Ravenwing in 8th

[SnakeChisler]

First test game in 8th with a mostly ravenwing force

 

1St impressions are there pretty darned good but you don't get much for your points, correct backup units to your main guys are the thing.

 

Wasn't up against a horde but necron and Tau the DS is amazing in what it does but you probably need 2 or some mechanism of getting a better save on it it's No1 hate figure in the army.

 

Surprisingly bolter spam on the bikes doesn't seem to do the damage but that was against necron.

 

Speeders with 2 Hb didn't do too much for +30 points you can buy a rifleman dread which can patrol at the back

 

MM bikes against the correct target are brutal

 

Sammael took a Necron big tank thing down on his own with *2 strength +1 for the sword on the charge ( not sure if you get the +1 but it didn't matter in this case) straight 2 damage gave 8 wounds to the ones it had suffered already.

 

Plasma bikes ripped through anything they shot at.

 

Needed the 6 command points though ( took 3 troops) can't see how you can manage without them used 1 to re-roll a 6 from perils

 

Black knights did well I'm combat

[dtse]

Thanks for sharing. I have also noticed these things about ravenwing.

 

Sammy is good now. And cheaper! And his buff for ravenwing is awesome. Auto take

 

Chaplain vs libby is a good question. Happy buff is ok but smite is so good. I'm leaning towards libby

 

Darkshroud is indeed good. A -1 to hit roll not only decreases firepower but prevents overwatch and other shenanigans that trigger on 6s. But they are targets and not hard to kill. And 6" is a small bubble for a mobile army

 

MM attack bikes and MM on landspeeders is great for vehicle or knight hunting. But anything more on speeders is too costly. Double heavyflamer speeders though is super fun with grav upwash but that's a 300+ points investment in fragile vehicles.

 

Black knights are good. Same as before. Plasma talons wreck. No need to spend points on weapons. Corvus still do the trick.

 

Normal bikers meh. Even with special weapons. Take more black knights. Plasma talons is only special weapon you need.

 

Dark talon is our only source for mortal wounds (other than smite). A must take almost. Still expensive. Hurricane bolters plus strafing run is awesome for chaff killing

 

I personally think it's worth taking cheap HQs to get more command points. A fateweaver reroll every phase is clutch.

[dtse]

What was your list?

[Ronin_eX]

Normal bikers meh. Even with special weapons. Take more black knights. Plasma talons is only special weapon you need.

 

 

I wouldn't discount them out of hand myself.  Within 12" a 3-man twin-plasma RW biker squad is actually doing more damage to, say, MeQs (RWBKs do 2.24 wounds, plasma RW bikers do 2.82 wounds) for less points (128 points vs. 150).  RWBKs are great.  They can kite out at 18" and lose no shooting potential (though I wouldn't recommend this since it is a waste of the close combat stuff they get) and they are better in hand-to-hand.  But for pure close-range shooting, a RW biker squad with plasma is actually outshooting them in a great many cases (better against both light and heavy infantry, RWBKs may edge out when overcharging and shooting multi-wound units).  And with chainswords granting an extra attack now, RW bikers are basically 2A at this point, so not terrible in assault either.  And of course, they also have a 6" range advantage on RWBKs if it comes down to it.

 

RWBKs are nice because you can take larger units of them (good for close combat) without diluting your firepower.  But for pure, efficient close-range anti-infantry shooting, I think the basic RW bikers are the better choice.

 

Haven't checked the numbers with grav or melta yet (though those will come out to 136 points instead of the 128), but the ability to fire the twin boltguns and the special weapon (at different targets no less) has greatly increased the output from RW bikers in this edition.  Another stealth buff that came from the rules themselves rather than a statline change.

 

Now of course, this is with RW biker MSU spam (but considering how bike squads are outfitted, MSU spam has always been the way with them) rather than maximizing units.  But considering how CPs are gained, RW MSU spamming as many outrider detachments as they can may be a viable build choice.

[Kewl Imp]

I've only played two games and mostly used bikes. The only land speeder was the Dark Shroud. With a pure Ravenwing(which I run) I need to try out the speeders to know if they will be worth tourny play or just causal. I think Black Knights may be a better choice or a second Dark Talon. I didn't have any problems with crowds in my games but I wasn't fighting hordes( guard, tau, or ork) so I don't know how they will perform. I said it in another post, mathhammer typically doesn't work for me. My experiences tell me if I try to hard for that I will lost. I think the biggest lost in this edition was hit and run.

 

Tomorrow I should be playing a couple more games so I'm my enemy will let me proxy for more Black knights to see how they work out.

[SnakeChisler]

3 bikes + AB * 2

3 BK * 2

2 Hb speeders

 

2 scouts 6 man camo sniper + rocket

Tac squad 6 man rocket powersword

DS

Sam, Lib, champion

Whirlwind

 

While the BK's are awesome there costly and having 3 bikes attached to an attack bike meant it stayed alive till last, rapid fire will cull t3 guys in rapid succession and was knocking of wounds from light vehicles.

 

HB speeder's are too fragile and costly for the price 6 shots -1 if they move versus an autocannon Dread for +20 extra strength range damage & 8 shots

[dtse]

interrogator vs champion? assuming no power fist, champion seems to hit a lot harder, but the interrogator offers rerolls (and not just first round either) and leadership buff/debuff

[SnakeChisler]

interrogator vs champion? assuming no power fist, champion seems to hit a lot harder, but the interrogator offers rerolls (and not just first round either) and leadership buff/debuff

There's not much points difference and you'd have to go interrogator every time

 

Aura of dread nerf bat to leadership as well as 2+ to hit with rerolls