[Epic] New Epic Flyer Rules: WD 214

From: Colen McAlister <colen_at_...>
Date: Wed, 1 Oct 1997 23:03:16 +0100

Here they are. Taken from WD#214 p94. Comments by me are within [].

EPIC 40,000- AIR SUPERIORITY
By Gav Thorpe

EVAC! EVAC!

As well as rapidly deploying troops into key areas of the battlefield,
another use of transport flyers is to airlift troops out of danger or
swiftly relocate them from one part of the war zone to another. This
introduces the possibility of another Flyer mission- Evac (short for
evacuation, in case you hadn't already guessed). You can only use Evac
missions if you have first agreed to do so with your opponent- this is
an optional rule, not a sovereign right!

1) Flyers on Evac are placed and moved just like flyers performing a
Transport mission. They may also shoot in the same way- their FirePower
is halved and and super-heavy weapons require a 4+ to aquire a lock and
fire.

2) After shooting, the flyer must remain where it is until the end of
the movement phase. The troops being evacuated are allowed to make a
normal 20cm retreat move, just as if they were broken. As usual, the
troops must sacrifice 5cm of movement to board the flyers [so you can go
up to 15cm toward them -MDMc]. Flyers which are attacked on the ground
(by a preparatory bombardment, for example) are treated like normal
vehicles- there is no chance they will be driven off, a hit is a kill
[What happens if Night Spinners put BM's on them? What happens if the
flyer is detroyed, do the troops inside get the 4+ escape? -MDMc].

3) At the end of the movement phase, the flyer takes off and zooms back
to it's base, taking any evacuated units with it.

4) When the last unit in a detachment is evacuated it loses any Blast
Markers it may have taken (removing these does not affect Army Morale).
From the next turn onwards the detachment counts as being in reserve and
you should roll to see if it is combat-ready in subsequent turns. When
it becomes available it should be returned to the battlefield using a
standard Transport mission. The Evacuating flyers must re-arm and re-
fuel for a turn as normal.

[Sounds like a good mission, especially for getting away from those
Tyranids... -MDMc]


COUNTERSTRIKE

Acheiving supremacy in the skies is a key part to winning a battle. If
your flyers can ground attack the enemy without risk of interception
they will cause your opponent untold amounts of grief. Air superiority
can be achieved in a number of ways. Some commanders put their faith in
the ability of their interceptors to shoot the enemy out of the sky in a
dogfight. Some armies rely on their superior batteries of anti-aircraft
guns. Other army leaders [Dante, are you there? -MDMc] prefer to hit the
enemy when they are most vulnerable- while they are on the ground! The
new Counterstrike mission detailed below allows you to send your fliers
on a ground attack on the enemy airbase. You can only use Counterstrike
missions if you have first agreed to do so with your opponent (though
I'd recommend them as they can be very entertaining...) [I suppose the
mad ones out there could make a model airfield, with troops drop-podding
onto it, and so on, but I'll leave that to your imagination... -MDMc]

1) Flyers performing a Counterstrike mission may be intercepted by enemy
flyers , just like a ground attack or transport mission.

2) The defender may roll one snap-fire attack at each attacking flyer to
represent the anti-aircraft defenses around their base. [Tyranids, don't
try this at home, unless you enjoy getting Gargoyles killed. -MDMc]

3) Any enemy flyers performing a mission this turn are not affected by
the counterstrike- they are already in the air. Enemy fighters that are
re-arming may attempt to scramble. Roll a D6 for each flyer, if the
score is equal to or less than the flyers dogfighting value it has
managed to scramble and flies clear before the attack strikes home. Any
models which roll over their dogfight value or are being repaired are
potential targets.

4) Work out the attack of the counterstrike just as if the flyers were
performing a ground attack, treating all the enemy flyers on the ground
as a single vehicle detachment in the open. The attackers are assumed to
be in range and the player performing the counterstrike mission can
allocate hits to any enemy since there are no closest models. Attackers
with a barrage count as having a firepower of 2 each (heavy barrages
count as 4) when performing a counterstrike. Flyers on the ground are
destroyed if they are hit- there is no chance of them being driven off.
This attack does not place blast markers.

5) Flyers that have performed a counterstrike must rearm and refuel as
normal next turn.

[Pic of Gav looking stupid. -MDMc]

[OK, the next bunch of things are paraphrased, as I can't be bothered
typing the whole thing out (4 pages!) No important stuff has been
changed. -MDMc]

CARRYING NON-INFANTRY UNITS

In E40K transport vehicles are only assumed to be able to carry infantry
units. However, it is not unreasonable to assume that large transports
can carry larger cargoes. The same applies to Flyers with sufficient
transport capacity. The following rules only apply to transports which
have a capacity of 6 or more, so Thunderhawks only here, I'm afraid.

Thunderhawk Operational Loads:
Standard: 3 squads of 10 marines each. On-board medi-centre and armoury
included.
Formido: Replace 1 or more stand of 5 marines with a dreadnought per
stand replaced.
Intrepid: Replace 2 squads of 10 marines with a Rhino.
Goliath: Replace all the marines and carry three rhino-class vehicles
instead (i.e., all must be based on the Rhino STC).

You can discuss other combinations with your opponents.

TYRANID GARGOYLES

The gist of the half-page: Gargoyles can land and have a Assault of 1,
Speed of 15 and the Jump-Packs ability (so their speed is doubled to 30,
and tripled in the assault phase). If they wish to leave, they must
perform an Evac mission. You should also increase their value by at
least 3 points.

SWOOPING HAWKS

Any detachment that consists entirely of Swooping Hawks and Exarches can
use the Drop Pods rules in any scenario.


NEW SCENARIOS

GET US OUT OF HERE!- Marines vs. Tyranids

Tyranid Assault on Laqueus, blah, early in the Second Tyrannic War,
blah, Ultramarines must buy time, blah, divert the Tyranids into the
killing field...

Special Rules: Razorwire, Hidden Set-up, Forrifications, Reserves and
Army Morale.

Forces: Decide on a points value for the battle. The Tyranid player gets
this many points, the Marine player gets 75% of it (and no imperial
guard things, just marines!).

Set-Up:

Terrain is set up in some mutually agreeable manner.
Marines deploy first using hidden set up. All army is available, except
flyers which are in reserve.
Tyranids start on their table edge (place HQs at setup and move
detachment on in first turn).
The Evac mission is used. If you want, you can use the new Transport and
Gargoyle rules.

GAME LENGTH AND VICTORY CONDITIONS

No objectives are used, but for every Marine detachment that either
makes it off the table or is evacuated by Thunderhawks, the morale of
that detachment is added to the Marine player's morale. If one army's
morale is reduced to zero or less, blah, blah.


THE PURGATION OF XCV-78: Imperium vs. Eldar

Primeval world wich in minerals, blah, strange accidents happen to
miners, blah, Eldar invade without warning, blah, defenders muster
around Diablos province...

This scenario uses the Blitzkrieg rules, with the following
modifications:

The Eldar must spend at least 25% of his / her force on Flyers.
The Eldar player may make D3 Orbital Barrages during the battle (same
effect as fate card).
Imperial player may add +1 to his reserves rolls, as there is a high
concentration of troops in the area.

<emblem of Slaanesh>

'Mad Dog' McAlister, a tired typist.
-- 
    /\          Colen McAlister, AKA 'Mad Dog' McAlister,
   /--\           Keeper of the Unholy Keys, Lord of the
    ||            Third Realm, Founder of NASA (National
    ||   |\        Anti-Skaven Alliance), R'n'F member
 /--  ---- \        and chosen of the Chaos Gods, AKA
 \--  ---- /       Brother Morgan who wields the Blade
    | |  |/   of Immortals, Member of the Twisted Brotherhood
   \---/
    \-/                 colen_at_...
     '           http://www.bryanmac.demon.co.uk/colen
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Received on Wed Oct 01 1997 - 22:03:16 UTC

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