Death from the Skies and Ravenwing

[march10k]

So I just got the book.  The whole dogfighting thing seems incredibly cumbersome, but seems to allow the player who is likely to lose to break it off  without pain more often than not.  There was one really cool/odd thing in the rules, and that's the interplay between the new Abductor Squadron and the attack patterns...The Abductor Squadron is fixed at 3 models, so it's not even eligible for many of the patterns, but the dark talon gets +1 to jink and +1BS.  That's nice...The Unmerciful Pattern seems not to work because it's a mixed squadron, and RAW, it would simultaneously be required for the entire squadron to focus fire on a ground target...while simultaneously focusing fire on an air target.  That leaves vehemence and intolerance.  Vehemence is okay...not great.  The DT isn't really a tank hunter, so gaining the tank hunters rule against ground targets is meh at best.  The Nephilims would do better, gaining tank hunters against air targets, which is nice for the mega bolter, but given that the target will likely jink, you wouldn't want to waste any blackswords while in this formation.  

 

The intolerance attack pattern is boss, though.  The dark talon ignores cover against ground targets and the Nephilim ignore cover against air targets...now we're talking!  Cover-ignoring hurri-bolters to dig light infantry out of cover, check!  Ditto the rift cannon for digging tanks out from behind cover with their poncey camo netting (and with -5" to scatter!) , and who wants to allow the various 2+ cover options when dropping that stasis bomb?  The Nephilim do very well here, as well.  This formation makes it worthwhile to consider upgrading the megabolter to a godhammer...twinlinked lascannon that ignores jink?  Godlike air to air firepower...and pair that with a bevy of S7 missiles, yum!  

 

Of course...this is all just a watered down version of the indomitable attack pattern...indomitable is better...but it also requires four aircraft, and even three is quite a large investment, I can't imagine a four bird squadron in under 2500 points.

[Solrac]

In most situations it may be hard to keep all of them in a specific attack pattern every turn without flying off the board but that one turn can definitely make all the difference if you focus on the right targets.

 

Thanks for the quick review of the attack patterns. I only have one flyer (magnetised to be both Neph and DT) so holding off on buying the book especially with the rumours of a revised rulebook later in the year that will most likely have the new flyer rules included.

[Syphid]

The Nephilim is now a master of the Dogfight phase. Blacksword missiles having an infinite range in a dogfight is very cool.  It means that if you win the Engagement phase you can increase your range to 48" or more, outranging many of your opponent's weapons while still being able to engage them.  They also always have Skyfire, regardless of angle of attack.

 

The Ravenwing Strike Force and Unmerciful Attack Pattern have a cool synergy:  They arrive automatically on turn two, can move flat out the turn they arrive, can fire all their weapons, count as Jinking until your next turn, and can fire all of their weapons again!

[march10k]

 

The Ravenwing Strike Force and Unmerciful Attack Pattern have a cool synergy:  They arrive automatically on turn two, can move flat out the turn they arrive, can fire all their weapons, count as Jinking until your next turn, and can fire all of their weapons again!

That is pretty cool...I hadn't thought about how the rules affect non-abduction units...

 

 

The Nephilim is now a master of the Dogfight phase. Blacksword missiles having an infinite range in a dogfight is very cool.  It means that if you win the Engagement phase you can increase your range to 48" or more, outranging many of your opponent's weapons while still being able to engage them.  

 

 

 

Well...it depends on the enemy's AV that you're targeting...blacksword missiles against AV12 leave much to be desired.  You really want to force him to expose AV10 before you start flushing your single-use missiles!

 

The Nephilim is now a master of the Dogfight phase. Blacksword missiles having an infinite range in a dogfight is very cool.  It means that if you win the Engagement phase you can increase your range to 48" or more, outranging many of your opponent's weapons while still being able to engage them.  

[ValourousHeart]

In most situations it may be hard to keep all of them in a specific attack pattern every turn without flying off the board

I disagree. I think this is a new skill that hasn't been required in this game before, and will take some practice to become proficient.

 

It really isn't any different than having to guess ranges. It was awkward for new players, but veterans could do it with precision.