DUEL IN THE DARK FAQ 1.

8 PRINTER FORMATTED
Version 1.8
by Andrzej Fiett, Zev Shlasinger, Michael Koznarsky, Friedemann de Pedro and the community of BGG

COURSE OF THE GAME

Q. If we plan to play a game that spans multiple nights, how do you set up the board between nights? I know that the VP marker
remains to reflect the previous night's score but what about all the other components?
A. You remove all bombs, target markers, etc. You begin the next night with an all new setup: fighters can station in different airports, a
new weather card is drawn, a new plot programmed, etc. The only thing that does not change (besides the VP marker position) is the
location of any civil bunkers: they remain in whatever cities you first put them in.

Q. When does a night raid end?

A. The night ends when ALL planes land. So the German fighters better get back to an airfield or they will ditch, giving last minute
British VPs.

BRITISH BOMBER FLEET

Q. Do we consider an airfield in a bombed city (bombed by the bomber, not the Mosquito) to be bombed as well?
A. No, because the bomber is targeting the city. Only Mosquito's can bomb airfields.

Q. Can you bomb more than one city?

A. No.

MOSQUITO (MOSSIE)
Q. Can the Mossie bomb and lay target markers in the same turn?
A. Yes.

Q. Can the Mossie drop target markers in a non-target city as a bluff (and of course, no VP would be scored from the target
markers.)
A. Yes.

Q. Can the Mossie change altitude after its first move then change again on its second move? For example, if it moves one space to
bomb an airfield (requiring low altitude), can it move to another hex and change to high altitude?
A. No. The two hexes count as one move and therefore the Mossie must decide if she flies those two hexes at low or high altitude.

Q. Can the Mossie and bomber fleet both occupy the same hex?
A. Yes – they just can't land or start off in the same hex.

Q. Does the Mosquito have to land on a British airfield on the same turn as the bomber?
A. No.

Q. Can the Mossie harass German fighters after the bomber is landed?
A. Yes, she can harass until every German fighter is landed.

Q. If the Mossie fights two squadrons in the clouds, do you get 1 VP (2 squadrons -1 for clouds), or zero VP (each squadron gets
the -1VP for the clouds).
A. You get 1 VP (2 squadrons -1 for clouds). The cloud penalty applies to the total value of the combat.

Q. German fighters get attacked and the British player gains VPs if they move into the Mosquito hex. However, if the Mosquito
moves into a German fighter hex, does it attack the fighters and get VPs?

A. No. The British player scores VPs for the Mosquito after the German fighters move. The Germans never get VPs against the Mosquito.

Q. Does the Mosquito gain VPs for fighters that circle in or take off and remain in the same hex as the Mosquito?
A. Yes. The British get 1 VP for a fighter circling in its hex however, they get 2 VPs if the fighter took off and remained in the same hex
as the Mosquito.
Q. If a fighter enters a Mosquito’s hex and lands do the British gain VPs?
A. Yes. Combat takes place before the landing.

Q. When the Mosquito moves two hexes, can it bomb/mark in more than one hex? Or only the final hex?
A. Mosquito can bomb/mark on both hexes. (Remember, it has to be at low altitude.)

Q. Do target markers remain on the board indefinitely?

A. Yes. For simplification, the flares don’t burn out. Although you can remove them after the bomber bombs its target as the markers
don’t do anything afterwards.
Q. Can the Mossie bomb the Smokescreen ground defense resource?
A. No.

GERMAN FIGHTERS
Q. Is it possible to land (and refuel) before reaching 0 fuel?
A. Yes.

Q. Can a fighter refuel even if it had to land because it was at 0 fuel?

A. Yes.

Q. Can a fighter land from high altitude?

A. Yes. (And so can any other plane.)

Q. Can a German squadron refuel at ANY German airfield – or only at the one where it was originally placed?
A. At any airfield.

Q. Can the German fighters attack the bomber on its last move, and score VPs before the landing, or does the bomber end its
turn as it lands, therefore meaning no VP's for the fighters?
A. German fighters can attack a final time before the bomber lands.

Q. If the bomber enters the hex of a grounded (landed) fighter do the Germans score VPs?
A. No. The fighter has to be in the air in order to have combat.

Q. Can a fighter moving 2 hexes in a tailwind (in a straight line only) change altitude between the first and second hex of
movement?
A. Yes.

Q. A fighter has 2 remaining fuel lines. Can the fighter move 1 hex directly into the wind (a headwind)?
A. No. The fighter cannot move into a headwind with 2 lines of fuel since it requires 3. So that move would be illegal.

Q. A fighter has 3 or more remaining fuel lines. Can a fighter move 2 hexes in a tailwind, the first hex being straight ahead and
the other hex being left or right for a total expenditure of 3 fuel?
A. No. When using a tailwind to move two hexes, fighters can only move straight in the direction of the wind.

Q. Which hexes give 4VP for ditching?

A. 1, 2, 3, 8, 9, 10, 16, 17 and 23.

Q. The rules state that VPs are scored by the Germans if the bomber fleet moves into a hex with fighter squadrons. What happens
if a fighter squadron moves into the bomber’s hex?
A. Nothing happens.

Q. How much fuel does a German Squadron use if it takes off at low altitude and remains in the take-off hex?
A. One, likening this to circling in the hex which costs one line of fuel.

Q. Can you can move a fighter squadron and land in the same move?
A. Yes

Q. Does a fuel truck need to be present when a fighter lands to refuel it to full and allow it to take off again next turn?
A. No. A fuel truck just allows you to land multiple fighters in the same airfield.

Q. If the German fighters are flying lower than the English bomber, the German side receives -1 VP per squadron. Is this the only
effect altitude has on the German fighters?
A. For the time being that is correct. Future expansions may give other reasons for fighters to fly low.

Q. When a fighter moves two hexes (with a tailwind) through a hex with the Mosquito (and continuing on to the next hex), does
the Mosquito attack?
A. Yes.

Q. Does refueling take an entire turn? For example if land on turn 4 can I take off again fully fueled on turn 5?
A. Yes.

THE WEATHER
Q. In regards to the Mosquito getting VPs, do the weather modifiers apply to each fighter it is in combat with or to the total
combat?
A. To the total combat. So you gain VPs for each fighter (2 fighters maximum) then apply any pluses or minuses to the VP total.

Q. Regarding the night fighters getting VPs, do the weather modifiers apply to each fighter or to the total combat?
A. To the individual combat. Each night fighter calculates its VPs and weather modifiers separately.

VICTORY POINTS
Q. Is it possible to receive negative points?
A. No.

Q. Scoring track: Is thirty (30) the maximum points that can be scored?
A. For ease of play ignore all points scored above 30, however, if it happens a lot in your games, you can create a house rule to keep track
of
points above 30.

ADVANCED RULES
Q. When precisely does the weather change take effect?
A. Before the bomber moves. So if the weather changes prior to move 4, the Mossie and the fighters will fly under the "old" conditions,
then the weather change takes effect and the bomber now moves under the new conditions of the weather.

Q. Can you refuel the special fuel (MW 50) when your fighter lands for refueling?
A. Yes, the MW50 gets refilled too. The rule stating that this can be used once per night is wrong.

Q. There was mention of fighters being above the clouds in reference to the Corpse Cloth rule. However in the English rules,
fighters are not specifically mentioned. Does this mean that fighters only get the doubled searchlight bonus if flying at high
altitude?
A. Both the bomber and fighters must be above the clouds (i.e. high altitude), for the fighters to get the double bonus.

Q. On p.15 of the rules, this rule: "6. Flak disturb fighters". What exactly is this saying: that the Germans get penalized by
subtracting German VPs for putting more than 1 flak unit in a hex? How does this make any sense?
A. In history, the British made an attack against Berlin. The air was so full of explosions and dangerous flak shell fragments that the night
fighters positioned themselves outside the city waiting for the bombers to come out of 'Flak hell' in order to initiate contact.

Q. The advanced rules say that when using the MW50 the Me110 can move 2 hexes as long as it pays the appropriate movement
costs. Does this mean it must move in a straight line/one direction?
A. No. The MW50 fuel allows the Me110 to move in any direction as long as it pays the appropriate movement costs.

THE SOLO MISSION

Q. If the Mossie is always east of the bomber on the outbound flight and west of the bomber on the return flight, it seems that the
squadrons would almost never run into the 5 Mossie since the Germans move first and its very easy to predict where the Mossie
WON'T be. Is that right?
A. No, because they often have to fly into the Mossie’s hex, because the bomber could enter that hex.

Q. In the example on page 15 of the English rules, in the solo rules section. The bomber is on space 1, Mossie on space 8. If I draw
an East compass card, the bomber moves to space 2 but the Mossie can't reach space 3 (from space 8) with its 2 movement. What
should be done in this case?
A. The Mossie moves first and flies to hex 2.

Q. On the return flight the Mossie has no more bombs to drop since "every unused marker is counted as a target marker" when
the bomber is over the target city. Is that correct?
A. Yes.

Q. During the solo game the British bomber was on the north edge of the map. Do I just ignore all compass cards that read NE
and NW while I'm on the edge?
A. Yes, draw the next card if a direction is prohibited.

Q. If I run out of compass cards and the bomber has not reached its target (or has not made it back to Great Britain) can I
reshuffle the cards?
A. Yes.

Q. The Bomber Fleet was still going east when it reached hex 7. It had only passed over one city at that point and has to bomb the
second one. This would mean that if I kept drawing from the "outbound" compass cards that there would be no legal move as you
can't travel "E" "NE" or "SE" from hex 7.
A. We suggest that you block off hexes 7, 15, 30 and 43 for solo missions.

Q. If the bomber moves into hex 31 on the return, where does the Mossie go if it needs to remain west of the bomber?
A. The Mossie moves to hex 23; it is the most “west” hex that is possible.

Q. In the solo game, the bomber turns around after it attacks its target city by drawing from the return deck. By doing so
however, the bomber will be turning two or more bearings (which is illegal in the two player game) so I just want to make sure
that it is OK for the solitaire game.
A. In the two-player game the bomber is allowed to turn in any direction after bombing its target so likewise it is legal in the solo game.

Q. I'm not clear what the movement sequence is for the solo mission. I'm assuming that the bomber fleet moves before the Mossie.
It would appear that all the Mossie can do is follow the bomber in order to remain in the hex on the bomber’s eastern side?
A. The order of movement is the same as the two-player game, except for the east/west restriction of the Mossie. “1“: Mossie moves
(east/west from Bomber). “2“: German fighters move. “3“: Bomber moves.

Q. Also in the solo mission on the return flight the Mossie must move to the bomber’s western side. I take it after the target is hit
the Mossie simply moves 2 hexes across from east to west to achieve this?
A. Yes.

Q. I have a weather card that shows two bomber starting hexes: one in hex 8, the other in hex 23. Each shows its own "1" symbol
(signifying that it bombs the first city it reaches). There are two Mossie symbols both in hex 16. There is no mention of having two
starting positions in the English rules, so I'm not sure how to proceed: is this a misprint, or is there a rule I'm missing?
A. That’s a misprint. The Bomber starts in hex 8 and the Mossie in hex 16.

Q. In the solo game, at what altitude are the British planes considered to be?
A. Both the Mosquito and bomber fly at high altitude.

Q. If the Mossie is at high altitude in the solo game, how can it bomb or drop target markers?
A. For simplification of the solo game, the Mossie can bomb from high altitude.

MISCELLANEOUS
Q. Can you land from high altitude or do you need to decrease altitude one hex at a time and then land from low altitude?
A. You can land from high altitude.

Q. Do the radar stations depicted on the coastal hexes count as a radar site for the Germans (and thus an extra +1 victory point
for fighters)?
A. No, this was the “Waterman- Radar”. With this radar, the Germans knew only that the bomber stream was coming (indicated by the
bomber playing piece), but this could not help the fighters to combat against a bomber. This was the job of the Würzburg-Radar (which is
represented by the ground defense object).

Q. I received some expansion tiles (ground defense objects). Does this mean I can play with more than 40 tiles?
A. The expansion tiles may be used by swapping out other tiles (from the base game). There is no limit to the amount of expansion tiles
you may use, as long as you keep to the hard limit of 40 ground defense objects.

Q. I'm curious about the image of the winged frog being used for the weather change card. Is that some sort of historical
reference?
A. The frog was a symbol for a German weather-reconnaissance squadron.
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