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I'm getting back into 40k, and with the new death from the skies I've been thinking about making a "Fun list" with lots of flyers. I'm just wondering what my best option is. Here's kinda my own personal ideas.
1. Orks: If only because of the 2 dakka jets I already own. Also because dakka jets still get strafing run, and point for point ork aircraft seem pretty effective. It seems pretty easy to spam out 4 or even 5 ork flyers and still have an army to back it up.

2. Tau. That bomber is really good, expensive though.

3. Eldar: both flavors. Again, expensive but very nice for the points and so maneuverable.

(I left out IG because I'd have to take some interceptor somewhere else, also because I don't feel buying 8 valk kits right now.)

Imho, this should be contested between Tyranids, or Daemons. The FAQ had once tipped the balance between FMC and Flyer, since it made clear that FMC in swooping cannot get 4+ cover save just by have part of its base touching the terrain. With the Death from Sky, I think a flyers took anerf as well Because the battle role category took away their versatile, while FMC are unaffected. So unless the flyer player spam their flyers and bring more than 3 or 4 flyers to form those OP attack patterns, FMC in general formed abetter aerial force.
If you say only vehicle type flyer only. I vote for Eldar, their flyers although fragile for their points, are amazing good at their specialized role (i.e. Crimsom Hunter for AA, Wraith fighter would destroy almost everything on ground between psychic shierk, and D Scythe) and combined with their higher mobility then other flyers. Other armies flyer are only Ok or meh in doing their job, their only selling points are cheap or "tough".

Daemons, I'd say.

It depends. If you want an essentially 'pure' flyer army for anything other than air war games, as far as I know the only option is space marines or Imperial guard

Saint Tylus Defence Force or the Blood Angel stormraven group formation plus other flyers, or else Elysian Drop Troops (or D-99) combat-drop deploying Valkyries. Otherwise you can't get a meaningful flyer force on the board turn 1, and you lose.


If doing a 'flyer heavy' army with a decent ground element, then go nuts. I think Eldar and Marines probably came out of the book best (the Eldar formation is a beast!), but if you play Air War missions, the different factions are closer than you think.

For orks, I'd recommend getting hold of the Sanctus Reach campaign books. Skyboss Wingnutz' Air Armada is a cool formation and really quite useful.

I'd recommend orks just because I love the orky fighter models - I love the Mig-15 aesthetic - but that's a matter of personal taste.

Also: Forgeworld have said they'll do an update for their flyers soon. Whether that's going to be just a .pdf shoved out the door or an update to Imperial Armour Aeronautica, expect it fairly soon. That unlocks decent flyers for the guard army (the Vulture is a monster and even without skyfire you do not want 20 twin-linked shots coming at you), including their dedicated superiority fighters in the form of the Thunderbolt and Lighting.

Outside of Death From the Skies (because I don't think you'll find many people using it), the Dark Eldar can probably put up the most flyers in a game.

Using the Realspace Raiders Detachment I can get 6 Razorwing Jetfighters and 3 Voidraven Bombers into an 1850 list with enough points left over for plenty of Venoms with Warriors in.

 Imateria wrote:
Outside of Death From the Skies (because I don't think you'll find many people using it), the Dark Eldar can probably put up the most flyers in a game.

Using the Realspace Raiders Detachment I can get 6 Razorwing Jetfighters and 3 Voidraven Bombers into an 1850 list with enough points left over for plenty of Venoms with Warriors in.

I reckon the Militarum Tempestus Airborne Formation could give your Deldar Flyer spam a run for its money - 7 Valkyries and 35 various Scions at 1850pts.
The Scions arriving by Valkyrie re-roll scatter and are twinlinked the turn they come on the board; a Beta strike that could wipe out the Deldar.

Eldar clearly win this one if you are looking for a battle forged army. Hemlocks and crimson hunters are the best of their kind hands down. They can be spammed in formations and warhost.

Just off the top of my head.
3 Gardian squads w/ (free) EML
1WW/2xEML (prefered enemy near gardians)
Vyper w/ EML (prefered enemy near gardians)
1Vibro Cannon (prefered enemy near gardians)
1 Farseer

Everything else in your army can be a flyer.
Probably like 2 full crimson deaths
and 2 Hemlocks

GG airforce.

starbomber109 692781 8693244 wrote:
1. Orks: ....

NOT orks orks have only 10/10/10 flyers who all tend to die real fast.
The dakkajet is the only ork fighter but sadly they don't have anti mid-high AV weapons. So it ins't really that good at shooting down AV12 flyers :\




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 Xenomancers wrote:
Eldar clearly win this one if you are looking for a battle forged army. Hemlocks and crimson hunters are the best of their kind hands down. They can be spammed in formations and warhost.

Spammability is no longer a limiting factor since all factions can now take a the flyer only detachment.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
My guess woud be either one of the Eldar faction for high manoeuvrability and good weapons or some imperial army for having High AV and good weapons.


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You would probably need to mix up different kinds of flyers in order to have some anti ground and anti air options..

Tau Bomber... good? Eh, no, it isn't.

The best Tau fyers are both from Forge World: Barracuda (which will be even better by IA14) and Remoras. Sadly, both lack the DftS update, so for now you can't use them for dogfights and such.

Still, Eldar flyers are even better. FMC-heavy armies, then...

Elysians but you already took IG off the table.

Unless you know your group plays death from the skies I would avoid basing major purchases off of using it. Necron air force is still pretty powerful.

Orks still aren't bad even if they are a bit light. They are cheap and like their troops, you can bring a ton of them.

Necrons!!!

Hahahahahahah...

*breaks down into sobbing*

Eldar, that vector dancing, high agility and some of the best looking flyer in the game with the best combat roles in Death from the Skies
<- not biased at all

Orks are the best. One, because we are da best an' you gitz knowz it. Second, we have a flyer formations that can auto repair itself and re-equip with one use weapons. 3rd, if we are going for who can put the most flyers on the table. Its probably between orks and tau. How many points is the small FW Tau air craft? Our small craft is 90pts! Its not AA flyer, but it can put fire down on ground targets.

Astartes - either space marines or blood angels - have the option for an essentially "pure flyer army".

The Angel's Fury Spearhead is a flight of three Stormravens each containing a tactical squad, which rolls for reserves on turn 1 and gets a built-in reroll. That's an 8/9 chance of a big force coming on turn 1 - 35/36 if you have air superiority.

The Saint Tylus Defence Force is Chaplain Cassius, four Tyrannic War Veterans, and up to six Stormtalons which can deploy on the board. Stick the vets in a Raven somewhere, and you have a turn 1 'board presence'.


If you're playing an air war mission and don't need turn 1 board presence, then yes, orks are by far the most fun. Skyboss Wingnutz' Air Armada is amazing, as is the Blastajet Skwadron formation.

 Vector Strike wrote:
Tau Bomber... good? Eh, no, it isn't.

The best Tau fyers are both from Forge World: Barracuda (which will be even better by IA14) and Remoras. Sadly, both lack the DftS update, so for now you can't use them for dogfights and such.

Still, Eldar flyers are even better. FMC-heavy armies, then...

Don't forget the Manta

Daemons are the only faction in the game that can make an air list that's competitive with Flyrant spam.

Penta-Flyrants dunk on everything else.