Stormraven, Skies of Blood, Flat-Out, Reserves

[Father Mapple]

A flyer comes on from Reserves with a 18-36" movement and is able to shoot some weapons. BUT, if it chooses not to shoot, it can move another 12-24". This means at the smallest, it could move a total of 30" up to a very impressive 60", from reserves.

 

To let models disembark, the SR would normally be able to move, at MOST, 6" so the models inside could assault on the same turn. It would have a 5+ jink save, but couldn't move flat out after letting models disembark for the 4+ jink save. AV12, ceramite plating, 5+ cover is pretty nice.

 

Do you see the normal method of deploying models as being through Skies Of Blood and letting the Stormraven stay out of range? Theoretically, the troops inside could jump out, and the Stormraven not even be on the table at the end of your own turn. Granted, it didn't get to shoot, but it got to deliver the models. And a S4 glancing on the Dread's rear armor (if it fails dangerous terrain) is not that bad, especially with troops getting armor saves now for those kinds of saves.

 

OR do you see people Zooming on (that's a term of art now, not just me being enthusiastic, lol), shooting a whole bunch, dropping the models through Skies of Blood somewhere safely back within the first 18" of the table edge, and risking the 6s to get hit?

 

OR do you see people Zooming in, shooting a whole bunch, keeping the troops inside, risking the 6s to get hit, and then deploying the assaulting troops on the 2nd turn of the Stormraven's arrival? If you get the SR in on turn 2, this still means a turn 3 charge, but so far, all of these methods do since Vanguard Vets still can't Heroic Intervention out of a SR. Since it would be in hover, there would be less people killed after the 2nd turn if it gets shot down in hover mode.

 

This really makes the SR super tactically flexible to me. I planned on putting Sanguinary Guard inside with a Priest with Jump pack, a Furioso, and having all those guys disembark with Skies of Blood same turn of arrival, but far enough away or behind cover so they don't get shot to death. Then, these guys won't be the only targets since the other 50% of my army that HAD to be deployed on turn 1 will soak up some fire, and I don't risk the SR to anything EXCEPT interceptor fire, which is not going to be common for a while.

 

What do you guys think?

[terminatorAM]

I'm thinking it will be the 2nd turn after arrive disembark and charge. Yeah this will be a turn 3 assault at best, but with the assault restrictions on all other transports now this is the quickest way to get non-jump pack units into the fight quickly.

 

Plus, the first turn after arrival will be filled with shooty goodness due to the extra weapons able to fire with zooming fliers plus Power of the machine spirit

[Ushtarador]

It will strongly depend on the enemys shooting capabilities I guess. I'd certainly like to zoom in 30'', shoot the most threatening thing to pieces, then disembark the next round and attack. But if there's a lot of skyfire or other shooty stuff around, using skies of blood should be a lot safer. I'd prefer to keep the SR on the table to soak up some shooting that could go to the stuff that just jumped out though.