Space Wolf players, you have a lot to be happy about with the new Stormwolf and Stormfang Flyers! Check out the Tactics Corner for more great reviews!
Both of these Flyers are pretty dang cool. They provide a ton of firepower, mobility, and transport capability on a durable chassis. Not bad at all. Plus, I think these both look awesome! Yeah, they are blocky, but that is true of all Space Marine flyers. I like the aesthetic, myself.
Stormwolf
The Stormwolf is a AV12/12/12 3HP hover capable Flyer that comes in the Fast Attack slot for the Space Wolf faction. It weighs in at 15 points over 2 Thunderfire Cannons, and has a transport capacity of 16 models. It is an assault vehicle as well, with an access point at the front.
It bristles with weapons, boasting a twin Helfrost cannon, a twin Las Cannon, and 2 twin Heavy Bolters. It also comes stock with Power of the Machine Spirit and Ceramite Plating (Melta weapons do not get their bonus die to penetrate).
It has the options to swap the twin Heavy Bolters for a Skyhammer Missile Launcher or 2 Multi Meltas at 20pts cost. Wow! That means this thing has a staggering amount of heavy firepower. The Helfrost cannon can either fire a single strength 8, AP1 24″ raneg shot, or a strength 6, AP3 blast at the same range.
That is pretty dang savage. A vehicle that is that fast, that can fire 4 heavy hitting shots at potentially 2 targets (with PotMS) and deliver 16 models out of an assault vehicle chassis is extremely versatile. You can pack this with Blood Claws, Wolf Guard, Terminators, etc. and really bring the pain. Plus, the vehicle all on it’s own is a really potent gunship. Taking 3 of these and loading them with assault units backed by Grey Hunters in Drop Pods would be good fun! This is a reliable transport vehicle that will cover ground rapidly. You can assault out of these the turn after they come in, so, you can deliver a deadly punch to the enemy turn 3 with these guys, and give your opponent only 1 turn to either shoot them down (which admittedly, would be brutal to the guys inside) or to run away which will be hard to do due to the threat range of a unit coming out of this thing. The only real downside is armies with heavy AA like Tau, that can really cause you headaches.
I am very curious to see if any Space Wolf units will be able to take this as a dedicated transport option?
Also, the Helfrost turret on the vehicle looks suspiciously like it would fit on a Razorback or Land Raider Crusader? I could be wrong but it looks like the same mounting piece. That might be an indication of what is to come in the Space Wolf codex…and maybe not! Time will tell.
Stormfang
The Stormfang has the same defense as the Stormwolf (AV12, Cermaite, 3HP) and weighs in a 5pts more. It also sports PoTMS and Hover mode, as well as a transport capacity, but only 6 and it is not an assault vehicle. Plus, its only access point is in the rear. It is also a Heavy Support choice instead of Fast Attack for the Space Wolf faction.
It exchanges the transport capacity for bigger guns! The Stormfang sports a Helfrost Destructor, two twin Heavy Bolters and 2 Stormstrike Missiles. It can exchange the Heavy Bolters for Skyhammer Missiles or Multi-Meltas (20pts) as the Stormwolf does, and it can exchange its Stormstrike Missiles for a twin Las Cannon.
The Helfrost destructor is a heavier version of the Helfrost Cannon. It is also 24″ but the dispersed shot is a large blast instead of small at strength 6 ap3. Its focused shot is a Lance weapon in addition to being strength 8, AP1.
Well, it looks cool, but I don’t see a really compelling reason to take this over the Stormwolf other than it is in the Heavy Support slot and you want to take a fully airborne army. The Lance helps a lot with AV13 and 14, but, the Stormwolf’s is twin-linked, making it far more accurate. The large blast ap3 weapon is also solid, but again, is it worth it? Eh, it certainly isn’t bad, I will say that. I think my preference would be for the Stormwolf if I could only choose one as its firepower is almost as good (arguable better in some circumstances),and it is an assault vehicle that carries 16 models.
You could just take 6 of the things and go full air cav Space Wolves, lol! Just need to leave something on the ground to get them their.
Either way you go, Space Wolves have two cool new units to add to their armies!
Its like a better stormraven.
Plus that increased carry capacity would be pretty sweet to ally one in for other armies to ride in.
Interested to see what happens to their HQs.
Exactly. With the new battle bros rules this thing can carry almost any imperial unit in the game. Seems like some very scary combinations can come out of this guy.
I think they look great, a lot of people are bashing the stubby wings. What they don’t talk about is the same anti grav plating on the bottom looks like the land speeder’s plating. So the wings are just for guidence. All this thing needs is some dwarf shields on the side to look like a perfect future longship
I also think it looks really great, and I feel like most people are missing the fact that it kind of looks like a wolf head, especially from the side.
I am on the other side of the fence on this one. With some slight modifications I think the Stormraven looks okay, this model on the other hand…. I am not even sure what I would do to correct its appearance.
Looking at the stormfang version I doubt any super heavies want to be in the front arc of the lance,multi meltas, and lascannon lol, stick a iron Priest and some helper thralls in there
With the priest and thralls you’re talking over 300 points, and for what? A dark lance, lascannon and 2 multi-meltas? I really don’t see that being a good investment, especially when compared to the wolf.
Even without the priest, it’s a great gunship with 3 Ap 1 weapons both with AV busting abilities and a Ap 2 long range weapon, it’s an unlucky player who won’t get thier points investment back with this flyer
Wolfguard with stormshields FTW !!! Hell frost inflicts S tests so Jaws is back again… Suck it ya puny xen0s !!!
An initiative test is far different from a S test.
Agreed. While nice. Those mc’s that are around wont be quite so scared having their strength tested rather than their initiative.
I can’t be too jealous since the Fire Raptor and Storm Eagle are technically legal now… But what I’m looking forward to is the Caestus Assault Ram conversions spawning from this kit.
Target priority number 1, checked!
Reecius;
Lets talk Rules and Fields of Fire (FoF) and LoS, 7e has a rule only being able to remove casualties in LoS, and LoS for vehicles is measured from the weapons, additionally the FoF on hull mounted weapons is only 45 degrees, horizontal and vertical, which means; 22.5 degrees down; This creates dead zones for LoS.
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Even with the BaO 180 degrees “vertically” (not horizontally) House Rule, there will still be LoS issues.
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Current rules;
Looking at the “pictures” the side mounted weapons; there is a width across the front nose (3″ looks like) which creates a dead zone for LoS, so the right weapon cannot fire left and the left weapon cannot fire right, etc. so wound pool and removing casualties may be an issue. Machine Spirit will help a little perhaps.
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The two weapons mounted next to the cockpit; both will have to fire perfectly horizontally straight ahead and perfectly horizontally to opposite sides left or right, since they cannot draw LoS through the vehicle, and will not able to shoot down at all, until they clear the nose/body by firing left or right, and again as above, the right weapon cannot fire left and the left weapon cannot fire right, etc.
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The Nose weapon; just the 22.5 degrees down (90 degrees down BaO) dead zone for LoS here, which could be out to 8-10″ from the base (guessing).
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Turret should not be an issue, but it is mounted at the back, so range will suffer.
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This all being said, this flyer is designed poorly “rules wise,” and GW Flyer and Shooting rules are poor and time consuming here; Gawd forbid the flyer could fly upside down/invert, then all weapons could fire, what crazy thoughts.
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Remember there is no modeling for advantage; which we have seen many times over the years on the table with players “tilting” the model on the stem, etc.
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Why not just use the top of the stem and the base for ALL measuring (after all a flyer IRL CAN fly upside down)? This would solve all the issues (wings/hull drama) etc.
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Poor rules should equal poor sales. sad…
Agreed. The Los issues with these fliers make their actual battlefield use problematic at best. The top mounted weapons are practically useless (except vs other fliers), with the main bulk of the plane messing with the sponsons ability to engage targets effectively.
Really just have that main hull cannon asnits primary weapon system.
Should be noted that unlike a storm raven there’s no death from the skies with these. So they must go into hover to disembark. Pretty big advantage to the guppy. Still I like these a lot.
This definitely addresses a glaring area for SW from the 5th ed book. Let’s go pre-order special lol.
GWs description text on their website seems to indicate a kit for each of these, however after examination of the sprue pictures it appears the kit makes either/or.
Yeah the descriptions break up a lot of multi-box units, such as Wolf Guard, Blood Claws, and Grey Hunters being three separate boxes on the site.
They broke up all the dual kits into separate listings when they revamped their site I believe.
These look amazing and i can’t wait to pick one up next week. Here is a link to some of the new supposed rules and what not. it looks like it is a dedicated transport for wolfguard termies and blood claws (which will be fantastic if they are only 12 pts per model):
http://space-wolves-grey.blogspot.co.uk/2014/07/codex-space-wolves-information.html
My opinion is that the battlecannon version should be much more expensive than the Stormraven it is clearly modified from. Definitely not CHEAPER.
Surprised you guys didn’t even mention the Hellfrost weapons special rule.
Summed up: After passing your armor/cover/invul save you have to pass a strength test or die.
I actually did cover that in the Stormfang review which is why I probably forget to mention it on the podcast, but thanks for pointing that out, it is a cool rule!