Tactica - Stormfang Gunship

This edition of the Space Wolves Codex brings to us, brothers, a gift from above. No, seriously, it comes from above. We were given the gift of flight by the Iron Priests, no doubt inspired by Russ himself and the All-Father, to bring death to our foes from the skies. The two aircraft that were bequeathed to us are the Stormfang Gunship and the Stormwolf Transport. Today we will begin talking about the tactics of the Stormfang Gunship and its uses on the battlefield.

                To me there are mainly only two ways to take the Stormfang Gunship: tank hunting and headhunting. The first use, tank hunting, will require the replacement of the ship’s hunter-killer missiles and heavy bolters in favor of twin-linked Lascannons and twin-linked Multimeltas. I affectionately call this variant the Lightning Bolt Pattern as it will fry almost any vehicle quickly and efficiently upon its arrival to the tabletop. Coming in at little over a Land Raider’s cost, the Lightning Bolt Pattern Stormfang is capable of destroying tanks with its twin Mulitmeltas and Lascannon while the use of the Helfrost Destructor can be reserved for clearing out hordes or attacking monstrous creatures. It is a simple variant, but highly efficient at its job. I have yet to be unhappy with adding one to my list as the fire power that it brings to the field is deadly to a wide variety of enemy models. Even if you are fighting an opponent who utilizes large groups of models, the Stormfang is still capable of laying down large blast templates with good strength and ap which have the Helfrost rule. The second variant, which I have dubbed the Hail Storm Pattern, takes no upgrades save for the possible replacement of the Stormstrike Missiles for the twin-linked Lascannon. I feel like this pattern, while having 6 strength 5 shots, is far inferior to the Lightning Bolt Pattern simply because it is outclassed in its role not only by the other Stormfang but also by other units in general. Why take a Hail Storm Pattern when you could take a group of Thunderwolf Cavalry to take out hordes? But, if you need the air support it will do alright at killing ground units with its large blast template and 6 twin-linked strength 5 shots; I feel that if I could replace the Stormstrike Missiles with even a twin-linked Autocannon or another twin-linked Heavy Bolter I would consider this a semi-competitive threat for horde hunting, but as it stands your points are better invested in the Lightning Bolt Pattern.

                Interesting to note about the Stormfang is it has a transport capacity of 6. While this seems like it is too low to be of any concern at first glance, there is one unit that screams “take me” when considering transported units: Iron Priest and Servitors. The Iron Priest and Servitors can be taken to give the Stormfang a pseudo It Will Not Die that is near obscene. For an additional 105 points you can have hull points repaired, weapons repaired, or repair an immobilized result on your Stormfang. This creates a highly defensive and offensive vehicle that is hard to take down unless the enemy has a high number of their own fliers brought to the table or has an abundance of Skyfire units to take it down.

                All-in-all I highly enjoy the Stormfang Gunship and have yet to regret bringing one to the battlefield. When it enters the tabletop I have always had something blown up with its sheer weight of fire and it can consistently place wounds on some of the game’s toughest and most elusive foes. I will later post an idea that I have for the use of a flier-heavy army for your perusal brothers. Till next time brothers and, as always: For Russ, for the Allfather, for the Wolftime.