The Role of the Stormraven for Grey Knights

I've written quite a few article on using a Stormraven for Blood Angels DoA armies. Today I'll be playing my first game with Grey Knights versus dark eldar (1500 points - sorry no Stormraven) so this is just my observations based on prior experience. Note that this article focuses on the use for pure Grey Knight armies.

Introduction
The Stormraven plays a valuable role in a Blood Angels DoA army since it provides some long range AT plus it can transport jump infantry and assault dreadnaughts, delivering these units straight into melee. Grey Knights have access to long range AT mainly by way of psyflemen dreadnaughts. I see the Stormraven more useful as a fast transport for Grey Knight assault units than as a gunship. The beauty of the Stormraven as a fast transport for Grey Knight terminators and Paladins is the ability to assault quickly, inserting these units right where you need them. The twin linked multi-melta is a great choice since you can move flat out and fire the melta at an enemy tank using PotMS - this is a big bonus for Grey Knights since they do not have access to melta weapons in their squads. The Stormraven also offers some much needed protection for Paladins. Finally the Stormraven costs less than a landraider, which helps in a pure Grey Knight list as everything is expensive points wise.

Survivability of the Stormraven
The Grey Knight Stormraven has all the same protection as the Blood Angels version - which I covered in detail here:

.-=] Survivability of the Stormraven [=.


There are two additional benefits as well:

*The Librarian can cast the Shrouding which provides a 3+ cover save
*The Stormraven has the psychic power Fortitude which can ignore both shaken and stunned results on the armor penetration table

These two added benefits require passing psychic tests and it's important to keep that in mind. It's not a problem versus some armies but there are a good number of armies that have strong psychic defense. There is also always the chance that you'll fail a psychic test at the worst possible moment. As such I see extra armor as a necessary option.

If you have to go second versus a shooty army it's usually best to hold your Stormraven in reserve unless there is some high cover you can safely hide it behind during your deployment. Unfortunately I don't think Psychic Communion works until the character with this power has been deployed - otherwise it would be nice to field a Grand Master with a Librarian and up to four Paladins embarked in a Stormraven then use Psychic Communion to help bring them in sooner. Having to hold the Stormraven in reserve is something to think about as you'll have a small army and will often need your heavy hitters early in the game. Maybe when GW releases the official FAQ for Grey Knights you'll be able to use Psychic Communion while the character with this power is still held in reserve. We will just have to wait and see.

Mine Strike Missiles
If the small blast marker touches an enemy psyker then they automatically suffer from Perils of the Warp. As such Mine Strike missiles offer an excellent counter to enemy psykers - they are S4 and count as defensive weapons - so you can move up to 12" and fire most if not all of your weapon systems! I see them as being very effective versus CSM daemon princes and certain Tyranid monstrous creatures (e.g., Tyrants and Tervigons).  This ability will force other armies to keep their psykers (such as Librarians) out of harm's way. Mine Strike missiles have 72" range so by proper positioning you can easily outrange your opponent's army.

Conclusion
So there you have it. Players who want to mech up their terminators and Paladins will have to decide whether to bring landraiders or Stormravens for each unit. The landraider probably has better overall protection with AV14 all around but it is slower and costs more points.

About the Stormraven (from Bolter and Chainsword)

I am an avid follower of the B&C BA forum. I ran across this just yesterday...

+++ Bolter and Chainsword Blood Angels Discussion of the Stormraven +++

Basically there are some who still say the Stormraven sucks shnards... well the good news is they are in the minority.

:  )

The only real nemesis of the Stormraven is the railgun, which is not a big deal - who plays Tau competitively these days? Barring a lucky shot it requires a high volume of shots to bring it down. Lets look at the mathammer. The Stormraven has moved flat-out as it should and is equipped with extra armor.

S8 (Devastator firing a rocket)
4/6 (to hit) X 3/6 (to glance) X 1/2 (4+++ cover save) = 16.667% chance to glance

If the glancing shot gets through you will still need to roll a 6 on the AP table to bring it down. That is an odds of 2.778% - good luck with that! All the other results are pretty meaningless if you have a squad full of assault terminators and a Death Company dreadnaught ready to charge the next turn.

4/6 (to hit) X 2/6 (to glance) X 1/2 (4+++ cover save) = 11.111% chance to penetrate

You still only have 50% odds of bringing it down on the AP table (unless you've got a melta)... so the overall odds drop to 5.556%. Good luck with that.

What the people who are slagging the Stormraven fail to tell you is that a DoA army has lots and lots of angry assault Marines swarming the enemy lines... it's not like every gun will be pointed at the Stormraven. Oh and what about the ubiquitous lascannon ?? The good news is that the same people saying the Stormraven sucks are the same people who told you to take rocket launchers to save some points !!! Oh the irony...

Yep if the shoe fits...

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GW Stormraven Tactica

Straight from the studio...

Games Workshop Development Studio Stormraven Tactica

More thoughts on the Stormraven plus

I have been playing my DoA list a lot in competitive tourney play. I'm happy to say it seems like there is a fair number of players that agree with my thoughts now that the Stormraven is quite viable. One of the hard knocks I've often seen put out on the Internet is that the Stormraven can only survive one to two turns versus a shooty army and is blasted off the table. I've always said you've got to protect the Stormraven...

- Identify it's major threats, focus on eliminating them.

- Most shooty armies aren't packing lots of long ranged AT firepower. Space Wolves are an exception with their cheap Long Fangs. Again going back to my first point you've got to identify the threats and apply the pressure. For example Vanguard veterans are an excellent counter to Long Fangs and other similar type units.

- Hold the Stormraven in reserve. This will help you to first neutralize the main threats. This is how I always play the Stormraven.

In regards to the third point what I've learned is that there are going to be times when it's better to simply use the Stormraven as a mobile weapons (AT) platform. If you are playing a pure DoA army then you can simply opt to deep strike all your jump infantry units. Placing an uber assault unit in the Stormraven means there is the chance they'll arrive late and you'll be playing a large segment of your army without your best assault unit for a significant portion of the game. Sure the Stormraven is an excellent means of protecting a unit and delivering them into the heart of the enemy line, but because of the DoA rules this is acceptable in the right set of circumstances. As your opponents become more familiar with playing versus the Stormraven they will find ways to counter it. Over time against good opponents you'll not be able to as easily exploit this skimmer. Simply used as a mobile weapons platform the Stormraven is still very powerful, no other Space Marine army has anything comparable. The only other army currently that comes close is IG.

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New GW Stormraven model ??

Stormraven Tactica * Part III - Menage

So far we have discussed how to keep the Stormraven afloat and the best choice for weapons of mass destruction. Now we come to the main subject. Blood Angels are currently one of the best assault armies in the game and they will continue to be so with the release of the new dark eldar. The Stormraven is basically a flying landraider in that it has an assault ramp. You can deliver not one but two wrecking balls into the very heart of the enemy line... an uber assault squad like an Epistolary leading a choppy Honor Guard and a Furioso dreadnaught armed with Blood Talons.

This is what I refer to commonly as a BEAT FACE tactic. It is hard to counter, even Tau and IG with all their bristly guns. Sometimes I fly the Stormraven up and dont charge that turn... you can bet your life every enemy gun will be blazing it... okay so they manage to pop it but my uber death squad has jump packs so I am still in your face next turn and now the rest of my army is in position. Its fun.

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Stormraven Tactica * Part II - Arms

There are lots of options to select from when arming the Stormraven. You can make it a flying Crusader with hurricane bolters and twin linked assault cannon... how cool is that? Well it might be cool but let's remember Part I of this series... don't take weapons that require you to get close for optimal use such as hurricane bolters. I much prefer the twin linked lascannon and twin linked multi-melta with extra armor and that is it. The Stormraven is an expensive vehicle so no need to pour more points into it. Its primary purpose is to deliver your wrecking ball, its secondary purpose is to wreck vehicles at range with its deadly twin linked guns. The lascannon and multi-melta are free... now how cool is that ?? Oh yeah and it comes with four Bloodstrike missiles... 60" range S8 AP1... not bad for an over-glorified Vendetta! :P  This is what I refer to as the basic configuration and it works very well for me.

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.