Stormtalon Dogfighting

[pyroknight]

Stormtalon Dogfighting

 

 

With the sudden influx of flyers at my local gaming club, everyone was scrambling for whatever AAA they could manage. Instead of going for a quad gun, I saved up and finally got a Stormtalon.

 

While I realize the stormtalon is probably a better at ground support than at dogfighting, I primarily wanted it as a deterrent to enemy fliers. Up until a week ago, I had a lot of confidence it would server well in this role.

Doom/night sythes have shorter range, and equivalent weaponry (I don’t think you can use the death ray on fliers?)

Orc bombers are made of paper, and have poor BS.

Stormravens are a class above the stormtalon, but usually concerned with dropping off their passengers before trying to dogfight. With proper tactics, I can manage.

I don’t know the weapons on the dark eldar flyers, but their armor is equivalent at least.

 

1 on 1 against any of these I feel my Stormtalon has at least a 40% chance of winning in a head to head air battle, and that is all I need. But yesterday I talked to a Chaos player who announced his plan to buy 3 Heldrakes; and then he showed me what a Heldrake does.

 

Armor 12, 3 hull points, 5+ invulnerable save, regenerates hullpoints on 5+, comes with a heavy 4 autocannon, can reroll wounds/AP, and it can melee. For a modest 15 points more than the stormtalon.

 

The Heldrake is now the toughest flyer in the game, having armor 12 on the front and side, but also having Daemon invul save and “it will not die”. Additionally, its Heavy 4 autocannon will be a real threat to any armor 11 vehicle like the stormtalon. Lastly, it has true hover ability, instead of the stormtalon’s “hover strike”. I am not confident my Stormtalon is up to the task.

 

Aside from keeping at range and trying to get into its rear arc, does anyone have any good advice for taking down a Heldrake?

[spartan249]

Heldrakes are most likely going to have baleflamers on them instead of autocannons. It's very hard to say no to an ap 3 flamer, especially when the thing can go 36", then extend 12" before flaming.

 

The one thing to watch out for will be vector strike, as that will be the more reliable means of inflicting damage on other fliers.

 

I'm not gonna lie, 3 heldrakes with flamers could very well wreck any typical SM army given half a chance. You might have to dig deeper to get some more AA platforms, cause one stormtalon is very unlikely to stop them all.

[Ming]

Yeah, gonna need an answer for these guys...Crazy that a zooming flyer can actually use a TEMPLATE weapon. Should be restricted to only flyers in hover mode...

 

Ally with IG for a Vendetta...130 points, AV12...3 HP...

[Brother Navaer Solaq]

Reading through the thread.

 

A stormtalon even equipped with lascannon is not effective against flyers?

 

I run against a lot of monterous flyers and thought that a talon & quad gun would be a good deterrent from the flyer closing in on gunline deployment i have.

[King Willy]

Storm talons a best used in pairs, they just to flimsy to work solo, a Drakes gonna Vector through you then flame your backfield artillery or Objective holders, three of them gonna shred your Talon to bits, then run tear up your backfield like nobodies business, especially if they activate there daemonforge.

 

But Two Talons, coming in turn two then a Quad gun will give you a fighting chance with some good rolls.

 

Otherwise Ally with Grey Knights or Guard and get a Raven or Vendetta that will bring things on equal footing.

[KhorneHunter57x]

Aside from keeping at range and trying to get into its rear arc, does anyone have any good advice for taking down a Heldrake?

Don't be afraid to take advantage of the Ongoing Reserves rule if it will help your 'Talon set up a better attack run (against either air or ground targets).

 

What weapon did you equip your Stormtalon with?

[spartan249]

You might want to dip into forge world to get some AA weaponry on the field, or use IG allies in the form of some Hydra batteries and some Vendetta gunships. One stormtalon trying to handle more then one heldrake is a losing proposition.

 

To be honest, this is GW pushing sales of both fliers and anti-flyer units, as it'll basically be impossible to ignore heldrakes. Good old Phil Kelly, in the business of making stupid good stuff as always.

[I_Heart_69]

Storm talons a best used in pairs, they just to flimsy to work solo, a Drakes gonna Vector through you then flame your backfield artillery or Objective holders, three of them gonna shred your Talon to bits, then run tear up your backfield like nobodies business, especially if they activate there daemonforge.

 

But Two Talons, coming in turn two then a Quad gun will give you a fighting chance with some good rolls.

 

Otherwise Ally with Grey Knights or Guard and get a Raven or Vendetta that will bring things on equal footing.

 

When you do Ongoing Reserves, they come back in from your own table edge, right?

[Brother Ambroz]

Really for each Helldrake a stormtalon with a lascannon should be a pretty damn good answer. Their autocannon might be scary but its at BS 3 so it'll only hit half the time. It might be AV 12 but its also not modest points wise, 175 IIRC. Another option might be a rifleman dread or two to knock down HPs.

[Iron Father Ferrum]

I've been using my Talon explicitly as an interceptor, so I can tell you that a lascannon-armed Talon is decently effective against other Flyers. That being said, I will add my voice to a previous comment about taking them in pairs. AV11 with 2 HP is ridiculously flimsy for a Space Marine vehicle, Flyer or no, and for the Emperor's sake, land a drop podded dreadnought or something in front of any enemy quad guns. Talons die quickly to those things.

[pyroknight]

Thanks for the advice guys.

 

My stormtalon will have magnetized weapons, so i can adjust the loadout. I figure Lascannon will be best against other flyers; i was just concerned that if the one lascannon shot failed to score a kill, the return fire would be painful.

 

Ongoing reserves is a good idea to get the drop on a heldrake's rear armor. I will give it a shot.

 

I may still need a quad gun and another stormtalon, but at least I have some ideas now.

[DarkGuard]

No real need to magnetize the Stormtalon, you can easily pop one of either the heavy bolter or lascannon, plus the Skyhammer and TML on and off easily without needed to use anything.

 

For the Helldrake, I reckon a lascannon will be best. It can't regenerate HPs if it's dead, and the lascannon has the best chance of taking it out in one shot. The TML is more multi-purpose though, so it's worth a look in.

 

Really though, I don't know what GW were thinking when pricing the Stormtalon, when you compare it with other fliers. But still, it's what we have, and it will probably be more consistent against the Helldrake than the quad gun.