Thursday, September 28, 2017

Battle Report: Aquanautica Imperialis- Convoy Assault

This is a battle of Aquanautica Imperialis between the Tau Auxiliary Fleet and Ammoirss Pirates.  It originally took place in 2011, so my apologies if the pictures are not 100% in order.  I do not really recall the game.  However, it was brought to the light by the Great Photobucket Fiasco of 2017.  

Aquanautica Imperialis was my first full fledged independent game, and it was designed for wet navies in the Warhammer 40k universe.  In addition to rules, I also made a full set of fleet lists, scenarios, campaign rules, and templates for the game.  It is full playable and free.  Follow the link for more action: Link

On to today's battle report!

*********************************************************************

Captain Jack lounged in his command throne. Around him, the bridge buzzed with activity as his crew manned their posts. They were a motley bunch. Former fisherman, merchant sailors, a few deserters from the PDF, and the occasional desperate land lubber. He loved them all the same. Trust them? No way. 

“Mr. Ferris, what's our ETA to the merchant lines?” Jack called to his first mate. She would have been pretty if half her face hadn't been scarred horribly by a chemical burn. 

Mr. Ferris turned her one good eye to the Captain and glowered at him. The Captain should have all ready known the answer to his question, “About half a day, give or take an hour,” she replied testily, “We would have been there by now if you hadn't taken us so far off course.” 

Captain Jack smiled, “Mr. Ferris. I'm looking for a fresh kill.” Some of the fisherman in the area had reported strange Augur spikes in this region. It could be a new settlement, rival pirates, or something else interesting to loot. Since he was sailing out to the merchant lanes anyway, he figured he should take a look see. He had managed to convince some of the other Captains too. 

So far, nothing but empty beach and open ocean. Even so, taking this route would mean there was less chance of running into a patrol. 

“Mr. Ferris, what are they going to be serving in the galley tonight?” Captain Jack beamed at his First mate. 

“We have unidentified augur reading coming in fast from landward!” the Augur operator shouted. The man had been part of South Ammoriss PDF before he went AWOL and joined Captain Jack's crew. He knew his business. Mr. Ferris swooped over to the augur station. 

The Captain sat up sharply, “PDF patrol?”

Mr. Ferris looked up, “No Captain. Their energy signature is like nothing I've seen before.” 

“Clear for action. Let's see who or what they are,” With that Captain jack grabbed his Monoscope and stepped to the observation platform. With a practiced ease he swept the horizon. There emerging from a sheltered harbor were several bizarre vessels, like nothing he had seen on the oceans of Ammoriss before. Their lines were smooth and graceful, and utterly alien. He vaguely wondered if such unique artifacts would be worthless or priceless on the black market. 

With a low rumble, the crews pushed the Macro-cannons out on their rails. The huge cannons gleamed in the afternoon sun. Well, if these things were looking for a fight, Captain jack was willing to oblige. 


*****************************************************************

Tau Auxillary Fleet- 1,000
Bullhead 300
-Electronic Warfare +25
-Galg'El +25 (+1 LD, 1 Re-roll)
Blacktip 250
2 Bluefin 150
5 Kroot Knarlochs 150
2 Sailfin 100

Pirate Fleet- 1,000
Freebooter 150 LD 7
-Boarding Attack +15
3 Raiders 225 LD 7, 8, 8
Pillager 100 LD 8
- Minesweeper +10
Pillager 100 LD 8
Assassin Sub 100 LD 7
Assassin Sub 100 LD 8
2 Monitors 150 LD 8
1 Skiff 50 LD 6

Scenario- Convoy Assault!

The defender is moving across the ocean when they are attacked from hiding by the enemy force. The defenders are placed in a 24v l by 24 wide box 18' from the short table edge, and 12 from one of the long edges. They are all facing towards the furthest short board edge. 

Attackers are placed on the opposite long edge of the tabletop, up to 6 inches from the edge. 

Attacker get first turn. 

The winner is the side that inflicts the most DP.


 
The Pirates deployed...

The Tau Main Fleet...

Sailfins on the extreme left of the Tau deployment...

************************************************

TURN 1

Initiative: Tau

Sailfins pass All Ahead Full rolls and dart into the rocky channel. 
Overall, the Tau move to intercept the Pirates while the pirates begin to come about to face their foes. 

 

Battle:
The Bluefins use their missile batteries and reduce the Pillager in front of them to a hulk, despite bracing. They also fire a brace of torpedoes at the Pirate Raiders, but they fall short of the targte. 

Using Squadron rules, the Raiders open up on the Bluefins with their forward heavy guns. The Tau Auxilliaries were so intent on firing at the Pillager, that they failed to brace. Both craft were overkilled and sent to the bottom by the Raiders concentrated firepower. 

The Sailfins have no target other than the hulked Pillager. Their missile batteries make short work of the hulk, and sink her. 

The Monitors swivel their long range turret guns, and open fire on the Tau Flagship. However, the range is too great, and the shots fail to find their marks. 

The Bullhead fails to Lock-on, but opens up on the Raiders with his bow missile batteries. The missiles reach out to the small ships, but the pirates PD weapons swat them away. It also unloads a barrage of torpedoes at the small craft, but they are just short of the targets for now. 

End Phase:
The Tau Torpedoes speed through the ranks of the Raiders. The pirates frantically fire their PD weapons and attempt man their stations to Brace for impact. Of the ten torpedoes that pass through their ranks, only 1 is destroyed by PD, while four others detonate. Two of the Pirate craft are left as blazing hulks. What's left of their crews desperately abandoning ship. 

Remove Wake: Tau 3, Pirate 3- ! wake marker remains in play. 

TURN 2

Initiative: Tau

Move:
The Sailfins led the Pirate Pillager and Skiff down the narrow channel in a desperate chase. 

The Monitor and Freebooter tried to put some distance between themselves and the Tau capital ships. 

The last Raider veered away to try and bug out.


Battle: 
The Sailfins popped their Mines. 

The Freebooter's guns failed to find the range on the Kroot Knarlochs. And the Kroot were too far away to fire on the Pillager.

The Pillager fired on the Sailfins with her sternchaser, but missed. The port cannons fired at extreme range on the Bullhead, and hit. The Tau craft braced, but the armor absorbed the fire. The Tau missile batteries swiveled towards the Pirate craft, and launched a brief salvo, that veered off the mark. 

The Pirate Monitors also fired on the Tau flagship. This time, one of the shots slipped through and reduced it to 7DP. However, the shot caused Massive casualties, further reducing the DP to 6! 

The Blacktip fired her missiles at the fleeing Raider, but missed. She also fired Torpedoes to cut off the turning Monitors and Freebooter. Finally, she deployed 2 Interceptors and 4 Bombers towards the Pillager and Skiff. 

End:
The Tau Interceptors swoop in on the Pillager. The PD fails to take any out, and one interceptor suppresses the PD as the bombers strike. Three squadrons attack, and the Pillager's deck is hit by smart missiles. However, 1 Interceptor and 2 bomber squadrons break off and return to the carrier. 

Those that remain move onto the Skiff. Again, the PD fails to down the interceptors, and they suppress the PD for the 2 squadrons of bombers. The Skiff fails to Brace, and a barrage of smart missiles turns it into a smoking hulk. The Interceptors return home. 

The Mines drift back into the Sailfins that deployed them. The is caught by surprise, and a single group of mines detonates and damages the trailing Sailfin. 

Remove Wake- Tau 5, Pirate 2- All wake removed. 


TURN 3

Initiative: Tau

Move:
The Tau Sailfins blast their way past two more Mine markers, and head to rejoin the main fleet. Meanwhile, the chasing Pillager makes a sharp turn, but still comes in contact with two Mine markers. One is destroyed by vigilant PD gunners, but the second explodes harmlessly against the ships armored belt. Thanks to the Pillagers shallow draft, it just barely avoids going aground on the island. 


However, the Pillager is then swarmed by Kroot Knarlochs. The Knarlochs made short work of the Pillager, sending her to the bottom. However, three of the Knarloch squadrons were also lost as the creatures were killed in the assault or went into a feeding frenzy on the floundering Pirate crew. 

The Tau Capital ships moved to go around the island, one on each side where the Pirate Cruiser
was hiding with her Monitor escorts. 

The Lone Raider performed a Come To New Heading, and raced back towards the Tau escorts. 

1 Assassin sub enters play! The sub comes to attack depth just off the starboard bow of the Bullhed. 

Battle:
The Bullhead Reloads Ordinance. The Flagship sends a spread of Torpedoes at the Monitors, but they fall short. In addition, the barrage of smart missiles fail to lock onto the small, obscured craft. Meanwhile, the stern Missile Batteries have no problem sinking the foolish Pirate Raider. 

The Pirate freebooter finally has the range on the Bullhead, and fires a broadside. The Tau ships braces in time, and the shots cause only superficial damage. 

The Blacktip Reloads ordinance, and launches her bow torps at the Monitors. She Also deploys two squadrons of Interceptors and 2 Bombers towards the Pirate vessels. The forward missile batteries unload on the low lying craft, but the pirates brace and avoid major damage. 

The Monitors fire sporadically in the Bullhead, but fail to cause any further damage. 

Sailfins Reload ordinance. 

The Assassin fires both torpedoe tubes, but the Bullhead's PD makes short work of them. 



End:
The Tau Torpedoes race into the remains of the Pirate fleet. 


A torpedo from the Blacktip races past the Freebooter's PD, and crashed into the ships side and detonates, causing 1 DP. Three find the trailing Monitor escort. The armor absorbs one, and the other detonates prematurely. However, the final torpedo crashes deep into the hull before exploding. The crew are vaporized in the interior explosion.

The Interceptors bypass the first monitor and race to the Freebooter. The initial squadron is scattered by the pirate's PD, but fire from the second squadrons forces the PD gunners to keep their heads down. 

Two squadrons of bombers swoop in on the remaining Monitor, but fail to hit. One squadron peels off for home. The three remaining Squadrons of Tigersharks attack the ill prepared Freebooter. A bomb strikes home an cripples the Pirate cruiser. 

The Mines stay put. 

Remove Wake- Tau1, Pirates 6- 6 remain in play. One is touching the Bullhead. 

TURN 4

Initiative: Tau win

Move:
The Freebooter and last Monitor try to limp away from the Tau ships. Meanwhile the Kroot and Tau Capital ships move in to cut off the Pirate escape. 

The Sailfins turn to rejoin the Blacktip. 

The second Assassin sub enters play of the starboard of the Blacktip, but the cruiser moves, giving the sub a shot on the Sailfin escorts. The other sub lines up to torpedo the Blacktip, and away fromt eh rear of the Bullhead. 

Battle:
The Galg commander has the Bullhead Reload Ordinance. Stern Torpedoes streak out from the Bullhead, and miss the Assassin sub. Depth charges fall short, and the Tau cruiser launches a mine screen to defend itself. Bow Missile Batteries mark the Freebooter and fire. The Pirates fail to brace, and the smart missile barrage turns their modified merchant into a smoking wreck. 

The Assassin launches at the Sailfin, and manages to cause a critical hits which destroys the first Sailfin. 

An attempt to Reload Ordinance fails. The Tau Blacktip fires rear torpedoes at the Assassin that sunk a Sailfin. One catches the lethal sub, and sends her to the bottom. The bow Missile batteries lock onto the Monitor, and destroys it. 

The last Assassin sub fires on the side of the Blacktip. The Tau PD destroys one torpedo, and the other misses its mark. 

End:
The last torpedo from the barrage that killed the first Sailfin finds its mark on the following Sailfin and turns it into a smoking wreck.

The Pirate Monitor and Skiff hulks drift into each other and sink from the collision. 

One of the Sailfin hulks sinks. The damage and fire in the hulk of the Freebooter reaches the magazine and detonates, killing the entire crew except for a single cabin boy who was knocked over the side during the battle. 

Remove Wake: Tau 2, Pirates 3- 11 remain in play

TURN 5

Initiative: Pirates

Move: 
The Last Assassin chooses to Run Silent, Run deep. The Command Check isfailed, and the sub collides with the Tau Blacktip. The Tau capital ship suffers from critical damage from the collision! The bridge is destroyed by a feedback power surge, and the stern Depth Charge launchers are crippled. The ship is reduced to 5 DP! The Assassin sub is also destroyed and lodged in the stern of the Tau ship. 

Battle:
None

End:
Last Sailfin sinks. 


The game ends.

**************************************************************

Result! 

Tau lose 15 DP
Pirates lose 15 DP

Tie! All though, I think we can call it a Tau victory since all Pirate craft were destroyed in the battle. 

***************************************************************************** 

Commander Blackray read the after action report. The Gue'la interlopers had been successfully intercepted and destroyed. However, the interception fleet had been seriously damaged in the mission. It was troubling. 

Envoy Ro seemed to be reading the young Fire Warriors mind, “The mission here on Ammoriss continues. The humans do not know of our monitoring stations. Rest your troubled mind.” 

Blackray nodded, “Yes, but how much longer can this charade last?”

“As long as it does,” Ro answered with a response very typical of the Water Caste. 

His commander laughed, before turning suddenly somber again, “Indeed. I am at peace knowing that those who perished did so for the Greater Good.” 

The two bowed their heads in silence. 

Tuesday, September 26, 2017

Total CARnage: Battle Report- Convoy Attack! and Race to the Finish!

Today I got to play TotalCARnage with my daughter.  It is a dexterity based car combat game.  The key feature is WYSIWYG resolution.  If terrain falls or is knocked over, it stays that way.  Instead of using rulers and dice all resolution is completed using a “flick” mechanic.  It is designed to be quick, dirty, and decisive.

The Forces

Purple People Eaters
They are a fierce cannibal warband driving purple cars.

Standard Vehicle (Flames)
Machine Gun
Hits: 5
45 Points

Standard Vehicle (Classic Car)
Cannon
Hits: 5
35 Points

Total= 80 Points

Truk Police
A band of wasteland do-gooders in trucks

Standard Vehicle (Green)
Cannon
Hits: 5
35 Points

Heavy Vehicle (Black)
Cannon
Hits: 6
45 Points


Mission: Convoy Attack
The attackers sets-up terrain. The defender is set-up with one vehicle touching the board edge. All other vehicles are in a line facing the opposite board edge. 1 of the defender’s vehicles is the “objective” vehicles as chosen by the defender. This time it is the Black Truck of the Truck police.   The attackers are placed touching any board edge. If the objective vehicle escapes the board the defender wins, if not the attacker wins.

The Green truck is in front of the Black truck facing the long way down a 6ft by 2 ft table.  The terrain is wasteland terrain with some rocks and dunes.  There is no clear way down the entire board without hitting terrain.  The Purple People Eaters have the flames car on the opposite short edge, while the Old Car is coming in on the left board edge behind a rock about half way up the board. 


Turn 1:
The Attackers go first, and it is the Purple People Eaters.  A really poor initial flick sends the Flames car careening into a rock at a 90 degree angle from where he started!  Woops!  Down 3 Hits all ready!

The Green Truck rumbles forward just short of the rock half way up the board.  The Old Car barely moves and gets ready to try and ambush the trucks as they pass. 

The Black Truck moves out, but is overzealous and accidentally rams the Green Truck in the back!  Green Truck is down to 2 hits, and Black is down to 5. 

Bad driving all around!


Turn 2:
The Purple Flames car backs-up, and the Green truck rushes forward and clips a dune for one more hit.  He fires his cannon and hits the Purple Flame car, both are now down to 1 hit. 

The Old Purple Car speeds out after the Green Truck and fires his cannon to finish him off.  However, his shots fall short.  The Black Trucks moves up, but is does not have a good shot as he comes up to the Old Car.


Turn 3:
The Old Car fires point blank into the Black Truck and follows it with a powerful ram!  The Black Truck is down to 1 hit, and the Old Car has 4 left.  Not good for the Truck police. 

The Green Truck fires his cannon at the Purple Flames car and misses.  He then backs-up to avoid getting fired at.  The Purple Flames car turns and drives to cut-off the Black Truck’s route. 

The Black Truck fired on the Purple Flames Car, but missed.  He then rolled up closer to it to try to get to the board edge. 


Turn 4:
The Purple Old Car rammed the back of the Black Truck and hit it with a close range Cannon shot for 4 hits of total damage.  It is at -3 hits, not enough to explode.  However, the Truck Police have lost the game.  All other actions are irrelevant so we call it a match.
    

Conclusion:
A quick and bloody match finished.  Some poor initial driving really caused issues this game.  Lots of ramming and collisions this game!  I am surprised the Green Truck and Purple Flame Cars made it without getting immobilized.   

Mission 2:  Race to the Finish
The defender places terrain and attacker chooses a short board edge. Defender deploys anywhere on the edge, and the attacker is then placed anywhere on the same board edge. The first gang to exit a vehicle on the opposite board edge wins.  Purple People Eaters are the attacker. 

In this one, we said that the two sides are racing to a settlement.  If the Cannibal Purple People Eaters get there first, it is time for a banquet.  If the Truck Police get there first the townsfolk are saved!


Turn 1:
The Old Car goes first and sails up the board and past a bunch of terrain.  The Green Truck pursues and fires with his cannon, but misses.  The Purple Flames Car chases and rear rams the Green Truck!  2 hits on Green and 4 left on Purple Flame. 


Turn 2:
The Purple Flames car opens fire with his Machine Gun and immobilizes the Green Truck.  However, he was so focused on shooting that he crashed head first into a mountain!   1 Hit left. 

The Black truck raced ahead, and came perilously close to fall off the edge of the board!  The Old Car was more carefully and pulled ahead, but had no targets to shoot at. 


Turn 3:
The Purple Flame Car backs away from the mountain he hit to go around it.  The Black Truck makes for the gap past the dunes.  The Old Purple Car shoots him with his cannon and takes him down one hit, and slowly pursues.  The Black Truck is in the lead!


Turn 4:
The Old Purple Car goes to ram the Black Truck hard, but misses and ends up flying off the edge of the board.  Ka-boom!  The Black Truck carefully drives to the edge of the board and past the sand dunes.  He has won the race!

Conclusion:
The Truck Police have managed to get to the settlement before the cannibals and saved the day!  Hip-hip Hooray!

We then started to play about 6-8 more games that I didn’t bother recording because we were having too much fun.  We even played a few three-on-three games with my wife too.  There was much mayhem, crashing, exploding, and merriment.


Final Thoughts:
Another couple of quick, fun games completed.  An entire campaign could probably be played in an evening even with a few more cars per side.  This would make a great family night game as the rules are super easy and even a novice to wargames can pick them up fast.  Plus, it was a hoot smashing cars together.    


I need to get to the store and find some more cheap cars to add to me collection so we can play it with even more crashing and smashing!  My family particularly enjoyed the Race to the Finish scenario.   With more cars and on a 6x4 table that would get crazy fun!     

Thursday, September 21, 2017

Review: Ronin/En Garde!- Osprey Games

I actually wrote this review a long time ago, before I had a blog.  For some reason, it never really transitioned over here?  I have no idea why, but now I want to rectify that situation!


These are two different sets of rules put out by Osprey in their “Blue” wargaming series.  Each booklet is only about 64 pages long.  Therefore, concise, streamlined rules are the order of the day.  The two books En Garde and Ronin cover two distinct time periods, but they run on the same basic game engine.  This is reminiscent of the Lion Rampant/Dragon Rampant with modifications being in the way the rules are tweaked for the different settings.  En Garde! deals with the Renaissance in Europe where Ronin is focused on the samurai period in Japan.

One of my favorite things about the Osprey rulesets that I have reviewed previously was that the author clearly laid out their goals and objectives in the Introduction of the work.  Therefore, it was easy to determine if they succeeded in their purpose and helped me understand some of their design decisions.  Sadly, neither of these rules has the courtesy to talk about the designer process, not even in a Design Notes section. I guess if you only have 64 pages, some of that might get left out.

Things I Liked

The game system that runs these two games is most famous for its Combat Pool system.  Essentially, each player gets a certain number of chits, and then uses them to determine how much to use to attack or defend with.  En Garde! is much clearer with how these rules work when multiple models are engaged against each other than Ronin but both games use the exact same system.  Essentially when multiple models are engaged, you pool their combat pool together and all models can pull from the pool.

This adds resource management and tactical decision making to the rules.  This is the highlight of the game and the key to its innovations.  Plus, it allows for some of the “chrome” of sword play with parries, ripostes, disarming, mighty blows, etc by paying more or less chits to be able to complete them.  In addition, models can specialize in certain weapons to differentiate between a guy who is a trained duelist and warrior versus some ruffian who picked up a Yari.  This is the big “idea” of the system and it is pretty cool.

Things I Do Not Like

The Combat Pool is really cool and borderline revolutionary, BUT I feel it could be carried out a bit better.  In the game, they try and streamline the process down to a single dice roll to determine hit, damage, and armor results.  However, this leads to a somewhat cumbersome level of mathematics and modifiers that will require a reference chart for a bit.  I feel it would have been more intuitive with a simple opposed dice roll to determine winner, and then any rolls above the opponent would equal hits, that would then be saved in a separate dice roll by the defender.  Both players can still participate, but adds a bit more agency for the defender and less arithmetic to determine results.

Also, the system is a bit vague on who attacks who and what is a combined melee and what is an individual melee.  In a combined melee, Combat Pools are lumped together so knowing if you are in a combined melee or not matters.  In Ronin in particular it is especially unclear as the Combat Example makes it sound like a model can only use as much of the combat pool as they have contributed, BUT in En Garde! it does not seem that way.  Therefore, I am still a bit confused on how it works exactly in larger combats.  The system is great for one-on-one encounters but undoubtedly, someone will try to gang up on someone else.

Finally, I am unclear about the Morale system.  Warbands can be in three categories, Steady, Wavering, and Routing.  When they are Wavering and Routing models do not always act as you the player intends and a basic activation roll is needed.  It seems clear that when a Wavering model fails activation it is a temporary and one time failure.  However, I am less clear about if a Routing Warband model fails the activation?  Do they keep running away, or can you make subsequent activation rolls?  If there are subsequent activation attempts, then there is no clear “end point” for the game.

Meh and Other Uncertainties

Each model is ranked between 1 and 5 and this sets the level of their skill.  In addition, they can have certain skills to help boost them in one area or another.  This allows you to build more characterful models and help them feel like individuals.  After all, this is a small scale skirmish game!

The game seems like it uses a pretty standard alternating activation system, but again the rules do not lay it out clearly to me.  They talk about Priority and alternating with players, but for some reason it was still a bit foggy after reading the rules.  I consider this due to space limitations in a 64 page booklets or me being a dunce.  Both are possible.  

One other big difference in the game is how missile weapons work.  In Ronin missile weapons have two opportunities to fire.  In En Garde! this does not seem to be the case.  Since bows are in both games, this was a bit perplexing to me but it might have been simpler in En Garde! to avoid it since most of the weapons are black powder weapons.  However, such weapons have a Reload Mechanic so I don’t know why the change.  

En Garde! covers things like climbing, falling etc.  However, the damage resolution is a bit tough to figure out and a reference guide for such circumstances will be needed.  However, how often is that likely to happen?

It has fun and characterful army lists for both periods.  I liked the idea of Conquistadors vs. Aztecs in En Garde!.  They both come with scenarios, but the ones in Ronin are less generic and there are more of them.  They are not the same, but most of them are close enough.  Both also offer a simple campaign and progression system as well.

En Garde! has three appendix that cover simplified mass battle, fantastical elements, and inspiration.  Ronin only has the inspiration section.  It is clear the author has good taste in films!

Final Thoughts
These rulesets have a lot of good ideas, but the writing and editing needs to be crisper.  Perhaps I am just dense?  However, the core idea is really strong and I recommend folks give them a try.  I am a big fan of Combat Pools in skirmish games, even if I think this one is a bit futzy in an attempt to make all combat resolution occur in a single dice roll, the attempt is still well-worth checking out.

The rulebooks make brief mentions of tournament use, but this is more of a campaign/one-off style of game.  I think some of the abstractions make it unsuitable for tournament play.  Perhaps if it were expanded a bit in certain key areas, it would be ready for such a challenge, but in its current 64 page streamlined version with scenarios, army lists, and everything else it will still be a fun game and worth buy and painting up models for.

Monday, September 18, 2017

Aeronautica Imperialis: Battle Report- Assault on Launch Site: Blak Perch

This was a stand alone battle played in 2012 using custom aircraft and scratchbuilt models.

***************************************************

Assault on Launch Site Blak Perch
6x4 Table

Special Rules: Terrain is height 1, with chaos mound being height 2 and arch height 5. The walls of the launch area are height 1. 

Cabal of the World Walkers
Locust= 10 pts- Pilot: Gre'Val
Locust= 10 pts- Pilot: Tamor
Locust= 10 pts- Pilot: Vind
Hydra= 12 pts

Reserves:
1 Hell Razor+Ace+Load 1= 29 pts- Pilot: Blakroe The Aspirant
1 Hell Razor+Load 1= 24 pts- Pilot: Ve'grath

Da Skrapperz
1 Buzz'Ard+Jump Troops= 22 pts- Pilot: Bloobeard
1 Warkoptas= 8 pts- Pilot: Gobruk
1 Warkoptas= 8 pts- Pilot: Mo'Klaw
Ork Fighta+Load 1= 16 pts- Pilot: Dakkablitz
Ork Fighta= 14 pts- Pilot: Skumbo
Ork Fighta= 14 pts- Pilot: Badgob
Ork Fighta Bomma= 14 pts- Pilot: Klawgutz

Deployment:
The Locusts are deployed as if launching from the landing pits of the Blak Perch. They are at min speed and altitude 2, the lowest altitude needed to clear the pits.

 
Scramble, Scramble, Scramble!

The Orks come in on the opposite side. Their Buzz'Ard anchors the center with the Warkoptas to the left, and a Fighta-bomma riding herd above them. The fightas deploy to the right, with the rokit fighta in the lead. 

Here They Come!

Turn 1
Initiative= Orks

Movement:
The Ork aircraft press forward to try and get to the base as fast as possible. The fightas begin to pull ahead and move in front of the transports. Meanwhile, the Fighta-bomma stays to provide top cover for the Buzz'Ard and Warkoptas. 

The Locusts desperately try to gain altitude to try and intercept the oncoming greenskins. They begin to vector towards the warkoptas. 

Shooting:
None

Turn 2
Initiative= Chaos

Reserves: The Hell Razors are not available

Movement:
The fightas and the Locusts set themselves up for a furball in the center as the Chaos planes vector back into the center of the board. The fighta-bomma also moves up to join the party. Meanwhile, the Warkoptas try to move to go behind the Locusts, while the Buzz'Ard breaks away the opposite direction. 

Shooting:
Locust 3 fires at Fighta 2, but misses. The Fighta-bomma fires its quad big shootas at Locust 2, but also misses. Fighta 2 returns fire on Locust 3 but misses. A whole lot of fire and noise, but not a lot of results. 

Turn 3:
Initiative: Orks

Movement:
Flying in a tight formation, the Locusts close in on the unarmed side of the Buzz’Ard carrying the bulk of the Ork assault force. Meanwhile the Warkoptas race along the opposite edge. The Ork defenders try to get behind the Locusts, but fail to get the angle. 

Shooting:
The orks do not have any shots.

First, the Hydra on the ground takes aim at the incoming transport. The shots find their mark and damage the craft. Locust 2 and 3 open fire on the Buzz'Ard at close range. Heavy Bolter rounds rip through the Buzz'Ard. Locust 2 gets credit for the kill as the Ork transport explodes spectacularly; killing everyone on board. 

Transport Down!

Turn 4
Initiative= Orks
Reserves: The Hell Razors enter play

Movement:
The Warkoptas set up for their attack runs, but the Hell Razors are moving to intercept. Ork Fighta 1 and 2 move to intercept the Hell Razors, but will they get there in time? Meanwhile, the Locusts turn back towards the base. 

Fast Movers Inbound

Shooting:
Fighta 2 opens fire on Blakroe the Aspirant in Hell Razor 4, and hits him. In exchange, Blakroe takes aim at one of the Warkoptas and destroys it with a burst from his Auto-cannons. 
Scratch One Kopta!

Hell Razor 5 takes a snap shot at Ork Fighta 2, but misses. 

The fighter-bomber uses its ball turret and fires on Locust 3, but misses. The hydra targets the Figtha-Bomma, and auto-cannon rounds rip through the plane’s fuselage, but don't down it. Black smoke billows from the Ork craft. 

Locust 3 is just in range to fire a Burst at Fighta 3, and does so. All his shots miss the target as the Ork Fighta jinks around wildly. 

Turn 5
Initiative= Chaos

Movement:
The last Warkopta attempts to close in on the Chaos base. However, the Locusts and Hell Razor 5 attempt to stop him. However, it looks like he may have split the gap in the Locusts, who are unable to slow enough to get good shots. Meanwhile, the remaining Ork aircraft try to provide cover, with some success. 
No Shot, I reapeat; No Shot!

Shooting:
Hell Razor 5 goes weapons hot and fires on the Warkopta. Several auto-cannons shells stitch the side, sending Ork hanger-ons tumbling ground ward, but it isn't enough to damage the Kopta. Curses! Those Ork bodies must have absorbed the incoming fire. 

The Ork Fighta-Bomma blasts Locust 2 from the sky, but the Chaos pilot safely ejects as his aircraft gently inclines towards the ground, where it meets an explosive end. 

Blakroe in Hell Razor 4 opens fire on Ork fighta 3 at close range, but fails to cause any damage. 

Ork Fighta 3 is able to get a bead on Locust 3. The shoota shells slowly tear the craft apart, but the pilot ejects in time. The Locust slowly and methodically disintegrates as the Big Shoota rounds eat it up.

The Hydra attempts to punish Fighta 3, but its shots miss; tracers arcing uselessly skyward.
They Came At Us From Behind!

Turn 6
Initiative= Orks

Movement:
The Warkopta moves over the drop zone. Meanwhile, the The Aspirant gets a bead on him, but at the cost of getting in front of the smoking Fighta-Bomma. Locust 1 moves to cover him. The other Orks are out of position. 

Shooting:
The Ork Fighta-Bomma unloads on Hell Razor 4 piloted by Blakroe the Aspirant. Big shoota fire reaches out but fails to cause damage as the Ace pilot jinks his craft expertly. However, the chaos Ace is less successful as a rokit slams into his all ready damaged fighter. With a scream of rage, the champion ejects successfully, as his rare aircraft plummets down into the earth below.

The Aspirant is Downed! 

However, Locust 1 is in position on the Fighta-bomma, and opens fire at close range. The Ork pilot ejects just in time as his fighta-bomma's internal bomb bay is hit and detonates. Revenge for the Cabal of the World Walkers! 

Vengeance! 

The Warkopta unloads its Jump troops from alt 1. They all land in the Chaos airstrip successfully, and begin attacking anything that moves. 

Turn 7= Chaos Disengagement
Initiative= Orks

Movement:
All aircraft scramble away.

Shooting:
The Hydra takes some parting shots at Fighta 2, but misses. 

Result:
Narrow Ork victory, with the successful troop landings making the difference! Man that was close! 

Here are some of my post game thoughts. The game was originally planned for the Investigation of Bin Mazar, but the Holidays made it difficult for me and my regular opponent to connect for gaming. By design, this game used a lot of custom aircraft from the Airspace Aircraft Compilation. It seems only fair to talk about how they did. 

The Locusts did surprisingly well flying close together and using barrages of Heavy Bolter fire. They aren’t as maneuverable as the Hellblade, but they are still more than a match for an Ork Fighta. However, they are very vulnerable, and one mistake maneuvering them can lead to them getting blown away pretty easily. 

The Hell Razors were pretty fun. I liked them better than the Hellfang. Perhaps it was the scenario, and how they were used. Overall, they had a lot of firepower at Medium range with auto-cannons and Missiles. However, the fighting in this game got tight, and they clearly suffered at that range band with restricted shooting options. Too bad I let my Ace get shot down. D’oh! Their goes his reputation. 

Ork Buzz’Ard didn’t get to do much this game. However, I like that the sides have a clear vulnerability instead of possessing all around shooting power. I feel it gives the plane a more tactical style of play. I’m sure my opponent disagrees right about now, and would prefer the firepower of a Bomma. 

The Warkoptas were a bit of an X-factor. They flew low and slow, making them more challenging to take down than I expected. I guess slow and steady won the race this time. Overall, a nice cheap option. 

Sadly, I lost the battle due to my focus on killing the Ork transports. This kept getting in the way of my pilots sense of self-preservation. At least they all managed to eject this time, and no one crashed into a mountain.