| Brood Brother |
 |
Joined: Mon Jul 04, 2005 4:45 pm
Posts: 8139
Location: London
|
Note, need help on names, mission names, special rule names etc.
After initial comments and if it is well received and such I shall edit this and send it to Andy to have it as either experimental rules or a house rules article. Course I reckon it should be experimental rules  .
Well, after much deliberation here is my answer to the air conundrum set by epic. It attempts to flesh out the air game, and yet at the same time simplify it. Will I succeed?
This splits flak attacks off from aircraft ? now only ground units can have it.
The rules have two types of unit in them.
Flak
Split into two halves.
The first half is ?tactical? flak. This is what we presently have. This is models on table, shooting at aircraft (though now they shoot slightly differently).
The second half is ?strategic? flak. You now have the option to take any number of flak formations and place them off board. They may shoot as described later, but basically once per turn with a -1 to hit, but cannot be attacked in any way.
Rational ? this overcomes the weakness of a list with very little flak. You can place a formation off board were it will harass the enemy a bit (but more than the one turn it would last otherwise). So if you face 20 fighter bombers with your 3 Hydra, place them off table. Now you have 1 shot a turn at -1, but there is now no chance of being destroyed/broken. It isn?t literally those guns but rather represents the level of air cover the army is operating under at the divisional level.
Airplanes.
Split into several operational categories at the start of each turn before initiative (lowest strategy rating first, place one squadron before moving onto the next).
Air Superiority ? they will be doing intercepts and flying bomber cover.
Ground Attack ? they will be attacking ground targets
Transports ? they will be carrying in troops
Planes can perform a number of these functions ? the fact they are called fighters or fighter bombers by there own side merely reflects what they see as there tactical use, rather than in game activities.
Planes stat lines also change ? in place of CC and FF they get DEF (defensive fire) and INT (intercept ? well I could make it DOG). Their weapons lose AA values and ranges, these are no longer needed.
So, before I go into unit design I?ll go through the turn sequence.
Pre game
Decide what units will be carried by transports and if any formations will deploy off table to provide ?strategic? flak.
Start of the turn, before initiative
Decide, with the lowest strategy rating going first, for each of your squadrons if they will be in one of the following categories.
Air Superiority ? they will be doing intercepts and flying bomber cover.
Ground Attack ? they will be attacking ground targets.
Transports ? they will be dropping off or picking up troops.
If you want them loaded, now load troops into transports, again lowest strategy rating first.
During the turn
Either side may fire as much strategic flak as they like at any air formation after an action with it has been completed. This is after activating a formation, after a dogfight, after an attack/transport mission.
You may activate a formation on a Ground Attack or transport mission as normal, with -1 if there is any blast markers on it. You must state the target if any for the mission. If you fail to activate you stand down for this turn and take a blastmarker.
You then fly to the target.
Your opponent may now activate a formation of planes on the Air Superiority mission (at -1 if there are any blast markers on it) to intercept your craft. You may in return activate a formation on the Air Superiority mission to provide cover. And so on until both sides have activated all the Air Superiority formations they can. Note if an activation test is failed at any time no more attempts with other squadrons can be made for this engagement by that player (though unused planes that didn?t get a chance to try and activate can be called upon later in the turn in response to other Ground Attack/transport/air superiority missions). If you fail to activate you stand down for this turn and take a blastmarker.
Then fight the dogfight.
If the airplanes make it through carry out the transport/bombing mission with ground flak now having a go at the planes.
Note you do not have to activate a ground Attack or Transport mission and can stand the planes down at the end of the turn with no activation roll required.
End of turn
Make rally rolls as you would for ground formations.
General Air notes
There are no on table moves as such. The Aircrafts position isn?t important on approach and exit, however it looks better if you put it near where the action is taking place! Transport aircraft must be placed in the spot they disgorge troops from.
Blast Markers do not cause suppressions, however they do affect dogfights and if a unit receives as many blastmarkers as it has planes/hit points in the formation it breaks and its mission ends in failure. Note it may still be shot at by strategic flak.
Specifics.
Flak
Strategic (off table) flak.
Any formations held off table will be unavailable all game. However one per turn the formation may fire at a -1 modifier at any air formation after it completes an action (activates, dogfights, bombs/transports). This does not lay a blastmarker. The formation providing the flak cannot be attacked during the game.
IMPORTANT NOTE Aircraft on Air Superiority missions may always replace any saves they have with a 4+ invulnerable save as they generally avoid flak, jinking until they have to commit to battle, which is hairy enough! Note if the unit has reinforced armour this would replace both saves if chosen.
Tactical (on table) flak.
This may fire if a transport aircraft stops in range of its guns to offload troops or if a unit in range of its guns (no LOS required) gets attacked by an airplane. This is explained more fully in the Ground Attack section. The guns may not fire if they have marched this turn.
Note if at any time an air formation breaks due to weight of blastmarkers it aborts its mission and returns to base. Note it may, after breaking, be fired at by strategic flak but this does not cause additional loses due to blastmarkers.
Transport missions
Special rules
Lander. A unit with this ability may land permanently when transporting troops. It may not leave the table for the rest of the game and from now on acts as its own formation, with a move of zero.
Planetfall. If a unit planetfalls onto the table it is forced to land and may not take off until after its next activation. It cannot however be attacked by flak at any point as it lands, though may be attacked by on table flak as it takes off and shoots at a target formation and after take off and attack by off table strategic flak.
Transports carry units onto the table and extract them from it.
To carry a unit onto the table you must choose to either land quietly, or conduct an air attack.
Landing quietly is easy enough. Place the unit if it survives the journey anywhere you like on the table. On table flak may now shoot if in range (before offloading troops). Now disembark the troops 5cm for infantry and tanks, 15cm for jump pack units. This disembarked formation may not activate this turn. Then take off and head for home!
An air attack is more complex. Land within 15cm of the target formation and disembark as before. This time when taking off you may fire your weapons at the target formation. Flak may shoot you either at the point you land (before offloading troops) or when you attack the target formation if any units are within the flak units range, just as with a bombing attack. The offloaded troops now either shoot or assault the target formation.
To extract a formation you approach in the same way as a bombing or transport mission. After landing you must retain the initiative with the formation you intend to extract and make it board the aircraft. The transport then makes for home. Any stragglers are dealt with in the same way as units left out of formation on the ground, i.e. eliminated with a blastmarker on the parent formation. If the formation on the ground fails to activate the transport does not hang around and still leaves. You will have to try again next turn!
Ground Attack missions
Any formations selected to perform Ground Attack missions may activate as part of the turn normally. If it survives any interceptors or strategic flak it may then attack a formation on the ground. Transports firing as part of an air assault also use this system. If you choose to attack units that are in range of an enemy flak asset (so if the tank you are shooting is within 45cm of a hydra) you receive a -1 to hit. Any flak units so in range shoot before you roll any attack dice. You receive a blastmarker in addition to any caused by hits for coming under fire (though only one no matter how many guns open up). If you only attack units not covered by enemy flak you proceed without any worrying explosions spoiling the bombing run! Remove the planes following the attack.
Air Superiority
These are planes loitering in the battle area, or on alert at forward airfields and orbiting spacecraft. These planes may initiate dogfights with aircraft on Ground Attack or Transport missions, attempting to shoot them from the sky and evade enemy fighters providing cover to their planes.
After a Transport or Ground Attack mission is declared you may commit formations to battle in the process described above. Once all the planes that are going to activate have, and any strategic flak has fired you then fight a dogfight.
Special rule
Wingman
In a dogfight up to half (rounding up) of the planes involved on your side that are using their INT (intercept) values may forego their attack in order to replace a friendlies save with a 4+ save instead. Each plane that does this provides one 4+ replacement save. Normal saving rules apply, so a plane can?t have more than one save per hit unless it has reinforced armour or an invulnerable save.
Dogfighting
Take all the planes that have activated, including the original Ground Attack/Transport formation. They split into two sides. They then fight what is in essence an aerial assault.
Each formation may shoot with either their DEF or INT values.
IMPORTANT NOTE. If a formation carrying out a Ground Attack or Transport mission uses its INT value its mission is automatically aborted, regardless of the outcome. They have aborted the mission, jettisoned bomb racks and the like and engaged in aerial combat.
Roll to hit, with hit allocation as normal. The target number is the value being used (DEF or INT).
Make any saves/wingman saves as appropriate.
Then resolve the fight.
Roll 2D6 and pick the highest then apply the modifiers listed below.
+1 No blastmarkers on any of your formations.
+1 The enemy has more blastmarkers than you.
+1 You outnumber the enemy after the dogfight.
+1 You have more than twice the enemies number of planes/hit points after the dogfight.
+X Where X is the number of unsaved hits done to the enemy.
In the case of a draw fight again, with the number of unsaved hits being cumulative with the previous round of dogfighting.
Allocate any blastmarkers from unsaved hits now to the appropriate formations.
The difference in dice scores is the number of blastmarkers given to the losing side. They may be applied as the loser sees fit with one restriction. As soon as a formation receives enough blastmarkers to break it cannot receive anymore. Any addition blastmarkers left after all surviving losing formations are broken are discarded.
All activated Air Superiority units now stand down, taking any blastmarkers they have accrued with them.
If the original Ground Attack/Transport formation is still alive and unbroken it may now attempt its mission.
Easy heh?
Then we have aircraft design.
In general bear the following in mind when designing stats.
Fighters - +1 to intercepts, -1 to ground attacks
Fighter Bombers ? nothing
Bombers/Transports - -1 to intercepts, +1 to ground attacks.
Rather than have separate modifiers these can be built into the aircraft itself. These don?t always have to be applied Essentially the idea is that Bombers are best at ground attacks, Fighters are best at dogfights and Fighter Bombers can do both, but not as well as dedicated units.
So heres an example. A PDF atmospheric jet. Outclassed by all and sundry his stats are
Type: Plane
Save: None
DEF: None
INT: 6+
Machine guns AP6+
Rockets AT6+
A more sophisticated Lightning Fighter might have
Type: Plane
Save: 6+
DEF: None
INT: 4+
Lightning Cannon AP5+/AT6+
Twin Lascannon AT5+
A dependable Mars class Thunderbolt Fighter Bomber of the other hand could be
Type: Plane
Save: 6+
DEF: 6+
INT: 5+
Stormbolters AP5+
Multilaser AP5+/AT6+
Rockets AT4+
A Marauder Bomber (dedicated bomber not fighter bomber version) could have
Type: Plane
Save: 5+
DEF: 5+
INT: None
Twin Tail Heavy Bolters AP5+
Twin Nose Lascannon AT3+
Bombs 3BP
Notes: 2DC, Critical hit: the plane crashes and is destroyed
Finally a Thunderhawk shows them all how to do it.
Type: Plane
Save: 4+
DEF: 4+
INT: 6+
Battlecannon AP4+/AT4+
4 x Twin Heavy Bolter AP4+
Notes: 2DC, Reinforced Armour, Critical hit: the plane crashes and is destroyed, Transport 8, Planetfall
Note there should be a clear progression in the Imperial units of what is good at what role, though some can do more than one more easily than others.
In general Bombers get a boost, as does flak and you now can run with less and still be covered, finally fighters get to be more useful as both escorts and interceptors.
Hopefully peolpe can take as little or as much air/flak as they like without it dominating the game.
Though this has had zero testing, merely discussion, see if I can test later today!
_________________ If using E-Bay use this link to support Tac Com!'Abolish red trousers?! Never! Red trousers are France!' – Eugene Etienne, War Minister, 1913 "Gentlemen, we may not make history tomorrow, but we shall certainly change the geography." General Plumer, 191x
|
|
