Reasonable bonus for an Aeronautica Imperialis: HH game to tie-in with an AoD 30k game?

[N1SB]

I just got an idea to tie Aeronautica Imperialis: the Horus Heresy with an actual Age of Darkness 30k game proper, wanted to run it by you guys.

 

We've been playing a lot of AI, it's fun, fast, yet has a lot of depth to it, and I just took a look at the Astartes planes and they're actually really good.  Yes, I know, PLASTIC THUNDERHAWKS, but guess what, they're genuinely competitive imho against all the other Bombers in the game, and they offer a different playstyle.  So what do I mean by Astartes planes being really good?  Well, unlike other factions imho, they're so balanced that there are no clear winners or losers in the Astartes air force; I believe you can pick your Astartes Fighters and Bombers based on looks alone, just remember boys before toys and leave upgrades for spare points at the end, and you'd got a competitive list with its own strategy.  To contrast, the Tau Aeronautica list that I've been playing since the start, there's clearly 1 best plane for its points (it's the Tiger Shark with the Railguns/Lascannon equivalents).

 

There's a lot of potential interest in our meta (i.e. everyone wants an excuse to buy a Plastic Thunderhawk or 2) and I think it meaningfully ties with AoD/30k.

 

Here's my idea: before a major AoD/30k game, we play a AI:HH game, the winner of which will get Initiative/starting turn for the actual AoD/30k game.

 

The game mechanic idea is this: HH ver. 1.0, 6th and 7th ed (actually most editions of 40k), 1st turn advantage counts for a lot, and it's just the luck of a dice roll instead of actual strategic considerations.  If we turn that into something we gotta earn, that'd be kinda fun.  But isn't 1st turn advantage very important in AI?  Not at all, if anything, it's whoever shoots 1st in Turn 2 (when our little Epic-scale planes finally get within range of each other) matters, and then we still roll for initiative every subsequent turn.  In HH ver. 2.0, 1st turn advantage is mitigated slightly with Reactions, but can still count for quite a bit.

 

The narrative idea is as follows.  Before hell on Earth, it's war in the Heavens, the opposing Legions are fighting for aerial superiority.  They're trying to clear the air space for the ground troops, so whoever wins the aerial battle kinda gives that 1st turn advantage to the Brothers on the ground.  It's like they're clearing the landing zone or whatever.

 

TL;DR - what do you think of using a game of AI:HH to determine 1st turn initiative in AoD/30k please?  Not married to the idea.  Is it meaningful?  Is it too big an advantage or disadvantage?  Is it not enough to warrant a 30 to 45-minute game of AI:HH?  Maybe not for every game, but perhaps like a major 2 vs. 2 battle or something, I dunno.  Thanks in advance for your ideas.

[Petitioner's City]

This feels like something straight out of an older Imperial Armour ! Fantastic :)

[Hfran Morkai]

Seems good occasionally as you mention.

 

Obviously narrative campaigns would be awesome with this:  opening with Battlefleet, maybe Zone Mortalis boarding actions, AI/drop pod attack/defense games.

 

That's what I'd do for a campaign system

[Colman]

I’d been wondering how to do that, and initiative seems like a good thing to do it with.

[Xenith]

It's a great idea, and you can do the same with Titanicus, having it impact the game you're playing. 

 

bonus to first turn is still quite strong. Other things you could do are:

 

• air superiority causes losing side to go to ground - losers suffer -1 Ld in turn 1. 
• harried reserves: -1 to reserve rolls
• direct intervention - each surviving plane on the winning AA side can attack the main game each with their weapons before the start of the first turn, resolved by the grand warlord on the winning side - this can lead to a game of 'take down the thunderhawk before it nukes us'. 
• winning side gets one free flyer used in the AA game for the duration of the apoc game.