AIR TO GROUND TACTICS
or
Murdering Multiple Mudfoots Mercilessly
One of the greatest things about Alpha Strike is the ease with which aerospace assets are added to a force and actually used. If you've ever wanted to add ASFs to your game, need to counter them effectively, or just turn the Thrust up to 11, than this is the article for you.
If you're worried about the price, then I have good news for you:
Microfighters from the Iron Wind Metals site are literally 30-50 cents, fit perfectly into the printout of the Radar Map, are detailed, and adorable. Here:
That's maybe a quarter of an inch long Cheetah. kawaii!
Now back to doom and destruction. Air to ground tactics can be summed up in five simple words: Light fighters rule, everything else gets schooled. Oh, there are exceptions, but for multiple reasons it's best to leave that Hydaspes or Eisensturm in the hangar when choosing ground support roles.
SPEEDIn Alpha Strike, there are only three speeds that matter: 10 Thrust, 10 Thrust while carrying a full BOMB load, and everything else. This is because 10 Thrust is the minimum for moving two Zones, meaning the AF makes its first ground attack during Turn 2 and can make a ground attack run every turn.
Slower AFs will arrive Turn 4 and simply moving from the Central Zone to the Inner Ring after a ground attack use their only Zone movement; in other words, they are only in combat for less than
half the length of an average game.
Likewise, "Fast as possible" also matters for air-to-air engagements, because both potentially engaging AFs have to
end movement in the same Zone, meaning not even Fast Dogfighters can catch an Interceptor except in the Central Zone. Also, during an AtA engagement, the AF adds half its current Thrust to its Skill roll in order to determine who has air superiority and dictates the range combat takes place in - somewhat important if one AF has no Long damage or if one has five points of Short.
Does this add up to a compelling reason to type Interceptor into that Role box and ignore everything else? Not yet, but before we go onto the benefits of ground attack, we're going to cover the risks.
A VERY EXPENSIVE LAWN-DARTWhen entering the Central Zone, which board edge the AF 'enters' from is dictated by the Inner Ring Zone from which it moved. For most practical purposes, this means that the first run is usually from your own board edge, but can be angled in any direction you choose, and the AF can move from the Central Zone into any Inner Ring Zone you desire after the first run.
However, the AF has to move in a clearly marked straight line from one Edge to another of which the
minimum length is 24". Any ground unit within 2" of that line can choose to fire at that AF during the Combat Phase
as though it were at Short Range. Other ground units measure to the closest point of the flight path and add 12" to their range, which usually means Medium at minimum. The only other modifiers applied to the ground-to-air roll is a measly +2 unless the firing unit is impaired.
The reason that's a big deal, especially with the units under the flight line, is that any damage forces a Skill roll at +2 (for the thick atmo) to see if the AF maintains control. If the AF fails, then it drops one Zone - not a big deal elsewhere, but in the Central Zone it's immediately fatal.
This is another reason that favors Interceptors, as a minimum 3 Skill is what you'll want and they aren't so expensive to upgrade, and if they DO crash you aren't out a ton of points.
The other big risk, especially with lighter AFs, is Threshold. Any amount of damage over this number causes an automatic Critical Hit regardless of remaining armor, and can cause a second crit if into an AF's Structure. For Interceptors, the damage is usually 2 or 3. This may seem like a good reason to invest in heavier AFs, but more AFs fall to lawndarting than to crits - a Skill 4 AF will fail a lawndart check 5/18 times, while a crit will kill an AF 1/18 times. It should be noted, though, that the lawndart check is only once a turn, whereas the crit chance is every time it's hit and the hit is over Threshold.
To completely ignore the odds of crashing (and validate a high Threshold AF) you'd need to upgrade an AF's Skill to 2 and take the Wind Walker SPA. On the one hand, that's a reasonable price to protect the investment, but on the other, it's a lot to pay for a unit that won't arrive til turn 4 and will only be able to attack every other turn.
So, for these two reasons - speed of engagement and high chance of losing any ground attack AF outright - I endorse Interceptors over everything else. The exceptions I'll discuss later.
So, now that we've discussed the bad things that can happen, what's the good? Well, a lot. It may be high-risk, but it's also high-reward.
GROUND ATTACKThere are four attacks that an AF can make:
Dive Bombing, Altitude Bombing, Striking, and
Strafing. Striking and Dive Bombing are single-target attacks (and are easier to accomplish), whereas Altitude Bombing and Strafing can hit multiple times along the flight path. However, both are limited; Altitude Bombing can only drop as many bombs as the BOMB Special on the AF, and Strafing can only target a 10"x2" template. Yeah, 'only'.
Also of note is that bombing work like artillery, meaning it ignores the TMM of targeted units; this does make them good at devastating lights. Bombing can scatter; while Dive Bombing can scatter in all six directions, Altitude Bombing only scatters forward along the flightline, making it somewhat safer. Therefore, use Altitude Bombing if you're targeting something close to your own lines, but otherwise dive the heck out of it!
Strafing is a bit more complicated; the AF makes an attack against every unit in the template. If the AF has ENE, it deals its full Short damage against each unit; if it does not have ENE, it halves its Short damage. If the unit chooses to use its OV value, the OV is added
after the damage is halved. This means that ENE fighters are more valuable than the opposite, and Short range rules over everything else.
Altitude Bombing is the one time that I don't advocate using an Interceptor (because they can only carry one bomb!), but in this case you need to go the total opposite. Find a cheap Attack AF, load it up with bombs, and send it in on a run. Despite not arriving til turn 4, the amount of destruction and/or Heat caused by four bombs is worth it, and they scatter
away from your frontline. Because using BOMB doesn't add any PV to an AF, it's quite effective. For post-bombing considerations (provided it survives its attack run), there are several Size 4 AFs which have significant OV values; because they have to loiter in the Inner Ring for at least one turn that gives a chance to cool before moving in for another attack run. The
Thunderbird D36 is a textbook example.
BOMB TYPESAlthough it should be obvious, all but one of the bombs are one-shot weapons, expended once dropped. I'll give tactics after discussing the bomb types.
High Explosive hits for 2 damage in a 4" diameter template - this can strip the armor off of lights and infantry entirely. A safe choice, but there are better.
Cluster has a massive 12" diameter, but only deals 1 damage to each unit in its AOE. That massive radius is as much a danger to you as others, so use with caution.
Inferno is the bee's knees. 2 Heat to all units that track Heat in the 4" AOE, and if they don't track Heat then it's just 2 damage. With Advanced rules, the AOE keeps burning for
ten turns unless you drop it on water. Speaking of advanced rules...
Arrow IV suuuuck. Bombing is already better than artillery, why trade away one of your BOMB slots for an attack that does less and is harder to hit with?
Air-to-Air Arrow IV might have some place in hunting Interceptors (where it'll pass the Threshold of the lightest AFs), but there are better uses for BOMB slots.
Light Air-to-Air Arrow is in the same boat, but only does ONE damage - not enough to break Threshold on even the lightest targets.
Laser Guided is a strictly better HE Bomb. If a friendly paints a target with a TAG, then the bombing attack has a -2 TN; in all other respects it acts like an HE. If using advanced rules, you may as well take these instead of standard HE.
Rocket Launchers add 1 temporary damage per BOMB slot to a
Strike, not Strafe, attack. I'm not sure I see the point versus HE, unless you want to build up some record-breaking single attack damage. A Hydaspes 2, using 3 OV, and carrying 4 Rockets, could deal 17 damage in a single Strike... instakill an Atlas, anyone?
TAG isn't a bomb, but rather adds TAG to the AF's Specials; in other words, it ain't gone after a single use and it can use this in addition to a Strike or Strafe, OR it can use it on another target somewhere in its flight path. Combine this with Laser-Guided, or on-board artillery, for some real fun...
Thunder deploy a 4" diameter conventional minefield per bomb dropped, at a whopping Density 4; in other words, the first detonation only takes a 6+ to trigger, and deals 4 damage the first time through. That can outright
destroy many light units. Sadly, mines deal damage during the Movement phase, and only trigger when a unit enters them, so shenanigans like dropping a minefield on top of a unit does nothing.
Torpedos are something that I have not used, but the theory is that if you're hunting a watercraft, especially one of the superlarge kind, then prep torpedos. Though they only do 1 damage, each causes an automatic critical hit, making them invaluable against the superlarge craft that can carry 20+ armor points. Have they statted the Wyrm yet?
Infernos, in my book, trump the other choices. Speaking in MtG terms, it's a tempo play that sets your opponent off their game so you have more time for your own. Giving Heat to a unit that normally doesn't have it, or screwing with a dangerous TSM unit (forcing it to cool off entirely for one turn, then intentionally overheat the next, in order to get its bonus back) are valuable. Also, it acts like a normal HE against BA units riding OMNI, meaning that 95% of BA will be immediately in Forced Withdrawal when they dismount.
TAG can have value as well, especially with a light fighter painting targets for artillery that are out of LOS - avoiding those pesky Indirect Fire penalties.
Thunder Bombs are a tertiary choice, made if you have a ton of AFs and want to protect your flanks against fast movers - 4" means you can cover choke points nicely, or shield your C3M against a fast Fire Moth. Extra style points if you shout, "I'm flyin' low and I'm BRINGIN' THA THUNDER!" Or possibly, "Thunder. Thunder! THUNDERMINES, HO!"
It can be profitable for an Attack AF carrying four Cluster bombs to blanket a huge area; by the time the Attack AF arrives there will be SOME units stripped to Structure, so that's four critical rolls on multiple targets. Yes, you may hit your own, but because bombs move away from the flight line it's a safer bet than artillery.
THE PILOT SPECIAL ABILITIESBecause most AFs will have high Skill (to avoid crashing!) adding two or more PSAs to important fighters is usually no problem, and there are several good ones to consider.
Golden Goose is amazing for an Attack AF Altitude Bombing.
Ground Hugger, combined with a high-damage ENE AF, can ruin an opponent's day.
Lucky fills in any extra SPA points and can save an AF from crashing.
Ride the Wash is... just too expensive versus one of the other SPAs with Lucky to fill in the cracks, but it does give you a free bonus 'attack' that can drive a dogfighting opponent down one zone - handy if the dogfight is taking place in the Central Zone, as many end up doing.
Shaky Stick has saved several AFs at my table, but turning a +2 TMM into a +3 is kinda lame versus Wind Walker or Ground Hugger.
Speed Demon turns the
Corax,
Poignard,
Shade,
Batu,
Sulla, and the Experimental
Corsair RIGID NIGHT into Interceptors - delightful, though I tend to avoid anything labeled Experimental in my games as a matter of taste.
Wind Walker makes it a straight Skill roll for crashing, pretty good odds for a Skill 2 unit.
Overall, we've found that Ground Hugger and Shaky Stick is good for Interceptors, Speed Demon and Wind Walker on any Fast Dogfighter is good (Poignard-R3 will end friendships with dat Threshold and Armor keeping it alive), and Attack AFs are split between Golden Goose and Lucky (1) (to maximize the one bombing run and survive for a second pass) or Wind Walker and Lucky (2) (to survive for as long as possible without having to upgrade past Skill 3).
Note that , Interceptor Squadrons give the Speed Demon SPA to any units with Thrust 9 or less, though over half the squadron has to be Interceptors; so only 2 Fast Dogfighters turn into freebie Interceptors. This does mean bringing a full Squadron onto the table, which can get expensive even using dirt-cheap Interceptors to fill it out. *sigh* Darn Clans, needing 10 AFs instead of 6...
THE TACTICSOkay, so now that you know what's best (Interceptors or really big Attack Fighters), the best Bombs (Infernos with a side of Thunder), and the nastiest PSAs (Lucky Lucky Lucky), how to use them?
First off, they're initiative sinks; you're gonna fly 'em as fast as possible for the Central Zone, so there's no surprises there. Move them first and give more chance to see what the opponent is up to.
Always drop bombs on the first pass - if using Thunders, then angle the flight path so you drop 'em over someplace vital (in the middle of a city is favorite). If you see a nice clump of assaults, it's worth potentially losing an Interceptor to delay them several turns; also, if there are light flankers angling to get around your defenses crippling their movement (and lowering their TMM next turn!) it's also a good bet for Infernos.
Any passes after the first are just a fringe benefit, and what should be done is a matter of necessity. Flight paths are plotted at the end of the Movement Phase, so you can always line up with the most vulnerable units. Canny opponents will see where your AFs will be entering the Central Zone from and try to avoid lining up his units; if you can, place an AF in each of the Inner Rings, as it's your choice where they emerge from the Central Zone.
The choice between Striking and Strafing depends on what targets are available. ENE AFs should strafe whenever they can; it's only a +2 TN over Striking and the brown-pants factor of multiple targets being hit is enough to draw fire towards the AF that, perhaps, shouldn't be. Striking is more common with non-ENE AFs to maximize damage.
This is another function of AFs: they tend to draw a disproportionate amount of fire away from your groundpounders. Something about showing 'Mech jocks what Death From Above really is kinda frightens them.
COUNTERING FIGHTERSBut what if your friend is the one with the AFs, and you have no way to get rid of them? If you've been reading this guide, you've already got several nasty answers, but I'll spell them out for you here.
First of all, fight fire with fire, especially if he's in the habit of bringing big, slow fighters to the table - a couple of Interceptors can tie up his clunkers in dogfighting indefinitely, as it's a contested roll to end a dogfight if only one party wants it to go on, and an Interceptor is pretty unlikely to lose such a roll.
Second, use units with an FLK value. FLK basically gives a -2 TN against AF units, and even one point of damage causes a lawndart check.
Third, only a few Interceptors deal significant damage after the initial pass, so treat them as the bee-stings they (mostly) are and keep up with your own ground gameplan. If the opposing player drops an expensive fighter on you, or if it's a non-trivial amount of damage from an Interceptor, than by all means bring it down, particularly if you can break its Threshold and force crits.
Remember, Forced Withdrawal works on AFs as well. Fast AFs tend to have 5+ Structure and only 1-3 Armor, meaning that it's a high value to just keep flying them til they crash. Also, unlike other units, there's nothing for an AF to shoot at as it retreats. A player who's bought heavily into the Interceptor mantra will NOT want to use Forced Withdrawal, though we consider it pretty much mandatory at our table.
Is there still something about artillery being able to shoot into the Inner Zone? I misdoubt its usefulness unless it still retains the same TN in the Central Zone. Very few fighters will be loiiering in Inner, and with the reduced damage of artillery the worst that could happen is a zone change to Central, something most fighters would do anyway.
FINAL THOUGHTSI love AFs, if not as much as 'Mechs, and I'm glad that it's so easily integrated into Alpha Strike without being overwhelming - though I will admit, multiple Interceptors slashing across the battlefield can be quite strong! I do wish that the tactics were less slanted towards one extreme or the other, but any modifications we've tried were disastrous.
As a final note, whoever's designing fighters for the Lyrans is a bloody munchkin. First the Eisensturm, now the
Sturnensturm?! It's the only actual Interceptor with Threshold 3 and isn't too shabby at the Striking damage with S4. Thank the Maker there isn't a good ENE configuration, but it is an Omnifighter with 10 tons of pod space. 8 Medium Lasers + 2 DHS? Or 20 Small Lasers? I'm a depraved, sick man! And it's available to mercs too?
