Email in: Stormtalon advice

"Heya Kirby,

Long time lurker, first time emailer. I know the Stormtalon was just officially announced and nobody's had time to playtest this thing, but i'm one of the few that's excited and willing to give the thing a chance. I was on the edge of my seat reading the earlier rumors that you could "escort" deep strikers with it. i thought this was the gonna be the extra OOMPH my drop pod army was in need of. after seeing the newest pics straight outta White Dwarf, i'm kinda let down. there won't be any stormtalons "escorting" my first 3 drop pods onto the table, miraculously saving those dreadnoughts from turn 2 destruction.

Anyways... the army list compilations and tactics articles on your site have given me a lot of insight into the game and brought me from losing all the time to around a 60/40 recent record. so i come here seeking your advice.

Here's the deal: i'm gonna buy 3 of these Stormtalons, 'cuz i hate having money and i love building/painting models. i'm gonna magnetize 'em for all weapon loadouts and i'm gonna play with 'em for a few months. what i need from you is some advice on how to field these things. i threw together a halfass list earlier tonight, but it's over in points and i can't see what to drop or even where the gunships fit in.

Libby
3x Rifleman dreds
4x 5 man Tacticals in upgraded Razorbacks (TL asscan and/or Lasplas depending on the mood i'm in)
3x generic Stormtalons

this comes out to 1525 pts. and it's a garbage list. we play at 1500 around here in local tourneys, but once in a while i can get people to play bigger games with me. i'd love your input on how to fit this new unit into a 1500 pt game, as well as up to 2k games. i've got 10k pts worth of vanilla marines and another 3k in BA that i can proxy, so whatever you come up with, i can field. i've been reading your Email In columns for a long time and would be honored if you could help me out.

thanks,

max"

Stormtalons are overpriced, particularly for Marines. Considering their basic configuration is crying out for psybolts (now wouldn't that piss people off it it was given to Grey Knights...) and upgrading the heavy bolter gets you two very different ranges, you have an over-costed and ineffective unit. Keeping them bare bones is probably the best way to use them as you can run around on flanks and actually make use of the S5 from the heavy bolters and get within range for the Assault Cannon - they will help chew infantry to shreds so you'll need the rest of your force to help out with anti-tank.

This therefore works better with BA where you can grab ACLC Preds in the Heavy Support slot but with your anti-infantry covered pretty nicely with the Stormtalons, Dakka Preds are overkill in a Vanilla list. Best bet here would be to then take a Master of the Forge so you can run MM Dreads with Rifledreads or Rifledreads in Heavy Support and melta-based Sternguard in Elites.