So reads the introduction to Fox Two, my rules covering modern air to air combat. Written in the mid 1990s they were published by Felix Enterprises in 1994. Felix closed down in August 1999 and thus Fox Two's original incarnation came to an end. Shortly thereafter I joined the team of authors writing for A&A Game Engineering and now (Summer 2004) the revised edition, "Fox Two - Reheat" is about to hit the streets. Supporting material for those rules will be posted to the A&A site rather than here to keep things simple and easy to find.
This page will be maintained to support those few of you out there who still hanker after the old days of F2!
Weapon Loads - long-awaited guidance on typical missile loads!
Foxy Versus the Martians - something a bit different
Designers Notes
The style of play alternated several times between ultra complex to ultra simple, and finally came to rest at a fast set of simple rules aimed at allowing several games to be played in an evening. Another stipulation was that games should be playable on a standard 6 foot by 4 foot table. As a result some of the weapon ranges were been curtailed, but on reflection this did not seem to unrealistic, as extended range shots are likely to be more chancy, and if you only have two missiles you will want to get as close as possible to maximise the chance of a kill. Also dont forget that, although a missile may have a range of 10 miles its target is moving at quite a high speed relative to the weapon, so a missile may have to be fired within a couple of miles to have a good chance of catching the target. I kept the missile firing sections as simple as possible. During development of the rules we had players flying their missiles as well as their aircraft. The result was apparently quite accurate, but took an exceptionally long time to resolve. The final solution was, I think, as realistic and much quicker.
Five starter scenarios were given in the rules, including a solo scenario to train the ab initio pilot. Additional scenarios could be gleaned from any number of books about modern air combat (see the bibliography). One form of game which seems popular is the Tournament, where up to 10 players compete in a last one standing wins struggle in evenly matched aircraft - the F-5E is a favourite for this kind of game.