The Sky is Falling

[MauzDeadalive]

I did not feel this was appropriate to put in the spots I keep being tempted....but I really feel the need to throw this out there. There has been lots of discussion lately in regards to data slates and Escalation and Stronghold Assault and I think I finally realized what has been bugging me about all of them. Where is the mention of Death from the Skies in all of this? At best it seems to get mentioned but I have yet to see anyone champion the cause of trying to get the book to be used in events/tournaments/leagues. What is it about Death from the Skies that the community seems to be ok with not using it with little to no discussion versus the other two books and the data slates? My main assumption is that you do not need Death from the Skies to use flyers where as you need the inclusion of the other two books and data slates to be able to play certain things....like Lords of War or Cypher. Again this is mainly a curiosity type of inquiry.

[WestRider]

As I understand it, big chunks of Death from the Skies don't actually get used. It's also hardly Game-Changing. At this point, it's basically the Rules for the Ork Flyers, which are more or less a reprint from a WD, and bring that one Army up a bit.

 

I think the fact that in many ways, it's just collecting and updating Rules that date back to 5th Ed contributes. It predates the impression that GW is trying to use these supplements to really change the core game, too.

[Guest]

I did not feel this was appropriate to put in the spots I keep being tempted....but I really feel the need to throw this out there. There has been lots of discussion lately in regards to data slates and Escalation and Stronghold Assault and I think I finally realized what has been bugging me about all of them. Where is the mention of Death from the Skies in all of this? At best it seems to get mentioned but I have yet to see anyone champion the cause of trying to get the book to be used in events/tournaments/leagues. What is it about Death from the Skies that the community seems to be ok with not using it with little to no discussion versus the other two books and the data slates? My main assumption is that you do not need Death from the Skies to use flyers where as you need the inclusion of the other two books and data slates to be able to play certain things....like Lords of War or Cypher. Again this is mainly a curiosity type of inquiry.

Death from the skies is broken up into three sections:

 

You have 1 section that is about the dogfighting, which is specifically listed as optional rules.

 

You have the section about the flyer aces, a 50pt upgrade for normal play and not listed as optional. I will note that you'll still rarely see this one in use, as a 50pt increase in your flyer for a roll on a random table is barely appealing to most players. I remain unclear if super-heavy flyers are permitted to use the flyer-ace upgrade.

 

You also have the updated rules for codex flyers, like orks and necrons. I'm pretty sure there's an FAQ which says to only use the most current entry, so SM now defer to their codex for their flyer rules, while orks and necrons and DE still use that book. Also not listed as optional.

-Pax

[MauzDeadalive]

I have the Death from the Skies book....I do not have the others. I guess my assumption was that Escalation and Stronghold Assault would have been presented in the same format as Death from the Skies.

[fluger]

As I stated in another thread, I think GW realized the error of including all the optional verbiage in Death from the Skies and Planetstrike and took that out in Escalation and Stronghold Assault with the intent of making them more official.