¥ Terminus Est Search Engine ¥

Blood Vow

Happiness is success... (Buddha)

Wednesday, November 03, 2010

Stormraven Tactica * Part I - Resilience


The first article on Stormraven tactica deals with how to keep your steel birds of prey alive. I have heard people say they are overrated Vendettas. But seriously aren't Vendettas one of the more popular units you see in IG? See... what is good for the goose is even better for the gander!

So how to keep your Stormravens alive...

1) Generally it's a good idea to start them in reserve unless you are going first. When they come in use the range on your Bloodstrike missiles (60") to move on up to 6" and light up the biggest threat such as a Hyrda battery. If you can outrange your opponent the turn you arrive from reserve then do so! After that keep them moving flatout if necessary for the 4++ cover save. You always can still crack off a shot with your twin linked multi-melta using PotMS. Use your Bloodstrike missiles early in the game in case your opponent does drop your stormbird.
2) Your stormbird is Death Incarnate!!!
It should be carrying your hardest assault unit plus a close combat dreadnaught. Use your deepstriking assault squads and Vanguard veterans to destroy threats to the Stormraven. Seriously don't expect to move it each turn without any really thought towards its surviving and expect it to last.
3) Once that hard assault unit and the close combat dreadnaught have deboarded the Stormraven has done it's job.
4) Remember that Stormravens have ceramite plating so meltas only ever roll 1d6 for armor penetration - 50% of the time they will not even glance and that does not include rolling to hit!
5) Don't deepstrike the Stormraven. You can move up to 24" the turn it arrives from reserve, there is no reason to deepstrike ever.

10 comments:

Brent said...

Thanks for this, mate. I have what's probably a dumb question:

We know the infantry in the Storm Raven can assault when they disembark...

Can the Dreadnought?

Terminus Est said...

Yes indeed. It is brutal.

G

Grizzled Gorilla said...

BBF beat me to the punch. The Storm Raven is an assault vehicle, so anything disembarking from it can assault on the turn in which disembarks.

I like the Storm Raven, but I am waiting for the official model....I know, I know...I should just use Valks, but I am stubborn!

I think it is an excellent way to get a cheaper group of Death Company and a DC dread into close combat. DC with jp's are insanely expensive, so this way you get them and their Dreadnought friend, really close to the enemy.

andrewbruch said...

what do you recommend now that moving 24" could lead to your entire unit being destroyed?

andrewbruch said...

Now that we have a new FAQ any suggestions regarding moving the storm raven from reserve? Moving 24" could be a bust if you lose everything to lucky shooting.

Terminus Est said...

The squad embarked inside the Stormraven is only destroyed if the skimmer goes down during it's own movement phase. Turn in the rulebook refers to player turn unless otherwise noted (see page 9). So basically don't land the skimmer in difficult/dangerous terrain when moving flat-out.

G

andrewbruch said...

why would they even FAQ this then...how often is that even bound to happen?

andrewbruch said...

Thanks for the clarification. This seems like a silly rule to FAQ. Looks like I will be needing to get me a storm raven then. NICE!

Terminus Est said...

That's a valid question. To be honest I think it's a frequently asked question so the answer is there to clarify more than anything else. From a financial point of view I dont think GW would shoot themselves in the proverbial foot with the release of the new dark eldar raider and the soon to be released Stormraven.

G

Terminus Est said...

I think you'll have lots of fun using a Stormraven. They can work very well with a DoA style army for sure. : )

G