Living Rules (June 2013)
For my mother, whose support and encouragement throughout the years has been immeasurable. You are missed every day!
R ULE BOOK
Table of Contents
1 Introduction............................................................... 2
2 Game Equipment...................................................... 3
3 Sequence of Play....................................................... 4
4 Scenarios................................................................... 5
5 Air Units................................................................... 7
6 Random Events......................................................... 8
7 Weather..................................................................... 8
8 Detection................................................................... 10
9 Initiative.................................................................... 11
10 Movement................................................................. 12
11 Aerodrome Operations.............................................. 16
12 Task Planning............................................................ 17
13 Air-to-Air Combat.................................................... 20
14 Air Unit Damage....................................................... 24
15 Post-Combat Procedure............................................ 24
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16 Anti-Aircraft Artillery............................................... 25
17 Air-to-Ground........................................................... 27
18 Air-to-Ground Attacks.............................................. 27
19 Ground Target Damage............................................. 28
20 Track Phase............................................................... 28
21 Night......................................................................... 28
22 Ground Units............................................................ 29
23 Campaign Game....................................................... 29
24 Solitaire Game.......................................................... 29
25 Designing Bloody April............................................ 30
26 Tactical Hints............................................................ 31
27 Appendices............................................................... 32
28 Rules Index............................................................... 33
“Time to Climb” Conversion Tables................................ 37
German Scout Aircraft Availability Matrix...................... 40
This is the “Living Rules” document for the game. It includes
errata and clarifications to the original rules. To aid read-
ability, errata is indicated in blue text.
2 Bloody April Rules Manual
1. Introduction
Bloody April is a game of air warfare over the Arras Sector
in France during March through May 1917. This area was the
scene of some of the most brutal air warfare to occur during
WW1. In Bloody April, the players command the air forces of
the British Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and Deutsche Luftstreit-
kräfte/German Air Force (DLS). They will also control ground
units for their respective sides (e.g., Flak and Observation
Balloons).
Design Note: The British Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS)
was a separate air force until combining with the RFC to be-
come the RAF in 1918. For purposes of simplicity, the RNAS
Squadrons are considered to be part of the RFC for all game
purposes.
1.1 Players
Two players are required; one to play the Royal Flying Corps
(RFC) side and one to play the Deutsche Luftstreitkräfte (DLS)
side. Both sides control aeroplanes and defensive forces for
their side. It is possible to play with multiple players on one or
either side by dividing the forces or taskings per player. Success
for the British results from completing their air taskings and
successfully recovering their aeroplanes.
Success for the Germans results from successfully defending
targets and preventing the British from accomplishing their
taskings.
1.2 Rules
The rules are divided into standard, advanced and optional
rules. The advanced rules add detail and make for a more com-
plete simulation. The optional rules add more realism but also
increased complexity. Players learning the game may skip the
advanced and optional rules until they are familiar with the
standard game mechanics.
1.21 Rule Conventions
Rules are numbered. Cross-references to other rules are listed
[in square brackets]. Design notes describe some of the back-
ground and thought processes behind the rules.
1.22 Learning Bloody April
New players might wish to start by following the examples of
play in the playbook. This tells you which rules sections to read
first and summarizes some of the more important combat rules.
1.3 Glossary of Game Terms
Abort. Flights that are no longer able to conduct their mission
will ‘abort’ and run for home.
Ack Ack (AA). Anti-aircraft artillery, also termed ‘Archie’.
Active Aerodrome. Any aerodrome that is listed in the scenario
Order of Battle for a particular date.
ADC. Aeroplane Data Card, a play aid that lists the performance
and capability data for each aeroplane type.
© 2012 GMT Games, LLC
Aeroplane. British term for aircraft or airplane.
Aggression Value. A value representing pilot training, leader-
ship and élan.
Arcs/Hemispheres. Arcs are 60-degree areas around a flight.
The three forward arcs of an aeroplane flight make up the
front hemisphere, and the three rear arcs constitute the rear
hemisphere. (See the Arcs diagrams on the play aids.)
Artillerie Flieger Abteilungen (FA(A)). German artillery
ranging and infantry support units.
Bouncer. A flight that attacks into an existing dogfight
Campaign Day. A campaign day consists of a number of task-
ings that take place over one complete day.
Detected. A detected flight represents one that has been spot-
ted by ground observers and has its location passed on to
the aerodromes but is still a tough find for airborne flights.
Dogfight. Two or more flights engaged in prolonged aerial
combat.
DRM. Die Roll Modifiers. The DRM is used to alter the results
of a die roll by adding or subtracting to the total rolled.
Dummy. A fog of war term used to denote any flight that does
not consist of real aeroplanes. Dummy flights are used to
confuse the enemy player on the location of real flights.
Enemy/Friendly. Friendly units are all units assigned to the
player by the scenario or campaign information. An enemy
unit is a unit controlled by the other player.
Flaming Onion. An incendiary 37mm anti-aircraft battery
used by the Germans to attack Allied aeroplanes attacking
Observation Balloons or other defended assets.
Flieger Abteilungen (FA). German long range recon units.
Flugmeldedienst. German Ground Observation Posts that were
instrumental in helping the Germans to maintain an effective
defensive posture.
Flight. A unit of 1-6 aeroplanes of the same type in formation.
Friendly Territory. Map area that consists of all non-trench
hexes that are on a particular side of the map (e.g., British
Friendly Territory is on the west side of the map that does
not have trench hexes).
Jasta. German term for their scout squadrons, loosely translated
it means Hunting Squadron, condensed from Jagdstaffel.
No Man’s Land. Any hex between the British and German
trench hexes is considered not controlled by either side except
where noted by SSR.
Patrol. Small scale scenario with a limited number of flights
per side.
Scenario. A scenario can be on three levels; Patrol, Show or
Campaign Day and vary in complexity and amount of activity.
Schutzstaffel. German term for their two-seater units that pro-
vided protection for Recon (FA) and Artillery Cooperation
(FA(A)) tasked units. Shortened name is Schusta.
Scout. Term used to describe the single seat fighters used by
both sides.
 Bloody April Rules Manual
Service Ceiling. Maximum altitude that an aeroplane type can
fly as denoted on its ADC.
Show. Medium scale scenario.
SSR. Scenario Special Rule. A scenario special rule is only
applicable to that scenario or campaign. If a regular rule and
the SSR conflict, the SSR takes precedence.
Tally. Codeword used by the British, meaning that an enemy
flight has been visually sighted. The term Visually Sighted
and Tally have the same meaning for game rule interpretation.
Tasking. A particular mission type or “job” that a flight is
performing for that scenario.
Time to Climb (TtC). A term used as a compilation of an
aeroplane’s rate of climb and the amount of time needed to
climb to a new altitude band.
Trench Line. Trench line consists of both British and German
controlled hexes. Initial British trench depictions are blue and
German trenches are red. Any hexes and portions of hexes
between the trench lines that do not have trench artwork in
them are considered to be No Man’s Land.
Wind Up. British slang term denoting that a pilot/flight has
become scared and they are avoiding combat or running from
it. This is wind as in windy, not winding.
1.4 Scale
Hexes are one nautical mile across. Movement Points are
multiples of 30 MPH. Game turns are two minutes long. There
are five altitude bands, representing a flight’s height above the
ground, as follows: Deck (Surface-3,999 feet), Low (4,000-
9,999 feet), Medium (10,000-15,999 feet), High (16,000-18,999
feet) and Very High (19,000+).
Altitude within an altitude band is tracked with Time to Climb
markers that vary in value based on aeroplane performance.
1.5 Dates
Bloody April scenarios represent battles that took place from
March through May 1917. Dates are usually listed by month
and year.
Example: Apr 17 is April 1917.
2. Game Equipment
2.1 Dice
Bloody April uses ten-sided dice. Some die rolls are the sum
of two dice (thus generating a number from 2 to 20), and some
rolls only require one die (thus generating a number from 1
to 10). Play Aid tables have dice symbols in the table’s upper
right corner indicating the number of dice used for that table.
One die symbol means one die is rolled on that table.
Two dice symbols mean two dice are rolled.
2.11 Die Roll Modifiers
Some tables require players to apply die roll modifiers. These
are added to or subtracted from the dice result.
© 2012 GMT Games, LLC
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2.2 Map
Design Note: The map shows the area of France where the
majority of the air battles were fought during the March
through May 1917 time frame.
The game map portrays a portion of France, with Arras, Cam-
brai and Lens as the main cities displayed on the map.
2.21 Hex Grid
A hex grid has been superimposed on the map to regulate the
position and movement of the playing pieces. Each hex is
individually numbered. Where a four-number map reference
is given, the first two digits (00xx) indicate the hex column on
the map, while the last two digits (xx00) indicate the hex row.
Distances on the map are counted in hexes. To calculate a
distance, trace the shortest possible path from one map hex to
another and count the number of hexes the path enters.
Example: An adjacent hex is one hex distant, the hex beyond
is two hexes distant, and the one beyond that is at three hexes.
When counting the distance to a flight occupying a hexside
count to the nearer of the hexside’s two hexes and vice versa
(count from the nearer hex when counting distance from a flight
on a hexside to another hex.)
Half-hexes on map borders are not playable.
2.22 Terrain Features
A key describes the features of the map. Land, Forest or Urban
artwork indicate types of land. Water artwork indicates rivers,
lakes, canals and drainage systems. If more than 50% of the hex
is water (e.g., hex 3717) or enclosed by water (e.g., hex 5301)
then it is treated as a water hex and is a hazard to aeroplanes
attempting a forced landing. If players are in dispute as to
whether a hex is land or water, flip a coin to settle the matter.
A hex with at least 50% Urban or Forest artwork is considered
an Urban or Forest hex otherwise they are considered Open
land.
Example: Hex 2316 is Urban, but hex 2215 is Open, and hex
2008 is Forest but hex 1909 is Open land.
Any hex that has road artwork run through it is treated as a
road hex.
The terrain type extends to the hexsides so that flights on hex-
sides are ‘in’ that terrain.
2.3 Playing Pieces
Punch out the counters from the sheets of die-cut playing pieces.
Counters come in four general types: air units, ground units,
chits and markers.
2.31 Air Units
Air units represent small groups of 1-6
aeroplanes also called flights. RFC flights
are tan in color and DLS flights are blue.
4 Bloody April Rules Manual
2.32 Ground Units
Ground unit types
include: AA/Flaming
Onion concentrations,
Artillery and British
and German ground units [22]. Observation Balloons are also
considered to be ground units.
2.33 Chits
Initiative chits are used to order the move-
ment of flights.
2.34 Markers
All other counters are markers,
used for indicating the status of
air or ground units, or to act as a
reminder for the players of the
game turn or weather state.
2.4 Charts and Tables
Various charts and tables are provided for the players as refer-
ence and to resolve certain game functions.
2.5 Scenarios/Campaigns
Players have a choice of game scenarios to play. Scenarios are
listed in the Playbook and describe the forces, objectives and
special rules for Patrol, Show or Campaign Day scenarios.
Solitaire players will find the special rules for solitaire play in
this rulebook [24].
2.6 Order of Battle
Design Note: For the most part, both nations used a multitude
of different aeroplane types to attack and defend their territory.
The Playbook will list the composition of forces for a given
scenario [4.1] and the taskings assigned for that day and time
frame.
2.7 Planning Map
The Planning Map is a reduced-size copy of the game map
and is used to plot task locations and other planning before
starting play.
2.8 ADC
Design Note: Both sides use many types of aeroplanes. The
game not only distinguishes between major types of aero-
planes, such as the FE2, but the versions of each type. So
the FE2b and FE2d are regarded as two separate types of
aeroplane in the game and have different capabilities.
The Aeroplane Data Cards (ADC) list all the performance and
combat information for the aeroplane in an easy to read format.
Each aeroplane type has a separate unique ADC.
© 2012 GMT Games, LLC
2.81 Data
The ADC data includes the
number of crew members
and service ceiling of the
aeroplane. The performance
area of the ADC lists the
aeroplane’s Level Speed,
Manoeuvre rating, Time to
Climb and Dive Speed rating
for each altitude band. Fire-
power rating and Damage
Factor are listed as well as
the Ammo Depletion num-
ber and Endurance. The
notes area lists any special
equipment or weapons and/
or any limitations of the
aeroplane.
2.9 Flight Logs
There are separate flight log sheets for the British and German
players. These track the status of air units [5] and also have
spaces to keep track of AA/Flaming Onion concentrations,
Balloons and Ground Units.
3. Sequence of Play
A scenario consists of multiple flights attempting to accomplish
their taskings and/or stop the other player from accomplishing
his taskings. Air units of both sides may start either in the air,
on an aerodrome, or enter the map and attack ground targets,
perform recon or conduct air-to-air combat and return to base
or exit the map. The German and/or British player defends with
air units and AA defences.
Each tasking must be planned in advance. After setting up the
map and components, the scenario/campaign is then played
out. Scenarios are divided into game turns. During each turn
the players follow a Sequence of Play in which they conduct
various game actions.
The Sequence of Play for a scenario is as follows, (where
several activities are listed for a phase, perform them in the
order indicated):
3.1 Prior to scenario
Weather Determination Phase. Players will roll for at-start
weather conditions. Players may re-roll weather results by
mutual agreement if the rolled conditions would prevent
the scenario from being successfully completed. Place the
Sun marker on the appropriate time slot for the time of day.
Ground Planning Phase. Both players determine map loca-
tions for hidden AA concentrations, Observation Balloons
or Ground Units. Record these on their log sheets [2.9]. Any
dummy unit locations will also be determined and marked
on the log sheets.
Ground Deployment Phase. Both players set up non-hidden
AA [4.41], Ground Units and Balloons[22] on-map.
 Bloody April Rules Manual
Scenario Planning Phase. Both players determine their
target(s) and plot the target hex(es) for their tasking(s) as
required. Log sheets are filled out [2.9].
Air Deployment Phase. Both sides set up flights at readiness
at aerodromes or in the air if allowed [4.42].
Activation Phase. Both players may activate any AA con-
centrations.
3.2 During the Scenario
During a scenario, resolve each game turn as follows:
Random Events Phase. One player rolls a die and if a one
(1) or less is rolled then an additional two dice are rolled for
a Random Event [6]. Random Event checks start on game
turn two and continue every game turn thereafter.
Weather Phase. Every game turn follows this sequence:
Weather Event Sub-Phase. First if the game turn is a
multiple of ten (10) then roll on the Weather Table to see
what Weather Event occurs.
Wind Drift Sub-Phase. Check for wind drift every game
turn and adjust Flight, Dogfight, and Defensive Wheel
markers as appropriate. Drift of a flight (not Dogfight)
may trigger an Archie attack and placement of a Barrage
marker.
Detection Phase. Conduct a Ground Observer Sub-Phase
and Visual Detection Sub-Phase.
Ground Observer Sub-Phase. Roll to detect undetected
flights.
Visual Detection Sub-Phase. Flights within range may
attempt to Tally enemy flights [8].
At the end of the phase remove any previously placed Bar-
rage markers from Archie attacks [8.34].
Movement Phase. Flights enter/exit defensive wheels [10.5]
and Spinning Flight effects are resolved [10.31] before ini-
tiative chit draw. Draw initiative chits [9.1]. Flights move
in initiative order. During movement, flights may engage
enemy air units [13.2]. During movement, (Advanced Rule)
Dogfights may be activated and resolved or Bounced [13.41],
AA/Flaming Onion may fire on moving flights [16.3, 16.33
and 16.4]. Bombing attacks may take place [18]. Photo recon
runs take place [12.216]. Flights that are landing are resolved
[11.2] and if a crash landing occurs [11.4] it is resolved.
(Advanced Rule) Any flights that are still locked in air-to-air
combat are removed to the Dogfight play aid and a Dogfight
marker is placed in their hex [13.41]
Track Phase. Some detected or visually identified flights au-
tomatically become undetected and some visually identified
flights may become detected. Flights with a Tally marker on
an enemy flight must roll to maintain Tally [20]. Flights may
voluntarily drop a Tally on an enemy flight during this phase.
Admin Phase. Recon tasked flights are credited with Pho-
tos taken [12.216]. Roll for Artillery Cooperation results
[12.212]. Split flights [5.14]. Generate dummy counters
[5.13]. Reload Ammo Drums [13.34]. Activate AA [16.2].
Observation Balloons that were under attack are winched
© 2012 GMT Games, LLC
5
down to the ground and removed from play if not destroyed
[12.217]. Flights that will takeoff on the next game turn are
placed on the map at their start aerodrome [11.1].
After the Admin Phase has finished, begin a new game turn.
3.3 Completing the Scenario
The scenario finishes when the last German or British flight has
left the map, returned to its aerodrome or is destroyed, or when
both players agree to quit [4.5]. After completing the scenario,
conduct the following phases:
Recovery Phase. Roll for recovery of any remaining on-
map flights [11.4].
Victory Phase. Players check for victory in the scenario
[4.6].
4. Scenarios
Design Note: While most of the scenarios try to recreate the
order of battle and conditions for an historical date, exact
data on flights that may not have been involved in combat
are not listed.
Each scenario provides the information required to set up and
play. Every scenario will be a Patrol or Show but some can be
combined and played as a Campaign [23].
4.1 Patrol or Show Scenario Format
The information in the scenario is as follows:
Scenario Date. Date of the scenario. Certain aeroplanes,
weapons or capabilities may not be available on the given
dates. Check the Orders of Battle tables and ADC notes for
date information.
Historical Outcome. This section provides background
information on the scenario.
Time of Day. This lists at which time the scenario takes place
either during the day or at night [21], and the time block and
number of game turns (using the 24 hour clock). If time of
day is later than 1900 (7 PM) but not designated as night
then Dusk conditions apply to visual sighting.
Weather. Either a specific weather condition will be listed
or, more likely, players will be directed to roll on the Weather
and Wind Tables for the scenario month.
Ground Setup. Listing of British and German ground units
for that scenario.
Taskings. Taskings for both players will be listed and any
specific parameters for the taskings.
RFC Order of Battle. This lists the order of battle to be used
for the scenario including the number of dummy air units.
The OOB also lists which aerodromes are active for the units.
DLS Order of Battle. This lists the order of battle to be used
for the scenario including the number of dummy air units.
The OOB also lists which aerodromes are active for the units.
Scenario Special Rules. This lists any SSRs that apply.
6 Bloody April Rules Manual
Victory Conditions. This lists any changes or alterations
to the standard victory conditions [4.6].
4.2 Planning Phases
See the Sequence of Play [3.1] for the exact order in which
planning functions must be completed.
4.21 Planning
Each player plans the required flight route hexes for each task-
ing and the game turn of entry for each flight. Players should
record these locations and timing on the log sheets.
4.3 Flight Quality Generation
Design Note: Pilot quality is a decisive factor in combat as
reflected in the Aggression Value. It is the product of each air
force’s experience and training. Notably Scout pilots may have
a higher training level than 2-Seater squadrons.
The scenario will list pilot training levels for the forces on each
side: Trained, Regular, Veteran or Ace. When filling out the
flight details on the log sheet, roll two dice for each flight on
the Flight Quality Table, referencing the flight’s pilot training
level to determine the Aggression Value. Note the value on the
flight log sheet.
4.31 Delayed Aggression Roll (Optional Rule)
Do not roll for a flight’s Aggression Value until the first time
the value is needed for air-to-air combat or a Wind-up check.
4.32 Individual Flight Members
Players are encouraged to use the available unit rosters and
pick pilots/crews for each available slot within a flight. These
values will then be used if the flight breaks up into individual
aeroplanes. The Aggression Value for these aeroplanes will then
be the printed value or, if no value, the one rolled for individu-
ally on the Flight Quality Table.
4.33 Highly Skilled Flight Leaders
Flights that are led by highly skilled flight leaders defined as a
pilot or pilot/crew with an Aggression Value equal to or higher
than the highest possible value for the unit’s pilot training level
will use that pilot or pilot/crew’s value in lieu of rolling on the
Flight Quality Table. Some flights may have a lower value to
represent a historical situation.
Example: If Manfred von Richthofen (+5) is leading a Jasta 11
flight (Jasta 11’s training level is Ace with a max +3 value) then
the flight is considered to have a +5 value unless von Richthofen
has been shot down or separated from the flight.
Example: 29 Squadron’s pilot training level is Regular. Its flight
leader’s Aggression Value of 0 does not classify him as a highly
skilled flight leader as the maximum Aggression for Regular pilot
training level is +2.
4.34 Pilot/Crew Rosters
Design Note: These rosters are based on the historical pilots
and crews that fought during these battles. Some went on to
greater glory but most gave their life for their country in the
brutal skies over the Western Front battlefield.
© 2012 GMT Games, LLC
All of the individual aeroplanes on the game’s counter sheets
are part of the actual rosters of those Squadrons/Jasta units
(exception German FA/FA(A) and Schusta units are generic).
Most will be listed in the Taskings or SSRs for a particular
scenario. A consolidated listing of all the British Squadrons and
German Jasta units is available as free downloadable product
at www.gmtgames.com
The pilot/crew rosters can be used to populate your flights and
add a level of role playing to the game. NOTE: Not all pilot
ranks are listed, especially for 2-seater crews. 2-seater crews
are listed Pilot/Observer. Pilots with a rating of 0 or higher are
Aces or achieved Ace status during their career. Aircrew with
a NR rating have to roll on the Flight Quality Table to get their
Aggression Value.
4.4 Set Up
Scenario Setup general rules can be found in more detail on
page 9 of the Playbook.
4.41 AA Set Up
In the Ground Deployment Phase all AA upgrades and all non-
hidden AA concentrations (not AA points) must be set up on
the map, either active or inactive as desired [16.2]. 1/5 of the
listed AA concentrations (fractions round down) may setup
hidden and inactive at the start of play.
AA concentrations must be placed in any land hex. No more
than one concentration can be set up in a hex (so additional
AA cannot be stacked in a hex with another AA concentration).
4.42 Flight Set Up
In the RFC Air Deployment Phase and DLS Air Deployment
Phase the players place flights at aerodromes or already posi-
tioned in the air. Dummy flights may set up in the air, or at an
aerodrome. Dummy flights can take off like regular flights.
Flights that start in the air near aerodromes are placed at any
altitude band (limited per the ADC) within three hexes of an
active aerodrome (one that is in play for the scenario).
Only one flight from each aerodrome can start airborne unless
noted by SSR. All other flights from that aerodrome must take
off on game turn 1 or later.
All flights begin the scenario undetected.
4.5 Scenario Completion
The scenario is completed either when the last attacking flight
has landed, or both players agree to end the raid because it is
unlikely that there will be any more combats.
4.6 Victory Conditions
At the end of a scenario, both the RFC and DLS players total
their Victory Points. The side with the highest point total is
the winner.
 Bloody April Rules Manual
5. Air Units
Air units represent flights of between one and six aeroplanes,
all of the same type. The number of aeroplanes in a flight is
determined by the scenario.
5.1 Flights
Flights and Single Aeroplane counters have the characteristics
of the aeroplane that makes up that flight, as described on the
ADC [2.8]. Flight/Single Aeroplane counters have a front (or
forward) and rear edge.
front edge
pilot name
aggression
value observer
squadron aeroplane type
rear edge
Flight counters have a Squadron/Jasta designation and British
Squadrons and German Schusta/FA(A) units will also have a
Flight Identifier. Single aeroplane counters have an historical
pilot/observer or ace name printed on the counter and single
aeroplane counters may include a preset Aggression Value.
This should be noted on the log sheet. The flight counter also
indicates the specific type of aeroplane in the flight.
All flight/single aeroplane non-generic counters have two sides:
the visually identified side and a detected previously visually
identified side.
5.11 Generic Counters
Design Note: Generic counters are used to conceal the true
identity of air units.
Until it is visually identified [8.31], a flight is represented on
the map by a generic Undetected counter or a generic Detected
counter. Generic counters are identified by a letter (German)
or number (British). Players should note the letter/number of
each flight’s generic counter on the log sheet.
detected undetected
No information is listed on a generic counter other than the
identifying alpha numeric. When a flight is visually identified,
replace the generic counter with the actual flight counter. The
actual flight counter will continue to be used unless the counter
is outside both Tally and Ground Observation range in which
case it would revert back to a Generic Undetected counter with
a new letter/number if desired.
© 2012 GMT Games, LLC
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5.12 Dummies
Design Note: Dummy flights allow both sides to add a level of
fog of war to a scenario and provide a means to mask locations
of real flights and aeroplanes. Without radar detection systems
both the British and Germans relied on ground observers to
report the location of enemy flights to allow some level of
advanced warning. This is especially helpful for the Germans
who are at a numerical inferiority and must hold their limited
numbers back until they are needed.
A scenario will allocate the RFC and/or DLS player a number
of dummy flights. Dummies use generic counters. Dummies
contain no aeroplanes and only exist to confuse the other
player. These will be moved as if they were real units. How-
ever, they may not attempt to gain a Tally, engage or attack
enemy flights. Detected dummy flights are immediately re-
moved from the map. Dummies can be voluntarily removed
from the map at any time. Removed dummies can reappear
through dummy generation. During a turn, neither side is re-
quired to have its entire allotment of dummies on the map and
may keep unused dummies ‘in reserve’ for later use.
5.13 Dummy Generation
In the Admin Phase, if allowed by the scenario, one or both
player(s) may generate a dummy flight by placing it on the
map at any scenario listed aerodrome. Dummies may also
be generated in the same hex and altitude band and with the
same heading as an Undetected generic flight counter. Only
Undetected generic flight counters (including other dummy
counters) generate dummies. Flights that have been Detected
[8.2] no longer generate dummies but can do so again if they
later become Undetected. Each flight counter may generate one
dummy every Admin Phase.
When a dummy counter is generated by a flight, that flight may
secretly swap its current generic counter ID with that of the
dummy. A flight that swaps with a generated dummy loses any
Tally it holds. Note the flight’s new counter ID on the log sheet.
Example: A flight using generic counter H generates a dummy.
Dummy counter B is placed in the same hex at the same altitude
and with the same heading. The player may choose to keep coun-
ter H as the flight’s generic counter, or adopt counter B instead.
He decides to swap the flight to counter B, making counter H
the new dummy.
Dummies may be regenerated any number of times, but the
players may never have more dummies than their starting al-
lowance in play at any time.
5.14 Splitting Flights
Design Note: This rule allows the player to send crippled or
dud engine aeroplanes home, freeing the rest of the flight to
continue with its mission.
A flight of two or more aeroplanes may split into two or more
flights in the Admin Phase. This may only be done if one or
more aeroplanes in the flight are crippled or have dud engine
effects. Add a new single aeroplane flight counter to the map
8 Bloody April Rules Manual
for each cripple and create a new flight log for the split flight(s).
Once flights are split they may not rejoin.
One flight must comprise all the non-crippled aeroplanes. All
the crippled aeroplanes must be generated as separate single
aeroplane counters. All flights have the same ammo, endur-
ance, ordnance, and tasking status as the original. Aggression
Values, if not present on the single aeroplane counter, must be
rolled for on the Flight Quality Table cross-referenced with the
Squadron/Jasta pilot training level.
5.15 Stacking Flights
Two flights of the same nationality may stack together in the
same hex/hexside and altitude band (time to climb may be
different) and they can move together as long as both flights
start and end in the same hex/hexside. Flights may only end in
the same hex/hexside and at the same altitude if they declare
stacking and must move together on the next game turn. If the
two flights no longer want to move together after the first game
turn of stacking they must move separately during the Move-
ment Phase and cannot end in the same hex/hexside. This must
be declared prior to moving the flights and cannot consist of
partial movement of a flight then separating them.
Flights on the hexsides are not considered stacked with flights
fully on the hex although they may be attacked by flights in
either hex.
Stacked flights are not engaged as a single entity but must be
engaged separately. The attacking flight(s) select which flight
in the stack they will attempt to engage.
In the rare situation where more than two flights of the same
nationality are stacked together, the owning player must move
excess flights to nearest hexsides to reduce stacking to two
flights per hex.
5.2 Log Sheets
Each flight has a space on the log sheet noting the flight’s name,
generic counter, task, Aggression Value and various ordnance
and formation states. These states apply to all aeroplanes in
the flight. In addition there are check boxes to note air-to-air
weapons depleted and endurance expended in a tasking.
Log sheets should be filled out in the Planning Phases and the
RFC/DLS Air Deployment Phase.
5.21 Aeroplane Boxes
The log sheet has six boxes numbered one to six. Each box
represents the status of a single aeroplane in the flight.
Aeroplanes with empty boxes are operational and undamaged.
A slash through a box indicates the aeroplane is damaged. A
crossed out box indicates the aeroplane has been crippled. A
crossed out and circled box means it has been shot down. Black
out a box if the aeroplane does not exist in the flight.
Example: If the flight starts with two aeroplanes, black out
boxes three to six
© 2012 GMT Games, LLC
6. Random Events
Design Note: Random events cover facets of the air war that
can be modelled with an event versus a game rule to allow
players to focus on the most important rules but still have
some thematic effects.
In the Random Events Phase (starting on the second game turn),
initially roll a D10 and if the result is a 1 or less then roll on
the Random Events Table. This D10 is modified by the number
of Real/Dummy flights total from both sides that are airborne
at the beginning of the game turn. For every multiple of 10
flights airborne (fractions round down) for both sides, the DR
is modified by –2. There is a Flight tracking marker available
to aid players in tracking the total number of flights airborne.
Place it on the game turn track.
If a random event occurs, roll two dice and look up the result-
ing event on the Random Events Table. Follow the instructions
given there. Some Random Events may be excluded by SSR.
7. Weather
Design Note: Weather had a profound effect on air combat
in WW1. The pilots and crew were exposed to the elements
in open cockpits with poor or non-existent instruments while
attempting to navigate through atrocious weather and wind
conditions.
Weather effects in the game include Environmental Conditions,
Line of Sight, Weather Change and Wind Drift.
7.1 Environmental Conditions
Environmental conditions cover the entire map.
7.11 Clear
No Weather Effects. Clear marker placed in Weather Box
7.12 Mostly Sunny
Broken Cloud marker placed in Weather Box. Visibility
restricted between bands. A cloud layer exists between two
altitude bands which makes visual detection [8.0, 8.3] tougher
(–4 DRM) between the bands. The altitude bands on either side
of the layer define it.
Example: A broken cloud layer at Deck/Low altitude
is considered to be between the Deck and Low altitude
bands.
7.13 Mostly Cloudy
Cloudy marker placed in Weather Box. Clouds affect the entire
altitude band and block LOS.
NOTE: If a Cloudy marker occurs in the Deck band, flights
may still carry out their taskings (except Recon and Artillery
Cooperation) at Deck+0 and that altitude level is considered
Clear [7.11].
 Bloody April Rules Manual
7.14 Rain or Snow
Cloudy in the band designated and visibility effects in all bands
lower (Snow –5 DRM, Rain –3 DRM). Place a Rain or Snow
marker in the Weather Box.
7.15 Fog
Visibility effects in the band designated (–7 DRM). Place a Fog
marker in the Weather Box. Flights may not conduct Recon,
Artillery Cooperation or Bombing taskings while in or above
a Fog altitude band. AA may not fire on flights in or above a
Fog altitude band.
7.2 Sun Arc (Optional Rule)
Based on the time of day for the scenario, place the Sun marker
during daytime scenarios on the proper slot on the sun track
above the compass rose on the game map. The Sun Arc may
adversely affect visual detection attempts during the Detection
Phase [8.3] and Engagement [13.2]. See Detection Playaid for
more details.
If during the scenario the number of game turns would increase
the time of day into the next block then move the Sun marker
to the new time block.
Example: A scenario starts at 1000am so the Sun marker is
placed in the “0800am-1059am” block. If the new game turn
is now turn 30 then 60 mins have elapsed (each game turn is 2
minutes of real-time) and it is now 1100am. Move the Sun marker
to the “1100am-1259pm” block.
7.3 Line of Sight
Many game functions rely on there being an unblocked Line
of Sight (LOS) from one unit to another.
There is no LOS to, from, within or through an altitude band that
is Cloudy. There is LOS between bands marked with a Broken
Cloud marker but visibility is restricted requiring application
of a –4 DRM to any detection attempts.
If the LOS is blocked, then no detection [8.2] or visual sight-
ing [8.3] is possible and no bomb runs are permitted [18.2].
Flights may not attempt to engage in air-to-air combat without
a LOS to the enemy.
Aeroplanes and/or Observation Balloons do not block LOS
traced through them.
7.4 Weather Change Phase
In the Weather Change Phase (starting game turn 10 and every
ten (10) game turns thereafter), roll two dice and look up the re-
sulting event on the Weather Change Table. Follow the instruc-
tion there and change any weather markers as required on the
map. Some Weather Change events may be excluded by SSR.
7.5 Wind Drift Phase
The Wind Drift Phase occurs every game turn and will affect
every airborne flight on the map (exception takeoff [11.1] and
landing [11.2]).
© 2012 GMT Games, LLC
9
7.51 Wind Drift Procedure
When the wind condition is anything besides calm, every
airborne flight will have a drift effect as listed in [7.52]. The
scenario at-start conditions or random wind generation will
determine from which direction the wind is blowing and at
what speed in 15 MPH increments.
7.52 How to plot wind drift effects
There are 12 possible headings on the map. Five will be with
the wind, five will be against the wind and two will be perpen-
dicular and drift in the direction of the wind. The three cases
are as follows:
a. If heading into the wind direction, a flight will be marked
with a –.5 marker if the wind is 15 MPH. If the wind speed
is 30 or 60 MPH, the flight will drift one or two hexes re-
spectively 180 degrees opposite to the flight heading.
b. If heading with the wind direction, a flight will be marked
with a +.5 marker if the wind is 15 MPH. If the wind speed
is 30 or 60 MPH, the flight will drift one or two hexes re-
spectively in the same direction as the flight heading.
(NOTE: 45MPH winds would cause 1 hex drift and place-
ment of a +.5/–.5 marker as appropriate for cases a and b)
c. If the heading is perpendicular to the wind direction, a
flight will only drift if the wind speed would produce a full
hex shift (1 hex drift per 30 MPH or 2 hexes drift per 60
MPH). Do not place a +.5/–.5 marker when perpendicular
to wind direction.
Example: The wind direction is from the NW at 15 MPH, if
a flight was in a hex heading NW then they have a headwind
drift of –.5. This –.5 marker will negate any +.5 marker
already on the flight or will reduce speed by .5 this game
turn. If the flight had been heading South, the flight would
have had a tailwind and gain a +.5 marker. If there already
was a +.5 marker on the flight then they would immediately
drift 1 hex south. Finally, if the flight was heading NNE in
one of the three hexes then the flight would not drift as .5
drifts are ignored if perpendicular to wind. If heading NNE
and the winds are from the NW at 30 MPH, the flight would
drift one entire hex to the SE.
10 Bloody April Rules Manual
7.53 Dogfight and Defensive Wheel Drift Procedure
During the Weather Phase, move a Dogfight and/or Defensive
Wheel marker one or more hexes based on wind speed and
direction as determined by the scenario setup rules, Weather
Table or by random event. Dogfights and Defensive Wheels only
drift if the wind will move them completely one or two hexes.
Dogfights and Defensive Wheels never gain a +.5/–.5 marker.
Example: If the wind is out of the northwest at 30 MPH then
each Dogfight marker on the map is moved 1 hex southeast. If
the wind was only 15 MPH then the marker would not drift.
8. Detection
Design Note: The detection of enemy flights is vital to combat.
Detection is the product of many factors, from ground observa-
tion to detection in the air.
8.1 Detection States
Airborne flights will be in one of four states; Undetected,
Detected, Visually Sighted (VID) and Detected Previously
Visually Sighted. Undetected flights can be real or dummy.
Detected flights are real flights that have been spotted by ground
observers or have attacked ground targets and may be engaged
in air-to-air combat at a reduced probability of engagement.
Visually sighted flights have been detected (Tally) by airborne
flights and may be engaged in air-to-air combat with the high-
est probability of engagement. Detected Previously Visually
Sighted flights are flights that had been visually sighted but
are no longer under a Tally marker and have been flipped to
the reverse side of the actual flight counter.
Visual ID Detected
Previously VID
8.2 Detection of Flights
Design Note: Detected units have been located and friendly
units alerted to their presence. The Germans in particular
had a highly dedicated group of ground observer stations that
reported via telephone to the Jasta units when enemy flights
had crossed over the front.
Each Detection Phase, both players roll two dice for each un-
detected enemy flight on the map that is within detection range
(consult the Detection Table play aid). Calculate the range and
modify the roll by the applicable DRMs. The result will be No
Effect (the flight remains undetected), or Detection. Detected
flights have their generic Undetected counter replaced with the
Detected side of their flight counter. If the detected flight is a
dummy, remove it from the map [5.12].
In addition to regular detection rolls, players may make visual
sighting (Tally) attempts [8.3] against enemy flights that will allow
them a greater probability to engage that flight in air-to-air combat.
© 2012 GMT Games, LLC
8.21 Special Detection Cases
Any undetected flight that is successfully engaged (a hit is
achieved whether causing damage or not) by anti-aircraft (Ar-
chie) artillery and/or conducts a ground attack (e.g., Balloon
Busting, Strafing, Bombing) will automatically have their de-
tection status changed to detected. The defending player must
provide information on the flight as per [8.33] but the flight is
not marked with the actual flight counter unless visually identi-
fied by another aeroplane [8.3].
8.3 Visual Sighting
Design Note: Detected flights allow a player to know that there
is flight activity in his area but visually sighting them gives him
exact information on altitude, numbers and type and makes
for the highest probability engagement roll.
A player may make a visual sighting detection roll for each
enemy flight within five hexes (each altitude band difference
between flights adds one to the range) and Line of Sight [7.3]
of each friendly non-dummy flight (Dummy flights may not
attempt Tallies). Choose an eligible friendly flight to make
the sighting attempt. The owning player must decide in what
order to attempt visually sighting as the first success will be the
flight that they visually sight (Tally) (i.e., each flight may have
only one Tally marker on the map). Roll two dice and apply
the Visual Sighting Modifiers. If successful, mark the enemy
flight with a Tally marker that matches the searching flight.
NOTE: The order of visual sighting rolls and their results may
influence subsequent attempts by other flights.
Example: “10” Flight is a formation from 56 Squadron flying
SE5s and is within four hexes of an undetected enemy flight.
“10” Flight attempts to visually sight the enemy flight and is
successful marking the enemy flight with the Tally “10” marker.
Any other attempts on this enemy flight by other flights will no
longer have Undetected –3 DRM.
Do not roll for visual sighting at night [21.12]. If a scenario
time of day goes beyond 1900 pm but is not designated a night
scenario then Dusk conditions apply which will reduce visual
sighting to two hexes. Aborting flights may attempt visual sight-
ing and should do so to avoid being attacked easily. Aeroplanes
in spinning flight may not visual search.
8.31 Visual Identification
Flights use generic flight counters (Undetected) or flip side of
generic flight counter (Detected) [5.11] until they are visually
identified, at which point they are replaced with the actual flight
counter. Flights not visually identified during the detection
phase become visually identified if the flight enters air-to-air
combat.
Flights cannot be visually identified at night [21.12].
8.32 Effects of Visual Identification
Flip the flight counter to its visually identified side.
Identified flights cannot generate dummies [5.12]. The owner
of the identified flight must give Visual ID information to his
opponent [8.33].
 Bloody April Rules Manual
8.33 Visual ID Information
Players keep the information on their log sheet secret from their
opponent. However, if a flight is visually identified [8.32], the
following information must be given:
a. The total number of aeroplanes.
b. The type of aeroplane.
c. The actual altitude of the flight in feet.
d. The number of damaged and crippled aeroplanes.
8.34 Removal of Barrage Markers
Any Archie Barrage markers are removed at the end of the
Detection Phase.
9. Initiative
Design Note: Air battles are fluid and dynamic. The initiative
system models this ‘organized chaos’.
At the beginning of each Movement Phase, the German player
will decide whether to move first or second. Once this decision
has been made the RFC and DLS players alternate movement,
the number of aeroplane flights moved being determined by
the draw of initiative chits.
9.1 The Chit Pool
The DLS and RFC players maintain a ‘chit pool’ consisting of
numbered initiative chits, usually kept in a cup or other opaque
receptacle.
Chits are drawn from the pool during play. The chits are double-
sided with a Large Force side and Small Force side. The player
checks the value on the appropriate side. After a chit has been
drawn and flights equal to the chit value have moved, it is im-
mediately placed back in the cup.
9.2 Drawing Initiative Chits
Design Note: The proximity of the ground observers gives
the defenders an edge. They get to choose to move first or
second. The RFC doctrine as set forth by their commander in
chief Hugh Trenchard was to be on the offensive and take the
fight to the Hun. The German player will be on the defensive.
The player for the side that moves first draws an initiative chit
from the pool. The chits are double-sided with a large force
side and a small force side [9.22]. The resulting value is the
number of flights (real or dummy) the player must move and/
or the number of Dogfights where the player is the attacker or
bouncer that he may activate. The player may choose which
flights to move or Dogfights to resolve and in which order.
Once flights/Dogfights equal to the chit value have moved or
been activated, play passes back to the other player who must
draw a chit and move the requisite number of flights or activate
Dogfights. Chits are returned immediately to the pool after they
are used and could be drawn again.
© 2012 GMT Games, LLC
11
Flights stacked together that will be moving together count as
one flight for initiative use but count as two flights for overall
force size. Play passes back and forth between the players
until all flights and Dogfights on the map have moved or been
activated. Drawing a “0” chit immediately passes play back to
the other player without moving any friendly units.
No flight may move or Dogfight activate more than once per
Movement Phase. If all flights on one side have moved or there
are no Dogfights to activate, play passes to the other player who
must move all remaining flights or activate Dogfights. (No chit
draws necessary.)
9.21 Non-Chit Pool Usage
For game turns where flights have not crossed the trench lines
[1.3] and are at least 10 hexes or more from an enemy flight
there is no chit pull required. The German player will move all
of his flights and the British player will move all of his flights.
If at the start of any game turn, any flight has crossed the trench
line then a normal chit pull sequence occurs.
9.22 Large Force and Small Force Chit Pools
Use the Large Force side for 10 or more flights and Small Force
side for 9 or less flights. Force size is calculated separately for
each side. All airborne flights (including dummies) count for
the force pool size. All flights that start the turn on the ground
are not considered for the force pool count until they become
airborne (e.g., they will count towards your total during the
next game turn).
Example: The RFC player has 10 flights in play, he will use the
Large Force side. The DLS player has 3 flights in play, he will
use the Small Force side. The DLS player is the defender and
decides that the RFC player will go first. The RFC player draws
a “3” initiative chit. He moves three RFC flights. Play passes to
the DLS player. He draws a “0” chit. The DLS player does not
move any flights and play passes back to the RFC player.
The RFC player now draws a “4” chit. He must move four RFC
flights. (These can’t be flights that have already moved.) The
DLS player now draws a “1” chit, which means he must move
a single DLS flight.
After the DLS flight has moved, the RFC player draws a “5” chit.
However, he only has three unmoved flights remaining. So the
RFC player moves the three RFC flights and immediately passes
play to the DLS player. Since all the RFC flights have moved,
the DLS player does not need to draw again. He just moves his
remaining two flights.
12 Bloody April Rules Manual
10. Movement
Design Note: When wargaming large-scale air battles, it’s not
necessary to portray the physics of flight or three-dimensional
movement in the same detail as a tactical level game. However,
aeroplanes must keep moving or they will fall out of the sky,
while altitude bands show how high above the ground they are
and their position within that altitude band.
10.1 Counter Placement
Flight counters are placed on the map either in the centre of
hexes, or on hexsides facing a hex corner.
Illustration: Counter placement on the map. Note the leftmost
flight is on a hexside, facing a hex corner. (In this picture its
front edge overlaps the corner it is facing.) The rightmost flight
is crossed out because it is not facing a corner.
10.11 Flight Facing
Flights must face their front sides toward hexsides or hex cor-
ners. When moving, move flights into the hex directly ahead,
unless they are pointing at a hex corner, in which case move
them onto or off the hexside.
Illustration: Counters moving. The dashed boxes represent the
hex or hexside they are moving to.
© 2012 GMT Games, LLC
Turning alters facing. Each hex corner or hexside turned is an
increment of 30 degrees.
Illustration: From left to right in this sequence, a flight turns 30,
60 then 90 degrees clockwise.
A flight that turns while occupying a hexside moves into the
hex in the direction of the turn.
Illustration: A flight on a hexside turns 30 degrees clockwise. It
moves into the hex in the direction of the turn, and is now facing
30 degrees away from its original heading.
10.12 Hexsides
For the purposes of combat, a flight occupying a hexside oc-
cupies both hexes sharing that hexside. Attacks against the
flight can be made into either hex. When attacking a flight on
a hexside, designate which hex the attack takes place in. Treat
the flight as if it occupies that hex, without changing its loca-
tion or facing.
Illustration: Major Cherry’s FE2 flight occupies hexes A and B
for the purposes of combat. It can be attacked in hex A by the
Archie barrage.
Air-to-air attacks by a flight on a hexside can be made from
either hex. If the attack results in an engagement slide the flight
into the hex the attack takes place from.
10.13 Altitude
Flights can fly in five altitude bands. From lowest to highest
they are: Deck, Low, Medium, High and Very High. Mark the
altitude of each flight by placing an Altitude marker on or near it.
 Bloody April Rules Manual
10.14 Time to Climb
Within each altitude band, flights will have a designated Time
to Climb (TtC) value that differentiates how high within a given
altitude band the flight is flying. The aeroplane ADC will also
list the maximum time to climb rate for each altitude band which
will most likely be different between different aeroplane types.
This is important for tracking how long it takes to climb to the
next altitude band and is also used in combat to determine the
altitude advantage [10.15]. Some ADCs may have a split value
for an altitude band. The first value denotes the highest level
they can climb within that band and the second value denotes
the climb rate when looking at the Altitude Conversion Tables.
Example: Halberstadt D.II has a TtC value of 7/13M in the
Medium Band. The highest value TtC marker they can have is
Med+7 but on the conversion table you would look at TtC Med
13 column to find their altitude values which in this case Med+7
equals 13220ft, the D.IIs service ceiling.
Flights flying at the lowest level of an altitude band will be
marked with Alt Band+0 markers to show they are at the bot-
tom of the band. Any subsequent game turns spent climbing
will increment the Time to Climb value by one.
NOTE: Common practice is to have the current value always
facing to the top or towards North of the map. Players may set
their own preference for this but should come to a standardized
agreement to avoid any confusion.
10.15
DesignCalculating
Note: Time toAltitude Advantage
Climb values are used for calculating
the altitude advantage which is a modifier for air-to-air com-
bat or when a player wants to compare the relative altitude
of two flights.
To calculate altitude advantage, players will compare the Time
to Climb values of the two opposing flights. The flight that is
higher within the band has an altitude advantage. There are two
ways to quickly find relative altitude. The first is to compare
fractional values of the relative time to climb and the time to
climb rate for that aeroplane and altitude band. The flight that
is higher within the band has the altitude advantage.
The other method is to use the conversion charts to find the
actual relative altitudes. The Time to Climb tables can be found
on pages 37-39 of this manual.
Example: A flight of SE5s are at Time to Climb Medium +5 and
a flight of Alb DIIIs are at Time to Climb Medium +5. The SE5
have a maximum Time to Climb value of 7 for the Medium band
so their fraction is 5/7 while the Alb DIII has a maximum time
to climb value of 8 at the Medium band for a fractional value of
5/8. 5/7 is greater than 5/8 so the SE5 is higher and has altitude
advantage. Using the conversion tables, the SE5s at Medium +5
are at 14250ft and the Alb DIIIs at Medium +5 are at 13750ft.
© 2012 GMT Games, LLC
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10.2 Movement Points
Design Note: The number of Movement Points available
determines how far a flight moves on the map.
Flights move in the Movement Phase by expending Movement
Points (MP). A flight’s total MP for the Movement Phase is
based on its current speed and any +.5/–.5 marker. A flight’s
speed is determined by its aeroplane type, altitude, and max
allowable speed for the movement type selected for that game
turn.
The ADC lists the maximum speed values. Values are listed
for each altitude band. Aeroplanes use the speed value for the
altitude band in which they begin the game turn. If no value is
listed for an altitude band, the aeroplane cannot move in that
band or enter it.
To move a flight, first decide which movement type to select
and then cross check for max allowable speed. Then announce
the flight’s total MP before it begins to move. This MP total is
the flight’s speed for the game turn. The flight must expend all
its MP when moving.
10.21 Speed Setting
For the movement type selected, announce the MPs equal to the
maximum allowable speed, or up to one less than this number.
A flight’s speed can never be less than one MP (unless affected
by drift which could reduce speed below one). Speed setting
may be listed as a fractional value and if that is the case then
the next game turn’s speed will have a +.5 marker to denote
potential added movement. A flight may be marked with a +.5
or –.5 marker due to wind drift effects [7.52].
Example: If the maximum speed for an altitude band on the ADC
is 3, a speed of 2, 2.5 or 3 MP can be announced.
Example: If the speed selected is 2.5 then a +.5 marker will be
placed on the flight at the end of its movement. On the next game
turn if 2.5 is selected again, it will have a total MP allowance
of 2.5+.5.
For AA attack purposes a flight’s speed is equal to its speed
setting plus/minus any wind drift and if climbing, flight speed
is equal to the reduced MPs. If diving, flight speed is equal to
the diving speed.
Example 1: A flight selects a speed of 3MP but has a –.5 marker.
The flight’s speed is considered 2.5MP for any Archie DRMs.
Example 2: A flight in climbing flight with a speed of 3MP will
have only 2MPs available for movement and the flight’s speed
is considered 2MP for any Archie DRMs.
Example 3: A flight in diving flight with a diving speed of 4MP
will have 3MPs if diving to another altitude band or 4MPs if
staying within the same band. For Archie DRM purposes it’s
speed is considered to be 4MPs in either case.
On the game turn that landing begins a flight may announce
MP between 1 and its maximum speed [11.2].
14 Bloody April Rules Manual
10.3 Movement
10.31 Movement Types
The movement type must be selected at the beginning of the
turn. Flights cannot mix and match different movement types
and the entire game turn’s movement is executed with the one
selected movement type:
• Level Flight. Move one hex straight ahead for each MP
allowed. On entering a hex the flight can make a free turn
up to the allowance indicated on the Turn Table [10.32]. A
flight may also use one MP to turn up to the flight’s maxi-
mum turn value without leaving the hex [10.32]. Flights in
level flight will maintain their current time to climb marker
(i.e., they do not gain or lose altitude).
• Climbing Flight. Climb one increment after the expen-
diture of any MP during the game turn (i.e., increase the
Time to Climb marker by one). After each MP expended
the flight can make a free turn minus 30 degrees. If the
flight has completed the required time to climb to the next
altitude band it can be marked with the next higher altitude
band marker (i.e., Low replaced by Medium) otherwise
continue to mark it with the appropriate Time to Climb
marker incremented one tick. A flight that selects climb-
ing flight uses the same maximum speed settings as Level
flight but has its total MPs reduced by one to represent the
vertical component of its flight movement. Mark the flight
with a Climb marker if the possibility exists for the flight
to be engaged to denote the reduction in Manoeuvre rat-
ing. A flight may also use one MP to turn up to the flight’s
maximum turn value without leaving the hex [10.32].
Example: A Sopwith Pup in the Medium band has a Max
Level Speed of 3.0. If it selected Climbing flight its Climb
Speed would be a value from 1.0-2.0 MPs and only those
reduced MPs would count for movement and turning and
any Archie DRMs.
• Diving Flight. Dive to a lower altitude within the cur-
rent altitude band (i.e., lower Time to Climb value) or
one complete altitude band lower using Dive Speed MPs.
Altitude change is considered to occur after expenditure
of last MP. On expending a MP the flight may make a free
turn up to the allowance indicated on the Turn Table. If
the flight dives into a lower altitude band then the flight
must subtract one MP from its total MPs to represent the
vertical component of its flight movement, otherwise the
flight’s MPs are equal to its Dive Speed.
A flight can select any allowable value for its Time to Climb
marker for the new band that it dived into or a lower value
within the band it started in. A flight can also use one MP to
turn up to the flight’s maximum turn value without leaving
the hex [10.32].
For AA attack purposes, the flight’s speed is considered to
be the total Dive Speed.
Example: A flight diving one altitude band has a Dive Speed
of 4MP – 1MP for diving an altitude band. Any AA attacks
on the flight would use the 4MP DRM as the total speed but
the flight is only moving 3MP horizontally.
© 2012 GMT Games, LLC
Dangerous Dive Limitation: Some ADCs may list a Dan-
gerous Dive Limitation. If these aeroplane types attempt
to dive at their max dive speed they risk structural damage
or even structural failure. At the end of each movement
segment where they dove at max dive speed, roll a D10.
On a (1-4 no effect), (5-7 damaged), (8-9 crippled), (10
aeroplane destroyed (crew KIA)). Use random selection
to determine which aeroplane within a flight is affected by
the result.
• Gliding Flight. Gliding flight is not a selectable
movement type but can be forced by damage or
the aeroplane type exceeding its endurance. Mark
the aeroplane with a Dud Engine marker. Dive
one altitude band using Dive Speed minus two (Speed is
considered to be this value plus 1 for AA DRM purposes).
On expending a MP the flight can make a free turn up to
the allowance indicated on the Turn Table. A flight can
select any allowable value for its Time to Climb marker
for the new altitude band that it dived into. If starting in
the Deck altitude band, the aeroplane will crash land [11.4]
at the end of movement if not finishing its movement at an
aerodrome.
Exception: BE2 aeroplanes are so inherently stable that
they have a minimum Gliding Flight speed of 2.
NOTE: A flight in Gliding Flight has its Manoeuvre rating
reduced to one.
• Spinning Flight. Spinning flight is not a select-
able movement type but can be forced upon a
single aeroplane due to damage or by a volun-
tary disengagement from a Dogfight (Spin Out
[13.423]). Mark the aeroplane in spinning flight with a
Spinning Flight marker. Flights in spinning flight are
resolved in the Movement Phase prior to drawing initia-
tive chits.
Roll a D10 and add the pilot’s Aggression Value and a
damage modifier (–1 DRM Damaged/-2 DRM Crippled)
and/or Spinning Flight Tendency modifier (ADC) to the
die roll. If the aeroplane has been spinning for more than
one game turn add a +1 DRM to the recovery roll. If the
result is greater than or equal to five, the aeroplane is no
longer in Spinning Flight and may select any allowable
movement type on the next game turn. Remove the Spin-
ning Flight marker if the recovery attempt is successful,
place a Manoeuvre marker [10.33] and conduct a Wind Up
check [15.1]. Recovery altitude is Band+0 of the altitude
band recovery occurred.
If unsuccessful, the aeroplane in spinning flight will not
move normally but will stay in its start hex and by rolling
a D10 will change its facing the number of times equal
to the die roll, direction picked by the owning player. A
flight will decrease altitude by one altitude band to the new
altitude band+0 Time to Climb. If at Deck+0 altitude and
recovery is not made then the flight crashes and the crew
is killed.
Spinning Flight Tendency: Some ADCs may list an addi-
tional positive or negative DRM that will be applied when
attempting to recover from Spinning flight.
 Bloody April Rules Manual
10.32 Turning
Design Note: Aeroplanes of this era are flying quite slow
compared to those modelled in Downtown and Elusive Vic-
tory but are highly manoeuvrable. The manoeuvres shown by
turning are the formation turns to change direction outside of
the swirling ballet of a dogfight.
The Turn Table lists a free turn allowance, based on the flight’s
speed that applies whenever a flight moves a hex. On entering
a hex, a flight may freely change facing at no MP cost up to its
free turn value. MPs used while in Climbing Flight allow a
free turn minus 30 degrees.
Speed (MP) Free Turn Max Turn
1-4 90˚ 180˚
5-6 60˚ 120˚
If a flight wants to turn more than its free turn allowance in a
hex it must pay one MP (Turn MP) [10.31]. The Turn Table
lists the maximum amount a flight can turn in a hex based on
its speed. A flight cannot add this maximum to the free turn
allowance; the maximum is the limit for all turning in that hex.
Example: A Sopwith Triplane using level flight at a speed of
4MPs moves into a hex with its first MP and turns 90 degrees to
the left (free turn allowance). With its next MP it could stay in
place and turn up to 90 degrees left for a total of 180 degrees
(max turn allowance). The Sopwith Triplane has already turned
180 degrees and cannot turn again in the same hex so could move
forward one hex and turn 90 degrees left with its third MP and
use its fourth MP to finish off the 180 degree turn with another 90
degree turn to the left, and would be marked with a Turn marker.
A flight that begins its Movement Phase in a hex it did not use
a Turn MP on its last MP may use its first MP to turn up to
its max turn allowance minus any free turn used on last MP
of previous game turn (this will require some bookkeeping to
track). Mark flights that have used a Turn MP on their last MP
of previous game turn with a Turn marker and they may not
use a Turn MP on first MP of next game turn even if max turn
allowance not reached.
Flights cannot make consecutive turns in the same hex once
they have used their maximum turn allowance of a combination
of either a free turn and turn MP or a max turn MP. They must
leave the hex before turning again.
10.33 Manoeuvre Markers
Design Note: Manoeuvre markers represent the consequences
of dogfight combat, where hard turns eat up speed and reduce
movement.
Manoeuvre markers are placed on flights after scattering in air-
to-air combat (see [15.2] for exceptions). Do not place markers
on flights already marked with Manoeuvre markers or flights
marked with a Dogfight marker.
A flight that begins movement with a Manoeuvre marker must
expend 1 MP from their allowance to remove the marker before
they expend any other Movement Points.
© 2012 GMT Games, LLC
15
10.34 Dogfight Markers
Design Note: Dogfight markers represent that the combatants
are locked in aerial combat and will not manoeuvre out of that
hex for the next game turn. Dogfights can last up to 20 minutes
(10 game turns). While some dogfights did last longer than
this it was quite rare and a limit was placed for playability.
During the Movement Phase, Dogfight markers are placed on an
engagement where neither flight was shot down or disengaged.
Place the Dogfight marker in the appropriate hex and move the
flight counters to the Dogfight play aid with the defending flight
in the defender slot and attacking flight in the attacker slot.
Initially the bouncing flight slot will be empty on the Dogfight
play aid but may be filled on subsequent game turns. Place a
“1” marker in the Dogfight Time Slot on the Dogfight play aid
to show that this is the first game turn of a dogfight.
10.4 Endurance (Optional Rule)
Aeroplane types have an Endurance rating in minutes of flight
on their ADC. Endurance used varies based on the flight type
selected and whether maximum allowable speed is selected.
• Level Flight: 2 pts for maximum allowable speed, 1 pt for
any speed below maximum
• Climbing Flight: 2 pts for maximum allowable speed, 1 pt
for any speed below maximum
• Diving Flight: 1 pt for all speed regimes
• Gliding Flight/Dud Engine: 0 pts
• Takeoff: 2 pts for 2 game turn process
• Landing: 1 pt for 2 game turn process
• Dogfight: 2 pts per game turn
10.41 Exceeding Endurance
Flights that exceed their Endurance rating or have their engine
knocked out by special damage results can only select Gliding
Flight as their flight type. Any flight that starts at Deck altitude
and must select Gliding Flight will land or crash land in the
last hex moved into based on the terrain type of that hex. Roll
for crew survival on the Crash Landing Table.
10.5 Defensive Wheel
Design Note: In the defensive wheel, aeroplanes fly in a circle
so that each aeroplane covers the tail of the one in front. Wheels
are used as ‘bait’ to draw in enemy fighters, or to protect less
manoeuvrable and vulnerable aeroplanes from attack. This
was primarily done only by two-seater aeroplanes which is
why the rule is only allowed for that type of aeroplane.
10.51 Entering Defensive Wheel
Only a non-disordered two-seater aeroplane flight may
enter a Defensive Wheel formation at the beginning
of the Movement Phase, before any other flights move.
Place a Defensive Wheel marker on the flight. Only a
flight comprising of two or more of the allowed aeroplane types
may form a defensive wheel. If a defensive wheel is reduced to
a single aeroplane, the Defensive Wheel marker is removed.
16 Bloody April Rules Manual
Flights in a defensive wheel do not expend MP. The player can-
not move flights in defensive wheels or count them toward the
number of flights moved for initiative purposes. If stacked flights
are eligible to enter a defensive wheel then each flight becomes
a separate defensive wheel in the hex (keep a sidenote as to which
flight applies to each defensive wheel). Flights in a defensive
wheel are subject to wind drift [7.53].
Note: Flights tasked with Recon or Artillery Cooperation that
enter a Defensive Wheel cannot perform those taskings during
game turns spent in a Defensive Wheel.
10.52 Defensive Wheel Benefits
Flights in a defensive wheel have no heading. All arcs are
treated as the forward arc for combat purposes.
Flights in a defensive wheel never suffer the penalties of dis-
advantage and attackers can never claim surprise against them
[13.232]; they do not scatter and cannot be marked with a
Manoeuvre marker. They use their Manoeuvre rating as listed
on their ADC.
10.53 Exiting Defensive Wheel
A flight may exit a defensive wheel formation at the beginning
of any Movement Phase, before any flights on the map move.
To exit, remove the marker from the flight. The flight may face
in any heading desired. The flight can now move normally in
that Movement Phase.
10.6 Flight Abort
Design Note: Sometimes flights ‘abort’ or get “Wind Up” and
break for home and safety.
Flights abort as a consequence of random events, a wind up
check, damage, lack of ordnance or depletion of air-to-air am-
munition. The player may choose to abort a flight at any time.
Note the abort state on the flight log sheet. Optionally, use an
Abort marker to mark the flight.
Any flight that aborts may move freely, unrestricted by the
flight path rules. Aborted flights cannot initiate air-to-air combat
or conduct air-to-ground attacks and must jettison all bombs
[18.11]. There are no specific restrictions on aborted flight
behaviour because there are too many variables that would
influence it, but an aborted flight should avoid all combat and
attempt to land at an aerodrome owned by their side [11.0].
Players should attempt to land at the flight’s home aerodrome
but due to damage or lack of endurance any aerodrome on their
side of the lines can be used.
10.7 Flight Navigation
Flights may be required by their tasking to predetermine start
and end hexes (Offensive/Line Patrols). Bombing flights must
predetermine their bombing hex. Recon flights must predeter-
mine which hexes they will attempt to photograph. The hexes
are determined during mission planning and players should
write them on their log sheets or use another written method
to prove to their opponent which hexes were used to fulfil their
taskings. Other than these hex requirements, flights are not
restricted in routing to get to their required tasking’s hex(es).
© 2012 GMT Games, LLC
10.71 Navigational Error (Advanced Rule)
If an altitude band is completely covered with Clouds, flight
within that altitude band risks disorientation. At the end of a
movement segment that started and ended within a Cloud band,
roll a D10. If the flight turned 30 degrees modify this roll by –2
DRM and a turn of 60 degrees or more by –3 DRM. On a modi-
fied result of 0 to 1 a navigational error has occurred. Conduct
a scatter check [15.2] and mark the flight with a Manoeuvre
marker. If the modified result is less than 0 then one aeroplane in
the flight has entered a spin. Use random selection to determine
which aeroplane within the flight has entered a spin and follow
the Spinning Flight rules for that aeroplane [10.31].
NOTE: BE2 aeroplanes may only enter a spin by Navigational
Error which simulates the aeroplane being flown in an unusual
attitude causing loss of control.
11. Aerodrome Operations
11.1 Take off
Taking off from an aerodrome is a two game turn process. On
the first game turn of take off, place the flight on the aerodrome
hex that it is taking off from and mark it with a Deck +0 Altitude
marker. On the second game turn of take off, the flight may
now move in level flight at Deck Speed –2 or 1MP whichever
is greater and is still considered to be at Deck +0 for time to
climb (Wind Drift does not affect the flight on this game turn).
During the second game turn of take off the flight may do free
turns but is restricted as if it is climbing (60 degrees max free
turn) and may increment its Time to Climb marker [10.14] by 1
if free turning 30 degrees or less for the game turn. On the third
game turn, the flight may freely select Level or Climbing Flight
type. Endurance used for all flights during take off is 2 Endur-
ance points for the two game turn process (1 per game turn)
11.11 Takeoff Direction (Optional Rule)
Aeroplanes must take off into the wind. Depending on the
current wind direction, on the turn of take off the flight must
be placed facing opposite the wind direction or any heading if
the wind is calm. For aerodromes that are on the map border,
use any legal heading for take off if the wind direction would
cause the take off to go off the map.
11.12 Takeoff Attrition (Optional Rule)
Design Note: WW1 era aeroplanes were not the most reliable
aeroplanes and many an Ace was lost not to combat but to
engine malfunctions or other flight related mishaps.
Roll a D10 for every flight taking off at the end of the first game
turn of take off. On a result of one (1), that flight has suffered
an engine malfunction (apply a –1 DRM if the flight’s size is
four or more). Roll a subsequent D10 and on a result of 1-3,
one aeroplane has crashed. Roll for crew survival. On a result
of 4-10, the aeroplane has recovered successfully but is out of
the scenario.
 Bloody April Rules Manual
11.2 Landing
Landing at an aerodrome is a two game turn process. On the first
game turn of attempting to land, the flight must end its Move-
ment Phase adjacent to and facing an aerodrome at Deck+0 or
Deck+1 and declare landing. On the second game turn of land-
ing, in lieu of normal movement, the flight is moved 1 hex to
over the aerodrome and will land. Remove the flight from the
map. Endurance used is 1 total for the two game turn process
(i.e., 1 for the first game turn and 0 for the second game turn).
11.21 Landing Direction (Optional Rule)
Aeroplanes must land into the wind. Depending on the current
wind direction, on the final game turn of landing the flight must
be facing opposite the wind direction or any heading if the wind
is calm. Use any heading for aerodromes that are on the map
border if unable to land into the wind.
11.3 Manoeuvre Restriction Take off/
Landing (Advanced Rule)
Flights have their Manoeuvre ratings reduced to one while
taking off and landing. The penalty lasts from the moment
take off commences and the flight is placed on the map until
the end of the second Movement Phase of flight [11.1]. It lasts
from the moment landing begins until the aeroplane is on the
ground [11.2]. Bomb laden aeroplanes’ maximum Manoeuvre
rating is one at all times [18.11].
11.4 Crash Landing and Recovery
Design Note: Damaged and fuel-low aeroplanes didn’t always
make it home. Great efforts were made to nurse cripples back
to an aerodrome but more often than not the aeroplane came
down in a field or no man’s land. While some pilots and crew
landing in enemy territory possibly could escape it was very
rare due to the trench system and the majority were captured.
If a flight is unable to land at an active aerodrome then they are
considered to crash land. In most cases this will be due to Dud
Engine [14.24] damage or by exceeding the aeroplane’s Endur-
ance [10.4] that forces the use of Gliding Flight [10.31]. The
terrain type of the hex landed in is used to determine whether
the crash landing is successful or not; roll for Crew Survival
on the Crash Landing Table. Crew surviving in enemy territory
are automatically captured and taken POW.
If a flight lands at an aerodrome or the scenario ends while it
is still on the map, it must roll for recovery if the flight has
damaged or crippled aeroplanes.
Rolls take place in the Movement Phase that the flight lands
in or immediately if the flight ends the scenario on the map.
Roll two dice for each aeroplane (not flight). If the roll is 2 or
more the aeroplane recovers (lands) safely at a friendly aero-
drome, otherwise it is destroyed. Modify the roll as follows:
–2 the aeroplane is damaged.
–7 the aeroplane is crippled.
© 2012 GMT Games, LLC
17
11.5 Off-Map Locations
There is one RFC aerodrome that is located off-map. Flights tak-
ing off from this aerodrome will always start the game airborne
in the entry hex on the map having expended Endurance equal
to their starting Time to Climb marker plus two for takeoff.
Flights roll for any take off attrition (optional rule [11.12])
prior to the scenario start. Flights landing at this aerodrome
must end their movement in the entry hex on the map and then
calculate their Endurance used to land.
Example: Treizennes legal entry hexes are 0801 and/or 0901
unless Scenario SSRs list a different entry hex..
12. Task Planning
Design Note: Each flight during a scenario is given a specific
tasking. Multiple flights may have the same tasking to accom-
plish within the scenario time frame.
12.1 Taskings
Each tasking will have specific objectives that a flight has to
meet to complete the tasking. Some taskings (e.g., Artillery
Cooperation) may require the player to complete a matrix of
tasks in order before the tasking is complete.
12.2 Task Definitions
Design Note: Each flight in a scenario has a specific job to
perform, as reflected by their tasking.
Flights are assigned tasks that determine their behaviour for the
scenario. Note tasking on the flight log in the Planning Phase.
Tasks are listed below. The air-to-ground entry lists the ground
targets the flight is allowed to attack. If ‘none’ is listed, the flight
may not attack ground targets. If the air-to-air entry lists ‘attack
and defend’ the flight may freely attack or defend against enemy
flights. If it lists ‘defend’, the flight may not initiate an attack in
air-to-air combat. The altitude restriction entry will list either
an entire altitude band or a maximum altitude regime that the
tasking must comply with although the flight may attempt the
task at a lower altitude.
12.21 Task Descriptions
Each flight’s task may have some unique characteristics or
requirements for that flight to successfully accomplish its task.
Flight size is normally determined by rolling on the appropriate
chart or as listed by the SSR.
12.211 Bombing
Any flight size from two to six aeroplanes may be assigned a
Bombing (B) tasking (single aeroplane flights may not except
by SSR or if night bombing) and the aeroplane type must be
able to carry bombs. Bombing taskings may have a Close Escort
tasked flight escort them on their tasking. Bombing flights must
either meet the Close Escort over their aerodrome, the Close
Escort flight’s aerodrome or designated rendezvous hex.
18 Bloody April Rules Manual
Task Behaviour
Bombing Air-to-Ground: Attack targets in the target hex; also
AA concentrations in or adjacent to the target hex
Air-to-Air: Defend
Other Behaviour: None
Altitude Restrictions: Max Altitude 8-10,000ft
Artillery Air-to-Ground: None
Cooperation
Air-to-Air: Defend
Other Behaviour: Must follow Artillery Coopera-
tion Matrix. May be assigned more than one artil-
lery battery to work tasking
Altitude Restrictions: Max Altitude 5-7,000ft
Offensive Air-to-Ground: None
Patrol/Line Air-to-Air: Attack and Defend
Patrol Other Behaviour: Must abort when all air-to-air
weapons are depleted and/or jammed
Altitude Restrictions: None
Contact Air-to-Ground: None
Patrol
Air-to-Air: Attack and Defend
Other Behaviour: SSR will list the number of
ground units that must be contacted for a successful
tasking. Must abort when all air-to-air weapons are
depleted and/or jammed
Altitude Restrictions: Deck band
Close Air-to-Ground: None
Escort
Air-to-Air: Attack and Defend
Other Behaviour: Must abort when all air-to-air
weapons are depleted and/or jammed Reverts to
Offensive Patrol if the escorted flight is shot down
or aborts
Altitude Restrictions: None
Recon Only Recon-capable flights may fly this task
Air-to-Ground: None
Air-to-Air: Defend
Other Behaviour: Conducts reconnaissance of
target hexes.
Altitude Restrictions: Max Altitude 15,000ft*
Min Altitude Deck+1 or 1,500ft whichever is higher
Balloon Air-to-Ground: None.
Attack Air-to-Air: Attack and Defend.
Other Behaviour: Must abort when all air-to-air
weapons are depleted/jammed
Altitude Restrictions: Deck/Low band
Trench Air-to-Ground: Attack targets in the target hex
with MGs or Bombs; also AA concentrations in or
Strafing
adjacent to the target hex
Air-to-Air: Attack and Defend
Other Behaviour: Must abort when all air-to-air
weapons and ordnance are depleted or expended
Altitude Restrictions: Deck band
Defensive Air-to-Ground: None
Scrambles Air-to-Air: Attack and Defend
Other Behaviour: Must abort when all air-to-air
weapons are depleted/jammed
Altitude Restrictions: None
© 2012 GMT Games, LLC
12.212 Artillery Cooperation
Artillery Cooperation (AC) taskings are undertaken by single
aeroplane flights (exception: the Germans may use two aero-
plane flights with one aeroplane fulfilling the Schusta role—the
German player should note on his log sheet which aeroplane
is performing Artillery Cooperation and which is the escort).
Artillery Cooperation flights must be assigned one or more on-
map artillery batteries to complete their tasks. Unless a SSR
states otherwise the max effective range for Artillery is 6 hexes.
Eligible targets are enemy artillery batteries, road/railway junc-
tions, AA units, ground troops and trench line hexes. Targets
may be limited by SSR. The player notes the firing battery and
its target during the Planning Phase of the mission and reveals
it to his opponent when the friendly artillery battery begins
firing. During the Artillery Cooperation tasking the flight must
maintain LOS between the firing unit and target unit. LOS from
the flight to the target or firing battery is simply calculated as
altitude/1,000 = range (round down to nearest whole number).
Example: A flight at 4,000ft can spot a target 4 hexes away. If
LOS is lost for any reason (e.g., weather, outside of range) then
the process is halted until a LOS is re-established. Flights that
break off the Artillery Cooperation tasking due to hostile aero-
planes must re-establish Battery Sighting and Battery Contact
and once completed can continue with the last step completed
prior to breaking off the tasking. Flights may not conduct Artil-
lery Cooperation taskings if flying in a Fog band.
Artillery Cooperation taskings follow the sequence of the
Artillery Cooperation Matrix to resolve (see that playaid for
more details).
Damaged aeroplanes may continue with an Artillery Coop-
eration Tasking.
Markers used in conjunction with the Artillery Cooperation
Matrix; BTY CON = Battery Contact, CF = Commence Firing,
CFHA = Cease Fire Hostile Aircraft, FFE = Fire for Effect.
12.213 Offensive Patrol / Line Patrol
Any flight size from one to six aeroplanes may be assigned an
Offensive Patrol (OP)/Line Patrol (LP) tasking. Offensive Patrol
taskings take place on the enemy side of the trench lines while
a Line Patrol takes place within two hexes from any “active”
trench line hex. Both patrol types require designating a start
and end hex for the patrol that meets the type requirement and
the two hexes must be at least 10 hexes apart. SSR may pre-
determine hexes for the start and end point or add more than
two hexes for the patrol.
An Offensive Patrol or Line Patrol cannot count any hexes
flown in a weather band (i.e., if flight is flying in the Low band
and that band has cloud cover) towards the total hexes for the
patrol. It must be conducted below or above any solid weather
(clouds, fog).
 Bloody April Rules Manual
12.214 Contact Patrol
Any flight size from one to six aeroplanes may be assigned a
Contact Patrol (CP) tasking. A Contact Patrol is flown at the
Deck band and requires the flight to overfly ground units to
determine whether they are friendly or hostile. To identify a
ground unit, the flight must spend an additional MP in the hex to
conduct the spotting. After the MP is expended, the ground unit
is flipped over from its generic side to show its type (Infantry,
Cavalry or MG). Contact Patrols score VPs by the number of
friendly forces spotted. A flight must return to its home aero-
drome or another friendly aerodrome for VP credit to be scored.
12.215 Close Escort
Any flight size from one to six aeroplanes may be assigned a
Close Escort (CE) tasking. A Close Escort tasking will have an
associated Bombing tasked flight that they will escort either to
or from the bombing location or some portion of the Bombing
tasked flights route as listed by SSR. Close Escort flights may
move when their Bombing flight moves as a single initiative
order (i.e., Stacked [5.15]) or move separately but remain within
one hex of the Bombing flight by the end of movement phase.
Prior to moving, a Close Escort flight can break off from their
escorted flight and attempt to engage an enemy flight but at
that point they are no longer considered a Close Escort and will
move separately on subsequent game turns. Both flights still
move on one initiative order for the game turn they split up.
Flights can move together later if they meet stacking criteria
again [5.15].
12.216 Recon
Any flight size from one to six aeroplanes may be assigned a
Recon tasking (Maximum of two aeroplanes equipped with
cameras). The other non-camera equipped aeroplanes in the
flight are providing escort to camera equipped aeroplanes. There
are two types of Recon—Trench Recon and Long Range Recon.
Trench Recon consists of one or more aeroplanes equipped with
a camera taking photographs of target hexes within three hexes
of the current trench line. Long Range Recon consists of one
or more aeroplanes that fly behind enemy lines (beyond three
hexes of the current trench line) to report on troop concentra-
tions and enemy movements or other items of interest to Higher
HQ and will usually have the flight fly to a specific hex versus
a range of hexes.
Each camera equipped aeroplane may attempt to take a maxi-
mum of 10 hexes worth of photos or as directed by SSR. The
hexes flown over for photography must be over flown straight
and level and only MPs used without turning can be used to
take a photograph. Hexsides are not valid for photography,
only full hexes.
Example: A flight may enter a hex without turning on the 1st
MP, and take a photo then use the 2nd MP to turn within the hex
up to its turning limit.
Recon aeroplanes that are damaged by AA or are engaged in
combat do not count any of the hexes flown over for total pho-
tographed hexes during that game turn. Damaged aeroplanes
can continue with the tasking on a subsequent game turn.
Determine if hexes flown over were valid during the Admin
Phase (players may keep a side log of this on their log sheets).
© 2012 GMT Games, LLC
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Legal hexes for Recon are any Enemy Trench line, Road, Rail,
Town, Aerodrome or Open (non-wood) hex. Once a Recon
flight has landed they will roll on the Photography Plate Table
to see how many VPs they scored based on the number of hexes
photographed and whether the flight suffered any damage.
Flights assigned a Recon tasking must assign which aeroplanes
in the flight are equipped with cameras and mark that info on
their log sheet (to be revealed to opponent only after the mis-
sion). All other aeroplanes in the flight are escorting the camera
equipped aeroplanes.
Most aeroplanes are limited by the 15,000ft restriction or their
Service Ceiling but some aeroplanes may be able to fly higher
for Recon as denoted on their ADC.
German recon flights normally had one aeroplane from the FA
or FA(A) units and one aeroplane from a Schusta unit escorting
it. The German player denotes on his log sheet which aeroplane
is camera equipped and which is an aeroplane assigned to a
Schusta. Formations with Schusta aeroplanes get a modifier
on disengagement.
Example: A flight of 4 FE2bs are on a Trench Recon tasking and
aeroplanes #3 and #4 have cameras. During air-to-air combat
aeroplane #3 was shot down but aeroplane #4 made it home
safely. VPs for Recon would be rolled for only one aeroplane on
the Photography Plate Table.
12.217 Balloon Busting
Any flight size from one to six aeroplanes may be assigned a
Balloon Busting tasking. Balloon Busting can only take place
at Deck or Low altitude based on the Balloon height. Balloons
have an increment of 1,000ft per Time to Climb marker. The
owning player can set Balloons at Deck+2 (2,000ft), Deck+3
(3,000ft) or Low+0(4,000ft). This altitude is set at the scenario
start and will not change other than to lower the balloon due
to engagement.
Aeroplanes without Le Prieur or Buckingham ammunition will
only destroy a Balloon with a shot down result. Aeroplanes
with Le Prieur rockets or Buckingham ammunition can destroy
a Balloon on a crippled and/or shot down results. Attacking
aeroplanes must have a Tally on the Balloon prior to attempting
to engage it (note: Balloons are never considered Detected—
they are either Undetected or Tallied). Aeroplanes can only
make one attack attempt per Balloon as the Balloon will be
pulled down to the ground during the Admin Phase of the turn
an engagement is attempted whether it was successful or not.
Balloons are considered to have a Manoeuvre rating of two
for Manoeuvre determination due to their difficulty to hit and
an Aggression rating of 0. Balloons are not considered flights
and do not incur the –3 DRM for being Undetected during the
Visual Sighting Phase.
12.218 Trench Strafing
Any flight size from one to six aeroplanes may be assigned a
Trench Strafing tasking. Trench Strafing can only occur at Deck
altitude. Trench Strafing occurs in the target hex and is rolled
on the Air-to-Ground Table for determination of hit success.
Legal targets are enemy ground units (but not Balloons). Some
other targets may be designated by SSR such as road/railway
intersections.
20 Bloody April Rules Manual
12.219 Defensive Scrambles
Any flight size from two to six aeroplanes may be launched on
a Defensive Scramble. This is the primary means of launching
German Scout flights.
13. Air-to-Air Combat
Design Note: Air-to-air combat was still in its infancy in WW1
but the pilots of both sides quickly developed the tactics and
techniques that are still valid today.
Flights can attack enemy flights in air-to-air combat. A flight
must first engage an enemy flight. If successful it can then
manoeuvre for a shot. Shots are resolved to determine damage.
13.1 Air-to-Air Weapons
13.11 Weapon Classes
Design Note: Combat during this time frame is up close and
personal with either forward firing or rear firing machine
guns. Aces such as Albert Ball typically fired from only 20 yds.
The ADC lists the types of weapons an aeroplane can carry.
There are two types of guns; Rear firing and Forward firing.
Forward firing guns will be either mounted above the wing to
fire above the propeller arc or synchronized to fire through the
propeller arc. Rear firing guns are only counted for flights that
are considered the defender [13.2]. Exception: Bristol F2a and
F2b’s can count their Rear guns while attacking if their Ma-
noeuvre rating is less than or equal to the enemy flight.
Design Note: The Bristol 2-seater was flown very aggressively
after their initial failures in combat which is why as an At-
tacker they can use their rear guns against more manoeuvrable
enemy, taking into account opportunities for rear gunners to
shoot while attacking and defending.
13.12 Multiple Guns
Some ADCs list multiple Forward firing guns and those aero-
planes can utilize both or either weapon in combat and some
may have reloadable weapons [13.34]. A weapon that depletes
its ammo cannot be used for the rest of the scenario. The flight
no longer has that weapon available. A flight with multiple
weapons, Forward and/or Rear, may decide not to use all of
them in combat in order to conserve ammo.
13.13 Special Ammo
Some ammo types have special effects against certain types
of targets such as Observation Balloons [12.217]. If a flight is
listed as having Buckingham ammunition then any crippled
result in combat is reduced to a damaged result against another
aeroplane.
13.14 Firepower Rating
Design Note: The German scout pilots have a significant
combat advantage due to their use of dual machine guns while
the British pilots normally only had a single machine gun.
Each weapon has a Firepower Rating from 1 to 6 listed on the
ADCs.
© 2012 GMT Games, LLC
13.2 Engagement
Design Note: To initiate combat an attacking flight has to spot
an enemy and manoeuvre into an attack position. If a defender
fails to spot the enemy or react in time he may be jumped on by
surprise and be in a disadvantaged position. Most air-to-air
kills are the result of surprise.
Flights may attempt to attack an enemy flight or enter an exist-
ing non-activated Dogfight at any point during their movement.
The moving flight is the attacker and non-moving flight is the
defender or in the case of a Dogfight, the moving flight is the
bouncer. Engagement must be rolled for to determine whether
combat can begin [13.23].
A flight may not attempt to engage the same flight more than
once per Movement Phase. However, if the attacking/bounc-
ing flight fails to engage it may try to attack another flight in a
different hex later in that Movement Phase. If there are stacked
flights in the hex, the attacker must declare which flight they
are attempting to engage.
If the Dogfight advanced rule is not used then all combat is
ended after one game turn.
13.21 Prerequisites
A flight may not attack in air-to-air combat unless it has ex-
pended at least 1MP in the Movement Phase. The following
additional conditions must be met:
a. The attacker must have an air-to-air weapon and be al-
lowed by their tasking to engage. (Depleted weapons can’t
be used in combat.)
b. The defender must be detected or visually identified [8].
NOTE: Flights in a Dogfight are considered detected for
the duration of the Dogfight but may have a Tally attempted
on them with a Dogfight modifier.
c. The defender must be in the same hex as the attacker and at
the same altitude or lower within the attacker’s altitude band,
or the altitude band immediately below and attacker must
not have climbed during the game turn (except per 13.22).
d. Flights may not attack if all aeroplanes in the flight are
damaged/crippled or out of ammo.
13.22 Engagement Prerequisite Exception
An attacker who is unable to climb above the altitude of the
defender due to cloud cover may declare Climbing Flight to
engage a higher flying defender and, if successful in engaging it,
is considered to be at the defenders altitude but is not considered
to have climbed for manoeuvre rating value determination. If
unsuccessful, the attacking flight is considered to remain at their
current Time to Climb but is marked with a Climb marker. If
attacked by another flight it is considered to have climbed for
Manoeuvre rating value determination.
13.23 Engagement Roll
If the prerequisites have been met, the attacker and defender
make separate engagement rolls or in the case of a Dogfight,
only the bouncer makes an engagement roll to enter the fight.
The engagement value used for the roll is shown on the En-
gagement Table and is based on the detection status of the
enemy flight.
 Bloody April Rules Manual
Roll two dice on the Engagement Table and modify as indicated.
If the result is equal to or greater than the engagement value,
the flight engages the enemy.
13.231 Engagement Roll Modifiers
Aggression Value applies to the flight making the roll. “Target”
modifiers are applied to the enemy flight.
13.232 Engagement Results (Non-Dogfight)
There are four possible results of the engagement roll:
a. If the attacker engages but the defender does not, combat
commences. The attacker has surprise and the defender is
disadvantaged.
b. If attacker and defender both engage, combat commences
but there is no surprise or disadvantage.
c. If neither attacker nor defender engages no combat takes
place (do not resolve combat or post-combat effects) and
the attacker/bouncer continues its movement, remaining at
its original altitude.
d. If the defender engages but the attacker does not, the de-
fender can choose to commence combat. There is no surprise
or disadvantage.
The defender cannot commence combat if it has no air-to-
air weapons, has aborted or is marked with a Manoeuvre
marker, or participated in air-to-air combat earlier in that
Movement Phase.
If the defender does not begin combat, treat this as result c.
above—no combat takes place.
NOTE: Once combat begins, remove any Tally markers the
flights involved have on the map. They are too busy fighting
to watch for other flights outside of their combat.
13.24 Surprise and Disadvantage
The engagement roll may give the attacker the advantage of
surprise and bonuses in combat. The defending flight may start
the engagement disadvantaged, resulting in penalties to combat
and wind-up.
Defensive Wheels never suffer disadvantage penalties and at-
tackers can never claim surprise against them [13.232].
13.3 Combat
Combat as a result of engagement commences at the defend-
ing flight’s altitude and uses up all of the attacking flight’s
remaining MPs. All flights involved in a combat are visually
identified [8.31].
13.31 Manoeuvre
Design Note: To shoot, a flight has to manoeuvre into a good
shooting position, usually right on the enemy aeroplane’s tail.
This is difficult if the enemy is manoeuvring to avoid the shot.
Each attacking and defending flight in a combat rolls for Ma-
noeuvre. Roll two dice, modify as indicated and consult the
Manoeuvre Table, cross-referencing the roll on the Air-to-Air
Column with the number of undamaged aeroplanes in the flight.
Exception: Always use the 1 aeroplane column if rolling for a
Defensive Wheel [10.5, 13.44].
© 2012 GMT Games, LLC
21
The value obtained from the Manoeuvre Table is the number of
shot opportunities the flight has. Shot opportunities are resolved
using the shot resolution system [13.32].
If a flight has no air-to-air weapons it may not roll for Manoeu-
vre or take shots at enemy flights.
13.32 Shot Resolution
Design Note: The high manoeuvrability of the aeroplanes and
limited range of the weapons made shot attempts very hard to
come by against an aware opponent. Aeroplanes with multiple
weapons may let fly with everything they have.
To resolve a flight’s shot, select a weapon or weapons to shoot
with, roll two dice and modify this before consulting the Shot
Resolution Table.
Shots from both sides are considered to occur simultaneously
and are resolved in any order as determined by the players.
Allocate and apply damage [14.1, 14.2] after all shots have
been rolled. A player may refuse to roll for a shot if he wishes.
Example: An SE5 flight has two shots. The first succeeds in
shooting down the last aeroplane in an enemy flight. The second
shot can be refused.
13.321 Rear Gun Equipped Flights Shot Exception
Design Note: Disengaging aircraft have positioned themselves
to attempt to run away from a fight which may allow rear gun-
ners better opportunities to get shots off.
In a dogfight, flights equipped with a rear firing gun(s) may roll
for shots (if ammo remaining and gun(s) not jammed) equal to
one half the attacker’s shots rounded down on combat rounds
where they failed a disengagement attempt. Shot total cannot
exceed the number of undamaged aeroplanes in the flight.
13.33 Ammo Depletion
Design Note: A shot can represent one burst or all of an
aeroplane’s remaining ammo. Depletion also models weapon
jams which cannot be repaired until the aeroplane is back on
the ground, a fairly common occurrence in WWI.
After all shots in a combat have been resolved, roll one die for
each flight that resolved a shot. (Roll per flight that took a shot
and not per shot taken.)
Look up the depletion number of each weapon used to shoot.
If the result is less than its depletion number, that weapon’s
depletion number is increased by twice the number of shots
taken otherwise the depletion number is increased by the
number of shots. If a weapon’s modified depletion number is
greater than or equal to 10, the weapon is depleted and can no
longer be used in combat [13.3]. If it was an Ammo Drum then
that Drum is depleted and a new Ammo Drum can be loaded
during the Admin Phase for guns manned by an observer or if
a single seat aeroplane when it attempts to disengage [13.42].
Any future depletion rolls will then be subjected to the new
modified depletion number until the weapon is depleted (value
10 or higher and/or no Ammo Drums available) unless a new
Ammo Drum was loaded which resets the depletion number to
that of the new Ammo Drum.
22 Bloody April Rules Manual
13.34 Ammo Drum Reload
Some aeroplanes have guns that are fitted with ammo drums
that can be changed in flight. Ammo drums will be listed as
XdY (X is number of drums and Y is the depletion number for
that drum) on the ADC. Once the last ammo drum is depleted
that weapon is out of ammo. Ammo drums cannot be reloaded
during a Dogfight unless the flight attempts to disengage.
Whether the disengaging flight succeeds in disengaging or
not does not matter and the ammo drum would be reloaded.
Otherwise an ammo drum can be reloaded during the Admin
Phase of any game turn.
Exception: Rear gunners/observers may reload an ammo drum
during the Admin Phase even during a Dogfight.
13.4 Special Combat Rules
The following rules cover special combat situations and Ad-
vanced and/or Optional rules which should only be used by
experienced players as they add complexity and play time.
13.41 Dogfight (Advanced Rule)
Design Note: As the speeds of modern aeroplanes increased
the amount of time spent in a dogfight decreased tremendously,
however, in WW1 some dogfights could last 15-20 minutes as
the aeroplanes manoeuvred violently and had to get very close
to their adversary to score hits.
A Dogfight marker is placed on any fight which is not completed
in one game turn. Combat will end in one game turn either by
both flights running out of ammo or one side shot down or un-
able to continue the fight due to damage. If a Dogfight marker is
located in a hex then on subsequent game turns both sides will
have to decide whether to continue to fight or disengage. The
maximum amount of game turns that the same two flights may
be in a dogfight is 10 game turns. If 10 game turns have occurred
both flights are auto-disengaged at the start of the 11th game
turn as per Step b. below, otherwise follow the sequence below:
a. Both sides declare whether to continue the Dogfight
or Disengage; Defender declares first, Attacker next then
Bouncing flight if present. If all the Attacker aeroplanes are
damaged then the Defender is automatically disengaged. If
all the Defender aeroplanes are damaged or crippled they
must attempt to Disengage even if the results would be an
automatic failure.
b. If both sides declare Disengage then the Dogfight is over
and both flights are placed back on the map in the current
location of the Dogfight marker and follow the Post Combat
Procedure [15].
c. If only the Defender declares to Disengage then there will
be a check made whether they are successful by first compar-
ing their Level Speed then Dive Speed for the current Alti-
tude band against the Attacking flight. If their Level Speed
or Dive Speed is greater than the Attacking flight then the
disengaging flight will escape after the attacker rolls on the
Manoeuvre Table using all applicable Dogfight Manoeuvre
DRMs including Disengagement Success [13.42]. Otherwise
add the Aggression Level and Manoeuvre Rating and the
number of undamaged aeroplanes in each flight as a DRM.
Both sides then roll a die and add their total DRM. If the
© 2012 GMT Games, LLC
disengaging flight has a higher total they are successful and
will Disengage from the Dogfight, after the Attacker rolls
on the Manoeuvre Table.
Example: A flight of 3xSopwith Pups from 66 Sqn are at-
tempting to disengage from 5xAlb DIIIs from Jasta Boelcke.
The Pups Aggression and Manoeuvre Ratings are +2/+8
and the number of undamaged aeroplanes is 2 (1 Pup is
damaged) so they have a total DRM of +12. The Albatri
have Aggression and Manoeuvre Ratings of +3/+6 and 5
undamaged aeroplanes for a total DRM of +14. If the Pup
flight rolls a 4 and the Albatros flight rolls a 1 then the Pup
flight has disengaged (Pup total 16/Albatros total 15) and
the Albatros flight rolls on the Manoeuvre Table with all ap-
plicable Dogfight Manoeuvre DRMs including disengaging
success. If the total was higher in favor of the Albatros flight,
then the Pups must remain in the Dogfight and the Albatros
flight would roll on the Manoeuvre Table with all applicable
Dogfight Manoeuvre DRMs including disengaging failure. In
both cases, the Pups would not roll on the Manoeuvre Table.
d. If the Attacker (only) attempts to Disengage (following
the procedure in c. above) and fails, and the Defender did
not declare disengagement then the roles of Attacker and
Defender are switched [13.421].
e. If the Dogfight continues, both sides roll on the Manoeuvre
Table with the following modifiers: (Aggression/Manoeuvre
Rating/Disengaged Attempt Result (if attempted)/Fatigue).
Combat is then resolved normally. Fatigue is calculated
with a –1 DRM every 3 game turns in a Dogfight with a
max (–3 DRM) at 10 game turns. Dogfight Fatigue is –1
(Turns 4-6), –2 (Turns 7-9) and –3 (Turn 10). See Dogfight
Manoeuvre Table.
Special Dogfight rules: Dogfights have no speed but can be
affected by wind during the Wind Drift Sub-Phase and will drift
as applicable [7.53]. Dogfights lose one Altitude band after
every five game turns until the fight is at Deck altitude at which
time no further altitude loss occurs. When dropping a band the
Dogfight will drop to Band+0. Any Dogfight that drops into an
Altitude Band with Clouds in that band (not Broken Clouds)
or Fog will end. All flights in the Dogfight will then follow the
Post Combat procedure [15.0].
13.42 Disengagement
Disengaging flights do not roll for Manoeuvre and take no shots
whether their attempt to Disengage was successful or not (see
[13.321] for special shot exceptions for flights with rear firing
guns). Flights attacking a successful disengaging flight apply
the disengagement success (–4) modifier to their Manoeuvre
roll. Flights attacking an unsuccessful disengaging flight apply
the disengaging failure (–2) modifier to their Manoeuvre roll. A
successful disengaging flight does not scatter but is marked with
a Manoeuvre marker after combat [15.2]. However, if both or
all flights disengage then they all are scattered and marked with
Manoeuvre markers. Disengaging flights also apply a modifier
to their Wind Up Table roll. Any disengaging flight that does
not scatter may be placed on the map at a TtC value equal or
lower within the band that the combat or dogfight took place
that is a legal value for the aeroplane.
 Bloody April Rules Manual
13.421 Dogfight Role Reversal
If the attacker in a Dogfight attempts to disengage, then the
defender (if they did not declare disengagement) can allow the
attacker to disengage. If so, the defender would no longer be
threatened and both flights will scatter and have a Manoeuvre
marker placed on them. Otherwise the attacker would have to
check [if faster, it may not need to roll] for disengagement and
if they failed that roll, the attacker and defender positions on
the Dogfight play aid are swapped and a new round of combat
is conducted normally.
13.422 Schusta Special Disengagement Rule (Advanced Rule)
Design Note: The Schusta aeroplanes were tasked with pro-
tecting the recon and artillery tasked aeroplanes from enemy
attack and would do everything possible to tie up the enemy
and allow the more valuable aeroplane to get away.
German FA or FA(A) units that have a Schusta aeroplane as-
signed to the flight may disengage if the Schusta aeroplane is
undamaged and a D10 roll of five (5) or higher is made.
The Schusta aeroplane may not attempt to Disengage on the
same game turn that this special disengagement is attempted.
If successful the flight splits and FA/FA(A) aeroplane is scat-
tered and a Manoeuvre marker placed on it, otherwise a normal
round of combat is conducted but no modifier is applied for the
unsuccessful disengagement.
13.423 Disengagement Spin Out (Optional Rule)
Design Note: Aeroplanes attempting to disengage from a
Dogfight after suffering damage or being in an unfavourable
situation would enter spinning flight to both expedite an escape
or cause the attacker to assume they were shot down and not
continue to pursue. The Manoeuvre does have inherent risks
in that the spinning aeroplane may not be able to recover or
may shed its wings.
If the disengaging flight consists of only a single aeroplane it
may disengage by Spinning Flight unless unable to spin (i.e.,
BE2 aeroplanes). Declare this during Step a. of the Dogfight
sequence and disengagement is automatic. The aeroplane must
follow the rules for Spinning Flight [10.31]. Aeroplanes that
disengage by Spin Out do not allow the attacking aeroplane a
roll on the Manoeuvre Table. Disengagement Spin Out cannot
be attempted if the flight is at Deck altitude.
13.43 Bouncing a Dogfight (Optional Rule)
Design Note: Dogfights tended to be lengthy affairs and al-
lowed time for another friendly flight to potentially come to
the rescue of the defending flight.
If a Dogfight has not been activated for the current game turn,
it is possible for another flight to pile into the Dogfight as a
Bouncing flight. The Bouncing flight must be on the same side
(German or British) as the Defending flight. Dogfights are
considered to be Detected for the duration of the Dogfight but
a flight may still attempt to get a Tally on a Dogfight during the
Detection Phase which would increase its chances to bounce the
attacker. If a legal flight enters a hex with a Dogfight marker it
must attempt to engage. Follow these steps:
© 2012 GMT Games, LLC
23
a. The Defender in the Dogfight must declare whether to
Disengage or stay and fight.
b. If the Defender states Disengage then the Attacker must
declare whether he will stay and fight with the Defender
or let him automatically disengage. If the Attacker lets the
Defender auto-disengage, then the Attacker does not get a
shot on the disengaging Defender whether the Bouncer suc-
cessfully engages or not.
c. The Bouncer then rolls for Engagement using either the
Tally or Detected column. If successful and the Defender
did not disengage, continue on to Step e. Otherwise, if the
Attacker allowed the Defender to disengage, then the At-
tacker must attempt to engage the Bouncer on the Detected
column. If successful they spot the bounce and are not sur-
prised otherwise they are surprised. In either case slide the
Bouncer to the Attacker slot on the Dogfight play aid and
the previous Attacker to the Defender slot. The previous
Defender is moved back to the map and conducts a Wind
Up check [15.1].
d. If the Bouncer failed to engage continue the Dogfight
normally with the Attacker/Defender conducting Dogfight
activation [13.41]. The bouncing flight has failed to engage
and is not in the Dogfight. If the Attacker let the Defender
disengage, the Dogfight is over.
e. If the Bouncer engaged and the Defender did not Disen-
gage, the Attacker rolls to engage the Bouncer on the Un-
detected column. If the Attacker is successful they spot the
bounce and are not surprised otherwise they are surprised.
A round of Combat [13.3] is then conducted between the
Bouncer and Attacker.
f. If the Attacker survives the round of Combat with the
Bouncer then the Attacker may now conduct a round of
Combat with the Defender (if the Defender did not disengage
earlier). Ammo depletion is not checked until both combat
rounds have been completed.
g. Subsequent Dogfight activations will require the De-
fender, Attacker and Bouncer to each declare whether they
Disengage or not. If the Defender and Attacker do not at-
tempt to Disengage then the Bouncer and Attacker conduct
a round of Combat followed by Attacker/Defender Combat.
If the Attacker declared to Disengage then the Defender is
automatically disengaged whether they declared it or not.
Disengagement by the Attacker is then rolled for if the
Bouncer did not Disengage.
NOTE: The bouncing flight in a Dogfight will use a different
Dogfight turn counter for tracking Dogfight Fatigue [13.41e].
This may allow a Dogfight to continue past 10 game turns but
only for the Bouncer and Attacker. The Defender will disengage
at 10 game turns and the Bouncer is limited to 10 game turns
in a Dogfight but the original Attacker may be in longer than
10 game turns but less than 20. The easy way to remember is
the first in will be the first out and the last in will be the last
out. The maximum fatigue value is –3 DRM.
24 Bloody April Rules Manual
13.44 Defensive Wheels and Combat
Design Note: The Defensive Wheel is not an offensive for-
mation, allowing no more than one aeroplane a shot at any
passing enemy. It is difficult to catch at a disadvantage and is
a way for less Manoeuvrable planes to survive.
Defensive Wheels [10.5] engage and fight as if they were a
single aeroplane. If engaged, they automatically engage back
and roll on the Manoeuvre Table, using the 1 column [13.31].
Attackers may not claim surprise against Defensive Wheels
[13.24]. Units in a Defensive Wheel do not suffer disadvantage
penalties and do not scatter [15.2].
A flight in a Defensive Wheel cannot be drawn into a Dogfight.
Attacking flights must attempt to engage again on subsequent
game turns.
14. Air Unit Damage
14.1 Damage Allocation
Randomly allocate damaged/crippled/shot down results among
the aeroplanes in a flight by rolling a die on the Damage Al-
location Table, cross-referencing against the total number of
aeroplanes in the flight.
The result is the number of aeroplanes affected. If the result is
C# and a crippled aeroplane is present, allocate the damage to
any crippled aeroplane (attacking player’s choice). Otherwise
allocate damage to the damage # indicated. Note the damage
on the flight log [5.21].
If a combat generates multiple damage results, roll to allocate
each one separately. Results can be allocated in any order
selected by the attacker. If a damaged/crippled aeroplane is
damaged or crippled again, its damage is increased by one
level, from damaged to crippled and crippled to shot down.
Apply the effects of damage before allocating the next result.
Example: A flight with two aeroplanes receives a shot down,
crippled and damaged result against it. The attacking player
decides to allocate the shot down result first and rolls a result
on the #1 aeroplane, which is shot down. This leaves the #2
aeroplane to which the crippled result is applied first, then the
damaged result. The aeroplane is shot down too.
14.11 Special Damage Effects
For each damaged or crippled aeroplane roll a D10 on the
Special Damage Effects chart to see if any additional effects
occur as a result of the combat. Damaged/crippled aeroplanes
may be forced into Spinning Flight or suffer a Dud Engine.
14.2 Damage Effects
14.21 Damaged Aeroplane
Damaged aeroplanes are not counted toward the total aeroplanes
available to make air-to-air or air-to-ground attacks but may
continue other taskings such as Artillery Cooperation or Recon.
Example: A four-aeroplane flight with one damaged aeroplane
rolls on the 3 column of the Manoeuvre Table in air-to-air combat.
© 2012 GMT Games, LLC
14.22 Crippled Aeroplane
Crippled aeroplanes must split off into their own flights [5.14]
during the Admin Phase only if they are not locked into a Dog-
fight. If they did not automatically disengage from a Dogfight
due to the result of a special damage effect, they are considered
locked in the Dogfight. All damaged aeroplane effects also
apply to crippled aeroplanes [14.21].
14.23 Spinning Flight
Damaged/crippled aeroplanes with the Spinning Flight damage
effect must immediately become separated from their flight
and are automatically disengaged from combat and follow the
Spinning Flight [10.31] rules on the next game turn.
Exception: BE2 aircraft as noted on their ADC treat this as no
effect.
14.24 Dud Engine
Crippled or damaged aeroplanes with the Dud Engine damage
effect must become separated from their flight. They are auto-
matically disengaged from combat, scattered and get marked
with a Dud Engine marker as well as a Manoeuvre marker. They
must use Gliding Flight [10.31] on the next game turn and all
subsequent game turns. Aeroplanes with a Dud Engine and in
Gliding Flight have their Manoeuvre rating reduced to one (1).
14.25 Shot Down Aeroplanes
Aeroplanes that are shot down are removed from the flight. If
all the aeroplanes in a flight are shot down the air unit is elimi-
nated. There is an optional table that provides chrome results
for a shot down aeroplane.
15. Post-Combat
Following air-to-air combat, flights must perform the following
actions in order:
(1) Check for Dogfight status (advanced rule [13.41]). If so
then mark them with a Dogfight marker and follow these steps:
• Place the Dogfight marker in the hex where the Dogfight
started, Active side up;
• Place the Defender on the Dogfight play aid in the Defender
box;
• Place the Defender’s Time to Climb marker on the Dogfight
play aid in the Alt box;
• Place the Attacker on the Dogfight play aid in the Attacker
box;
• Place a 1 time marker on the Dogfight play aid in the Time
box;
• The Attacker and Defender remove any Tallies they have
on other flights;
• Any Tallies on the Attacker and Defender from flights not
in the Dogfight remain on the map and are placed on top
of the Dogfight marker.
(2) If no Dogfight occurs or at the conclusion of a Dogfight,
follow these steps.
• Scatter [15.2];
 Bloody April Rules Manual
• Place Manoeuvre markers [15.2];
• Check for Wind Up [15.1];
• Become undetected [15.3]. Any Tally markers on the flight
are removed.
These procedures take place immediately, before any other
movement or combat action is performed.
15.1 Wind Up Check
Design Note: Wind Up (slang term) affected just about every
pilot in the war as battle fatigue and constant combat sapped
their morale and will to continue fighting. Most regained their
composure after a period of rest or it was just a temporary
loss of nerve.
All flights in air-to-air combat roll a Wind Up check after com-
bat has been resolved or a Dogfight has ended even if no shots
occurred by either side. Flights that roll on the Archie Damage
Table [16.31] also roll a Wind Up check even if the result is
NE. Some effects such as Spinning Flight also require a Wind
Up check. Unless the Wind Up check is due to AA or ground
fire the Wind Up check will be resolved under the Air-to-Air
Combat column.
To make a Wind Up check, roll two dice and consult the Wind
Up Table. Modify the roll as indicated. Apply damage/loss
modifiers only for aeroplanes that were damaged or lost in the
just resolved combat or Dogfight.
Apply the results. Abort the flight or Abort the flight and de-
crease their Aggression Value by 1 (but never below –3).
15.2 Scatter and Manoeuvre Markers
Design Note: Flights spit out of a combat in all sorts of
directions and usually at a lower altitude. The scatter roll
represents this.
After air-to-air combat is concluded or due to damage effects,
flights or individual aeroplanes scatter from their hex. For flights
that were in a Dogfight, they are placed in the current Dogfight
marker location in the following order; Defender placed first,
then the Attacker and then the Bouncing flight (if present).
Player choice on heading within the hex.
Roll a die for each flight in the combat or aeroplane due to dam-
age effect and follow the instructions in the scatter diagrams.
Note: A successful disengaging flight does not scatter unless
all flights disengaged. If instructed to descend an Altitude
band and the flight is on the Deck, do not descend any further.
If scatter requires the drop of an Altitude band, the flight is
marked with an Altitude Band +0 marker for the new Altitude
band. Otherwise place them at Band+0 for the altitude band
the Dogfight or Combat ended.
Mark all flights/aeroplanes with Manoeuvre markers [10.33].
If forced to scatter off map, keep rolling until a legal move-
ment result occurs.
15.21 Defensive Wheels
Flights in Defensive Wheels [10.5] do not roll for scatter.
© 2012 GMT Games, LLC
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15.3 Post-Combat Detection
Design Note: It would seem that aeroplanes exiting air-to-air
combat would be able to keep track of the other side but more
times than not they would find the sky clear around them as
the flights have scattered in different directions and altitudes.
Following an air-to-air combat, all participating flights immedi-
ately become undetected. Replace the counters with a Generic
counter on its Undetected side.
16. Anti-Aircraft Artillery
Design Note: Anti-Aircraft Artillery (AA) concentrations rep-
resent areas of flak barrage called “Archie” by British WW1
pilots. Flak is a latter day term but is used interchangeably
with AA and Archie in the rules.
16.1 AA (Archie) Concentrations
Design Note: Concentrations of AA reflect the density of over-
all firepower projected rather than the calibre of weapons used.
AA concentrations are ground
units and come in three densities:
Light, Medium and Heavy.
AA concentrations are available in scenarios and are repre-
sented on the map by counters. There can be no more than one
concentration in a hex [4.41].
Observation Balloons have an inherent Medium AA capability
and do not have to be marked with an AA counter unless their
capability is upgraded to Heavy. Players may do so by remov-
ing one Medium density concentration and placing a Heavy
concentration below the Balloon marker.
Artillery units have an inherent Light AA capability that is not
upgradable.
NOTE: Every active trench location on the map also has a
small arms value against flights at Deck altitude. This small
arms attack does not create a Barrage Marker and is only ef-
fective in its actual trench location and not the surrounding
hexes (i.e., only one hex).
16.11 AA Points
In the Planning Phase each player will receive a number of AA
concentrations listed by type.
AA concentrations may be altered by exchanging them for the
following cost in AA points:
Light = 1
Medium/Flaming Onion = 2
Heavy = 4
Example: A player can exchange two Light AA for one Medium
or a player with one Heavy AA can exchange it for two Light AA
and one Medium AA.
26 Bloody April Rules Manual
Each player plots the locations of AA concentrations in the
Planning Phase [4.2]. Some of these AA concentrations are
set up on-map in the Ground Deployment Phase [3.1] on their
active or inactive side. The remaining AA concentrations are
hidden (i.e., not placed on the map) and are inactive.
16.12 AA as Targets
AA concentrations are target profile C [18.13].
16.2 AA Activation
Design Note: AA active state represents the AA being cleared
to shoot at anything that enters their barrage zone. Inactive
AA is lying in wait, ready to spring a ‘flak trap’.
activated inactive
AA concentrations are either active or inactive. The player
chooses when to activate AA. Once active, AA cannot become
inactive. Inactive AA concentrations can be activated only at
the following times:
a. The Admin Phase.
b. When a flight moves adjacent to the concentration.
c. When a flight expends a MP while adjacent.
d. When a flight is scattered adjacent to a concentration
e. When a flight drifts adjacent to the concentration during
Weather Phase
When an AA concentration is activated, flip the AA counter to
its active side. Hidden AA is revealed and placed on the map.
Once revealed, AA cannot become hidden again.
AA flipped to Active due to cases b. to e. above do not fire.
Further activity from the flight within the AA’s barrage zone
[16.3] is required.
16.3 Flak Barrage
Design Note: The AA barrage fills an area of sky with shrapnel
and blast in the hope of hitting an aeroplane flying past.
An active AA concentration projects a flak barrage zone into
its hex and all adjacent hexes. Roll a barrage attack on a flight
immediately each time the following applies to it:
a. It enters a hex in a flak barrage zone via movement, drift
or scatter. (Exception: Flight/AA Deconfliction [16.33].)
b. It expends a MP turning in a barrage zone.
c. It attacks an enemy flight in a barrage zone. (Use the de-
fending flight’s hex and altitude to resolve combat).
d. It declares that it is pressing the attack [18.33]
Flak barrage rolls are made regardless of whether the target
is detected or undetected but the AA unit must have a LOS to
the target [7.3].
Exceptions: AA units will not fire into a Dogfight hex and Heavy
AA may not fire at Deck+0 flights.
© 2012 GMT Games, LLC
16.31 Resolving Flak Barrages
Roll two dice on the AA Table using the column for the density
of AA being projected into that hex, cross-referenced with the
flight’s altitude. If the flak barrage roll is as a result of a change
in altitude, the player may choose to attack either the altitude
where the flight started or where it ended.
Example: An RFC flight at Low altitude climbs to Medium. The
DLS player may select either the Low or Medium bands as the
flight’s altitude for the barrage attack.
If more than one AA concentration projects its barrage into
the hex, the player chooses one concentration (only) to roll
the barrage attack.
Example: A flight moves into the barrage zone of a Light and
Medium concentration. One barrage attack is rolled, using the
Medium column. The Light concentration does not attack.
If the roll is equal to or greater than the AA number listed, the
target flight is hit. If the target is hit, roll for damage on the
Barrage column of the Flak Damage Table. Roll two dice and
apply the barrage flak modifiers to obtain the damage result.
Note: No modifiers to this die roll are applied if it was the
result of wind drift or post combat scatter.
A ‘D’ result means one aeroplane is damaged; ‘C’ that an aero-
plane is crippled, and ‘K’ that an aeroplane is shot down [14.2].
If more than one result is listed, all are applied to the flight.
Once a barrage occurs, mark each hex attacked with a German
or British Barrage marker which makes visual detection on
that flight easier. Barrage markers are removed at the end of
the Detection Phase.
16.311 Flak and Weather (Optional Rule)
Apply the Rain and Snow DRMs for any AA barrage into alti-
tude band affected by those weather conditions.
16.32 Air-to-Ground Modifiers
Design Note: One of the chief effects of flak is to disrupt
bombing, or strafing attacks by interrupting the pilots’ aim.
Flak barrage also applies as a modifier, listed on the AA Table
(in parentheses), to those bombing air-to-ground attacks where
the bomb run passed through a flak barrage zone [16.3]. Apply
the modifier even if flak fails to hit the flight. Where more than
one barrage zone affects the attack, apply the greatest negative
modifier.
16.33 Flight/AA Deconfliction
Friendly flights that enter a hex at Deck/Low altitude are not at-
tacked by a friendly flak barrage. Friendly flights that fly within
barrage range of friendly flak at Medium altitude or higher can
be attacked by those AA units unless they are inactive if flying
towards friendly territory (west for British / east for Germans)
and their movement started in enemy territory (i.e. across the
active trench line). Roll 1D10 (1-5 safe)(6-10 AA fires).
Design Note: This simulates the use of flares to help identify
friend from foe but sometimes mistakes happened.
 Bloody April Rules Manual
16.4 Flaming Onion
Flaming Onion is a special German 37mm incendiary weapon.
If the German player has any Medium AA units they can be
designated as a Flaming Onion unit as long as the AA is co-
located with an Observation Balloon or at least three hexes
away from the active trench line. The German player marks this
secretly on his log sheet but reveals that the unit is a Flaming
Onion unit when the AA unit makes an attack. Flaming Onion
units that score damage have it resolved on a separate column
on the AA Table. If shot down by Flaming Onion, Shot Down
Chrome [14.25] table has a –2 DRM and Wind Up Check [15.1]
has a –4 DRM.
17. Air-to-Ground
Certain flights carry ordnance to attack ground targets or can
use their guns to strafe ground targets.
17.1 Ordnance
Flights tasked with Bombing will carry bombs.
17.11 Ordnance Type
• Bombs – This is the default ordnance type.
17.12 Bomb Ammunition
Design Note: Bombs in WW1 are hardly worth the name
considering the advances made in WW2 and beyond but a
successful attack could still do damage.
Bomb ordnance loads are expressed as an attack strength, which
is listed on the ADC. When making an attack, the flight must
expend all of its attack strength.
Example: A flight of four FE2ds has total bomb strength of 4,
one point per undamaged aeroplane. During a bomb run, it must
expend 4 pts of bombs.
17.13 Strafing Ammunition
Flights that are strafing roll for depletion as if the flight had
just been in air-to-air combat (do not modify the roll). Flights
with rear guns can use them while strafing but must total rear
guns as a separate attack and depletion roll.
18. Air-to-Ground Attacks
18.1 Attacks
Flights can attack ground targets during the Movement Phase.
A flight can attack once per game turn and may not attack more
than one target.
18.11 Tasking Restrictions
A flight tasked with Bombing can attack any targets in the target
hex. It can also attack AA situated in or adjacent to the target
hex. It cannot attack any other targets. Flights with bombs have
their Manoeuvre Rating reduced to one while laden with them.
If forced to abort [10.6] or enter a Dogfight [13.41], the flight
will automatically jettison any remaining bombs in its current
hex with no damage result.
© 2012 GMT Games, LLC
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18.12 Ordnance Restrictions
Flights must have ordnance of the correct type to launch an
air-to-ground attack. Bombs can be used against any target.
Flights with guns but no ordnance may conduct strafing attacks
against any target with a profile of B, C or D.
18.13 Target Profiles
Ground targets are rated by their target profile, as described
in the scenario. Target profiles are a measure of the target’s
vulnerability to attack and range from D (most vulnerable) to
A (least vulnerable). Target profiles modify attack rolls.
18.2 Bomb Runs
To attack, the flight must first complete a bomb run. The flight
starts its bomb run at an Initial Point (or IP). Announce the
bomb run is starting then move directly from the IP toward the
target hex without turning. When the flight reaches the target
hex, and after all AA attacks have been resolved, the attack takes
place. Once the attack has been executed the flight finishes its
remaining movement. Free turns are not permitted directly after
an attack (i.e., before another MP is expended).
18.3 Attack Profiles
There are only two attack profiles used by flights. The attack
profile specifies the conditions to be met to make the attack. If
any of these conditions aren’t met no attack is allowed.
18.31 Level Bombing Profile
Use bomb ordnance for a visual bombing attack with an IP that
is one hex from the target. Climbing or Diving Flight is not
permitted during the attack. Apply the Level Bombing modifier.
18.32 Strafing Profile
Design Note: If all else fails aeroplanes can simply shoot at
targets with their machine guns.
No ordnance is required, but the flight must have a gun type
weapon and carry out a bombing attack. The IP is one hex from
the target and must be attacked from Deck+0 altitude. Only
targets with profile B, C or D can be attacked.
18.33 Press the Attack
A flight on a bombing or strafing profile may declare that they
are pressing the attack to gain a +1 DRM on the Air-to-Ground
Attack Table but will be subject to an additional AA or small
arms attack prior to resolving the attack if within barrage range.
18.4 Resolving Attacks
Resolve attacks as follows.
18.41 Calculate Attack Column
First find the column the flight uses on the Air-To-Ground At-
tack Table. Flights with Bomb ordnance take the declared bomb
strength expended and multiply it by the number of undamaged
aeroplanes in the flight to find the attack value. Use the highest
numbered column that is equal to or less than the attack value.
Example: A flight of four FE2ds has a single aeroplane damaged.
The flight attacks a ground target. The attack value is 1 (bomb
strength) multiplied by 3 (number of undamaged aeroplanes) for
a result of 3. The attack uses the 3 column of the attack table.
28 Bloody April Rules Manual
Strafing flights calculate the column as for flights with Bomb
ordnance. However, the bomb strength for a strafing attack is
0.5 per aeroplane either forward or rear guns unless the aero-
plane has dual firing MGs in which case the bomb strength is
1.0 per aeroplane.
18.42 Attack Roll
Roll two dice and modify the roll as indicated. Look up the
result on the attack column of the Air-to-Ground Attack Table.
The AA modifier [16.32] applied to the attack is the largest one
applied in any hex or Altitude band flown through on the bomb run.
The result is an attack success value from 0 to 4. If the success
is 1 or more, place a marker equal to the attack success on the
target hex. If more than one attack is made on the target, place
a separate marker for each attack.
Roll for damage resolution.
Design Note: Success numbers represent the pilots’ perception
of how well the attack has gone. A low success means no ef-
fects are seen after the attack. A high success means secondary
explosions or debris are seen.
19. Ground Target Damage
Resolve damage against ground targets as follows:
19.1 Resolving Damage
To resolve damage roll two dice for each success marker and
cross-reference with the column of the Damage Table cor-
responding to the attack’s success value. The result is listed
as follows:
NE: No effect = No effect to target.
S: Slight Damage = Target is slightly damaged. AA concen-
trations are unaffected.
H: Heavy Damage = Target is heavily damaged. Ground
units in the hex are damaged. AA concentrations are flipped
to their inactive side and cannot become active until next
game turn.
T: Total Destruction = Target is destroyed. All ground units
in the hex are destroyed.
Damage is not cumulative. The target is affected only by the
highest damage level applied.
20. Track Phase
Design Note: A detected target can be lost as a result of fly-
ing into cloud, post combat or flying out of range of ground
observer posts and Tallys must be maintained..
In the Track Phase, all visually identified or detected flights
that do not meet the criteria for detection become undetected
and are replaced by a Generic Undetected counter.
Example: A flight at Deck+0 that is five hexes away from an
enemy trench line or aerodrome would become undetected.
© 2012 GMT Games, LLC
A flight that has a Tally marker on-map must roll to maintain
this Tally using all applicable DRMs to include a +3 Tally
DRM. Failure of this roll results in removal of the Tally marker.
A flight that is no longer visually tallied by an airborne flight is
flipped to their Detected Previously Visually Sighted (Scope)
side unless they are outside of Ground Observer detection range
in which case they would become Undetected.
Flights that have ended air-to-air combat or exited a Dogfight
are flipped from their Visually Identified side and replaced by
a Generic Undetected counter.
Any flight that no longer has LOS to the enemy flight they
have a Tally on will result in the enemy flight being flipped
to its Detected Previously Visually Sighted side or Generic
Undetected counter if no ground observation possible. Flights
may voluntarily drop a Tally to allow them to attempt to Tally
another flight on the next game turn.
21. Night
Design Note: Surprisingly night flying did occur during WW1
with some success for the units trained in that environment.
Only one squadron (100 Sqn RFC) was night qualified for
the time frame and area of operations modelled in the game.
Night conditions apply where specified by the scenario. Night
limits the ability of units to fly and fight.
21.1 Night Taskings
21.11 Moon Phase
The scenario should specify the moon phase: Full or No Moon. Play-
ers should choose an option for DYO or alternate scenario setups.
21.12 Visual Sighting and Ground Detection
Visual sighting [8.31] cannot take place at night. Ground De-
tection applies a –3 DRM if No Moon and DRM is cumulative
with other Weather effects.
21.13 Visual Identification
Flights may not be visually identified at night [8.3]. Do not
reveal visual ID information [8.33] to an opponent until an
engagement or successful AA attack.
21.2 Night Navigation
21.21 Night Flying
Only squadrons trained on night navigation may fly at night
unless noted by SSR. Regardless of speed, the maximum turn
value [10.32] of flights at night is 60 degrees.
Units not trained for night flying may attempt to fly at night
but are limited to 30 degrees maximum turn value and suffer
an adverse modifier for recovery.
21.3 Night Combat
21.31 Air-to-Air Combat
Night combat modifiers apply at night. No Manoeuvre differ-
ential modifiers are applied to air-to-air combats.
 Bloody April Rules Manual
21.32 AA Attack Restrictions
AA barrages must still have a valid “LOS” unblocked by
weather but apply the “–4” DRM at night.
22. Ground Units
Design Note: Ground units depict the poor bloody infantry
on the ground that have to slog through the muck and endure
endless barrages of artillery, gas attacks, MG fire and straf-
ing aeroplanes.
22.1 Ground Unit Types
Infantry (Inf), Cavalry (Cav) and
Machine gun (MG) counters
represent units that are in fixed
positions and will not move dur-
ing the scenario unless noted by SSR. Infantry and Cavalry
units fire as small arms against enemy aeroplanes once the unit
has been identified. MG units fire as Light AA against enemy
aeroplanes but do not place a Barrage marker.
Scenarios set with Contact Patrols will have mixed ground units
(i.e., German and British ground units) that are randomly placed
face down on the map. These units will not be identified or fire
at enemy aeroplanes until a flight has flown over them at Deck
altitude and spent 1MP to identify them.
22.2 Ground Units as Targets
Ground units are target profile D unless noted otherwise by
SSR. Railway and Bridge targets are profile B or as noted in
SSR. Cavalry units are considered moving ground units (–2
DRM). Ground units in woods/urban terrain are considered to
be profile B and profile C if in a trench hex due to the cover
afforded by those terrain types.
23. Campaign Day Scenario
Design Note: Campaign Day Scenarios provide a more long
term look at the effect of sustained operations of an entire day.
The campaign day is a series of consecutive time blocks,
simulating a day’s worth of taskings. Campaign days can be
combined with other non-Campaign day scenarios to form
an even larger campaign if so desired. Most scenarios can be
played as a campaign by flying through all blocks in sequence.
23.1 Campaign Game Concepts
Day. A campaign is divided into a number of time blocks
within a scenario day. To complete a game day the players
must play through the number of time blocks as noted on
the campaign scenario.
Weather. Weather will be rolled for each time block within
a campaign day scenario.
Roster. Players should use the roster of pilots and allocate
them to flights throughout the campaign day.
© 2012 GMT Games, LLC
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23.2 Campaign Rules
23.21 Air Units
The campaign scenario will state which units can be used for
the campaign day and which time blocks those units may fly in.
23.22 Ground Units
The players plot and set up ground units as determined by the
scenario information and those units will stay in place unless
listed otherwise by SSR.
23.23 Persistence of Damage and Destruction
At the end of a time block, all damage to or destruction of
ground units will carry over throughout the campaign day.
Targets are never repaired within a single day of a campaign.
Any aerodrome with Total Destruction (T) cannot be used for
the next time block in a campaign.
23.3 Campaign Victory
After all the campaign days have been played out, the campaign
ends. Then players total the Campaign Victory Points (CVP)
they scored over all the time blocks played through.
23.31 Victory Levels
The victory total is determined by which player has the highest
total number of CVPs.
24. Solitaire Rules
Design Note: Bloody April has been designed primarily as
a two player experience but can be played solitaire from the
British side.
24.1 Solitaire Scout Matrix
German flight actions are governed by the Solitaire Scout Ma-
trix. When using the Solitaire Scout Matrix, the solo player will
not utilize any of the German 2-seater aeroplanes.
24.2 Changes to Baseline Scenarios
The scenarios can basically be played out as written for solitaire
play but realistically only from the British side. All planning
for the German side should be completed prior to any planning
for the British side.
24.3 Combat
German aircraft will stay in combat until out of ammo or only
one plane is left and if only one plane left and aggression level
is 0 or less they will disengage by spin out if allowed or if at
Deck will attempt to disengage normally.
30 Bloody April Rules Manual
25. Designing Bloody April
Commentary by Terry Simo with additional background informa-
tion provided by Lead Graphic Designer Ian Wedge:
25.1 Why WWI?
My next game design that I had in the works after doing the
historical study, Elusive Victory was to be Cactus Air Force, a
solitaire game on the air combat that occurred over Guadalcanal
in 1942. While I had done a lot of preliminary research work
for that game, I happened to come across a book by Peter Hart
called appropriately “Bloody April, Slaughter in the Skies over
Arras, 1917”. The book went into fascinating detail describing
air combat of that era and really struck a chord with me. It had
all the facets of what makes for an interesting combat situation;
brave recon pilots and crews facing impossible odds, dashing
defenders and of course the buzzword from Downtown, asym-
metric warfare. The British in 1917 had a dizzying array of dif-
ferent aeroplanes in different stages of their combat life cycle.
Aeroplanes such as the BE2 were totally obsolete by 1917 but
soldiered on with English pluck for many months performing
invaluable Artillery Cooperation and Recon missions which was
the main tasking put on the RFC by Higher Headquarters. The
Germans on the other hand had just transitioned within the last
few months to their Jasta organization for their scout aeroplanes
and their pilots had been presented with a target rich environment
to ply their trade. The British scout pilots had the unenviable job
of trying to stop the Germans from doing just that. Throw in the
larger than life personalities of Manfred von Richthofen, Albert
Ball, Billy Bishop and many other Aces of the time and you can
see what attracted me to this subject.
© 2012 GMT Games, LLC
25.2 Scale
The game system foundation that Bloody April is built upon
was designed to model post-WW2 jet aircraft with limited BVR
(Beyond Visual Range) capability. While the main foundation
of the game flow was maintained, the switching from fast jets to
relatively slow WW1 aeroplanes required a major overhaul of a
few but major game system components. Most particularly, the
map scale was reduced from 2.5nm per hex down to 1nm. The
time increment for each turn was changed from 1 minute to 2
minutes of real-time and finally each Movement Point (MP) is
30mph vs. 150mph. Players will note that the aeroplanes move
almost as fast along the map as their DT/EV jet descendants but
it is an optical illusion. As a point of comparison, take an F-4
flying at 450mph and a Sopwith Pup flying at 90mph. The F-4
moving at the scale of Bloody April would have 15MPs to the
Pups lowly 3MPs!
25.3 Aeroplanes
Ask anyone to name two aeroplanes from WW1 and they
probably will tell you the Fokker Triplane and Sopwith Camel.
Two very famous aeroplanes that people associate closely with
WW1 and made famous by the Red Baron and Snoopy in popular
cartoons, however these aeroplanes came to the front later in 1917
than the period depicted in Bloody April. Players will become
intimately familiar with their predecessors, aeroplanes such as the
Sopwith Pup and Triplane, the SE5 and SPAD VII and workhorses
like the BE2s, DH4s and RE8s. The Germans hunt the skies with
Albratros and Halberstadt Scouts and their own recon aeroplanes
such as the Rumpler, Albatros and Roland. With the plethora of
aeroplanes in the game, it required a level of detail in performance
that is a big step above Downtown and Elusive Victory but still al-
lows players to quickly resolve manoeuvres and combats. Players
won’t be yanking and banking their aeroplanes as in a tactical game
but get the same feel that air commanders had of the sweeping
panorama of the burgeoning air combat that occurred in this sector
of the Western Front during the War to end all Wars.
There are advanced variants of some aircraft such as SE5a
and Bristol F2b that players can use for what-if or continue on
with scenarios set in June 1917 or later.
25.4 Air Combat
Air battles of this era could and normally would be pro-
tracted turning combats. The short range of the weapons and
the lack of any sophisticated gun aiming aids all lead to very
limited opportunities to put lead on a target in a decisive man-
ner. This is the primary reason to add the Dogfight rules to the
game which portrays the lengthy process that some combats
evolved into lasting 15-20 minutes.
The Manoeuvre differential is an assessment of relative
aeroplane performance. Manoeuvre ratings account for wing
loading, top speed and excess power and are an overall rating.
Historically, training, tactics and pilot quality were often
decisive in securing kills. Adopting the term ‘Aggression value’
for this reflects the extent to which the willingness to close and
fight is a key aspect of these ‘human factors’. The Wind Up
mechanism is a way to determine whether a pilot or flight is still
willing to continue in “harm’s way” or head for home.
 Bloody April Rules Manual
25.5 Orders of Battle
For Bloody April, there is a lot of data available on the
individual squadrons of the Royal Flying Corps and German
Jagdstaffeln. This data included names of individual pilots
and observers which allowed me to develop a database with a
fairly representative listing of these crew members. The one
area where there is not a lot of available information is on the
German Recon units as that data was destroyed during WW2.
That is the one weak area in the Orders of Battle but an excel-
lent book on the Schusta units provided much of the missing
data and helped close the gap in this area.
25.6 Scenarios and Campaigns
The scenarios are representative of activity for the three
months in 1917 that they the game models. In most cases they
depict actual missions as closely as the data provided. A lot of
data on missions was available and individual combats were
detailed especially where losses occurred that can be cross ref-
erenced to locations on the game map. Numerous sources were
looked at to cross check information but not everything was
available especially for some of the less glamorous missions
such as bombing and recon. The game is designed as best as
possible within the boardgame medium, to give the players a
snapshot feel for the challenges and mission taskings that WW1
air commanders faced for a block of time within a typical day of
battle. On another level the game is also a ‘tool kit’ for players
to create their own scenarios and experiment with alternatives.
25.7 Scenario Weather
The weather during the three months modelled in the game
is quite variable. There was a lot of historical data available that
gives a general feel for what weather occurred on a particular
date (as noted in Historical Outcome section of each scenario) but
not the data needed for the actual wind speed and cloud cover. A
lot of research went into modelling the weather effects and a ten
year period of historical weather was used to determine primary
wind direction and speed as well as the ratio of how many days
during a month a certain weather condition occurred. All of this
has been distilled into the Scenario Weather Table to allow you
the player to face the same variability that had such a key role
in how missions played out. It also adds a significant amount of
replayability to scenarios, as a scenario flown in Clear Weather
is much different than one with Rain, Snow or Fog.
25.8 Map and Aeroplane Art
The first choice Ian was faced with is what overall style
he wanted for the map. The counters are important, but it’s the
map that first grabs attention when a game is laid out. As one
of the main functions of air forces in WWI was to photograph
the ground for the creation of maps, the obvious inspiration to
draw on was the trench maps of the period. Not only would these
provide all the detail required, they also give a look appropriate
for the period, something Ian was keen to provide. Obviously
a lot had to be removed to avoid clutter, so you only see major
roads (and not all of them), but the bulk of the rail network is
present, and a proportion of the villages sufficient to represent
the building density of an area and to provide the players with
appropriate reconnaissance targets.
© 2012 GMT Games, LLC
31
Where possible within the confines of a hex grid the
aerodromes are accurately positioned to within a few hundred
yards of their historical locations. In some cases this has proved
impossible to track down, and a best guess has been arrived at
based on proximity to railways and how level the ground is.
Corbehem for example turned out to be a complete mystery
and Douai/La Brayelle was a fascinating research trail with
the results still being argued on by experts.
The various aeroplanes on the counters are all to the
same scale, with the exception of the FE2 which would be too
large to fit, so now you can easily see the difference between
the scout machines and the two-seaters. Colour schemes for
aeroplanes were drawn from a variety of sources, but Ian is
indebted to the late Dan-San Abbott and the work he has done
on various standard German schemes. Some of the individual
German aeroplanes are conjecture, as Ian used artistic licence
in cases where a scheme is known to have been used several
months later in 1917 and so might have applied it to machines
flown during the Battle of Arras. And no, it isn’t a mistake—the
evidence we’ve found shows the Red Baron was not flying an
all red machine at this time! However, an alternative version of
his machine has been provided for those that prefer him in red.
By contrast, British machines were simple. These were
either clear doped linen, or doped in a colour coded PC10 for
RFC machines and PC12 for the RNAS. Squadron and Flight
markings are also well documented, and these are reflected in
various symbols and coloured engine cowlings. Not as individual
as the German machines, but not as drab as is often supposed.
26. Tactical Hints
26.1 Tactics
Tactics were evolving constantly during WW1 and play-
ers will quickly discern on their own the tactics that work best
for them. One of the things that players will find that is much
different from Downtown and Elusive Victory is the need to
stalk your targets carefully in regards to altitude. It takes time
for a WW1 aeroplane to get up to proper altitude and altitude
advantage is very much a key to success not only in defence
but attack. Having altitude advantage as a defender means that
any attacker is forced to climb to try and attack and they must
be at your altitude or higher to do so. As an attacker having
that altitude advantage allows you to decide when and where
a combat takes place as you can avoid it or initiate it at will.
Much time in the game will be spent tackling that issue. For
the British player, the key tactic will be protecting and posi-
tioning his recon and artillery cooperation missions to ensure
they are able to successfully complete those taskings. Easier
said than done as the Germans first order of business should
always be to strike hard and fast any flights they perceive as
being recon or artillery cooperation missions. This asymmetric
warfare battle rhythm will dictate many of the campaign days
and larger scenarios.
32 Bloody April Rules Manual
27. Appendices
27.1 Credits
Lead Design Bloody April: Terry Simo
Art Director: Rodger MacGowan
Lead Graphic Designer: Ian Wedge
Box Art & Package Design: Rodger MacGowan
Game Manuals: Charles Kibler
Vassal Module: Torsten Spindler, Al Cannamore
Lead Playtester: Steve Paul
Editor: Hans Korting
Producers: Tony Curtis, Rodger MacGowan, Andy Lewis,
Gene Billingsley and Mark Simonitch
Playtesters: Torsten Spindler, Hans Korting, Antero Kuusi,
Mitchell Land, Tom Hilder, Robert Holzer, Steve Paul, Jona-
than Fellows, Joe Divar
Additional Thanks: Steve Roberts, Ralph Whitehead
27.2 Select Bibliography
This is a selection of the reading used in researching the game:
Bennett, Leon. Gunning for the Red Baron (Texas A&M Uni-
versity Press, 2006). Interesting book detailing the technical
aspects of air fighting in WWI.
Duiven, Rick. Schlachtflieger! Germany and the Origins of Air/
Ground Support 1916-1918. (Schiffer Publishing Ltd, 2006).
Definitive work on Schusta units.
Franks, Norman. Albatros Aces of World War 1 (Osprey
Aeroplane of the Aces 32, Osprey Publishing, 2000). Good
reference for early activity of Albatros Aces.
Franks, Norman. Sopwith Triplane Aces of World War 1 (Os-
prey Aeroplane of the Aces 62, Osprey Publishing Limited,
2004). As with all the Aces books provides some good detail
on Triplane activities with RNAS.
Franks, Norman. Sopwith Pup Aces of World War 1 (Osprey
Aeroplane of the Aces 67, Osprey Publishing Limited, 2005).
Same detailed treatment of one particular aeroplane type in
the game.
Franks, Norman & Bailey, Frank & Duiven, Rick. The Jasta
War Chronology (Grub Street, 1998). A complete listing of
claims and losses, August 1916 - November 1918.
Funderburk, Thomas. The Early Birds of War (Grossett &
Dunlap, 1968). Overview of early air combat.
Guttman, Jon. Bristol F 2 Fighter Aces of World War 1 (Osprey
Aeroplane of the Aces 79, Osprey Publishing Limited, 2007).
Another aeroplane type that made its combat debut during
the time period of the game.
Guttman, Jon. The Origin of the Fighter Aeroplane (Westholme
Publishing LLC, 2009). Good detail on fighter aeroplane
development throughout WW1.
Guttman, Jon. Pusher Aces of World War 1 (Osprey Aeroplane
of the Aces 88, Osprey Publishing Limited, 2009). Covers
FE2, DH2 and RE8 aeroplane in action.
© 2012 GMT Games, LLC
Guttman, Jon. SPAD VII Aces of World War 1 (Osprey Aero-
plane of the Aces 39, Osprey Publishing, 2001). French
aeroplane used by the RFC.
Hart, Peter. Bloody April, Slaughter in the Skies over Arras,
1917 (Weidenfeld & Nicholson, 2005). The namesake for the
game provides great background on what was going on in the
air and on the ground. Plenty of pilot anecdotes.
Imrie, Alex. German Fighter Units 1914-May 1917 (Osprey
Airwar 13, Osprey Publishing Limited, 2002). 25th anniver-
sary edition detailing early German fighter units.
Lewis, Cecil. Sagittarius Rising (Frontline Books, 2009). One
of the original members of 56 Sqn, highly entertaining story
of his wartime service.
McCudden, James(Major). Flying Fury: Five Years in the
Royal Flying Corps (Casemate, 2009). Highly recommended
autobiography of one of Britain’s best WW1 aces who flew
from 1914-18.
O’Connor, Mike. Airfields & Airmen Cambrai (Pen & Sword
Books Limited, 2003). Guide to aerodromes in and around
Cambrai.
O’Connor, Mike. Airfields & Airmen Arras (Pen & Sword
Books Limited, 2004). Guide to aerodromes in and around
Arras.
Reynolds, Quentin. They Fought for the Sky (Bantam Publish-
ing, 1972). General overview of air fighting in WW1.
Revell, Alex. British Fighter Units Western Front 1917-18
(Osprey/Airwar 18, 2002). Provides a brief overview of Brit-
ish fighter units covering the period depicted in the game as
well as into 1918.
Revell, Alex. British Single-Seater Fighter Squadrons on the
Western Front in World War I (Schiffer Publishing Ltd, 2006).
Great source for scenario building.
Revell, Alex. No 56 Sqn RAF/RFC (Aviation Elite Units,
Osprey Publishing Limited, 2009). History of 56 Sqn which
made its combat debut during Bloody April with the SE5.
Rogers, Les. British Aviation Squadron Markings of World War
I (Schiffer Publishing, 2001). Excellent source for aeroplane
markings and types flown by RFC, RNAS and RAF units in
WWI.
Shores, Christopher & Franks, Norman &Guest, Russell.
Above the Trenches (Grub Street, 1990). A complete record
of Fighter Aces and Units of the British Empire Air Forces
from 1915-1920.
VanWyngarden, Greg. Albatros Aces of World War 1 Part 2
(Osprey Aeroplane of the Aces 77, Osprey Publishing Lim-
ited, 2007). Continuation of Norman Franks’ book, provides
more detail on Albatros Aces.
Yeates, V.M. Winged Victory (Grub Street, 2004). Fictional
account of WWI flying based on Yeates experience. Great
read to get you in the mood for what it was like to be a pilot
in a RFC squadron.
In addition to these works, numerous papers and online refer-
ences have been used.
Support for Bloody April can be found online at the GMT
website: http://www.gmtgames.com as well as the following
websites http://www.boardgamegeek.com and http://www.
consimworld.com.
 Bloody April Rules Manual 33

28. Rules Index B

A Balloon Busting: 8.21, 12.217, 16.32
AA: 1.3, 2.32, 2.9, 3, 3.1, 3.2, 4.41, 7.15, 10.21, 10.31, 12.2,
12.212, 12.216, 15.1, 16, 18.11, 18.2, 18.33, 18.42, 19.1,
21.13, 21.32, 22.1
AA Table: 16.31, 16.32, 16.4
AA concentration: 3.1, 4.41, 12.2, 16, 16.1, 16.11, 16.12, 16.2,
16.3, 16.31, 19.1
Abort: 1.3, 8.3, 10.6, 12.2, 13.232,15.1, 18.11
Abort marker: 10.6
Ace: 4.3, 4.33, 4.34, 5.1, 11.12, 13.11
Ack Ack: 1.3
Activation Phase: 3.1
ADC: 1.3, 2.8, 2.81, 4.1, 4.42, 5.1, 10.14, 10.2, 10.21, 10.31,
10.4, 12.216, 13.11, 13.12, 13.14, 13.34, 14.23, 17.12
Admin Phase: 3.2, 5.13, 5.14, 12.216, 12.217, 13.33, 13.34,
14.22, 16.2
Advanced Rule: 1.2, 3.2, 10.71, 11.3, 13.2, 13.41, 13.422, 15
Active Aerodrome: 1.3, 4.42, 11.4
Aeroplane box: 5.21
Aggression Value: 1.3, 4.3, 4.31, 4.32, 5.14, 5.2, 10.31, 15.1
Aggression Level: 4.33, 5.1, 13.231, 13.41, 24.3
Air Deployment Phase: 3.1, 4.42, 5.2
Air-to-air combat: 3, 3.2, 4.31, 7.3, 8.1, 8.31, 10.15, 10.33, 10.6,
12.2, 12.216, 13, 14.21, 15, 15.1, 15.2, 15.3, 17.13, 20, 21.31
Air-to-ground: 10.6, 12.2, 12.218, 14.21, 16.32, 17, 18, 18.12,
18.33, 18.41, 18.42
Air-to-air weapons: 5.2, 13.1,13.232, 13.31
Air-to-ground attack: 10.6, 12.2, 12.218, 14.21, 16.32, 17, 18,
18.12, 18.33, 18.41, 18.42
Air unit: 2.3, 2.31, 2.9, 3, 3.2, 4.1, 5, 5.11, 14, 14.25, 23.11
Altitude band: 1.4, 2.81, 4.42, 5.13, 5.15, 7.12, 7.13, 7.15,
8.3, 10, 10.13, 13.14, 10.15, 10.2, 10.21, 10.31, 10.71, 12.2,
13.21, 13.41, 15.2, 18.42
Altitude marker: 10.13, 11.1
Altitude Restrictions: 12.2
Ammo depletion: 2.81, 13.33, 13.43
Ammo drum: 3.2, 13.33, 13.34
Anti-Aircraft Artillery: 1.3, 16
Archie: 1.3, 3.2, 8.21, 8.34, 10.12, 10.21, 10.31, 16, 16.1
Arcs: 1.3, 7.16, 10.52
Artillery Cooperation: 1.3, 3.2, 7.13, 7.15, 12.1, 12.2, 12.212,
14.21
Attack profile: 18.3
Attacker: 9.2, 10.34, 10.52, 13.11, 13.2, 13.21, 13.22, 13.23,
13.232, 13.24, 13.321, 13.41, 13.421, 13.43, 13.44, 14.1,
15, 15.2
Attacking flight: 4.5, 5.15, 10.34, 13.2, 13.22, 13.3, 13.41,
13.44, 15.22
Balloon Attack: 13.2
Balloons: 1, 1.3, 2.32, 2.9, 3.1, 3.2, 12.217, 12.218, 13.13, 16.1
Barrage attack: 16.3, 16.31
Battery Contact: 12.212
Bombing: 3.2, 7.15, 8.21, 10.7, 12.2, 12.211, 12.215, 16.32,
17.1, 18.11, 18.31, 18.32, 18.33
Bombs: 10.6, 12.2, 12.211, 17.1, 17.11, 17.12, 18.11, 18.12
Bouncer: 1.3, 9.2, 13.2, 13.23, 13.232, 13.43
Buckingham ammunition: 12.217, 13.13
C
Camera equipped: 12.216
Campaign Day: 1.3, 2.5, 23, 23.1, 23.11, 23.13, 23.2
Cavalry: 12.214, 22.1, 22.2
Clear: 7.11, 7.13
Climbing Flight: 10.21, 10.31, 10.32, 10.4, 11.1, 13.22, 18.31
Close Escort: 12.2, 12.211, 12.215
Contact Patrol: 12.2, 12.214, 22.1
Crash Landing Table: 10.41, 11.4
Crew survival: 10.41, 11.12, 11.4
Cripple: 5.14, 5.21, 8.33, 10.31, 11.4, 12.217, 13.13, 13.21,
13.41, 14.1, 14.11, 14.22, 14.23, 14.24, 16.31
D
Damage Factor: 2.81
Damage modifier: 10.31
Damaged: 5.21, 8.33, 10.31, 11.4, 12.212, 12.216, 13.13, 13.21,
13.41, 14.1, 14.11, 14.2, 15.1, 16.31, 18.41, 19.1
Dangerous Dive Limitation: 10.31
Deck: 1.4, 7.12, 7.13, 7.3, 10.13, 10.31, 10.41, 11.1, 11.2, 12.2,
21.214, 12.217, 12.218, 13.41, 13.423, 15.2, 16.1, 16.3, 16.33,
18.32, 20, 22.1, 24.3
Defender: 9.22, 10.34, 13.11, 13.2, 13.21, 13.22, 13.23, 13.232,
13.41, 13.421, 13.43, 15, 15.2
Defending flight: 10.34, 13.24, 13.31, 13.43, 15.22, 16.3
Defensive Wheel: 3.2, 7.53, 10.5, 13.24, 13.31, 13.44, 15.21
Depletion: 2.81, 10.6, 13.33, 13.34, 13.43, 17.13
Detected: 1.3, 3.2, 4.42, 5.1, 5.11, 5.12, 8.1, 8.2, 8.21, 8.3, 8.31,
12.217, 13.21, 13.43, 16.3, 20
Detection Phase: 3.2, 7.16, 8.2, 8.31, 8.34, 13.43, 16.31
Detection roll: 8.2, 8.3
Detection Table: 8.2
Disadvantage: 10.52, 13.2, 13.232, 13.24, 13.44
Disengagement: 10.31, 12.216, 13.321, 13.41, 13.42, 13.421,
13.422, 13.423, 13.43, 15.22
Dive Speed: 2.81, 10.31, 13.41
Diving Flight: 10.21, 10.31, 10.4, 18.31
DLS: 1, 1.1, 2.31, 4.1, 4.42, 4.6, 5.12, 5.2, 9, 9.1, 9.22, 16.31
Dogfight marker: 3.2, 7.53, 10.33, 10.34, 13.41, 13.43, 15, 15.2

© 2012 GMT Games, LLC

34 Bloody April Rules Manual

Dogfight play aid: 3.2, 10.34, 13.421, 13.43, 15

H
DRM: 1.3, 7.12, 7.14, 7.15, 7.3, 8.2, 10.21, 10.31, 10.71, 11.12,
13.41, 13.43, 18.33, 20, 21.32, 22.2 Headwind: 7.52
Dud Engine: 5.14, 10.31, 11.4, 14.11, 14.24 Hemisphere: 1.3
Dummy: 1.3, 3.1, 3.2, 4.1, 4.42, 5.12, 5.13, 6, 8.1, 8.2, 8.3, Heavy Damage: 19.1
8.32, 9.2, 9.22 Hidden: 3.1, 4.41, 16.11, 16.2
High: 1.4, 10.13
E
Endurance: 2.81, 5.14, 5.2, 10.31, 10.4, 10.41, 10.6, 11.1, 11.2, I
11.4, 11.5 nfantry: 12.214, 22.1
Engagement: 13.2 Initial Point: 18.2
Engagement roll: 8.3, 13.23, 13.231, 13.232, 13.24 initiative chits: 2.33, 3.2, 9, 9.1, 9.2, 9.22, 10.31
Engagement value: 13.23
Entry hex: 11.5 J
Environment conditions: 7.1 Jasta: 1.3, 4.33, 4.34, 5.1, 5.14, 8.2, 13.41

F L
FA: 1.3, 4.34, 12.216, 13.422 Land: 2.22, 4.41
FA(A): 1.3, 4.34, 5.1, 12.216, 13.422 Landing: 2.22, 3.2, 7.5, 10.21, 10.4, 10.41, 11.2, 11.21, 11.3,
Facing: 10.1, 10.11, 10.12, 10.14, 10.31, 10.32, 11.11, 11.21 11.4, 11.5
Firepower: 2.81 Large Force pool: 9.1, 9.2, 9.22
Flak barrage: 16, 16.3, 16.31, 16.32, 16.33 Le Prieur: 12.217
Flak Damage Table: 16.31 Level Flight: 10.31, 10.32, 10.4, 11.1
Flaming Onion: 1.3, 2.32, 2.9, 3.2, 16.11, 16.4 Line Patrol: 10.7, 12.2, 12.213
Flight: 1.3, 1.4, 2.21, 2.22, 2.31, 2.33, 3, 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, 4.21, Log sheet: 2.9, 3.1, 4.21, 4.3, 5.1, 5.11, 5.13, 5.2, 5.21, 8.33,
4.3, 4.42, 4.5, 5, 5.1, 5.2, 6, 7.13, 7.15, 7.3, 7.5, 8, 8.1, 8.2, 10.6, 10.7, 12.212, 12.216, 16.4
8.3, 9, 9.1, 9.2, 10.1, 10.2, 10.6, 10.7, 11.1, 11.2, 11.3, 11.4, Long Range Recon: 1.3, 12.216
11.5, 12, 12.1, 12.2, 13, 13.2, 13.24, 13.3, 13.41, 13.42, 13.43, Line of Sight/LOS: 7, 7.13, 7.3, 8.3, 12.212, 16.3, 20, 21.32
13.44, 14.1, 15, 15.1, 15.2, 15.3, 16.1, 16.2, 16.3, 17, 17.1, Low: 1.4, 7.12, 10.13, 10.31, 12.2, 12.213, 12.217, 16.31, 16.33
18.1, 18.2, 18.3, 20, 21.13, 21.21, 22.1, 23.1
Flight leader: 4.33 M
Flight log: 2.9, 4.3, 5.14, 10.6, 12.2, 14.1 Machine gun (MG): 12.2, 12.214, 13.11, 13.14, 18.32, 18.41,
Flight Quality: 4.3, 4.33, 4.34 22.1
Fog: 7.15, 12.212, 12.213 Manoeuvre: 2.81, 10.31, 10.33, 10.34, 10.52, 10.71, 11.3,
Forest: 2.22 12.217, 13, 13.11, 13.2, 13.22, 13.232, 13.31, 13.41, 13.42,
Forward firing guns: 13.11, 13.12 13.421, 13.422, 13.423, 13.44, 14.21, 14.24, 15, 15.2, 18.11,
21.31
Free Turn: 10.31, 10.32, 11.1, 18.2
Manoeuvre marker: 10.31, 10.33, 10.52, 10.71, 13.232, 13.42,
G 13.421, 13.422, 14.24, 15, 15.2
Manoeuvre Rating: 2.81, 10.31, 11.3, 12.217, 13.11, 13.22,
Generic counter: 5.1, 5.11, 5.12
13.41, 14.24, 18.11
Gliding Flight: 10.31, 10.4, 10.41, 11.4, 14.24
Max Altitude: 12.2
Ground Deployment Phase: 3.1, 4.41, 16.11
Max Turn: 10.32
Ground Planning Phase: 3.1
Maximum allowable speed: 10.21, 10.4
Ground Setup: 4.1
Medium: 1.4, 10.13, 10.14, 10.15, 10.31, 16.31, 16.33x
Ground unit: 1, 2.3, 2.32, 2.34, 2.9, 3.1, 4.1, 7.3, 12.2, 12.214,
Moon phase: 21.11
12.218, 16.1, 19.1, 22, 22.1, 22.2, 23.12, 23.13
Mostly Cloudy: 7.13
Mostly Sunny: 7.12
Movement Phase: 3.2, 5.15, 9, 9.2, 10.2, 10.31, 10.32, 10.34,
10.51, 10.53, 11.2, 11.3, 12.215, 13.2, 13.21, 13.232, 18.1
Movement Points: 1.4, 10.2, 10.33
Movement type: 10.2, 10.21, 10.31
Multiple guns:13.12
© 2012 GMT Games, LLC
 Bloody April Rules Manual 35

N S
Navigation: 10.7, 21.2, 21.21 Scatter(ing): 10.33, 10.52, 10.71, 13.42, 13.421, 13.422, 13.44,
Navigational error: 10.71 14.24, 15, 15.2, 15.21, 15.22, 15.3, 16.2, 16.3, 16.31
Night: 4.1, 8.3, 8.31, 12.211, 21, 21.1, 21.12, 21.13, 21.2, 21.21, Scenario: 1.3, 2.5, 2.6, 3, 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, 4, 4.1, 4.3, 4.34, 4.42,
21.3, 21.31, 21.32 4.5, 4.6, 5, 5.12, 5.13, 7.16, 7.51, 7.53, 8.3, 11.12, 11.4, 11.5,
Night combat: 21.3, 21.31 12, 12.2, 12.217, 13.12, 16.1, 18.13, 21, 21.11, 22.1, 23, 23.1,
23.11, 23.12, 24.2
Night navigation: 21.2, 21.21
Scenario Planning Phase: 3.1
No man’s land: 1.3, 11.4
Schusta: 1.3, 4.34, 5.1, 12.212, 12.216, 13.422
O Scout: 1.3, 4.3, 12.219, 13.14, 24.1
Observers: 1.3, 3.2, 4.34, 5.1, 5.12, 8.1, 8.2, 9.2, 13.33, 13.34, Scramble: 12.2, 12.219
16.33, 20 Service Ceiling: 1.3, 2.81, 10.14, 12.216
Offensive Patrol: 12.2, 12.213 Shot down: 4.33, 5.21, 10.34, 12.2, 12.216, 12.217, 13.41,
Off-map: 11.5, 15.2 13.423, 14.1, 14.25, 16.31
Optional Rule: 1.2, 4.31, 7.16, 10.4, 11.11, 11.12, 11.21, 11.5, Show: 1.3, 2.5, 4, 4.1
13.4, 13.423, 13.43 Single aeroplane: 5.1, 5.14, 5.21, 10.31, 10.51, 12.211, 12.212,
Ordnance: 5.14, 5.2, 10.6, 12.2, 17, 17.1, 17.11, 17.12, 18.12, 13.423, 18.41
18.31, 18.32, 18.41 Slight Damage: 19.1
Other Behavior: 12.2 Small Force pool: 9.1, 9.2, 9.22
Snow: 7.14
P Solitaire: 2.5, 24, 24.1
Partial movement: 5.15 Speed: 2.81, 7.51, 7.52, 10.2, 10.21, 10.31, 10.32, 10.4, 11.1,
Patrol: 1.3, 2.5, 4, 4.1, 10.7, 12.2, 12.213, 12.214, 22.1 13.41, 21.21
Photography Plate Table: 12.216 Speed setting: 10.21, 10.31
Photography: 12.216 Spin Out: 10.31, 13.423, 24.3
Photos: 3.2, 12.216 Spinning Flight: 3.2, 10.31, 10.71, 13.423, 14.11, 14.23, 15.1
Pilot: 1.3, 4.3, 4.32, 4.33, 4.34, 5.1, 10.31, 23.1 Squadron: 4.3, 4.34, 5.1, 5.14, 8.3, 21, 21.21
Planning Map: 2.7 SSR: 1.3, 4.1, 4.34, 4.42, 6, 7.4, 12.2, 12.21, 12.211, 12.212,
Playbook: 1.22, 2.5, 2.6 12.213, 12.215, 12.216, 12.218, 21.21, 22.1, 22.2, 23.12
Previously Visually Sighted: 8.1, 20 Stack/Stacking: 4.41, 5.15, 9.2, 10.51, 12.215, 13.2
Stacked flights: 5.15, 10.51, 13.2
R Strafing: 8.21, 12.2, 12.218, 16.32, 17.13, 18.12, 18.32, 18.33,
Railway: 12.212, 12.218, 22.2 18.41
Rain: 7.14 Sun Arc: 7.2
Random Events: 3.2, 6, 7.53, 10.6 Surprise: 10.52, 13.2, 13.232, 13.24, 13.43, 13.44
Random Events Phase: 3.2, 6
T
Rear firing guns: 13.11, 13.42
Take off: 4.42, 11.1, 11.11, 11.12, 11.3, 11.5
Rear gunners: 13.11, 13.321, 13.34
Take off attrition: 11.5, 11.12
Recon: 1.3, 3, 3.2, 7.13, 7.15, 10.7, 12.2, 12.216, 13.422, 14.21
Tally: 1.3, 3.2, 5.11, 5.12, 5.13, 8.1, 8.2, 8.3, 12.217, 13.21,
Recovery: 3.3, 10.31, 11.4, 21.21
13.23, 13.43, 15, 20
Recovery Phase: 3.3, 11.4
Tally marker: 3.2, 8.1, 8.3, 13.23, 15, 20
Regular: 4.3
Target hex: 3.1, 12.2, 12.216, 12.218, 18.11, 18.2, 18.42
Reload: 3.2, 13.12, 13.34
Target profile: 16.12, 18.13, 22.2
RFC: 1, 1.1, 2.31, 4.1, 4.42, 4.6, 5.12, 5.2, 9, 9.1, 9.2, 9.22,
Tasking: 1.1, 1.3, 2.6, 3, 3.1, 4.1, 4.21, 4.34, 5.14, 5.2, 7.13,
11.5, 16.31, 21
7.15, 8.21, 10.7, 12, 12.1, 12.2, 13.21, 14.21, 18.11, 21.1, 23
Road: 2.22, 12.212, 12.216, 12.218
Time of Day: 3.1, 4.1, 7.16, 8.3
Time to Climb: 1.4, 2.81, 5.15, 10.14, 10.15, 10.31, 11.1, 11.5,
12.217, 13.22, 15
Time to Climb marker: 1.4, 10.31, 11.1, 11.5, 12.217, 15
Total Destruction: 19.1, 23.13
Track Phase: 3.2, 20
© 2012 GMT Games, LLC
36 Bloody April Rules Manual

Training: 1.3, 4.3, 4.33, 21, 21.21

W
Trench Line: 1.3, 9.21, 12.212, 12.213, 12.216, 16.4, 20
Water: 2.22
Trench Recon: 12.216
Weather: 2.34, 3.1, 3.2, 4.1, 7, 7.11, 7.12, 7.13, 7.14, 7.15, 7.4,
Trench Strafing: 12.2, 12.218
7.53, 12.212, 12.213, 16.2, 21.32, 23.1
Turning: 10.11, 10.31, 10.32, 11.1, 12.216, 16.3, 18.2
Weather Change Table: 7.4
Turn Table: 10.31, 10.32
Weather Determination Phase: 3.1
U Weather Phase: 3.2, 7.53
Undetected: 3.2, 4.42, 5.11, 5.13, 8.1, 8.2, 8.21, 8.31, 12.217, Wind direction: 7.52, 11.11, 11.21
13.43, 15, 15.3, 16.3, 20 Wind Drift: 3.2, 7, 7.5, 7.51, 7.52, 10.21, 10.51, 11.1, 16.31
Urban: 2.22, 22.2 Wind Up: 1.3, 4.31, 10.31, 10.6, 13.24, 13.42, 13.43, 15, 15.1

V
Very High: 1.4, 10.13
Veteran: 4.3
Visual Identification: 8.31, 8.32, 8.33, 21.13
Visual sighting: 4.1, 7.3, 8.2, 8.3, 21.12
Visual Phase: 3.3
Victory Points (VPs): 4.6, 12.214, 12.216, 23.2, 23.21

After Arras – Later in 1917, the three Sopwith designs that flew during the battle were replaced by
a famous machine, the Sopwith Camel.
© 2012 GMT Games, LLC
 Bloody April Rules Manual 37

“Time To Climb” Conversion Tables

DECK 0 to 3.99k TtC 2D TtC 3D TtC 4D TtC 5D TtC 6D TtC 7D
Time to Climb DECK+1 2000ft 1333ft 1000ft 800ft 666ft 575ft
Time to Climb DECK+2 2666ft 2000ft 1600ft 1330ft 1050ft
Time to Climb DECK+3 3000ft 2400ft 2000ft 1625ft
Time to Climb DECK+4 3200ft 2666ft 2300ft
Time to Climb DECK+5 3330ft 2875ft
Time to Climb DECK+6 3550ft

LOW 4.00 to 9.99k TtC 3L TtC 4L TtC 5L TtC 6L TtC 7L TtC 8L TtC 9L
Time to Climb LOW+1 6000ft 5500ft 5200ft 5000ft 4850ft 4750ft 4666ft
Time to Climb LOW+2 8000ft 7000ft 6400ft 6000ft 5700ft 5500ft 5330ft
Time to Climb LOW+3 8500ft 7600ft 7000ft 6550ft 6250ft 6000ft
Time to Climb LOW+4 8800ft 8000ft 7400ft 7000ft 6666ft
Time to Climb LOW+5 9000ft 8250ft 7750ft 7330ft
Time to Climb LOW+6 9100ft 8500ft 8000ft
Time to Climb LOW+7 9250ft 8666ft
Time to Climb LOW+8 9333ft

LOW 4.00 to 9.99k TtC 11L TtC 12L TtC 17L TtC 21L TtC 24L
Time to Climb LOW+1 4545ft 4500ft 4350ft 4285ft 4250ft
Time to Climb LOW+2 5090ft 5000ft 4700ft 4570ft 4500ft
Time to Climb LOW+3 5635ft 5500ft 5050ft 4855ft 4750ft
Time to Climb LOW+4 6180ft 6000ft 5400ft 5140ft 5000ft
Time to Climb LOW+5 6725ft 6500ft 5750ft 5425ft 5250ft
Time to Climb LOW+6 7270ft 7000ft 6100ft 5710ft 5500ft
Time to Climb LOW+7 7815ft 7500ft 6450ft 5995ft 5750ft
Time to Climb LOW+8 8360ft 8000ft 6800ft 6280ft 6000ft
Time to Climb LOW+9 8905ft 8500ft 7150ft 6565ft 6250ft
Time to Climb LOW+10 9450ft 9000ft 7400ft 6850ft 6500ft
Time to Climb LOW+11 9500ft 7750ft 7135ft 6750ft
Time to Climb LOW+12 8100ft 7420ft 7000ft
Time to Climb LOW+13 8450ft 7705ft 7250ft
Time to Climb LOW+14 8800ft 7990ft 7500ft
Time to Climb LOW+15 9150ft 8275ft 7750ft
Time to Climb LOW+16 9500ft 8560ft 8000ft
Time to Climb LOW+17 8845ft 8250ft
Time to Climb LOW+18 9130ft 8500ft
Time to Climb LOW+19 9415ft 8750ft
Time to Climb LOW+20 9700ft 9000ft
Time to Climb LOW+21 9250ft
Time to Climb LOW+22 9500ft
Time to Climb LOW+23 9750ft

© 2012 GMT Games, LLC

38 Bloody April Rules Manual

MED 10.00 to 15.99k TtC 4M TtC 6M TtC 7M TtC 8M TtC 9M TtC 10M TtC 13M
Time to Climb MED+1 11500ft 11000ft 10850ft 10750ft 10666ft 10600ft 10460ft
Time to Climb MED+2 13000ft 12000ft 11700ft 11500ft 11230ft 11200ft 10920ft
Time to Climb MED+3 14500ft 13000ft 12550ft 12250ft 12000ft 11800ft 11380ft
Time to Climb MED+4 14000ft 13400ft 13000ft 12666ft 12400ft 11840ft
Time to Climb MED+5 15000ft 14250ft 13750ft 13230ft 13000ft 12300ft
Time to Climb MED+6 15100ft 14500ft 14000ft 13600ft 12760ft
Time to Climb MED+7 15250ft 14666ft 14200ft 13220ft
Time to Climb MED+8 15230ft 14800ft 13680ft
Time to Climb MED+9 15400ft 14140ft
Time to Climb MED+10 14600ft
Time to Climb MED+11 15060ft
Time to Climb MED+12 15520ft

MED 10.00 to 15.99k TtC 15M TtC 16M TtC 18M TtC 20M TtC 30M
Time to Climb MED+1 10400ft 10375ft 10333ft 10300ft 10200ft
Time to Climb MED+2 10800ft 10750ft 10666ft 10600ft 10400ft
Time to Climb MED+3 11200ft 11125ft 11000ft 10900ft 10600ft
Time to Climb MED+4 11600ft 11500ft 11333ft 11200ft 10800ft
Time to Climb MED+5 12000ft 11875ft 11666ft 11500ft 11000ft
Time to Climb MED+6 12400ft 12250ft 12000ft 11800ft 11200ft
Time to Climb MED+7 12800ft 12625ft 12333ft 12100ft 11400ft
Time to Climb MED+8 13200ft 13000ft 12666ft 12400ft 11600ft
Time to Climb MED+9 13600ft 13375ft 13000ft 12700ft 11800ft
Time to Climb MED+10 14000ft 13750ft 13333ft 13000ft 12000ft
Time to Climb MED+11 14400ft 14125ft 13666ft 13300ft 12200ft
Time to Climb MED+12 14800ft 14500ft 14000ft 13600ft 12400ft
Time to Climb MED+13 15200ft 14875ft 14333ft 13900ft 12600ft
Time to Climb MED+14 15600ft 15250ft 14666ft 14200ft 12800ft
Time to Climb MED+15 15625ft 15000ft 14500ft 13000ft
Time to Climb MED+16 15333ft 14800ft 13200ft
Time to Climb MED+17 15666ft 15100ft 13400ft
Time to Climb MED+18 15400ft 13600ft
Time to Climb MED+19 15700ft 13800ft
Time to Climb MED+20 14000ft
Time to Climb MED+21 14200ft
Time to Climb MED+22 14400ft
Time to Climb MED+23 14600ft
Time to Climb MED+24 14800ft
Time to Climb MED+25 15000ft
Time to Climb MED+26 15200ft
Time to Climb MED+27 15400ft
Time to Climb MED+28 15600ft
Time to Climb MED+29 15800ft

© 2012 GMT Games, LLC

 Bloody April Rules Manual 39

HIGH 16.00 to 18.99k TtC 4H TtC 5H TtC 6H TtC 10H TtC 15H TtC 20H
Time to Climb HIGH+1 16750ft 16600ft 16500ft 16300ft 16200ft 16150ft
Time to Climb HIGH+2 17500ft 17200ft 17000ft 16600ft 16400ft 16300ft
Time to Climb HIGH+3 18250ft 17800ft 17500ft 16900ft 16600ft 16450ft
Time to Climb HIGH+4 18400ft 18000ft 17200ft 16800ft 16600ft
Time to Climb HIGH+5 18500ft 17500ft 17000ft 16750ft
Time to Climb HIGH+6 17800ft 17200ft 16900ft
Time to Climb HIGH+7 18100ft 17400ft 17050ft
Time to Climb HIGH+8 18400ft 17600ft 17200ft
Time to Climb HIGH+9 18700ft 17800ft 17350ft
Time to Climb HIGH+10 18000ft 17500ft
Time to Climb HIGH+11 18200ft 17650ft
Time to Climb HIGH+12 18400ft 17800ft
Time to Climb HIGH+13 18600ft 17950ft
Time to Climb HIGH+14 18800ft 18100ft
Time to Climb HIGH+15 18250ft
Time to Climb HIGH+16 18400ft
Time to Climb HIGH+17 18550ft
Time to Climb HIGH+18 18700ft
Time to Climb HIGH+19 18850ft

VH 19.00 to 22.0k TtC 4VH TtC 5VH TtC 15VH TtC 20VH
Time to Climb VH+1 19250ft 19200ft 19200ft 19100ft
Time to Climb VH+2 19500ft 19400ft 19400ft 19200ft
Time to Climb VH+3 19750ft 19600ft 19600ft 19300ft
Time to Climb VH+4 19800ft 19800ft 19400ft
Time to Climb VH+5 20000ft 19500ft
Time to Climb VH+6 20200ft 19600ft
Time to Climb VH+7 20400ft 19700ft
Time to Climb VH+8 20600ft 19800ft
Time to Climb VH+9 20800ft 19900ft
Time to Climb VH+10 21000ft 20000ft
Time to Climb VH+11 21200ft 20100ft
Time to Climb VH+12 21400ft 20200ft
Time to Climb VH+13 21600ft 20300ft
Time to Climb VH+14 21800ft 20400ft
Time to Climb VH+15 20500ft
Time to Climb VH+16 20600ft
Time to Climb VH+17 20700ft
Time to Climb VH+18 20800ft
Time to Climb VH+19 20900ft

© 2012 GMT Games, LLC

40 Bloody April Rules Manual

German Scout Aircraft Availability Matrix

Jasta Month Halb D.II Alb D.II Alb D.III Alb D.V
1, 3, 4, 5, 12 March 1-2 3-7 8-10 –
B March – 1-6 7-10 –
11, 30 March 1-7 8-10 – –
B, 33 April – 1-5 7-10 –
All other Jasta April 1 2-5 6-10 –
All Jasta May – 1-2 3-8 9-10

Roll 1D10 for flight type

Jasta Flight Size

D10 Result: 1 2-3 4-5 6-7 8-9 10
# of Aircraft: 1* 2 3 4 5 6
* = Single aircraft will use individual ace pilot from unit (Rating 0 to +5)

GMT Games, LLC • P.O. Box 1308, Hanford, CA 93232-1308

www.GMTGames.com