Movement
Mode Movement Code
Aerodyne a
Airship i
Spheroid p
introduction Step 1: verify Line of Sight
An airborne aerospace unit always has LOS to a ground unit, unless the ground unit is not completely submerged, underground, or inside a structure. While submerged units and units concealed by structures may not be targeted directly, the spot they occupy may be chosen for a bombing attack.
Step 2: verify Firing Arc
For all intents and purposes, an air-to-ground attack is always within an aerospace unit’s firing arc, but because an aerospace unit overflying the ground map must designate a linear flight path over the terrain, any targets chosen by the aerospace unit must lie within an inch of the unit’s path (to either side). the specifics of each air-to-ground attack type are further explained below.
For convenience, templates are provided at the back of this book to aid in plotting air-to-ground strafing and bombing attacks. this includes Area of Effect (AOE) templates for bombs, and a 2-inch wide strafing guide template. these templates may be photocopied for use in planning and resolving air-to-ground attacks.
Strafing Attacks: In a strafing run, the attacking aerospace unit identifies a 10-inch long stretch along its flight path over the ground map that will be subject to its strafing run. this stretch is 2 inches wide (centered on the unit’s flight path, and all ground units or landed aerospace units in that stretch—
friend or foe—will be subject to this attack. All strafing attacks use the aerospace unit’s forward arc weapons (even if the unit has multiple firing arcs).
Striking Attacks: In the striking attack, the aerospace unit targets a specific unit within its flight path. Aerodyne DropShips, small craft, and fighter units, will attack this target using their forward weapons; spheroid DropShips must use their aft arc weapons for the strike attack.
Altitude Bombing: Similar to a strafe attack—but with bombs—altitude bombing allows an aerospace unit with the BOmB special ability to select 2 or more points of impact (POIs) along its flight path, attacking each point with a minimum of 1 bomb point per 2 inches along the path. Each successful bomb attack delivered when altitude bombing will use its designated point for the center of impact, affecting any targets within a radius determined by the type of bomb used. If the aerospace unit carries multiple bomb types, it may determine which bombs target which points of impact. (Battle armor with BOmB special abilities may not attempt altitude bombing attacks.)
Dive Bombing: An aerospace unit with the BOmB special ability may perform a dive bomb attack against a single point of impact (POI) along its flight path, using one, some, or all of its bomb points to attack. A successful bombing attack will use this point as the center of impact, affecting any targets within a radius determined by the type of bomb used. (Dive bombing is also available to battle armor units that possess the BOmB special ability and which are hovering over the target hex using VtOL movement.)
Landing and Liftoff
Under standard Alpha Strike rules, aerospace units are treated as airborne or grounded through the entire game scenario, so landing and liftoff rules do not appear in this chapter. Players wishing to incorporate aerospace landing and liftoff rules in their Alpha Strike games must consult the Aerospace Units on the Ground Map rules, in the Advanced Options chapter (see pp. 70-73).
Air-to-Air Engagements
If aerospace units from opposing sides end their turn in the same zone, they may engage in air-to-air combat. Aerospace units still engaged in air-to-air combat from the previous turn cannot move out of the zone they are in until the engagement is over. An aerospace unit must be free of all engagements before it can move to a new zone (see Air-to-Air Combat, p. 58).
AbStrAct AeroSpAce
combAt
Unless an aerospace unit is large enough to feature multiple firing arcs, each aerospace unit in the abstract aerospace system may deliver only one attack per turn. Aerospace units in the Central Zone can declare air-to-ground attacks, while aerospace units occupying the same Radar map zone can declare air-to-air attacks against opposing aerospace units.
Aerospace units declaring air-to-ground attacks may choose between four types of attacks: strafing, striking, altitude bombing, or dive-bombing—but bombing attacks may only be made by aerospace units that possess the Bomb (BOmB#) special ability.
As with ground units that have such abilities, aerospace units that have Overheat Values (OV) must announce their intention to use OV points to increase their attack damage.
Using overheat for aerospace units follows the same rules as presented for ground units in standard Alpha Strike (see Overheating, p. 44). Overheat damage cannot be combined with air-to-ground bombing attacks.
RESOLvING AEROSPACE AIR-TO-GROUND ATTACKS the sequence for resolving air-to-ground attacks—
regardless of type—follows the same process as weapon attacks in standard Alpha Strike:
Step 1: Verify line of sight (LOS) Step 2: Verify firing arc Step 3: Determine range Step 4: Determine to-hit number Step 5: Roll to hit
Step 6: Determine and apply damage Step 7: Roll for critical hits (if applicable)
In the Strafing Diagram (at left), the attacking player decides to perform a strafing run and chooses his attack path to maximize damage to his opponent. His strafing attack targets ’Mechs A and B, and infantry C, of his opponents’ forces.
While the attacker is careful to keep his attack path away from his ’Mech D, he will be forced to make a strafing attack on his Battle Armor E because it lies within the strafing attack path.
The bombing diagram shows the previous example, but instead the attacker has decided to perform an altitude bombing. He chooses a path clear of his ’Mech D and Battle Armor E, and sets the first POI directly over ’Mech B. He decides to continue to a second POI, which must be 2 inches away along the attack path, landing on the edge of a light woods template. The diagram shows the area of effect if HE bombs are used; the bombs dropped on POI 1 affect ’Mech B, and the bombs dropped on POI 2 affect infantry C.
Step 3: Determine Range
Regardless of the type of attack used, air-to-ground attacks always occur at Short range.
Step 4: Determine To-Hit Number
the Aerospace to-Hit modifiers table provides additional to-hit modifiers that are used in abstract aerospace combat.
When delivering an air-to-ground attack, aerospace units use the attacking unit’s Skill rating as its base to-hit number, as well as any modifiers for damage done to the attacking aerospace unit (such as previous Crew Hit of Fire Control Hit critical hits). Bombing attacks do not apply modifiers for the target’s movement, type, or terrain, but all other air-to-ground attacks must apply these modifiers.
Step 5: Roll to Hit
Roll 2D6 for each unit and compare the total to the modified to-hit number identified in the previous step. If the dice roll equals or exceeds the modified to-hit number, the attack is successful.
Otherwise, the attack fails.
Strafing: Unlike most Alpha Strike attacks, strafing (and bombing) requires multiple attack rolls to resolve. For strafing, an attack roll is made for all of the targets within the strafing attack area. Successful attacks will deliver strafing damage to the targets, while failed attacks miss them entirely.
Striking: Striking attacks require only one attack roll to resolve.
Successful striking attacks will deliver the unit’s standard attack damage to the target, while failed attacks miss entirely.
Bombing: As with strafing attacks, multiple attack rolls must be made, with one made for every bomb dropped, rather than as a single attack roll. If For every bomb attack that fails, the attacker must roll 1D6 to determine the direction the individual bomb will “scatter”. Using the Area of Effect template, with the
“1” location indicating the direction of the aerospace unit’s flight, the numbers in parentheses indicate the 3 possible directions bombs will scatter from a failed altitude-bombing attack, while the numbers outside of the parentheses indicate the 6 possible directions a failed dive bombing attack will scatter.
LIGHT WOODS TEMPLATE
LIGHT WOODS TEMPLATE
LIGHT WOODS TEMPLATE
LIGHT WOODS TEMPLATE
•
strafingdiagram•
•
bombingdiagram•
introduction Each bomb carried (up to the unit’s maximum BOmB special
ability value), will reduce the aerospace unit’s current thrust by 1, to a minimum thrust rating of 1. thus, for each bomb the unit drops in combat, it reclaims 1 thrust point.
High Explosive (HE) Bombs: HE bombs deliver 2 points of damage to all ground targets within an AOE of 2 inches from the point of impact.
Cluster Bombs: Cluster bombs deliver 1 point of damage to all ground targets within an AOE of 6 inches from the point of impact.
Inferno Bombs: Inferno bombs deliver 2 points of Heat effects to all targets within an AOE of 2 inches from the point of impact. Against units that do not use a Heat Scale, deliver this effect as 2 points of damage instead.
Step 7: Roll for Critical Hits
Critical hits from air-to-ground attacks are resolved in the same manner under the abstract aerospace system as they are in standard Alpha Strike weapon attacks. As in standard Alpha Strike, all units (except infantry and battle armor) can suffer critical hits.
When the conditions for a critical hit check are met (as described below), the attacker rolls 2D6 and consults the Determining Critical Hits table for the appropriate unit type (see p. 40). If the target is an aerospace unit, use the Determining Aerospace Critical Hit table (see p. 58). the target’s controlling player must then note any Critical Hits clearly on the unit’s card. All critical hit effects will persist for the remainder of the scenario.
If a given critical hit effect does not apply to the unit in question (for example, a weapon hit on a unit that has already had all of its damage values reduced to zero), apply 1 additional point of damage to the unit instead, but do not roll for additional critical hits as a result of this extra damage.
Once direction is determined, a second 1D6 roll result—multiplied by 2—will then determine how many inches away from the original POI the missed bomb will actually land.
Step 6: Determine and Apply Damage When determining and applying damage from an air-to-ground attack, damage is always delivered to the target’s front arc, regardless of the unit’s actual facing relative to the aerospace unit’s line of attack.
DropShip Attacks: the damage from a DropShip air-to-ground attack is based on the firing arc used to deliver the attack. Strafing attacks by DropShips always use the unit’s front arc weapons, while striking attacks by DropShips use the unit’s rear weapon arc if the unit is a spheroid DropShip. Grounded DropShips will have multiple firing arcs—grounded spheroid DropShips use their side-arc weapons against other ground units, and their front-arc weapons against airborne targets;
grounded aerodyne DropShips may fire
into front, side, and aft arcs against ground targets, and use their forward-arc weapons against airborne targets.
Strafing Damage: the damage from a successful strafing attack is equal to half of the aerospace unit’s Short range damage value (rounded normally, to a minimum of 1 point), with any overheat damage added after halving the base damage.
Striking Damage: the damage from a successful striking attack is equal to the aerospace unit’s Short range damage value, plus any overheat damage effects.
Bombing Damage: the exact damage or effects of a bombing attack is based on the type of bomb used (see Bomb Types, below), but will affect any ground targets within the area of effect radiating from the point of impact where the bomb landed. If the bomb strikes a water feature, it will deliver this damage to the surface of the water in the same fashion, but may also affect targets submerged beneath the water feature. to determine if a submerged unit is within the radius of a bomb hit on the water, add its depth (in inches) to its distance from the point of impact. Remember that underwater damage is halved (round normally, to a minimum of 1), but will also trigger an automatic critical hit check, even if the unit still has armor points.
Bomb Types
the three most common types of bombs are as noted below. Additional bomb types are detailed in the Advanced Options chapter (see Alternate Bomb Munitions, pp. 78-79).
the types of bombs an aerospace unit carries (if any) must be identified at the start of play. If no bombs are identified at the start of play, the aerospace unit will be presumed to carry no bombs at all. Airborne VtOL or WiGE +1
Small Craft –1
Attacker is a Drone +1
Attacker is Grounded DropShip –2 Attacker is tailing the target –2 Attacker is Support Vehicle with:
Advanced Fire Control (AFC) +0 Basic Fire Control (BFC) +1 No AFC or BFC special +2 Fire Control Hit (per hit) +2**
Overheating +Heat Level (1-3)