Rendezvous InterruptedThis game is part of the Feud of the Red Clouds campaign going on at the Airspace forum. You can find out more about it, read some battle reports, and see some hobby projects here:
http://z8.invisionfree.com/Airspace/index.php?act=SF&f=38Cabal of the World Walkers- Tzeentch Aligned Warband
1 Tormentor- Pilot: Hwe'vere
1 Vulkan- Servitor
Reserves:
2 Hellfuries- Pilots: Sq'ak and Svif'Vind
Tau and Gue'vesa allies
Barracuda-Pilot: Ki'ra
2 Swordfish + Skystrike Missiles- Pilots: Hutch and Biggs
Warzone 2: Station Ro
Set-up:Per the scenario, the chaos forces are set-up in the center of the board with the bomber trailing the tanker. They are moving at speed 2 and altitude 7. The Tau enter the board edge they are facing, and are at staggered heights and max speed.
Turn 1:Intiative: Chaos
The Vulkan side slips and tries to drop altitude to gain speed. The Tormentor stays with it, pulling alongside and slightly above.
The Tau aircraft line up for a straight shot at the Chaos aircraft, confident that they have the firepower to bring down the enemy.
Shooting:
The Tormentor's Auto-cannons chatter away at Swordfish 1, and cause it to blow smoke. The Heavy Bolter turrets fail to find their mark.
The Barracuda unloads at the Tormentor with its Ion cannon and Smart missiles, blasting the hull of the chaos bomber. Fires erupt along the side, and the plane starts smoking.
Swordfish 1 takes revenge on the Tormentor, unloading on it and causing a further point of damage. Meanwhile Swordfish 2 fails to hit the Vulkan at all.
The Tormentor is down to only 1 damage point left! Maybe turning away would have been a smarter play?
Turn 2Initiative: Tau
The two forces race past each other. The Tau scramble to turn back into the fight, while the Chaos aircraft lumber towards safety.
Shooting:
No one is in the proper position to fire!
Turn 3Initiative: Tau
The Chaos Hellfuries speed onto the scene to try and rescue their allies.
The Vulkan side steps to the left and splits up the Swordfish, but Swordfish 2 is now in a tailing position. Meanwhile. The Tormentor continues to stay one altitude out of range of the Barracuda, frustrating the Air caste pilot to no end!
Shooting:
Swordfish 2 opens up with everything it has on the Vulkan, and again fails to find its mark. Back to the firing range for that Gue'la!
Turn 4:Initiative: Chaos
Tailing Fire: Swordfish 2 again fails to hit anything despite being at mid-range for Ion cannon, Burst cannons, and a Skystrike missile! Is Biggs even trying here?
The Vulkan manages to evade pursuit and disengages. Swordfish 1 makes a high G-turn and closes in on the Tormentor, with the Barracuda close behind. The Tormentor senses the trap closing, and power dives away and off the board as well.
However, the Tormentor caught the very edge of the board, so there was some discussion on whether this counted as the short edge of the board or not. The scenario specifies that the Vulkan and the Bomber must escape form the short edge. Since all of my manuevers to avoid getting shot by the Barricuda took me off course, it seemed like missing the short edge was my fault a sthe pilot of the Tormentor. We decided to say that the bomber had not successfully disengaged off the short table edge.
Turn 5: Disengagement Turn. The Tau successfully disengage and avoid the oncoming Hellfuries.
Conclusion: Draw!Missing the short table edge with the Tormentor caused me to get a draw instead of a win. Of course, with out all that dodging and moving away fromt eh attacker, I probably would hav ebeen shot down since the Tormentor could only take one more hit, and the Barracuda was in optimum range for most of the pursuit. Oh well, it was still fun.
Again, the Tormentor proved to be an elusive bomber. However, it wasn't as durable as I had hoped, as it took a beating in the initial pass. However, after that it proved more than capable of evading the oncoming Tau. The Vulkan only survived as Biggs in Swordfish 2 could not hit the broad side of a barn, if he had been inside it.
The scenario was fun, but the reserves came in too late to do anything. However, if I had tried to turn the Tormentor and Vulkan away instead of going forward, that would hav emad ea completely different battle. One in which the reserves may have played a bigger part. I think I made the right choice to power forward instead of trying to circle back. The Vulkan and Tormentor just aren't fast enough or maneuverable enough to evade fighters.
Let me know what you think!
