Phil describes the new Flames of War Second Edition Air Support rules in the latest FOW site update and I have to say it sounds a lot better than the way air support currently works!
Currently it’s a fiasco. Limited and Sporadic air support are rarely worth the points because the show up so unpredictably they don’t actually feature in any real tactics. They’re just a random event that can sometimes be devastating (bombing your artillery away for example) but are mostly just an annoyance for both sides.
The new system frankly makes a lot more sense. You purchase a pool of Air Support dice which you can elect to throw or not throw on any given turn. If you choose to throw them, you throw the whole pool and any number of successes results in air support arriving AND you removing ONE die from the pool.
That’s a simple mechanic that will work exactly like air support should imho. The first time you need it you’ve got a fairly good chance of it arriving, and then likelihood of continued air support is reduced in a predictable manner each time they do arrive. Lovely!
If this new Air Support is indicative of the sorts of changes we can expect to see in FOW 2nd Edition then I’m sure it will be a great success.