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I am trying out another version of my Ravenwing tonight, going to be interesting as I am using double Black Knight units.

Dark Angels 'Ravenwing' - 2,000 points

HQ

Sammael
Ravenwing Command Squad - grenade launcher, banner of devastation & apothecary
Librarian - bike & power field generator

Troops

5 x Ravenwing Bikers w/ Attack Bike - 2 x meltaguns - Attack Bike w/ multi melta
5 x Ravenwing Bikers w/ Attack Bike - 2 x meltaguns - Attack Bike w/ multi melta
5 x Ravenwing Bikers - 2 x meltaguns
5 x Ravenwing Bikers - 2 x flamers
5 x Ravenwing Bikers - 2 x flamers
5 x Ravenwing Bikers - 2 x flamers

Fast Attack

5 x Ravenwing Black Knights - grenade launcher
5 x Ravenwing Black Knights - grenade launcher


Tyranids - 2,000 points

HQ

Hive Tyrant - 2 x twin-linked devourers & wings
Hive Tyrant - 2 x twin-linked devourers & wings
Hive Tyrant - 2 x twin-linked devourers & wings

Elite

2 x Hive Guard
2 x Hive Guard
2 x Hive Guard

Troops

Tervigon - adrenal glands & toxin sacs
10 x Termagants

Tervigon - adrenal glands & toxin sacs
10 x Termagants


Heavy Support

Trygon Prime
Carnifex - 2 x twin-linked devourers

Game: Emperor's Will & Pitched Battle

Deployment

I won the roll off and deployed my force mostly over to the right; Attack Bikes are at the front with both Black Knights on a flank positioned in terrain. Behind are the melta units, then the Command Squad then the flamer units.

Rich spreads out his deployment; he puts all three Flyrants top left corner, in the centre camping in a ruin is the Trygon, Carnifex, Tervigon, two Hive Guard units and a unit of Termagants. On the right flank is the other Tervigon, Termagants and last Hive Guard unit.

* Tactical Notes

My plan is to scout forward and put the bulk of my army on the right flank, this way I can put all my fire power into units on the right flank and with any luck wipe them out. This would also create some distance from those pesky Flyrants.

Turn 1

I scout all units, half go up the right flank and other half up the centre due to space. Rich attempts to seize but fails.

Ravenwing; I move everything forward to keep in support with the Black Knights.

Shooting; Black Knights drop the Tervigon on the right flank down to a single wound (Libby attempts to make it re-roll cover saves though Rich passes deny the witch), bolters finish it off - Termagants take some wounds and fail morale and run off at the end of the turn. Bolters waste the Hive Guard, but because I can only see one only one dies. Multi meltas do crap, though luckily bolters waste the other Tervigon - Termagants aren't within 6" so they do not drop down dead.

Tyranids; the triple Flyrants come at me and are pretty bunched up among the terrain. Trygon moves out though gets bogged down in terrain though Carnifex comes out to play.

Shooting; Attack Bikes absorb some punishment and go down to impaler cannons and devourers while Carnifex blasts a melta unit. Black Knights get blasted and go down to devourers and fleshborer fire.

Carnifex assaults and wipes out the remaining melta unit.

* Tactical Notes

A pretty brutal first turn; I've managed to take out a unit of Termagants, two Tervigons and half a Hive Guard unit. Not bad!

Rich has done some damage by wiping out a melta unit and all Attack Bikes.

Next turn I'll wipe out the Carnifex with mass shooting while I attempt to down the warlord Tyrant and hopefully take some wounds off it.

Turn 2

Ravenwing form up and join together in the centre, this way I hope I can minimise Flyrant vector strikes and also dakka the Carnifex, Trygon and with any luck down a Flyrant. Librarian casts the power which forces re-rolls of succesful saves on the 'Fex - it goes off this time!

Shooting; Carnifex absorbs more fire power than I wanted, but it goes down. I fire some shots into the closest Flyrant due to range, I never wound it and the last unit to fire at it manages to ground it, not what I wanted.

Tyranids; Trygon comes out to play while Flyrants get some vector strikes on my Command Squad - I lose the Apothecary and the banner as while as Sammy taking a few wounds - not good!

Assault; Trygon charges and batters a unit.

* Tactical Notes

Those damn Flyrants are a royal pain in the arse! I was hoping to reduce vector strikes by having a large blob which meant the Flyrants couldn't fly over and land, I guess I didn't spread my units out as much as I thought.

Next turn I'll take out the Trygon before it chops up any more units and dakka the warlord Flyrant.

Turn 3

I spread my units out some more now due to no banner :( . Black Knights rolls up ready to drop some plasma goodness on the Trygon.

Shooting; takes pretty much all my shooting to drop the Trygon even though I hit it with rad grenades. I did manage to take a Flyrant down by a wound and ground it, same I had nothing else to finish it off :(

Tyranids; warlord Flyrant moves and vector strikes another unit while the wounded Tyrant just flaps about. The other Tyrant does a vector strike.

Shooting; Tyrants focus on Sammy along with a Hive Guard unit who passes synapse test, Sammy is invincible and lasts with a single wound!

* Tactical Notes

The Flyrants are causing major issues for me and I just can't seem to keep them down, when I do knock them down it is too late. Speaking of too late, I've taken out the big ground bugs but I think the vector strikes and mass devourers have done the damage. My only chance is to destroy Rich's last troop choice and hope I can get to my objective.

Turn 4

Sammy joins a full strength biker unit so he doesn't get his face beat in. A unit of four Ravenwing rumble through terrain and get ready to dakka the surviving Termagants. Black Knights move to get into rapid fire range of the warlord Tyrant.

Shooting; Ravenwing in terrain dakka the Termagants and four die - they pass morale. Remaining guns dakka the warlord, I eventually knock him out the sky, but it is too late as I am out of guns - beast only has two wounds left as well!

Tyranids; Tyrants fly up to board towards the broods of Hive Guard and lurking Termagants, I get hit by a single vector strike and lose two bikers.

Shooting; Black Knights absorb a massive amount of devourers and impaler cannons before going down.

* Tactical Notes

If I can kill those Termagants and then send another unit to my objective I may win this, but only if the game ends on turn 5. I hope I have some fire power left to tackle the warlord Tyrant.

Turn 5

I re-position my bikers and decide it is more important to kill Rich's remaining troop choice. I send a unit of Ravenwing towards my table edge - they boost round in their shooting phase and claim my objective. My two remaining units dakka the Termagants, though Sammy fails his gets hot roll and then fails armour save - Rich gets slay the warlord for not slaying my warlord! I do wipe out the Termagants though.

This is the part wear my power armour turns into Termagant carapace - all Ravenwing get destroyed by mass devourer and impaler cannon fire. Rich does send one Tyrant towards my Ravenwing on the objective, after mass devourer firing only one remains, who passes morale. Tyrant goes to charge though fails.

We roll for it, and game continues! At this point I concede as I have a single model left! Sad panda :(.

Tyranids take the win with a crushing come back!

Summary

Well I started off very strong but things just feel apart after that. I couldn't down those Tyrants and when I did I had no guns to finish them off. Vector striking monsters with many dakka cause Ravenwing issues :( . Really it was only the Tyrants which caused me serious problems. Shame I couldn't finish off the warlord :(.

The flamers in the list are a bit meh. I'll take two units of them due to points cost though and also handy for hordes.

Libby with power field generator is cool - I would like a Techmarine but a single wound gives me doubts. I may give another try as it is rare I use the Libby's powers.

Double Black Knights are cool. My issue is they are high target priority and once they are gone I have no plasma left. I may take a super unit of 7-8 and then have a few plasma guns in normal Ravenwing units. The Black Knights should then destroy anything they touch.

Three Attack Bikes isn't enough - I need four. I am happy in what they do though.

Rich played well and managed a great come back after taking a big beating first turn. This game was the day his Flyrants did well for him, usually they come down on their arse!

Your list had little to none counter-assault or Anti Air, I'm not surprised you lost.

The list relies entirely on the shooting phase and the banner, and once that goes down it's just a mediocre bike list.

Split your BKs into 3x units of 3, they survive longer that way.

Bikers are strong midrange units, but if you're not using hit and run to mitigate the opponents shooting they die to weight of fire.

Not sure about the absurd number of flamers you brought, and the lack of defence (no Darkshroud? no Invis?)

Always use Sammael to charge grounded Flyrants, you mitigate their shooting and can H&R to dakka them to death next turn.

Ravenwing as a pure force struggle with air targets anyway. With the amount of dakka I've got downloading flying monsters shouldn't be a problem.

Black Knights are assault units with their 4 attacks on the charge with S5 rending hammer things.

Indeed, the banner is the focus point. Though nothing I can do once it is gone.

I can't split units into units of 3 as they are units of 5.

I tend to forget about hit and run, new army and all that!

The flamers I thrown in due to points. They were a waste of time though.

Darkshroud won't do anything against vector striking monsters so is a waste of time. No invisilibity because Libby is mastery level 1.

Sammy would get battered by a Tyrant. Tyrant strikes first, wounds on a 3+ and Sammy only gets 4+ inv while Sammy need 6+ to wound the Tyrant - not a good idea. Best to shoot the Tyrants down and then assault with loads of just keep on shooting them.

My Ravenwing list is undefeated for a reason. Open your mind to new ideas.

Your Dakka is extremely inefficient at killing flying monsters- you just played a game where you struggled to kill 1 FMC, let alone three. You need AA.

Black Knights are multipurpose units, assault is just one thing they excel at. You didn't assault anything in this game. Small units give you flexibility to utilise them best.
RCS are 2 points cheaper than a bike- having 3 saves you a Meltagun. You can take a unit of six, units of five are pointless.

You had 30 excess points and decided not to upgrade the Librarian and took flamers instead?

Darkshroud increases your save from a 5+ to a 4+ on regular bikes, and 3+ on BKs/ Squads with ICs.

Sammy isn't there to kill the tyrant. It's to stop it from flying away next turn so you can shoot it to death ith hit and run.

It looks like your opponent didn't even bother with Biomancy?

If you rely on a single phase and a single model, you will lose most games with RW.

Your Ravenwing list is undefeated because you say so and maybe who you play against lol. My mind is always open to new ideas, just unfortunately you do not have very good ones :( - sorry!

How can over 150 twin-linked bolter shots be inefficient at killing flying monsters? I just couldn't hit and down them that's all. Bad dice rolls nothing else to it. What anti air do you suggest?

I didn't assault anything because there was only flying monsters left to assault....a unit of 5 is no different to a unit of 6, lol.

I know how a Darkshroud works. My point is it doesn't protect me from vector strikes and also anti tank fire will take it down as soon as possible. It really has limited life. I do not think it is worth it for how long it is going to last.

You missed my point about Sammy, the Tyrant will probably kill him or seriously wound him - that's an expensive 200 point warlord model gone.

Yes he used biomancy, I just didn't write it. One Flyrant got iron arm the other two used endurance.

What single phase and single model am I exactly relying on? I know the banner hasn't got a massive life span hence why Black Knights are added to absorb or take away some fire power.