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So I just started playing 6e games the past couple of weeks (had to finish an escalation league where we were playing 5E). When I first read the flyer rules I thought, "hey, my necron scythes may turn out to be ok after all". So for the past couple of games I've been running between 4 and 5 flyers, 3 night and two doom scythes, in my lists. Initially I was only doing so-so with them. I'm still not winning games but I think I've figured out some stuff that make them much more viable. Fortunately I play with a group that regularly either win or come in second at local tournaments which means I get pulverized on a weekly basis. But that's ok - I learn more that way (I've only been playing since 5/11).

So here's some things I've picked up that may seem obvious to some but until I tried different things didn't really think of. It would be great if anyone else could add on their own experiences.

Tactic #1: Take more than one flyer. I sort of knew that going in being a necron player we always doubled up on stuff but most of the people I played brought like one storm tallon or one storm raven. I'd then fly on and turn them into scrap.

Tactic #2: Take an Aegis defense line with a comm relay. Cost: 70pts. I'm using this in two ways. The comm relay allows you to reroll reserves so it practically guarantees you'll get in 90% of your flyers. On the flip side if I'm going first and he has more than one flyer (he's flyer hunting) I'll reroll my good rolls and try to not come in. The problem I have with scythes is that they must move at least 18" so chances are if I come in first my opponents flyers will always get a shot at me and I'll never get a shot because I'll be moving past him or even off the board.

Tactic 3: First priority is to take out what ever can reliably shoot down flyers. I played SOB last night and he had two heavy bolter units. Initially I just shot at what ever looked good on the board then I started losing hull points to snap shots from the rending heavy bolters. Had I thought of it I should have sent in two doom & night scythe combos after each of those groups. I did it towards the end of the game and basically wiped out one unit per scythe combo per turn. I had a similar issue in another game where someone had a bastion with a quad gun on it. I didn't have the comm relay and my reserves weren't that good. He was rolling hot so I was losing a scythe every turn (that was my first game against a quad gun and I wasn't sure how to deal with it). So concentrating fire on whatever can hurt your flyers really has to be priority one.

Tactic 4: This is really a necron thing but I have two suicide 5-man warrior squads with a stormtek in a night scythe. There job is to take out armor primarily (like hydras) with the haywire staff the stormtek carries. I can reliably kill a 3 hull point vehicle with that followed by 4 S7 TL tesla shots from the scythe at the unit that pops out of the wrecked tank.

Tactic 5: If you get the long board deployment don't be afraid to deep strike your flyer (if you can - not sure if everyone has that ability). Granted, I lost one of them on a mishap, it's still better than spending one turn on the board not doing a whole lot. Could be usefull too if you're going up against some vandettas so you can get that rear armor shot.

That's it for me so far. Would love to hear other suggestions on running flyers....

Comm relay is a nice idea.

Stormteks are the best purchase you can make for your warrior/immortal squads in a flyer list.

- When using minimum sized squads, you almost double their firepower against any unit.
- You drastically improve the capability of the unit in dealing with armor.
- The ability of the scythes to drop them right in your opponent's face mostly negates their short range.
- If the unit gets completely shot off the board, you still have a chance for the teks to stand back up, extremely useful in objective games.

I think learning how to maneuver ones flier is a rather important thing, as things stand - particularly considering the contention whether fliers can only move 18" or 36", or move any distance between them. (Rules state that combat speed is 18", cruising speed is 36", no mention of "up to" or "more than").

In addition, turning restrictions means one has to pick their targets and angles of flight carefully - it's not rare to see someone fly their flier off the board just to get ANY field of fire for when they come back in. One must also remember that targets within 18" of a plan, and / or behind it, aren't going to be hit by it in the following turn (not even the turn after that!), so one must be selective and decisive over what they fire at.

One must also be aware of what posers dangers to your fliers (in addition to other units with Skyfire). As an example, while many races would balk at seriously trying to seriously hit a flier with non-skyfire units, Orks only suffer a 50% drop in their hit ratio (they're hitting on 5+ already!) so will often happily direct a lot of their general fire at Fliers. Also note quirky mechanics such as Bomb squigs work against fliers, as well as Grabbin' Klaws potentially taking out a flier in one go. Past their Dakkajet, lootas should be prioritised, since they are work really well at taking out fliers.

Note that Twin-Linked, and particularly Rapid Fire noticeably increase the odds of your opponent hitting, regardless of their ballistic skill. Try to avoid such units, or try to wipe them out.

Naturally, enemy fortifications will likely have anti-flier. Since this will be in the opponent's deployment zone, one is going to need long range fierpower to deal with them, or keep their flier out of their range. Conversely, one can do the same to create a "safe area" for your own flier, with your own entrenched anti-air.

My Doom Scythe has the single purpose of double-kills on AV 12 or below. Like last game, I had two chaos preds toting TL LC & two HBs clsing in on my Objective. Scythe come on, cuts them both in half, then zaps at a handful of CSM.