Storm Raven as assault transport

[minigun762]

Thinking about this again, I think the best you can do is a squad of shotgun Scouts and dropping out as you zone by.

 

This gives you two shots when you land but you can still assault next turn.

[Azash]

Still not sure about it as an assault transport but in makestrom of war missions its ability to cross long distances and dump out cheap scoring/contesting units I think may be a real advantage.

[knife&fork]

It's worth it when you have a unit in it that doesn't care much if you crash. Or if you have multiple ravens and good threat saturation. 

 

In other words, whatever rides in the raven should either be durable enough to not care if it goes down or non threatening enough to warrant a lot of the enemies fire. 

 

Mephiston is a good example of the first and a smaller assault squad or scout squad kitted for close combat is an example of the second.

 

 

Ideally it should also be in a list that puts a lot of pressure on the opponent. If everything else is gunline oriented and slow then that storm raven and it's cargo will have a bad time. Play aggressively and there will nowhere to run even for the quickest enemy. 6+6+2-12 inches is a huge threat bubble to compliment the rest of your force!

[knife&fork]

Another thing that I think often gets overlooked is that you can redeploy units late game with the raven!

 

People fly in, shoot, maybe dump some cargo when they arrive, but rarely do I see anyone embark anything. Quickly moving a dread or squad across the board can be very powerful and have actually won me a few games.

 

It's like people are so set on 'gunship' and 'assault vehicle' in their minds that they forget the option even exists. 

 

This is how it usually goes down for me:

 

Turn 2, fly in, kill something

Turn 3, hover, disembark cargo, kill something

 

Now, even if the raven is killed at this point I have used up all my missiles, usually killed (or severely weakened) two high value units as well as delivered a cargo right where they need to be. Totally worth it.

 

If I survive the next enemy shooting phase it still leaves me with 2-4 turns of doing whatever with one of the most flexible vehicles in the game!

 

EDIT: Once you have popped those missiles (and never, ever save them for later!) the raven doesn't have amazing fire power. Find other things for it to do besides getting into fire fights. 

[GreyCrow]

One good advantage of the Stormraven that people seem to not take into account is that when used as a transport, it brings 2 units with a single reserve roll. 3 if you plan to have them escorted by a Stormtalon.

 

Compared to the Land Raider, the Stormraven has more reach as well, and is great to deliver units right into the enemy's backfield for maximum damage of board control. On the other hand, the Land Raider however slow he is will start the game on the board and is able to deliver its content into the middle table right from turn 2.

 

Like Knife & Fork said, it's also good to redeploy units. I can totally see him arrive, drop its content in the midfield to take care of opposing units, load up a squad and a dreadnought then move to the opponent's backfield and drop them the next turn via skies of fury.

 

I disagree a bit regarding the missiles. I can see the logic, but it's really depending on the loadout. Especially now that you can shoot all your 4 missiles in one turn in 7th edition !

If going for an anti-tank Stormraven, then it's good to use your missiles as fast as possible, however, I'll be going for the Gunship of Doom version with the Hurricane Bolters and the Typhoon Missile Launchers ad Assault Cannon. So much dakka there, good to clear a zone before I unload the squad of gunslinging vanguard veterans inside ! :p

[knife&fork]

Well ok, 2 a turn might be reasonable. But nothing more than that! :P

 

Use em or lose em. Having spares is worth nothing if it goes down and killing things early is worth more than killing things late.