Stormraven w/ Talon escort

[Leroy101]

Hi guys,

 

Just looking into flyers - I currently use 1 Storm Talon and have no other Anti-Air, and I'm thinking of adding a Storm Raven (MM / Assault Cannon) to the mix to get some actual superiority on the go, the question is, is that too many points? I'm not going to win against any massed flyers with 2 of my own and a Dev squad /w 4 Missiles, am I?

 

Basically I'm just wanting to see if you guys have had successes with Talon/Raven combo.

 

ADL is out of the question btw, can't stand them!

 

 

[Kaedes Nex]

Do not pay for the Flakk upgrade on the Devastators. The 40 points cost is not worth the return against AV12 flyers since Flakk lowers your S by 1.

 

One Stormraven and 1 Stormtalon should be good enough for what most people field these days. We don't see too much heavy flyer spam anymore thanks to Tau and Eldar keeping them in check. Unless you play against Necron air or EDT you should be fine.

 

Another possibility is 2-3 Stormtalons if all you want is AA. The Stormraven isn't required by any means. Me, personally, I would take the Fire Raptor and laugh maniacally as I roll buckets of Skyfire dice. You won't explode any AV12 flyers but you should be able to glance most to death.

[Ishagu]

The Raven is an incredible flyer and is under-estimated. AV 12 on all sides is huge when it comes to flyers.

I equip mine for tank/flyer hunting: MM, TL Las Cannon and the Str8 AP2 missiles are enough to sometimes knock two flyers out of the sky per turn.

Also, the Hurricane Bolters are an absolute must take for 30 points. Late game, against most armies, it's fantastic to be able to zoom up the field and open fire with 12 TL bolter rounds and knock a troop choice off an objective.

[greggles]

Recommend trying the Assault cannon instead of the las.  I was a bit pro las guy, till I tried the Assault cannon once.   Now I don't know why I ever took the las in the first place.

[Arthanor]

TL AC is indeed superior to the TLLC in all but getting that precious exploding result. Some people value a higher chance of destroying, I prefer a higher chance of doing something (and it also is quite decent against say infantry, which a TLLC isn't), especially since the odds of exploding something are pretty low to begin with.

 

Escorting the SR with a ST sounds like a good way to make quite an entrance. It can also stress your opponent's skyfire/interceptor options to a point where it can't cope and your planes will survive better than if they entered one at a time.

 

For this reason, I am a fan of the StormWing. Even more planes all coming together. Transport a dread in the SR, Sky of Fury it down upon coming in and your opponent has 4 significant threats coming in at once. Try intercepting all of that! (I'm sure some can, but then again, investing to be able to means they must have sacrificed something else). Only for higher point games though, at lower point, you can simply take the SR+ST in your list and add the other stuff as points allow.

[Leroy101]

Stormwing, Arthanor?

 

I never really thought of Hurricane Bolters being so effective, but it is a good point!

 

When I said Devs, I meant with regular ML's, they are the only other unit I have that can shoot at flyers in a pinch.

 

Can units like these bring real hurt to ground units as well? Looking more towards the Storm Raven here, as I've never used it before. I don't like seeing the hole in my points left by the Storm Raven!

[greggles]

The storm raven absolutely mauls units when it comes onto the board.  It is truly a gunship.  I had no idea the hurricane bolters would be so potent, as they are sometimes lack luster on the crusader.  The difference is the speed of the raven.  It gets you to effective range immediately and then just unloads an amount of dakka any ork would be jealous of.  Then the enemy is immediately forced to deal with it, or it does the same thing again the second turn, as well as dumping angry contents out.

[Brother Casman]

Can units like these bring real hurt to ground units as well? Looking more towards the Storm Raven here, as I've never used it before. I don't like seeing the hole in my points left by the Storm Raven!

Absolutely. If you're taking the Raven with heavy bolters, assault cannon, and hurricane bolters - there's 19 twin-linked shots when you're 12 inches or less away. You'll do lots of damage to infantry units - I find it's great for late game objective grabs when you can force the enemy off one, then take it with your marines. The Talon with skyhammer missiles does a pretty good job at busting light vehicles, and the assault cannon can hurt heavy vehicles in a pinch.

[Arthanor]

Stormwing, Arthanor?

The Adeptus Astartes StormWing formation, sold online just before christmas to go along with the 2x Storm Talons + 1 Storm Raven bundle that GW had. If you were planning on fielding them already, it is not a bad formation. Strafing run on the raven + everything coming in together makes for quite an entrance!

[Azash]

I tend to always run at least on talon so when I run a raven it works in tandem quite well. One thing to consider when outfitting is both units and developing some synergy.

 

To that end I found tllc on the raven works best along with the storm strikes on the talon.

 

Both fliers get an assault cannon for free. However really compare the two. The talon has the better assault cannon its bs 5 on top of being TL against the majority of the targets. The talons AC can rotate 360 degrees. Now compare this to the ravens a bs 4 and 180 degree rotation.

 

The talon has to take the AC as well. The talon has to pay for a hull mounted LC where as the raven gets one for free with the 180 degree radius. The raven also gets PotMS which the talon doesn't so volume of fire weapons work better on the talon where PotMS makes on shot pop weapons like the LC very desirable.

 

Cover saves. The raven draws fire so you don't want the shorter ranged weapons on the raven (tho the TL MM is to good to pass up) as this puts it in direct line of fire of skyfire weapons. So you run the talon in front with its shorter ranged AC and the raven behind. This affords the raven a flying 5+ cover save without having to jink and thus snap fire. The raven then helps keep the weaker talon up by drawing the fire.

 

Then they have divided roles. The talon focuses on MC's, light armor, rear armor shots, and infantry. This frees the raven up to excel at anti air and anti medium and heavy armor. Also it never hurts to put the HB's on the raven as it gives it a wider role if yournopponentn is troop or mob heavy or you eliminate your prime targets.

[greggles]

The raven draws fire so you don't want the shorter ranged weapons on the raven

The raven's primary purpose is to deliver a horde of angry things to a target. It'll always be in close range, otherwise you won't get the charge.

 

If you were just using it as a gunship, I think taking a bunch of talons would be more effective overall. (three talons vs stormraven and one talon)

[Azash]

 

The raven draws fire so you don't want the shorter ranged weapons on the raven

The raven's primary purpose is to deliver a horde of angry things to a target. It'll always be in close range, otherwise you won't get the charge.If you were just using it as a gunship, I think taking a bunch of talons would be more effective overall. (three talons vs stormraven and one talon)

Depends on how you equip them. Talons will struggle against medium and heavy armor. This forces you to do one of two things. Start taking las cannons on them which drives up the cost and nutters them as a good mc and infantry killer. The other option is all your talons have to start pack hunting. If your going that route units of speeders and attack bikes are cheaper and just as effective as pack hunters. They also won't clog up your force org as bad.

 

The raven excells at taking out other fliers especially the armor 12 variety. The only flier with a MM. Equipped with a LC your talking 5 str 8 weapons and 1 str 9 weapon no other flier packs that much punch. Obviously its a threat to heavy armor.

 

As a transport...meh. The only thing I run in mine is a squad of 5 bolter scouts. Put virtually anything in it short of hamminators and have it lawn dart not only have you lost a 200+ pt storm raven but the 200+ pt squad inside and maybe even a dreadnaught. One lucky roll on the pen chart and poof 10% - 20% of your buys the farm. To much risk especially since to properly assault you have to hover and then everything on the table is gonna open up on your raven.

[Res Ipsa Loquitur]

2 x Stormravens every time. If two Stormravens can't get you through a game, you're probably playing Necrons and no amount of flyers would have helped anyway.

[greggles]

 

One lucky roll on the pen chart and poof 10% - 20% of your buys the farm.

 

Ha! I actually laughed at loud at this one.  Sometimes I forget to tell you guys my main army is Orks.  Losing just 20% from a vehicle exploding? Is it orkmas?  I get confused when I have armor saves sometimes.