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Lets take BA or SM for example (their tables give the same).
Costs 35pts as an upgrade which can be included in any game.
Roll a d6:
1-2, it gets +1bs. On a raven this is pretty good, on a fireraptor or roc pattern stormeagle its even better. Still, I'd rate this at 20-25pts not 35.
3-4, it gets a 180 degree pivot rather than 90. This can be incredibly useful as any of us who have run flyers before will be aware and gives you fantastic maneuverability. But situational. On the big flyers (not talon), I'd rate this at 15pts not 35.
5-6, it gets and gives all friendly units of the same faction within 12" of it preferred enemy. This is amazing. Worth its weight in gold!
Is it worth 35pts to risk getting a 5-6 though? If you don't roll 5-6 you still get something decent, just not something worth 35pts imo. Also it will become the focus of your opponents firepower.
All three help quite a lot with its AA capabilities.


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Feel free to consider other factions fighter ace tables and flyers in your conclusions.

as a SW player, I love it and take it for both if I run a flyer spam. Unloading all weapons that then hit on 2s is super nice, being able to direct myself whole new angles to zoom and attack again is crazy for an opponent to deal with. their "Safe" units that I passed over are no longer so safe.

The synergy of two is nice, throwing down a 6 on one and then rolling the 1 or 2 means hitting on 2s re-rolling 1s! for my s9 ap2 Lance main weapon, or my s8 ap2 blast is even more deadly!

Every 9 games on average, Fateweaver will get +1 invo from fighter ace and roll cursed earth for a 2++ re-roll without the grimoure. It's not terrible. Vector strike is not a thing since it's only 1 hit on ground targets and Str 6 isn't enough to reliably do anything to armour. +1 wound, while good, is not really worth 35 points.

For CSM, it only gets worse, since +1 BS on a 'Drake is useless if you've taken the flamer like 99% of people do. Re-roll vector strike is not terrible, as it gives some reliability to your AA, but again, not worth 35 points and a 12" relentless bubble is again not worth 35 unless you're running sonic blaster noise marines, but it's still too random to rely on.

The generic option would be OK for sisters packing an avenger as +1 BS, +1 cover and 12" fearless are all great options, if a tad expensive on such a fragile platform.

It used to be 50p... but the Tau one was better (d3 markerlights to every enemy unit within 12" instead of d3 on 1 enemy unit within 12" now

Can fighter ace be taken outside of the special game types? I thought it was only for the death from the skies stuff.

The Tyranid one is 1/3 crap (auto-pass IB or 3"+ to synapse range), 1/3 good (additional wound) and 1/3 broken (can exit the table in the opponent's shooting face if it is 12" from table edge).

 gwarsh41 wrote:
Can fighter ace be taken outside of the special game types? I thought it was only for the death from the skies stuff.

In death from the skies missions it can be taken as a free upgrade otherwise it can be taken in normal missions as a 35pt upgrade. Rules in leviathan supplement are the most recent fighter ace rules. It has the GW logo on it and is sold by GW so even FW haters can't question that one.


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 Tyran wrote:
The Tyranid one is 1/3 crap (auto-pass IB or 3"+ to synapse range), 1/3 good (additional wound) and 1/3 broken (can exit the table in the opponent's shooting face if it is 12" from table edge).

Worth 35pts then?

Yes, it has a 1/3 chance of making your warlord unkillable.

Put it like this - if the upgrade was 105 points for the 5/6 upgrade, would you pay it? Because that if effectively what you're doing (assuming zero value for rolls 1-4 which is perhaps not quite fair). Basically unless you can live with the 3-4 and likely the 1-2 it's not worth the points. That being said, many of the 3-4's are still quite good

I see what you are getting at. But even if the 1-4 options were useless you're still getting to spend the other 70pts somewhere else so it's still just a 35pt gamble.
Although I rated the other options as 40pts combined earlier on, I think I was being unfair on the 180 degrees pivot as it actually gives a full 360 degrees of options now I think about it properly. I'd probably rate this at 25pts.
Still... is it worth the 35pt gamble? I really don't know. I'm going to have to playtest this. But the idea of Sanguinary Guard and Death Company having a chance of PE is maybe just too temptingly juicy to pass up.

180 degree pivot is awesome. I think on a Fire Raptor I would take this every singe time. It drastically reduces the effectiveness of the majority of anti flier tactics.