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Well, I started my Guard army with Air Cav and somehow, it seems viable again (for now).

HQ:
Company Command Squad
Straken, 4x Meltaguns, Astropath
[215]

Troops:
Veteran Squad
3x Meltaguns, Shotguns
[100]

Veteran Squad
3x Meltaguns, Shotguns
[100]

Veteran Squad
3x Plasma Guns
[115]

Veteran Squad
3x Plasma Guns
[115]

Platoon Command Squad
4x Flamers
[50]

Infantry Squad
Commissar, Meltagun, Autocannon
[105]

Infantry Squad
Autocannon
[60]

Infantry Squad
Autocannon
[60]

Heavy weapons Squad
3x Autocannons
[75]

Heavy weapons Squad
3x Autocannons
[75]

Fast Attack:
(2) Vendettas (Vets)
[260]

(2) Vendettas (CCS, Vet)
[260]

(2) Valkyries (PCS, Vet)
MRP
[260]

[1850]

So, now I have fixed it to include 11 total units (excluding flyers) to allow me to Reserve half my units. The tactic still stands though - I can keep zipping about and shooting up stuff until the latter turns to mop up and take positions as needed. With the Astropath, I am coming in on 2+, so most stuff will arrive. Grav Chute insertion means in a pinch I can zoom over objectives and hope for a good scatter, too, if I don't feel confident in the squads survival until the last possible turn. Lots of Melta for AP1 goodness, some Plasma to help beat up 2+ saves, and a few Flamers and Rockets to hit Hordes. Also, a blob squad to hold my side of the table, along with HW Squads. Should be hard to shift them before my Reserves arrive, meaning no auto-loss.

Thoughts? Does it look competitive?

This doesn't work unfortunately. You have 9 units that count towards your total number of units. You'd have to deploy 4 of them but only have 3 Infantry Squads not getting mounted.

cowmonaut wrote:This doesn't work unfortunately. You have 9 units that count towards your total number of units. You'd have to deploy 4 of them but only have 3 Infantry Squads not getting mounted.

Huh. That seems ...ambiguous. It says in "Deploy Forces" that I can put units in transports. This seems to conflict with the Reserves rules, as they are in transports that require them to be in Reserve.

The Reserve rules got a little more complicated in 6th edition. Let me steal something from another post of mine:

Reserve Warhammer 40,000 Rule Book (page 124)
When deploying their armies, players may choose not to deploy up to half of their units (rounding up) keeping them in Reserve to arrive later.
Units that must start the game in reserve are ignored for the purposes of working out how many other units may do so. A unit and its Dedicated Transport are counted as a single unit for these purposes.
Independent Characters count as separate units regardless if they have joined another unit or not.

Deep Strike Warhammer 40,000 Rule Book (page 36)
When working out how many units can be placed in reserve, units that must be deployed by Deep Strike (along with any models embarked upon them) are ignored.
In addition, a unit that must arrive by Deep Strike (such as a Drop Pod) must do so even if you are playing a special mission where the Reserves special rule is not being used.

Aerial Support Warhammer 40,000 Rule Book (page 80)
Flyers must begin the game as Reserves - it takes time for a Warlord to organise and coordinate air support.

The rules quoted above are pretty straight forward, but some people seem to have difficulty with them. Here is a break down of the rules:

You can only reserve half your army. Several units get ignored when you tally up your total number of units. This includes the following:
- Any unit that is required to Reserve (Platoon Al'rahem or Marbo, Flyers, Drop Pods)
- Any model embarked on a transport (dedicated or otherwise) that must enter via Deep Strike
- Any Dedicated Transport of a unit that must be held in Reserve.

According to the rules for preparing reserves, you do things in the following order:
1. Decide what units Independent Characters are attached to.
2. Decide if any units are embarked on a transport.

Independent Characters that are attached to a unit that is embarked on a transport that must enter play via Deep Strike do not get counted towards your total.

So yes, your Vendettas absolutely are stuck in Reserve and do not count against you. That's why I didn't count them. Even if they were Dedicated Transports (which they are not), the unit they were bought for would still count.

This is why you can't have an "All Reserve" Necron Flyer list. Some of the Necron Warriors would have to be setup on the table while their Dedicated Transport comes in from Reserve.

You could still make an Air Cav themed list by taking advantage of Infiltrators, but you'd probably be better off with Elysian Drop Troops.

Edit: Also a capability of doing something does not mean you can always do something. If I take 4 Rune Priests and give them all Choosers I can shut down Infiltrators. Better example, Space Marines may Combat Squad. They don't have to. If they don't Combat Squad and are a full unit of 10 they can still take a Razorback which only holds 6.

Edit Edit: I'm kind of sad about this cause i had what was an excellent idea (i thought and had proxied a few games) for an Air Cav list but its never going to be now. At least I didn't buy 8 Valkyrie/Vendettas...

Seems question able. I will await an FAQ, because I can see it working differently based on my reading. It is absolutely not clear.

Consider swapping out a few vendettas for MRP Valks. That's a lot of wasted s9ap2 if you fight a horde army or kill all the stuff that LC's are most useful against.

Not a bad idea!

em_en_oh_pee wrote:Seems question able. I will await an FAQ, because I can see it working differently based on my reading. It is absolutely not clear.

I gotta disagree there, the rules are very clear for units embarking on a transport that isn't dedicated to them and it being in Reserve. If the Vendettas/Valkyries were dedicated their owning units would still get counted. These threads discuss the problem in detail:

http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/30/462099.page
http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/0/462965.page

Really yakface nails the point here. I would just hold off on purchasing 9 Vendettas until the FAQ if that isn't good enough for you, though I'd honestly be surprised if it was clarified in an FAQ. Either way, so expensive! This is the last I'll say about it in your thread. I really don't want to de-rail anything, just would hate to see someone plop down several hundred dollars and then not be able to use the models the way they want.


Valkyries are underrated due to the prevalence of armor in 5th edition. That seems to be shifting. Do not underestimate MRPs shot en masse. Dark Eldar have a flyer that can drop down 4 Missiles at once and it just melts units. S4 wounds hurts even Space Marines if you can put enough of them down. If you do end up bringing that much air I'd consider making some of them Valkyrie squadrons like TheCaptain suggested.

Its not nine though, only six. I own three Vendettas already as a Guard player and three more Valks kits wont be an issue. I reworked the list in case it doesn't get resolved - wasn't too hard to hit 11 units so 6 could reserve.

i been running air calv since 5th. Honestly its better for you in 6th to take a small ground force with HWT's and long range supprt.

Revised it. It now has 11 units - so 50% rounded up can Reserve.

Anything folks? I don't want to invest in three more flyers if this is going to suck.

Well, you could start with the Vendettas on the board (since they're better anti-tank then transport) and then reserve your Valkyries for dropping your infantry.
In my lists I put melta in valks and plasma in dettas to help support each other.
Or a simple list is melta vets in MRL Valkyries. Drop in Valkyries and they will level a horde and then use your melta vets to destroy any armor, then capture your objectives!

^that'd be good, but as they've quoted, all flyers must start in reserve.

I love this list. As I haven't actually played a game of 6th ed yet, I have no idea how it's going to go with the new flyer and glance rules (av12 is heaps easy to glance), but I like the theme. It's solid. All I could suggest is maybe change out an autocannon HWS for rocket launchers, as it's still good anti-horde and slightly better against armour, but gak knows where to get the points from. You don't have much long-range anti-armour on the ground, so hopefully your tactics work out.