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Why does the Imperial guard have only two varieties of aircraft (plus that one forgeworld one whose name i am blanking on) when the Imperium has the resources to make more designs (from a fluff point of view) and I think it would be pretty cool to have a more gunshippy kind of thing (or like a chinook type thing with like a trans. cap. of twenty and could carry ogryns or something like that)?

ajax22 wrote:the Imperium has the resources to make more designs

Being able to make new designs and wanting to make new designs are two completely different things.

point but still I think it would be cool

Innovation is HERESY!

That seems to be the theme with the imperium.

If you think about it the IoM has most of its bases covered. Two types of fighter, one strike capable the other a dedicated air superiority fighter, a bomber with a close air support variant, two types of gunship, a VTOL transport and a couple of utility transports.

Coupled with the SM aircraft what else do they need?

Is the valkyrie, vendetta or the vulture not gunship enough for you?
At any rate Ogryns barely tolerate transports as it is let alone flying transports.

Well they still have transport cap. but i guess you cant really put a battle tank in the sky. but how about a drop ship comparable to the orca?

Why?
They are used behind the lnes to ransport troops to the surface. They are vulnerable to AA fire and would be poory suited for use in a battlefield unless you were very desperate.

ajax22 wrote:Well they still have transport cap. but i guess you cant really put a battle tank in the sky. but how about a drop ship comparable to the orca?

They have dropships as big as an Orca, but lacking in offensive capabilities.

Because it's a game. That sounds flippant, I know, but it's the best answer that you will get. It's like asking why is there so much CC in the future, or why don't marines have a dedicated MBG vs a really well armed and armored APC. Why don't marines have the best close airs support or off table artillery unit in the game? They are after all marines, those things are historically a real marines bread and butter.

IG has the flyers covered pretty well actually. They have gunships, bombers, troop carriers, and fighters. Now they could have a dedicated gunship with no troop compartment, but you can't really move full out and shoot with flyers anyway, so I guess it doesn't really matter.

Point.

do you think that i could field some SM aircraft and get away with it because I always thought they had some pretty cool flying fluff?

ajax22 wrote:Well they still have transport cap. but i guess you cant really put a battle tank in the sky. but how about a drop ship comparable to the orca?

Guard are not assault troops, so they don't need a ship that drops tanks into the battle field. If anyone should get those it makes more sense for marines to be able to strap razorbacks to thunderhawks, but even they have the dedicated lander for that. Nothing that I know of can drop a land raider yet. Even though blood angels have that silly rule.

ajax22 wrote:Why does the Imperial guard have only two varieties of aircraft (plus that one forgeworld one whose name i am blanking on) when the Imperium has the resources to make more designs (from a fluff point of view) and I think it would be pretty cool to have a more gunshippy kind of thing (or like a chinook type thing with like a trans. cap. of twenty and could carry ogryns or something like that)?

Because the IG codex isn't a complete listing of Imperial NAVY aircraft.

Ya true but I play mech so I'm not sure I agree with that totally but true as a whole IG are not assault. but to come in and deploy 30 vets/storm troopers could be effective.

ajax22 wrote:Point.

do you think that i could field some SM aircraft and get away with it because I always thought they had some pretty cool flying fluff?

Why would you want it? The IG flyers are pretty good and very cheap. The storm raven can't carry much, I'm not sold on it. Thunderhawk is cool, but apocalypse only.

I'm currently working on one of these to carry a landraider, but for fluff only, I may use it in a friendly game now and them.



But really IG fliers are pretty well covered. What role are you looking to fill?


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ajax22 wrote:Ya true but I play mech so I'm not sure I agree with that totally but true as a whole IG are not assault. but to come in and deploy 30 vets/storm troopers could be effective.

They do, they just land off table first. Think of it this way, big giant slow ship carrying 30-40 guardsmen is a big giant target. Either land them in a safe zone first or use smaller valkaries, less eggs in one basket.

Now long ago in the land of epic there was this.



Thunderbolts
(I believe this to be the precursor to the Thunderhawk.) First seen in Codex Titanicus. Drop ships are huge vehicles, used to carry large bodies of troops and machines such as dreadnoughts into battle. There are various types in service, of which the most common is the Thunderbolt.
The Thunderbolt is protected by 2 powerfields and armed with a plasma cannon in a top turret and a multi-laser in a swivel mount on each side.
A drop ship can carry up to 40 infantry or the equivalent, as shown on the following table. The rules for disembarking are the same as for disembarking infantry from armored vehicles. Note that a detachment may not be split between two or more drop ships; the whole detachment must be together on the same vehicle.
2 dreadnoughts or robots = 5 infantry
2 light vehicles = 5 infantry
1 armored vehicle = 10 infantry
Note that each unit is counted seperatley. Thus, 20 infantry and 2 Land Raiders is a full load, weather or not the infantry are embarked on the Land Raiders!

Power field banks
Drop ships are protected by a bank of power fields. A power field can absorb one hit and is then destroyed, in the same way as the power fields on an Ork Gargant. Drop ships have 2 power fields.

It landed and skidded like a WW2 glider. It was just a big dropship, maybe good for Apocalypse, but not a regular game. Oh i know it says deadnaughts and landraiders so you may think this is for marines only, but it wasn't, neither were landraiders or dreadnoughts for that matter.

Well I guess I haven't looked at FW much or read the imperial armour fluff call me ignorant but I was going by the codex. I was kind of thinking something that would fulfill a more exact role or something on a different chassis.


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Is this a model available from FW cause I would like to see how it performed in battle. 20 storm troops a leman and 2 chimeras is a formidable enemy. With multi-lasers i would use it on orks.

ajax22 wrote:Well I guess I haven't looked at FW much or read the imperial armour fluff call me ignorant but I was going by the codex. I was kind of thinking something that would fulfill a more exact role or something on a different chassis.


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Is this a model available from FW cause I would like to see how it performed in battle. 20 storm troops a leman and 2 chimeras is a formidable enemy. With multi-lasers i would use it on orks.

It's old epic scale rt era stuff, it's been retconned I'm sure. Again, unsuitable for a regular table top game. The painted ship is actually a gi joe dragonhawk, completely unofficial.

You know you can simulate this by just having them come in from reserves.

Ya whatever.

There are ships and craft of all sizes to fill every niche. Vultures are light gunships, Valkyries are VTOL light transports/gunships, Thunderbolts and Lightnings are general purpose and interceptor fighters, Marauders are heavy bombers, Starhawks are mid-range interstellar and anti-capital ship bombers, dropships are inter-orbit bulk landers and Destrier-class transports are the workhorses of the Navy/Guard.

What more do you need?

Check Out Fandex: Storm Troopers It covers some of this(ish)

purplefood wrote:Is the valkyrie, vendetta or the vulture not gunship enough for you?
At any rate Ogryns barely tolerate transports as it is let alone flying transports.

And let's not forget the Thunderbolt, Lightning, Lightning Strike, Marauder, Marauder Destroyer, Aquilla and Arvus (and that's just the ones that you can buy a 40K model for).

Is ten different aircraft not sufficient for the OP?

I think he wants something that can just swoop in and drop leman russes and storm troopers anywhere he wants on the board. It's not a bad idea, it just conflicts with what is now the accepted guard strategies, it would also be way to powerful for a standard size game. You could make it for Apocalypse if you wanted I suppose.