Evac mission
Not only can you use transport flyers to deploy troops — as in an Air Transport mission — you can also use them to evacuate troops to safety. You might do this simply to save units from imminent destruction, or to redeploy them to greater effect elsewhere on the battlefield in a later turn.
Requirements for the mission
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You can only evacuate units where they are valid cargo for the particular Transport (X) Flyer units that you use.
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[TODO: Add points on what happens when you have non-valid/excess units that you must leave behind. Perhaps comment on HQ units and command too.]
Declare the mission
You must declare each Flyer detachment that you wish to perform this mission at the appropriate step in the Start phase.
Perform the mission
Deploy, and make the attack run
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When play passes to you in the Movement phase, place all of the Ready units in the detachment at any point along any edge of the playing area. You must place them so that they all face in the same direction. This is where they will start their attack run.
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Flyers have an unlimited move, but you can only move them in the direction that they face when you place them. So, you must move all Flyer units that are in the same detachment in parallel courses, in formation. Enemy units can Snap Fire at them as they move — but in contrast to ground units, Snap Fire does not halt the movement of Flyer units.
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You may halt movement of Flyer units at any point — halt them all at the same time.
Complete the attack
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Make ranged attacks with the Flyer units, just like you would with ground units in the Shooting phase — use the Firepower values of the Flyer units and any super-heavy weapons that they have. But note:
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You can draw a line of fire only where an enemy unit lies within range and inside the forward 90° arc of your Flyer unit. Ignore any intervening terrain though, as it is far below the altitude of the flyers.
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Otherwise, the attack works just like a normal shooting attack — so for example,as long as you meet the other requirements then you may split fire between multiple target detachments.
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Halve the Firepower of each Transport (X) Flyer unit that will disembark cargo units (and roll to lock on with any super-heavy weapons).
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After you resolve the shooting effects, leave the Transport (X) Flyer units where they are until the end of the Movement phase.
Embark the cargo units
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With the units in the detachment that you intend to embark, make a 20 cm Retreat move, just as if they were Broken. This means that you can move them without a Leadership test, no matter how many Blast markers are on the detachment.
[TODO: Presumably they would also be destroyed if we end their move within 15 cm of enemy units, as normal — but as long as they reach and embark in the transport flyers they are okay? A 'hot' extraction!]
Embark the cargo units just like you would with a ground transportation unit. But note:
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In each case, measure to the centre of the transport flyer’s flight stand.
[TODO: Make sure that this mirrors the Air Transport case, whatever we decide about possible edge cases.]
[TODO: When exactly should we complete the Retreat move to embark the cargo units? Immediately I presume, but might there be any reason to allow players to do it later in the phase if they prefer in some cases?]
While your Transport (X) Flyer units are landed, they are subject to the same game effects as ground units. This means that, for example:
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Your opponent may use artillery on Preparatory Bombardment orders to shoot at them in the Movement phase, before they can disengage.
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There is no chance that a flyer on the ground will be 'driven off' — a hit will always cause damage, just as it does with non-Flyer units.
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At the end of the Movement phase, the transport flyers take off with their cargo and disengage — remove them from the playing area [TODO: …"and place them in the Rearm state"?].
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If you’re forced to leave any of the cargo detachment units behind, then leave all Blast markers it has in place.
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If you leave no units behind, remove all Blast markers from the detachment with no penalty.
From the next turn onwards, treat the evacuated detachment as though it is a Flyer detachment in reserve (see Reserves). When you get a successful roll to check it’s 'arrival', it is ready to return to combat — you can use an Air Transport mission to return them to the battlefield, if and when you have Transport (X) Flyer units available in the Ready state.
[TODO: This seems needlessly complex and limiting, especially given that in the average game it is already pretty difficult to get a Flyer detachment to appear in a battle more than once. Consider some adjustments.]
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