Meet the Eldar A-10 Thunderbolt – the Phoenix
I’ve been waiting for 8th Edition rules for one of most useful 40k vehicles – the Eldar Phoenix. Can it hold up to the Crimson Hunter?
Like this – but with elves…
I’ve been a fan of the Eldar Phoenix for quite a while. It’s one of Forge World’s older kits and is a dedicated air to ground attack aircraft. Here’s the basics on the vehicle to bring you up to speed:
Eldar Phoenix
The Phoenix is an Eldar ground attack fighter. While it shares many features in common with its smaller cousin, the Nightwing, the Pheonix sacrifices a measure of speed and maneuverability in order to carry a large weapons payload for ground attack missions. The two work in tandem, Nightwings clearing the skies of enemy aircraft and escorting Phoenixes as they rain destruction upon ground forces. However despite its loss in performance the Phoenix is still an outstanding aircraft, capable of tangling with most Imperialfighter aircraft and still coming out on top. It is common throughout all Craftworlds and Corsair warbands, and while orbital-capable the Phoenix is more commonly deployed through larger Wraithgates
The Pheonix is a heavily-armed aircraft. A pair of twin-linked Shuriken Cannons mounted in the craft’s nose are primarily for engaging other aircraft or infantry units, while below the fuselage is a single centerline-mounted Pulse Laser for pinpoint accuracy against hardened ground targets. The Pheonix’s main ground attack weapons, twin Phoenix Missile Launchers, can also be mounted in the fuselage or in wing mounts. They typically carry plasma missiles for saturation bombardment of a target, destroying it in a hail of plasma explosions, but may also mount Krak Missiles.
8th Edition Phoenix
The arrival of Index Xenos from Forge World included the Phoenix and I was anxiously awaiting it. I wanted to see how the would handle it’s anti-ground arsenal, and how much it would be costed.
That is a lot of shooting!
10 Power Level clocks in at roughly the same as a Crimson Hunter and that is the obvious comparison. For that you get a rugged T6 W16 3+ Save platform. It’s a tiny bit slower with a maxed out movement of 50″ as opposed to the Crimson Hunter’s 60″. It can still turn just as tightly. The Phoenix’s weapons are impressive:
The Phoenix Pulse Laser is Heavy2 S9, making it slightly better than the Crimson Hunter’s S8 version. The Twin Shuriken Cannon ‘s 6 shots and the Heavy D6 Phoenix Missile array gives you a high volume of medium to high strength fire to hit whatever gets in range. As a dedicated ground attack platform, you lack the Crimson Hunter’s Sky Hunter ability to knock the stuffing out of enemy flyers, but you do gain a Crystal Targeting Matrix standard – so no negative modifiers to blazing away with your heavy weapons.
As an added cherry on top, you can swap out the default missiles for the Nightfire Missile Array to gain 2d6 S4 shots – just the thing if you are facing hordes of crappy infantry.
LOOK! Up in the skies!
Overall I think it’s a great counterpart to the Crimson Hunter and may even be a superior general purpose aircraft for your army to face a ton of enemy lists. BoLS has the two models in the pictures above, so look for us to give the Phoenix a try on the tabletop on our Twitch channel.
~Like the old saying goes – “When you fight the Eldar – watch the skies.”
