Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

Saturation of scary things seems to be the gist of the upcoming meta, yet my group is only permitting me to bring a single Heldrake because of some indescribable hatred for the bloody things. Would a single one be effective in an army of ground troops or is it just begging to be the fodder of every unit that can target the sky?

Short answer, Fodder for most tournament grade armies.

To be truely effective its best to run fliers in pairs. You want flyers to be able to accomplish their objective so if one gets wiped early you still have a backup. Heldrakes are going to be a prominent target on the battlefield once they enter play and one can easily be picked off in a round.

On the contrary, I see armies either have lots of AA or almost none, and taking two is diminishing returns. I run a single heldrake all the way up to 2000, and it does me fine so long as it shows up on time (granted, with 2 you have a better chance of seeing one show up when you want). You don't need more than 1.

Tell your group to stuff it. Heldrakes are only scary vs infantry, something CSM have other means to deal with anyway. Vindicators anyone? Or even Noise Marines? Bringing multiple heldrakes is like bringing multiple las-preds; sure they're more likely to kill more tanks, but then you're low on anti-infantry.

Yes, they're tough to kill compared to many other flyers.
Yes, they're CSM's only flyer.
Yes, they're CSM's only real means of AA.
No, 3 heldrakes can't beat 3 riptides. (Trust me, I've tried).
No, 3 heldrakes isn't a game-winning combo any more-so than 3 of any other reasonably shooty flyer. I mean, has anyone tried facing down 3 dakkajets? It's terrifying!
No, heldrakes don't tear open vehicles like they're purported to do.
Yes, they take up slots that have some of CSM's other competitive units.

As ghilliemarine said, though, safety in pairs. In my experience a solo heldrake works, but that's in friendly games. VS a proper set of Anti-Air weapons, even 3 heldrakes won't do you no good when they're just smoking craters. If your opponents are playing mean, play mean back.

The people in your group are tools. Tbh Helldrakes aren't even THAT scary...