I am of the opinion that there are three minor problems with the loaded aircraft rules. One, I can never remember which cards are forbidden; two, sometimes the final effects of being loaded just seem a little odd to me; and three, there is effectively no penalty to hanging a bomb under every escort fighter (since all he has to do is jettison in the first turn). This house rule is an attempt to fix these little irritations.
The rules for loaded aircraft change as follows:
Instead of deliberately picking options and resources from a list, players are dealt cards (from a conventional poker deck) that reflect the options and resources that are available. These cards can be played at intervals during the course of the game, so that a certain amount of suspense will result.
This example is based on the carrier scenarios in Zero. Similar systems could be evolved for land-based campaigns.
Each player is dealt five cards. Each card has a potential use based on the following table.
| Card | Effect |
| A | Mistaken Attack or No Target In Sight |
| K,Q | Early or Late Contact |
| J,10 | Straggling or Tight Formation |
| 6,7,8,9 | Bomb Effectiveness |
| 2,3,4,5 | Flak |
A single ace results in a Mistaken Attack; randomly determine the actual target by turning over one DiF card (use the results from the Zero options card). Two or more aces played by the defending player results in "No Target In Sight". Kings and Queens played by the strike player shorten the approach; played by the defending player lengthen the approach. Jacks and Tens played by the defending player cause elements to straggle; played by the strike player cancels or prevents that result. Sixes through Nines played by the strike player cause all bomb hits to be doubled; played by the defending player cause bomb hits to be degraded by one level. Deuces through Fives change the flak level by one flak card.
Once played, keep the option cards face-up near the player that played them. If one player plays a card that indicates a certain option is being used, the opponent can play a card with the same effect to cancel it; turn those two cards face down. For example, if Strike plays a 7 to increase bombing effectiveness, the Defender can play a 6 to make bombing effectiveness normal again. Note that (except for the Mistaken Attack or No Target In Sight option) there is no additional effect for excess cards of a given type, e.g. flak levels can be changed by no more than one, regardless of the number of option cards played.
Option cards can generally be played at any time, but some cards must be played early to have effect. For example, if you are holding two or more Aces and want to have a "No Target In Sight", you have to play them both before the game begins, since NTIS prevents any aerial combat. You could, however, play a single Ace just before the first Flak turn to cause a Mistaken Attack. You could play the Bomb Effectiveness cards any time before the first bomb is released, but not after. You could play Flak any time before the first Flak card is turned over, but not after.
In addition, a Joker can cancel any one card played by the enemy, or can be added to any one card.
Example of play:
Strike player is dealt Q, J, 9, 5, Joker. Defender is dealt 9, 8, 6, 3, 2.
Strike player plays Q to shorten the game to one target-bound and zero homebound turns; Defender cannot respond to this, and so plays a 2 to increase Flak. Strike plays a 5 to cancel this; Defender plays a 3, and so Flak remains elevated. Defender plays an 8 to degrade bomb effects; Strike cancels this with a 9; then Defender plays a 9, again degrading it. Strike debates this a while, and uses the Joker to make bombing normal, but Defender plays the 6 that leaves bombing degraded. Strike's last card is a Jack (which is pretty useless now).
Final effect: short approach, heavy flak, degraded bombing.
By the way, this idea is looking less appealing the more I consider it. It may not be such a good idea. In particular, there are some tricky considerations about the timing of flak, and certain chains of events that could allow planes to "slingshot" their way past a zone by tailing and then going neutral. Still, it may be something to think about in the long run.
The idea behind this rule is that planes that are engaging each other move with each other, and do not necessarily move with relation to the target. A plane that is tailing an opponent is moving with that opponent, not flying toward or away from the target (unless, of course, the opponent is doing so). An escort, for example, that keeps tailing a CAP aircraft for an extended period of time is no longer keeping station with its strike planes, and could be dragged away from the formation.
This variant changes the turn track (with a single counter) into a longer playing surface divided into zones. The zones are named "Target", "Flak", and then are numbered starting at 1, similarly to the inbound half of the turn sequence on the bombing card.
Instead of a separate homebound track, the homebound planes fly back along the same zones they came in over. Intruders leave the scenario by re-entering the zone they started in.
The intruders (strike and escorts) start at the area of the table corresponding to the number of inbound turns called for in the scenario. The CAP starts at the space numbered one less than that. The first player is determined as usual, and the turns are marked by moving the planes from one zone to the next, rather than by moving the counter on the turn track.
The rules for moving the planes are as follows: