The Stormraven

[Ushtarador]

Furiosos in Drop Pods really help pulling away attention from the Raven (if you go first turn, that is). I love my 2 Ravens if I go first, however if I go second, I dont really have a good strategy yet.. maybe put them in reserve if your whole list can deepstrike.

[mustardParty]

Furiosos in Drop Pods really help pulling away attention from the Raven (if you go first turn, that is). I love my 2 Ravens if I go first, however if I go second, I dont really have a good strategy yet.. maybe put them in reserve if your whole list can deepstrike.

 

 

If I don't get first turn I reserve my lone Raven. I put everything else on the table, but taking advantage of cover ( my regular opponents and I play with more terrain than I guess is normal, we just find bald tables boring!).

 

I really miss the Raven when it's not on the table though, it draws soo much fire, and flat out saves keep it survivable - last game it came on Turn 2 blasted in 24" from my corner positioned itself for assault for the next turn and I just shut my eyes and rolled those cover saves. It was against my buddy who plays SW - the bird shrugged off no less than 5 Long Fang krak rounds, a living lightning burst from his psycher (all 6 shots), 2 typhoon missiles, something else in there im forgetting, basically everything he had. Came through on the other side and the Death Company unleashed hell! I must have rolled 7 4+ cover saves that round, it was nuts.

 

Doesn't always work out that way though. The game before that played my buddy playing his new Choas list, came on Turn 2 flat out, next round two obliterators pegged it twice for 2 las cannon shots, 2 pens, failed both both my cover saves and it was immobilized upgraded to wrecked for the flat out move and that was it!

[Ushtarador]

Well, its kinda ok if the raven gets wrecked in the middle of the table.. but its really bad if your assault termies drop out in your deployment zone, and then spend the next 3 turns stomping towards the enemy lines :/ Likewise, if 1/4 of your points arrive turn 3 or later, its quite hard to hold out imo.

[Spuck]

Also, if you give it a squadron of Land Speeders as an escort, you have better chances of keeping it in cover.

 

(And the frags from a Typhoon Missile Launcher count as a Defensive Weapon, right ? Having 3 Speeders with those and a Raven with one (plus Hurricane Bolters), you can shoot pretty much everything at 12" speeds.)

[JamesI]

Also, if you give it a squadron of Land Speeders as an escort, you have better chances of keeping it in cover.

 

(And the frags from a Typhoon Missile Launcher count as a Defensive Weapon, right ? Having 3 Speeders with those and a Raven with one (plus Hurricane Bolters), you can shoot pretty much everything at 12" speeds.)

Frags are defensive weapons.

[Drunken Angel]

Found a new use today for the storm raven it makes a great road block, I jammed a storm raven into a pass and blocked a land raider. My opponent tried to ram it twice and it dodged both charges easily.

Once I had dropped off the death company and lemartes I decided to use it to block a pass and cut of fthe relief force nothing short of blowing it up will allow anyone past it. Even a crater is a problem and wrecked or immobilised its even worse.

Maybe its the dice but I had the thing take 20 odd dark lance hits a few games ago and it was still there. I have been well pleased with it s resiliency lately, my baals get shot to bits but the Raven gets through and creates bloody mayhem.

[CrimsonMajick]

Greetings!

 

I am new to the boards (although I have been scouting them for a couple weeks now). I am returning after quite a few years (3rd edition era) and I have a question about the Stormraven.

 

Can you start your first turn with the SR on the ground, as though it is landed and has not taken off yet, and thereby gain cover bonuses? The reason I ask is because I had someone pull this on me and I can't seem to find an answer to the question anywhere.

 

BTW, I love all the information on the boards and I have invested in two of these ugly ducklings already. I will keep you posted as they come to life...

[spartan II]

1 they are not ugly

2 yes he played a trick on you no you cant in other words

[Taranis]

1 they are not ugly

2 yes he played a trick on you no you cant in other words

Absolutely right, I'm afraid.

 

And welcome back brother. :)

[Demoulius]

ugly is a matter of opinion im afraid :P

 

but no, you cant "land" skimmers... IIRC you could in the previous edition though but only if your skimmer was immobilized :lol: (and you dident crash obviously :rolleyes: )

[CrimsonMajick]

Thanks for the prompt replies! I figured it was too good to be true.

 

I also got a hint from the tactics thread (Reserving SRs if you go second). But it never hurts to ask!

[DominicJ]

Theres a few ways to use it.

My favourite so far, is empty.

 

You can stick a reclusiarch and 11 DC in it, why not add a Dreadie for fun.

But thats 800pts, and thats a lot.

 

If you get first turn and 24" over the board, you probably win

If you dont, the other guy will throw everything S6 or higher at it, it will go down, and your killy killy death unit will be stuck on the wrong side of the board.

 

6 assault troops in bolter backs with a PF and Melta is a nasty 173 point surprise

 

6 of them are even scarier.

 

Who's going to shoot up the harmless razor backs and rhinos when that Stormraven is clearly at least a third of your army.

:devil: :tu: :angry:

 

You can even fit a Landraider and some assault termies.....

[Demoulius]

ive used a storm raven for a few games so i think il add in as well. dident have to time to write down this length reply last time...

 

ive used one in 2 ways. fire support (so nothing inside) and as a transport. as a transport it suffered abit from my list, beeing the thing with the highest armour value on my side and beeing thrown with hardly any support as fast as possible towards my opponent. the games it wasent shot down it really shined, beeing a thorn in the side of my enemy :lol: sadly however most games it was downed by turn 2, or if i was lucky turn 3. the amount of fire it absorbed was nothing short of amazing though and allowing 12 men and/or a dread to charge with frag grenades after that 12 inch move, 2 inch disembark etc is a godsend :) to help them reach enemy lines renember that fast skimmers can move flat out, in doing so also getting a cover save. kinda what makes the little guy such a good transport ^_^

 

in its firesupport role its pretty awesome as well. to be honest try to fire those 4 S8 AP1 missles at the right target. units in cover will be hardly fazed. monstrous creatures without invunerable (or even with) and tanks with moderate armour should rightly fear it! ive shot down an (at that time) full strength trygon down with the a storm raven in 1 turn of shooting ;) the 4 missles all hit and wound and the remainder got shot off with its assault cannon and hurricane bolter sponsons ^_^ ive wrecked tanks, shot down hordes of infantry and generally caused general mischief in the games that my stormraven wasent stopped in due time.

 

they can be a very good addition to any force you take if you just take the effort to support them well enough :cry:

 

having said that something should be said about their drawbacks. their basesize is gigantic and it can be a pain to keep them out of harms way. ive tried shield of sanguinius when i noticed my stormraven was to big for most terrain pieces (its a conversion based (among other things) on a land raider you see). for its pointcost it only has an AV of 12 meaning things like autocannons can prove a real thread to it. if your opponent knows there is something inside your raven chances that he will stop it will be even higher, resulting in your squad(s) beeing stranded and/or picked off by enemy fire or otherwise stranded (lets say in your own deployment zone...) resulting in a huge point investment basicly slogging forward absorbing weaponfire that will turn them into a fine mist. generally things not very good for their health is what im saying :D

 

to summarize. a pricey and vunerable transport. but if supported properly a real scalpels knife. requires some tactics to use properly but along with a good cargo can win you a game :)

[Morticon]

Is it just me or do you guys feel the SR should be about 30-40 points cheaper?

[Ushtarador]

In my opinion: No. It's ability to carry a strong unit AND a cybot into the enemy's line in one turn is damn strong, especially if they come in twos. If you have first turn, there's absolutely nothing he can do to stop two blender-dreads and a strong unit of DC/Assault termies to reach his deployment zone in first turn (except steal initiative of course). Furthermore, two synced multimelters pop open 1-2 vehicles quite easily.

The amount of shooting required to crack even one is usually quite large once you got that cover save, and then you don't have enough left for the contents which will shred you to bits in the next turn.

It is an all-eggs-in-one-basket thing, but if it works it works damn well. Making them cheaper would not fix that core problem, but make them too strong imo.

 

As a gunship I find it way too expensive though, these missiles are 1shot only and then you're only marginally better than a pred. The option to lose transport ability for a point discount would actually be quite cool.

[Talnox]

Instead of your deathstar transport has anyone tried to run a 5 man assault squad with a dread, after you drop off the dread use it as a gunship/objective grabber? a landraider with terminator or death co could be added to the list to take some fire off the stormraven

[Demoulius]

i think its a pricey yet very good unit. i do like Ushtarador suggestion though. as it it can work quite well as a gunship but generally only one turn. then again i havent tried anything but the standard heavy bolter and assault cannon setup. i strap some hurricane bolters on and its basicly a flying land raider crusader ;)

 

the lower armour makes up for the fact thats immume to the extra melta D6 AP, since most of the anti-tank seems to be melta these days anyway :D

[Drunken Angel]

Is it just me or do you guys feel the SR should be about 30-40 points cheaper?

terminaotrs

 

Of course I would like it cheaper but in all fairness it is about right.

The cost means its use is carefully considered and each point weighted and balanced.

It can get shot to bits in the 1st turn but who has not had that happen to land raiders and dreads as well. The thing bristles with weapons and thats helpful. It is a big base and it blocks things pretty well too. The storm raven can take 4 weapon destroyed hits to even work through the blood strikes, short of exploded it is hard to remove and its still a bloody great piece of blocking terrain once its down.

The stormraven is expensive enough to make its inclusion considered nothing else can carry a dread and 6 terminators as fast as a stormraven. Looking at its speed and cost compared to a land raider it can cover twice as much ground as a LR in one turn, deliver twice as much of a payload then take a cover save. No-one I play against has added the storm raven to the list of under costed units that are commonly complained about.

I play DOA but love the stormraven I think of it as an iconic blood angel transport.

I want to start using either 4 multi melta/heavy flamer land speeders or 2 Baal preds as an escort for it.

The units will help me with my DOA issues of lack of ranged fire power.

At 2000 points I can get 2 furiouso's 2 ravens 4 speeders or 2 Baals and still take 30 assault marines. I am also wondering about only taking 2 speeders and podding down another dread in pod. The idea of a blocking pod/dread or using speeders as a block is appealing when you are all DOA and skimmers.