Battle Report: Aeronautica Imperialis- Pitched Battle on Tokokai-5

A roar went up around Tokokai-5 as hundreds of engines roared to life. The walls defending the Ork fortresses across the planet had been breached.  The Varingyr immediately launched their armored assault forces towards the breach.  The Flayer-kin, either due to their war cunning or desire to fight; raced out in their crude buggies to do battle before the walls.     

The Feral Orks of Tokokai-5 had built their crude fortresses and settlements atop the old mine heads of the Tokokai Clan.  The Tokokai Clan’s allies from Irongard had arrived in orbit to establish if their Oath Brothers were hiding deep within their mineheads from the Ork invaders. 

A swirling battle erupted for control of the breach ensued.  

Forces

Varingyr Clanguard

Overlord Airship

-          Additional Weapon Load 3

3 Strike Eagle

-          Additional Weapon Load

Iron Eagle

-          Additional Weapon Load

Feral Ork Defenders

2 Flak Wagons

2 Waaagh! Bommaz

-          Additional Weapon Loads

 2 Fighta-Bommaz

- Additional Weapon Load

Mission:

This is the Pitched Battle scenario from the Airspace Compilation.  In this mission each player sets up 10 vehicles on the board, at least 18 inches in from their edge, and 6 inches away from any other edge.  Victory points are only earned by destroying ground targets. 

I thought about sculpting up some ground units for this battle.  However, but the time I sculpted up and painted 20 ground targets, it would have been 2019!  Instead, we opted to use some All Quiet on the Martian Front markers instead. 

Set-up:

This battle is using the same board as the previous battle to represent the Varingyr armored forces trying to push through the breach created by the Warlord.  Rocks and the wall are all Altitude 1 so collisions/crashes can happen. 

The Ork ground forces are set-up as the orange blast markers, while the orange circles are Varingyr ground forces.  The Orks have cleverly placed their ground targets where they can be protected by their ground defenses.  The Varingyr are in a semi-circle beyond the Ork forces, but close enough where we might get a few low altitude tangles.  

The Varingyr aircraft are in two packages.  The north package is the Strike Eagles coming in hot at altitude 1, ready to strafe.  The other is the Overlord escorted by the Iron Eagle.  It is at mid-altitude as the Zeppelin ability will allow it to drop easily. 

The Ork Fighta-bommas are lined up to give the Strike Eagles some issues while they attack ground targets too.  They will be covered by the Falk wagons.  The Waaagh! Bommaz are looking to hit the fringes of the Varingyr ground forces. 

Remember, points are scored for taking out ground targets, and not enemy aircraft.  However, if you take out enemy strike fighters, they can not hit any ground targets!  

   

Turn 1:

Initiative: Varingyr

Movement:

Both sides move towards the battlespace with speed.  The Orks look like they will be over the target zone next turn. 

Shooting:

None

Turn 2:

Initiative: Orks

Movement:

Waaagh! Bomma 2 overshoots the nearest Varingyr tank, but proceeds forward towards the oncoming Varingyr forces.  The rest stay in formation, and it looks like they will go head-to-head but eh Orks are much higher. 

Shooting:

Waaagh! Booma 1 strikes first and drops two bombs on an enemy tank, causing 1 point of damage!  Not enough to destroy it. 

Strike Eagle 1 fires his rockets and Mag-cannons at an Ork truk and manages to reduce it to a single point of damage remaining as well.  Strike Eagle 2 opens fire and destroys an ork War Wagon in a similar barrage!  While Strike Eagle 3 misses its ground targets.   

The Ork flak wagons do not have the range yet. 

Turn 3:

Initiative: Varingyr

Movement:

The Varingyr continues to press forward on the attack, with the Overlord trying to provide some air cover.  Meanwhile, the Orkaircraft streak over the Varingyr lines to bomb there targets.  As Fighta-bomba 1 turns over the front lines, Iron Eagle 1 swoops in on him to attack.  Also, the Ork Ground Defenses are now in range. 

Shooting:

In a moment of self-preservation, Srike Eagle 1 opens up on the nearest Flakwagon, and hits it for 1 damage.  It is still functional! 

Fighta-Bomba 1 drops his Bomb payload on a Varingyr tank and obliterates it. 

The Overlord uses a broadside of Mag-cannons to pepper Waaagh! Bomma 2, who manages to fly through the storm of shots unharmed.  He dropped a payload of bombs behind him on a Varingyr tank as well.  However, the little tank was made of sterner stuff and survived with 1 point of damage. 

Strike Eagle 2 and 3 open fire on two separate targets with rockets and mag-cannons, but only cause 1 hit.  Meanwhile, Figha-Bomba 2 and Waaagh! Bomma 1 unload thwi paloads, and destroy 1 tank and damage a second.     

Flak from Ork Ground defenses spray the Strike Eagles, causing Strike Eagle 2 to start blowing smoke. 

Finally, the Iron Eagle swoops in and fires on Fighta-bomma 1.  2 Hits but no damage. 

 Turn 4:

Initaitive: Orks

Movement:

The Varingyr Strike Eagles continue towards the wall, but their main armaments are out, all they have left are nose mounted mag-cannons for strafing.  The Overlord moves low to use its strafing weapons on the ork vehicles left. 

Meanwhile, the Ork Fighta-bommas wing over to get their rokits into range.  Waaagh! Bomma 2 turns back to follow the frontlines, while Waaaagh! Bomma 1 misjudges a power dive and crashes into the ground taking the pilot with it. 

Shooting:

Ork Ground defenses spray skyward but fail to connect.  Varingyr Strike Eagles also fail to connect with their Mag-cannons on ground targets.  The Overlord’s broadside fails to damage the war truk on the ground, and some Hearth missiles reach out and damage another Ork vehicle but fail to destroy it.

Turn 5:

 Initiative: Varingyr

Movement: 

The Varingyr strike crast try to spin around to re-engage, however Strike Eagle 2 is too close to the wall and crashes, killing the crew.  Meanwhile, the Orks swoop down around the battlefield and attack targets of opportunity.  The iron Eagle tries to chase down Fighta-Bomma 1. 

Shooting:

Fighta-Bomma 1 fires his quad big shootas and tears apart an all ready damaged Varingyr tank. 

The Strike Eagles use the last of their Mag-cannon ammo on two ground targets but fail to damage them. 

The overlord opens fire on multiple targets and manages to send 1 Ork War Wagon to Gork N Mork.  Ork Ground Defenses are unable to harm the big ship.  In addition, Fighta-Bomma 2 fails to hit Strike Eagle 3. 

Waaagh! Bomma 2 hits a ground target for 1 damage.  Then, Iron Eagle 1 manages to snag Fighta-bomma 1 with Mag-cannon shells and cause him to blow smoke. 

Turn 6:

Initiative: Varingyr

Movement:

The Strike Eagles move to disengage since they are out of ammo.  The Overlord tries to turn to use its broadsides on the Ork vehicles.  Meanwhile, the Iron Eagle tries to chase downt he Fighta-Bomma 1.  Fighta-Bomma 2 half loops to get back into the battle, and the Waaagh! Bomma comes in low to strafe more Varingyr tanks. 

Shooting:

The Overlord manages to smoke an Ork ground vehicle with its broadsides at mid range.  The Waaagh! Bomma’s big shoota shells ping harmlessly off the side of the Varingyr Tank. 

Both sides half inflicted 3 destroyed vehicles.

Turn 7:

Initiative: Varingyr

Movement:

The Strike Eagles get to the board edge and head back to base.  Next turn will be a disengagement turn.  The Overlord drifts up and over the Ork wall.  Meanwhile, the Ork Fighta-bomma and Waaagh! Bomma overshoot their targets as they are going way too fast.  Fighta-bomma 1 turns back sharply and lines up on aa Varingyr tank, while the Iron Eagle stays in pursuit. 

Shooting:

Fighta-bomma 1 needs 2 hits to damage and win the game and is lined up on target.  However, Iron Eagle 1 gets to fire first due to initiative.  He rolls 6 mag-cannon dice for 2 hits, and rolls for damage…. He gets 1 6.  Fighta-Bomma 1 is knocked out of the sky!

Turn 8- Disengagement Turn

Initiative: Orks

Movement:

Fighta-Bomma 2 tries to do a high G-turn to strafe a tank, but just overshoots and gets an Iron Eagle on his 6 for his efforts.  The Waaagh! Bomma has better luck, and finds a damaged tank in his sites at medium range. 

Shooting:

The Waaagh! Bomma needs to get 1 damaging shot to win the game.  He lines up and rolls his dice.  3 hits.  He needs 1 5+ to damage.  He succeeds and blows the Varingyr tank sky high. 

The Iron Eagle does shoot up the Fighta-bomma, but causes 1 hit.  The grot in the turret misses his return shooting. 

With that, the remaining aircraft head for home. 

Conclusion

That went down to the wire, but ultimately the Orks win this scenario by dusting 4 Varingyr tanks to 3 Ork War Wagons. 

Let’s talk about some of the aircraft performance.  The Strike and Iron Eagles are very underwhelming overall.  They do not have much punch.  Perhaps I should have gone with different weapon loads for them.  The Overlord did fine, but I definitely picked the wrong weapon load here.  It is not maneuverable enough for forward firing rockets and Hearth Missiles and once I was out of the combat zone, I could not bring it around fast enough.   On the Ork side, we are having a hard time using Ork Rokits as they were getting way too close to the targets and then could not use them!     

Meanwhile, both of us had issues flying today.  We both lost a plane to bad flying.  He power dived into the ground, and I crashed into a wall!  This whole mini-campaign was characterized by some bad flying.  I guess terrain can still matter in a flying game, if it involves lots of ground targets.  That made it a bit more cinematic. 

Overall this campaign was a Minor Varingyr victory.  The Warlord Super Heavy was the star of the campaign and allowed for the Varingyr to win the 2^nd and 3^rd scenario.  The Orks won the first and last battle.  Overall, a pretty balanced campaign tree.

After fierce street-to-street fighting, the Clanguard managed to batter their way into the feral ork settlements.  Once inside the perimeter, Engineers from the Guild were able to verify which settlements were built on Varingyr ruins.  If it was a pure Ork settlement, the Clanguard fell back and let the fleet bombard the Ork settlements into oblivion. They were then re-routed to support their fellows around active mineheads. 

Where Engineers found Varingyr relics they pushed forward to locate access points to the Tokokai Clan mines.  Once there, they set up a perimeter and the Engineers began to re-active the ancestral spirits to open the mine heads.  The Clanguard of Irongard were able to send in reconnaissance teams into the Tokokai mines to locate their old allies.  Instead, they found nothing but abandoned and ancient tunnels.

Unable to locate any Tokokai Clan members alive, Azoki Helmsward called off the attack.  Using air cover and select orbital bombardment, the Clanguard was recalled back to the fleet.  The War Council was saddened by the discovery that their old clan allies were lost to them.  Instead, Azoki marked the planet for later re-conquest by the Helmsward Clan.  Her fleet turned to explore the next former Tokokai Clan stronghold.  Tokokai-5 was lost…. for now.  

Battle Report: Aeronautica Imperialis- Drop Intercept on Tokokai 5

After the failure of the Varingyr’s recon attempts on Tokokai 5, Azuki Helmsward of the Highguard reassessed her War Council’s strategy.  Her people had come from Irongard to assess if her Clan’s old allies were still hidden deep within their buried mine heads.  On arrival, the Irongard forces soon realized that the planet’s surface was now populated by feral orks.  The greenskins lacked the necessary technology to attack the Varingyr fleet in orbit, but they could harass air operations and be a nuisance on the ground. 

Further analysis found that the greenskin hovels had been built amongst the ruins of the Tokokai Clans’ surface settlements.  Therefore, they could not simply be bombarded into dust as that would also potentially ruin the only way to reach the Tokokai’s below ground strongholds.

After the failure of the Recon forces attempt to locate hidden entrances, there was only one way forward.  Troops would need to be landed and the Orks pushed out.  The Varingyr War Council therefore reviewed the planetary scans, the historical records, and other data to try to locate the best way forward to reclaim the mine heads and enter the stronghold of the Tokokai Clans. 

The Clanguard began to prepare for the inevitable ground landing.  The ranks of the Clanguard dutifully loaded into the Overlords, Warlord, and the Strike Eagles.  Then, the space fleet dropped into low orbit and began to deploy their assault forces.  Not surprisingly, Ork aircraft moved to attack them.  That was the way of the Flayer-kin, always attack.   

      

Forces

Varingyr Clanguard Combat Drop

1 Warlord Super-Heavy Airship

2 Iron Eagles

-          Additional Weapon Load

Feral Ork Defenders

1 Grot Buzza

3 Ork Fighta

2 Fighta-Bomma

1 Dakkajet

Mission:

Per the Campaign Tree, this will be a Drop Intercept mission.  The Varingyr are trying to land their transports within a 12 by 12 square in the center of the table.  The Orks are trying to stop them from landing.  Technically, the Varingyr do not have any Orbital Landers.  However, for this mission we will use the Warlord Airship as the Lander.   

Set-up:

We deployed several rocks across my brown wasteland looking table cover.  As usual, the rocks are 1 Altitude high per level.  Therefore, if a plane comes in contact with these terrain features but isn’t high enough up they could crash with a failed Pilot Check.  Last game, terrain played a major role. 

We placed the 4 markers to map out the corners of the 12 inch by 12 inch square landing/drop zone. 

The Varingyr deployed on a short board edge at altitude 9 and max speed per the rules of the scenario.  They are coming in hot, with the Warlord planning to land in the Drop Zone.  The Warlord is towards the left of the board edge, and the Iron Eagles are heading straight on. 

The Orks are clumped up at low and mid altitude and looking to swarm over the Landing Zone to stop the Varingyr from landing. 

Turn 1:

Initiative: Varingyr

Movement:

The Iron Eagles turn to the right and drop altitude to avoid going head-to-head with the incoming Ork aircraft.  For their part, the Orks spread out to cover the board at various altitudes.  The Warlord power dives right to make the approach to the drop zone.

Shooting:

None.  No one is in range.

Turn 2:

Initiative: Varingyr

Movement:

The Varingyr continue their descent.  They are closing into engagement altitude at 3, where many of the Ork planes are in the same height.  However, the Orks have fanned out across the board, while the Iron Eagles are on the far right. 

Shooting:

None.  Everyone is still out of range.

 

Turn 3:

Initiative: Varingyr

Movement:

The Warlord is lined up on target, and drops to altitude 1.  Now, he just needs to slow enough to land!  Meanwhile, the Orks press in to attack, with a few going straight at the Zeppelin.  The Iron Eagles try to swoop in from the side to engage, but the Dakkajet gets the drop on Iron Eagle 2. 

Shooting:

The Warlord’s limited forward firepower fires on the incoming Fighta 3 but fails to scratch it.  The Ork pilot returns the favor, but hits only armored plate.  Fighta-Bomma 2 joins in and causes a single hit!  Only 14 more to go!  

The Dakkajet also peppers Iron Eagle 2 and causes him to blow smoke. 

Turn 4:

Initiative: Varingyr

Movement:

The Warlord sets up to land next turn unless the Orks can stop him.  As a result, the Ork aircraft swarm into the landing zone.  Fighta 3 and Fighta-Bomma 2 manage to get into a tailing position on the Warlord.  Iron Eagle 1 looks like he has a shot on Fighta-Bomma 1. 

Shooting:

The Warlord lights up the sky with its broadsides firing all across the sky at the swarming Ork fightas.  Despite the Mag-cannon point defenses firing like mad, only the Dakkajet starts smoking. 

The Warlord takes a pounding from Ork Aircraft has it is reduced from 14 hits to 9 hits.  However, it was lucky as attempts at Sustained Bursts largely failed.  The Warlord only needs to weather the two Trailing fightas barrage to land!

Iron Eagle 1 fails to find the target of Fighta-Bomma 1 due to range.

Turn 5:

Initiative:  Orks

Tailing Fire:

Fighta 3 fails to Sustain Burst, but peppers the Warlord.  Three hits are knocked away by the ships armored plates.  Fighta-Bomma 2 does get a sustained Burst and fires with 12 dice at the same altitude.  This is it!  2 Hits strike home, but it is not enough to down the Super-Heavy airship. 

Movement:

The ork aircraft all try desperately to wing over or Half-loop to stay with the main target.  However, most are out of position despite swarming the landing zone.  The Iron Eagles spiral to get in and try to get targets of opportunity.  Meanwhile, the Warlord gently lands and begins to unload her cargo. 

Shooting:

Fighta-Booma 2 fires on Iron Eagle 1.  The spray of bullets swats the Iron Eagle from the sky!  The Ork plane is out of ammo and will need to return to base to re-arm.   

 Iron Eagle 2 misses the Dakkajet.  The Dakkajet then strafes the landed Warlord causing point of damage.   

Turn 6- Disengagement Turn

Initiative: Varingyr

Movement:

Iron Eagle 2 decides to gain altitude and bug-out. 

Meanwhile, the Orks try to get in position to strafe.  In the chaos, two Ork aircraft actually crash into the ground by choosing the wrong maneuver!  They wing-over into the ground.  The pilot of the Fighta-Bomma 1 walks away feeling a bit follish, while the pilot of the Dakkajet was decapitated in the crash.  Woops!

Shooting:

Fighta 3 and the Buzza try to strafe the landed airship, and manage to take 2 more hits off of it.  Still not enough to take out the Super-Heavy airship!  Return fire from the landed airship is ineffective.

Conclusion:

The Clanguard quickly set-up a perimeter of Multi-launchers to dissuade additional air attacks.  A few initial bursts cause the swarming Orks to break-off and return to base.  The unloading process continues and the skeleton of a defensive perimeter and a forward operating base begin to take shape in minutes.  The Varingyr are on the ground.  Soon, follow-on forces in Drop Egles begin to descend on the base to bulk up its strength.

Well, the slow movement of the Warlord was a big asset in this Drop Intercept.  I was not too worried about over-shooting the target zone since the Warlord was nice and slow.  However, its own point defenses were next to useless in this battle and the Iron Eagle support ships were too far outnumbered to be a factor.  The Orks lost more aircraft to bad flying than anything else. 

Now onto the next battle….

…. It looks like it will be a Wall breaker mission.  That is one I really wanted to play!  Look out for Warlord action soon! 

Random: Aeronautica Imperialis- Tree Campaign

In my last post I talked a bit about what is on the painting desk.  I also opined about how I dislike painting as it is my least favorite part of the hobby.  That hasn’t changed.  However, painting does get my thinking about how I plan to use the models and excited to play again.  This is what I have been working on first, the Varingyr aircraft. 

You can find the rules for these aircraft in the Airspace Rules Compilation.  As I was reviewing the rules for the Warlord Super-Heavy Airship and the Strike Eagle ground support fighter it got the wheels turning.  I think I could string together a few games into a mini-campaign? 

  

For those familiar with the Blood and Irongard campaign you know that the Varingyr(Squats) have a rich history and a developed setting in the Galactic Core.  I admit, I haven’t kept up to date on the “Dark Imperium” setting of 8^th edition so I have no idea if the Galactic Core even still exists or was replaced by a warp storm or some such.  However, in the Blood and Irongard campaign we are introduced to the Belt of Varin, a section of the Core that was once home to the Varingyr empire.  However, they fell victim to Imperial aggression and then Genestealer Infestation which led to civil war and destruction on a society shattering scale. 

          

Since those dark days, the Varingyr that remain have been slowly trying to re-build and recover their lost Strongholds.  The enemies were Tyranids beasts, Ork marauders, and even human Rogue Traders.  However, the worst enemy of all was the Genestealer Infected Varingyr held sway by the Ancestor’s Curse.  The idea of reclaiming a lost Stronghold held interesting possibilities for a campaign.

After per using the mission ideas in the Airspace Rules Compilation I started to sketch out a branching campaign.  In this Campaing, the Varingyr have located a former Minehead that has been overrun by Orks.  However, you could also use Rogue Traders, Tyranids, or other opponents.  Naturally, the Varingyr want to reclaim their homeland and launch an attack.  The campaign will determine the success of failure of their forces in reclaiming the Minehead from their foes.  There is still plenty of room for me to fluff the background out if I wish, or leave the basic skeleton in place. 

 

Of course, this campaign is designed to allow me to use my Varingyr aircraft from the humble Iron Eagle to the mighty Warlord Airship.  Feel free to play through it yourself.  The Missions and unit profiles are in the Airspace Rules Compilation and the Cleansing of Grex Silex books.

Oh, by the way I got those Varingyr aircraft models painted up too.  Finishing them inspired me to start putting a campaign together to use them in.