Worth using hurricane bolters on a stormraven?

[Dr von Hohenheim]

Hello,

 

I'm assembling a stormraven currently, and I'm wondering if it's worth going to the effort of magnetizing the hurricane bolters. Does anyone use them, or are they a waste of the thirty points they cost? I'm leaning towards not bothering, but maybe someone will tell me they are worth using?

 

Oh, I'm equipping it with an assault cannon and multi-melta, if that makes a difference.

 

 

Thanks.

[Stormshadow]

Hmm… I would say that the hurricane bolters are useless (on this model), and considering the cost I would say never ever take them. But this may change in 6th, the codex was made with the 6th edition in mind. But I still think they will be a huge waist of points. If you are going to magnetize anything, I would recommend you to magnetize the Assault cannon, because pretty soon you are going to want to change it for the Las Cannon.

 

Good Luck! Stormravens are awesome!

[Mr.darkness]

I reckon that if you are capable of magnetising everything then you may as well. You never know when they are going to come in useful,and it allows you to tailor your army for the stye of game that you are going to play.

[Zeratil]

They make sense on the vehicle, as they're defensive you can move 12 and still fire them as well as two other weapons. However they're strictly anti-infantry and that's not fire power a GK army generally needs any more of. I've magnetised mine but I rarely use them. That being who knows what 6th ed will bring, if cover says went down to 5+ they'd become more useful against GEQs at least, particularly if the SR gets some more survivability from being a flyer in the newer rules.

[Dr von Hohenheim]

Thanks for the advice! I'll magnetise them in case I want to use them in future.

 

 

I would recommend you to magnetize the Assault cannon, because pretty soon you are going to want to change it for the Las Cannon.

 

Oh dear, really? I thought the assault cannon would be a better choice.

[Inquisitor Fox]

I wouldn't say str 5 hurricane bolters are strictly anti-infantry with the Storm Raven's ability to get side or rear armor shots. Yes, you're essentially firing pulse rifles at that point, but that's a lot of anti-light armor firepower if you just decide to truck 6" across the board while still maintaining a decent range of 12 to 24". People underestimate, IMO, the usefulness of a fast vehicle simply moving forward gradually and firing every weapon on the thing at a single target, especially when backing up other units. It's not about 1 unit shooting 1 unit, it's about 3 units shooting 1 unit and wiping it from the table.

 

2 psybolt hurricane bolters, 2 frag missiles and then a TL psycannon going into an infantry unit at about 12"? Toast.

 

2 psybolt hurricane bolters, 2 krak missiles and then a TL psycannon going into a light or medium vehicle? Toast.

 

2 krak missiles and a TL psycannon going into a heavy vehicle? Probably getting a damaged result.

 

Seems useful to me :) But it goes down to playstyle, typical terrain, army composition, etc.

 

EDIT 2: I should clarify that by infantry unit, I mean a non-power armored one. The armor saves do start to negate the firepower, but that's why you pair it with another couple of units to finish them off.

 

EDIT: Stats wise, a TL psybolt assaultcannon (or TL psycannon) does more damage to a Land Raider or other heavy armor target than a TL lascannon. The advantage the lascannon has is range. Otherwise technically speaking you are indeed better off with psybolts and the assault cannon. Unpsybolted it's a little closer, but meh... why? It's so cheap and so dastardly effective...

[shortysl]

I so regret not making my Stormraven with Hurricane Bolters. You take them and what you have is a Gunship that is capable of moving 12" and firing 4 weapons (Power of the Machine Spirit with the Multi-Melta at a tank, the Assault Cannons, 4 Mindstrike Missiles and the Hurricane Bolters at an infantry unit)

 

The Grey Knights might not lack for anti-infantry firepower but with that set-up the Stormraven becomes a vehicle capable of decimating horde units in one turn of firing. Granted, the Mindstrike Missiles are a one trick pony but if that strike is an effective one, you can turn the game, destroying hundreds of points worth of the enemy in one go potentially.

[Stormshadow]

I never use anything other than MM and TLLC on my raven, but that’s because of how I use them.

 

IMO the hurricane bolters are too expensive and have a very limited fire ark. It’s hard to get both of the sponsons to fire on one unit. You could use the machine spirit to shoot the other sponson at another unit. But to me, that’s wasting the machine spirit.

 

I didn’t magnetize anything on my raven. But that’s because I was lazy and I had a hard time seeing how I would ever need any other weapons on the raven. I ether go flat out, allowing me to shot one weapon. Or I stay out of my opponents range, which usually means I can fire a 46” weapon or none at all.

[Brother Captain Kezef]

I wrote this tactica for the Blood Angels but it applies to us aswell

 

http://www.bolterandchainsword.com/index.p...p;#entry2624462

[Reclusiarch Darius]

Stormraven is already a questionable choice for its base price, loading up on expensive upgrades is a bad idea. Knights do not need more bolters, not even at S5. What we do welcome is the twin multi-melta and the twin plasma cannon/lascannon it brings.

 

Sigh, if only GW hadn't messed with the defensive weapon rules for vehicles...

[RedemptionNL]

Sigh, if only GW hadn't messed with the defensive weapon rules for vehicles...

 

Well, we have a new edition on our doorstep that could change the rules for firing multiple weapons on a vehicle, and the Stormraven could also benefit from any Flyer rules added.

[Stormshadow]

That’s a good tactical for the BA Raven. But the GK Ravens should be played differently to the BA version, and not to be considered an assault vehicle. IMO the GK raven should be used as a means for positioning units into optimal fire positions. That will probably change in 6th however :P.

[shortysl]

That’s a good tactical for the BA Raven. But the GK Ravens should be played differently to the BA version, and not to be considered an assault vehicle. IMO the GK raven should be used as a means for positioning units into optimal fire positions. That will probably change in 6th however :devil:.

 

Not sure I agree on that one. I run a Stormraven that is packed to the rafters with Purifiers, a Grand Master and a Brotherhood Champion. It's an absolutely monstrous assault unit that I firmly believe rivals anything the Blood Angels can field (with the exception of the Furioso/Death Company Dreadnought). Grey Knights already have a number of ways to get into optimal fire positions. (Grand Master deployment rules granting Scout, Personal Teleporters, Rhinos/Razorbacks, Deep Strike).

[Stormshadow]

Hehe, we all do things differently :)

 

Next time, fill the rave with 5 paladins with two mc-psycannons, a MM &TLAC Dread and whatever HQ you like with a Psycannon, preferably master crafted. Drive around on the outskirts of your enemy’s range and snipe with the ravens TLLC, you can even disembark the Dread, every time you stop, to get additional fire power (3 shotts instead of 1 :) ). When you have done enough damage this may you can just turbo boost into MM range with the raven and pop something like a Land Raider, disembark the Dread and pop the vindicator standing next to it, disembark the HQ and hit some other tank or whatever, Disembark the paladins and shred whatever fell out of the Land Raider. I guess you could say that I use the raven as more of a clown car and less like an assault vehicle. If the raven only moved 12” you can of course assault with the models stepping out, and that is always good, but not a necessity. I find that the raven lives longer if you always try to move further than 12”.

[Reclusiarch Darius]

You guys need to play more games against Tau, Wolves and Guard. They all laugh at our AV12 chicken and blow it out of the sky the turn it arrives (they have the power and reach to blow it up Turn 1 if you deploy it instead of Reserving).

[Stormshadow]

Yes please :)

 

I love playing Tau an IG! SW are also fun but I am getting a bit tired of them :P. AV12 only blows up if you get a chance to shoot at it, and you need to hit and pen and all that and fail the cover saves. Also the ravens blow up after they have moved 24”, dropped their cargo and smacked 4 different tanks. Job well done :P