Stormraven tactica

[Brother Captain Kezef]

I wrote this for the Blood angels and they have it stickied on their forum resource link page. Crynn reminded me about it when he was being obnoxious trying to score points so I decided to update it for the Grey Knights and post it here for others to enjoy.

 

 

What is a Stormraven?

 

Before we discuss what a 'Raven is we must establish what it is not. The 'Raven is NOT an Apache and must never be used like one! The average strength of anti-tank weaponry in 40k is 8 (lances, meltas, missles etc) and with an AV of 12 the 'Raven WILL die if your opponent hs a mind to kill it and you give him enough chances. Also the 'Raven is undergunned for a gunship role, while it's weapons are powerful they are limited. 4 missles that are one-shot use ad 2 main guns (with the option for defensive sponsons). Compared to something like the Vendetta that can stay in the board corners and lay down 3 lascannon shots a turn.

 

So if it's not an Apache, what is it? Well the 'Raven is a Hind and is ideal for the same role as it's real-world counterpart. The 'Raven delivers the most devasting payload of ANY transport in a non-apocalypse game of 40k. You can deliver, directly into combat, a dreadnought and any of our most lethal close combat units. Not only can it deploy a lethal force it can support that same force.

 

In short, your 'Raven is not a flying tank it is a flying APC with big, pointy teeth.

 

 

Weapons

 

So, you have an idea to use a nice, shiny Stormraven. What boomsticks do you want to use in order to suitably chastise the enemies of Humanity? It all comes down to what you want the 'Raven to actualy do. The loadouts allow for 3 broad configurations:

 

1) Anti-Armour

2) Anti-Infantry

3) Hybrid

 

The Lascannons are a no-brainer, they are there to put nice shiny holes in the other guy's nice shiny tanks. one shot (with a twin-linked re-roll) at str9 and an AP2. With it's range you can pretty much reach anything on a normal sized board you can see and being on a flying base you can see almost everything.

 

Compare this to the other turret option.

 

The Assault cannons have a much reduced range compared to the lascannons, however the mobility of the 'Raven makes this less of a drawback than it looks on paper. You get 4 Str6 shots with an AP of 4. Sounds like a no-brainer anti-Infantry weapon right? The AC has 2 advantages over the Lascannon when it comes to anti-armour work. First it's rending, any roll of a 6 to penetrate nets you between 1 and 3 additional points of "your armour is toilet paper", I'd advise against factoring Rending into any calculations however, it's useful but unreliable.

The second advantage is rate of fire, 4 shots with re-rolls as opposed to one. Against armour 13 or 14 the AC is pretty much useless and even AV12 relies on a rending shot. However many armies rely on AV10 or AV11 mechanised waves and against these armies the AC is king. Examples include ork speedfreak forces, Ravenwing Speeder swarms and Astartes Razorback hordes.

 

Now let us look at the AC in an anti-infantry role. Str6 AP4 will kill MOST infantry with a hit followed by a 2+ assuming they are not in cover. Even against the big boys like 'Nid monsters you are looking at 4+ to wound on most things, there isn't that much out there with a toughness higher than 6. Again rending is useful but can't be relied upon.

 

A last note on the AC, with psybolt ammo you can upgrade them to strentgh 7 which makes them even more effective in either role.

Finaly we have twin-linked Plasma cannons. Plasma weapons are a little hard to use, they lack heavy punch for anti-tank work and do not fire fast enough or have large enough templates to kill infantry. Plasma cannons are marine killers, the small blast is generaly large enough for use on squads with 3+saves and will wound them on an easy 2+. Against the big boys in the 'nid armies some prefer plasma to weapons like the assault cannon as you'll get easier rolls to wound. It all dependson personal choice, I tend not to use plasma but if you go up against allot of power armour (or Eldar aspect warriors, Necrons etc.) then Plasma cannons can be an effective choice for an anti-infantry build.

 

For turrets I'd recomend the twin-linked AC's in most cases unless your army lacks any dedicated anti-tank weapons (an example of this is my own SG force which is limited to 6inches when it comes to shooting tanks).

 

Ok, now for the hull. we have 3 options here and it's a slightly more dificult choice.

 

The first option to look at is the humble Heavy Bolter, mainstay of the Astartes with a Str5 same AP as the AC but ony having 3 shots and no rending, it does however have an extended range compared to the AC. While the AC is flexible, the HB is a dedicated anti-infantry weapon and it excells in this role, it can and will destroy most infantry in the open (excpetions, as always, being those annoying 3+ save units). Being twin-linked helps get those shots on target so this weapon can and should be relied upon if your going for an anti-infantry build. Bear in mind that the GK Raven can have psybolt ammo and tus hit with str6 H bolters, that extra point of strenght does mean the difference between 5+ and 4+ to wound against MC's.

 

The next option is a tad more complicated, the Multi-melta. Outside of range 12 this thing is a poor man's lascannon. Under range 12 however and it almost guarantees a penetrating hit on any vehicle (with a VERY shortlist of exceptions such as the 'Raven's ceramite and the necron living metal monoliths). But this is a potentialy lethal catch, you need to get within charge range of the vehicle in question (and anything the vehicle is carrying). You may be putting your 'Raven at risk from other units defending the target vehicle. I will discuss various tactics for avoiding some of these risks but they can never be completely ignored.

 

The last option is a multi-role and unique in being the only main-weapon on the 'Raven you have to pay for. The Typhoon missle system is essentialy 2 missle launchers. This is an inportant distinction as you are firing 2 shots, not one shot and re-rolling misses like the other weapons. On average you'll nail 2 missles most of the time but there is a chance of missing both. The Typhoon is an expensive compromise, frag missles are not as good as HB shells and Krak missles are not as good as point-blank melta shots and lack the AP value to ignore feel no pain rules.

However against swarms of AV10 vehicles the Krak is better than a melta or HB ad against swarms of average/low toughness (gaunts, eldar, guard) units the frag missles are actualy better than a HB. Its a compromise weapon, but not without some distinct advantages to consider.

 

Now we come to the last two weapon systems of the Stormraven, the first are it's 4 one-shot, Mindstrike missles. These are anti-infantry weapons, as opposed to the anti-tank missles the BA raven carries. In all honesty they are not very good as they are essentilay just 4 one-shot frag missles. The psi-shock is deadly against psykers but it's situational. Some armies will fear these missles like nothing else (Eldar and Tyranids) other armies will ignore them (Necrons) if the other guy has psykers fire them early and fire them all to take them out, this works well against Tyranid HQ's. Against the other armies aim for troop concentrations and hope you can frag a few.

 

Last, but by no means least, is the option to add 2 Hurricane sponsons, this does not come cheap but has it's uses. Firstly, the Hurricanes are Str4 and that makes them defensive you can always fire them aslong as your not moving flat-out or have a stunned/shaken effect on the 'Raven. In the assault-transport roll you'll be under the rapid fire minimum and capable of unleashing 12 twin-linked shots at the enemy. Even terminators fear massed firepower and against grunt troops you'll cause allot of damage, guard, gaunts and eldar are very vulnerable to this. Finding the points for the Hurricanes can be hard in Astartes lists but in my opinion they are worthwhile. The GK Raven can make the Hurricane boltes str5 with psybolt ammo, which is ironicly a bad idea. You lose their defensive trait and you could find yourself with more weapons than you can conveniantly fire. The best selling point about the hurricanes is that they can fire when you move 12 inchs and go postal with both the turret and hull weapons.

 

One thing to remember with weapons, with power of the machine spirit you will ALWAYS be firing at least one weapon per turn a slong as the Stormraven isn't a smoking ruin or an ugly crater. It allows you to fire if you go flat out and allows you to fire ifyou have stunnedor shaken results on the vehicle. Keep this in mind, it's a valuable advantage.

 

 

Equipment

 

The GK raven has more equipment options than the BA Raven but be careful as poinst are a premium in GK armies.

 

Extra armour is essential to a 'Raven, if you can't move you lose the nuber ONE advantage of a fast skimmer. Two damage results stop you moving and extra armour reoves one of them from consideration. Little more needs to be said really, strap on those armour plates! There is an argument that the fortitude pyschic power negates the need for extra armour but i do not subscribe to this. I'd rather rely on a piece of kit that simply ignores a result rather than hoping a pyschic roll will work. There is too much riding on a Raven's mobility to take the risk.

 

Searchlights are VERY circumstantial. Under normal circumstances you won't be worrying about night-fighting, if you are doing a night-fight scenaro or playing in a campaighn with a good cance of night-fight then put them on, they cost peanuts really. Otherwise, don't bother.

 

The teleport homer is an interesting bit of kit, more useful to the GK raven than the locator beacon is to the BA variant. A Raven can become far more than a two unit transport as you can reliably drop any of your reserve units next to the Raven which makes it a very versatile and dangerous weapon when used alongside such units.

 

The warp stabilisation field is an odd one, the raven is fast enough not to need the summoning and it counts as moving flat out when a libby uses that power which negatesa turn's fire and/or troop drop (except for the POTMS shot of course).

 

Truesilver armour is a waste on the raven, it only works on Daemons and the raven should be going too fast and be beind too many of your own close combat units to make it effective.

 

psybolt ammo is a great choice for H-bolter and AC loadouts, the extra point of strenght is very effective. However I recomend against using it on hurricane set-ups as you don't want the hurricanes to lose their defensive trait.

 

Tactics

 

Now the fun bit!

 

First and foremost, you should be using the Raven with a full loadout of an infantry unit and a dreadnought. No other transport (outside of apocalypse) can match this ability and it should be used to it's full potential.

 

loadouts will vary depending on what you want to achieve. The Raven is very good at redeploying rifleman dreads and can be used aggresively to deploy a rifleman alongside a full purifier or 6 man paladin squad, giving the enemy some real target priority headaches as he is suddenly faced with 3 very lethal units.

 

Shadowskies is a nasty ability and can be used to deliver interceptors deep in the field on the first turn with pin-point accuracy.

 

My favourite tactic is outflanking, it's one of the oldest tricks in the book and still the most effective. it works best with two ravens, each packing a dread and a nasty close combat unit. You put one raven on each side of the board and charge down the edge before turning into the enemy's flanks. he has to deal with these flankers while the rest of your force is heading down the centre, splitting his attention three ways. It's a bit harder to acheive with GK than BA because of our higher points costs but can be pulled off.

 

Thankyou for your time. This is not meant to be a comprehensive essay on the use of the 'Raven but instead a primer allowing new players to consider the Stormraven and employ it in their first few games giving them time to appreciate the aircraft and develop their own style and tactics. I hope this helps the GK players as much as did my BA comarades.

[Drachnon]

At what points level do you use the 2 ravens with a dread and CC unit each? Because that sounds like 2 units of 600+ points. Not something I would try in games under 2.5k

[Brother Captain Kezef]

At what points level do you use the 2 ravens with a dread and CC unit each? Because that sounds like 2 units of 600+ points. Not something I would try in games under 2.5k

 

yeah it's harder to pull off for GK armies than it is for the Blood angels, one of the reasons we don't see ravens often in Grey Knight armies. Like I said this tactica was originaly for the BA, i use two Ravens in my blood angels army.

 

realisticly most GK armies will only have the one Raven.

[T3mpl@r Crusade]

I run 2 ravens at 2k, each with termies 5 inside and a librarian. its 1065 pts total.

 

Totally glass cannon, and not very competetive, although I have won quite a few games with it. It's just very fun.

 

Thanks for the strategy breakdown, made me think again about my weapon loadouts. I usually run 2 with LC/MM, but now that I finally have psyflemen dread arms, I can lay down more str8 and can focus one of the storm ravens in more of an anti infantry role/ light armor.

 

I never really though about putting the psyflemen in the stormraven. I like to camp them at the back so they shoot every turn, but having one on the flank would really help hit side armor if your splitting your enemies attention in 2 or more directions.

 

The assault ramp dreadnought is great fun, because of the size of the base and the 2" movement from the door, you have like a 10" assault range (correct me if I am wrong on this, a player recently told me that as long as part of the base is 2" away from the door, it can be placed anywhere even if the base is really long [2" door movement + 2.5" base +6"])

 

Pretty much gives you a 22" assault range (with movement of course at 12"). fun stuff

 

As a side note, you may say, but the strom raven is too weak with its armor: y u use so many? Meltas. My local area has so many meltas its not even funny. its more effective to spam many transports that are cheaper then big powerful ones. every time i field a LR, its gets destroyed quickly enough to be innefective at delivering its payload. my odds are much better with the ceramite and the cover save from turbo boosting.

[number6]

Red Lost Soldier spearheaded an excellent tactica right when the codex was new.

[Abaddonshand]

I vote this be the first of hopefully many articles to be added to the tactica sticky for grey knights!