Unit Card:
Set - Number
Angels 20 - 28/31
History:
Vergilius
The Spitfire is a single-seat fighter aircraft used by the Royal Air Force and other allied countries during WWII. Designed as a short-range high performance interceptor, the Spitfire served admirably during the Battle of Britain from which the starter set draws its theme, and thus serves as a an excellent introductory unit in our set of unit discussions. Noteworthy is the elliptical wing design, which allowed for a thin wing that reduced drag while still being able to support retractable undercarriage, ammunition and armament. The Spitfire appeared in several variants, of which the MkI appears in the Angels 20 game.
Reviews:
Vergilius
The Spitfire Ace is the only ace among the four UK aircraft in Angels 20, and it packs the most balanced maneuvering line of the four planes along with two extremely useful SAs. No maneuvering statistic falls below 4, making the Spitfire Ace competent regardless of which difficult maneuvers you wish to attempt in the game. The high score of 5 in turning makes the Spitfire excellent in a turning fight, and the smart UK player will attempt to maneuver the Hurricane into position behind the enemy. As an aid to this, the Spitfire packs the Tally HO SA, which gives the UK player a bonus initiative of 2 until one of his units are damaged. This suggests that the UK player should maneuver to avoid giving the enemy good shots while attempting to bring the Spitfire Ace into position where it can deliver a fatal attack upon one of the enemy planes. At that point, an early initiative bonus can be turned into a tailing initiative bonus. The second SA, one of the very best in the game, Expert Flier, allows the Spitfire Ace to make two difficult maneuvers every turn, something that can help it get and maintain firing position every turn. The defensive line of 3-6-3 is as solid as the majority of planes in the game, while an attack line of 6-4-2 asks you to reach range 1 or 2 while adding diving and pilot status. In addition to the collection of SAs and excellent maneuvering scores, the Spitfire Ace has a regular speed range of 2-4, performing a little better than the range of 2-3 on many planes. Extra speed helps the Spitfire reach prime firing position. Overall, the Spitfire Ace should appear in most UK fleets, and is a legitimate candidate for appearing in many mixed allied builds, especially at higher point levels. The easiest 100 point UK build includes the Spitfire Ace along with 2 Hurricane MkIs.
Plastic Figure Notes:
