The Stormraven

[igotsmeakabob!!]

A double Storm Raven list was my regular list for months at 1850 and had great success with them.

 

Last week I came third at a tournament at 1000pts.

 

The rules was that there is no duplication in any unit.

 

The list I took was this:

 

Mephiston

10 Death Company w/ 2 PW's, 1 Fist, Lemartes

Death company Dread w/ Talons.

Storm raven w/ EA,MM,AC.

 

Total 995

 

Lovingly entitled the Funwagon by myself and my gaming group.

 

Lost the first game 19-1, won second game 20-0, won the third game 20-0, won the fourth game 20-0 and drew the last game 10-10.

 

Storm Ravens are great.

Poor Mephiston, he had to fly around all by himself ^_^

[Tamwulf]

Mephiston rolls the way Mephiston rolls.

 

He doesn't care if he is the only one inside a Storm Raven or Land Raider. As a matter of fact, It's the only thing he should be riding around in. If others want to hitch a ride like Astro Boy or My Man Dante, well... they can't. Meph's ride is for Meph only, and he doesn't like to share.

 

Close combat is where its at, and Meph is like everyone else. He doesn't like to be shot at. Sure, his Gat is nice and all, but it get's hot, yo? He likes brawling way more then a drive by or busting caps. His ride gets him closer to the action.

 

Seriously though, Meph has Wings of Sanginious, so has really no problems getting around on the board. I'd rather have my Storm Ravens transport other stuff around the battlefield. 500+ points wrapped up in two models seems like a recipe for disaster. Could be fun rolling a Storm Raven up on my opponent and dropping just one model out, but only in a dual Storm Raven list.

[Sokhar]

Riding in the Raven extends Mephiston's charge radius, as he's gaining the benefit of the huge footprint of the raven, as well as a 2" (practically speaking, closer to a 3") disembark move, and then he gets his regular fleet plus assault move. Not to mention that mounting him in it turn 1 and going flat out puts him in position for a turn 2 assault virtually anywhere on the table. And the size of the raven's hull also increases his board coverage for psychic hoods, if that's relevant in a particular game.

[Brother-Captain Lucius]

Riding in the Raven extends Mephiston's charge radius, as he's gaining the benefit of the huge footprint of the raven, as well as a 2" (practically speaking, closer to a 3") disembark move, and then he gets his regular fleet plus assault move. Not to mention that mounting him in it turn 1 and going flat out puts him in position for a turn 2 assault virtually anywhere on the table. And the size of the raven's hull also increases his board coverage for psychic hoods, if that's relevant in a particular game.

 

Truer words have never been spoken. I always ran him in a raven along with a Furioso with talons and extra armor. It was great Craic.

 

Poor Mephiston, he had to fly around all by himself

 

On a 4x4 board though so he had great fun!

[Tamwulf]

Seriously? Meph is a one model wrecking ball, but you have him assaulting on turn 2 with a Storm Raven sitting right in front of your opponent. When I've done this, Meph won the assault, swept the unit, and was then standing out in the open in front of a whole lot of guns that promptly shot him to death during my opponent's turn. His anti-tank all shot at the Storm Raven conveniently placed within 12" of his front lines, and I lost 500 points in two models on the bottom of turn two. He lost one troop squad and a Rhino.

 

That soured me from ever trying that tactic again. It could work, if say I had a second Storm Raven with Death Company in it? Both with Dreads. Now I'm easily over 1000 points. Do I fill out the rest of the army with nothing but Assault Troops w/ Jump Packs and a couple Sanguinary Priests?

 

Maybe I'll try that this weekend. Could be fun... I just shy away from the "too many eggs in one basket" idea.

[Sokhar]

I lost 500 points in two models on the bottom of turn two. He lost one troop squad and a Rhino.

 

That soured me from ever trying that tactic again.

 

Not to be a total jerk, but that's bad tactics at work man. Tossing a portion of your army against the entire opposing force and hoping for the best is asking for a round of focused firepower. You need to support your units, not treat Mephiston and/or a Raven as a "fire and forget" type weapon. Or if you're going to send him off on his own, have a backup plan. Assault a unit that is positioned close to cover, so if Mephiston breaks them in one round of combat he can duck inside the cover. Killing Meph in a single round when he's got a 4+ save or better is no small feat. Also, try to pick on larger enemy units. You want the enemy to stick around for two rounds of combat rather than one, and finally break free in the opponent's assault phase. You can influence this to an extent by not making use of all of Mephiston's psychic powers (particularly Unleash Rage to re-roll misses) on the turn you charge into combat.

 

But it all comes back to supporting your attack and not expecting Mephiston to do it all solo. Backing him up with another assault unit and an additional raven can work, but just Assault Marines in a Razorback present a credible threat that can't be ignored entirely.

[Tamwulf]

I lost 500 points in two models on the bottom of turn two. He lost one troop squad and a Rhino.

 

That soured me from ever trying that tactic again.

 

Not to be a total jerk, but that's bad tactics at work man. Tossing a portion of your army against the entire opposing force and hoping for the best is asking for a round of focused firepower. You need to support your units, not treat Mephiston and/or a Raven as a "fire and forget" type weapon. Or if you're going to send him off on his own, have a backup plan. Assault a unit that is positioned close to cover, so if Mephiston breaks them in one round of combat he can duck inside the cover. Killing Meph in a single round when he's got a 4+ save or better is no small feat. Also, try to pick on larger enemy units. You want the enemy to stick around for two rounds of combat rather than one, and finally break free in the opponent's assault phase. You can influence this to an extent by not making use of all of Mephiston's psychic powers (particularly Unleash Rage to re-roll misses) on the turn you charge into combat.

 

But it all comes back to supporting your attack and not expecting Mephiston to do it all solo. Backing him up with another assault unit and an additional raven can work, but just Assault Marines in a Razorback present a credible threat that can't be ignored entirely.

 

I humbly request you read the post before mine as that person advocates doing exactly that. A turn 2 assault with Meph from a Storm Raven. My position is that it's such an incredibly bad idea, why would you ever try it? It's shocking that such a tactic has worked with some of the people that have posted in this thread and speaks about the quality of their opponents. I could see it working once against a new player, or one unfamiliar with the game. To rely on such a tactic to win you a game... no way. I'd never try this in a tournament. There would be no compelling reason to do so. The only reason why I tried it was to see if it was a possible tactic. The answer is yes, you can make a turn 2 assault with Mephiston from a Storm Raven. What happens after that should be no surprise as Meph falls to a hail of gun fire and your Storm Raven is shot down from the anti-tank weapons of your opponent. Any other result should be considered lucky or you're playing against a bad opponent.

 

You would be much better off taking a five man assault squad with jump packs, a Librarian with a jump pack and a Storm Raven and attempting this maneuver. You would probably still lose the Storm Raven, but the assault squad will probably stick around for a little longer (as long as the Librarian took Shield of Sanguinious). Cheaper then Mephiston, and as a bonus, you can claim objectives. With the 25 points saved, you could buy a meltagun, meltabombs, and go tank hunting in your opponent's deployment zone. Mephiston can do this too, but it's more of a waste of his potential. There are always exceptions to the rule.

 

Back on topic- the Storm Raven is a wonderful weapon for the Blood Angels. Experiment with its load out and what it transports. Don't rely so much on the wonderful wisdom of the all knowing interwebz. Play with it, and make up your own opinions. One of the posters suggested Sanguinary Guard. That idea never occurred- I'm focused on using a Storm Raven as a transport for my Death Company and a unit of Sternguard. I'm going to try that this weekend. To me Using it as a blinged out ride for Mephiston and assaulting on turn 2 doesn't work with my play group, and while I bashed the guy that does this, if it works, then awesome! Keep it up! Just realize that it doesn't work for everyone.

 

<--- Luvin' the Storm Raven!

[Sokhar]

If you're referring to the post that explicitly mentioned a turn 2 assault, I'd humbly suggest you read posters' names when referencing their posts. That one was made by me, so I'm well aware of what was suggested. I fail to see where mentioning the viability of a turn 2 assault has anything to do with the support elements of your list. Did I say "Crash him into the enemy lines but don't support him in any way"? No, its not a viable tactic, as you've pointed out. The one guy that had a ton of fun with Mephiston as one-man-army was playing at a 1K tournament rocking an uber-deathstar Raven list. Different animal than larger point value games or tournaments entirely.

 

Don't disparage someone else's bad tactics if you're going to either A) Put them into poor application as you mentioned you did or :blush: Suggest equally bad alternative tactics (I won't put Mephiston in cover to preserve him, I'll just take 5 Assault Marines and a Librarian that are much easier to see and wound, and pray that my 5+ save pulls their ass out of the fire.) But enough e-peen waving.

 

You mentioned Sanguinary Guard in a Raven, which is something I've considered as a potentially good idea for some time. Have yet to ever get around to testing it out (mostly because I banished the Raven from my competitive lists for a while), but I'd be curious to hear about peoples' results with it. Having enough room for a Priest or independent character to join the squad as well is definitely a plus. I think the big limiting factor will be having sufficient infantry or vehicles for either to matter. Just putting 1 or 2 Ravens into a DoA list won't really help anything, and it can be difficult to fit something like Sanguinary Guard into a Mechanized list. Basically calls for a hybrid approach, but could prove effective.

 

To circle back to the original topic, no, I don't think the Storm Raven is worth its points. It has good features and definitely offers versatility, but I think it ended up being somewhat overcosted. Given how different it is to any other unit in the game when it was made (particularly Imperial units), I think its an easy mistake to make. But its too expensive to run it as just a gunboat and ignore its transport capability, and you're sacrificing a lot of durability (as opposed to a Land Raider) while only saving a very small number of points and gaining mobility in the equation. Also the opportunity cost is significant, as it occupies a Heavy Support slot that has some very stiff competition in it--as opposed to the Grey Knight Raven which is not only superior by virtue of Fortitude (except for the missiles, granted) but also only has to compete with lowly Interceptors for its FoC slot.

 

I like the idea of the Storm Raven and I went out and bought the models, but they're only going to be a "$hits and giggles" type unit for me, not something I want to use for competitive play. Making no other changes to it right now, for its base cost I think Extra Armor should be included like with IG Valkyries/Vendettas, as its basically a requirement for it to function on the battlefield. Plus just including that wouldn't explicitly decrease the cost of the unit, but simply make it a somewhat better bargain. If I could get an effective Raven for 200 pts instead of 215, I'd like it a bit more. Alternately moving it to Fast Attack or allowing it to be a dedicated transport (even just for select units) would also make it better in my book. Unfortunately none of those are the case though, and I doubt we're going to see an updated codex for BA anytime soon that would make the Storm Raven more competitive (or make Captain models worth owning, or provide incentive to ever use Tactical Squads, etc, etc.).

[daryl]

I have only used mine a handful of times, and its hit and miss. I get the best results out of doing an anti-infantry support transport. I use the hurricane bolters, and typhoon missile launcer. Using the frag missiles, and hurricane bolters to soften up large infantry formations before my RAS hits for the kill. And if there is another close soft target like another infantry squad I use the machine spirit to fire off one side's hurricanes into them to limit the damage from a counter assault from them hitting my RAS. Obviously this has some drawbacks but I like to play to the fluff of the chapter and enjoy this. I have had it popped a few times and lost my assaults but when it comes together it is really satisfying.

 

Edit-Just a quick FYI, I don't remember where I got the idea for this set up but it wasn't my original plan but something I saw and thought hey I like the way that works.

[Drunken Angel]

I have been running all DOA untill recently. I have tried running a single Storm Raven but as mentioned keeping it on the board beyond the first round of shooting was always difficult. I am now running a single Storm Raven with 2-3 attack bikes or 2 Land Speeders and a couple of Baal Predators. Having a couple of extra vehicles/bikes on the board has helped the Storm Raven survive longer. Sure it is still taking a lot of fire but less than before if it takes all the fire that just allows the other vehicles to go untouched I am liking these combos a lot. Usually the Storm Raven carries a Death Company dread and 5 Death Company with Lemartes.

I have found the storm raven is worth its points and much more if deployed with other vehicles or another storm raven, on its own it can be brought down too easily.

The Storm Ravens size combined with being able to move up to 12 inches and drop the DC straight into combat from the base is an advantage. The Storm Raven is highly effective at being able to "blinker" the death company and block LOS to other units allowing consolidation and embarks from combat back onto it.

[ThegrayBush13]

My god i love how much feedback this post is getting. Thank you brothers on your opinions but like most of you said i tried it out some more times and with some of the tactics my very smart battle brothers gave me and honestly......ive fallen in love with my Raven again. >.> lol So much i have one more on its way in the mail and will prolly be a regular in my lists.

Now i read a few people saying something about trying Sang Guard in their ravens.... how did this play? ive been meaning to try this but havent had a chance or been able to find a place for them. I usually run only 1500 pt games and i now run a 5 man squad of DC. yes i fell in love them again as well. lol But anyways Thank you again brothers on all the opinions and i want to hear more on the raven and any on the sang guard+raven combo if anyone has tried it.

 

 

 

 

"So fear not and be proud, for we are the Sons of Sanguinius, the protectors of mankind. Aye we are indeed the Angels of Death!"

[Demoulius]

Mephiston rolls the way Mephiston rolls.

 

He doesn't care if he is the only one inside a Storm Raven or Land Raider. As a matter of fact, It's the only thing he should be riding around in. If others want to hitch a ride like Astro Boy or My Man Dante, well... they can't. Meph's ride is for Meph only, and he doesn't like to share.

 

Close combat is where its at, and Meph is like everyone else. He doesn't like to be shot at. Sure, his Gat is nice and all, but it get's hot, yo? He likes brawling way more then a drive by or busting caps. His ride gets him closer to the action.

 

Seriously though, Meph has Wings of Sanginious, so has really no problems getting around on the board. I'd rather have my Storm Ravens transport other stuff around the battlefield. 500+ points wrapped up in two models seems like a recipe for disaster. Could be fun rolling a Storm Raven up on my opponent and dropping just one model out, but only in a dual Storm Raven list.

you mean that after Mephi enters there isent anymore room due to his ego B)

 

i am kinda wondering how full DoA works as well btw... wouldnt you need at least a pod with locator beacon to ensure you dont kill half your army jumping in? ;)

 

mind, only scatter 1d6 is nice in itself but you still have to test for dangerous terrain when landing in it...and you cant measure 6-7 inches away from a unit before deciding where you land, as far as im aware of.

[JamesI]

i am kinda wondering how full DoA works as well btw... wouldnt you need at least a pod with locator beacon to ensure you dont kill half your army jumping in? :D

 

mind, only scatter 1d6 is nice in itself but you still have to test for dangerous terrain when landing in it...and you cant measure 6-7 inches away from a unit before deciding where you land, as far as im aware of.

You get pretty used to estimating the 6 inches or so.

[spartan II]

i'm used to using vindi's so i know what 24 inch looks like on a batlefield at the start you'll :D up but after the first few games you'll notice that you always seem to guess right so not really a prob

[Spuck]

Deep Striking is awesome too. It's Fast, so 12" (Deep Strike) allows 1 wpn, plus PotMS, plus all defensive weapons. So give it the Twin-Lascannon, Typh. Missile Launcher and Hurricane Bolters upgrade and it'll deep strike hell on the table ! Target two enemy units. And preferably scatter those blasts all over the crowd if there are not enough options to send 2x Krak to.

 

And if it comes from reserve, your enemy will most likely have many units committed to the units you already have on the table (hopefully some other armor).

[spartan II]

nice tactic will remember that one

[Brother-Captain Lucius]

That soured me from ever trying that tactic again.

 

If you take a look at the list that I posted that I regularly used you would see that the idea of the list is multiple hard targets. On your opponents Turn 2, assuming he has some losses from the assault, he now faces 2 Blood Talon wielding Furioso's which are smoked, Mephiston, 5 Assault Terminators, 2 Storm Ravens bristling with guns and 2 Assault squads with Meltaguns and Fists.

 

Now try and kill all that.

 

I must also mention that bringing this list to tournaments has earned me the title of the 2nd Best Blood Angel in Ireland, 8th in the world (According to Rankings HQ) and 15th in Irelands overall Rankings.

 

*EDIT: Also If you play anyway decently you would be taking shots at his main firepower with Assault Cannons Turn 1 and then with the whole barrage Turn 2.

[SirDuck13]

I love my stormravens. I've tried them in numerous ways with numerous other supporting units. What I've finally settled on as the best I've done so far is to run them in a pair with 3 ball predators. The rest of my army is foot-slogging assault squads that all have priests attached and one with a libby. The success I've had has been pretty solid, and the Ravens preform well. They give you options by not starting off immediately planning to put anything in them. It gives me the flexibility to plop a combat squaded RAS into the ravens if I need the extra bodies for objective capping. I really like them and the options they bring to the battle field.

 

SD13

[igotsmeakabob!!]

That soured me from ever trying that tactic again.

 

If you take a look at the list that I posted that I regularly used you would see that the idea of the list is multiple hard targets. On your opponents Turn 2, assuming he has some losses from the assault, he now faces 2 Blood Talon wielding Furioso's which are smoked, Mephiston, 5 Assault Terminators, 2 Storm Ravens bristling with guns and 2 Assault squads with Meltaguns and Fists.

 

Now try and kill all that.

 

I must also mention that bringing this list to tournaments has earned me the title of the 2nd Best Blood Angel in Ireland, 8th in the world (According to Rankings HQ) and 15th in Irelands overall Rankings.

 

*EDIT: Also If you play anyway decently you would be taking shots at his main firepower with Assault Cannons Turn 1 and then with the whole barrage Turn 2.

Where is said list? It sounds juicy.

[Brother-Captain Lucius]

Last page, but here it is anyway:

 

Mephiston

5 Assault Terminators w/ 5 Thunder Hammer/Storm Shields

Furioso w/ Blood Talons, Extra Armour

Furioso w/ Blood Talons, Extra Armour

10 Assault Marines w/ Hammer, 2 Meltaguns

10 Assault Marines w/ Hammer, 2 Meltaguns

5 Scouts w/ Camo Cloaks, Sniper Rifles, Melta Bomb

5 Scouts w/ Camo Cloaks, Sniper Rifles

Storm Raven w/ Extra Armour, Melta, Assault Cannons

Storm Raven w/ Extra Armour, Melta, Assault Cannons

 

Total : 1850

[BloodTzar]

Mephiston

5 Assault Terminators w/ 5 Thunder Hammer/Storm Shields

Furioso w/ Blood Talons, Extra Armour

Furioso w/ Blood Talons, Extra Armour

10 Assault Marines w/ Hammer, 2 Meltaguns

10 Assault Marines w/ Hammer, 2 Meltaguns

5 Scouts w/ Camo Cloaks, Sniper Rifles, Melta Bomb

5 Scouts w/ Camo Cloaks, Sniper Rifles

Storm Raven w/ Extra Armour, Melta, Assault Cannons

Storm Raven w/ Extra Armour, Melta, Assault Cannons

 

Total : 1850

 

I dont think this is the best SR list out there, i am sure it can be done better :blush:

[Brother-Captain Lucius]

Mephiston

5 Assault Terminators w/ 5 Thunder Hammer/Storm Shields

Furioso w/ Blood Talons, Extra Armour

Furioso w/ Blood Talons, Extra Armour

10 Assault Marines w/ Hammer, 2 Meltaguns

10 Assault Marines w/ Hammer, 2 Meltaguns

5 Scouts w/ Camo Cloaks, Sniper Rifles, Melta Bomb

5 Scouts w/ Camo Cloaks, Sniper Rifles

Storm Raven w/ Extra Armour, Melta, Assault Cannons

Storm Raven w/ Extra Armour, Melta, Assault Cannons

 

Total : 1850

 

I dont think this is the best SR list out there, i am sure it can be done better :lol:

 

Oh there's no doubt about it that there is better. This is just my one and worked with my style of play :blush:

[BloodTzar]

No offense, but i was only pointing out that such a list suffers from "all eggs in one basket" complex :blush:

 

Therefore, at that point range, I would sacrifice some of the offensive power in order to get some sort of target saturation, based on my local meta :lol:

[Brother-Captain Lucius]

No offense, but i was only pointing out that such a list suffers from "all eggs in one basket" complex :)

 

Therefore, at that point range, I would sacrifice some of the offensive power in order to get some sort of target saturation, based on my local meta :)

 

Don't worry I've a new list now, It's small, but tough. Ravens are still my favourite build though. When they work, they work well.

[Codicer_Cahill]

This weekend I ran:

 

Astorath (in Raven)

Furioso (Bloodfists)

--in Drop Pob

Furioso Librarian (in Raven)

DC x9 (Powerfist, in Raven)

ASM 10 (Melta Fist)

ASM 5 (Melta)

Scouts 5 (sniper rifles)

Land Speeder x2 (each with extra H-Bolters)

Stormraven

 

Basically I drop the Furioso where he can do the most damage, offering my opponent the choice, shoot at the raven or the AV 13 that is about to be in CC with you! Then boost everything up 24" for deployment next round. The ASMs and Scouts just offer fire support and drop on objectives. The land speeders fly escort/fire support and easy targets many people waste time on.

 

I won all three games (vs Space wolves, orcs, and a tough tyranid list) with this aggressive list and highly recommend its fun factor! By providing ample alternative targets and boosting when necessary, not to mention Shield from my Furioso Libby, my Raven was never shot down in 18 rounds of play! Never be timid with your Ravens! B)