Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

I had a really fun time painting up my Valkyries and I want to get a Forgeworld flier to paint up. I want to get one that is both effective in games in Apocalypse and cool to paint. Which one should I get and why?

really depends on your opponents.

If you are expecting to see enemy Fliers and want to use your flyer to shoot them down - Get a Lightning(it is the Only Flyer I know of off hand that has an AA mount weapon)

If you want to Just bomb the heck out of your enemy formations - get a Thunderbolt

If you want to wreak as much hacok as possible on the battlefield - Get a Marauder, or a Marauder Destroyer.

If you want a fairly inexpensive(yet really cool looking) model, both Points and cost-wise; that still packs a significant punch - Get a Vulture

I'll agree with K Kel here, it depends on your strategy and what your opponent has as well.

Lightning - Good as a small attack craft (is NOT an AA Mount). It is relatively cheap and can take up to 6 Hellstrikes, Bombs, or Skystrikes (which are AA mounted and can re-roll hits against Flyers)

Thunderbolt - Good interceptor (2 TL Autocannons on AA Mount), and can also take Bombs or Hellstrikes (and possibly Skystrikes IIRC)

Vulture - Excellent gunship. Has a massive variety of weapons to choose, from Multi Lasers, to HK Missiles, to a TL Punisher Cannon. It is the most versatile Flyer and can be kitted out for any role, but tends to perform better against ground forces rather than against air units.

Marauder - Massive Bomb payload of 12. Apart from that it is lightly armed with only 2 TL Heavy Bolters and a TL Lascannon.

Marauder Destroyer - So much better than the Marauder. It only has half the payload as the Marauder, but it also has 3 TL Autocannons, a TL Heavy Bolter and a TL Assault Cannon. It can also take 8 Hellstrikes for +80 Points, allowing it to seriously harm your opponent's forces even after it's payload is gone.

In short:

Anti-Air weapons = Lightning or Thunderbolt

Support Gunship = Vulture

Heavy Bomber = Marauder

Heavy Support Bomber = Marauder Destroyer (personally, I always recommend the Destroyer over the Marauder)


Edit: Also, I suggest you buy both Imperial Armour Apocalypse I and II, rather than using the Flyer rules in Imperial Armour Volume I, as the rules greatly change between the copies.

With the errata to Valkyrie Vendetta variants being fliers with hover mode they are probably the best flier in a tanks and titans meta game that Apocalypse usually is.

Standard Valkyrie with Missle pods isn't too bad if you expect to see Green Tides. If you insist on getting Forge Rip Off, Vulture with 4 Missle Pods costs 20 points more then the Valkyrie and has 2 more Missle pods. Cashwise is pretty affordable.

Arvus Lighter is cheap and decent for snagging objectives if your playing objective games and there isn't too much anti flier.

Marauder and Marauder Destroyer are terribad because they count are a superheavy and for their cash price you might as well get a used Warhound with dual strength D turbo lasers for slightly more or a used strength D boat Reaver for slightly more then that Warhound Usually most Apocalypse games limit 1 super heavy per player and you want a unit that spams Strength D if possible.

Thunderbolt is decent as a multirole flier can bomb Green Tides or shoot tanks with its twin linked weapons but is sort of expensive pointwise and not exactly cheap moneywise.

Marauders actually are pretty good. You don't want a huge flyer raining bombs on you while you have a low chance of hitting it, let alone destroy it. Flaking the enemy and letting loose with Bombs, Autocannons, Assault Cannons etc can really blunt their assault.