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Just starting to think about how to use a Night Scythe as a transport given invasion beams.

It does look like you can combine the two into a vehicle killing group.
T1 :Move scythe / Drop troops / Fire both sets of guns
T2: Wait until next turn, Troops embark, Scythe Moves, Fires (hopefully)
T3: Following turn, Scythe moves, drops Troops, Both Fire.
T4: Wait until next turn, Troops embark, Scythe Moves, Fires (hopefully)
T5: Following turn, Scythe moves, drops Troops, Both Fire. (Alternatively drop troops on objective)

Anyone tried this? Worthwhile?
Seems like on the turns that you drop troops and fire you get a boost.
I was thinking about this as a anti-armor unit.

I generally play 500 pt games so:
Scythe / 5 Warriors / 1 StormTEK w/ Haywire Assault 4 (190 points)

Against AV11: produces - 6 HPs with about 50% chance to outright destroy ( This is what I expect in our group to be fighting - Razors/Rhinos)
Against AV12: produces - 4.5 HPs with about 25% chance to outright destroy ( There is at least one Dreadnought and one def dred in our group)
Against AV13: produces - 3.03 HPs with about 12% chance to outright destroy (I believe there is at least one Predator in our group)

So against any vehicle that I think I will likely play against at the 500 pt level should be a single turn kill.
The risk appears to be that the Scythe is lost and the troops go into ongoing reserves where they might not come back in time.
This seems acceptable:
Mathhammer says to expect less than 1 HP lost after being fired upon by 1 assault cannon, 1 heavy bolter, 1 lascannon, 1 cyclone missile launcher, and as many Str 4 MEQs that you want to put up.
More than likely we would take wounds on the troops.

I would have to kill 3 Razors with Assault Cannons (85pts) or a dreadnought plus a razor to equal my initial investment.

For Infantry, Assuming that we drop in at 12" (best case) and are facing 5 MEQ
MathHammer suggests 4.9 unsaved wounds on MEQ which would make a squad ineffectual as a fighting force although if whatever is left is able to assault they will break up the party as the scythe will have to move on.

At 24", it drops to 2.3 unsaved wounds. Not bad but not definitive just pecking away at them potentially causing a ld failure

Again, Thoughts?

Any better ideas?

Well, your analysis is a turn (or so out) to start with.

As a Flyer, the scythe starts in reserve, so you MAY get it in T2. It also doesn't have hover, so remember you only get a 90 degree pivot and a minimum 18" move (because you always want to zoom them).

They are very useful because:

a) They have a tesla destructor
b) If they get shot down they down kill the troops inside
c) you can move up to 30" and still disembark

So, they are excellent for 5 man warrior squads. (With stormteks for vehicle killers). With Deathmarks for precision placement. With a deathstar. Basically, anything that requires fast movement and a subsequent disembark (eg last turn contesting of objectives).

The only drawback is that they can stay off the board - if you have a lot of them (which you won't at 500 points), take an adl with comms relay.

Mark has it mostly, but I'll add a couple things as someone who routinely uses 5-6 scythes:

1) They can move 36" and still disembark, anything over 24" forces the occupants to snapshot though.

2) It will be a VERY rare occurrence when you actually get to shoot every turn with a given scythe due to the firing arc and turning restrictions. If you come in on turn 2 (and never get shot down), figure on getting an average of three turns of firing per scythe.

3) Don't be afraid to fly off the board if you are in a bad position. It's almost always a better a better proposition to do that and fly back on next turn than wasting 2-3 turns trying to get lined up again.

4) I usually use either 5 man warrior squads with 2x stormteks or 2x SoL crypteks in the troop slots (usually a mix of both types of squads). The Despairtek + Deathmarks in a scythe is a particularly nasty combo.

At the 500 pt mark, a lot of this has to be scaled down, but you've got the general idea.

Well, I see you point there and thanks for pointing out the reserve test starting T2.

So a 33% chance to delay until Turn 4.

In a 5 turn game, maybe you can kill one or two at most vehicles.
But in a 500 pt game, that would mean I would have 1/2 of my force off the table for turns 1-3.

Assuming that the game proceeds normally, Firing starts in round 1 and CC might start in Round 2 but does for sure in Round 3.
Essentially, the 33% of the time, the other player will dominate the board.

If I deploy second, I could concentrate what little I have on one end of the board so that I could be competitive assuming that terrain will break LOS of the long range weapons.
This would effectively put 1-2 of his squads into question as they might be too far away to get to me for the first two turns.

That seems like a big risk to take.
I guess it offsets the big reward if it works.

Gunther wrote:

So a 33% chance to delay until Turn 4.

Coming on 3+ in turn 2 and turn 3 you actually have a 11.11% chance that they delay until turn 4 if I don't think completely wrong. (0.33 * 0.33)

 Murenius wrote:

Gunther wrote:

So a 33% chance to delay until Turn 4.

Coming on 3+ in turn 2 and turn 3 you actually have a 11.11% chance that they delay until turn 4 if I don't think completely wrong. (0.33 * 0.33)

Unless you absolutely need them in which case there's a near 100% they won't come in at all until turn 4. I had a doomscythe at NOVA last weekend that refused to come in on turn two and in more than one game came in turn 4. Meanwhile terminators are running amok. What night scythes do excel in though is that turn 5 (hopefully the last) objective grab. I'm ok with the sythes not coming in until turn 2 at the earliest. I've been running deathmarks as of late and I need my targets to be within 30" of my board edge minimum to feel the wrath of my abysal staff