The Legio Bastardes
present their
Dogfight
a 40,000! a
Flyer Rules
C
First edition, January 2011
Hearken, faithful Imperial citizens! Behold, wretched xenos and chaos filth!
These rules allow players of Warhammer 40,000 to engage in air-to-air combat
between flyers (whether they be futuristic jets or gribbly winged monstrosities) and
make air-to-ground attacks more exciting as well. The rules are compatible with and
require the flyer rules printed by Games Workshop in the Apocalypse rulebook, with
a few modifications as noted below.
With the fifth edition of 40k and the publication of Apocalypse, many of the
complicated rules that supported flyers in previous editions were changed and
greatly simplified. Unfortunately, they became perhaps a bit TOO minimal, making
flyers just super-mobile skimmers and air-to-air combat about as thrilling as Basilisks
lobbing shells at each other every 20 minutes. To find a workable balance between
the two extremes, we suggest a few modifications to the flyer rules in Apocalypse,
and add a new layer of complexity that makes air-to-air combat more deadly,
thrilling and fun.
A big THANK YOU! is owed to George Spiggott, who composed the original
version of the Dogfight 40,000 rules and kindly allowed us to revise, mutilate and
spindle his work into a near-unrecognizable (but hopefully playable) form.
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Please enjoy using this supplement, and we would greatly appreciate reading any
feedback or questions that you have. We can be contacted via private message to
Savnock on (Legio Bastardes rules geek) at DakkaDakka.com.
Onward into the fiery furnace of battle...
b Basic flyer rules
Flyers are vehicles, superheavy vehicles, and monstrous or gargantuan creatures with
the Flyer rule. Most of them have been designed with this rule in their basic 40K
rules (from their codex or the Apocalypse rulebook, etc.). Some do no though- see
the "Specific Units" section at the end of these rules for more info on which units
are also flyers.
Some of the flyer rules from Apocalypse remain the same in this supplement. Here is
a brief recap of those, with some notes on a few differences. Please refer to the
Apocalypse book for any clarifications on details.
Moving flyers- Flyers may move an unlimited distance every turn, but they must
move a minimum of 36" from the point where they started the turn.
Shooting at flyers- Flyers are only hit by ground-based weaponry that rolls to hit on a
roll of 6. Weaponry that doesn't roll to hit cannot shoot at flyers. Anti-aircraft (AA)
mounts allow weapons to roll to hit as normal, and template/blast weapons to hit
flyers if they roll a 6 on a D6. Pintle-mounted weapons are automatically considered
AA-mounted.
All hits against flyers subtract one from their roll on the on the vehicle or superheavy
vehicle damage tables (like a glancing hit, but only -1). To differentiate this from the
regular glancing hit result, we will call it Glancing -1). AP 1 weapons and Strength
D weapons negate this -1 on the table, and roll unmodified (with neither additions
or subtractions) on the damage tables. AP weapons do subtract a further -1 from
damage-table rolls.
[Designers note: The -1 glance might make flyers too fragile. Input needed on that.]
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NEW: Flyers do NOT receive a 4+ cover save like skimmers moving fast (although
there is a way to get this, detailed in the Orders section below).
NEW: Unless otherwise specified, all shots are resolved against a flyer's side side
armor.
b Monstrous and gargantuan creatures in the air war
Monstrous or Gargantuan Creature flyers (such as the Tyranid Harridan and Harpy)
may function as Flyers rather than regular flying creatures, and may switch back and
forth during the course of the game (swooping out of the skies to snatch some
unfortunate Guardsman before flapping off again...). Their players will make this
decision each turn at the same time other flyers are given Orders (more about that
below). If they choose to act as Flyers (generally in order to participate in
dogfights), they are issued orders like any other flyer and obey the same rules for
movement, being shot at, orders etc. If they choose to act as regular
monstrous/gargantuan creatures, they can do so from the beginning of the shooting
phase on. Note that this does mean that they can move great distances before, say,
shooting or charging.
[Designers note: This might be too powerful. Suggestions for balancing it out
appreciated. Maybe having to re-roll all successful hits in CC or shooting? Hmm.]
As they are not vehicles they do take damage differently: hits against creatures acting
as flyers are resolved at -1 Strength to represent "speed being the best armor".
[Designer's note: The -1 Strength rule is just something I'm guessing at: playtester
input again much appreciated.]
b Orders
At the end of their movement phase each flyer in play will be given an Order. These
Orders determine the flyer's role for the next turn, and how it interacts with other
units in the battle. If a flyer's orders are not changed, it is assumed to remain on the
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same orders it followed last turn.
Orders use the special orders dice from the BattleFleet Gothic game. You can use
counters if you don't have the dice. After Orders are assigned, the dice are left next
to the flyer they affect (or better yet right on the flyer's base). This is important
because Orders will also affect how your opponent deals with flyers in their own
turn.
Assign Orders to all your flyers, then go through and execute them in any order
(with the exception of Ground Attack orders to do bombing runs, which must come
first).
There are 6 Orders that you can give a flyer. Here is a summary table: each order is
discussed in detail below.
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Order Notes
Intercept Attack another flyer in the shooting phase.
Attack ground targets in the shooting phase. Includes
bombing runs, executed in the movement phase. Being
Ground Attack
on Ground Attack makes flyers more vulnerable to
Intercepting enemies.
Protect your other flyers. Does not attack now, but
Escort enemies Intercepting while you Escort have to fight
through this flyer first.
Ram another flyer (or claw it with a creature). A nasty
Rrrramming Speeeeed!!
hit for both parties.
Protect your own neck with tricky maneuvers. Gives
Evasive Action
flyers a 4+ cover save.
Run for it! Leave the battlefield, return in later turns
Disengage
much like Reserves.
b Order: Intercept
Units on Intercept orders may attack another flying unit in the shooting phase.
Should the flyer's turn to shoot come around and the player decide not to take a
shot they don't HAVE to do so... but that's hardly the spirit of 40K! Interception is
like close combat: Despite being initiated in the attacker's turn, both units involved
may get a chance to damage each other. Dogfights are a nasty, frenzied business!
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To resolve an Intercept order, do the following:
The attacker picks a target for their first flyer on Intercept. This can be any other
single Flyer unit within range of your weaponry. Note that if there are no enemy
flyers in play, you cannot issue Intercept orders.
[Designer's note: I kept attack range limited by weapon range just to keep things
simple and slightly less abstract, even though we could just say any flyer can engage
any other, with no range limits. Playtester input on this needed too.]
The attacker and defender then Dogfight! To do so, add the following up for each
unit:
Dogfight! Value =
Ballistic Skill + Initiative +/- Modifiers (see table below) + 1D6
The player with the highest result wins the Dogfight, and may shoot at their enemy's
rear armor with one weapon for every point by which they won the dogfight.
Dogfight! result: Victory- Measure range etc. to target as usual, with the exception
that armor facing doesn't matter. Monstrous creature flyers are shot at as normal,
but hits against them count their AP as one lower (so AP6 weapons would be AP5,
etc.). This means that _either_ unit may shoot their enemy out of the sky, not just
the unit belonging to the player whose turn it is.
Dogfight! result: Tie- In the event of a tie, both flyers involved may shoot at their
opponent's side armor with one weapon. Monstrous/gargantuan creatures get shot
at as normal for flyers, (-1 strength but no special AP modifiers etc.).
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Modifier Notes
+1 On Intercept or Escort orders
-1 On Ground Attack orders
+1 die on second
or later planes
Each additional flyer attacking the same defending flyer in attack, choose
1 the same round highest
-1 Every 2 Structure points (round down)
-1 Total armor equals 41 42 points
Not cumulative
with armor mod
-2 Total armor equals 43+ points above
Monstrous
-1 Each Wound above 6 and/or point of Toughness above 8 Creatures
Carrying bombs, rockets (Hellfire etc.), fuel tanks or spore
-1 mines Not cumulative
Carrying big bombs, Grot bombs, Smart bombs or
-2 Meiotic spores Not cumulative
-1 Transport capacity 1% to 50% full Not cumulative
-2 Transport capacity greater than 50% full Not cumulative
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Racial initiative chart
Imperial Human 3
Space Marine (all types) 4
Eldar (all types) 4
Ork 2
Necron 3
Chaos (other) 3
Tyranid As Creature
Tau (Air caste pilot) 3
Tau (drone pilot) 2
b Order: Ground Attack
Flyers on Ground Attack orders may do just that: attack units on the ground
(including skimmers, etc.) during the shooting phase. This is resolved like any other
normal 40K attack. Note that sniping, bombing, and harassing the poor ground-
pounders requires slowing down a bit and taking your eyes off of the skies, so it
leaves the flyer more vulnerable to attacks from other flyers on Intercept orders (see
the modifiers in the Dogfighting table above).
Bombing Runs- In order to use bombs, players must use a special type of Ground
Attack order called a bombing run. When a player is going to execute a bombing
run, they need to make that clear during their movement phase, before they move
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the flyer (this actually happens before Orders are issued, so you need to be clear with
your opponent about what's going on). Flyers making a Bombing Run are moved at
the end of the Movement Phase, before orders are given to any other flyers. They
resolve their bombing runs as detailed in the Apocalypse rulebook. after their
bombing run is finished, place an Orders die next to the flyer with the Ground
Attack facing displayed. That counts as their order for this turn. Then resolve any
other bombing runs before ordering other flyers etc.
[Designer's Note: I kept bombing runs close to the movement phase in which they
occurred. Not sure if this is necessary, but it seems simpler.]
[Ground Attack orders are designated by the die facing with the target-reticule
symbol.]
You may also want to listen to this while blowing things up:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQ5-vPcfE-Y
b Order: Escort
Escorts are ordered to be alert to other threats from the skies, and are ready to
Dogfight enemy flyers before they can reach other air targets (like your bombers,
transports, etc.). Flyers on Escort orders do not attack in their own turn. Instead,
during the enemy turn any enemy flyers on Intercept orders must dogfight against a
flyer on Escort orders before they can attack anything else. The attacker chooses
which Escorts to engage and in what order. Interceptors cannot attack other units
until all Escorts are destroyed.
You can issue Escort orders even if there are not enemy flyers in the air at the
moment (and it may be a good idea indeed, if the enemy is likely to come swooping
in at any moment).
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b Order: Rrrramming Speeeeed!
Alternately, a flyer may purposefully get the enemy in their sights, put on maximum
speed... and then RAM THEM! This is generally the choice only of crazed Ork
Speed Freeks and claw-covered Tyranid monstrosities, but sometimes Imperial
pilots whose guns have all jammed will consign their souls to the Emperor and try
such a desperate tactic as well.
When a flyer is on Rrrramming Speeeeed! Orders, they choose another flyer to
target and resolve a dogfight as listed under Intercept above. If the rammer wins (by
any number of points), they may then ram the enemy (or try to claw them in midair,
hit them with a powerfist while flying very close, etc.).
The ramming flyer rolls a D6: if they roll a 5+ both flyers take one Penetrating hit,
which is not reduced to Glancing -1 like other hits against flyers. Creature-flyers take
a S10 AP2 hit instead. On any other die result the ramming flyer misses and the
game continues (whew!).
Born to Ram- Some flyers (Orks and Tyranids) are better at initiating close
encounters in the air. Ork flyers and all monstrous/gargantuan creature flyers
succeed at ramming on a 4+ rather than a 5+.
Banzai!- Flyers may also make ramming attacks against ground targets, although it is
invariably that flyers last action of the battle and usually also the end of their life.
Pick a ground target (any vehicle, monstrous creature, or a single model in a unit of
more than one infantry/bike/cavalry models) and make your 5+ ram roll. If the roll
succeeds, the flyer hits the model and does an automatic penetrating hit against
vehicles, or a S10 AP2 hit against creatures. The flyer is then automatically destroyed
and wreckage (or bits of be-tentacled flesh) flies everywhere. Every model within
2D6 takes a S6 AP- hit (which allows it to essentially do a variable-radius blast
against units of troops surrounding the one very unlucky trooper who got nailed
directly).
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b Order: Evasive Action
If you want your flyer to stay in the fight but be very hard to hit, you give them the
Evasive Action order. This order grants a unit a 4+ cover save against all hits
(shooting, ramming, etc.). In combination with the Glancing -1 (vehicles)/-1
Strength (creatures) rule, this makes a flyer much harder to knock out of the sky.
Units which already have a cover or invulnerable save (like Eldar flyers with
holofields) may re-roll their saves while on Evasive Action. Certain anti-aircraft
weapons (like the Imperial Guard Hydra or even Vindicare Sniper shooting) can
indeed negate this save or re-roll.
b Order: Disengage
Sometimes discretion is the better part of valor... (you wimp!). Disengage orders
allow a unit to run for it and leave the battlefield, removing the flyer from the table
(at least temporarily). However, doing so may expose you to a parting potshot from
the enemy.
Parting shots- Before you remove the flyer a single enemy unit may immediately take
a free shot at it, subject to the usual to-hit rules for shooting at flyers. This does not
count against the unit's shooting for next turn etc- it is a free shot. Once Disengaged
(assuming it survives the pot-shot), the flyer is put aside off the table. It may return
as reserves in subsequent turns, but never comes back automatically. If would come
back on a 2+ or automatically, it still must roll a 3+ to return.
NEW: Flyers still disengaged at the end of the game ARE considered destroyed,
contrary to what is stated in the Apocalypse rules. Thats the price of wimping out!
[Designer's note: I dunno, is this all too harsh on Disengagers?]
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b Specific units converted from the 40k game
Some units that operate as Fast Skimmers or flying creatures in the regular 40 k
game should be able to join in the air war too. The following units operate as Flyers
with the Hover Mode rule: Valkyries; Vendettas; Stormravens. Also, Tyranid
Harpies and Harridans may operate as flyers if their player wishes, as detailed under
the monstrous/gargantuan creature flyers above.
b Example Dogfight
This is an example Dogfight between an Imperial player with three Imperial
fighters (see the table below for stats) and an Ork player with one Ork fighta and
an Ork heavy bomba (see below as well). It is the Imperial player's turn. As the
battle rages on the battlefield below, two wings of aircraft prepare to meet their
enemy head-on
Here's what our example aircraft are like:
Armor
Flyer Front Side Rear I BS Structure Dogfight! Modifiers
Points value (already applied)
Imperial Fighter 10 10 10 3 3 - 5 Rockets -1
Ork Fighta 10 10 10 2 2 - +4 (+6 for None +0
Waaagh)
Ork Heavy Bomba 10 10 10 2 2 - +2 (+4 for Big Bombs -2
Waaaagh)
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Flyer Weapons Facing
Imperial Fighter 2 lascannons, 1 Heavy bolter, 2 Rockets All Front
Ork Fighta 3 twin Big shootas All Front
Ork Heavy 1 twin Big shoota, 2 Big Bombs Turret (360 degrees)
Bomba
Orders
The Imperial Player puts both of his aircraft on Intercept orders hoping to destroy
both of the enemy aircraft before they can strafe and bomb his ground forces.
The Ork player spent the previous turn gleefully bombing the Imperial forces below,
and is still on Ground Attack orders. His fighta is on Escort orders, impatiently
covering the bomba's wing and hoping some 'humie flyboys will give him a good
scrap soon. Looks like he's about to get his wish...
The Imperial player (whose turn it is) wants to send all three of his fighters against
the Ork heavy bomba. However, he has to deal with the fighta on Escort first.
First blood
The Imperial player's fighter has a Dogfight! value of 6 this turn [BS 3 + Initiative 3
+ 1 for Intercept orders 1 for Rockets]. He rolls his dice and gets a 3 for a total of 9.
The Ork players fighter has a Dogfight! of 7 [BS 2 + Initiative 4 (doubled when
Intercepting, Ork special rule) + 1 for Escort orders]. He rolls his dice and gets a 4
for a total of 11. The Ork player wins by 2. He fires two of his big shootas at the
Imperial's rear armor, hitting twice (thanks to the twin-link). After rolling for armor
penetration against the rear armor's AV10 he manages a single glancing -1 hit,
destroying one of that Imperial fighters lascannons. Both combatants peel off to
fight again later.
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Get that cover down!!
The second Imperial fighter then engages the Ork fighta again, trying to blow it out
of the skies so that his wingman can get to the bomba.
This Imperial fighter again has a Dogfight! value of 6 (same BS, initiative and
modifiers as the previous one). He rolls two dice this time (since he is the second
flyer to attack the Ork this turn), gets a 4 and a 6. He picks the higher result of 6 for
a total of 12. The Ork player's fighta still has a Dogfight! of 7, and he rolls a 3 for a
total of 9. The Imperial player wins by 2. He fires his heavy bolter and one lascannon
into the Ork's rear armor. He rolls for penetration, and the lascannon and one bolter
shot penetrate (counting as glancing -1 of course). He scores a weapon destroyed
result, but more importantly gets a Vehicle destroyed result. The Ork fighta finally
explodes, leaving the bomba alone and exposed...
Endgame
Meanwhile the third Imperial fighter sweeps in on the Ork heavy bomba. The
Imperial player has a Dogfight! of 6 like his wingmates. He rolls his die getting a 4,
giving him a total value of 10. The Ork heavy bomba has a Dogfight! of 2 (BS2 +
Initiative 2 - 2 for Big bombs), and rolls a 5 on his Dice for a total of 7. The Imperial
fighter wins by 3. He opens up with his two lascannons and a rocket scoring two hits
with the lascannons. These glance -1 twice against the Ork heavy bomba: one hitting
the crew compartment severely shaking the crew; the other more tellingly hitting the
engine (an Immobilized result). The Ork heavy bomba crashes into the ground and
is destroyed while the Imperial fighter joins his wingmen for another strike.
[Still to do:
-Create summary page with all tables: Quick summary of flyer damage rules;
Dogfight rolls, modifiers, and result effects; racial initiative values.]
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