ATTACK - Combat - Flying

When a unit in flight attacks a unit on the ground, the unit on the ground suffers a + 2 AC penalty.

When a unit in flight fires missiles, treat short range as medium and medium range as long. EXCEPTION: Units using fly spells or carpets of flying suffer no penalties.

If a figure flying with wings receives any hit dice of damage (even if the damage is not sufficient to cause a wound), it must land immediately. It may move 1/3 its normal movement rate (even if it had already moved its full movement rate during the same Game Round) in landing, but must be on the ground at the end of its move. This does not apply to figures with innate or magical flying ability.

A flying figure with a Wound marker cannot take flight again. A flying figure that was forced to land because it received damage but did not receive a wound can take to the air again on the following Game Round.

BOMBING

Flying creatures can carry boulders or other "bombs." This gives them a maneuverability class one worse than normal. For every man-sized weight equivalent in "bombs" dropped, 2d6 damage is caused. Regardless of a victim's armor class, a bomb dropped from low altitude hits as if the victim were AC 10, a bomb from medium altitude hits as if the victim were AC 8, and a bomb from high altitude hits as if its victim were AC 4.

If magical or special "bombs" are to be used, the referee or other players must define their effects in advance.

Melee Combat Options

A flying unit can enter melee combat in one of four different ways:

1. Ground Attack: It can land next to an enemy unit on the ground, moving into contact with the unit as it lands. Normal melee combat rules apply, and the flying unit receives no combat modifiers for being airborne. It can charge into battle (and thus get the normal AD bonus for charging) with this option.

2. Pass-By Attack: It can pass by an enemy unit on the ground or in the air, making a special melee attack and then continuing on with its movement. If the attacker does not have enough movement left to break off contact after the battle, it cannot choose this combat option. Combat occurs when the two units are at altitudes one increment apart (1", or 10 feet in scale). If units come together at the same altitude, combat option 1 (if both units are grounded) or 4 (if both units are airborne) is used.

   Pass-by combat allows figures in a flying unit and in an enemy unit (either flying or on the ground) to attack up or down. Armor rating modifiers for units at higher and lower elevation apply, as do the rules for advantage in melee (see page 41). Since the frontage of the unit is above or below it, all figures that pass over (or under) enemy figures can make attacks. If the unit on the ground is in regular formation, one figure to each side of the contacted figures can attack.

   The number of attack dice for both units is modified to half of the normal amount, after all other modifications have been made. After pass-by combat, the attacking unit must move out of base-to-base contact with the defending unit.

   A flying unit cannot combine a charge and a pass-by attack.

3. Vertical Envelopment: This is a form of combat in which a flying unit attempts to land on top of a land unit, attacking as it does so. The flying figures end their move directly above and adjacent to the land unit. (For purposes of the battle, they occupy the same space as the defending unit, but since the figures cannot be actually stacked on top of one another, the flying unit is simply placed on the battlefield next to the land unit.)

   A vertical envelopment attack is resolved as a normal melee combat. Armor rating modifiers for higher and lower elevation apply, as do the rules on advantage in melee. All figures that would be in contact with the enemy unit (and those to either side, if the unit is in regular formation) can attack.

   This form of attack differs from normal melee combat in one way: After all casualties are removed and morale checks made, one unit or the other must be dislodged from its place on the battlefield, since opposing units can't occupy the same space.

   If the defending unit withdraws or routs from its position, the flying unit can claim that place on the table. If both units stand firm, however, the flying unit must retreat 4" toward its own edge of the table, moving on the ground, and be reduced to shaken status. If this 4" move is not sufficient to remove it from contact with the original defending unit, it rout.

   A unit cannot charge into a vertical envelopment attack.

4. Dogfight: A flying unit can end its move in melee combat with another flying unit at the same elevation, or one increment higher or lower. If the units are not at the same elevation, then all the figures of a unit may be able to contact the enemy, even if both units are several ranks deep.

   A unit can charge into battle with this option. Resolve the melee using the normal rules, with the following addition: Each unit involved in a dogfight loses altitude as a result of the combat. The players roll a d6 for each unit, subtracting that many increments of elevation from the unit's altitude. (On a roll of 6, for instance, the unit descends 6", or 60 feet in scale, from its original altitude.) If a unit lands on the ground, it stops its descent there, but suffers no damage from the landing. If it lands on a friendly unit, that friendly unit automatically routs.

   If a descending unit lands on an enemy unit that was not involved in the dogfight, the enemy unit gets a free attack against all figures of the flying unit that make contact. The flying unit, once on the ground, then automatically routs from that engagement.

   If both combatants in a dogfight descend to the same location on the ground, both of them become routed.