Hey guys,

The Ravenwing Black Knights are annoyingly nerfed by the FAQ entry you mentioned yourselves, but I would correct something said, one of you said if they don’t wipe out a unit they’ll be charged and then they’ll be held up. This is WRONG WRONG WRONG… (sorry for the drama).

These guys have 2 attacks each, with 2 CC weapons (hammer and pistol) and if they don’t wipe out a unit, they should charge them. 4 attacks each with S5 rending? Yes please. Better still, even if that doesn’t do enough (which vs a lot of targets it would, they’re quite study with T5 and 3+) they also can hit and run, with a decent enough initiative value. so that’s how they make their distance again.
If you’re scared they’ll fail it, give them an Interrorgator chaplain on a bike, conferring him the rule so they can pass that test on 5 or less AND adding his 6 attacks (on the charge with 2 weapons), which most likely ignore saves if you equip him right.

Don’t forget that they can scout, which they also give the character, allowing them to outflank if you need. Skilled rider, as mentioned by others increases their cover save.

Finally you guys said that that’s a lot of plasma shots means a lot of chances to overheat when they rapid fire, yes it is.. but it’s not cos these guys are twin linked.

Ravenwing attack squadrons fluff: can’t take 10 bikes, but the idea comes from their last codex which introduced combat squads – the idea is that the attack bike adds 2 marines and the land speeder adds 2, so the squadron is 10.
I will point out that taking Landspeeders is VERY GOOD on these, as you can give it 2 multi meltas and kamikaze them. With your support squadrons of 5 speeders you don’t want to send them all in too close for the 12″ melta range & 2 shots is often enough to do some serious damage, these guys give you nice tank hunters (remember the attack bike can take a multi melta too).

Finally banner of devastation inside a crusader (hurricane bolters benefit) flanked by 2 ravenwing attack squadrons (include the attack bikes) and you’ve got 80 shots a turn, the banner is safe, it can all move 12″ and shoot with relentless (power of the machine spirit) and they’re T5 with a 3+, use a darkshoud for stealth, or that “horrible piece of wargear” on a character in the tank, and suddenly the whole formation (tank included) has a 4++. I’ve mentioned this elsewhere I think in your HQ video about standards.

I agree with you about the flyers sucking, though I would consider running the avenger mega bolter for the sake of utilising the Strafing run, which is +1BS to none-flyers/skimmers, useful for hitting with a high quantity of shots, 5 from the mega bolter, a heavy bolter and 2 missiles a turn, worth considering I would say. Though this is still too expensive for a real competitive list, if I was going to run one I would consider that role and rely more on flakk missiles for AA.

A note on the Dark Talon – I wouldn’t field it myself personally, however those Hurricane bolters work with the banner of devastation, in hover mode it has a strafing run and even without the hover if it can get to 6″ from that banner, that plane will fire a scary amount of bolter fire at an enemy – a LR crusader is better, but costs a lot more.

Finally if anyone does use this – fly it first and drop the bomb first, THEN move your unit into “charge range” to reduce the chance of the scatter. A little common sense can go a long way.