Aeronautica Imperialis- Battle Report- Bandits over the River

I bought into Aeronautica Imperialis towards the end of its run at Forgeworld.  As a result, most of my stuff for it is scratchbuilt and not "official".  In my early games, I didn't even have the right bases to track speed and altitude.  I later rectified that, but in the early days I used d10's of different colors to keep track.

This scenario is the first one found in the book.  It is intended to be a stand-alone battle and not part of their campaign system.

Bandits over the River
6x4 table

The Hellblades were on a standard sweep of Bin Mazar attempting to detect any unusual energy spikes. During the sweep, unexpected bogeys appeared on the six.  The flight commander decided to determine the identity of the unknowns and to eliminate them.

Forces
Tau Air Caste
Tau Barricuda- Weapon Load 1
Tau Barricuda
Tau Barricuda

Tzeentch Cabal of the World Walkers
5 Hellblades

Deployment:

Chaos in center of the table at staggered altitudes, highest in back from 9 to 3 all going speed 4.

Tau leader and wingman in center at 3 and 4, with outrider at alt 5.  All going speed 6.  Starting within 6 inches of the edge of the board.

Bogey's at 6 O'Clock

Turn 1
Initiative= Tau
The Tua race ahead, with the Wing leader and his wingman sideslippng to the right.  The Wing commander gains 1 level of altitidue, bringing him to 4 with his wingman.

The Chaos forces hit the burners and race away from the incoming Tau.  If they chose, they coulod easily disengage and outrun their pursuers, but the Chaos commander has other plans.  Hellbaldes 2 and 3 begin to break off to the left, while Hellblade 4 pulls up to Altitude 5.

Turn 2
Initiative= Tau win
The Tau press forward, spreading their front.  The outrider moves to gain height, while the wing leader stays at 4.  His wing man also goes up to alt 6.

The Chaos forces finally begin to circle around back into the battle.  Hellblade 1, 4, and 5 are set-up to  fly straight back at the Tau, but are at various speeds and altitudes from 6-9.  Hellblades 2 and 3 Half loop back on their own paths and go to alt 6.

No shooting this turn either.

Turn 3
Initiative= Chaos
Hellblade 2 and 3 race under the approaching Tau 3.  However, the Tau Wing leader moves into a position to try and fire his Burst Cannons at Hellblade 3.

Hellblade 5 breaks off, trying to lure some of the Tau towards him, but they don't fall for it and stay on course.

Hellblade 1 gets cocky, and moves to strafe Barricuda 3 from 1 altitude higher.  Meanwhile, his wing man is also possessed of some craziness as he goes head-to-head with Tau 2 trusting in the advantage of Initiative firing.

Shooting:
Hellblade 4 pops the firing mechanism on his Auto-cannons, and presses it down with a prayer to Tzeentch.    His prayers pay off as the Tau Barricuda is ripped apart by the Hellblades sustained burst.  Thankfully for the Greater Good, the Air Caste pilot successfully ejected.

Tau 3 unloads its forward firepower at the fast approaching Hellblade 3, but the difference in altitude makes the difference and all of his shots fail to find their mark.  The Hellblade returns fire, and also misses.

Finally, the Tau Wing Leaders burst cannons track and auto-fire on Hellblade 3.  Two shots hit, but they fail to hit anything critical.

Turn 4
Initiative= Tau
The Tau break away from the scrum in the center.  Tau 3 breaks left at Alt 7.  Meanwhile, the Tau Wing Leader does a Half Loop to Alt 5, and turns about to try and get a ranged missile shot.  However, the Hellblades have all scattered, leaving him without a target.

Fresh off his kill, Hellblade 4 whips around and tries to get Tau 3 in his sights.  However, his trajectory is just a bit skewed, and he finds no target.  However, he is also out of Burst cannon range.  

No shooting.

Turn 5
Initiative= Chaos
Again, the Hellblades used their superior speed and maneuverability to avoid the Tau's attempts to get into a good position.  The Tau had set-up some fire traps, but the Hellblades had either managed to simply fly through them with speed, or changed altitude to stay out of firing range.  Hellblades were scattered all over the board, with only 2 and 3 maintaining anything close to a formation as they circled back towards where the action was.  The Tau fighters were acting independently at this point.

Shooting:
None

Turn 6
Initiative= Chaos
Hellblade 4 spiralled and headed back towards the center of the furball at Alt 5.  Tau 3 tried to get the attack vector, but it was going to be close.  In the meantime, Tau 3 picked up a conga line of Hellblades as 1, 3, and 2 swung in behind him, with 2 and 3 using their speed to blast past the Tau Wing Leader's fire arc.  Even Hellblade 5 swung back into the center of things, but he was much too high to engage successfully.

Shooting:
Hellblade 1 tucked in behind Tau 3.  He popped the safety from his firing column, and let rip a barrage of auto-cannon shells.  The shots tore across the Barracuda's fuselage, but it wasn;t enough to bring the plane down.

Tau 3 desperately fired everything he had at Hellblade 4 as they moved to cross each others pass.  A pair of short range smart missiles blasted the Hellblade into small chunks.  Vengeance for Tau 2.  The Chaos pilot was obliterated in the explosion.

Great shot kid, but don't get cocky

Turn 7
Initiative=Tau

Trailing Fire
Hellblade 1 fires on Tau 3 from his perfect position, but fails to hit the elusive Tau craft.

Movement:
The Tau Wing Leader tries to swing into position to tag the Hellblades chasing Tau 3.  However, the Hellblades prove to be too fast for him yet again, and he is out of position.  Tau 3 dives towards the hard deck and races away from the furball, trailing smoke and coolant.  Sensing an easy kill, Hellblades 2 and 3 chase after him in tight formation.

Meanwhile, Hellblade one performs a Wing over which makes him a threat to the Tau Wing leader.

Shooting:
Oh no, the Tau have nothing to shoot at!

Hellblade 2 doesn't have the range to finish off Tau 3.  However, Hellblade 3 has the range and the angle.  He jams down on the trigger, eager to prove himself to Tzeentch!  He sprays and prays, and the Tau fighter loses power and starts to drop from the sky.  However, the Tau pilots manages to eject to safety.

Meanwhile, Hellblade 1 lines up his shots and uses the last of his ammunition on the Tau Wing Leader.    The Tau aircraft explodes into a orange fireball.  The Tau Wing Leader had no chance of escaping as his plane simply ceased to exist.

[img]

Conclusion:
Chaos Victory!

The Hellblades reformed and returned to base.  Their fuel and ammo running low.  They prayed their fallen comrades soul a swift journey into the eternal, and to the bosom of Tzeentch.