaders:
Fionn Kelly & Madmatt

Air Attack
Fighter-Bombers and Combat Mission

Great focus has been paid by this website and the Forums to the aspects of infantry and armor tactics and strategy.  Understanding and utilizing this knowledge is the very core of Combat Mission.  There is another aspect of WWII era combat that hasn't received as much attention in the Combat Mission community, other than for a brief mention to it's devastating consequences in the original Alpha Battle AAR written by Fionn and Martin.  That aspect is Air Power.  In the time period depicted in this installment of Combat Mission (late '44-to the end of war '45),  the Allied air forces ruled the skies over Europe and attacked with fervor any Axis road and rail traffic encountered.  Close coordination between ground and air forces was still years off but the fighter bombers played a part in many tactical battles and Combat Mission models this well.

What you get:

It may be simpler to discuss what you don't get.  Whether in the scenario builder or just in a normal scenario setup,  you do not have the ability to pick the type of plane.  Plane types are abstracted and are listed just as Fighter-Bomber.   A scenario designer can pick the amount of planes just not specify a P-47C,  for example.

Loadout is another aspect that is totally out of the players (and designers) control but it has been mentioned in the forums that certain nationalities of planes favor certain weapons. The awesome air to ground ability of the British Typhoon, for example, would play out in the game by having a loadout favoring rockets and cannon.  The types of weapons that are currently implemented are as follows: Machine Guns, Cannon, Rockets (appear to be 2.75 inch) and Bombs of a variety of weight (looks to be 500, 1000 lbs. at least).

You do not 'see'  the actual plane itself in the game.  What you do see is the planes shadow as it follows the contours of the ground below and there are a variety of incredible audio cues to let you know exactly what a plane is doing.  Trust me, when a fighter bomber is making a strafing run,  you'll know it!  You will also see the standard yellow 'incoming fire' indicator line if you have the planes target selected or you will see the 'outgoing' red indicator line when your units engage a plane with anti-air fire.

Now lets talk about that for a moment.  While the plane graphic onscreen is abstracted this in no way means that Combat Mission has not modeled every important aspect of Air-to-Ground combat.  Your units will target and engage the plane with whatever weapons are applicable automatically  and the volume of anti-air fire can and will have an impact on the planes and their attack runs.  I have seen several occurrences of German flak units putting up enough lead to deter the Allied planes and have them break off.  You can see and hear this in the game as well.  The experience level of the individual pilot is also taken into consideration and Crack pilots will be much more likely to brave heavy anti-air fire than a rookie.

NOTE: It is possible to shot down planes.  The shadow will disappear and there seems to be an explosion in the air but it is not very apparent currently! The best way to check is by looking at the Kill Stats window on your AAA units to see if they show any aircraft shot down...

That explosion is all that is left of that Jabo!!! Happy now Fionn?  We got one for ya!!!

As a player you do not control the planes once they come in and you have no real control over when they come in either, although a designer can specify a turn to arrive just like any other reinforcement (and apply a randomness to this as well!).  The planes will designate their own targets,  choose the most appropriate weapons from what they have available and make as many passes as they feel necessary.  Again pilot skill level and AAA volume all effect how much,  how long and how effective planes will be when they come in.

The weapons themselves are handled to the same degree of detail as normal anti-tank fire.  Bombs and rockets can and will miss their intended targets and I have seen a 1000 lbs. bomb evaporate a friendly assaulting Engineer platoon and two Shermans that were unlucky enough to be close by.  Fighter-bombers are not omnipotent and will sometimes engage already abandoned and destroyed vehicles.  Fog of war effects pilots just as much as tankers,  if not more so!

Ok, lets sum up.  As a player your best bet is to not worry (or count on) air cover when its mentioned in the scenario briefing  When and if it comes in,  just sit back and watch the show.  If on the other hand,  you are the unlucky guy that gets attacked...Well....Good luck!  Check out the pictures to see what I mean...

Special thanks go out to Fionn Kelly for providing background information and 'Wild Bill' Wilder for creating his excellent scenario based on the last part of "Saving Private Ryan".  One way or the other you WILL be able to play this fun scenario once the game is released.