From my Blog:
http://prometheusatwar.com/2012/08/on-the-use-and-care-of-stormravens-in-6th-edition/ Note: I’m writing this from a GK pov, but a lot of it is applicable to Blood Angels as well.
Ah, the flying land raider. Using a Stormraven was pretty simple in 5th edition, at least for Grey Knight players. Blood Angels sometimes got tricked into using it as a gun boat, because of their fancy schmancy Bloodstrike missiles, but it’s use to GK players was very clear: Deliver Termiantors and maybe a psychic dreadnought to your opponents face.
I basically used my Stormraven like a really expensive drop pod in 5th edition. I’d load in Draigo and either some paladins or purifiers (later it was purifiers, because I decided I need the fearless in case of tank shock) and just ran the thing straight at the enemy first turn. 24″, get a 4+ cover save (librarians and shrouding were popular to make it 3+, but I had neither the points nor the room) and melta some poor tank, just because I could. That usually failed to hit or pen for whatever perverse reason despite the demands of statistics, but who cared? Draigo was now on the enemy door step.
Then, always, the enemy would fire basically their entire army at it. They had to, because if it didn’t go down, draigo was going to get to charge whatever he wanted, the SR was going to go nuts shooting, and it would be pretty much an auto-win for me. Since I was often fighting fellow GK, I’d really look forward to shooting the mindstrikes, but that rarely ever happened.
Stormravens are tough, even in 5th ed, but most of the time, they’d be able to bring it down. (how many shots does it take to get to the center of a SR? ”most of whatever you got”, honest assessment at the time.)
That was fine, though, because 1) It usually took a full turn of shooting to do that. 2) Draigo and friends, again, is on your doorstep. They’d just climb out of the wreckage, and murder everything within arms-reach. Turn 2 charge.
Now, keep in mind, that was easily a 700-800 pt investment in that one Stormraven, 200 pts of which usually got blown up on the way in. But still, totally worth it.
Soooo……..flyers are awesome in 6th, and the SR is a Flyer. The Stormraven was good in 5th, so it must be total broken-sauce in 6th, right? Uh……..yes and no. The truth is trying use my SR in 6th has left me a little conflicted and confused.
Firstly, let’s be clear, it is a flyer, and flyers are gross. If your opponent doesn’t have appropriate counter measures (which are hard to come by, absent their own flyers, at the moment) you’re going to run rough shod all over them.
But how are you going to use it? How are you going to use those 205-260 points to further your goals in winning the game?
As a Transport
Well, I can tell you, you aren’t going to be shipping the same things you were in 6th. Remember that part in the rulebook about “every model in a Flying transport that crashes takes a Str 10 hit, no armor saves allowed?” (That’s every model, btw, you can’t just have Draigo take all the saves for you.) Yeah, it’s much harder to bring down now….but are you going to risk 300-400 pts of Purifiers or Paladins on that?
Another thing is the fact the Stormraven are forced to be in reserve, meaning at the earliest a turn 3 charge. They’ve done a lot to push charges back into later turns generally, like units never being able to charge out of reserve (outflank or otherwise), so the SR shouldn’t feel singled out, but for comparison, please realize the same unit in a Land Raider will be very likely to get a turn 2 charge (18″ turn 1, 6+6+2d6 turn 2).
One thought people have with Stormravens is to use the “shadow skies” rule so that you aren’t in the SR to crash with it. That’s fine, but for paladins and terminators, how is this different than deep striking normally? It’s a lot more dangerous, actually, since any mishap wipes out the whole unit automatically….again something I’m not inclined to do with my expensive GK. For blood angel jump troops there’s no risk, but again, why did you need the SR, then?
Things that make a lot of sense to put in a SR in 6th:
Draigo, no worries there
A death cult assassin and crusader unit (often called a DCA bomb). They’re relatively cheap, and all have an invo save, so some will make it out.
Grey Knight Terminators, likely with Anval Thawn. This is about as expensive and risky as I’d take it. On the upside, everyone has a 5++, so it’s likely some guys will survive, and of course, death is meaningless to Thawn, sometimes even good, strategically.
And that’s about all I’m willing to risk in it.
Another thing to think about is that to get your (turn 3 or later) charge you’re going to have to convert to hover mode, and you can only move 6″ before deploying. It’s the same boat all other assault vehicles are in but on the Stormraven it feels hugely limiting to me. It’s also going to limit your choice targets for any Hurricane bolters or Multi-meltas you might have. Most importantly, the SR is going to be a much easier target, but it’s no different than it was in 5th and hopefully they’re worrying about the terminators in their face.
As a Gunboat (ground attack)
Here the Stormraven really shines, and can outperform the other flyers currently in the game.
In 5th ed, I think only 1 layout really made sense for Grey Knights: a Multi-Melta and Lascannon. Moving 24″ and Melta-ing something was glorious, and the Lascannon let you hit somebody elses side armor the turn after (using Power of The Machine Spirit), if it lived that long, which mine at least didn’t. BA players I think were a lot more tempted to try to do a long range shooting platform with it because of their bloodstrike missiles, utilizing the typhoon missile launcher, but I don’t recall ever seeing it…..a highly mobile MM on a tough vehicle is just too good to pass up.
In 6th, the different options have a lot more balance between them, principally because while zooming you can fire all your weapons all the time. Now the hurricane bolters and psybolts start making a lot more sense, and if you’re going to do that, might as well take the assault cannon (psycannon, really). The Multi-Melta still seems like an auto-take.
12 twin-linked strength 5 shots, 4 TL str 7 rending shots, and frag missiles (minstrikes) thrown in just for giggles will kill a lot of orks. Or Genestealers. Or, anything, really, including marines and terminators. It’s just a fantastic volume of fire that most enemies will have a hard time doing much about. The SR will also have an easy time killing light vehicles, getting side armor if necessary, and has the MM for tougher targets.
You’re also going to see a lot of psykers on foot in 6th, and now that you’re likely to live more than a turn or two on the board, you can use Mindstrikes to their full potential.
As an air-superiority (anti-flyer) fighter
This is the section of the post that I think will generate the most contention. Grey Knight players are going to feel the urge to take a Stormraven to defend themselves against other army’s air forces. The sad truth is that SRs are not nearly as good at this as you think.
Yeah, the hurricane bolter configuration with psybolts will do a pretty good job against AV 11 things like doomscythes. You probably won’t kill it in 1 round of shooting, but I’ll bet you can make him jink, which will protect you from his death ray, and that’s almost as good. But your SR cost 255, he cost 170. What if he has 2? He’s very likely to have 2, or even 3. 2 Stormravens is a major freaking investment for a GK army. These things cost Land Raider money!
It’s much worse, of course, against Vendettas. Your Str 5 bolters are useless. They are exactly as durable as you are (except for melta), and have 3 twin-linked Lascannons, which will do more to you than your Multi-Melta and 1 TL lascannon (or psycannon) will do to them. They will kill you in a straight fight. And they are literally half your points! (130) Blood angels do better with this because of bloodstrike missiles, but it’s still not great.
If you knew you were fighting an IG player with vendettas, you would probably be better off not taking the SR, avoiding ground vehicles if you can, and using Deep strike and outflank tactics to kill the men on the ground. Then of course, they parachute on your objectives, which is a much smaller risk for them (lower investment) than it is for you.
I don’t know what to tell you.
In conclusion
Having a Flyer available is always better than not having one…send flowers to those armies that don’t have any yet
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Stormravens are fantastic ground attack platforms
Using a SR as a transport is very different than it once was and in some ways more tricky.
You will not get an SR charge off before turn 3, at the earliest.
A SR is quite durable…exactly the same as a vendetta which is 1/2 the cost.
In comparison to the SRs point cost, it will not win against other Flyers, which are all much cheaper.
Now, none of this is to claim that Stormravens are bad. But despite the (hopefully temporary) supremacy of Flyers they are more tricky to use than they once were. Out of the 205-260 pt cost tag, some of what you’re paying is for firepower, and some is for transport, and in order to get the most use out of it, you have to use it for both. I think you’ll find that pretty hard to do, but if you can, great.
If all you wanted was an assault transport, I think you might have better luck with a Land Raider, where you can often get turn 2 charges. I think you’ll see less Meltas, generally, which should make the world safer for LRs, and a nasty unit inside should mean you can keep it form getting charged.
If you all you wanted was AA power, well, the whole problem is that their isn’t a huge number of options, at the moment. Fortifications, Psyflemen, Psycannons twin-linked with Divination and allies all might be better ways to go.
If you want to do both, wanted a lot of ground attack firepower and lot of flexible options, I think a Stormraven might serve you well, but it will take a lot of practice.
