Flyers Rules
Though they are organized into detachments just like normal units, Flyers are not deployed as normal with the rest of the models in your army. Instead, they are kept just off the table where they are assumed to be in orbit or at a nearby airbase. Please note that Air Mobile Infantry are not flyers for these rules. (in E40K Gargoyles are flyers, not Air Mobile Infantry)
Flyer Missions
At the beginning of a turn where you have one or more Flyer detachments whose members are not Repairing or Refueling, you may declare one Flyer Mission for each Flyer detachment. There are five types of Flyer missions: Ground Attack, Transport, Intercept, High Level Bombing and Wild Weasel.
At the start of each turn, you must declare how many flyer detachments you have "incoming", but you do NOT have declare what their exact mission is until the detachment is put into play. Note that your opponent must place his FLAK detachments on "Flak Watch" before your first detachment arrives "on board", if he is going to do so.
Ground Attack
Ground Attacks take place in your Movement Phase. When it’s your turn to move, place the models in the detachment making a Ground Attack anywhere along any table edge. Flyers have an unlimited movement length when making a Ground Attack, but they may only fly straight across the table. A Flyer may make up to one turn of up to 45 degrees during the attack run. Enemy units with the MANPAD ability or FLAK may Snap-Fire at the flyers as the flyers move in the normal manner; however, flyers are not halted by Snap-Fire like ground units. Please note that "SHORAD" or "Advanced FLAK" units have a some what longer range than the normal 10 cm snap fire range. At any point in its move, the detachment may halt and make its ground attack. Work this out as a normal shooting attack, using each flyer’s Firepower and special weapons, etc. The target detachment(s) suffering the attack must be located within the flyers’ forward-facing 90 degree arc of fire, and in range. Line of Fire is automatically granted, as flyers may maneuver to any altitude.
After the flyers have made their attack, you may do one of 2 things.
The flyers in the detachment may not be assigned a mission next turn while they are refueling and rearming.
Transport
A Transport mission works identically to a Ground Attack mission, with some exceptions. Flyers in the detachment which are Transporting units halve their Firepower when they make their Ground Attack; any super-heavy weapons mounted on the Transporting unit only function on a 4+ on D6. All other flyers use their normal Firepower. After the Ground Attack has been resolved as normal, all flyers Transporting units may drop them off at the point where they made their attack; cluster the disembarking models around the base of the flyer which Transported them. The troops may make a normal Move, but lose 5cm of their Speed as normal for disembarking infantry. The troops may be given Assault orders this turn, but not Overwatch or Marching orders. The flyers have the same options to exit the board as the in Ground Attack.
Flyers can carry troops from other detachments in the same army, in which case they are kept off-board with the flyers until deployed on a Transport mission. If the transport is destroyed while carrying units, then any transported models are destroyed.
If all the units in a ground detachment cannot fit into the available Transport flyers at the same time, then any excess units are left behind and may be brought into play on a future turn. Note that troops brought in later more than 30cm away from their HQ are considered to be Out of Command as normal. For this reason, it is best to have the HQ unit be carried in the first wave.
Transport missions may also be done "backwards", where the flyers come in empty, pick up ground troops, then leave. In this case the sequence is
Intercept
When flyers are placed on an Intercept mission, they may dogfight other flyer models when they are placed on a mission. When an enemy flyer detachment is assigned a Flyer Mission and you have one or more flyer detachments on an Intercept Mission, you may declare that your flyers are Intercepting the enemy flyers before they have a chance to proceed with their mission. Place your interceptors next to the enemy detachment to show they are intercepting it.
Flyers have an Assault value with two numbers (e.g., "2/2"). The first number is the Intercept Value, and represents how maneuverable the flyer is. The second number is the Gunnery Value, and is the amount of dog fighting ability the flyer has.
Starting with the flyer with the highest Intercept value, each flyer involved in the Interception is allowed to attack one enemy flyer—this means that the Intercepted enemy flyers can make a counter-attack. In the case of a tie, flyers on an Intercept mission attack first. If both detachments are on Intercept missions and have the same Intercept value, alternate attacks, starting with the player who has the Initiative.
Each flyer attacks individually, rolling a number of hit dice equal to its Gunnery value. Each die that equals or beats the target’s Armor value scores a hit; apply any damage on the target immediately and move to the next attack.
Once all flyers involved in the combat have attacked, remove the interceptors from the table. Any surviving enemy flyers on other missions may carry them out as normal. Detachments on Intercept orders do not have to skip a turn to refuel and rearm, so they can "hover in wait" on the table edge until an enemy detachment declares a Flyer Mission.
High Level Bombing
Flyer may use high level bombing instead of a normal ground attack mission. It is resolved exactly like a normal ground attack mission with the following exceptions:
The detachment may leave the battle field in the same ways as a ground attack or transport mission.
Wild Weasel Missions
A detachment that has had one or more of its members upgraded to "Wild Weasel" status may make a Wild Weasel attack. A Wild Weasel attack is a special case of ground attack.
A flyer may be upgraded to Wild Weasel by replacing one or more of it's firepower points to "a Wild Weasel pod" at a cost of 15 points per fire power point changed. Example an Imperial Thunderbolt may have it fire power changed to 1 / 1-WW for 15 points or 2-WW for 30 points. A Thunderhawk could mount one "pod" for 15 points or go full tilt for 120 points, or any mix between. Barrage equipped flyers count as 3 fire power for this, and Heavy Barrage as 5 fire power. Conversion of SHW equipped flyers is all or nothing (i.e. 45 points or 75 points)
Yes, this is expensive, that's because electronic warfare gear IS expensive. It's also bulky and takes special maintenance and care, plus it must be upgraded far more often than normal "iron bombs and bullets".
A Wild Weasel attack may only be aimed at a detachment that has one or more FLAK units in it. Detachments with only MANPAD units may not be attacked by Wild Weasel missions. Each Wild Weasel pod acts as a "Disrupt" SHW. The blast markers that are applied count as normal for all proposes. This means that a fully kited out Thunder Hawk can drop up to 9 blast markers on a flak detachment (1 for 8 SHW, plus 1 per pod on a 4+ per pod). The flyer must be with in it’s range of at least one flak unit to make this attack, not just a unit in the detachment.
The non "Wild Weasel" firepower of the detachment is halved, for all purposes, including placing blast markers, when making this type of attack. Non Wild Weasel SHW must roll a 4+ to lock on. The halving of the fire power is per detachment, not per unit.
Wild Weasels attacks reflect both "soft" and "hard" attacks on the flak units. "Soft" attacks are things like jamming and spoofing, which degrade the effectiveness of the flak units ability to aim at a flying target. "Hard" attacks are things like anti-radar missiles and dropping a 500 lb. bomb on the radar van.
Flak Rules
Some units have the Flak special ability; this means that they are specially trained to shoot down aircraft. Only Flak units may use their Firepower and weapons Range to its fullest extent; all other units only get a Snap-Fire option to shoot down aircraft. A detachment which includes one or more units with the Flak capability may go onto Flak Orders; mark this with the Special Orders ("!") side of the Order Die. Flak units in a detachment that has Flak Orders may not fire except to shoot down enemy Flyers; treat non-Flak units in that detachment as being on "Overwatch". Flak units placed on "Flak Alert" may not fire at ground targets that turn, regardless of if they fired at flyers or not. They may be placed on "Overwatch" orders instead "Flak Alert", which will allow them to fire at ground units as well as flyers, however in this case their firepower vs. flyers is halved.
Flak unit on Flak Orders may shoot at enemy flyers if any part of their flight path is within the unit’s range. Roll D6 per point of Firepower the Flak unit has; each die that equals or beats the target’s Armor value causes damage. A Flak unit may split its Firepower amongst several flyers if it wishes.
SHORAD or "Advanced Flak"
Any unit with the Flak special option may be upgraded to SHORAD by paying 7 points above the current cost of the unit. A unit with the SHORAD option may fire as "normal" if under Special orders as per the flier rules in E40K. If the unit is not under special orders the following rules are in effect.
MANPAD:
Any Infantry unit may be up graded to MANPAD for a cost of 3 points. The effect of MANPAD is to give the unit the ability to "snap fire" at flyers. Only MANPAD units and FLAK unit may snap fire at flyers.
Blast Markers on Flak Attacks
Effects of Blast Markers on FLAK/MANPAD units. Each blast marker on the detachment removed two "dice" of attack, be it a "flak attack" or "snap fire". Example A detachment of that has 3 Flak Wagons and 3 Shooty boyz with MANPAD has 6 blast markers on it. The first 12 "snap fire" or "Flak" attacks automatically fail.
Hits on Flyers
Flyers are more maneuverable, smaller, and can take more punishment than normal vehicles. When a Flyer "takes damage" or "takes a hit", roll D6 immediately per point of damage sustained. If the score is less than the flyer’s Armor value, then it has only been Damaged. A Damaged Flyer aborts its mission instantly and cannot be hit again this turn; it spends the following turn being Repaired and the turn after that being Refueled and Rearmed. In other words, though a Damaged Flyer is not destroyed, in most situations it might as well have been, since it will be another three turns before it may be included in a Flyer Mission.
Some overall notes on the effects of these rules: