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Hi everyone

I've been a long time reader here at Dakka but not much of a poster

But I haven't been able to find an answer online so I thought I would ask the community. I have been trying to pick a Legion for 30k and haven't gotten very far after months, they are all very cool in their own way! But I think the Fire Raptor and storm eagle models are amazing and was wondering if any of the Legions favored the use of flyers more than the others?

There are a couple that I can imagine would but I'm struggling to find any evidence to support it

Any help would be great

Just dealing with the obvious, Legions were absolutely massive and every single Legion would have maintained a pool of aircraft. There are canonical instances of a Thousand Sons aerial insertion (Thousand Sons) and Iron Hands attack wings (Vengeful Spirit), Dorn has commissioned his own personal Thunderhawk, and generally everybody has enough fliers to make up a tabletop army.
That said, I believe the ones who made widest use of them were the Blood Angels, Raven Guard, Emperor's Children and Sons of Horus. These are the Legions most associated with rapid assaults and aerial attacks as far as I know. A possible mention might also go to the White Scars but I admit I know very little about them as a Legion.

From a tabletop view, you'll probably be wanting to play the 'Angels Wrath' Rite of War. If you take a high-ranking officer, you can bung every squad into a Storm Eagle as a dedicated transport. You also get some bonuses for Jump Infantry, but it's the best way to play aircraft by miles.
Otherwise there are currently very few Legions that gain a direct benefit to using vehicles. Sons of Horus will arrive on the table more reliably thanks to Reserve rolls, while Raven Guard have access to a unique pattern equipped with cloaking fields and flashbang missiles.

I expect that the Blood Angels are the most likely ones to get rules for fliers given their focus on aerial units, so it might be worth holding back for the Retribution book to leak before committing to anything.

All legions used the fliers, however the Blood Angels and Ravenguard used them the most IIRC

Mozzamanx wrote:


I expect that the Blood Angels are the most likely ones to get rules for fliers given their focus on aerial units, so it might be worth holding back for the Retribution book to leak before committing to anything.

The Raven Guard and the Darkwing Duck say hello.

That's a helpful list gives me a good place to start and a few legions to look into. I may well wait for Retribution and see what the rules are like as Blood Angels may well have some interesting rules. I'm also a fan of the Dark Angels so seeing there rules too couldn't hurt.

I play my Ravenguard with a good amount of air support, I use the Darkwing with a Fire Raptor and Avenger... representing a lighter infantry ground force well supported by quick response airborne units and close air support.

Armillus Dynat, of the Alpha Legion, is noted for being a master of integrated fast armor and air support attacks.

I'm partly structuring my own Alpha Legion based on that description.

shade1313 wrote:
Armillus Dynat, of the Alpha Legion, is noted for being a master of integrated fast armor and air support attacks.

I'm partly structuring my own Alpha Legion based on that description.

If I ever do some power armored allies for my Ad mech, that's probably what I'll build too. Alpha legion has a lot of fun tricks up their sleeve.

I like the sound of the Raven Guard Darkwing, the only thing that I thought about the Raven Guard and the Alpha Legion would be that massed flyers would be too overt for them and their infiltrating and sneaking tactics. However this is obviously not the case as they have made the Darkwing rules, which is good cause I like the Alpha Legion and Raven Guard. Though I do prefer the MkII and MkIII armours and I know with the AL being one of the later legions to join the crusades they would have been mainly in MkIV but would they have had access to much of the earlier marks? As I can imagine even the AL wouldn't be able to steal too much armour.

For my Raven Guard, I justify my massed flyers as the rapid response air support that operate in the immediate theater covering a larger area but responding and engaging when my otherwise swift stealthy ground force comes in contact with threats that in a sense outclass them.

My Night Lords make frequent use of their Fire Raptor. People seem to forget is and our sudden shock attacks.

Furthermore, Hesh over on B&C has compiled a list of available LoWs. On it is the Strike Wing which allows 1-3 of either Vendettas, Vultures or Valks, all the same type.

If you are like me and rarely make use of the LoW slot and happen to have IG flyers lying around collecting dust it makes a great way to bring them in.

Justification is the Navy and IG still exist and are even more under the direct control of the Legions than they are in 40k. Note I use the Vulture as I have always loved the model but light gunship air support has existed since Viet Nam. There isn't a fluff reason why this need would have gone away. Vultures provide a dedicated light gunship that is quick and numble, can loiter on station for awhile and analogues an Apache or other attack helicopter pretty well as opposed to the Fire Raptor which performs the role of a AC130 Spectre as a heavy gunship. Without these Strike wings, the legions don't even actually have light gunships, just transports and you pay the price for the dual role in points. Note I see no fluff purpose for the Valks, marines shouldn't be able to fit in the in their bulky armor and have the thing able to lift off.

I'm reading the horus heresy novels and every Legion I've come across mentions using them. How else do you travel from a large ship outside the atmosphere onto the ground? Pods were used mostly when atmospheric conditions prevented planes from flying around (like the Megarachnid fight on Murder) or for surprise attacks to overwhelm a crucial point of the enemy defense lines. You can take flyers with any legion without worrying about some fluff nerd telling you that you just broke the game and your army would never use that.