Aerial HEXfight!

Organising a Play-By-Post game of Frozen Skies has prompted thought over how to handle aerial combat in this medium. Theatre of the mind's eye I feel wouldn't work as well as I feel things would get too confusing with positioning. So some sort of map seems the best option, but again that has it limitations. Fortunately I think I found a decent compromise for what I'm looking for.

The Basics

The Aerial HEXfight rules for Frozen Skies uses a hex grid for movement and combat.

Divide all speeds and ranges from Frozen Skies by 50, though round down. This means an aircraft with a Top Speed of 320 has a Hex Speed of 6, one with a Top Speed of 180 has a Hex Speed of 3. The Hex Speed (shortened to HS) represents how many Hexes an aircraft can travel, though the Hexes must be joined by a flat edge. An aircraft can move either in a Straight line or turn Left or Right. Harder turns are available, though these require a Piloting roll and are demonstrated in the picture below.

Combat

As mentioned above, divide ranges by 50 in order to get the number of Hexes. Normal combat rules of Ranges, RoF, Unstable Platform still apply as does the Evasion stat for aircraft from Frozen Skies.

However, aircraft can only make attacks along a straight row of Hexes like below with Fixed weapons.

Weapons with Arcs of fire, such as turrets, have a field of fire extending out from the aircraft.

Manoeuvrers

Manoeuvrers from Frozen Skies can work for the Aerial HEXfight rules, though some require some changes.

Immelmann (-2): Move Hex forward, but turn the aircraft around 180 degrees. Failure still means aircraft goes Out of Control.

Tail: Move into a valid tailing position (see below), at Medium range for weapons and attempt an opposed Piloting roll. If initiating pilot gets a raise they count as tailing the other aircraft and gains a +2 bonus to attack rolls. Tailing aircraft must remain in a valid tailing position behind the target aircraft within Medium range in order to maintain the tail.

Shake a Tail: Opposed Piloting roll, if successful the pilot attempting to shake a tail can make a Hard Left or Hard Right manoeuvrer. A raise means the pilot can reverse positions and tail the other aircraft.