Help! We're airborne!

[butchyboy73]

Hi all,

Does anyone else out there play Elysians? New to this site and to the IG. Normally play Space Marines (Blood Angels and Raven Guard) recently became interested in playing a drop troop army along the lines of the Elysians.
Have got 2000 points plus army,based on Cadian figures (the poor mans option:o) that "counts as Elysians" and looking for advice, tactics etc.
Currently my army consists of;

command squad
Company commander w plasma pistol and power fist
vox op
medic
1 melta
1 veteran

platoon command squad
platoon commander w power fist and plasma pistol
vox operator
melta gun
2 vets

2 squads wih 1 melta each and 1 vox each

3 vet squads, all with 2 meltas, 1 heavy flamer. 2 have a dedicated Valkyrie

1 storm trooper squad with 2 flamers transported in Vendetta

1 storm trooper squad with plasma gun and melta

1 storm trooper squad with 2 plasma guns

3 drop sentinels all with multi meltas.

That's roughly 2000 points. So, any suggestions, advice for facing the various threats out there; Eldar, Dark Eldar, Necrons, Tyranids? Had my first battle against 2000 points Death Wing and got beaten as much by my own incompetence as by his massed fire power and power weapons!!

Thanks for looking

[gensu11]

I have played guard for years, but am also just now putting together a drop troop army. My previous guard lists have been heavy tank, so drop troops is a big departure. My list is a 2500 point list, and isn't fully maximized yet. I haven't played a game yet with drop troops since I am deployed, but my basic thought is that I have given up the ability to shoot it out at far range, and I dont have the ability to win in assaults. Once my troops land, they get one shot before they will probably be in hand to hand and get wiped out, so you have to maximize that shot. Most of the army is being held in reserve, so you have to effectively mass your troops when they come in, so anything that makes for more effective drops is a plus, i.e. officer of the fleet and homing beacons. Units that can take homing beacons need to have them. I am looking into tauros assault vehicle squads as advance scouts. They get close to where I want to drop with a homing beacon, then all the drops are dead on, allowing you to mass your firepower when it comes in. Don't spread out the drops in such a way that they cant support each other. If you have an enemy target you want to destroy, drop multiple squads, not just one, to get the dice on your side. One squad with bad rolls doesn't do any damage, and then gets rolled over on your opponents turn. 2-3 squads should cause enough damage that the counterattack you get on their turn won't be as powerful, meaning you still have squads available to maneuver after that. I use veterans and storm troopers for the extra meltas or plasmas. Aircraft are your only long range firepower, and give your opponent something to focus on other than the guys you drop right in front of them. I currently have 3 Vendettas and 1 Vulture and looking into a thunderbolt or second vulture. Don't know if any of this will work, but I will be trying it out in a few months when I return to the states.

As far as your specific list: Try maxing out the firepower on your command squads. A command squad can hold up to four special weapons, pick a weapon type and max it out. If you want the squad to be anti tank, four meltas. Anti terminator, 3 plasma guns, plasma pistol and a medic is what I run. A guard squad isn't powerful enough to do alot of things well like space marines are, i.e. anti tank, anti infantry, anti heavy infantry. But it can do one of those well. My opinion is that a guard officer with two special weapons is a point sink. You either want your guard to 1. shoot, 2. shoot, 3. shoot, or 4. maybe assault. For the cost of your basic infantry platoon, you could probably get another vet squad in there instead, giving you more special weapons and better BS.

[thecactusman17]

When you say Airborne, there are two options: are you getting deep strikers, or flyers? Because those are two very different lists. I've seen flyers do some impressive damage, but honestly I'm not sure how to run an effective all-deep-strike list.

Because the Elysians love their Valks and Vendettas, I'm going to talk about running them as well as possible. I play Dark Eldar, and massed fast skimmers are our specialty.

The first thing to recognize about your Val-Dettas is that they are amongst the most potent and powerful transports in the game for their point cost. The Vendetta Gunship, in particular, boasts three twin-linked lascannons and a transport capacity, something that's nearly unheard of outside of Apocalypse. It's a fast skimmer with the Scout special rule, so you can either come in off a table edge (even the opposite table edge will often leave you in striking distance of enemy vehicles!) or rush up to dump a bunch of units inside their maximum threat range on turn 1. The Valkyries exchange the anti-vehicle weaponry for some very potent anti-infantry gear.

Coordinating Valks, however, is a little bit tougher, thanks to the squadron rule. However, they are also a lot tougher to kil thanks to the same rule. When you move squadrons, remember that every model has to be within 4" of another model's hull (this includes the wings and is now codified into the GW FAQs). So remember that you can't just be picking positions to move to for maximum advantage, you also need to plan out where on the table your wingmates are going to be. Poor planning will leave models out of firing position.

However, at the same time, you can use the complex nature of the flyers to give you a leg up when it comes to taking fire. Take two Vendettas and a Valkyrie with a Lascannon. You'll have tools for better dealing with enemy infantry in pickup games, and the odd shot that gets through your armor can be allocated to whichever type of model is proving least useful, such as that Valkyrie when the enemy is all armored up, or a Vendetta when you are dealing with a Green Tide.

Packing these things can be a tough decision. It's worth noting that I don't much care for the Stormtroopers, though I can see that they have much better synergy with these aircraft than others do. However, I would first buy Veteran Squads with melta or even plasma weapons before buying any Stormtroopers, and the reason comes down to points efficiency. For fewer points, you lose the AP3 lasguns but you GAIN more special weapons, which are going to be critical for dealing with enemy armor and heavy infantry or monstrous creatures. Even stormtroopers won't stand up to a counter assault or a solid amount of firepower, so there's little point in their increased armor.

The biggest advantage that your aircraft will have is the vast increase in mobility over enemy forces. Use this advantage aggressively! Your flyers can easily get side-shots on enemy armor even without outflanking by carefully moving from place to place. I've seen armies of all flyers do excellent at tournaments even without paint or sportsmanship scores, simply because a competent player can put so much firepower into their targets. Smart positioning and target selection are the main benefits of these units and maximizing that advantage will win you lots of games.

[DoomMouse]

Do elysians get anything extra besides extra valkyries/vendettas?