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Stormraven. With hurricane bolters?


Brother Chris

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Just bought my first stormraven. Intended to transport and support Lemartes and the DC + Dread. Is it worth paying the extra points for the hurricane bolters? In my view they add to the ugly less than aerodynamic look of the model, but I've never seen a model without them. Should I follow my aesthetic sense or am I passing up on some useful firepower?
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I face a few horde armies and also Eldar, Deldar and Necrons so Hurricane Bolters are a nice addition to my two Stormies. They also have the Typhoon rockets so they can move 12" and fire frag rockets and a possible 12 twinlinked bolt shots at one target for the s4 defensive weapons.
Sense stormbolters are defensive weapons it allows you to cruise all over the board while still metting out heavy firepower, very useful against hordes or solo models. (I don't care how good your invulnerable save is, If I hit a single model 12 times, he is going down.)
But if you think about it, you have to both hit and wound, and on average, even if you do hit and wound with everything, you'll still only cause two wounds on a 2+ save. On odds, you'll be hitting and wounding with five on a Toughness four, giving you maybe one unsaved.
12 shots at BS 4 is a 2/3 odds, so 9 hits. Str 4 vs T of 4 (avarage for most marine HQs) is 50/50 or 5 hits. 2+ save is 1 in 6 for about 1 wound each. (Not a lot of HQs sporting that though). If your within 12": 24 at BS 4 is 16 hits, Str 4s T of 4 is 8 hits. A more typical 3+ is again 2/3 which still comes out about 3 wounds. That's a dead Captain. That's also assuming you moved at 18" and cannot fire any other weapons.
Most IC shouldn't be running around alone period. Also I was just using the Captain as an example, all of your generic HQs have T4 and 3+ with 3 wounds. Remember however that this is just one example, if your just shooting into rank and file marines you will kill between 1-3 on avarage, and up to way more. In a 5 man squad 3 dead marines is a huge blow. Besides that is also against SM, turn that gun against an army that doesn't get 3+ saves defacto and suddenly that 3 dead marines is 8 dead Eldar, and how often do you even see Eldar squads that large? Now granted against like say, a Hive Tyrant then yes the gun in nearly useless, as you may get 1 wound if your lucky even if your shooting at 12" and stacked against the Tyrants 5 wounds plus the ability to regen. your Stormraven will be dead next turn.

I love the SR. I can't convince myself to run the Typhoon launchers and the hurricane bolters, but I love the idea of a gunship. Tack on TLAC and I would cruise around the board at 12" and tear apart hordes of orcs, IG, etc.

 

Problem is you are a huge target, and without a cover save it becomes a 230-245pt smoking wreck on the field.

Or, you are a big distraction. I have never had a problem sacrificing a big flashy unit as a means to bring the rest of my army into key positions untouched.

 

Agreed. But we are talking about two different roles. My SR's are currently expensive delivery systems that sometimes last long enough to return some damage. I don't put the extra points into the hurricane bolters and Typhoon launcher. They are NOT gunships.

 

But they do a great job of getting a wrecking ball of a unit in place to make my opponent very sad.

i dont, on the grounds that it wont survive long enough to use them well.

 

Mine carries dc, a dread, and then explodes.

 

I intend to try adding a locator beacon so a hq and 5 hammernators can assault out of it, and normal termies can teleport in :(

 

but lgs was empty last night so not sure if it would work.

Well if your using it as basically an expensive transport, just deep strike a land raider. way more staying power.

 

raiders are not as awesome as ravens, fact

they may be better armoured, armed, and transport more, but come on, its a baby thunderhawk!

And being awesome is 9/10ths of the law. Fact. :).

 

After glueing 30 thunderhawks to bases yesterday (Battlefleet Gothic, before anyone has a heart attack), i'm itching for a FW Storm Eagle. Even as a "counts as" SR, its just so much nicer looking.

12 shots at BS 4 is a 2/3 odds, so 9 hits. Str 4 vs T of 4 (avarage for most marine HQs) is 50/50 or 5 hits. 2+ save is 1 in 6 for about 1 wound each. (Not a lot of HQs sporting that though). If your within 12": 24 at BS 4 is 16 hits, Str 4s T of 4 is 8 hits. A more typical 3+ is again 2/3 which still comes out about 3 wounds. That's a dead Captain. That's also assuming you moved at 18" and cannot fire any other weapons.

 

I think you need to reread the section on what a hurricane bolter is. Each one is 3x twinlinked bolters, not 6x single bolters.

 

You get 12 shots at 12", getting 11 hits due to twinlinked. 11 hits is 6 wounds, then 2 kills on MEQ. The guns make their points back every time they fire at 12".

There are a few tactics threads around here for the Storm Raven. Not sure how much they will apply in 6th, but we will see.

 

The two big things for Storm Ravens for me:

 

1. Always take two of them

2. Always give them Hurricane Bolters

 

Field two of them- makes your opponent have to prioritize and split his anti-tank firepower. If he is shooting at the Storm Ravens, that gives the rest of your army free reign. Use it! Also, make it harder for your opponent to choose- foot slog your DC and Dreads, and put a cheap AS in the SR. Or run it empty- just because it has a transport capability doesn't mean you need to use it. Now your opponent will have to make the choice- pop the SR or the squad of AS in the Rhino/Jump Packs that will charge him next turn.

 

The Hurricane Bolters are free shots. Each Hurricane Bolter is 3-6 twin linked shots, and you have TWO of them, for a total of 6-12 TL Bolter shots. They are defensive weapons- so you always get to shoot them (for the most part). The question in my mind is not why you should take them, but why you wouldn't take them. It's 30 points- less then two AS, and not much more then many of the other upgrades we have available.

 

"Not a gunship"- really? TL Assault Cannon, TL Heavy Bolter, 4 Bloodstrike Missiles, Power of the Machine Spirit, AV 12 all around, and it ignores the extra die on Melta weapons- and this is before upgrades? If that ain't a gunship, I don't know what is. I bet it will get the Hover Mode that the Storm Talon has in a FAQ allowing it to fire everything at +1 BS.

The hurricane bolters would be awesome, if the average life expectancy of my Raven would be longer than 1 turn. Usually I flat out into the enemys deployment zone and then die.

 

Ever thought about holding it in reserve to deep strike it? Or just holding it in reserve on those missions that allow it and let it come on the table later? Or don't go all out into your opponent's deployment zone on the first turn?

 

I don't want to come off as a know it all, but if you always move flat out on turn one into your opponents deployment zone, then yes, you will always lose your SR. Change your tactics!

I am aware of what a hurricane bolter is, I think you need to reread the section on what you get when you buy the upgrade. Two hurricane bolters is 24 shots at 12"

 

If its the same as a crusader's hurricane bolter, then it should be three shots per sponson at 24 inches or 6 per sponson at 12 inches for a total of 12 shots, not 24.

The new BRB says that the SR can Zoom (18 to 36 inches) and fire 4 weapons at full BS. Plus PotM makes 5.

 

This means you can dump all 4 bloodstrike missiles and fire whichever gun you have on the front. I wonder if any additional weapons you throw on the bird (hurricane bolter sponsons) can snap fire?

 

I'm imagining a SRs (or three :) ) entering from reserve on turn 2, Zooming 36 inches, dropping it's cargo via Skies of Blood (I'm not sure you can do this), then dumping all 4 Bloodstrike missiles, firing its main gun, and Snap Firing its sponsons. All in 1 turn!! Finally this sounds like a unit that can earn back its points!

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