Lothern Sky Cutter

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Cirion RedDragon
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Lothern Sky Cutter

#1 Post by Cirion RedDragon »

Never having played 7th or 8th edition - nor that other game, what was it called again..... I forget......- this model is new to me.
Looks very fragile, I guess it's a good thing it's plastic and not resin or, worse, a 3D print, in which case it would need a warning sign like PORCELAIN -DON'T TOUCH ! and would just sit on a shelf, preferably under glass.
Would probably take me at least 3 weeks to paint - first the birdie, then the boat and finally the 2 guys and the weapon and need its' own very well padded box for transport.
I'm wondering if it's even worth including in an army list.
It's surprisingly cheap, doesn't look like a 90-115 point model at all, looks more like a 300 point model, but are the points well spent on a flying bolt thrower ?
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Ielthan
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Re: Lothern Sky Cutter

#2 Post by Ielthan »

It's notoriously fragile as a model, I haven't assembled mine so not sure if there's a solution to that beyond using brass rod etc. It can be transported safely in a KR case but you'll have to carve out the foam yourself.

In terms of rules I think it's interesting, for 15pts more than a tiranoc chariot you get a lot, and a flying heavy chariot is in theory an amazing flanker. D3+1 impact hits isn't great, but it's not that much worse than D6. I'm not convinced with the bow tbh, BS4 and 24" range means you're probably hitting on 5's (move and long range), it doesn't penetrate ranks so there's no ranged benefit to it being on a flank.

Think there could be an interesting prince on skycutter build though:

Prince, seaguard honour, full plate armour, white sword, dragon helm, seed of rebirth/opal amulet, shield, warbow (free), skycutter. 328pts

Can fly (10), White sword makes him very dangerous against the big monster lords, hasn't the best survivability vs ranged stuff though so would need to be very careful with him. Don't think flyers can be skirmish screened but I'm not totally sure.
Pash
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Re: Lothern Sky Cutter

#3 Post by Pash »

Ielthan wrote: Tue Feb 20, 2024 1:26 am It's notoriously fragile as a model, I haven't assembled mine so not sure if there's a solution to that beyond using brass rod etc. It can be transported safely in a KR case but you'll have to carve out the foam yourself.

In terms of rules I think it's interesting, for 15pts more than a tiranoc chariot you get a lot, and a flying heavy chariot is in theory an amazing flanker. D3+1 impact hits isn't great, but it's not that much worse than D6. I'm not convinced with the bow tbh, BS4 and 24" range means you're probably hitting on 5's (move and long range), it doesn't penetrate ranks so there's no ranged benefit to it being on a flank.

Think there could be an interesting prince on skycutter build though:

Prince, seaguard honour, full plate armour, white sword, dragon helm, seed of rebirth/opal amulet, shield, warbow (free), skycutter. 328pts

Can fly (10), White sword makes him very dangerous against the big monster lords, hasn't the best survivability vs ranged stuff though so would need to be very careful with him. Don't think flyers can be skirmish screened but I'm not totally sure.
The Skycutter is not a Large Target, so technically a line of infantry can (oddly enough) block line of sight to it.

Also, it is a Heavy Chariot with Swiftstride (which the Lion Chariot does not have) and Fly (10), so it can do some very long chargers and hit surprisingly hard. It also has Lumbering, which means if you don't march (which you probably wont due to wanting to shoot spells and bolts from it), you get a free 90° pivot at the end of your move. In addition, it has 360° LOS for shooting anyway, so makes a great firing platform for bolt thrower and spells. Shame the bolt thrower on top does not do Through & Through, that would have been fun. Still, it's a great target for spells such as Fury of Khaine (Extra Attacks +1) due to the sheer number of models on it. As well as becasue you

As to the model, I have previously used a 40k Drukhari (Dark Eldar) Raider (the version with the sail). It's quite graceful, surprisingly low on 40k bits and can be easily made to look High Elfy. Plus, big enough to fit all the models on it AND robust enough to not need to come with a warning label. I have an original Skycutter but i'm just too afraid to put it together and use it, knowing i'm going to cause an injury eventually :lol:

If I were to see a use for a Skycutter, i'd say you want to put a Mage of some sort on it, maybe a L2 with some light items. Then fly around the sides, zapping enemies and annoying the flanks. Staying out of dispel range and generally being more hassle than it's worth. Then zooming in to finish units off or hunt warmachines. Not bad for 300pts that's tricky to pin down.
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Pash
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Re: Lothern Sky Cutter

#4 Post by Pash »

So here's a fun build for a Skycutter Mage:

L2 Mage, High Magic, Seed of Rebirth, Lore Familiar (Walk Between Worlds, Fiery Convocation), Skycutter + Bolt Thrower. 350pts

Gives you a model that has Fly 10 with a free 90° pivot and 360° LOS, that will generally stay out of dispel range of enemy wizards, as it will be flying around the flanks peppering units with light bow fire (& a light Bolt Thrower) and zapping them with magic. Waiting for units to pick off. Can make itself move several times and be Etherial. Very annoying and difficult to pin down. Might not be the most difficult to kill but boy would it be fun and annoying!
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Cirion RedDragon
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Re: Lothern Sky Cutter

#5 Post by Cirion RedDragon »

How does a unit on the ground hide a unit in the air from sight ?
Oh, that's right, flyers have to land after each move....
Which makes no sense at all, if you have that advantage, why surrender it ?
If I was the Roc, I'd certainly rather remain airborne throughout the battle, I'm sure the two guys and their toy wouldn't mind.Flying Mage sounds like a good idea.
Csjarrat
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Re: Lothern Sky Cutter

#6 Post by Csjarrat »

Cirion RedDragon wrote: Tue Feb 20, 2024 12:57 am Never having played 7th or 8th edition - nor that other game, what was it called again..... I forget......- this model is new to me.
Looks very fragile, I guess it's a good thing it's plastic and not resin or, worse, a 3D print, in which case it would need a warning sign like PORCELAIN -DON'T TOUCH ! and would just sit on a shelf, preferably under glass.
Would probably take me at least 3 weeks to paint - first the birdie, then the boat and finally the 2 guys and the weapon and need its' own very well padded box for transport.
I'm wondering if it's even worth including in an army list.
It's surprisingly cheap, doesn't look like a 90-115 point model at all, looks more like a 300 point model, but are the points well spent on a flying bolt thrower ?
Model is awful. Way too easy to break. There's some vastly cheaper and perfectly adequate 3d print versions doing the rounds which will save you a fortune and be cheaper to replace when it inevitably breaks. Value as a bolt thrower is minimal, doesn't pierce ranks like the 80point one and has problems with moving and shooting. Makes an ok, if expensive, character mount however.
an interesting variation on my usual playstyle, which is 'charge forward, forward for the love of khaine, we can fight better than any of them and they can't shoot into melee why is our armor so thin ohgodcannons'
Cirion RedDragon
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Re: Lothern Sky Cutter

#7 Post by Cirion RedDragon »

I found this one: https://www.ecrater.com/p/44528253/high ... gKIrvD_BwE
Price is reasonable, comparable to plastic kits of tanks, planes, dinosaurs and such and the recast of the Empire Steam Tank I bought from that seller is of pretty good quality.
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Prince of Spires
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Re: Lothern Sky Cutter

#8 Post by Prince of Spires »

Cirion RedDragon wrote: Wed Feb 21, 2024 11:59 am I found this one: https://www.ecrater.com/p/44528253/high ... gKIrvD_BwE
Price is reasonable, comparable to plastic kits of tanks, planes, dinosaurs and such and the recast of the Empire Steam Tank I bought from that seller is of pretty good quality.
That's dirt cheap for a skycutter.

For what it's worth, I had a lot of fun putting mine together. It is indeed a fragile model (which is why it's currently in my "to be repaired pile"), so there's that.

As for how good it is on the table, I'm not sure we can easily tell just yet. I think for a chariot it's very good. Fly(10) + swiftstride make it very fast. Only D3+1 impact hits, but they are at AP2, since it's a heavy chariot. The 3 guys on top don't hit very hard, but the roc with S4 AP2 does a decent job in a fight. I'm just not sold on the bows, either the crew or the bolt thrower. 3 S3 simply don't do much, though they are short bows, which means that you only get 18'' range, but you don't get the -1 to hit penalty for moving. So you'll likely hit on 4's or even 3's (with Fly(10) you can get close). But hitting on 4's means 3 shots get 0.75 wounds a turn against ideal T3 no armour targets. which makes them useless on their own against chaff. As for the bolt thrower (I think it's an aditional shot, on top of the 3 shortbow ones), S5 AP3 D3 wounds isn't bad. The biggest issue probably is that the shortbows are useless against most targets that have multiple wounds and high armour (which would be the boltthrower targets), and vice-versa. Now if either all three crewmembers could shoot a boltthrower shot, or you could shoot at different targets, then they'd be great. Now, I'm not sure.

I think your best option in game is to treat it like a faster, less hard-hitting version of a Lion Chariot which is cheaper. I think for its points it's a great chariot, but I haven't really gotten chariots to work for me in general. It probably requires the correct list.
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