Stormtalon or Landspeeders?

[No Foes Remain]

Hail brothers and sisters,

 

I'm planing an order for my beloved Astral Claws and plan to fill each of the standard FOC but when it came to the final FA slot I wondered which to get either a Stormtalon and give it lascannons and use it as an escort for a Storm Raven (pointed out by a friend so I get two flyers on one reserve role) but apart from points (and appearance) what does the Stormtalon have over the Landspeeders in a support role?

 

Also how would one use them? (Not much of a play, but I do plan to get a few games out of my Astral Claws).

 

 

Thanks in advance,

/Ventris

[Storm Dragons 3rd Company]

What else do you have in your army?

 

Land speeders can start on the table or deep strike.  They are fragile.  In my experience they are often overlooked early in the game.  A squadron of them would let you have 6 missile shots and three multi-melta shots, or 6 missile & 9 heavy bolter.  You can also go for double multi-melta or have an assault cannon instead of the missile launcher.

 

The 'Talon doesn't have quite as much AV as I'd like and then tend to get shot down a lot around here.  They are good for getting some heavy firepower where you need it on the board in a hurry.

 

However, given what you said about why you collect and how much you play, I think the better question is which option looks cooler to you and which one you'd rather paint.  If one of your troop choices was scouts, you can get your land speeder fix from their transport so that might be worth thinking about.

[minigun762]

I prefer the Talon as the extra pip of armor and the fact it's a flyer seems worth the increased price tag. Raw firepower is about the same I think, with the edge going to the Talon maybe

[pyroknight]

Both are pretty frail and serve similar roles. 

 

The stormtalon does get BS 5 at ground targets, and has additional defense as a flyer. 

 

The landspeeder can start on the board, and doesn't have to make reserve roles. (Unless you wanted to deep strike it)

[Emperors Immortals]

Ive only run a TLLC talon once, it shadowed a raven and then took out a manticore and died while distracting a fair bit of enemy fire.

 

I do run landspeeders quite often though, and have for many years. In 3 speeder squads i take either 4 heavy bolters and 2 meltas or 3 MM and 3 HF. For fire support - 2 typhoons and a bullet catcher if theres points. They can be brought down by a tac squad worth of bolter fire but are very fast and can deep strike a target hard enough to assplode a raider, and it wont make you feel as bad as losing a squad of kitted out sternguard. *sniff*

 

Looks wise? I cant say, massive fan of speeders since the big E commisioned them, but those talons look dead sexy to me.

[Schultzhoffen]

Depends on many things:

 

What else do you have in your army?

Do you need air support or the ability to engage enemy fliers?

Do you need the option to tackle hordes?

How many points do you have to play with?

 

STalons are fliers - with all that this entails - they are (along with a SRGShip) essential if you face enemy fliers regularly.

Land Speeders are cheaper and can be taken in squadrons (saving on slots). They are wonderful in dealing with hordes (HBolter/CMLauncher).

 

On a personal note: I hate the look of the STalon and will NEVER use it - I find that a SRGunship (or 2) is ample for air support.

[DarkGuard]

I think competitively most prefer the Stormtalon, partly because it's harder to hit (you need specialized weapons or units to hit it). And partly because it's more survivable with heavier armament per single model.

 

The Speeders, however, are great en masse. I've always liked 2 Typhoons together, great firepower and speed, and also cheaper now to field. However, they are more fragile. They can start on board, but with bad placement that makes them easy First Blood, while the Stormtalon is protected from that. Yet with good placement they won't be harmed first and can then leap out and take out a few units.

 

It comes down to preference. If you're only flier is the Storm Raven though, I'd recommend the Stormtalon.

[Iron Father Ferrum]

My vote goes to the Storm Talon.  I have a pair with TLLC (or "LasTalons" as I like to call them) and they make for great interceptors.  With a single one, I've knocked Storm Ravens and Drakes out of the sky with a singly shooting phase.  The reason they're so effective at the role with this payload is that they cover both fields of thought when it comes to "the best AA."

 

Idea #1: high-strength, low-AP weapons.  Go for the one-shot kill.

Idea #2: high rate of fire, mid-strength weapons.  Go for hull points.

 

Here's anecdotal evidence from a tourney I played at once.  I had two LasTalons, and in my first game I played against a Chaos Marine army with a pair of Baledrakes.  He got both his Drakes on Turn 2, but we were playing the long-board deployment type, so I mostly saved from fiery destruction.  My Turn 2, both Talons show up.  Talon #1 shoots at Drake #1.  Lascannons hit, penetrate, and blow him up; he failed his save, and the Drake died.  Talon #2 shoots at Drake #2.  Lascannon hits, penetrates, fails save, but doesn't blow up.  All four assault cannon shots hit, three Rends, he makes one save -- even without rolling on the damage chart, 3 HP gone, Drakes dies.  One turn, and the scales tipped dramatically in my favor.

[No Foes Remain]

Thanks for the replies guys.

My rough list is as follows:

HQ:

Captain/Chapter Master (depending on point games) with power sword and combi weapon

Librarian with force axe

Elites:

1 Full sternguard squad

1 Full vanguard squad

1 5-man Tac termie squad with assault cannon

Troops:

6 full tac squads with a special weapon in each and the sgts will probably have combi-weapons as well

FA:

2 six man bike squads with meltabombs and gav guns

Heavy support:

Storm Raven

Dev squad

Hunter

I'll probably also get a pred and vindi to swap out on one of the heavy support to see whats best, but thats pretty much the list I have in mind.

But it sounds like the Talon is pretty handy, might need to see if I can change it from looking like though.

[corlinjewell]

Where's the pun?

[Iron Father Ferrum]

Where's the pun?

 

Yeah.  This?

[No Foes Remain]

Sorry, its been a long day and it doesn't help when I was chatting to a friend on steam at the time. Reading back I did wonder why I typed that....