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Aircraft approach moves
The way that you bring aircraft into the play area as part of an appropriate aircraft action is called the approach move. When the rules direct you to make an approach move:
- Place your formation on your table edge to indicate where it will enter play (determine a random edge if you don’t have an assigned table edge* in the scenario you are playing).
- Complete the approach move by moving your aircraft units into the play area, with these conditions:
- You may start your move at any angle from the position you indicated on the table edge.
- You move may move your aircraft an unlimited distance over the play area (but not out of the play area).
- As you move your aircraft, ignore terrain, zones of control, and other units — aircraft travel high enough to fly over them without restriction. (By the same token, other units may ignore aircraft and aircraft zones of control when they move.)Do aircraft even have zones of control while in flight, is this meaningful?
- You must move aircraft straight ahead in the direction they are facing (forward), and can only change direction by turning as the manoeuvre class of the aircraft dictates.
- What about formation coherency?
Aircraft cannot conduct an assault to attack other units — they can only shoot.
*Undefined table edges
When a table edge is not assigned by the scenario, it can get confusing. Probably the simplest and most logical approach is for you and your opponent to think ahead and randomly determine your opposing table edges after you set up terrain for the scenario, but before either of you deploy your forces.
It is definitely best to avoid the other extreme in which you determine a random table edge for every approach move — you'll soon lose track of which aircraft formations came from which table edge and which flak attacks have already been made.
FAQ
Q. As aircraft can ignore zones of control, can I end my aircraft's approach move inside an enemy formation so that I can force my opponent to allocate shooting hits to a particular target unit before other units?
A. Yes, and no; technically you can end an approach move inside an enemy formation, but then your opponent may allocate your shooting hits as if they came at his formation from the direction of your approach move.