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Should I put night shield on all my vehicles?

Do people in tournament use night shields because I don't know if that 6 inch actully matters

All your vehicles? I don't think so.

Ravagers? Maybe. You will find that playing vs any Imperial dicks you over in a big way, because autocannons, lascannons, and missile launchers are 48" while your lances are only 36". This means that if you are in range of his front vehicles, his entire anti-tank is in range of you.

The 6" makes it possible for you to make them come to you, at least a little bit.

I wouldn't bother, adding 10 points to every one of your transports can really add up even in a 1500 list. 9 times out of 10 you wont get any use out of them.
If you have 10-20 points left after writing your list you can always add a few to use them up though.

Nightshields definitely aren't worth taking on every one of your vehicles unless you have some clear plan for them (i.e you face lots of armies which are light on long range shooting). For most vehicles the Flickerfield is a much better choice, and taking both makes the vehicle overly expensive. Nightshields are of limited use on vehicles which are going to be moving into the midfield with anti tank or assault units because most anti tank weapons will still be well within range even with the -6". Sure melta won't be getting 2D6, but you don't need it against AV10 anyway. For stuff like Ravagers which will be hanging back Nightshields can be worth it because you might be able to dodge some anti tank fire, and with good positioning you should be able to get cover with them anyway (as you have a bunch of Raiders/Venoms out in front of the Ravager).

The only vehicles I consider them clearly worth it (as in I would always buy them over a Flickerfield) are the fliers. They have the only 48" range weaponry in the codex, which means they can hug the board edge for the first turn or so while they volley off their missiles and comfortably avoid most return fire, and with a 12" you get into Dark Lance range.

I don't find them to be worth it. Autocannons and Lascannons are 48" range anyway. Everything else is mobile enough as it is.

It's great for Melta / Bolters and that's about it.

In the specific case of Tau against DE (I'm the Tau player) I find nightshields very annoying. My crisis suits need to get within 6" to get the second rapid-fire plasma shot, which doesn't happen very often.

Not sure how it works out with other matchups, though.

I only put them onto ravagers and only if I have an odd amount of points left.

the way I see it is that a 48" gun is still going to be within range if you try to shoot it with or without a NS and your tanks should be in his face by the end of turn 1 so he'll be with in range any way :/

Nightshields are useful if you are intending to use them on certain units...and also in certain builds. I find that the Nightshields work extremely well on Troop venoms as you can sit back at your table edge and "hide" them from the majority of an army's firepower. The Venom is only 3 7/8" long...which makes it perfect for this tactic. They work well to when you have a refused flank plan. Nightshields also allow you to 'bait' your opponent into moving towards you...especially in KP games...where they need to be able to come to you in come capacity. I would suggest experimenting with them and see what you prefer. Army's that I have found Nightshields to work well against are:

Grey Knights
Orks
Tau
Vulcan Marines

I didn't find nightshields to be that good when I tried them. Ravagers are not going to outrage 48" or 42" firepower with their 36" weapons. Since the 42" means that if you can shoot them, they can move 6" and shoot you (obv talking about vehicles here since that is what your ravagers will be targeting).

Raiders might find them useful as they are more likely to get within rapidfire/melta range, but then I want them to be cheap since they are getting shot down anyways.

Not sure about venoms, never used them on a venom. I don't like the idea of making the vehicles more points than they have to be.

Nightshields just don't merit the point expenditure imo.

I am going for 3 ravagers

8 raiders 3 trueborn 5 warriors

Everyone who brings up 48" range weapons vs 36" range Dark Lances probably isn't thinking about the bigger picture, the size of the table and terrain placement can help keep you away from the longer ranged weapons that can hurt Ravagers (and I think that Ravagers are really the only vehicles you should put Night Shields on, Flickerfields for everything else). You don't have to put your Ravagers in range of your opponent's anti-tank until you are ready to put it down, you can spend your early turns picking off the transports heading your way instead, they don't have to be in range of his big guns to be effective. Your opponent is also going to have to worry about target priority as you are probably racing towards his deployment zone with Raiders and Venoms, Jump Infantry and Jetbikes.

So I say put Night Shields on your Ravagers, Flickerfields too if you have points to spare, but don't put them on Raiders and Venoms because you are probably going to have them so close to the enemy most of the time that you won't benefit from it. I am a huge fan of Flickerfields, if you couldn't tell, because a 33% chance to ignore the vehicle damage table is huge for a paper tiger and is well worth the 10 point investment IMO.

Marthike wrote:I am going for 3 ravagers

8 raiders 3 trueborn 5 warriors

Make those Trueborn squads 4 guys with Blasters in a Venom with an extra Splinter Cannon. It costs 173 points IIRC and still gives you 12 Splinter shots and 4 Blaster shots that can shoot at different targets. You can pop a transport then shoot at the infantry that was inside without really removing too much anti-infantry firepower.