I dont think the Heldrake is bad for its points neccesarilly. The baleflamer can be a real problem for marines, and the armour values mean it isnt going to be quite so vunerable to small arms fire in hover mode. Its just that a) its very vunerable to being shot down by other flyers b) I think because vendettas are so cheap it has altered the balance of what makes a ‘good’ flyer. The solution to a) is like you mentioned, flakk missles and defence lines. I think if supported by the right units it can be a real threat.… Read more »

Bikes are slightly better than their imperial counterparts having a pistol and close combat weapon, instead of just a pistol as well as being able to swap the bike’s gun for flamers/ plasmas etc to keep the +1attack from that. 5 spawn gives you a unit with decent stats for close combat, at 150 points but with no AP they might just bounce, and with no armour save two thirds of the time and you only roll once you’re in close combat, they’re getting torn apart by shooting before they get anywhere near close combat. Raptors are again just better… Read more »

The flamer is the only way to go with this beast. Here are the things I think that you are overlooking in your review of the helldrake 1. The bale flamer negates the BS 3. Auto hit. AP3. The main purpose of this weapon is kill marines as it ignores cover. 2. The vector strike is very powerful. I intend to use it strictly to open up rhinos and light tanks and then flamer the guys as they disembark. When the hell drake passes over a unit, it “takes” D3 hits at str 7. This means for rhinos you are… Read more »

I think a 15 man unit of raptors its much better with mark of slanesh than with mark of khorne, its 3 atacks on the charge + another from the hammer of wrath; since they are jump troops its much more likely to get the charge, and having 56 atacks before any non eldar unit can atack you back (+ the champion, to hom i would give twin ligthing claws, bi giving up the pistol and the cc weapon, and geting 2 single ligthing claws; and at i5 he`ll beat almost any non terminator armor sargent ) plus the 2… Read more »

Honestly, I think people are really underestimating the heldrake. The Vendetta is obviously a broken unit for its points, not intended for 6th, so that aside… Flakk missiles are str 7. Out of a squad of 4, 3 are likely to hit an enemy flyer. Let’s use that nasty Vendetta as an example shall we? So 3 hit, Str 7 against armour 12 needs 5’s to Glance. Average is you’ll get 1 Pen/Glance – and that’s if your havocs have survived long enough to have a full compliment left! Now the Vendetta can evade with a 33% chance of saving… Read more »

Its great that GW gave bikes a boost this edition as they were quite underused. Well apart from white scars and ravenwing players perhaps.

The heldrake’s invul and it will not die should make it a bit more survivable but I agree its days are probably numbered against a few of the other flyers.

Those Bikes with Mark of Slaanesh and the Icon of Excess would be a good close combat unit. You got T5 with Feel No Pain along with I5 and about 3 attacks apiece on the charge. That is just nothing to ignore.

For me, there are two outstanding units in that slot: Bikers and Spawns. I like the spawns a bit better. Both units have their emphasis rather on speed and toughness than on dealing damage, and the spawns are a bit more efficient in that role. They are extremly cheap, even with mark of nurgle. 12 inch movement, not slowed down by terrain, Fearless, Rage, decent S+T. If 15 of these things are in the face of your opponent in Turn 2, all armies other than Dark Eldar or Grey Knights will have something to deal with. Even Grey Knights still… Read more »