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So while lamenting the fact that the only Flyer available to me was the Vendetta (which is a great, if highly contentious, unit), a friend of mine made me aware of the Imperial Avenger Strike Fighter, a Forge World flyer that was released in Aeronautica Imperialis and is apparently available to Sisters of Battle. I run an allied Sisters of Battle contingent with my IG army, so it's not a particular leap for me to add an Avenger to my current list (thus saving me from having to run multiple Vendettas if I wanted an extra flyer with my army). Of course, being a Forge World unit, the Avenger comes with its own emotional baggage...

I was wondering if anyone had played with/against the Avenger, and what their thoughts on it were. Or, failing that, if anyone knows how well (or poorly) that the Avenger is regarded by the player community, I'd appreciate hearing about it.

Thanks.

I'll tell you. Its a nasty piece of work. That AP3 gun is murder to anything shy of a terminator, and its decent against light vehicles as well.

Yeah, the Avenger Bolt Cannon is pretty sweet, the Avenger Strike Fighter is the flyer you take when you want to wipe out hordes of 3+. With strafing run, it's BS4 against ground targets and puts out 7 Str6 AP3 shots a turn, and since it's a flier it's pretty doubtful that a ground target will get cover. For that alone I'd say that it's pretty powerful for its point cost, even though it's more than a Vendetta.
Speaking of which, the Strike Fighter also has 2 lascannons...y'know, just because.

In all, it's pretty solid for its cost. I'd recommend you pick one up, especially since it looks super awesome.

It's not bad, the AP 2/3 guns are good (especially with BS 4 and pinning thanks to strafing run) and a pair of BS 4 LCs can hurt vehicles, but it's pretty fragile with the weak side armor and only 2 HP and it costs a lot of points. I guess in your case the drawback of occupying a heavy support slot isn't such a big deal (since it's allied into an empty slot), but I'm still not sure it's better than a Vendetta or punisher cannon Vulture.

One other thing to be aware of: the optional weapons will put you over the limit of four weapons at full BS per turn, since they're separate weapons you have five main guns plus the defensive heavy stubber (if you care about it). Something will always have to snap fire, so if you buy the extra weapons choose either bombs (which drop as a single weapon, and by FW's statements on their facebook page should all drop at once), or something that acts as a secondary weapon against a different target type (like hellfury missiles) that the default weapons aren't great against.

I wouldn't buy it anything extra. The lascannons and Avenger Bolt Cannon are quite sufficient.

 Peregrine wrote:
It's not bad, the AP 2/3 guns are good (especially with BS 4 and pinning thanks to strafing run) and a pair of BS 4 LCs can hurt vehicles, but it's pretty fragile with the weak side armor and only 2 HP and it costs a lot of points. I guess in your case the drawback of occupying a heavy support slot isn't such a big deal (since it's allied into an empty slot), but I'm still not sure it's better than a Vendetta or punisher cannon Vulture.

One other thing to be aware of: the optional weapons will put you over the limit of four weapons at full BS per turn, since they're separate weapons you have five main guns plus the defensive heavy stubber (if you care about it). Something will always have to snap fire, so if you buy the extra weapons choose either bombs (which drop as a single weapon, and by FW's statements on their facebook page should all drop at once), or something that acts as a secondary weapon against a different target type (like hellfury missiles) that the default weapons aren't great against.

Well the Vendetta is the supreme anti-vehicle/air weapon, and the Vulture w/punisher cannon is the supreme anti-infantry. To me the Avenger secures a place that is a midway point between the two. Of course, it (as you mentioned) is a bit more fragile and costs around the same or more than the other two. The Avenger is really cool, but is overshadowed by the sheer badassery of the Punisher Vulture.

You don't even need your ally to field this.

The Avenger is a heavy choice for Guard or Sisters.

It looks very versatile, you can keep it simple or load him up with all sorts of nasties.

Yeah, but IG Heavy Support is crowded. If he's already taking Sisters its a good use of that HS slot. Far better then a single Exorcist.

 Grey Templar wrote:
Yeah, but IG Heavy Support is crowded. If he's already taking Sisters its a good use of that HS slot. Far better then a single Exorcist.

Which is what I was running in that slot, and that over three games, accounted for one dead Tac Marine and one dead Dark Eldar Warrior.

Thanks for the feedback, all. From the sounds of it, it's a really solid unit that isn't quite as hate-inducing as the Vendetta.

It is more expensive then the Vendetta, and fairly priced IMO. Assuming the Vendetta is fairly priced, which its not.

But yeah, it won't get as much hate.