The biggest failing with the original flyer rules was that it encourages huge flyer hordes rather than just a few flyers.
A small flyer force was quickly wiped out by a bigger one and anti-aircraft and infantry would quickly "run out of ammo" against a large number of flyers. We can't just redo the power of flyers to remedy this because then it would become very unattractive to take any flyers at all. Infantry running out of ammo is already taken care of by the rules but are still rather weak against flyers (as they should be) we need to do something with the AA too.
Here's are the new rules for anti-aircraft units:
AA batteries cant take First Fire orders. Instead they take Anti-Air (AA) orders (use the first fire counter). They fire against Air Units on Anti-Air orders only and against ground units on Advance orders. AA batteries on Anti-Air orders can move at their normal advance rate. Titans Praetorians & vehicles with both AA capable and other weapons, can fire with their AA weapons against attacking thrusters on First Fire or Advance orders (or if they are command units) If they do, they cant fire with those weapons against ground units but may fire later with other weapons.
When you fire with an AA battery (or AA weapon) against an attacking thruster detachment, you can no longer save some of its attack dice for later use. You have to deal all the attack dice from the firing battery to the thrusters on the attacking detachment before rolling to hit and if some of the models in the battery are out of range or LOS their attack dice are simply wasted. You can however decide to use or not to use one battery after resolving another fire from infantry and/or another batteries. Each separate AA weapon on a titan, praetorian or vehicle count as a separate battery. Weapons with single line on a vehicle's profile count as one weapon even if the weapons name is in plural and/or the model has several barrels (ie. Thundereagles lascannons is one weapon and aft-lasers is one). Many AA weapons can however attack against more than one attacking thruster detachment each turn. This is represented by attribute called Number of Attack or NoA for short. An AA battery/weapon can fire a maximum number of times equal to its NoA during a turn but it can fire only once (with all its attack dice though) against each attacking detachment. A battery can have unlimited NoA, which means that it can fire against each and every attacking thruster detachment in range.
Flak type AA relies more on filling the skies with flying debris than accuracy. They are generally rapid-fire weapons that fire shells that explode in mid air. Flak type batteries have Flack Points (FP) analogous to Barrage Points of artillery.
When a flck type artillery fires against attacking thruster detachment roll to hit once against each thruster in the detachment. The roll needed "to hit" is determined using the same table an artillery units to hit value is determined. This is done by using the firing batterys total Flak Points instead of Barrage Points. They receive a +1 to hit if they are within 10cm of the attacking detachments targeting marker. (Count the range from the closest model in the battery.) Most Flak type weapons also have unlimited NoA, making them very good at keeping large airforces away.
AA weapons often have double profiles, in witch case they have different statistics when firing against ground units and air units. Profile against air targets is marked with (A) after the weapons name and profile against Ground targets is marked with (G). Many flak type weapons fire barrages against ground troops but such barrages can only be fired against troops on line of sight and does not affect buildings.
AA units may only attack ground troops on advance orders. Also units on Anti-aircraft orders may also MOVE (if possible) their standard advance move.
Troop Type |
Move |
Save |
CAF |
Weapon |
Range |
Flak |
Roll To Hit |
Target |
NoA | Cost |
Scorpion auto-AA laser |
10cm* |
None |
-3 |
Lascannon(A) |
75cm |
1 |
5+ |
-2 |
1 |
100 per |
Hydra Flak Gun |
15cm |
5+ all |
0 |
Flak Gun (A) Flak Gun (G) |
50cm* 50cm* |
2FP 2BP |
6+ 6+ |
-1 0 |
Unlimited |
150 per |
The Scorpion is a Tarantula variant that serves as static anti-aircraft defense.
*The Scorpion may only move on charge orders in which case it moves up to 10cm. It does not move on AA orders and it cant take advance orders at all, it cant fire against ground targets (its robotic controls are programmed top target air units only). On the upside, its robotic brains make it immune to morale checks. Scorpion is very common piece of equipment and Space Marine, Chaos Space Marine, and Squat forces can also use them.
Troop Type |
Move |
Save |
CAF |
Weapon |
Range |
Flak |
Roll To Hit |
Target |
NoA | Cost |
Firestorm |
25cm (s) |
3+ all |
+2 |
Laser battery(A) Laser Battery(G) |
75cm 50cm |
3 3 |
4+ 4+ |
-2 -1 |
3 |
200 per |
Firestorm is a skimmer like most Eldar vehicles. They may not make pop-up attacks
Troop Type |
Move |
Save |
CAF |
Weapon |
Range |
Flak |
Roll To Hit |
Target |
NoA | Cost |
Magna Kannon |
20cm |
4+ |
0 |
Elektro-magnet(A) Elektro-magnet(G) |
75cm 75cm |
1 1 |
4+ 4+ |
-4 -2 |
1 |
250 per |
Flakwagon |
25cm |
4+ |
+1 |
Flak Gun (A) Flak Gun (G) |
50cm* 50cm* |
2FP 2BP |
6+ 6+ |
-1 0 |
Unlimited |
200 per |
Flakwagon can carry up to 2 Ork troop stands.
Magna Kannon firing against ground targets may only fire against skimmers. Magna Kannon battery is a mekboy card (flakwagon battery is not).
Multiple Magna Kannon or Flakwagon batteries dont mend into a single mob but stay as separate formations. They add +2 to break point and +2 for the flakwagons and +3 for Magna Kannons to the VP value of the clan they are attached per battery. They are subject to the Ork Command Rule.
Troop Type |
Move |
Save |
CAF |
Weapon |
Range |
Flak |
Roll To Hit |
Target |
NoA | Cost |
Thunderfire Flak Cannon |
5cm* |
3+ all |
-3 |
Flack Cannon(A) Flack Cannon(G) |
75cm 75cm |
4FP 4BP |
5+ 5+ |
-2 -1 |
Unlimited |
300 per |
The Thunderfire is a huge flak gun that has to be stabilised well for its recoil. It can only move when on Charge orders in that case it moves up to 5cm and may not fire at any targets.
The basic ground work is laid out above the Net Epic Discussion group is currently developing variants of thrusters and flak guns for all armies and will appear in the next issue of Incoming!