Avenger Strike Fighter
The Avenger Strike Fighter is an Imperial Navy close-range ground-attack aircraft meant for destroying armor and other heavy targets. It does this with the Avenger Bolt Cannon, the S6 AP-2 D1 Heavy 8 gun around which the flyer was built, as well as 2 lascannons and 2 hardpoints that can mount anti-infantry or anti-vehicle weapons. Since it was supposedly used a lot by Sebastian Thor's forces during the Age of Apostasy, the Sisters of Battle see it as an instrument of divine vengeance (through superior firepower), so they use it a lot. The Avenger model is produced by Forge World, released to coincide with Imperial Armour Aeronautica (the book containing the rules for it and other flyers, what with Warhammer 40,000 6th edition having flyer rules).
Forge World was very obviously inspired by the real-world A-10 Thunderbolt II (or "Warthog"), a ground-attack aircraft built around the tremendously powerful GAU-8/A Avenger Gatling cannon. It shoots 30mm depleted uranium shells so fast that it doesn't go "Dakka," it goes BRRRRRRT. Despite this shared characteristic, the Avenger's overall shape is more akin to a Ju-87 Stuka: both have inverted gull wings but the ones on the Stuka are more triangular. It is a ground-attack plane after all.
Like the modern A-10's cannon, the Avenger's Gatling cannon isn't all that great against battle tanks and similar vehicles because 40k game mechanics don't use side armour to resolve hits from flyers like they do hits from barrage weapons. Just like modern tanks, almost all 40k tanks (except siege tanks, like the Vindicator) would be side armour (AV10-12) on the top, and therefore quite vulnerable to the hail of S6 shots. That said, with the Strafing Run and Tank Hunter rules (the latter available only in the Horus Heresy version), its Gatling cannon is actually quite effective against AV 10 or 11 targets. Taking antiarmor hard points, though, allows you some tactical flexibility as you can use the big gun for mowing infantry while the hard points take out armor.
| Forces of the Sisters of Battle | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Command: | Triumph of Saint Katherine - Canoness Ecclesiarchy Battle Conclave - Imagifier Ministorum Priest - Palatine - Dogmata Sororitas Command Squad | |||||
| Troops: | Avenging Angel - Arco-flagellant - Battle Sister Squad Celestians - Crusaders - Death Cult Assassin Dominion Squad - Novitiate Squad - Retributor Squad Seraphim Squad - Sisters Repentia - Zephyrim Squad | |||||
| Walkers: | Paragon Warsuit - Penitent Engine - Mortifier (Anchorite) | |||||
| Vehicles: | Castigator Tank - Exorcist Immolator - Repressor - Rhino | |||||
| Special Vehicles: | Pulpit of Saint Holline's Basilica | |||||
| Superheavy Vehicles: |
Mobile Cathedral | |||||
| Flyers: | Avenger Strike Fighter | |||||
| Spacecraft: | Aquila Lander - Drop Pod | |||||
| Saints: | Living Saint - Geminae Superia | |||||
| Non Militant: | Orders Dialogous - Orders Famulous - Orders Hospitaler Orders Pronatus - Hagiolater | |||||
| Allies: | Black Templars | |||||