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Hello again Dakka family,

I swung by a local GW store to browse around and pick up some paint. While I was there I couldn't help but notice a lot ( and I mean A LOT ) of fliers on the tables today and BOOM it hit me...
It's time to buy something to deal with these suckers. In your opinion and from what you use, what do you think is the most battle efficient unit to field for AA? I was thinking of fielding one Stalker

I'd like to mention that I never really liked any of the fliers in the SM Codex or fliers in general

simplycj wrote:


I'd like to mention that I never really liked any of the fliers in the SM Codex or fliers in general

Does that mean that you won't take them either? I find that the Storm Talon is an awesome unit and in pairs they can do a lot of damage. Check out the new death from the skies rule set because it effectively replaces the rules for fliers in the rulebook.

I was very resistant to fliers when they came out but they are here to stay so the ranks of flier players are growing big time. If you can't beat them join them

I like the Stormtalon too as while it's a little fragile, it packs a nice punch for a low amount of points, and can harass both air and ground units depending on what you need it to do.

The caveat here being that you don't get Death from the Skies, as that severely nerfs the Stormtalons ability to combat air units. I bought Death from the Skies and ended up returning it as IMO it's completely unnecessary and places far too many restrictions on flyers.

I also usually take flakk on my missile dev squads, but recently I've realised I'd much rather have my devs concentrating on enemy armour and as such I've recently bought a stalker/hunter kit too. The points saved on not buying flakk cover over half of the cost of the stalker/hunter so you only have to spend a few more points to field one. Haven't had chance to use it yet, but the kit is nice and you can make both variants with the one kit to have both available to use (the top place and gun sections use 99% different parts. They only have 1 part in common which is the small antenna which I plan on using on the Hunter gun as it's barely noticeable on the Stalker).

Bellyfluff wrote:
The caveat here being that you don't get Death from the Skies, as that severely nerfs the Stormtalons ability to combat air units. I bought Death from the Skies and ended up returning it as IMO it's completely unnecessary and places far too many restrictions on flyers.

If you are running fliers you should be prepared for Death from the skies.

 oldzoggy wrote:

Bellyfluff wrote:
The caveat here being that you don't get Death from the Skies, as that severely nerfs the Stormtalons ability to combat air units. I bought Death from the Skies and ended up returning it as IMO it's completely unnecessary and places far too many restrictions on flyers.

If you are running fliers you should be prepared for Death from the skies.

Depends on your gaming group I guess. No one in mine has bought the book or has any intention of buying it. £35 book that semi forces you to buy the new space marine flyer if you want to have any chance at combating other air units... no thanks.

I'll deal with any changes when 8th ed comes around, but for now, will be sticking with the brb flyer rules.

X

The Space Marine Viper.. err Xyphon Interceptor from ForgeWorld is one of my favorite anti flyer fighters for marines, I imagine it will become better as Death From the Skies becomes common place as well.

Stormtalons were really good aa units, but unfortunately they have been changed thanks to DFTS. Now stalkers and hunters are your best bet (perferring the former).

A three-tank squadron of Stalkers is a very effective anti-air unit. A little less good at killing Tyranids who might get an armor save, but otherwise it's good enough to reliably threaten fliers.

I also get good use out of my Imperial Fist tactics devastators with Flakk Missiles. Combine them with grav-cannon armed Tactical squads and increase their accuracy with a Tactical Doctrine and you can cobble together a decent anti-air defense.

Three stalkers is very nasty against vehicle flyers. Less so against MCs. But what else is new?

I quickly input four different AA options in Mathhammer against a Heldrake that is not jinking (AV12 5++) and got the following results. I chose the Drake because it's the only flyer my bikes are afraid of, your meta might be entirely different.

Deredeo Dreadnought: 4 shots, BS 5 TL, S8 AP4, Sunder - results on average in 1,44 pens, 0,5 glances
Firestorm Redoubt: 4 shots, BS 3 TL, S9 AP2 - 1 pen, 0,333 glances
Sicaran Tank with Sarosh LoG: 6 shots, BS 4 TL, S7 AP4 with Tank Hunter and Rending - 1,086 pens, 0,889 glances
Stalker Squadron: 9 shots, S7 AP4: 0,667 pens, 0,667 glances

Based on this the Stalker Squadron would be the worst choice against a Baledrake. If the flyers you are facing are squishier your numbers will of course be different.

Edit: removed the chances of destroying, doesn't work in 7th edition

Stormtalons and Stormravens are not any better than a squad of Devastators, so the best non-FW options appear to be a Stormhawk or a squad of Stalkers. Stormhawks at least attack at BS3 against ground targets, whereas the Stalkers will only snapshot, albeit twin-linked.