Death Company Stormraven Gunship 4

This week I hastily assembled the rest of the Death Company Stormraven, including all the fiddly weapons, pilots, doors etc. With a black undercoat I painted it up to a '3 colour minimum' and took it on the road for a battle against the Tau Empire. With a payload of Death Company and a Blood Talon equipped Dreadnought I was sure to win the game, if only they could get into combat without being shot down.

Turn 2 arrived, with the Stormraven taking down a Devilfish with missiles to spare.

After a successful Turn 2 incursion the Stormraven attracted many shots but survived, mostly due to being in 'Zoom' mode, which required all enemy models to roll a '6' on a D6 to hit. Armour 12 all round helped any shots that found their target. I then switched to 'Hover' mode the next turn and the Death Company disembarked:

All I had to do was make a few charge rolls...

With the Dreadnought having the  'Fleet' special rule and a paltry 6" to make into combat out of a potential 12" range, I was sure to charge the cowering Tau Stealth Suits hiding in the ruins, freeing up with Stormraven to concentrate on other targets. Alas, it was not to be. Not only did I not make either of the charges, my Stormraven was shot down thanks to some Broadsides from the other side of the table. Needless to say, not the best inaugural outing for my Stormraven, but being Death Company, there's always more where that came from...

I eventually lost the game on turn 6, keeping the pressure on with Imperial Guard orders and firepower. By concentrating on his scoring units I was 4-0 up at the end of turn 5, but lost 1-4 in turn 6 due to his commander contesting my objective and gaining the 'Linebreaker' Victory Point at the last minute. Next game I will certainly concentrate on taking out any threats to my Stormraven before slowing down to let the passengers jump out!