Faith, Hope & Charity: Battle over Malta

This game uses the Battle over Britain game system. Included are set of 12 airplane counters for FH&C, Dogfight Display, and Reference Card. Planes included are Gloster Gladiator, Hawker Hurricane I, Vickers Wellington, MC-200 Saetta, SM-79 Sparviero, CR-42 Falco, Ju-87 Stuka, and Me-109E Emil, plus two Historical campaign games, and scenarios.

Each plane is dealt a hand of cards, the number of cards dependant on the plane's speed. Each turn represents just several seconds of real time. You play a card from your hand each turn to try and establish "Advantage" over the opponent... the side with Advantage may (depending on the values of the cards played) be able to fire a burst at the enemy. You will need to consider two main things each turn: your relative altitude (which is suit dependent), and relative fire position (which is card value dependent). When you find yourself "disadvantaged" (tailed), you can try to break off.

Plane ratings make a great deal of difference... for example, faster planes have larger hands, those with superior performance are tougher to tail and tougher to shake once they are tailing you, and an agile plane can "yank the stick" more effectively in a pinch. Firing a burst means you compare the relative fire position cards, roll one die, modify the roll by the plane's firepower modifier, and check the Fire Combat Table to see if you cause any damage (and/or critical hits) to the enemy. (And watch out for those rear firing gunners.)

If you find yourself damaged or out of ammunition, you can always try and disengage. When the deck of cards is exhausted, the game is over. You will quickly be able to "read" each plane's strengths and weaknesses from their ratings. Superior planes are stronger, of course, but anything can happen, and one false move might see you suddenly dodging bullets rather than dishing them out.