Well, TANKS-giving at Drawbridge Games (Pittsburgh, PA) was a great success, with ten players and almost 50 vehicles for a night of silly blasting-and-betraying fun. So we thought “Why not another?” And thus the idea for Dogfight December was born. Again, a chance to gather a group together, move some paired models around, have some fun, and win some prizes. This time with all the Flyers we have for our forces!
WHEN: Thursday, December 16th. Set-up for game, pictures, and painting accomplishments inspection at 7pm, dice start at 7:30pm.
WHY: A motivation to paint flyers (and select skimmers) of all types for our 40k armies, and then to field them in one glorious free-for-all battle. Fun at the event, motivation for painting new things, and prizes for the winners are the reason we do these.
WHAT: Players will bring a flight team consisting of two painted Flyers (or selected skimmers) to compete for aerial supremacy. Each flight team will indicate a “Primary” and a “Wingman”, and players are strongly encouraged to come up with call signs for the pair. The goals of the game will be to rack the most confirmed kills while surviving as long as you can. If for some reason you can only field a single painted flyer, that’s fine–you just lost your Wingman in your tragic backstory! Models need to be painted to tabletop standard (the general 3 colors approach).
HOW: There will be a door prize raffle with some great 40k prizes as always for our big events. Everyone who shows up with a painted force of two flyers (or selected skimmers), gets one name entry. For each plane that you have shared in advance in built- or primed-only form (post on the Drawbridge Events page), and bring painted, you’ll get an extra ticket with your name in the prize drawing. The winners will get five extra tickets with their name in the drawing, including both competition victories as well as best painted Flight Team. As for the game, we’ll use the playing card system as often is the case with our big events: each round every player will be dealt a card that will determine turn order after turn one. Turn one is slightly different, as more expensive (by PL) flyer teams will have to enter the board first (in order), which will help balance out the advantage of having more capable vehicles. Finally, eliminated players will have a special way to affect the battle even when they’ve been shot down.
WHO: You! Entry is free for Drawbridge Gatecrasher Members (only $35 for the entire year, and includes 10% discount on all purchases for that year plus 20% on select pre-orders), and $5 for non-members.
SPECIAL RULES: Flight Teams use their formation to protect each other. Thus, when targeting in your shooting phase you simply indicate which other Flight Team(s) in range of your weapons you’re targeting. The “Wingman” of the pair is always hit and wounded first. Until they’re downed, the Primary does not take damage. Accordingly, Wingmen may choose to fly more defensively than their Primary partner. Each of their active turns they choose to fly more defensively, the Wingmen halve the number of shots and range of their weapons (rounding up). But if they do so, they get a 4+++ “Feel No Pain” style save against wounds (replaces rather than stacks with any similar rules they might have). When the Wingman plane has been eliminated, the Primary can itself choose to fly more defensively for the same benefit (and automatically gains this condition if its Wingman was shot down while using this mode, until the start of its next turn). Another special rule situation is Close Combat. Flyers without specific close combat weapons cannot choose to enter close combat with others. Flyers with close combat weapons in their profile can choose to charge in their turn as normal, but can only charge a single model (must choose the Wingman if they are present). The other model in the pair can automatically fire overwatch at the charging model to protect them. At the end of any close combat phases that happen, the attacked model is moved 1″ out of range of the attacker, and neither are counted as “in combat” (so can move away, shoot, or be shot at as normal).
So what can you bring? The list below has everything that we’re permitting. If something is missing let me know and we can talk about adding it (almost all Lord of War Flyers are not allowed, along with sort of “super heavy” choices).
| Space Marines | Arvus Lighter, Corvus Blackstar, Dark Shroud*, Dark Talon, Hailstrike*, Hammerstrike*, Logan Grimnar*, Nephilim, Storm Fang, Storm Hawk, Storm Raven, Storm Talon, Storm Wolf, Thunderstrike*, Vengeance*, Xiphon |
| Armies of the Imperium** | Arvus Lighter, Avenger, Lightning, Sky Talon, Thunderbolt, Valkyrie, Vendetta, Vulture |
| Ad Mech | Arvus Lighter, Fusilave, Stratoraptor, Transvector |
| Chaos | Arvus Lighter, Avenger, Burning Chariot of Tzeentch*, Helldrake, Hell Blade, Hell Talon, Lightning, Sky Talon, Thunderbolt, Valkyrie, Vendetta, Vulture, Xiphon |
| Aeldari | Crimson Hunter, Hemlock, Nightwing, Razorwing, Voidraven |
| Necrons | Doom Scythe, Night Scythe, Night Shroud |
| Orks | Blitza Bomma, Burna Bomma, Dakkajet, Wazbom Blastajet |
| T’au Empire | Barracuda, Manta***, Razorshark, Remora Drone****, Sun Shark |
| Tyranids** | Harpy, Hive Crone, Harridan***** |
Note that models that have drones or spore mines or bombs can use those models and rules as part of this event. Any additional models placed do not count toward surviving until the end, but can give the player additional things to do in their turns.
As always, potential players can direct any questions about the event to me or Drawbridge’s owner Enrico on social media.
Ground Shooting
When a player is eliminated, they can still affect their opponents on their phase. After each round of activations is done, all eliminated players get to indicate a single model each that takes d3 mortal wounds (can shrug as normal if they have that rule or are flying defensively). This represents various flak, stray shots, and defensive grids.
The Dark Muse 
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