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Hey everyone,

I have been slowly getting back into WH40K after a year or so of being busy. I had been working on BA when I stopped, and would love to finish the army. However, my old list is pretty meh. I really cannot figure out how/why i chose some things. So I'm back in the "lab" with Army Builder, the Codex, and the internet. I am looking at doing a DoA army, since dropping from the sky is what BA should do imo. Instead of point heavy Priests and HQs to lead my forces, I stuffed a plain Librarian and two priests into Stormravens with Locator Beacons. Since it is measured 6" from the base of the SRs, the affected area becomes MUCH greater.

After fiddling around a few days with some friends, this is the new and improved list.

HQ:
Librarian - Shield of Sanguinius and Fear of the Darkness (100)

Elite:
Furioso Dread - Bloodfist+Melta, Frag Cannon
WITH Drop Pod (160)

Troops:
3x "Melting Might" Assault Squad (230 each)
7 AM - BP, Chain
2 AM - Melta, Chain
1 Serg - BP, PW, MB

"Fire Fury" Assault Squad (205)
7 AM - BP, Chain
2 AM - Flamer, Chain
1 Serg - BP, Chain, MB

Vanguard Veteran Squad.
Sergeant - Glaive Encarmine, BP, JP
3x VV - PW, BP, MB, JP
1x VV - BP, Chain, JP
(225)

Heavy Support:
2x Stormraven - TLMM, TLAC, Hurricane, Extra Armor, Locator Beacon (260 each)

For a current Total of 2000 Points.

So here is the Battle Plan:

Stuff the Librarian and a Priest into one SR, the other Priest in the other. Deploy the two Stormravens as far forward towards the center about 4" apart. Everything else Deep Strikes.
The Librarian and Priests are plain, so they will stay in their transport until shot down. Combat squad most of the troops for objective games.

If I go second, I will Shield both Ravens with the Librarian and pray for misses. (if one goes down, the passengers will disembark near the second one to get scooped up on my first turn - the extra priest will be "Skies of Blood"ed out later lol)
On my first turn, I will drop the Dread into enemy territory, aiming for some nice troops for the Frag Cannon to blend into blood. (From then on, the Dread will be on a mission to kill more than he is worth before dying). The Stormravens will Turbo up to 24" straight forward. Machine spirit the MMs to hopefully pop some tanks. Librarian will try to Fear someone. (maybe even off the table )

Turn two. Use the very wide coverage of the 6" from the Stormraven base to DS troops with NO scatter. Melta the crap out of things, weaken some squads. And with the Libby/Priest bubble from the SRs, they will survive the next round of fire with a Coversave in the open and FNP. The SRs will generally not turbo away. Move 6", fire everything. Or move 12", mow down a squad with AssaultC and Hurricane, MS something else with the MM. Librarian will Fear something again.

Turn 3. Rinse and repeat turn 2, with the now present Assault Squads assalting with FNP and FC from the SR bubble.

At some point, Heroic Strike some unsuspecting unit with Vanguard Veterans (near Locator Beacon? yes please!)

Continue until Victory is achieved.

I will try to have the SR near Objectives when moving slow, so they can guard/contest it if immobilized. This army will be incredibly flexible from the fact if ALL deep strikes. They will always be where needed, and the enemy cannot fully prepare for their deployment. The only problem would be losing BOTH SR before my turn 2. So long as I get one Stormraven into the middle (or into their army) that is still broadcasting the Locator Beacon, the arrival of troops will be terrifying. Even if it is immobilized there with no weapons at all, it will land troops and give out buffs to a massive area. But so long as the Libby and Priests make it to the middle, they could just run on foot to give out bonuses if both transports got taken out. And the DoA rule will still see troops in fairly safe without the buffs (or if they just decide to land outside of the Beacon zone). Losing both birds would but me down 520 Points, but the rest of my army is fairly lean and hard hitting. They would still put up a good fight. But if one or both stayed in the air,

I'm most fearful of LasSpam. Too great of a range with with Strength 9. There are tons of Meltas out there, but SR's don't care. If they are in range, the SR is already in position, and you do not get the Melting Bonus. And AV 12 on all sides. None of the *sneak sneak snea...* MELTA TO THE BACK !!! Besides, I PLAN to lose 1 (which is why they are identically speced)

So, thoughts, ideas, criticism? Have any of you seen something like this before? (Not the DoA part, the Raven Bubble Booster part)
I'd love to hear from you, and I thank you for your time.
~Npcmaster

Uhm... so you have 2 ravens without anything really "killy" inside. Ravens are mean't to be filled! Cut the vets, add mephiston, toss your furioso in one raven and mephiston in the other. Also, Blood Talons are far superior to any other option in my experience

Also you can not cast out of a SR. It has no fire points. So your libby would have to jump out to hit a squad with Fear the darkness.

Hey man. I think you have a neat idea there with the locator beacons. This being said, the locator beacons aren't even really necessary. With all your troops DSing with DOA special rules, they will be able to deep strike where you want them to pretty reliably. (In my experience atleast.) So using the stormravens as a delivery system may not even be necessary.

I do like the idea of turbo boosting the SR within 6" of an enemry squad and having the Vanguard come down and assault that turn. Have you considered using more Vanguard vets? That would be fun.

Zid wrote:Uhm... so you have 2 ravens without anything really "killy" inside. Ravens are mean't to be filled! Cut the vets, add mephiston, toss your furioso in one raven and mephiston in the other. Also, Blood Talons are far superior to any other option in my experience

The problem is that Stormravens are massive targets. The more you put inside, the higher the priority of gunning it down. I had Meph before, dropped him since he didn't directly add to the "support" of the rest of the army. I also like the sound of Blood Talons, especially if they come recommended. It would at least get him suck in CC, away from being shot.

Nicorex wrote:Also you can not cast out of a SR. It has no fire points. So your libby would have to jump out to hit a squad with Fear the darkness.

Oh dear god, you are right! I'll have to figure out what to do with that

Tpiddy wrote:Hey man. I think you have a neat idea there with the locator beacons. This being said, the locator beacons aren't even really necessary. With all your troops DSing with DOA special rules, they will be able to deep strike where you want them to pretty reliably. (In my experience atleast.) So using the stormravens as a delivery system may not even be necessary.

I do like the idea of turbo boosting the SR within 6" of an enemy squad and having the Vanguard come down and assault that turn. Have you considered using more Vanguard vets? That would be fun.

If I had extra points, I would get more Vets. Which is going to happen..... soon hahah

So now the Libby is going to need JP (if I decide to keep him), and I might either reduce the loadout on the ravens or scrap one. Expect to see more VV, but for now I have to re-think my HQ Not enough time at this moment, so I'll post it later.

And thank you all for your input!
~Npcmaster

Npcmaster wrote:Hey everyone,

I have been slowly getting back into WH40K after a year or so of being busy. I had been working on BA when I stopped, and would love to finish the army. However, my old list is pretty meh. I really cannot figure out how/why i chose some things. So I'm back in the "lab" with Army Builder, the Codex, and the internet. I am looking at doing a DoA army, since dropping from the sky is what BA should do imo. Instead of point heavy Priests and HQs to lead my forces, I stuffed a plain Librarian and two priests into Stormravens with Locator Beacons. Since it is measured 6" from the base of the SRs, the affected area becomes MUCH greater.

After fiddling around a few days with some friends, this is the new and improved list.

HQ:
Librarian - Shield of Sanguinius and Fear of the Darkness (100)

Elite:
Furioso Dread - Bloodfist+Melta, Frag Cannon
WITH Drop Pod (160)

Troops:
3x "Melting Might" Assault Squad (230 each)
7 AM - BP, Chain
2 AM - Melta, Chain
1 Serg - BP, PW, MB

"Fire Fury" Assault Squad (205)
7 AM - BP, Chain
2 AM - Flamer, Chain
1 Serg - BP, Chain, MB

Vanguard Veteran Squad.
Sergeant - Glaive Encarmine, BP, JP
3x VV - PW, BP, MB, JP
1x VV - BP, Chain, JP
(225)

Heavy Support:
2x Stormraven - TLMM, TLAC, Hurricane, Extra Armor, Locator Beacon (260 each)

For a current Total of 2000 Points.

So here is the Battle Plan:

Stuff the Librarian and a Priest into one SR, the other Priest in the other. Deploy the two Stormravens as far forward towards the center about 4" apart. Everything else Deep Strikes.
The Librarian and Priests are plain, so they will stay in their transport until shot down. Combat squad most of the troops for objective games.

If I go second, I will Shield both Ravens with the Librarian and pray for misses. (if one goes down, the passengers will disembark near the second one to get scooped up on my first turn - the extra priest will be "Skies of Blood"ed out later lol)
On my first turn, I will drop the Dread into enemy territory, aiming for some nice troops for the Frag Cannon to blend into blood. (From then on, the Dread will be on a mission to kill more than he is worth before dying). The Stormravens will Turbo up to 24" straight forward. Machine spirit the MMs to hopefully pop some tanks. Librarian will try to Fear someone. (maybe even off the table )

Turn two. Use the very wide coverage of the 6" from the Stormraven base to DS troops with NO scatter. Melta the crap out of things, weaken some squads. And with the Libby/Priest bubble from the SRs, they will survive the next round of fire with a Coversave in the open and FNP. The SRs will generally not turbo away. Move 6", fire everything. Or move 12", mow down a squad with AssaultC and Hurricane, MS something else with the MM. Librarian will Fear something again.

Turn 3. Rinse and repeat turn 2, with the now present Assault Squads assalting with FNP and FC from the SR bubble.

At some point, Heroic Strike some unsuspecting unit with Vanguard Veterans (near Locator Beacon? yes please!)

Continue until Victory is achieved.

I will try to have the SR near Objectives when moving slow, so they can guard/contest it if immobilized. This army will be incredibly flexible from the fact if ALL deep strikes. They will always be where needed, and the enemy cannot fully prepare for their deployment. The only problem would be losing BOTH SR before my turn 2. So long as I get one Stormraven into the middle (or into their army) that is still broadcasting the Locator Beacon, the arrival of troops will be terrifying. Even if it is immobilized there with no weapons at all, it will land troops and give out buffs to a massive area. But so long as the Libby and Priests make it to the middle, they could just run on foot to give out bonuses if both transports got taken out. And the DoA rule will still see troops in fairly safe without the buffs (or if they just decide to land outside of the Beacon zone). Losing both birds would but me down 520 Points, but the rest of my army is fairly lean and hard hitting. They would still put up a good fight. But if one or both stayed in the air,

I'm most fearful of LasSpam. Too great of a range with with Strength 9. There are tons of Meltas out there, but SR's don't care. If they are in range, the SR is already in position, and you do not get the Melting Bonus. And AV 12 on all sides. None of the *sneak sneak snea...* MELTA TO THE BACK !!! Besides, I PLAN to lose 1 (which is why they are identically speced)

So, thoughts, ideas, criticism? Have any of you seen something like this before? (Not the DoA part, the Raven Bubble Booster part)
I'd love to hear from you, and I thank you for your time.
~Npcmaster

Edit:
Read the rule in BRB, Jstncloud was wrong

I don't think the vehicles are a good complement to the rest of your list. You spend a total of 680 on them. You could instead have 3 squads of Devastators with 4 Missile Launchers, another VV squad like the one you have, and a naked Priest to run with the Devs.

I'd also recommend messing with wargear to get a Power Fist into any VV squads, and probably the Meltagun equipped ASM squads too. You really want the VVs to be able to handle vehicles if necessary. A lot of armies (like mine) have everything meched up.

Jstncloud wrote:
Edit:
Read the rule in BRB, Jstncloud was wrong

I am entirely confused by this comment haha!

MrEconomics wrote:I don't think the vehicles are a good complement to the rest of your list. You spend a total of 680 on them. You could instead have 3 squads of Devastators with 4 Missile Launchers, another VV squad like the one you have, and a naked Priest to run with the Devs.

I'd also recommend messing with wargear to get a Power Fist into any VV squads, and probably the Meltagun equipped ASM squads too. You really want the VVs to be able to handle vehicles if necessary. A lot of armies (like mine) have everything meched up.

I would hate to drop my Stormravens, and be sad about the Dread, but they do sink a lot of points. I really picked them because I love the model, and wanted to field them. But I am finding it hard to do anything with them. I have to re-do the HQ and Elites anyways, so they are swiftly loosing their bubble ability usefulness. I wasn't a huge fan of the Devastator squads since they do not really move, but that is more of a BA fluff thing. My old Vanilla marines loved devastators! Would you suggest the Missile Launchers over Lascannons or any other weapon? I do love the flexibility, but Lascannons for 25Points apiece isn't a bad deal either. I have currently giving my squads Meltabombs instead of something like a Powerfist. What are your thoughts on this? And, seeing as how you run a Meched list, what would you suggest I take that you would hate to see me use against you? I figured enough FNP FC Assault Marines could man-handle most CC situations, but the all-Mech list is what I am most afraid of. What do you think of the one Flamer squad?

As mentioned, the BAs will be fine just with the DoA rule. But I still think it would be particularly nasty to toss an unexpected Locator Beacon somewhere on the field. I think my only real option for that would be a Drop Pod to guarantee its Turn 1 arrival. But I would only do that if there was a unit it was actually transporting....

And what do you think about a small death company in there? Probably just enough to unlock the DC Dread if I wanted it.

Thanks again for the help

EDIT:
MrEconomics, I read over your guide to starting BAs. Loved it, simple and to the point. (I am having that "oh, crap" moment. I stared BA literally a year ago during spring break with a fair bit of planning. But current me cannot fathom what me-then was thinking at all ) I will look more into Honor guard vs VV, but I think this list is going to turn out close to "our Autocannons are Useless" list. When someone arms up to deal with hordes, they do not expect Deep Striking space marines to be their target. Especially if said troops land on top of their heavy weapons and eat their faces. And another thought: If the entire army Deep Strikes, it will wreck some strategies. Like never worrying about deployments, or being alpha striked, or even who goes first. Such power in the flexibility. Also, the DoA text says "units with this rule CAN re-roll failed reserves rolls", an extra degree of choice. So long as I learn to DS properly, I think I will have fun running this "not so standard" army.

Side note: Has anyone seen a decent BA list that uses Stormravens?

I've played against a few dual SR lists and they can be quite a challenge to play with and against. The notable difference between those lists and yours is putting models inside the SR. A Furioso dread and some assault element in one and this is the rare time I've actually seen DC and a DC dread in another. If you get first turn, the pair start on the board and go Flat Out to set up for a second turn assault. There may be another Furiouso Dread coming down via Drop Pod as well (as DP rules are fairly lenient with the inherent issues with Deep Strike). The DC will have some type of Chaplain with them for rerolls. Even if your opponent drops both Stormravens, there are typically a lot of Marines/FnP and two Dreads on your opponent's line.

Going 2nd can be tricky and a lot depends on what your are facing. Some occasions, it's ok to set up on the table, cast Shield of Sanguinius. Other times, it may be more prudent to start in Reserve. When they arrive, they will make it to midfield by going Flat Out. Typically, your opponent has moved up a bit to get into better firing lanes, hold objectives etc... In this case, you face off against one turn of firing against your Flat Out Stormraven(s) before launching an assault.

If your SR live past the first round of fire (which can and does happen), it becomes a real thorn in your opponent's side as he's dealing with massed BA assault elements and trying to stop the SR mobility from contesting other objectives and/or being a solid shooting platform.

However, I will caveat this by stating this combo was effective prior to the rampant GK builds in which Death Cult Assasins + crazy grenade combos make short work of most assault based armies. It was apparently an Imperial oversight to send Marines in to clear out the enemy when all they really needed was giving Techmarines special grenades and having him lead Death Cult Assasins (sarcasm).

Npcmaster wrote:

Zid wrote:Uhm... so you have 2 ravens without anything really "killy" inside. Ravens are mean't to be filled! Cut the vets, add mephiston, toss your furioso in one raven and mephiston in the other. Also, Blood Talons are far superior to any other option in my experience

The problem is that Stormravens are massive targets. The more you put inside, the higher the priority of gunning it down. I had Meph before, dropped him since he didn't directly add to the "support" of the rest of the army. I also like the sound of Blood Talons, especially if they come recommended. It would at least get him suck in CC, away from being shot.

I've only lost 1 game with my dual raven list in all my many games playing (that game was at 2.5k against a balanced SM list that was played masterfully). I run 5x Termis w/ libby and priest in one, meph and the furioso in the other. The beauty of ravens is you will ALWAYS get at least 24" up the board, and your raven will nearly always slag at least 1 tank in the process. As long as your huge threats are that far up, they will be able to hit your opponents the next turn (meph with flight/fleet can hit most people T2 at the latest). I always recommend not "filling" ravens, but having at least a dread or something in each.

Zid wrote:

Npcmaster wrote:

Zid wrote:Uhm... so you have 2 ravens without anything really "killy" inside. Ravens are mean't to be filled! Cut the vets, add mephiston, toss your furioso in one raven and mephiston in the other. Also, Blood Talons are far superior to any other option in my experience

The problem is that Stormravens are massive targets. The more you put inside, the higher the priority of gunning it down. I had Meph before, dropped him since he didn't directly add to the "support" of the rest of the army. I also like the sound of Blood Talons, especially if they come recommended. It would at least get him suck in CC, away from being shot.

I've only lost 1 game with my dual raven list in all my many games playing (that game was at 2.5k against a balanced SM list that was played masterfully). I run 5x Termis w/ libby and priest in one, meph and the furioso in the other. The beauty of ravens is you will ALWAYS get at least 24" up the board, and your raven will nearly always slag at least 1 tank in the process. As long as your huge threats are that far up, they will be able to hit your opponents the next turn (meph with flight/fleet can hit most people T2 at the latest). I always recommend not "filling" ravens, but having at least a dread or something in each.

I actually haven't considered placing Mephiston in one. Trying to drop the Stormraven, Mephiston and a Furiouso that fall out in a single turn can be quite a challenge. Expensive, but I like the idea behind this.

Not a bad start this list, though it does have some problems.

Fear the darkness isn't that awesome, you're force morale tests if I remember right and most units have decent leadership values. Unleash rage is a better power as it greatly helps an assaulting force.

The Furioso in a Drop Pod is a bad idea. The Drop Pod will come down first turn unsupported and it and the Dreadnought will be brown bread. If you want Drop Pods you need at least five. In this case I would pop the Furioso in a 'Raven, as already mentioned, blood talons are the mutt's nuts.

Assault Squads are ok, though you want power fist on the Sgt on the melta squads. Reason is if those meltas fail to bust a tank you still have a power fist to smack something. You also don't want your melta units engaging in combat with infantry, they should be busting tanks.

Another problem I see with this list, well two actually, firstly is no Priests. You need these if you're on foot or else your Assault Squads are just normal Marines. Also, Stormravens, there's only two of them and they will attract all the anti tank in their general direction. Sure they might make it across the board and move 24", though your Assault Squads can move and be in range turn 2 with good rolls anyway.

Hope that helps.

Alright, time to crank out another list. Sticking with the Stormravens, no one can say I didn't try to incorporate them.

HQ:
Mephiston (250)

Librarian - Shield of Sanguinius and Unleash Rage (100)

Elite:
2x Priests (100)
(And points wise they have been on all my lists, don't know how I missed listing them last time hahaha)

Troops:
3x "Melting Might" Assault Squad (235 each)
7 AM - BP, Chain
2 AM - Melta, Chain
1 Serg - BP, PF

"Fire Fury" Assault Squad (200)
7 AM - BP, Chain
2 AM - Flamer, Chain
1 Serg - BP, Chain

Vanguard Veteran Squad.
Sergeant - PF, BP, JP
2x VV - PW, BP, MB, JP
1x VV - BP, Chain, JP
(215)

Heavy Support:
2x Stormraven - TLMM, TLAC, Extra Armor, (215 each)

2000 Points again

List of what happened: Mephiston is back, dropped the dread, decided to list the Priests I have been using, distributed Power Fists and took away MeltaBombs, and trimmed some points off of the Ravens. Same general attack plan. Deploy Mephiston inbetween the two Ravens to draw fire off of them. I believe the Libby can Shield from inside the Raven (since it is not a Psychic Shooting Attack) to save both the Ravens hide and give Mephiston a pseudo-invulnerable save. Since Mephiston is well know AND hated, he should efficiently soak up fire.

The question becomes, do I put both priests into one Raven so Meph can jump into one Turn one, or do I just Wings it?

Looking better. Power weapon on the flamer unit or claw and you're sorted.

Mephiston is a BEAST!! I had never run him before an apoc game because of a local store's disdain for special characters. They actually penalize you if you run one in a tournament. Anyways, I kept him close to a priest, near cover, and proceded to walk across the board taking out a skull hamma battle fortress, a stompa, and countless greenskins. When I started running him in regular games he was just too good to stop running.