The Portum Romae Act

The HMS Intolerable Acts in low orbit over Port Romae

Captain Thomas Gage.

The Portum Romae Act is an Act of the Praetorian Imperial Navy conducted by the HMS Intolerable Acts, that was designed to secure the Imperium's jurisdictions over Yaisdra IX shipping ports.

The Act was a response to the Tau insurrection in Port Romae. It outlawed the use of the Port of Romae by setting up a barricade/blockade for "landing and discharging, loading or shipping, of goods, and wares" until such time as the Tau insurrection could be controlled. In other words, it closed Romae Port to all vessels both surface and spacecraft, no matter what business the ship had.

Praetorian Troops on patrol.

Praetorian Navy warships subsequently began patrols of Romae Harbor to enforce the act. The Praetorian Army also joined in enforcing the blockade, and Romae was filled with troops, Captain Thomas Gage, commanding led the first waves of Praetorian troops.

Kor'ui Del'tor

Years before the days of Yaisdra IX,  Kor'ui Del'tor cut his dogfighting teeth on Arkunaska in 732.M41 against the mighty Waaagh of the Green Skins...

Kor'ui Del 'Tor after his reassignment to Barracudas Interceptor squadrons.

For the third time in less then ten minutes an Ork heavy bomber filled his sights. Carefully, at little more than a few meters above the cresting waves, the young Kor' El eased his twin engine Tigershark up into position directly astern of the laboring Blasta Bomber. There was no sign of life in the rear turret. He moved in even closer, before opening fire. Flames erupted from both wings of the stricken bomber as the punctured tanks spewed fuel. With an almost imperceptible dip of its nose, the Blasta Bomber wallowed into the sea.

He circled the oil slick that marked the bomber's last resting place on the sea bed, some 25km off the coast of some Emperor-forsaken ork settlement. Arkunaska , western most of the Fridiun Islands, in a vain search for survivors. A light sea-mist was already beginning to gather as the Ochre Tigershark set course for the mainland. Within 15 minutes the heavy fighter was roaring in low over the dusky landing strip of Nan Kar'tyr airbase, it's wings rocking to indicate an unprecedented success - three Ork bombers downed in a single sortie - to the onlooking air crews below.

Kor'ui Del chases an Ork bomber out towards the coast.

Now on Yaisdra IX the priciple striking power of the T'au force were the four potent Air Cadres to be landed on Yaisdra IX. It was these forces that were to deliver the Mont'ka, "the killing blow", upon which much of the T'au tactical doctrine is based. The first and second cadres formed the principle aerial strike force and were composed of a mixture of Barracuda superiority fighters, Razorshark strike fighters, Sunshark bombers and an unusually high amount of Tigershark heavy escort fighter-bombers. The third cadre was formed around a core of five Manta super-heavy dropships carrying the hunter cadres, with an ancillary force of smaller non-combat Orca dropships that would transport munitions and supplies needed for the island hopping campaign in the Tulagik Islands. The smaller fourth cadre was designated as a special operations unit and contained two formations of the Tigershark AX-1-0 rail cannon ground attack craft as well as other specialized and expiremental aircraft, including several specialized variant aircraft including Barracuda AX-2-5.

The y'eldi ("winged") of the T'au Air caste are their greatest combat pilots, and their skills and accomplishments are the stories of legend told throughout the T'au culture. Kor'ui Del'tor now the y'eldi in charge of all 4 of the cadres operating over the Tulagik Islands and his work was now cut out for him...

Ambush!

The most significant employment of tank destroyer doctrines by the Brimlock Dragoons occurred on Tulagik Major, at the battle of Mortan forest, where the 823rd Dragoon Tank Destroyer Battalion was on the defensive alongside elements of Brimlock infantry. The division, which was in temporary positions and not prepared for a defensive engagement, was attacked by elements of Vior'la Armoured Interdiction forces, under heavy fog. The 823rd put up a strong defense—knocking out fourteen Hammerhead tanks—but took heavy losses, being mostly overrun and losing eleven Leman Russ. This served to reinforce misgivings about the effectiveness of the dismounted units, and a report delivered to the High Imperial Command, recommended they be phased out in favor of self-propelled guns in the form of Leman Russ or Basilisk units.

Armies:
Imperial 250pts
Tau 250pts

The Attacker takes the first turn.

Deployment:
Attacker chooses his table edge and has a 12" deployment zone from the edge they choose. For the Defender deployment see special rules.

Special Rules:

Tank Destroyer Doctrine: The defender places 6 objective markers around the table. Once they are deployed the defender secretly marks a small piece of paper with the unit he wishes to hide at that objective. Then places the paper under the objective marker (while the attacker is facing away!) The defender then repeats this process with all his units.

Laying in Wait: The Defender does not deploy his units until they desire to move or shoot or unless the Attacker moves within 12" of enemy infantry or 18" within enemy vehicles.

Thick forests on Tulagik Major provided a challenge for advancing tank crews.

Dragoon Veterans sneak into position to spring the trap!

"Quiet, too quiet."

Seeker missile fire causes 2 penetrating hits as the Dragoon Russ mows down Pathfinders.

Tau Pathfinders round the rocky corner just to be mowed down by a hail of heavy bolter and battle cannon fire.

Sticky Bombs!!!!! (melta bombs)

Battle cannon rounds plink off the reliable Tau Hammerhead armor, but the valiant charge of veterans un a fire of Smart Missiles proves too much for the ambushed Hammerhead crew.

Operation Order: Death from the Skies

Often, the first warning of an attack that troops receive is the scream of jet engines as hostile aircraft pounce on them. Cowering from aerial onslaught, the defending force will be hard-pressed to stop the ground troops that follow in the flyer's wake.

Vior'la Pathfinders scout the jungles of Tulagik Major in search for Imperial Dragoons.

While the opening blows of Tulagik Major were a success for the T'au Expeditionary Force, the failure on Tulagik Minor airfield had now given Imperial forces the Air Support they would need to defend Tulagik Major.

Tulagik Major was the biggest island in the regional ocean; providing a stable launching point for any invading force landing on Yaisdra's main continents. Stakes where now high for both the Imperial Dragoons and the T'au forces on Yaisdra.

The Armies:

Imperial Forces 1250pts - Defender

T'au Empire 1250pts - Attacker

Objectives: 

D3+2 Primary Objectives. No objective may be set-up in the Attacker's deployment zone.

Deployment:

The Defender deploys first and the Attacker deploys second using the rules from the Warhammer 40,000 rulebook and the map below.

During deployment, the Attacker may only deploy units composed entirely of Infantry models, their Dedicated Transports and Flyers. The Flyers do not have to be placed in reserves abd may be deployed in the Attacker's Deployment Zone. All of the Attacker's other units must be placed in reserves.

First Turn:

The Attacker has the first turn; the Defender may seize the Initiative.

Victory Conditions:

Standard Victory Points

Primary Objective:

At the end of the game, each Primary Objective is worth 1 Victory Points to the player that controls it.

Secondary Objective:

Slay the Warlord, First Blood, Linebreaker.

Mission Special Rules:

Reserves.

Planned Asssault: All of the Attacker's units that were held in reserve must arrive at the start of the Attacker's second turn.

Operation Aerial Assault

While Tulagik Minor had become a tactical disaster for the invading Vior'la forces, Tulagik Major was becoming a very different story. The Pathfinder forces on Tulgaik Minor had been tasked with harassing Imperial forces and shutting down operations on the local airbase. Imperial Dragoons had stationed some of their most veteran Dragoons at the Tulagik Airbase; which made short work of T'au pathfinders. Now with the bulk of the T'au Expeditionary Force landing on Tulagik Major the chaos of war was sweeping across the island with a fury. T'au forces swept through most of the intial Imperial defenders on the island, but now the defeated Vior'la Pathfinders left the Dragoon's air power unchecked and its only a matter of time until the Imperial cavalry arrive on Tulgik Major.

Brutal large caliber rounds tear through the once large drone squadron.

Forces clash for the first time on Tulagik Major.

The opening fire from the Hammerhead vaporizes the Imperial Chimera.

Round after round of battle cannon fire fails to knock out the Ghostkeel.

Close air support reduces the command Taurox to dust with the Swiftstrike Rail Gun.

Imperial Dragoons sound the alert to retreat.