Unit of the Week XVII - Avenger Strike fighter (ASF)

[Aqui]

Unit of the week I - Exorcist

Unit of the week II - Imolator

Unit of the week III - Repentia

Unit of the Week IV - Battle Sister Squad (BSS)

Unit of the Week V - The Penitent Engine

Unit of the Week VI - The Canoness

Unit of the Week VII - Ministorum Priests/Jacobus

Unit of the Week VIII - Celestine

Unit of the Week - IX - Seraphim

Unit of the Week X - Retributor Sisters Squad (RSS)

Unit of the Week XI - Sororitas Command Squad (SCS)

Unit of the Week XII - The Repressor

Unit of the Week XIII - Ecclesiarchy Battle Conclave (EBC)

Unit of the Week XIV - Celestians

Unit of the Week XV - Dominion squads

Unit of the Week XVI - Sororitas Rhino

And so we come to the last "Unit of the Week" topic It's been very interesting reading everyone's ideas and it will certainly help me become a better Sisters player So, thank you to everyone who has participated!

The Avenger Strike Fighter - a particularly cool model (and one I'm itching to get assembled and painted, but I want to get everything else I have done first...), but how effective is it in a game? What are the optimal loadouts? Is there a certain way they should be deployed? How has the Death from the Skies supplement (that the Avenger now has an FAQ/Errata for) affected how it should be used?

Sisters, the floor is yours!

[Servant of Dante]

I can say I've never even read the rules for this one. It's our only skyfire option.

[Kros Morotho]

Never had the pleasure of using one... but i always fancied the idea of rigging it as a bomber to nuke things in the deep backfield. 

[dracpanzer]

I used one for several months after purchasing it, mostly just as an anti-air option.  Mine is kitted with the mega-bolter thingie and auto-cannons(?).  Seemed to do well enough but rather quickly the flyers began to disappear from the local game tables.  So I took it less and less and now have left it on the shelf for a long time now.  It's still there of course, a converted Dark Angel flyer with an Immolator pilot and Immolator door icons on the wings, and I do value it as a good source of anti-air or ground support. 

 

I usually skip air though, finding it is often best to just ignore it when I do run up against it until there is nothing else left to shoot.  FMC's are the usual suspects.

[Blackarmor_redtruth]

I'm in the process of converting one and was planning on running it stock. The options seem like they are well covered by many of our other sources (less the coloring and armored cockpit, more on those in a sec), so I was just going to run it as anti-air. Dropping my ADL+quadguns lends me the points to help pay for it. Now, as it is anti-air primarily, here is where I cheep the points by not putting the armored cockpit on. If the need for air-defense is not cleared by exorcists or dominions by the time this comes on, I can survive a round of jinking or just chance it. Though the armored-cockpit is cheep in points, I'm still trying to squeeze in as many melta bombs in all units as I can. Your meta may be different, so adjust as needed.

[Sister Rosette Soulknyt]

Its a great flyer, with two lascannons, not twin linked (unless updated since), avenger cannon, and with mine, the missile launchers. Gives it a lot of anti-air, anti-tank or still anti-troop. I use mine to pop heavy troops, transports or Monstrous Creatures/vehicles.

[Beams]

The Avenger is great for popping Monstrous Creatures.

I generally play with 2-3 other players, and one plays Nid-Zilla religiously. The Avenger is a godsend, since most tyrannid monsters are tough 5-6, it wounds on 4's and ignores armor saves with it's avenger cannon, and it's lascannons should do the rest. Also makes it easy to snipe the Zoanthropes (?) that provide shrouded should your other models not be able to see them.

 

I find it's less effective vs Marines or Guard though.

[Blackarmor_redtruth]

 

The Avenger is great for popping Monstrous Creatures.

I generally play with 2-3 other players, and one plays Nid-Zilla religiously. The Avenger is a godsend, since most tyrannid monsters are tough 5-6, it wounds on 4's and ignores armor saves with it's avenger cannon, and it's lascannons should do the rest. Also makes it easy to snipe the Zoanthropes (?) that provide shrouded should your other models not be able to see them.

 

I find it's less effective vs Marines or Guard though.

 

 

Venomthrope is the Shrouded provider, lots of flailing tentacles on a terminator base - easy to take down. If your group uses FW, malanthrope. Those are tough nuts to crack; more Wounds, Regenerates, and synapse creature so does not need baby-sitting. In fact often has small group of hormaguants (the smaller -guant species with guns) bubble wrapping them.

[Chaplain Erasmus]

I really, really want to use one. As stated above, it's damage output is amazing against Marines and Tyranid MCs, and the recent ruling from Forge World that essentially lets it attack aerial targets makes it doubly good against Flyrants, etc. I plan to use mine with wing-mounted multilasers in addition to everything else: that way, it gains a little more damage output vs regular infantry (though forcing more saves isn't a bad thing either).

 

Also, in case people don't want to buy directly from Forge World, I've discovered that apparently the Dark Angels Nephilim fighter makes a great stand-in for a conversion (it even comes with a lot of little relics that can make it look even more like an Ecclesiarchy vehicle)