Unit Card:
Set - Number
Angels 20 - 8/31
History:
Vergilius
The C. 200 Saetta, built by Aeronautica Macchi in Italy, was an early Italian fighter and predecessor to the Folgore. The plane had excellent maneuverability, but was under-armed and under-armored. From the outbreak of the war until the armistice was signed, the Saetta flew more sorties than any other Italian fighter. It flew all over Italy, the Mediterranean, North Africa. It even flew into Russia where it obtained a kill ratio of 88 to 15. The Saetta was also ideally suited to ground attack and several units even flew it as a fighter-bomber.
Reviews:
Vergilius
Like most other Rookies, it suffers from a negative to all maneuvering values except Climb. It also packs a negative SA, Panic, which prevents it from doing difficult maneuvers or attacking during the next game turn. Otherwise, the gunnery, speed and defensive statistics are the same as the other version in the game, the Veteran Expeditionary Saetta. The woeful gunnery values come in at a 4-3 with no range-3 attack. Basically, you need to be directly on the opponents six o’clock if you want to it anything consistently with those dice. The basic speed of 2-3/4 is among the lowest in the game, and increases the difficulty at which you can get into a six o’clock shot considerably. The defensive statistics are a problem: only two armor and two hits, though the vital of six is respectable. At least these two planes do not suffer the same overcost as the Japanese panes, and at 16 and 23 points respectably, you can reasonably include them in your builds despite the two armor and two hits. Both planes pack the Rugged SA, which essentially pushes the vital to 6.5 from six, though two armor is so weak already that this hardly seems like a benefit. The Expeditionary Saetta packs two additional useful SAs. Practiced Turn pushes the Tight Turn bonus on the Expeditionary to 6, the same as the Japanese Zero, which helps considerably in a turning contest when you need to get onto your opponent’s six. Skilled Attack, meanwhile, adds a single die to your attack when you face poor pilots, and reflects the historical situation of the Expeditionary Saetta on the Russian front sometimes facing weaker Soviet pilots.
Flight Builds and Tactics: Since both Saetta planes are cheap, you can reasonably include them in your builds to provide some extra placement for a turn or two while the enemy is forced to shoot them down. Since both Saetta planes are cheap, you can reasonably include them in your builds to provide some extra placement for a turn or two while the enemy is forced to shoot them down. The high vital combined with rugged means that even if the Saetta Rookie has two armor, the opponent must still expend two shots to bring it down. This time may very well buy your other planes such as the Folgore Ace the time that they need to swing around behind the enemies’ six and deliver the fateful attacks. If you can trade your cheap Saetta Rookie for a stronger plane of the opponent’s, then the Saetta Rookie has fulfilled its purpose in your build. The Saetta Rookie seems exceptionally well built for extending the size of your flight build and for filling in points at the end of the build. Since it costs half as much as a Folgore, you can bring two Saetta Rookies for the price of that Folgore. Whether the Folgore or the two Rookies will last longer is an entirely different question that will be answered differently from game to game as initiative swings one way or the other, and depending upon what planes the opponent has brought.
Perhaps the easiest Italian build is the Expeditionary Saetta, Folgore, and Folgore Ace, hitting 100 points right on the nose. You have the option of bringing two Saetta Rookies instead of the Folgore, and this build might fit well with using the Expeditionary Saetta later in the movement sequence. In the first build, you probably lose the Folgore first, which means the Expeditionary Saetta quickly follows. My overall evaluation is on the fence with both planes. The Folgore Ace and Folgore fit fairly well into an 80 point build. You put one or both planes into a 100 point build by necessity. At 110 points, you’ve got a Folgore Ace and two Folgore fighters quite easily. Above 110 points, the total number of potential fighters tends to swell and extra filler in the form of cheap aircraft tends to help a lot less. The Folgore Ace and Folgore remain the main two Italian staple planes, while the cheap Saetta mainly function to allow the Italian player to fill out the builds quickly and easily.