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Hi everybody,

I recently ordered a Storm Eagle from Forgeworld and am recently thinking about how to best run it.

Here the main points I'm not sure about and would like to hear some opinions:

Loadout:

- I intend to run it with dual TLLC and Multimelta as my AA for my Space Wolves, are the missiles worth it?

Transport:

- At the moment I believe I will not put anything in it, but I was thinking about maybe putting a squad of Grey Hunters in it to drop them on a lighter defended objective and claim it. Another idea I had was putting maybe 5 Wolfguard with Combiflamers in there to clear something off an objective. Any other ideas? If I should transport something in it should I not add any weapons and leave AA to Longfangs + Divination runepriest?

Any input would be appreciated, thanks

Serious suggestion
Wolfguard with a stormshields for the 3++. Only things that will survive the crash.

Fun suggestion
14 Bloodclaws, Arjac Rockfist, Lukas the Trickster, Wolf Priest, Ragnar. Let your enemies drown at the bottom of a bucket of dice.

Regarding the serious suggestion:

Hm, maybe that would be feasible in a Loganwing Army, let's see if I can whip up an Army list I like with a unit like that

Regarding the fun suggestion:

I like your style

I forgot to add a rune priest for the 'fun' list.

On the charge, if Ragnar rolls well it's only 75 or so attacks from bloodclaws... Use Arjac/Lukas for challenges, use the wolf priest for re-rolls to mitigate ws3, Ragnar gets to kill a lot and keep killing without being bogged down in a challenge...
You can also throw Arjacs hammer (with the concussive rule reducing someones I to 1) and then JOTWW....
Good clean fun

Or - someone shoots the eagle down and you auto-lose.
I'm still running this at some point though as part of my strange wolf army...

5 TDA WG with hammers + shields in a landraider led by Niall
5 TDA WG with random weapons, in a landraider led by Ulric
6 Long Fangs with lascannons and missile launchers led by Logan in a land raider redeemer
The above Storm Eagle.
And Bjorn, because Bjorn.
When I finally get my wolves built that is...

That would be a very fun list to run , all that is missing is one or two Lone Wolves in TDA in the mix and noone will know what to shoot first anymore

Speaking of Lone Wolves, in serious business again, that could be something to transport, in TDA with TH/SS he will most likely just shrug a crash off and will keep whatever unit is holding an objective or is otherwise pesky busy or beat it up.

 Malthor wrote:
I intend to run it with dual TLLC and Multimelta as my AA for my Space Wolves, are the missiles worth it?

Transport:

- At the moment I believe I will not put anything in it, but I was thinking about maybe putting a squad of Grey Hunters in it to drop them on a lighter defended objective and claim it. Another idea I had was putting maybe 5 Wolfguard with Combiflamers in there to clear something off an objective. Any other ideas? If I should transport something in it should I not add any weapons and leave AA to Longfangs + Divination runepriest?

Without being familiar with the SW codex, here's my experience with vanillas:

As an AV12 flyer with 4 HP and ceramite plating, only flyers, lucky rolls or lots of LCs will bring them down fast.
But if you run it as transport, you have to switch to skimmer at some point.
The turn after you do this, everything that could possibly hurt it will attack and soon destroy it.
Usually you enter the board, zoom to your destination, and hurt the enemy in its 2nd turn with CC monsters while giving them firesupport.

As you can fire 2 rockets per turn, you have nearly the same firepower for its lifespan as with TLLC while being cheaper.
The Multimelta would make it even more expensive without adding much to the mix, so imho the HB is sufficient.

The assault ramp and high transport capacity make it pretty devastating, but it's even better with multiple units:
The model measures 8" from front ramp to rear ramp, with 6" disembark and an average 6" attack.
So placing the model between 2 enemy units results in 16" attack range to either side measured from the center.
This is quite fun, termies saying hello to backfield heavy weapons while Lysander exits in the opposite direction, tearing a new crew hatch through the engine compartment of a Leman Russ.

Hammernators and eternal warriors would be the best crew for the StormEagle, as they survive a crash pretty much intact and are a pain for the enemy backfield.
10 Jump pack marines would be useful too, increasing the attack distance, adding Hammer of Wrath and putting a lower pricetag on the target they are flying in, but being mostly wiped out if shot down.

If you're using it as a flyer transport (which you probably should since it's priced as one) then you're probably going to want Extra Armour because if it gets Locked Velocity there's no way your units are getting out of it unless your opponent decides to shoot it down.

Has there been any discussion on whether the ordinance rule comes into effect for flyers (pg 71 BRB) firing multibple weaps/other missles? Someone brought this up on B&C, i think it gets overruled by the fact that its a flyer but not sure. It may effect our decision to use missles.

I have an Stormeagle and if youve got stuff in it you want that stuff to hurt or tie up alot of units, id go hammernators. Also consider that many people use the stormraven without its transport capacity. If only the eagle came with the same weapons for free...

Thanks for the input so far

I hadn't thought about splitting ICs from units for this, that opens up some interestig possibilities that would fit my playstyle

How about this for a unit that would go in the Eagle:

Wolflord, Saga of the Bear, TH/SS(alternatively Combimelta/Wolfclaw since an explosion simply wouldn't kill him and the 5++ might be enough), TDA
Arjac
4 TDA Wolfguard
2x TH/SS
2X Combimelta/PW

Since it's pretty unlikely that the Storm Eagle will get shot down as MajorNese said I think not everyone needs a shield.

 Malthor wrote:
Since it's pretty unlikely that the Storm Eagle will get shot down as MajorNese said I think not everyone needs a shield.

Well...it won't be shot down by the usual S7, but vendettas can kill it quite easily.

Stormshield can't hurt, if the opponent knows many of your most expensive will die in a crash, he will snapshot EVERYTHING at it to make it happen.

 MajorNese wrote:

 Malthor wrote:
Since it's pretty unlikely that the Storm Eagle will get shot down as MajorNese said I think not everyone needs a shield.

Well...it won't be shot down by the usual S7, but vendettas can kill it quite easily.

Stormshield can't hurt, if the opponent knows many of your most expensive will die in a crash, he will snapshot EVERYTHING at it to make it happen.

It's the same reason the Stormraven sucks as a transport. If 1/4 of your list is the raven and contents, it's worth your opponent shooting everything that can hurt it to frag it. Then you lose. This is a trivial process if Vendettas are involved.

Martel732 wrote:
It's the same reason the Stormraven sucks as a transport. If 1/4 of your list is the raven and contents, it's worth your opponent shooting everything that can hurt it to frag it. Then you lose. This is a trivial process if Vendettas are involved.

That's why hammernators or assault squads are the best.

Lysander and hammernators survive a crash mostly intact, an assault squad doesn't cost enough to attract that much fire and can still beat up HWTs.

Also, maxed-out deathstars in StormEagles mean that nothing of this will disembark before turn 3. Before that, at 1500pt, you fight an uphill battle with maybe 750pts on the field.

That's the other problem. Hammernators on a stormraven are 400+ minimum. If you roll bad for reserves, you are completely hosed. I think it's much better to slap them in a LR and just lay them on the table turn 1. That way, if someone is cute and deep strikes something, you can just drive over and crush it if you want. The reserving of the fliers takes away a lot of their tactical flexibility as transports.

Luckily Vendettas are rare in my area, mostly I face Storm Ravens or FMCs, recently a lot of Nids players have shown up in my area so I tend to worry more about Iron Arm Flyrants and Bloodthirsters than Vendettas.

I only know 2 guard players, one of which is playing his Sororitas recently and the other one more favouring tanks than planes.

Also the unit above wouldn't see the table below 1.850/2k points except maybe occasionaly for fun.

i bought mine for my Salamanders, but have been playing it with my DA, a techpriest inside with a conversion field giving it a 4++ invulnerable is very nice.

Iron Arm Flyrants have one hell of a vector strike.

warhawkstriker wrote:i bought mine for my Salamanders, but have been playing it with my DA, a techpriest inside with a conversion field giving it a 4++ invulnerable is very nice.

That's indeed not too shabby and caused some frustration I guess

Martel732 wrote:Iron Arm Flyrants have one hell of a vector strike.

Yep, a buddy of mine's Storm Raven (and my Rhinos) can attest to that.

i found flying transports too risky. better off with a drop pod.

 Malthor wrote:
- I intend to run it with dual TLLC and Multimelta as my AA for my Space Wolves, are the missiles worth it?

1) No, the missiles are NOT worth it. They're ordnance weapons, so using them makes all of your other weapons BS 1. It should be pretty obvious why this is a bad thing.

2) The missiles replace the LCs, so even less worth it.

 Malthor wrote:
Thanks for the input so far

I hadn't thought about splitting ICs from units for this, that opens up some interestig possibilities that would fit my playstyle

How about this for a unit that would go in the Eagle:

Wolflord, Saga of the Bear, TH/SS(alternatively Combimelta/Wolfclaw since an explosion simply wouldn't kill him and the 5++ might be enough), TDA
Arjac
4 TDA Wolfguard
2x TH/SS
2X Combimelta/PW

Since it's pretty unlikely that the Storm Eagle will get shot down as MajorNese said I think not everyone needs a shield.

What I really hate about the TH/SS combo for Wolves is that they're more than 20 points more expensive than their Vanilla Marine counterparts. I really don't think you need them at all.

 Wilytank wrote:

 Malthor wrote:
Thanks for the input so far

I hadn't thought about splitting ICs from units for this, that opens up some interestig possibilities that would fit my playstyle

How about this for a unit that would go in the Eagle:

Wolflord, Saga of the Bear, TH/SS(alternatively Combimelta/Wolfclaw since an explosion simply wouldn't kill him and the 5++ might be enough), TDA
Arjac
4 TDA Wolfguard
2x TH/SS
2X Combimelta/PW

Since it's pretty unlikely that the Storm Eagle will get shot down as MajorNese said I think not everyone needs a shield.

What I really hate about the TH/SS combo for Wolves is that they're more than 20 points more expensive than their Vanilla Marine counterparts. I really don't think you need them at all.

Well take PF instead of TH for a 5pt discount off that. As for evening it out... well the only way to get decent Shield Wolf Guard is with Power Weapon + SS, but that's still more expensive than TH/SS Termies...

Yeah, the price on Hammernators for Wolves is quite high. In most cases I guess I can pull off a T2 assault so maybe I will just drop the Stormshields and see how it goes.

Thanks for the information about the missiles, was not sure if they were ordinance or not(my copy of Aeronautica comes with the Storm Eagle).

This makes them really useless since they render the Vengeance launchers ineffective and well, BS 1 speaks for itself as you said Peregrine.

 Malthor wrote:
This makes them really useless since they render the Vengeance launchers ineffective and well, BS 1 speaks for itself as you said Peregrine.

Power of the Machine Spirit for the vengeance launcher, and snapshots for the heavy bolters.

The vengeance templates are intended for different targets anyway...

 MajorNese wrote:
Power of the Machine Spirit for the vengeance launcher, and snapshots for the heavy bolters.

Or you could just pay a bit more to get two TL LC shots instead of a single hellstrike missile per turn, and gain the option to get a MM or typhoon launcher instead of the snap fire HB. Hellstrike missile are worse than worthless, never take them.

 Peregrine wrote:
Or you could just pay a bit more to get two TL LC shots instead of a single hellstrike missile per turn, and gain the option to get a MM or typhoon launcher instead of the snap fire HB. Hellstrike missile are worse than worthless, never take them.

As it won't survive 4 turns of shooting and can fire 2 rockets per turn, it comes down to 2 missiles or 2 TLLC shots per round. LC can reroll to hit, HS can roll a 2nd d6 for pen, so essentially no huge difference.

TLLC combined with MM or even typhoon, that's 300+ pts of AV12, an easy target for a 130 pts vendetta.
If you max out the weapon options, it's too expensive to stop to disembark troops (and be shot down instantly), and just as a gunboat it's extremely overpriced.
You can get that many HBs and MMs into your army, that's no reason to waste points here.

 MajorNese wrote:
As it won't survive 4 turns of shooting and can fire 2 rockets per turn, it comes down to 2 missiles or 2 TLLC shots per round.

You can't fire two missiles per turn unless you want to fire them both at BS 1.

You can get that many HBs and MMs into your army, that's no reason to waste points here.

Then why would you want to waste points on incredibly overpriced and useless hellstrike missiles? Just add a multimelta or typhoon launcher and leave it at that.