Tactics Tuesday: Dealing with Flyers in Firefight (Part Two)
11th Jul 2017
Rob Burman
Following part one of his guide on how to deal with flyers in Firefight, Joe Neet is back with the second half of his tactical tips! Also, if this inspires you to add your own flyer to your Warpath or Firefight army, they're now available to pre-order from the Mantic website.
Maneuvering
Out maneuvering a flyer will be very difficult, and will likely see you chasing your own tail. Flyers however, have some limitations in where and how they can move. Yes, they are fast and most do not have weapons with a fixed fire arc. So how can you limit a flyer's ability to move?
Let’s look at two key points:
- Flyers must always perform a Move or Double Move action, and MUST end their move at least their Speed value away from their starting position
- Flyers (like any other unit) have to end their Move or Double Move at least 1’’ away from another unit (friend or foe)
These two points may seem simple or obvious, but it becomes a big factor when multiple flyers are roaming the air. For example, the Enforcer’s Accuser Interceptor has a speed of 16. This means that every turn the model must move at least 16” and end up that far from where it started. So depending on where the enemy units are and where your units are will dictate where they can end their move.
This can become a real pain for the player using the flyers as some weapons like the Persecutor Bombers Anti-Infantry and Bunker Buster bombs only have a 12’’ range. So their 14” move has a chance to take them out of range of a valid target.
Saturation & Area Effect
Commonly overlooked, Saturation and Area Effect are also useful weapons for factions that have access to them. Most of the weapons with these rules don’t have the AP necessary to damage some Flyers, but if they are it can be quite the surprise for the enemy!
Saturation allows your weapon to hit on a 3+ regardless of any modifiers. This is fantastic against flyers with their normal -1 to hit penalty when shooting at them.
Area Effect is even better. After performing a shooting action, you can make an additional shooting action against another enemy unit within 6”. This comes in handy when you cannot get to the flyer to shoot it, but by shooting a nearby unit you can still get your shots off.
Conclusion
As you can see flyers are good, really good. It will take great tactics, a well-rounded army, and sound game play to take them out the sky. Flyers left unchecked can absolutely take over a game, so always make sure that your list has some answers and counters to these units. When your opponent decides to be Iceman, don’t leave home without Maverick and Goose!