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.

Bright Lances or Star Cannons?

I'd take the Bright Lances but I've no idea what you have so nobody can really give good advice untill you tell us.

It's going to be a Wraith heavy army using Iyanden, not a super competitive list but a strong one hopefully!

The only reason to ever take Starcannons is if you know with absolute certainty that there are no enemy vehicles above AV11 (Tyranids for instance) then go for it.

Well, star cannons will only ever be useful against AV 10 spam or massed hoards, otherwise BL will always win, don't forget exarch upgrade.

Star-cannons and the precision-shot boost is a good sniper.
6x, BS5, S6+, AP2 shots, with a 5-up to snipe. Take out bosses or heavy weapon carriers.
It's not a great way to get your points back, but can work because 'synergy'.

Lances. You only have a 1 in 3 chance of a glance+ on AV 12, 1 in 2 on a flyer, which is a Crimson hunter's primary target. You don't need an over costed, paper armor flier to go after things that can be hurt by star canons. You have the entire rest of your army for that job, and pretty much any other unit does it better.

Lances are better against AV11+ vehicles and T7+ MCs. Starcannons are better against everything else.

I tend to lean towards lances, since they synergize with the Pulse Laser (which has the same range and strength), and can Instant Death T4 models. The Starcannon build does make for a very efficient TEQ killer (6 high strength AP2 shots is nothing to sneeze at). Both weapons have their place in a TAC list.

With every other vehicle you take a brightlance. However, the reroll to pen combined with vector dancer means you are going to want the starcannons.

With vector dancer there is no position an enemy flier can take after coming in that you cannot get to rear armor on. Its mathematically provable. Only the stormraven chassis based vehicles are AV12 rear. 6 shots into rear armor with reroll to pen means you have a near guaranteed kill.

Now, if you want to just keep it on your board edge its a toss up. On one hand you have the better strength giving you better AT potential at range. But not every army brings vehicle fliers. Against ground targets i would want starcannons since the fast speed+ vector dancer means you can expose units that think they are safe and pick off units from range. Eldar have enough AT that you shouldnt be facing many tanks by turn ~3. Also, FMCs are a thing. Against T6 the starcannons are only slightly better than the brightlance, but demons and nids can also bring T5 FMCs.

Unless you REALLY need more AT, i would go with starcannons.