Screaming Jets

Hey guys,

Some time ago I played the mission The Four Pillars against a Necron player. Obviously, Necrons are hard to kill, as you have to wipe a squad of Necrons entirely to stop them from ressurecting. So that's where my Ravagers would come in handy. Unfortunately, I made a mistake during deployment and my Ravagers were unable to concentrate their firepower on the main 20 man Necron warrior squad which was rather frustrating. Afterwards I started thinking: what if I didn't deploy my Ravagers at all, but deep strike them using the Screaming Jets strategem? However, if I had 3 ravagers "set up in the sky" that would mean I could only deep strike 1 of them per turn, right? (since you can't use the same stratagem twice per phase - pg. 215 of the rulebook) In other words, I will have to wait until turn 4 to use all my Ravagers, or am I overlooking something?

The stratagem is used during deployment, when you put units into deepstrike. Bringing those units onto the board has no restrictions beyond the standard "not on turn 1". So you can use it multiple times as deployment isn't a phase, and bring everything in together from turn 2.

Yeah, I knew I was missing something. But that is great. They can shoot as soon as they descent so the three of them can pack quite a punch.

Eh, I use to be a fan of screaming jets a bunch of ravagers, but now that you can't bring them on the board at all turn one, I'm not a fan anymore. Losing a turn of 3 ravagers firepower is pretty rough.

Considering ravagers are m14" (or 17" as I play them flayed skull), plus 36" range weapons you really shouldn't have trouble getting them in range of a target, I'd think about how you deploy them more instead of losing their first turn firepower.

Lord Asvaldir wrote:

Eh, I use to be a fan of screaming jets a bunch of ravagers, but now that you can't bring them on the board at all turn one, I'm not a fan anymore. Losing a turn of 3 ravagers firepower is pretty rough.

Considering ravagers are m14" (or 17" as I play them flayed skull), plus 36" range weapons you really shouldn't have trouble getting them in range of a target, I'd think about how you deploy them more instead of losing their first turn firepower.

Yeah I agree, losing their first turn firepower doesn't sound very attractive. The problem with deployment is that in some missions you have to deploy everything before your opponent does - so he can simply react to where you deployed them. Spreading them doesn't seem like a solution either because I think they are not as efficient by themselves.

If you have somewhere to hide in the centre of your deployment then they can usually move to where they are needed turn 1. Plus don't forget that dissies and DLances are assault weapons on vehicles, so if you need an extra couple of inches movement to get them into position advance them.

slegtvalk wrote:

Lord Asvaldir wrote:

Eh, I use to be a fan of screaming jets a bunch of ravagers, but now that you can't bring them on the board at all turn one, I'm not a fan anymore. Losing a turn of 3 ravagers firepower is pretty rough.

Considering ravagers are m14" (or 17" as I play them flayed skull), plus 36" range weapons you really shouldn't have trouble getting them in range of a target, I'd think about how you deploy them more instead of losing their first turn firepower.

Yeah I agree, losing their first turn firepower doesn't sound very attractive. The problem with deployment is that in some missions you have to deploy everything before your opponent does - so he can simply react to where you deployed them. Spreading them doesn't seem like a solution either because I think they are not as efficient by themselves.

I think you're playing your ravagers a bit too statically. Yeah, it's nice to have the reroll 1s buff from an archon, but it's far more important that they hit the intended target. 14" movement with no to hit penalty on your weapons is more than enough to keep your ravagers spread out behind cover in your deployment phase, then jump forward into firing position turn one.

With a 14" move and 6" aura, your ravagers can deploy 40" apart and still both get within the archons bubble for rerolls. Without advancing. You can spread your ravagers in deployment and make use of the cover available. Screaming Jets is nowhere near as useful now you loose the unit until turn two. Personally I never use it, I just don't see the benefit.

In two separate tourneys, I've run into the same necron player/list, rolled vanguard deployment, and gone 2nd. If this happens again, then I will deepstrike all 3 ravagers in order to get a drop on his triple doomsday arcs, which always go in the far corner of the board, as far away as possible from my deployment zone. Otherwise, I will likely lose at least one ravager from their firing, regardless of cover, and I won't have enough firepower that can get within range of the doomsday arcs and destroy them. At least, that is my plan, as putting the ravagers on the board turn 1 has failed me vs. this list/scenario. Twice.

Granted, if I get pretty much *any* other deployment zone type, then I would probably deploy differently, depending on the location/type of terrain.