Anyone having trouble facing Stormravens?

[Fred Johnson the 3rd jr]

I don't play as often as I'd like, but if the interwebs is to be believed, more people are using Stormravens, sometimes even two at once. Anyone play against them? If so, how'd you fare? I know SW players generally take lots of Long Fangs, which means missiles to take the Raven out, but I still feel like it won't be a sure thing to crack, considering the cover save it gets for going flat out.

[jeremy1391]

Treat them like valks, missiles and las or high strength shots in general should work.

[Sigmund Hammerhand]

Statistically, lascannons are the best thing to take it down. Their long range makes it reasonably easy to get hold of the storm raven. Meltas are a close second when it comes to taking them down, but they suffer from their short range, making it hard to get hold of the storm raven when and where you want to.

 

SW players generally take lots of Long Fangs, which means missiles to take the Raven out, but I still feel like it won't be a sure thing to crack, considering the cover save it gets for going flat out.

 

If you want a sure thing, you're in the wrong business. There ain't no such thing as a sure thing in war, or in anything involving dice. An autocannon can blow a storm raven up the first time it shoots. And rhinos can survive six turns worth of railgun slugs. Nothing even close to "sure thing" exists.

[Fred Johnson the 3rd jr]

Melta's special ability does not work on Stormravens, and if it is close enough for a melta shot to work like a generic strength 8 weapon, then that sounds like a problem as your opponent's assault troops are too close.

 

I am not in love with Mathhammer, but I use it sometimes. 5 ML shots at the thing with a 2/3 chance to hit, with a 1/3 chance to pen, with a 1/2 chance for the cover save to work means 5*1/3*1/2 = .83 rolls on the damage table, aka not a good chance of getting a wrecked or better result since the average is less than one roll! Forget a "sure thing", it isn't likely with a full LF squad. So then what, we shoot at it with two LF squads and some razorbacks? What if the opponent has two Stormravens?

 

I realize the same kind of argument can be made with Land Raiders, but they take FAR longer to get across the board.

[Sigmund Hammerhand]

Melta's special ability does not work on Stormravens, and if it is close enough for a melta shot to work like a generic strength 8 weapon, then that sounds like a problem as your opponent's assault troops are too close.

 

Part of them don't work. Meltas are still AP1, which makes them more than a generic S8 weapon in my book. If the melta rules worked on Storm Ravens, I wouldn't have put meltas second (2D6 for AP is vastly superior to the extra strength of the lascannon).

 

I am not in love with Mathhammer, but I use it sometimes. 5 ML shots at the thing with a 2/3 chance to hit, with a 1/3 chance to pen, with a 1/2 chance for the cover save to work means 5*1/3*1/2 = .83 rolls on the damage table, aka not a good chance of getting a wrecked or better result since the average is less than one roll! Forget a "sure thing", it isn't likely with a full LF squad. So then what, we shoot at it with two LF squads and some razorbacks?

 

There's nothing much besides what you call "mathammer" to guide your tactics. You know that statistically, grots won't kill death guard in combat, so you don't expect them to. Knowing what your units can and cannot do is invaluable to form a battle plan, and the only thing that tells you what your units are (hopefully) capable of achieving is statistics.

All you can do is pour fire into it until it dies. What you must decide is how much of your resources you can divert to trying to destroy it.

Your math is also only the odds of getting a penetrating hit, don't forget you need to still get an immobilized or higher. There is also a slight chance that a glancing hit will do (less than 1% though).

 

What if the opponent has two Stormravens?

 

That question assumes there is a textbook solution for this scenario, and there isn't. Either you have enough firepower to deal with two at the same time (unlikely), or you plan for the eventuatlity that one of them will hit you and minimize your losses. How to deal with 2 or more, really depends on the terrain, how fast the rest of the army is (are they mechanized, jump infantry, on foot?), what the objective is and so forth. Very hard question to answer without more information.

 

Either way, the answer won't be something like "take this and make them do this". It'll be much more about tactics than simply taking the right unit in your list, and what to do depends almost entirely on the situation you're in.

[MaveriK]

If my lascannons from my Long Fangs don't work, my wolf guard pack leader was planning to pull out his umbrella and direct an entire flock of seagulls towards the stormraven. Ohh and hs name is Sean Connery, sometimes we call him dr jones!

[Fred Johnson the 3rd jr]

An off the wall idea, in a list with more than one Rune Priest, is to give one Tempest's Wrath. If you have the TW bubble and if they move Stormraven's flat out into it, there's a 1/6 chance the raven and its cargo would be destroyed (per the FAQ a flat-out moving skimmer which is immobilized on its turn is destroyed *along with* its cargo). Of course, this means we'd have to go first for this to work.

 

I am not sure what BA players do when they go second, do they keep the Stormravens in reserve, or do they keep them out and risk them blowing up before they move? Either way, TW seems like it could helpful.

[Kassill]

If my lascannons from my Long Fangs don't work, my wolf guard pack leader was planning to pull out his umbrella and direct an entire flock of seagulls towards the stormraven. Ohh and hs name is Sean Connery, sometimes we call him dr jones!

 

 

This made me ^_^

[Marshal Wilhelm]

Have trouble facing them?

 

HAH! I stare them down like I do that bloke in the mirror each morning.

"You may be really ridiculously good looking, but I am more so!"

 

Then I go all Blue Steel on him.

 

Same goes for the SR. "You wanna piece of me?! Break some off, I dare ya!"

Then I kind of pop my chest at it and pull my arms back.

 

It never has the courage to say anything ^_^

 

Potential true story.

[Thunderhawk3015]

Living Lightning, Plasma, Rifleman Dread, Krak Rockets. They all work.

[Jarl Kjaran Coldheart]

Have trouble facing them?

 

HAH! I stare them down like I do that bloke in the mirror each morning.

"You may be really ridiculously good looking, but I am more so!"

 

Then I go all Blue Steel on him.

 

Same goes for the SR. "You wanna piece of me?! Break some off, I dare ya!"

Then I kind of pop my chest at it and pull my arms back.

 

It never has the courage to say anything :D

 

Potential true story.

 

now thats awesome.

 

WLK