Tuesday 28 April 2009

Air Raid




My regular opponent, Shaun, and I have been working on a new scenario - Air Raid.

The idea is to set up a base, could be an airbase, a fire support base, HQ, supply dump or some combination.

The base is attacked from the air, including a number of flyers using the Apocalypse flyer rules. Non flyers have to be delivered by air, including jetbikes, teleports, deep strike etc. The defender should have air defence weapons. Winning and losing is about the amount of damage inflicted, depending on the scenario. The attacker has the first turn.

The game only last three turns. Air raids are quick in and outs. Apart from anything else, the planes run out of ammo and fuel.

Organised forces, such as Tau and Eldar use programmed entry. They write down, which turn their assets will appear. Only half can appear on the first turn.

Everyone else uses the reserves rule, with the proviso that you start rolling on turn 1, bumping all the probabilities up one turn.

We did a simple scenario to test the concept in our Sunday game. Basically it worked. I used my Flying Circus and rolled amazing dice throughout. All assets but the fightabomba arrived on turn 1. Shaun had his usual bad luck.

Six Deffcoptas swept across the base and un loaded on the Hydra, knocking it out on turn 1. That was critical. Three fightas shot up the Basilisks, knocking one out and the Black Baron strafed the Imperial flyers to no effect. The return fire from the shocked imperials went wild and failed to hit.

The fightabomba arrived on turn two and rocketed the Gorgon, but missed. The deffcoptas split into two squadrons. One took out an ammo crate and the other a Basilisk. The fightas all missed.

Leutenant Sparky, hastily put the spark plugs back in and drove the base's second Hydra out of the servicing depot. It took out a fighta with its first burst.

On the third turn the fightabomba dropped its full bombload on the parked Vulture - hur, hur, hur - a most satisfying bang. No other major damage was inflicted. In reply the Hydra took a second fighta down and an AA autocannon on a Salamander took a third.

The Circus decided to disengage at this point.

So the Orks lost three fightas.

The Imperials lost a Vulture, two Basilisks, a Hydra and a supply crate.

The Orks had a tactical victory but, strategically, I am not so sure. The orks lost three planes taking out three strategic assets. Counting a squadron of deffcoptas as equal to a plane that is three out of seven ‘units’, a loss rate of 43%. That seems high, even for Orks.

Conclusion: The scenario is great fun and all over in a couple of hours. We could easily double the size of the forces. The Imperials needed more firepower (which is why we brought the Hydra back).

John

PS Sorry about poor photos.

11 comments:

  1. What about allowing that Lightning to take off and defend its airfield? Looks like a fun scenario and I think a dog-fight could have added another dimension of fun.

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  2. Dear rabidchild,
    Yes indeed,
    We had a rule that the base aorcraft could take off using the same reserve die rolls as described for the attacker. You then roll a D6. On a 4+ the plane is armed and fuelled. Otherwise it just escapes. Unfortunately for the Imperium, I immobilised both their planeson the first turn.

    We will try the scenario again with more gear.

    John

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  3. Sounds like a lot of fun! Except now I want to buy planes... maybe I can proxy with a few old models I made back when I was a kid. Stupid models needing stupid money... *grumbles to self and gets back to painting boring infantrymen*

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  4. Dear Max
    I hate painting infantry!
    I kitbash almost all my planes. it's fun and save money. Also plastic planes are easier to store.
    John

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  5. I may try this kitbashing at some point... maybe after I get my modeling skillz up just a titch higher. What kind of tools do you need to do that kind of stuff?

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  6. I'm curious about the scale (movement, etc.) used. Most of my miniatures gaming has been in 1:285 scale (GHQ Miniatures, for example), so my gaming table (four foot by eight foot...and I can add up to three more "modules" the same size!) has a respectable "feel" for movement at the 1:285 scale. Does WH have some sort of compensation for scale (larger miniatures on a smaller table)?

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  7. By the way, I love that tank...bulldozer (!!!) in the upper right hand corner!

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  8. I can't help it. Every time I see your ork planes, I have to make airplane and machine gun noises!

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  9. Dear Fred,

    Basically the horizontal range is different from the vertical. So a rifle fires just 24", a pistol 12", a lascannon 48" and so on. The move in wargaming has been away from attempts at 'realism', whatever that is, and back to 'playing with toy soldiers'. If it was good enough for HG Wells........

    The large think is a kitbashed Gorgon that Shaun built from the remains of my Siege gun vehicle.

    John

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  10. Dear Max
    I will put up a post showing my tools.
    John

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  11. Techpriest,
    Dakka, dakka, dakka.
    It's great being a kid again. As I get older I regress.
    John

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