Editing Warhammer 40,000/Tactics/Vehicles 101 (section)

===Flyers: Death from the Skies and You===
*'''An Introduction'''*: When 6th Edition 40k came out, the addition of Flyers as a separate vehicle category was one of controversy. On one hand, flyers possessed multiple layers of defenses (including immunity to Assault), and possessed the ability to come onto Reserves at a critical point, without normal reserve-related risks of Deep Strike Mishaps, or outflanking to the wrong table edge, and subsequently could alpha-strike critical locations of a battlefield. On the other hand, their movement restrictions combined with limited firing arcs to make *most* of them effectively capable of only firing once every other turn. Many Flyer units were added to 40k but of the flyers introduced into 6th Edition, the only one which caused teeth-pulling frustration for its victims was the infamous Heldrake; the best-performing flyers were those from 5th Edition which started off as fast-skimmers beforehand, with the Nightscythe and Vendetta becoming dangerous weapons to wield or endure.

**'''Know your Role:''' This really is the most important part. Aircraft in general fall under several categories, thanks to the 2016 supplement:
***''Bombers:'' Barring a FW-friendly environment, bombers as a primary unit aren't worth taking, simply because most bomb-weapons are overpriced, and they lack the effective threat projection which makes Flyers expensive in the first place. Their main advantage is they provide a limited version of Split Fire/the ability to force additional leadership checks outside of the Shooting phase, as well as providing blast weapons with an unusual attack vector/relative accuracy. Also, due to wording, you can drop a bomb on the invisible squad. However, most bombs are tooled for destroying lightly armored infantry...fast, midfielding lightly armored infantry, and you generally aren't getting too much bang for your buck. 
***''Attack Flyers'': These are the basic flyers you'd usually take. They have guns that can actually hit worth a damn on ground targets. Against flyers however, they're useless.
***''Fighters'': If you find another flyer, take a fighter. These are the ones that can actually get Skyfire via the new rules, so keeping one as backup is always advised in a flyer-heavy meta, or if you want to piss off someone with a lot of Jetbikes and Skimmers, since they also get hit by Skyfire. Anything else, you only take -1 to BS in non-Skyfire cases.
**'''Plan Your Moves Ahead:''' This really is the most important aspect. Flyers have a large dead-zone they cannot move into from one turn to another.  (This area is where we need diagrams, anyone want to help?). In addition, you might also want to hold back on bringing out a flyer if only because the 2016 supplement says that if only one side has flyers in reserves, the other one gets -1 to their reserve rolls.
**'''To Intercept or Not?:''' A classic misconception about flyers is that they have Skyfire by default. This isn't correct. Zooming Flyers can choose whether or not to use the Skyfire special rule at the start of each Shooting phase. If they do, all weapons they fire that phase are treated as having the Skyfire special rule.  Whether they choose to have skyfire or not MUST be done individually, and before any shots are fired.
**'''Crash and Burn:''' So you're penned by some lucky schmuck with missiles or that fancy Mortis Dread.  You have to take a Grounding test, right?  WRONG.  You instead have to worry about the vehicle damage table.  If you ever get Immobilized, you have to roll a d6: on a 3+ you replace it with Crew Stunned, but if you roll a 1 or 2, you're dead. So, you made your 3+ and are still in the air? You are not out of the woods yet. Crew Stunned means your flyer moves forward 18". If you cannot place the base where it has to go (on top of friendly models or less than 1" away from enemy models) you Crash and Burn on your movement phase anyway (zooming flyer forced to move less than 18"). Be mindful of what is or can be placed 18" in front of your flyer. 
***Thanks to the new supplements, you also get two new stats to flyers that can potentially change how things run: Agility, which you need to roll under if you want to make a 90-degree turn, and Pursuit, which comes into play against other flyers. If you get stunned or shaken, these stats get dropped to 0 for the turn. This can potentially alter how moves are planned.
**'''RETURN TO THE COMBAT ZONE:''' There's a good likelihood that if your flyer is zooming that it might luck into a table edge.  In these cases, your plane can flee the combat zone and go back to Ongoing Reserves, with every ding you have.  Upon returning. you're back to zooming.
**'''Hovering Doom:''' If your flyer can hover, you can then turn it into a jumbo-sized Fast Skimmer.  You can only embark and disembark anything you're transporting in hover mode (unless of course if you are a necron). The general disadvantage is that you can be hit by non-Skyfire units now, but in some cases it becomes a scoring unit.

*'''Wings: Squadrons...but for Planes!''': Another new addition to Flyers is the addition of Wings, which allow for a bunch of flyers to take up one spot and be organized in different patterns, which provide special boosts for the wing for the battle. They can be led by Wing Leaders, who gain traits to boost them a little.
**'''Vigilance Attack Pattern''': Have two flyers diagonal from each other. The front Attack Flyer gains +1 BS against ground targets, the front Bomber adds +1 S to their bombs, and the front Fighter gains +1 BS against Flyers. In all cases, the front flyer gains +1 to Jink.
**'''Vehemence Attack Pattern''': Get three flyers, have two of them behind the front one like a triangle. All Attack Flyers gain Tank Hunters against ground targets, Bombers can re-roll Pens and Glances, and Fighters gain Tank Hunters against other flyers.
**'''Intolerance Attack Pattern''': It's like the Vigilance pattern, but with another flyer placed diagonally so they all form a straight line. Everyone gains Ignores Cover, but Fighters only get it against other flyers while Attack Flyers only get it against ground targets.
**'''Unmerciful Attack Pattern''': Three fighters conga-lining one behind the other. When all flyers flat-out, they double their pursuit scores. Attack Flyers also have to attack one ground target with up to four weapons, with the second one getting +1 BS and the second one getting +2 BS. Bombers can make a Bombing Run during the Flat-Out if they didn't fire in the previous Movement phase, with the second one reducing scatter by 1" and the third reducing scatter by 2". Fighters have to attack one flyer with up to four weapons, with the second one getting +1 BS and the second one getting +2 BS. 
**'''Indomitable Attack Pattern''': It's a cross between Vehemence and Intolerance. All flyers gain the rules from both patterns as well as the Vigilance Pattern.
**'''Omniscience Attack Pattern''': Four flyers standing shoulder to shoulder (wing to wing?). They gain Preferred Enemy against one kind of unit (So Dakkajets, Heldrakes, etc.) for the whole fight. Pretty weak, to be honest.
**'''Fortitude Attack Pattern''': Four Flyers form up like a box, giving them all 4+ Invuln, IWND, and Interceptor. All of which is rather cool.

*'''Dogfights''': The other new addition from the <s>2016 Death from the Skies</s> 2012 Crusade of Fire is a whole extra phase for flyers in reserve, which can lead to some fuckery in the reserves if you win.
**''Interception'': Roll a die, +1 for more Fighters, -1 for more Bombers. Winner gets to pick two flyers from their reserve and one enemy flyer in reserve for the dogfight, which will take place on a side-field.
**''Engage'': Both sides roll d3. There's a table that cross-references what results take place depending on what they roll, with the winner choosing whether they want to move 12" closer or further (Increases to 24" if the winner's pursuit value is 2 higher than the loser's).
**''Manoeuvre'': Roll d3 again. Cross-reference another table for results. Winner can force their opponent to turn 90 degress (180 if the winner's pursuit value is 2 higher than the loser's) or have their flyers jink for the phase.
**''Attack'': Yet ANOTHER cross-reference table with d3's, with the result being who fires first. Now comes the actuall fighting. When both flyers are facing head-on, they can only snap-fire, while if one's behind the other, the one behind gets to fire at full BS in all cases, while the front one can only snap-fire. In any other case, everyone but Fighters can only snap-fire, while Fighters fire at full BS. If any flyers crash and burn, they roll a table to either crash on your edge, the enemy's edge, or not at all. Anyone else just hops back into reserve.
*'''Note''': Many people tend to ignore the 2016 supplement, especially if one player doesn't own it. In some cases an entire flgs will have a soft ban on it or just prefer not to use it. Find out with your local group before hand, it could mean the difference on which fliers you bring or leave behind.

[[Category:Warhammer 40000 Tactics(7E)]]