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Sooo, Im preparing army for range 850-1000 pts. And because of mini-tourney rules (no vehicles with side armor 13, one with front 13 plus, one flyer), I chose not to take vendetta (pls, pls, pls dont tell me I have to take vendetta) but valkyrie. Firstly because its cheaper and in 850 points it can make huge difference. Secondly I have solid antitank equip on other units (2x lascannon, 6x melta), so twinlinked Las seems to me overkill and maybe even weakness.

So its about fitting Valkyrie right. So far I chose to take HB spontons (not so cheap anymore, yeah) aaaaand... Thats it. Basically I dont trust hellfire missiles with BS3, so it will be mainly multiplaser and heavy bolters. But dunno about rocket pods...it seems resonable...until I see the price. Every time. But I never used them, so...is the price acceptable for outcome? Valkyrie will have role of dropping flaming PCS to rear and fire at anything viable with reasonable chance to kill it...

The Vendetta is still the only viable option, and the Valkyrie is still terrible. Hellstrike missiles are non-blast ordnance weapons, which means they suck. And the rocket pods are mediocre at best and can't hit other flyers (the thing you really want your flyers to do). Finally, the HB sponsons have terrible firing arcs, so you'll be lucky to get even one of them to see a target and will almost never get to shoot both at once. If you absolutely refuse to take a Vendetta then don't take any flyers at all and focus on making the non-flyer part of your list as good as possible.

I would just drop the sponsons. I have had really good times with the rocket pods though. It does, however, depend on one thing: are you going to use this to take out hoards on light infantry?

Are you taking a platoon? if you are, then you can kill SO MUCH MORE light infantry with your own infantry. Seriously. If you don't feel you have enough hoard killing power, then use the rocket pods. If you do, then leave the valk in it's base config (cheap) and just use it as a bus.

For 20 more points than a Valk with Heavy Bolters and Rocket Pods you can get a Manticore that's dropping as many, maybe a little less, maybe a little more, templates, but they're Ordinance Barrage S10 AP4. And, it doesn't need to expose itself at all to do that.

You mention that points are an issue, so why waste them?
Seriously, I feel your pain. I have 3 Valkyries and 6 Salamanders. They'll probably never get used, but I love the models.
Take what you need/is useful points wise. Get the Vendetta or spend your points on wiser choices. They Vendetta has a
wide range of uses. The most useful Valkyrie you can build is still way more expensive than better choices in the Codex,
and it doesn't function as well as they would.
As always, IMHO.

I use Valks fairly often in my Terrax guard list. I should note however I use them with the valk drop rule from the elysian drop troops FW army list. My valks therefore are actually drop pods that can contribute afterwards not just valks.

I like the rocket pods as they give the valk some sort of punch. Otherwise the valk tends to take a pot shot or two at flyers and frankly does little to nothing. At least with the rocket pods it can contribute against troops.

In all honesty if you are taking a valk to do AA duties you are going to be very disappointed. The valk is a buss for the contents and a little extra horde control. If you want AA then vendetta, hydra, or quadd gun ADL are all far superior.

The HB on a valk are not a great deal. You will want to use the missiles/pods (2 weapons) and the multi laser (1 weapon) which means that 1 HB can be fire at full BS a turn. This is actually better than you are liable to get in fire arc so the 10 points is rarely worth it.

If you are taking valks you should seriously think about taking them with coteaz and a henchman squad in the inquisitor slot. This greatly reduces the cost of the squad and makes the whole process more streamlined.

I like rocket pods. 2 large blast templates can wreak havok of many non-meq armys.

If you insist on using them then rocket pods are about the only way to go.

My 2k list usually runs 3 fast attack flyer squadrons. 2 Vendetta, 1 Valkyrie w/ HB, 1 Valkyrie w/ HB. The turn I fly on I shoot the multi laser, the bolters and a missile. next turn I do the same. After that it's still 9 shots a turn into infantry squads. All 3 can hit the same squad as long as you line up and there is at least 3 inches from one end of the target squad to the other, so I try and not shoot at single model infantry with the assault carriers. It can also drop a unit into a strategic location with the grav chutes. One of my troll units is a special weapons squad with 3 demo charges. all of this for 110pts, and I take 2. To top it off, most players don't take a lot of AA, so that 6+ to hit can get frustrating quick. Don't forget your astropath though. Being able to get your flyers to hit turn 2 reliably is awesome.

^
This is the first time running a min point cost Valkyrie sounds fun to try.

Well, after long thinking I came to my senses. I still dislike, very dislike fakt that O should march the old road "vendetta is must", but, I agree rocket pods are probably must have to my intended role... and thats not cheap anymore. Its the same price as Vendetta and...well...in 850 points I cant afford to make "hipster" unit. So vendetta it is. I can simply leave one lascannon from blob in exchange for three twinlinked flying.

For the infantry I have plenty of counters (30 men blob FRFSRF, MoO, Mortar, Basilisk) but yeah...If I can take just one flyer, common sense tell me its vendetta. Despite fact I hate myself But in new codex I would love to make those two flyers more points apart. Or, better, keep valkyrie much cheaper flying bus and add Vulture. I love the model.