Book Review: Death from the Skies

I’m a bit late with this one, but a back injury had me house-bound during this book’s release. I’ve only just picked up the book and given it my first read-through, and wanted to process my thoughts as a kind of stream of consciousness here on the blog. The book is very much a mixed bag, but I will attempt to flesh out my reasons for saying that as I go along.

First, we have the additional stats for Flyer profiles going forward, in the form of Pursuit, Agility, and Combat Role. Each of these influence the way a Flyer interacts with the rest of the game. High Pursuit values give Flyers the ability to move faster when moving Flat Out, and also help them in the initial phase of Dogfighting. Agility determines how easily Flyers can outmaneuver each other in the mid-phase of Dogfighting, and also determines how likely they are to make an additional turn in the Movement Phase.

Combat Role is worth a slightly deeper look. Flyers no longer come stock with Skyfire; this is no longer the case. Fighters have Skyfire still, as their purpose is to defeat other aircraft before they complete their missions. Attack Flyers and Bombers, however, have lost their access to Skyfire. There may be some exceptions I’m missing right now, but this means that many factions have lost their ability to fight Flyers with Flyers. For some, such as Tau Empire, this doesn’t change much. For others, like the Blood Angels and Dark Eldar, this leaves them up the proverbial creek indeed.

To bring balance to this new way of playing, it is vital that each faction get access to a Fighter and either an Attack Flyer or a Bomber. Space Marines, of course, immediately had this role filled for them, but many other factions are left with little to no recourse at this point. I think this approach could be good for the game, but a wider selection of models needs to come into the aircraft range to make this style of battle plausible.

I feel that the new Flyers for the Orks and the Space Marines are both interesting additions to the game. Taken by itself, the Ork Blastjet feels very weak on paper. It simply doesn’t have the Ballistic Skill to make any use of the high-quality, low-quantity lead it will be throwing. I understand the argument for the blast weapons it is capable of using, but I also feel the Smasha Gun would have been much cooler if the model had been able to fire it at Ballistic Skill 3. Even if the justification was for that gun only, and that a hapless Grot had been welded into a belly blister to fire at enemy ground forces.

For far fewer points, you can get access to the Stormhawk Interceptor. This thing is significantly cheaper than the Blastjet. It has better Ballistic Skill, better Pursuit and Agility values, and far superior weapons. In short, it is better at everything for less points cost. The only weakness it has in comparison with the Ork Flyer is one less Hull Point. I don’t think this will enter into play very often, considering its incredibly high Front Armor value.

With all those positives about the Stormhawk, I would be remiss if I didn’t also point out a big marketing failure on the part of Games Workshop. The Stormhawk would have made an excellent addition to the arsenals of the Dark Angels, Blood Angels, Grey Knights, and Space Wolves. Particularly I’m looking at the Blood Angels and Grey Knights, as the other two specialist chapters at least have their own flavor in the skies. Leaving this weapon out is a huge middle finger to Blood Angels and Grey Knights players, as they are left even further behind in the air war now that they cannot Skyfire with their Stormravens. Games Workshop not only alienated them further from competition by denying access to this Flyer, but they also cost themselves a significant number of sales for the kit. Unless there are specific Fighters coming for these factions in the very near future (and we all know that isn’t the case), this was a big mistake on their part.

I also wanted to touch on the Dogfight phase that is reintroduced in this book. I think the idea is a solid one, and could definitely be molded to make a better game for players. However, it is going to need a significant bit of polishing before it truly shines.

First, Agility and Pursuit values play far too high of a role in the Dogfight phase. Eldar and Dark Eldar Flyers will almost never be attacked, barring a good bit of luck from their opponent. This means that there is little incentive for other players to even initiate a Dogfight, unless they lose the roll to determine if a dogfight will be waged. Either Agility and Pursuit need to be reflected in a model’s points cost (not my advice, as they play so little role elsewhere in the game turn), or they need to play less of a role in determining who gets to shoot the other in the Dogfighting phase.

Secondly, numbers of Flyers in Reserve need to be taken into consideration. As it stands now, a single Fighter can pick on an enemy Fighter, even if four of them are in Reserve together. In real warfare such a decision is tantamount to suicide, and it should be somewhat reflected in the Dogfighting rules. There should be some way for multiple cheaper Flyers to gang up on a tougher opponent, rather than simply having to die before they are allowed to enter the table. Again I go back to the Eldar example; one Crimson Hunter should not be able to pick off one Dakkajet with no recourse, if there are four of them sitting in Reserves together, waiting to come on in a formation.

Multiple dogfights each turn would also go a long way toward fixing this issue. It seems like nothing more than a lazy tack-on to allow players to go through this process, but only use one of their planes to do it. I understand the balance issue of allowing a squadron of Stormhawks to kill every single Sunshark Bomber before they even get to enter play, but I think the rules should be adjusted to allow for multiple Dogfights. If it is going to be a part of the game, then the models that are eligible should all be able to compete. It makes the Dogfighting phase feel like an excuse to sell more Flyers, more than an opportunity to expand the game and make it more evocative.

With a little work, I think this addition to the rules of Flyers can make a nice change to the game. My group is already talking about playing games where we simply add Flyer wings to the agreed-upon points total, so that the aircraft aren’t taking away from our overall combat efficiency. Still, the book needs a lot more thought before it can reach a point where it fits in with the rest of the Warhammer 40,000 ruleset.