Operation Order: Deadly Bridgehead

Forces carried by aircraft are often used to establish a landing zone inside enemy territory. The flyers and troops they have transported must hold out against enemy counter-attacks and artillery bombardments until friendly ground forces can break through to reinforce them.

Bad weather allowed the T'au Expeditionary Force to arrive unseen

Orcas enroute to Tulagik Island.

by Imperial defenders on the night of 736.M41 , taking the defenders by surprise. This is sometimes called the "Midnight Raid on Tulagik". Imperial patrol aircraft from Tulagik Minor had searched the area the T'au invasion force was moving through, but missed seeing the T'au force due to severe storms and heavy clouds. Tigershark heavy fighters fitted for Drone insertion were among the first wave; deploying T'au gun drones in support of Orca inserted Pathfinder teams. The landing force split into two groups, with one group assaulting Tulagik Major, and the other group targeting the airbase on Tulagik Minor, and nearby islands. T'au aircraft bombarded the invasion landing zones while T'au Advanced Insertion Cadre raided Imperial positions on the target islands. This launched the opening blows of Operation Deadly Bridgehead.

The Armies:

Imperial Forces 500pts

T'au Empire 500pts

Objectives: 

D3 Primary Objectives

Deployment:

The Defender deploys first and the Attacker deploys second using the rules and deployment map.

During deployment, the Defender may only deploy Troops choices and any Dedicated Transports they may have. A unit may deployed in either of the Defender's deployment zones, as long as all of its models are in the same zone.

During deployment, the Attacker may only deploy Flyers (including units embarked in them). They do not have to be placed in reserves and may be deployed in the Attacker's deployment zone.

The normal limit of only being able to keep up to half of an army in reserve does not apply to either army.

First Turn:

The Defender goes first unless the Attacker can seize the Initiative.

Victory Conditions:

Standard Victory Points

Primary Objective:

Each primary Objective is worth 3 Victory Points to the player who controls it.

Secondary Objective:

Slay the Warlord, First Blood, Linebreaker.

Mission Special Rules:

Night Fighting (Enitre game), Reserves.

Delayed Reserves: The Attacker does not begin rolling for the arrival of their reserves until the start of turn 3. At the start of turn 5, any units still remaining in reserve arrive automatically.

Preemptive Barrage: Any emplaced weapons on the Defender's fortifications may only fire Snap Shots on the first turn of the battle.