Unit Card:
China, Aircraft , 1939
ATT inf 7/5/-
ATT veh 3/2/-
Cost 10 points
Def 4/4
Speed A
Aircraft
Aircraft are placed during the flight phase and attack during the airstrike phase. Units attacking Aircraft use their anti-Soldier attacks and get –1 on each attack die.
Antiair
This unit ignores the -1 penalty on each attack die when attacking Aircraft. If an enemy Aircraft is placed in a hex adjacent to this unit, this unit may make a defensive-fire attack against it.
Inaccurate 1
This unit gets –1 on each attack die.
Set - Rarity - Number
Angels 20 - 16/31
Historical Background:
Vergilius
The Polikarpov I-16 was revolutionary when it was first introduced in 1935, but largely outclassed on all fronts when WWII began. The Chinese had them in abundance, thanks to gifts from the Soviet Union, and the Soviets had more of them than any of their other fighters when Germany attacked them. Most of these planes received derogatory nicknames, such as Abu, “horsefly,” or Ishak, “little donkey.” Among the innovations introduced with the I-16 in 1935 were retractable landing gear and a fully enclosed cockpit. The plane was also optimized for speed with its short stubby fuselage. The design had many problems; the machine guns had a tendency to jam, the cockpit offered poor visibility and had a tendency to cloud up with engine oil. The plane was also extremely difficult to fly.
The I-16 first met combat in the Spanish Civil War where they performed admirably at the time against all contemporary planes. Indeed, they were not outclassed by an opposing fighter until the introduction of the Bf109. In the Far East, the Japanese Zero proved more than a match for the I-16. By the time Germany invaded the Soviet Union, the plane was so badly outclassed that Soviet pilots sometimes resorted to sacrificing their lives by ramming the opposing German aircraft.
Reviews - AAAF:
Reviews - AAM:
Akela152
China's cheapest aircraft option is unremarkable at best. For 10 points you get an aircraft that can be placed anywhere on the map each turn. It's armour is average. However a weak attack value paired with Inaccurate 1 makes this unit very unlikely to hit anything before going down.
Plastic Figure Notes:
This is an Axis and Allies Air Force Miniature model. They are not the same scale as the planes in AAM but are the same scale as the tanks. The models are all very detailed and well painted.
