How do you run your stormraven?

[Emicus]

Hey all

I'm making the final push towards getting the Grey Knights to 1800 points by putting together a flying landraider and I'm curious to hear how you guys run yours? If at all?

I'm a fairly newb player and currently running with:

Librarian lv3
2x 5 terminator squads, 1 hammer, psycannon

5 purifiers

10 interceptors, 2 incinerators, combat squadded

(Insert Stormraven here)

2x NDKs with PT, psycannon, psilencer and sword

Ordo Malleus inquisitor w/ hammer and psycannon

ADL w/ comms-relay


Thinking put the purifiers in the 'raven for terminator/interceptor backup, but mainly running it for flier defence. In my meta there is usually 0-1 fliers so I'm thinking TL-MM, TL- Assault Cannons and possibly hurricane bolters for value add vs pesky objective camping troops? To drop the purifiers in wherever needed with cleansing flame is just gravy, and ought to work better than the rhino I've tried to run them with.

[jeffersonian000]

I run mine empty. Use to run it with Assault Cannons, Multi-Meltas, and Hurricanes to take advantage of Psybolts, but now I either run Lascannons and Melta for tank hunting or Lascannons and Missile Launcher for air to air dog fighting while retaining air to ground capacity. People laugh, but having all of your weapons at 48" or better is pretty handy, while being able to switch between Krak and Frag means you can punch heavies without losing the ability to splat softies.

 

SJ

[Prot]

Interesting. I have only used mine once with my Ultramarines as a CM and Terminator assault vehicle, but weapon wise it is, and probably always will be: Multimelta, Lascannons. Even moreso now with grey knights since they are severely deficient in those weapons.

[ChaoticEric]

I run melta and lascannon for the anti armour shooting gk usually so sorely lack.

[Emicus]

I'm surprised at so many running with MM and lascannon. I mean both weapons are "the one shot that really needs to count" except the MM is helluvalot better at it. Don't you feel the MM is sufficient at blowing things in a single shot? And if not, won't the more shots from assault cannons glance more hull points anyway?

 

I can see the point that with keeping it back, but a MM on a super mobile platform sounds too good to pass up, having to get close anyway I might as well try some purifiers in it, the assault cannons are easily in range and... The only question for me really is the hurricanes right now. They seem to be a slight pain to line up, I can't PotMS both and they will be wasted against whatever the MM shoots at, until later game of course.

 

Just not sure if the "if it lives, if it has killed all the hard targets it needs to, if there are any turns left" 30 points is worth it, but then again what else to spend it on, Mastery lvl 1 on the Inquisitor?

[Rurik the blessed]

In  the past edition I'd ussualy equip it with lass cannon and multimelta. but now... i found the plasma cannon very handy...

specially against those horrible centurions.

[Prot]

I'm surprised at so many running with MM and lascannon. I mean both weapons are "the one shot that really needs to count" except the MM is helluvalot better at it. Don't you feel the MM is sufficient at blowing things in a single shot? And if not, won't the more shots from assault cannons glance more hull points anyway?

 

I can see the point that with keeping it back, but a MM on a super mobile platform sounds too good to pass up, having to get close anyway I might as well try some purifiers in it, the assault cannons are easily in range and... The only question for me really is the hurricanes right now. They seem to be a slight pain to line up, I can't PotMS both and they will be wasted against whatever the MM shoots at, until later game of course.

 

Just not sure if the "if it lives, if it has killed all the hard targets it needs to, if there are any turns left" 30 points is worth it, but then again what else to spend it on, Mastery lvl 1 on the Inquisitor?

 

But we're talking about equipping it for Grey Knights right? We're talking about a vehicle that has access to 2 anti-tank weapons that none of the infantry in the codex have access to. For me it's automatic.  Both weapons are twinlinked so it really should hit.... the rest is up to the dice, but at the very least, if we're talking flyers, you could be able to make your opponent 'jink' which can be enough to give you some breathing room.

 

But by all means, give it a try with assault cannons/missiles and see what you think.... speaking of jink...

 

 

In  the past edition I'd ussualy equip it with lass cannon and multimelta. but now... i found the plasma cannon very handy...

specially against those horrible centurions.

 

Here's why I personally never put a template weapon on a flyer... Jinking just makes it useless. 

 

The thing about centurions is if they're in a Tigurius list, and you're playing as Grey Knights, you can bet your last dollar that Tigurius will be taking Telepathy for Invis. Now granted he has to pass it, but it's very possible with him because it is a buff and he can re-roll. Invis won't let you shoot that plasma canon.

 

I know shooting lascannons at an invis'd squad isn't idea, but at least with re-rolls there's a chance.

 

I still think I'll be painting my Stormraven up as Grey Knight unit. I much preferred the Stormtalon for my Ultra's, and in truth I actually like the vehicle. Yes I know everyone hates it, but aside from low end Razorbacks and overpriced dreadnoughts, I think it's the best value and fairly resilient.

 

If I do want to go ripping into Infantry with a Flyer, I'd just use my Fire Raptor instead. It still isn't painted so I might even try that one day.

[treadhead]

I run a pair both with MM, AC and hurricanes first carries 10 purifiers and a lvl 3 librarian while the second has 6 terminators in it.

 

but my meta trends to the 2k mark for games

[Emicus]

Prot, do you ideally fire at different targets the same round then? Mm/lascan i mean, or really want to make sure what you attack will explode

[Emicus]

I run a pair both with MM, AC and hurricanes first carries 10 purifiers and a lvl 3 librarian while the second has 6 terminators in it.

 

but my meta trends to the 2k mark for games

Do what discipline of the librarian? I just imagined triple cleansing flame out of a single raven. Dear lord

[jeffersonian000]

I still think I'll be painting my Stormraven up as Grey Knight unit. I much preferred the Stormtalon for my Ultra's, and in truth I actually like the vehicle. Yes I know everyone hates it, but aside from low end Razorbacks and overpriced dreadnoughts, I think it's the best value and fairly resilient.

Ironically, I want to paint up two Stormtalons in GK colors, for a Stormwing Formation for my GKs, since our Stormraven is now no different than any other Marine SR. The added "Flyer-power" would be handy, and all three coming in together solves the issue of having them come in piecemeal.

 

SJ

[Reclusiarch Darius]

Twin multi-melta in the nose, it's better than the heavy bolter and the typhoon (which you have to pay a lot of points for anyway). 

 

As for the dorsal turret, it depends. Twin lascannon does consistent damage, but if they have strong cover or invul, it's pretty meh (it also does nothing to infantry). Twin-plasma cannon is hilarious at killing infantry of all kinds, but does nothing to vehicles normally. Twin-assault cannon relies on RNG for its power, but it's very flexible and 4 shots means you'll generally do something. 

 

Hurricanes are bleh once psybolts were retconned. Don't do it. 

 

Other than that, a locator beacon probably isn't a bad investment. 10pts to land things off its hull with no scatter, sounds good to me. 

[Emicus]

Going to try it out with Multi-Melta and assault cannons tomorrow, see how it works out. As per advice I'll refrain from loading up on Hurricane bolters, guess the poor Inquisitor is a psyker after all! 

 

I've thought about putting a locator beacon in one of the terminator squads to assure safe backup from the purifiers, would it be better to put it on the raven?
​My thinking was if they can jump off at any point of the trajectory with Skies of Fury on to a locator beacon, I avoid the risk of a dangerous terrain test, I get them in close where they are needed for CF and the Stormraven can keep on flying it's merry way to where ever it is needed, as long as it flew over said beacon.

[Reclusiarch Darius]

Yeah exactly. That's why its so good on the Raven. You can move to where you want, drop them out, and land with no scatter. 

[Emicus]

When you do though, the raven has to be there, not zooming off to do whatever else. I suppose it's the tradeoff between "I can do it wherever I want on the entire table, but not necessarily getting a good position for the raven" vs "great for the raven, big combat with the terminators or a risky drop". Hmm. I'll just have to try it out I suppose. Might be playing against guard tomorrow.

[Reclusiarch Darius]

Yeah, if you go into Hover mode, its only if you think you can move, disembark 6", and then successfully charge. Otherwise, you might as well just Zoom and drop them out off the homer. You'll move further. 

[Prot]

Going to try it out with Multi-Melta and assault cannons tomorrow, see how it works out. As per advice I'll refrain from loading up on Hurricane bolters, guess the poor Inquisitor is a psyker after all! 

 

I've thought about putting a locator beacon in one of the terminator squads to assure safe backup from the purifiers, would it be better to put it on the raven?

​My thinking was if they can jump off at any point of the trajectory with Skies of Fury on to a locator beacon, I avoid the risk of a dangerous terrain test, I get them in close where they are needed for CF and the Stormraven can keep on flying it's merry way to where ever it is needed, as long as it flew over said beacon.

 

I love that idea. This is what I love about trying to make something work that might not seem efficient to another army. With my Ultra's, I wouldn't even bother with the Stormraven anymore. But with GK's I might be forced to use this.... and this sounds like a really good way to get some extra mileage out of it.

[Reclusiarch Darius]

Don't forget the S8 AP2 missiles as well. They're very handy against pretty much anything, especially being Ordnance. 

[Prot]

Prot, do you ideally fire at different targets the same round then? Mm/lascan i mean, or really want to make sure what you attack will explode

Oops sorry, I missed this.

 

It all depends on how it's going. If I pop my primary target, I PotMS the next target. It's pretty flexible that way. (I really think a flying land raider is a good analogy)

 

 

I still think I'll be painting my Stormraven up as Grey Knight unit. I much preferred the Stormtalon for my Ultra's, and in truth I actually like the vehicle. Yes I know everyone hates it, but aside from low end Razorbacks and overpriced dreadnoughts, I think it's the best value and fairly resilient.

Ironically, I want to paint up two Stormtalons in GK colors, for a Stormwing Formation for my GKs, since our Stormraven is now no different than any other Marine SR. The added "Flyer-power" would be handy, and all three coming in together solves the issue of having them come in piecemeal.

 

SJ

 

 

Yea, I wasn't going to mention anything about this but that's my master plan. My only question is do I paint the Storm talons as Ultra or Grey Knights? It would look super cool to have a formation of Grey Knight air wing, but the reality is I can't use the Stormtalons outside of the formation.

 

I have one painted as Ultra's and one needing assembly. So I could do one of each.. might look stupid though. lol

 

Anyway the formation is really nice and quite honestly the Stormtalon is one of my favorite units on the Marine codex because it just has so much bang for the buck. I used them with missiles or lascannons a lot. Both have advantages.

[jeffersonian000]

Actually, I'm seriously thinking about repainting my SR in a matte gray-black with minor Inquisitorial iconography (Deathwatch, maybe?), as sort of a Spec-Op "black helicopter". If do, matching Talons would be the B's and E's! That way I could play them with my LotD and my GKs, as they would be a matched set that looks like they belong to an elite Spec-Op Marine army without being too much like any one army. Keep'n it real, so to speak.

 

SJ

[Grand Master Iapetus]

MM & LC, no Hurricane Bolters.  Here's some things that make them effective when used properly:

 

- BOTH are twin linked.  That helps a lot.  If you do jink, you still get the reroll...

- POTMS - shoot with the first one, if you kill what you're going for, you can direct the shot to your next target priority.  

- You've also got the missiles.  In the MM/LC configuration, you're going after hard targets.  The missiles add in to the mix on that.

- Locator beacons - suicide purifier squads that don't scatter.  Cleansing Flame right in the middle of the furball...

[Emicus]

I used TL-MM and TL-Assault Cannons, with locator beacon and 5 purifiers in the hold two nights ago vs tyranids. Thinking the assault cannons might be more useful than another 1shot weapon.

Unfortunately I didn't get a lot of mileage out of it. His warlord trait was -1 to enemy reserve rolls, and even with a comms relay it didn't come on before turn 3, where I was forced to chose between shooting up the flyrant or dropping purifiers in the middle of his gaunt horde, I went with the latter and got blown out of the sky. I made several other mistakes as well, but I live and learn :)

[jeffersonian000]

Oddly enough, spending the extra points on the Missile Launcher would have given you 4+ S8+ shots at 48+ inches into your opponent's Flyrants, adjusting your tactics from a Transport with guns to a full on gunship, which would have saved both units. The need to get close due to the 24" range of the AC and MM, combined with the desire to land its cargo, lead to a poor tactic that got both killed.

 

The units you chose to use dictate the strategy and tactics you use with those units. Putting a unit inside the Stirmraven not only forced you to think of the SR as a transport first, it also sidelined two important units until mid game. If instead you took the SR as a gunship, and did not take Purifiers that required a ride but instead took Interceptors that do not require a ride, at most only one unit would have been delayed until turn 3, yet when that unit arrived, it would start removing high value targets rather than becoming a high value target.

 

Just say'n.

 

SJ

[Emicus]

I think you presume too much jeffersonian. In retrospect I learned that I did really poor deployment vis a vis the guy I was playing against, using the raven as a transport was the best thing I could do in the circumstance. The purifiers had already landed and melted a great part of his army when the stormraven got shot. If I hadn't, as you put it, used it as a transport vehicle the purifiers would have had to footslog and never gotten the value that they did. I did a whole lot of mistakes, but I don't think dropping in the purifiers like I did was it. Had my deployment been, as it should have been, I'd very likely be able to both drop purifiers in a good position and shoo the flyrant at the same time.
​
Anyhow, new game next Tuesday, might have learned something and make a better showing, let the raven try to shine!

[jeffersonian000]

I'm not presuming anything beyond the information given, and my point is still valid. The units you take dictate the strategy you use with those units. Which an informed opponent can capitalize on, because they know ahead of time what you can do based on what you took. Equipping your SR for short range and using it to deliver a cargo means you have to get close, have to attempt to unload the cargo, and you have to stay close. Openning up your options by taking longer range weapons and not taking a cargo that requires being delivered to be effective means that you have more choices, and more flexibility.

 

Just say'n.

 

SJ