The Rilti Intervention: Air War Mission 3 – Lightning Assault

BACKGROUND

As a radical measure to prevent the total collapse of Imperial authority in Sector Six, it has become necessary to impose emergency measures and demand greater taxes, material, and men from Imperial subject worlds. The world of Rilti has balked at these unprecedented increases, citing the need to keep their troops close to home.

The Imperial Government has responded with an invasion by a Space Marine Task Force. After blunting the initial onslaught, (LINK) the troops of the Rilti PDF have fallen back to the next defensive line.

SITUATION

The Rilti PDF occupy a defensive line across National Highway 1. Their flanks are anchored by the “Emperor’s Power Plant No. 115” on their left and Hill 71 on the right.  The Infantry is deployed behind the plant and on the reverse slope of the hill to protect them from long range fire.  Tanks of the 1/18^th deployed directly on the road.

 The 141^st VFG, Volunteer Fighter Group (clandestinely, the 141^st Kingdom of Colores Fighter Sqn), has re-armed their F/A86 Bulldogs with heavier guns and improved ammunition “liberated” from local Imperial caches, and is patrolling the skies above.

On the Imperial side, breaking this line is a difficult proposition.   Grey Knight Captain Galerus deduces that the tactic needed is a vertical assault to bypass the long killing field in front of the enemy positions. He assigns command of the Deepstrikers to the 2nd Company Grey Knights. 

The agreed upon plan is to simultaneously hit the enemy line with an airstrike, teleporting Terminators and Assault units, and a frontal attack with long range tank fire.

The BATTLE

There’s not much to cover here. It was a disaster for the Imperials.  The Rilti air cover disrupted the timing of the assault very badly. The ensuing debacle had the Imperial assault come in as 3 separate waves, each dealt with by the Rilti defense one by one.

The Air...

The Deepstrikers...

The Frontal Assault...

AFTERMATH

With the failure of the main attack, several units of Space Marines that were deployed in the initial planetfall behind enemy lines, are now isolated and running low on supplies.

Imperial HQ has decided on a massive airdrop to resupply these units.  All of the remaining airpower will be concentrated to ensure the success of this mission.

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First of all, having my 2 Bulldogs in reserve, while my opponent deployed his 2 Stormhawks on the table to start the game, completely screwed up his plan.  I had air superiority (At the top of Turn 2, I had 2 flyers in reserve and he did not have any) , causing a -1 penalty to his reserve rolls. Only a couple of his units hit the table each turn and I could pile on each time.

There were no dogfights this game, so no extra phase.

We decided to use the following profile for the Forgeworld Thunderbolt fighter to represent my F/A 86 Bulldogs. (hat-tip to Frank from http://ifitwasntforone.blogspot.com/ ):

All the same stats and weapons from the IA book, plus,

Fighter

3 Hull Points

Agility 2 (it’s heavy and should not be as maneuverable as the Marine Stormhawk)

Pursuit 3 (it has “rocket assist” engines, so we reckoned it would be fairly fast)

…and this seemed to work well.

The attack patterns are devastating.  Getting BS 4 for my Bulldogs in the attack pattern scored enough hits on the Stormhawk that his jink saves were not enough.

My opponent didn’t get the chance to use any formations this game, but stay tuned, ‘cause he sure learned some things for the next one!

See you for the Next Mission!