Battle Report: Aeronuatica Imperialis V1

[Easy E]

It has been a long time since I have played any battles for Operation: Hemlock at all!  Here is a quick recap of where we are at with the campaign.  This is Aeronautica Imperialis V.1 by Forgeworld.   

Here is a summary of where Operation: Hemlock left off.  The Orks of Da' Deff Islands on the planet of Ammoriss have been a thorn in the side of Imperial authorities for too long.  After the Battle of Ammoriss an influx of Orks to the planet made the situation untenable.  Operation: Hemlock is a joint effort by local PDF forces and off-world Imperial forces. 

The Orks had initial success as they managed to launch an attack on the nearby island of Baron's Rest from their base in the "Green Zone".  However, their initial thrust there was thwarted by PDF troops near Camp Hope(less).  Ork reinforcements by sea have mostly been stymied by the Ammoriss Naval PDF. 

The superior logistics of the Imperial and Ammoriss war machine has paid off as the troops in Da' Deff  Islands have been well supplied despite the best efforts of Ork subs.  The only bright spot for the Orks has been their relative dominance in keeping Imperials from getting air superiority in the Islands.  The Orks have had localized success by landing troops and managing to take-over various oil rigs and platforms on the approaches to Da' Deff Islands.  This puts them in position to hamper those supply lines from the air. 

With local defeats mounting, Warboss Skarbash has been withdrawing and fortifying his position in the Green Zone, the most heavily infested island in Da' Deff Islands.  His best chance is to gain air superiority and he therefore has been devoting his resources from building warships to building fightaz and Bombaz, and getting more Air Boyz.  This has not gone over well with all of his boyz.   

That brings us to today's battle:

Gorerippa squinted down at the blue expanse stretching out below him.  It was tough to see where the Oomie ships were, they were pretty tiny on this vast blue desert.  He kept his eyes down, while his boss scanned the sky looking for bogeys.  The spotterz had called out a wake sighting, so there was a good chance a straggler transport ship was about. 

His radio crackled and hissed to life, "Red Toof Boyz.... sighted an Oomie transport at...... 11 o'clock low."

Gorerippa turned his head and used a free hand to shade his eyes from the sun.  Yup, out there was a ship.  Small at this height and distance.  Da Boss plane turned, and Gorerippa followed suit to stay with him.  He checked his weapons, and tapped his fuel gauge to make sure he could get there.  Everything looked good. 

As they approached the target, it must have seen them as it started to zig-zag to be harder to hit.  It's white wake marker slashing here and there across the ocean.

Da Boss grunted across the radio, "Red Toof Boyz, we gotta sink dat boat.  Gorerippa, stay on me.  The rest of yuze, watch out.  Oomie fightaz are about."

Gorerippa clicked twice to acknowledge.  Da Boss pushed his plane forward, and Gorerippa followed suit.  Then, the radio sputtered again, "We got Oomiez coming in hot, up top."

A quick glance up and he saw him racing across the sky.  They were going to mix it up before they would get to the ship.  Looks like this was going to be turning into a scrap.   

Forces:
As a note, many of the Aeronautica Imperialis aircraft I use are scratch built affairs that I sculpted by hand with various materials.  My "collection" fell into the grey area between when Forgeworld was supporting the game with releases, and the invention of 3D printing.  Therefore, most of the stuff on display was lovingly created by me with stats built for various "Narrative Campaigns" on the old Airspace Forum between editions and after the death of the Specialist Games range.

This mission will use the following forces.

Air PDF
3 PDF Sentinel Fighters
2 PDF Sentry w/skystrikes

Ork Air Waaagh!
2 Waaaagh! Bommaz
2 Ork Fightaz

Mission:
Today we will be playing a Ship Attack mission, with the target being a freighter.  The Orks are trying to sink it while the Imperials need to defend it. The freighter was separated from their convoy due to engine problems, and now it must survive the Ork air attack in order to make it to port.

The Imperial Freighter is a 4 hit ground target that is armed with a single Hydra mounted on it.  It has 4 hits.   If it is destroyed, it will explode in a 2d6 radius to deadly effect to any aircraft in the area.

Set-up:
The freighter is placed 18 inches in from the Imperial short board edge and 12 inches in from the long board edge.  The Imperial aircraft are placed in two groups on the short board edge.  The Sentry group is mid-altitude and full speed coming for the freighter.  The Sentinels are coming in fast and high to the freighter's starboard. 



The Orks are coming in on the center of their board edge, 6 inches in.  They are all at Mid-altitude and coming in at mid-speeds.  They are not trying to be canny on their approach vectors. 



You can read the rest of this report and other Operation: Hemlock battle reports at the Blood and Spectacles blog if you are so inclined.
http://bloodandspectacles.blogspot.com/2022/10/battle-report-aeronautica-imperialis-v1.html