Fusilave or Stratoraptor?

[Magos Takatus]

I just caved last night and got our new flyer kit but I am unsure what I should arm my vehicle when it arrives. My 40k friend  has a Death Guard list and a Tyranid army that is slowly morphing into a Nidzilla list. I'm not sure what kind of targets the bomber is best at chasing down but the gunship might be useful for hunting down Tyrannofexes with the lascannons and generally upsetting medium sized nids with everything else.

 

Has anyone got any gaming experience under their belts with these aircraft that would be able to offer some advice with these units? Are the linked stratagems worth it?

 

 

[Ulfast]

I´m also thinking to buy one of our flyers and I have not tried any of them out. But it seems both Fusilave and Stratoraptors could easy be made with magnets so you can have two for the price of one :)

[Montoya]

I´m also thinking to buy one of our flyers and I have not tried any of them out. But it seems both Fusilave and Stratoraptors could easy be made with magnets so you can have two for the price of one

 

Yep.  I did exactly that.   The only piece you can't really is the front guns to be able to switch between phosphor blasters and ironhail stubbers.  But they look mostly the same anyway, so i just modelled with the phosphor blasters and then magnetized the rest.

 

There was a thread a while back that prot had detailing his succes with the fusilave (i posted my pics of the magnetization I had in progress there).  I've used it as well and it has been fun, but doesn't do a terrible amount of damage.    I haven't tried the stratoraptor yet.

[Smoke Frog]

I also magnetized mine so I could do both the bomber and figher option; the wings needed bigger magnets but it wasn't too hard to pull off. 

[Black Knight]

The Fusilave has the best utility, especially locking down auras for combat armies, our fliers aren't really gun boats you want to use their toys more than their firepower.

[DanPesci]

On the fusilave the bomb rack isnt amazing but could do some output against monster units.

 

However your mainly taking it for the seismic bomb strat (half movement/charge is huge against some nid lists for example), and the aura disruption/headgames.

 

4 heavy stubbers will kill some gribblies, against deathguard probably less so (although reducing death guard movement even further is going to be very annoying).

[Montoya]

On the fusilave the bomb rack isnt amazing but could do some output against monster units.

 

However your mainly taking it for the seismic bomb strat (half movement/charge is huge against some nid lists for example), and the aura disruption/headgames.

 

4 heavy stubbers will kill some gribblies, against deathguard probably less so (although reducing death guard movement even further is going to be very annoying).

 

Interesting point.  In both the games i've played it was against heavily mechanized lists.  So this strat didn't come into play, (and i actually forgot about it as a result)

[Magos Takatus]

Thanks for the advice. I am steering toward the Fusilave mainly because I have been pretty shocked with my friend's rapid advance up the board. Slowing down a brood of Carnifexes or Genestealers sounds like a great idea to me and as you have pointed out the firepower of these flyers is a bit lacklustre compared to some race's alternatives. The Seismic bomb stratagem seems more useful than the strafing run, which is just slightly boosting accuracy of the Stratoraptor.

[DanPesci]

Thanks for the advice. I am steering toward the Fusilave mainly because I have been pretty shocked with my friend's rapid advance up the board. Slowing down a brood of Carnifexes or Genestealers sounds like a great idea to me and as you have pointed out the firepower of these flyers is a bit lacklustre compared to some race's alternatives. The Seismic bomb stratagem seems more useful than the strafing run, which is just slightly boosting accuracy of the Stratoraptor.

 

 

Couple of other points I picked up (admittedly off 1d4chan as was checking the rules for this - not owning PA or the flyer myself!) 

 

Bomb Rack and the Seismic Bomb strat do not have to be used on the same unit. You just have to have moved over them.

You also don't apparently need to be on the board (it just says 'at the end of your movement phase for each').

Advancing also doesn't affect your ability to drop bombs (so unless you need the stubbers, you may as well move the full 70" when needed)

 

This means that with the manouverable craft ability (pivot, move, pivot, move) to split a 70" move between, you can probably always hit 2 different targets of opportunity for the bombs/sesimic strat.

 

If you have chaff launchers, probably stay on the board, but if you've decided to go for command uplink/EFC and cant get near any enemy auras T1, there's nothing stopping you flying off the board and still dropping both bombs. Then drop in somewhere next turn your command uplink/EFC may be useful (e.g. right back in your own lines as a defensive countermeasure to charges/CC auras). Then rinse and repeat turn 3.

 

This is obviously situational, and means you are sacrificing your stubbers T1 and bombs T2 (but then again you may have been shot down anyway staying on the board, and at least this way you have a chance to thin some anti-tank/flyer weapons).

 

Also i totally misread the bomb rack and thought it was mortal wounds on 6s, not 4s   Against 10 infantry or 3 model monster unit you'd be doing 4-5MW average which isnt too shabby.

[Clingy]

@dan

 

I’d be wary of trying to use them off the board. I believe common consensus is you can’t

 

Source ‘the art of war guys were asked about it’

[DanPesci]

@dan

 

I’d be wary of trying to use them off the board. I believe common consensus is you can’t

 

Source ‘the art of war guys were asked about it’

 

Art of war just seems to be a gaming blog/not affiliated with the GW team? (id never heard of them before you mentioned)

 

the rules say 'at the end of your movement phase pick a unit you have flown over'. It says nothing about having to be on the board still.

 

is there another rule in the 9th flyers section for denying abilities whilst not on the board?

 

I guess the argument is that being off the board outright prevents you using any abilities on the stat sheet - but is this actually stated anywhere?

 

Not trying to argue btw, genuinely interested, as it does seem very gamey to me as well lol. Id certainly double check with an opponent before the game.

Edited October 2, 2020 by DanPesci

[Black Knight]

It is probably similar to not using an aura character when they are in deepstrike or in a transport.

[Clingy]

They aren’t affiliated but that wee scamp Richard Siegler is one of the better 40k players. Him and his team are quite knowledgeable so if they don’t play it that way it’s probably the way it’s supposed to be played.

 

Just used them as an example

[DanPesci]

Thats cool, as I say Im fully expecting this to be FAQ'd at some point, and do believe that the RAI are for the bombing abilities to not be used if it flies off the table, just RAW iI couldnt find anything stopping this.

 

Finally had my flat sale go through after purging the forces of 2020 nurgle, and so picked up one of the flyer kits yesterday. First flyer ive ever owned in 20 years of playing!

 

Ill definatley be magnetising between the strato/fusilave