There is more that has been revealed and talked about for this weekends releases of Death from the Skies supplement. Dogfights, the loss of the Vendetta, Voidravens and more. Here is the latest chatter about the new book which appears to turn aerial dogfighting into a mini-game within a game.
if you missed prevous conversation and intel about this release, here is a link
http://natfka.blogspot.com/2016/04/additional-death-from-skies-information.html
Some of the following is opinion of the book, but was included just for completeness.
via inq.serge on Warseer
Well, With the book in hand, here's a fun thing on dogfights (other than that you can kill off enemy fliers in reserve, and that the dogfight phase is less of a phase and more of a quick mini-game); If you have flyers in reserve, and your opponent doesn't, you gain air superiority, which gives you +1 OR -1 in reserve rolls (Your choice) AND gives your opponent -1 to reserve rolls. If you have the flyer detachment, this bonus is increased to +2/-2.
Also; Who plays with more than 1 voidraven? Most of the bombers are rarely taken in multiples. Most of the flyers are rarely taken in multiples. Sure, I rarely play DE without my 3 RJF, and I occasionally add in 1 VRB, but most people do not spam flyers, especially not the same flyer. Thus, you will, most likely, never meet a proper attack pattern, and if you do, the opponent will be lacking in ground forces.
And the loss of skyfire, Considering that most flyers jink a lot, it's not that much of a loss.
And for -1bs against ground targets; Skimmers and jetbikes do not count as ground targets! Thus, 3 RJF in attack pattern can get Tank hunter when shooting Monoliths. And ignore cover against jetbikes!
In my opinion; It's a wonderful book, and I love it.
The tank hunter thing:
You must have 3 flyers (of the same sort, I.E: 3 valks, 3 RJF, 3 Stormhawks) in this formation (like a triangle, everyone looking at the same direction. Note; They are not a squadron, and all act independently, targeting independently. )
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->
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(You have to put your planes in that formation).
Fighters get Tank Hunter against flyers, FMC, Jetbikes and skimmers. Attack craft against every thing else. Bombers reroll failed to pen rolls, and may chose to reroll glances. However, it only applies to their bomb.
You can always ally in 2 stormhawks (or any other pair of fliers) in any army with the flier detachment.
Considering that the vendetta's not even mentioned in the book, and FW's already making a vendetta upgrade kit (have one myself); I think It'll go back to FW-only.
The Orks; The tellyporta is an awesome weapon (Very strong and penetrative), it's just lacking in range. And it can make stuff "Disappear". Orks have 2 different wing leader tables, and they have 2 formations: 1 with 1 new flyer with the KFF, and 3 other flyers of ANY ork-kind, and makes them tougher in the correct attack pattern. The other consists of 6-12 fliers (3 wings), makes one wing better, and have access to a larger attack pattern.
And come on people, Unlike me, most of you do not use an average of 3-4 flyers in your 1850 pts armies, and even if you did, the sky isn't falling down. Sure, the formations do not give voidravens 10" stD blasts, but then again, the formations are free and the attack patterns are free-er, we all saw how pissed people got when marines got a free disintegration gun, making attack patterns and formations too good would make people go crazier than usual. It's just a compensation for the lack of footsoldiers. The dogfight subphase and the new roles and stats make flyers something more than poorly manoeuvred hard-to-hit skimmers. They're more "gamble"-y, less overpowered (not that most of them where overpowered, just presumed to be), and still not mandatory. They can still be ignored, they're just a little bit more difficult to dodge now.
Stormhawk might be mighty, but, against equally good players, the razorwing (With DL) will defeat it more times in a dogfight than the other way around. Not 9 of 10 times, nothing is that good, but more in line with 6, at most 7, of 10 times*. Nothing is invincible in dogfights, some are just better. Dogfights are very balanced. And quick. It's a bit of a high risk high reward "game theory"-duel, something for the gambler in us.
*(Does not mean it will kill it every time it wins)
ALSO: Double-checked the rules for heldrakes; They DO have a dogfight-only vector strike!!! It's just near impossible to get it in, especially against anything that can outmanoeuvre a flying croissant. (The heldrake's very agile, almost as a Razorwing. It is quite slow however.) (EDIT: It has a better probability against overconfident players with fast flyers, but not against the sensible ones). (In case anyone's wondering, it's in addition to whatever weapon it can or can't shoot in a dogfight. And it has still has its ordinary vector strike on the field).
Dogfights are quick, and in addition to the roll of whether you like to dogfight or not, you got a chance to disengage mid-dogfight (Or, if you're mean and want to take a shot, rend all short range weapons useless. The stormhawk, all though a seemingly good dogfighter, is at serious disadvantage due to the short range of its weapons.), and then an other chance to outmanoeuvre, rending fixed forward weapons (I.E: Almost all flyer weapons) useless. To get a perfect dogfight where you actually shoot down your opponent is very hard. And dogfights can only be between flyers in reserve. If one of you doesn't have flyers in reserve (i.e: Because they're all out on the field), there will be no dogfights. There's no need to worry that dogfights will take too much time.
I like how the book makes flyers more relevant without making them OP or cheesy. I'm glad WAAC-players get upset.
All ready mentioned the 2 ork formations, and they're somewhat cool, but very situational. Haven't checked the weaponry for the older flyers, BUT, I can tell you that orks get THE BEST wing leaders. Amongst the things they can get is +1St on ALL weapons, or even better, +1 Attack on all weapon profiles! (This one's called, you guessed it, "More Dakka!".)
