Not having the new 8th Ed. bombing rules & wanting a bit more granularity with regards to anti-shipping strikes, I did the following rules for both bombing and torpedo strikes. Pilot's dropping ordinance cannot target with their guns on the same turn.
Level bombing uses the same rules as the book with scatter but each bomb has a rated damage the same as machine gun fire. The shift modifiers for missions completed but *not* kills is applied to the damage rating (experience increases effectiveness). High Altitude Level bombing will scatter 3d6 squares in a random direction if it misses.
For Dive bombing, use the strafing to-hit chart. The aircraft must have used a Split-S manoeuvre over the target square. The altitude at which they pulled out of the Split-S is used as the strafe range for the to-hit roll. The maximum scatter is M1 regardless of the failure.
Torpedo bombing:
The dropping aircraft must fly strait and level for the last 4 squares of movement at
an altitude of 100' or less facing the target. Check the final range to target;
subtract 1 from the to-hit roll target number if the target is travelling 2 squares or
faster. Also subtract 1 from the to-hit target number if the aircraft is *hit* by
fire that turn (The aircraft is expecting to be shot at). If the torpedo hits, roll
damage and apply directly to the hull. Any shot closer than 250' automatically fails
to detonate as it hasn't had time to arm.
| Range | To-hit |
| 250' - 300' | 5 |
| 350' - 400' | 4 |
| 450' - 500' | 3 |
| 550' - 600' | 2 |
| 650' - 1000' | 1 |
Rockets are fired using the standard strafing rules.
Damage Resolution: In each case, roll a separate die for each
bomb/rocket/torpedo in the salvo dropped. For each additional hit after the first,
shift the damage up one table. eg. 2 bombs of damage I hit; the new damage code is J
for determining HF.
If the unmodified damage rating of the bomb is equal or higher than the target's armour,
roll for a critical against the Engine Hits damage. If it is less than the target's
armour, roll against Other Hits damage. If this results in a critical hit effect, small
targets are destroyed; for larger targets such as naval shipping, it show major damage
(see below for ship damage).
| Damage Rating | Bomb Weight (WWI) |
Torpedo / Rocket Size |
| A | 1 kg grenades | LePruir Rockets |
| B | 3" rockets | |
| C | 16-25 lb / 8-10 kg | |
| D | 6" rockets | |
| E | 55 lb / 25 kg | 37 mm Puteaux cannon |
| F | 8" rockets | |
| G | 112 lb / 50 kg | 14" / 1650 lb |
| H | ||
| I | 230 lb / 100 kg | 17" / 1850 lb |
| J | ||
| K | 350 lb / 155 kg | 21" / 2100 lb |
| L | ||
| M |
Example Ground Targets:
| Fixed Targets | Armour | Mobile Targets | Armour |
| Tent | A | Dug in AA-defences | A |
| Wooden Building | B | ||
| Quansot Hut (tin shed) | C | Truck | A |
| Brick / Stone Building | D | Train Carriage | B |
| Railway Bridge | G | Locomotive | D |
| Small Concrete Bunker | I | Tank | E |
| Large Concrete Bunker | K | ||
| Submarine Pens (Bunker) | M |
Ship Examples:
Ships are harder to destroy outright and must suffer enough critical damage to exceed their hits. All the gun emplacements can be targetted separately using the normal rules.
| Type | Speed |
Critical Hits |
Armour |
Armament (abstracted) |
| IJN Yamato - WW2 | 30 knots | 15 | K | 4 x AA guns, 6 x Onions, 2 x seaplanes |
| USS Missouri - WW2 | 30 knots | 14 | J | 4 x AA guns, 2 x Onions, |
| USS Enterprise - WW2 | 30 knots | 10 | I | 2 x AA guns, 4 x Onions, aircraft |
| Destroyer - WW2 | 30 knots | 8 | H | 4 x Onions |
| Destroyer - WW1 | 20 knots | 5 | G | 2 x Onions, 4 x MG |
| HMS Engadine - WW1 | 20 knots | 4 | G | 1 x AA gun, 2 x MG, 6 x seaplanes |
| Freighter | 10 knots | 2 | E | 1 x MG |
Shipping Critical Hit Table:
| Die Roll (2d6) | Torpedo Hits | Bomb/Rocket Hits |
| 2 | Engine Room hit; move reduced to 0. | Engine Room hit; move reduced to 0. |
| 3 | Flooding, +2 hits per turn (stopped on a 1) | Fire, +1 hit per turn (out on a 1) |
| 4 | Flooding, +1 hit per turn (stopped on a 1) | Bridge hit; random movement. |
| 5 | +3 hits | +3 hits |
| 6 | +2 hits | +2 hits |
| 7 | +1 hit | Roll on Torpedo Hits table |
| 8 | +2 hits | +2 hits |
| 9 | +3 hits | +3 hits |
| 10 | Flooding, +1 hit per turn (stopped on a 1) | Random Turret disabled |
| 11 | Flooding, +2 hits per turn (stopped on a 1) | Fire, +1 hit per turn (out on a 1) |
| 12 | Screws hit; reduce speed by 10 knots. | Magazine Hit; ship destroyed |