# What is the best Anti-air defence for space marines?



## Shadow's Fury (Jan 15, 2014)

Hello Heresy land! 

I would just like to stress this is not a tactica, but a discussion. I wanted to get your opinions on the anti-air units available to the boys in power armour. 

The ADL with quad gun has been my best friend during my time through 6th edition. With interceptor allowing the targeting of ground troops and a decent volley of shots it proved enough to deal with the low number of flyers I was seeing round my way.

However, now with the changes to the Interceptor rule I feel myself asking is it worth still taking? My list is all meant to be fast moving, getting up the board as quick as possible and give the enemy too much to deal with at once. Having to take a static unit just to man the gun felt like a waste of points, and if this was a troops choice they were usually the first causalities as they were the only scoring unit holding my table half. 

So my question is what anti-air unit would you suggest that can just be left to its own devices, both in codex and allies but doesn't break the point or monetary bank? I am hoping to break back into the tournament world too, so being able to deal with the flyer/FMC spams that keep cropping up means I will need a strong base of Anti-air.

I have never seen a hunter or stalker on the battlefield, ever. At the time they were just not worth the points and the heavy support slot when you could get a quadgun that didn't take up any slot. But now I see them in a different light, especially the stalker. For 25pts less, the stalker grants you an average tank stat with the ability to shoot two targets at once (at the cost of lowering BS to 2). Teamed up with an Divination psyker of some kind (yes I know, I said a unit without baby sitting but how cheap it is to get a psyker nowadays!) can boost that BS 2 probability to something a bit more reliable. 4 shots on any flyer is potentially enough to glance it to death, even with the new and improved jink. But of course it suffers the dangers of all ground vehicles, requiring decent cover and protection from the deepstrike melta that is common now a days. 

I really want to like the hunter, but the single shot at AP2 seems incredibly unreliable in both hitting and killing potential, still requiring a 6 to take out a flyer in one hit. 

A stormtalon seems a very reasonable option, providing a fast moving flyer which can be armed for all occasions while still coming in just above the ADL if you don't go all out. But with only 2 hull points, fairly flimsy armour, and, on a more personal note, taking up a fast attack slot, makes me feel uncomfortable. I feel they work best in numbers, but my current list leaves me no fast attack slots left, unless a double up the FOC, which seems to be limited at tournaments.

The Stormraven seems to be a very popular choice at the moment, enough weapons to take on the vast majority of any army while being protected by its flyer status. But is it really worth the money or the points? Any advice on the matter?

And of course there is always the flakk missiles. These need to be taken in such large numbers though to even have a hope of glancing a flyer to death. The new vehicle table really damaged these in my opinion unless you fill your list with them, which makes everything slow down to a standstill if you want to reliability hit anything. 

I'm leaving out allies at the moment as otherwise I'd be here all day but is there any allied unit that sticks out to you that would work well with a fast moving list? I could easily see vendettas or valkyries making their case but are they worth the point increase?

Cheers for any help or advice you guys can give!


----------



## ntaw (Jul 20, 2012)

I have two Stormravens that I absolutely love playing, and I strongly recommend them as a choice provided you want to dish out the cash. For me, I think they look pretty cool and love what they do so it's worth the points and cash. The Stormwing formation is also a valid option, and GW still has a pretty awesome deal going on for the one box formation bundle on their site I think. That being said, I think it really depends on the points level. At 1500 I always take a SR, but at 1k I pretty much ignore fliers and focus on killing stuff that can hold objectives (now that has changed to units with Objective Secured) and disrupting my enemy's plan. I play Blood Angels the most, so I get your fast moving approach to playing and have been using Stormravens in an anti-air role since the very beginning of 6th. That being said, I'm working toward getting a pair of Stormtalons to accompany my Imperial Fists because it fits better with what else I would like to bring. The less expensive option paired is just the better one for that list. Just out of curiosity, what Chapter are you playing and what are some of the units that you want to bring out?


----------



## neferhet (Oct 24, 2012)

yeah, as anti air, storm raens win all the day. they will require some smart manouvring but when they have done against the air threat they can dish punishment on the ground. far more accurate that any stalker, though. The "mono-task" tanks or weapons such as the hydra or the quadgun (or hunter/stalker) are rarely viable, unless you KNOW you will face flyier spam.
Edit: also, flakk missiles are so costly that you might as well take a stalker...


----------



## Nordicus (May 3, 2013)

As a keynote that I've witnessed so far in 7th, the best anti-air is a air presence of your own. The defenceline, while good, seems to be on the backburner these days due to it's new limitations.

I would recommend a Stormraven as well - They can be devastating, even if they are a bit pricey.


----------



## fatmantis (Jun 26, 2009)

the good old stormtalon i find is ok..but my new favorite is the storm wing..i have it in my ultra marines and raven wing..its soo much fun to play and can really dish out the pain.


----------



## maximus2467 (Jun 14, 2007)

How about a squad of missile launcher devastators? Granted they're going to be hitting flyers on a 6 with krak but if you add in the aforementioned psyker with prescience, they should do ok


----------



## Sethis (Jun 4, 2009)

I rate the Storm Raven (MM, Lascannon loadout) and Stormtalon (Skyhammer and Assault Cannon) very highly for anti-air.

What are you filling all three FA slots with at the moment? Assault Marines are "eh", Speeders are nice but you shouldn't need 9 of them (although it is hilarious to have 9 Typhoons), Bikes are certainly better as Troops, Scout bikes are very poor, and that basically leaves you Stormtalons without much competition.


----------



## neferhet (Oct 24, 2012)

Sethis said:


> What are you filling all three FA slots with at the moment? Assault Marines are "eh", Speeders are nice but you shouldn't need 9 of them (although it is hilarious to have 9 Typhoons), Bikes are certainly better as Troops, Scout bikes are very poor, and that basically leaves you Stormtalons without much competition.


nice summary. however, 9 thyphoons will just be...awesome!!!


----------



## Sethis (Jun 4, 2009)

I've done it in 1500pts before. Unfortunately the other guy was playing mono-Khorne Rhino rush style CSM so it was ridiculously one sided - just ran away and shot him full of Kraks followed by Frags + HB for 5 turns.


----------



## neferhet (Oct 24, 2012)

well that's what you get worshipping Khorne in the 40th millennium. When it comes to slaanesh, however...we have a longer "reach" if you know what i mean :grin:


----------

