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Now, we all know that the RG are missing two organs and have a malfunctioning third that makes their skin go white and hair go black, which also represents my problem. Anyway, the skin. Is there some convenient plot device to 'cure' it for a successor (make it look normal, that is)? IIRC Raptors have better gene-seed since theirs got created by Corax before the Alpha Legion infiltrators messed everything up and the mutations kicked in. Seeing as Chapter need to donate a portion of their seed, wouldn't the AdMech have some 'stable' RG seed from the Raptors lying around somewhere? Now the Raptors do still have the pale skin problem, but to a lesser extend. Would it be possible for some Apothecaries or what-not to make a small fix (seeing as it isn't that messed up and doesn't require the Big E to remake it)? Or, for convenience, say that some unique genetic quirk of the new home world counteracts it. I wouldn't be able to explain why though, I have no idea about genetics^^ Anyway, which sounds more likely and what are your thoughts on this?

Hi guys, I just finished Deliverance lost. I follow the Dark Angels primarily, but have had a curious interest in forming both a Iron Hand and Raven Guard army. Needless to say I've tried to soak as much information about those two legions up as much as possible. Sadly, after the lackluster, brutish portrayal of Ferrus in the book 'Fulgrim' I stopped reading the series. Reading how dull witted and inept pretty much all of the Iron Hands where in that novel really turned me off from the army. Not one character of the Emperors Children was slain in any of the battles, big or small, which only goes to show that they were either defunct in war, or there was just a horrible skew to the writing. As someone who loves fluff I was turned ff by the direction of the series. Anyway.. Spoilers alerts! Agree or disagree I'd love to hear other people's point of view. Thanks in advance.

Battle Rep - RG vs Chaos 1850 pts ++ Space Marines: Raven Guard - Talon Strike Force (SM RG Talon Strike Force) ++ + Core + Battle Demi Company Assault Squad - 2x Flamer, Jump Packs, 4x Space Marines, Sgt w/Bolt Pistol & Chainsword Chaplain - Bolt Pistol, Crozius Arcanum, Raven's Fury Devastator Squad - 2x Lascannon, 2x Missile Launcher (Frag & Krak), 9x Space Marines, Sgt w/Bolt Pistol & Boltgun, Signum Dreadnought - Multi-melta, Power Fist w/Storm Bolter, Drop Pod Tactical Squad - Meltagun, 4x Space Marines, Sgt w/Bolt Pistol & Boltgun, Razorback w/TL Assault Cannon Tactical Squad - Meltagun, 4x Space Marines, Sgt w/Bolt Pistol & Boltgun, Razorback w/TL Assault Cannon Tactical Squad - Meltagun, 4x Space Marines, Sgt w/Bolt Pistol & Boltgun, Drop Pod + Auxiliary + Shadowstrike Kill Team Scout Squad - Camo Cloaks, 4x Scouts, 4x Sniper Rifle, Scout Sgt w/Sniper Rifle Scout Squad - Camo Cloaks, 4x Scouts, 4x Boltgun, Scout Sgt w/Boltgun Scout Squad - Camo Cloaks, 4x Scouts, 4x Boltgun, Scout Sgt w/Boltgun Vanguard Veteran Squad - Jumppacks, 3x LC/PF, LC/SS, Sgt TH/SS Vanguard Veteran Squad - Jumppacks, 3x LC/PF, LC/SS, Sgt TH/SS Vanguard Veteran Squad - Jumppacks, 3x LC/PF, LC/SS, Sgt TH/SS ++ Inquisition: Codex (2013) (Inq Inquisitorial Detachment) ++ + HQ + Ordo Hereticus Inquisitor - Carapace Armour, Bolt Pistol & Chainsword, 3x Servo Skulls 1849 pts ++ Chaos Space Marines: Codex (2012) (Combined Arms Detachment) ++ + HQ + Chaos Lord - Mark of Slaanesh, Power Armour, Frag Grenades & Krak Grenades + Elites + Emperors Children Sonic Dreadnought - Blastmaster, Chainfist w/Storm Bolter, Doom Siren, Searchlight, Smoke Launchers, Warp Amp + Troops + Noise Marines - 4x Noise Marines, 1x Blastmaster, Noise Champion, Chaos Rhino w/Combi-bolter, Havoc Launcher, Searchlight & Smoke launchers Noise Marines - 4x Noise Marines, 1x Blastmaster, Noise Champion, Chaos Rhino w/Combi-bolter, Havoc Launcher, Searchlight & Smoke launchers + Fast Attack + Chaos Bikers - Icon of Excess, Mark of Slaanesh, 7x Chaos Biker, Chaos Biker Champion, 2x Meltagun Heldrake - Hades Autocannon + Heavy Support + Chaos Relic Sicaran - Extra Armour, Heavy Bolter, Lascannons, Searchlight, Smoke Launcher, Twin-Linked Accelerator Autocannon Obliterators - 3x Obliterator, Mark of Nurgle, Veterans of the Long War + Lord of War + Chaos Knight Errant - Dirge Caster, Foe-reaper Chainsword, Heavy Stubber, Ion Shield, Slaanesh, Thermal Cannon 1850 pts Mission: Eternal War - The Scouring Deployment: Hammer & Anvil Night Fighting: Turn 1 Setup First: Chaos First Turn: Chaos Seize the Initiative: SUCCESSFUL for Raven Guard Now on the actual Battle Report! So as you may have guessed I’m aiming for a big Alpha Strike with this list. Taking the Talon Strike Force with the Command Benefit "Know When to Strike" paired with Shadowstrike Kill Team special rules "On Time..." & “On Target..” allows me to Deep Strike 3 VV squads near my Scouts Turn 1 AND Assault, oh boy oh boy! The Inquisitor and the Servo Skulls are a bit of a back up plan but with Hammer & Anvil (which I forced a re-roll for thanks to the TSF Command Benefit “Extensive Planning”) I had an ideal setup for what I wanted to do. Instead of doing the Battle Report turn by turn I like to give each unit or groups of units a grade so I’ll be breaking them down one at a time. Assault Squad - I started on the board but kept them out of sight of the enemy. I just wanted them on the board to avoid getting tabled turn 1. Normally I DS them onto a soft target and bathe them in flames but there was no soft targets on this Chaos list. They moved up the board turn by turn but did nearly nothing. I’m looking to replace them in this list as they don't seem to be worth the 95 pts. Grade - D-, would have been an F but they didn’t die so… Chaplain - I made the mistake of starting him solo but luckily he was able to move up the board quickly and join a VV squad after a couple turns. I was able to hide him each turn so he was able to survive but he added very little to this army. Because he can’t join any of the VV squads before they DS (they’d lose all their fun rules if he did) there isn’t much to do with him aside from sticking him with the ASM squad on having him join a VV squad later in the battle. Another unit I’m looking to make a change with. Grade - C, wasn’t a liability to my army, survived the battle but only helped out a very little to the overall battle. Devastator Squad - I combat squadded this unit, putting the Sgt/Signum with the Lascannons. I set them up in the backfield as always but with terrain and smart placement by my opponent I had limited options when it came to shooting each turn. As it always seems to be the Lascannons only hit/wound 50% of the time but that’s what the Dice Gods say so you have to roll with it….Both squads did their best, got in a few pot shots here and there. The ML squad went down to the Heldrake but the Lascannon squad survived thanks to being in ruins the whole time. Grade - C+, not their fault, the terrain, LOS, poor dice hurt them more that anything. They’ll be in the list in one form or another. Just not the battle for them I guess. Dreadnought - Dropped him down in the center on my opponent's deployment zone flanking the Chaos Knight Errant, he took a few HPs off him before he went down (more on that later). After that he when after one of the Noise Marines squad in a Rhino. Popped it open and with the help on a remaining VV or two wiped up that squad. Grade - B+, did what a DP Dreadnought w/MM should should do, pop tanks and PF squish infantry. Has been a stable unit battle to battle no reason to change anything here. Tactical Squads - Now we’re starting to get into the units that did some work. The DP Tactical squad landed in front on the Chaos Knight Errant because of a so-so scatter. The meltagun was able to hit but not able to get through the Chaos Knight Errant defenses. It held it’s own until the Heldrake finally swooped in a flamed then down. Both Razorback Tactical squads moved up the board fast and started picking off the Chaos Bikers until the fell then one moved onto the Noise Marines squad in a Rhino and the other moved onto the Emperors Children Sonic Dreadnought. The TL Assault Cannon is a really nice weapon, the re-roll, volume of shots and rending really let it do work on multiple threats. The Tactical squads stayed in the Razorbacks for most of the battle and only 1 squad got out when they needed to to take on the Emperors Children Sonic Dreadnought. Grade - B+, were able to get up the board without being popped open (smart use of cover and distance), took on multiple units and performed well. The TL Assault Cannon will be in my army for the foreseeable future. Really liking the Razorbacks over the cheaper Tactical squad w/Rhino options. Scout Squads - Now they really did the job of Raven Guard Scouts to a T. Because we deployed using Hammer & Anvil I was able to put all 3 units just outside my opponent's deployment zone. The Sniper Scouts were able to setup in ruins on one side of the board. In one turn they took at 3 Chaos Bikers which really thinned that unit out. Maybe got a few other shots in but nothing to major. With the other 2 Scouts squads the deployed in a straight line across the board with the Sniper Scouts. They were able to just tuck in and hide behind terrain to avoid being wiped out turn 1. They did next to nothing offensively but were the PERFECT Shadowstrike Kill Team scouts, glorified DS beacons for the VV squads. That’s up next. Grade - A, did EXACTLY what they were supposed to do. Infiltrate, Scout, hunker down and wait for the VV squads to arrive. Then Sniper Scouts were the only ones that did much work after turn 1 but if need the other 2 squads would have move/ran to any objective that was close to them. Vanguard Veteran Squads - Well well well, the MVPs right here! All 3 squads were able to DS and not scatter thanks to the Scouts. 2 were aimed directly at the Chaos Knight Errant and the remaining was aimed at the Chaos Bikers. The VV squads that went for the Chaos Knight Errant were able to get it down to 1 HP on turn 1, could have easily killed it if the dice were more in my favor. It went down turn 2 and after all the D weapons, Stomps, and Apoc Explosion there were still VV left standing. Next they moved to the Chaos Relic Sicaran and with the help on the Chaplain made short work of it. After all the work those 2 VV squads did 1 Space Marine was left standing to tell the story of the glorious battle that he had witnessed. The sole VV squad that went after the Chaos Bikers had trouble making charges, failed twice but still was able to put a hurting of them thanks to the LC/PF wargear they had. I can not state enough how great an option that is, the LC/PF combo is king! Grade - A++, they came in on time and on target and went to work. Granted they lost marines along the way but a Chaos Knight Errant, Chaos Relic Sicaran and Chaos Bikers felt their wrath. When the whole army is setup to make these guys shine and the do, damn is that a great feeling. Ordo Hereticus Inquisitor - Sat in the back, did nothing on note. His servo skulls did nothing as well. 34 wasted points. Maybe in another game against a different army he’ll be useful but not today. Grade - N/A, nothing to grade on. Will have to play more games with him to see if his points are worth what he brings to the battle. Did you really read all of that? WOW! Thanks. I really love writing these up as I love reading others as well. Maybe this was just an entertaining read to some or maybe helped other RG brothers out, either way chime in with your comments as I’d love to hear them. …….. Oh I completely forgot how to tell you the battle ended! We called it turn 3 as all that my opponent had left were a few Noise Marines, the Heldrake and the Obliterators which were still in reserve. We decided I would more than likely to claim more objectives and score more points at the very end because I had more on the table. Great game against a great player.

I just thought I'd post my beginner experience with RG and painting. Don't take it as the gospel but just some dudes opinions. Ok so what paints are good for RG? 1. Black Obviously you can't strike from the shadows dressed in vibrant blue or blood red! Once you go black... The best: Vallejo Model Color Black. 70.950 Coverage: A+ when is black not A+ for coverage?? Smoothness: A. Requires thinning. Water or fancy thinner stuff works fine. Shine: Matte as heck! This stuff brushes on easily and even a beginner would have a hard time messing up with this paint. It is the mattest(sp?) unshiniestestes black I've seen. This black is THE black for Raven Guard since it gives off no shine whatsoever. The enemy will never us coming! Alternative: Vallejo Game Air Black. 72.751 Coverage: A This paint is a tad thin since it requires a bit more to get great coverage but overall it good stuff. Smoothness: A+ Works straight out of the bottle. I like this stuff for gangster priming on practice sprues. Dries quick and is plenty black enough. Shine: Matte. Overall good stuff but it does give off some shine. Not much shine but more than VMC black. Second best but great. Vallejo Model Color German Grey. 70.995 Coverage: A+ the same as VMC black. Smoothness: A. Requires thinning but really smooth. Shine: Matte. Ok this color is your alt dark color you use for tires, belts, boots, gloves,weapon handles, cloaks and anything you dont want to be colorful but also want to be dark/blackish without being black. It is an auxiliary to black. You can mix this with metallics and darken them or reds/blues to produce off very dark grey off colors. I like it best for tires. 2. White Vallejo Model Color Light Grey. 70.990 Coverage: A+ Smoothness. A. Thin it or die. Shine: Matte. Since RG is going to be primed black, you need something to make life easy when painting white basecoats. This is your answer. This color is straight from the sacred armory of the Ravenspire and is the basis for all white portions of your models. It has the best coverage of any light color I've used and only takes about 2 coats over black to obscure it completely. Vallejo Model Color White 70.951 and Offwhite 70.820 Coverage: D Painting these over anything other than Light Grey will have you considering turning to the dark gods for answers. The more ambitious painters out there will likely fall to Tzeentch or Slaanesh whilst the more impulsive painters such as myself will likely fly into a Khornate rage after struggling to paint whites onto a black primed model. Smoothness. A. Same as above Shine: Matte. Raven Guard marines generally feature strong white model sections such as helmets, shoulder pads, trim, weapon casings, various bling and crests. I prefer just straight white as a focal point for a lot of these but offwhite with pure white highlights probably look better. Of course whites never cover well so build up with Light Grey first. P3 Frostbite So this stuff is pure white with a hint of blue. I'd say it is a mix between white scar and fenrisian grey. You can edge highlight Frostbite with pure whites and it pops nicely. Coverage: D This stuff requires two coats over grey and maybe 3 over black. It is about the same as most whites Smoothness: A. Same as Vallejo white. Shine: Satin/Matte. This has a slight shine to it but is certainly not pure satin. 3. Metallics Vallejo Model Air Silver 71.063 and Vallejo Model Air Gun Metal 71.072 Vallejo Model Air Copper 71.068. *UPDATED Coverage: A++. When you absolutely positively must kill every last heretic in the room, accept no substitutes. Smoothness. A+. Usable straight out of the pot but thinning can be useful. Shine: B+. Bright metallic but doesn't require blacksun filters to view safely. These are the twin-linked vulcan mega bolters of metallics. You can use all three just like Light Grey for building up metallics overtop of black primer in 2 coats. The pigment sticks well and doesn't pool into small areas. Praise the emperor for these three paints. Update: I just tried VMA Copper and it has the same coverage as the silver and gun metal and works great as a basecoat for gold. Why does the VMA gold not have the same coverage as the copper?? 4. Primer! Vallejo Surface Primer German Panzer Grey. Coverage: A. Smoothness: A+. Usable straight out of the pot if you want. Utility: A+ Ok this stuff is ironically terrific for non air brushers. It brushes on very easily with great coverage and dries thin. The smell is slightly funky but non toxic and faint. If you live on Fenris or other areas that are cold in winter and cannot spray indoors, get this primer. The dark gods and xeno filth don't take winters off. Tamiya Metallic Grey XF-56. Coverage: A+ Smoothness: B-. Must be thinned constantly with water or Isopropyl alcohol. Utility: C-. Must be thinned often since it dries much faster than water based paints. Much stickier than water paints and chips less easily. Flammable and fumes are potentially toxic. Using this stuff safely is a bit tricky. I wear disposable rubber gloves and wash my hands thoroughly after using it. This paint is great for very real looking gritty steal. It has good coverage but requires patience when using. I like for Raven Guard because it gives a used or worn metal look that Vallejo metallics do not. Use this paint if you want a very realistic looking metal with more shine. Avoid this paint if cancerous fumes and flammable substances concern you. Improper use of this stuff could likely turn someone into a mindless plague zombie or force a few Gets Hot! rolls. Paint Combos! What do you guys use for RG painting? Something I like... VMC Light Grey 70.990 + VMC Basic Skin Tone 70.815 + Citadel Drakenhof Nightshade. This is a nice pale bluish combo for RG faces/skin. If you sarge lost his beakie helmet whilst delivering the emperor's judgement, then you need to use this combo. Just basecoat the face over anything including black. Wash it when go back in for raised highlights with your original grey+skin tone combo. Anything else know any more of these combos? Also... what is a good matte varnish? Anyone that suggests vallejo is guilty of the gravest heresy and should be put to the chain sword immediately. That stuff is shiny as heck! What gold doesn't suck? I put my faith in Vallejo Model Air gold hoping it would be as awesome as the silver and gun metal but it is really sucks for coverage. You could do like 15 coats over any other color and still have the basecoat bleed through. *wrists* Ok... that's all I got.

Hi all, I've recently started collecting some photos models to build as RG. I'm looking to put a 1k thematic list together. I'm after any advise from those in the know, would this list have any play? There is always the question of if the list has enough anti tank and can pack a punch along with now possibly a lack of OC from not using battleline units. Here is my initial list. Any suggestions are much appreciated. Phobos (1000 points) Space Marines Raven Guard Incursion (1000 points) Gladius Task Force CHARACTER Kayvaan Shrike (110 points) • 1x Blackout 1x The Raven’s Talons Librarian in Phobos Armour (75 points) • 1x Bolt pistol 1x Force weapon 1x Smite Lieutenant in Phobos Armour (60 points) • 1x Bolt Pistol 1x Master-crafted scoped bolt carbine 1x Paired combat blades OTHER DATASHEETS Eliminator Squad (95 points) • 1x Eliminator Sergeant • 1x Bolt pistol 1x Close combat weapon 1x Las fusil • 2x Eliminator • 2x Bolt pistol 2x Close combat weapon 2x Las fusil Incursor Squad (90 points) • 1x Incursor Sergeant • 1x Bolt pistol 1x Occulus bolt carbine 1x Paired combat blades • 4x Incursor • 4x Bolt pistol 4x Occulus bolt carbine 4x Paired combat blades Infiltrator Squad (90 points) • 1x Infiltrator Sergeant • 1x Bolt pistol 1x Close combat weapon 1x Marksman bolt carbine • 4x Infiltrator • 4x Bolt pistol 4x Close combat weapon 4x Marksman bolt carbine Invictor Tactical Warsuit (160 points) • 1x Fragstorm grenade launcher 1x Heavy bolter 1x Invictor fist 1x Twin ironhail autocannon 1x Twin ironhail heavy stubber Invictor Tactical Warsuit (160 points) • 1x Fragstorm grenade launcher 1x Heavy bolter 1x Invictor fist 1x Twin ironhail autocannon 1x Twin ironhail heavy stubber Storm Speeder Thunderstrike (160 points) • 1x Close combat weapon 1x Stormfury missiles 1x Thunderstrike las-talon 1x Twin Icarus rocket pod

Warning, this is going to be a long post, so apologies in advance. I have divided my post up into smaller bites, so skip what you want to. There are a number of ideas and points I want to touch with regards to the RG that I’ve just figured out (hopefully enlightening other players, but more than likely stating the obvious for most generals). I think this would be pertinent with the Let’s Strive to Win a Major Tournament with Raven Guard post (thanks to Inquisitor Eisenhorn and all the contributors to that post). So, the game was Emperors Will (1 obj each) with Vanguard deployment. No night fighting on turn 1, I got first turn. Army points up to 1850. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ My list: Chapter Master w/ jump pack, artificer armour, shield eternal, burning blade – 270pts Vanguard Vets w/ jump packs, storm shields, 4x claws, powerfist – 245pts Scouts x10 – 170pts Combat squad1: 5x sniper rifles Combat squad2: combi-melta, speeder storm with heavy flamer Tactical Marines x10 -215pts Combat squad1: missile launcher Combat squad2: meltagun, combi-melta, rhino, dozer blade Tactical Marines x10 -215pts Combat squad1: missile launcher Combat squad2: gravgun, combi-grav, rhino, dozer blade Assault Marines x10 w/ 2x flamers, power sword, melta bomb -200pts Stormtalon w/ skyhammer launcher -125pts Stormraven w/ hurricane bolters, multi-melta -230pts Thunderfire cannon -100pts Hunter w/dozer blade -75pts Opponents List (Chaos + Daemons) [this list is a bit fuzzy, he didn’t have a printed list so I’m going by my holey memory) Sorcerer Thousand Sons x10 w/ rhino Cultists x 15 w/pistols and clubs Cultists x 15 w/pistols and clubs Forgefiend x2 Heldrake w/ baleflamer Heldrake w/ hades cannon Changer of Ways w/ grimoure Pink Horrors x10 Screamers x8 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ What I did: Deployed my thunderfire, sniper scouts and 1 missile combat squad in the back line with the objective in a bolstered ruin. Tucked my Hunter behind that ruin, but to the left side with some line of site. Stuck the other missile squad mid-field in my deployment in some ruins. Had my assault marines, vanguard with master and 2 rhinos deployed as far forward as I could. Had my stormtalon escort the stormraven for reserves. My opponent deployed his 2 fiends on the flanks of his force, his rhino tucked behind one of them. One set of cultists deployed in the ruins with his objective, with the Lord of Change just behind them (out of site). Had his screamers in front of the other forgefiend. He kept the one squad of cultists and horrors in reserve. Pre-turn 1: Opponent did not manage to seize, so I got Turn 1. Scouted forward my rhinos 12” (while my opponent looked on shocked, and I said “Bazinga” as I did it ). Infiltrated my speeder typhoon and scouted that forward as well. Scouted my hunter to the other side of the ruins, giving me better line of sight and denying his one forgefiend any shots to it. Turn 1: Moved my frontline forces forward and prepared some shooting. My hunter fired at the farthest (furtherest? Most far away? Eh) fiend and immobilized it! Speeder storm flamed the screamers, not doing much, while the scouts melta’d the other forgefiend, also immobilizing it. Tried to melta the rhino with my marines, no luck. Tried to grav it as well, no luck. Fired my thunderfire into the screamers and managed to kill 2, while my missiles seemed to be made of rubber. Ran my vets and assault marines forward into some cover and got ready for the pain. He drove his rhino forward, got out his Sons. Flew his Changer over my speeder, causing a single glance. Moved his cultists forward out of the ruins. Had his screamers move over my vets, which laughed at them. Now the hurting starts. He cast misfortune and enfeeble on my assault squad, and cast prescience on his sons. Shot them dead. Popped my melta rhino and my speeder. Assaulted my scouts which resulted in a drawn combat. He used the grimoire on the screamers. Turn 2: Got my vets to charge the thousand sons, killed his warlord and the squad. Scouts still sat in combat. Moved my rhino and melta squad forward closer to his objective, out of line of fire of the fiends. My two flyers came on and poured fire fire into the screamers (along with my cannon, missiles, etc) and only killed 1. Dang. His 2 flyers came on and he cast misfortune on my vets. The flyers popped my other rhino and proceeded to flame my vets and grav-gun squad off the board. My chapter master lost 2 wounds (ouch) and hung in there. Killed off the melta squad as well and then proceeded to my objective. Turn 3: My Chapter Master finished off the cultists in combat with my remaining scout and they consolidated near his objective. Hunter caused a pen on the flamer heldrake and my flyers managed to force it to fly off the board. Got a wound on the changer, but no passed his grounded tests. His pink horrors and other cultists came onto the board. Horrors deep striked right by my objective and his cultists walked onto the board by his objective. Tried to shoot my scout off his objective, no such luck! The changer and drake flew over and shot off my 2 flyers, while the screamers proceeded to eat through my marines. Turn 4: My chapter master cleaned up the other squad of cultists, and my marines put some more wounds on the screamers and changer. He continued to eat my marines and fly all over the board. Shot off my thunderfire cannon, and sniper scouts. His flamer dragon came on and killed my scout on his objective. Turn 5: Just out of spite I charged his one forgefiend with my master and nuked it good. Managed to put another wound on the changer, but he still flew around. Hunter killed the hades heldrake. He finished off my marines on my objective and consolidated. The End. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ What I should have done: Scouted my army back into my deployment zone and waited for him to come to me. That way I could have got the assault marines into combat where they belong and defended my objective a little better. I also should have used the Land Speeder Storm’s heavy flamer on the cultists, which would have made my scouts do far better in the combat that ensued. What I realised: The new Raven Guard rules mean I need to play some more finesse, rather than just jumping into the thick of things and hoping to win. I also play Dark Eldar with some success, so hopefully this won’t be too hard to do. I need to be sneaky and lure my opponent into my kill zones on my terms. The sheer stunned look on my opponents face when I scouted and got stealth (which saved my vehicles from quite a bit of firepower) for turn 1 was priceless. I could see that this threw his whole game plan into a spin. Applying pressure to that feeling would have helped me a lot, but I just didn’t capitalise on it. Hammer of Wrath attacks rock with RG! The re-roll to wound is fantastic and helps take out those extra models before combat gets really messy. The Hunter performed well, do not under-estimate the armourbane one STR7 as my opponent did. The Chapter Master is a beast! Expensive, but could take on just about anything and come out a winner. I believe the RG need some sort of psyker defence/offence. The amount of failed deny the witch rolls I got was crazy and that turned the game into my opponents favour. Maybe a librarian or Space Wolf allies would help that situation. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Well, there you have it. C&C are welcome and hopefully this helps (someone) on the road to victory!

I was able to finally play a game against a friend of mine and decided I'd try to keep some sort of a log of the events. I took some photos to spice it up, but not many. We played Maelstrom - Tactical Escalation. I had: (I'll put the full list up at some point or other) Demi Company - Cap with Shield Eternal and Relic Blade - Razorback tacticals (2 melta, 1 flamer) - 4 lascannon Devs Ravenhawk Assault Group - Stormraven - 5 Sternguard - Dreadnought Shadowstrike KT - 5 Vanguard (3 swords, 2 axes) x2 - 5 scouts with LSS (x2) He had (from memory) Farseer with Guardian blob Farseer with Dire Avengers 2 x Falcons 2 x Wave Serpents - Dire Avengers and Wrathguard 2 x Jetbike Squads 2 x Warp Spider squads Stiking Scorpions So, not overly competitive but enough to be a pain. We deployed up, me spread out and he blocked up a corner - holding the 2 objectives I needed for my Tactical Objectives. http://i970.photobucket.com/albums/ae184/CordovaBiconis/IMAG1321.jpg?t=1492335272 I made my deployment quite aggressive - forcing him to break out of the corner in a spread - trying to limit all the shurikens arriving in one place... We started and I seized. I rolled for the RAG and they came on, dropping straight in behind his lines. I also dropped both Vanguard in to really keep him held back. The objectives in the centre of the table were what he needed so I wanted to slow him in the corner - giving me a chance to get to them as I didn't think I'd oust him from the 2 I needed in his deployment zone. Meanwhile, the Demi Company moved up to claim the objective he needed and brought their tanks to block another. http://i970.photobucket.com/albums/ae184/CordovaBiconis/IMAG1323.jpg In my shooting phase, the RAG targeted the DA and Farseer (in the building to the bottom left). The Sternguard took out about 4 of them. The Dreadnought shot at the Falcon next to it - it exploded into tiny pieces of space elf. The Raven shot at the farmost Wave Serpent, putting 2 hull points on it. I then shot at the Warp Spiders who jumped away. In my Assault phase I tried to charge the Spiders with the VV. They failed. Good good. The other VV charged the wounded WS and blew it up - I knew this would doom them, but it meant that one big threat was reduced to footslogging. His turn He moved the jetbikes in the bottom to shoot. He shuffled a few things but decided to hang about in the back to eliminate my troops - keeping him pinned back (so far so to plan). The Wraithguard and the Spiders melted the VV who had destroyed the WS. The jetbikes glanced the Dread to death and put 2 hull points on the Raven. The Scorpions moved up to threaten the objective he needed. The second WS zoomed away. The DA tried to remove the Sternguard but only killed one. My turn 2 http://i970.photobucket.com/albums/ae184/CordovaBiconis/IMAG1328.jpg (Sorry for blur) I moved up the Scouts to support my now-weakened flank. The Captain and his Assault Squad bounced up too. The Demi troops shuffled forwards to bring their Razorbacks to bear. The Raven flew off this turn. In my shooting, the Sternguard brought down another DA with pistols. The LSS tried to hit the Spiders but they jumped away. The Lascannon devs blew up the DA Wave serpent. In my Assault phase it all went wrong. I charged the Spiders with the VV. I lost 3 to overwatch fire. I tried to charge the Wraith guard (I needed a 6). I failed. And failed the reroll. I then whiffed every roll for the remaining VV and they then got punched to death by the Spiders. My right flank was now very vulnerable. The biggest positive was the Sternguard charging the DA and Farseer blob - they got in and punched 2 Space Elves down. His turn 2 http://i970.photobucket.com/albums/ae184/CordovaBiconis/IMAG1329.jpg He shuffled around to bring down the ASM and captain. His second Spiders didn't come in from reserve. The other Jetbikes moved to contest an objective. The Scorpions and DA moved to claim the objective he needed. In his shooting, the Scorpions and DA tried to shoot the guys in their objective. His Guardians killed a LSS. Everything else shot the ASM. They died fast to the Spiders and bikes. This left the joyous D weaponry to shoot the Captain. He took it like a champ and saved everything they threw at him. Legend. In Assault, the Scorpions charged the Tacs on their objective. The Sternguard and the DA kept fighting. One Elf died. My turn 3 One of the Scout squads joined their belaboured Captain. The other shuffled up. One Razorback zoomed up to claim the objective by the Captain (he had moved the Jetbikes too far to claim it). I knew I had to claim a lot this turn to get my objectives or risk losing quickly. I shot another Razorback up to claim the objective by the Sternguard/DA fistfight. In shooting, I killed some more DA on my back objective and the Jetbikes that were closing. My LSS tried to shoot the Spiders but they ran away. The forward most Razorback and their squad was then able to get a bead on them and they lost a man. In Assault, the Scorpions killed the Tacs on the objective in the back field. The Sternguard kept dueling with the DA. I killed 2, he killed one. The Scouts and the Cap charged the Wraithguard. The Captain killed one and the Scouts dragged one down too. His turn 3 He moved the DA to hold his objective and dropped the reserved squad of Spiders nearby to defend against the Tacticals that were coming back in. His jetbikes moved to shoot the razorback and tactical squad in the middle. They killed 4 men. Assault phase - DA and SG kept fighting. Captain killed 2 more Wraithguard. They did nothing in return. My turn 4 The one central man jumped back into his Razorback and shuffled closer to the objective. The objective by the SG/DA fight was claimed by a Razorback. A tac squad jumped out by the Scorpions, Spiders and DA in my back field. They then flamered everything and shot at the DA. They melted a few of each squad. (I love flamers). The razorbacks nearby then wiped the remaining DA. The Devs drew a bead on the Jetbikes and wiped out a few. The Raven flew over and wiped the second biker squad. My captain and scouts killed the last Wraithguard - the second scout squad also charged in to add weight of attacks. http://i970.photobucket.com/albums/ae184/CordovaBiconis/IMAG1330.jpg (The captain and his proteges) The Sternguard punched another DA to death. His turn 4 The Spiders in the back blew up a Razorback. The Spiders at the back moved to intercept the Captain - knowing I needed the objective that his Farseer was on. They shot and killed one of the Scout squads he was with. The remaining bikes zoomed to aim for Linebreaker. The backfield Spiders moved towards the Devs. In the Sternguard combat, I finally won. He fluffed all his rolls and they killed the last DA and the Farseer. Turn 5 My central razorback tried to bring down the jetbikes but couldn't. I moved up to Assault the Guardian/Farseer blob. The Devs and razorback in the back killed the Spiders. - The game ended here - he called it before the Assault as I was up on objectives 8-6 and he couldn't physically capture what he needed. (N.B. There are some things missing, e.g. psychic powers etc as they just added to the shooting etc - but the gist of the battle is here). It was good fun, even if some fluffed rolls were a right pain. Plus, I really hate Warp Spiders.

Warning: Wall of text below, my personal back story, a model inventory, my army list, and then finally talking points: **Skip to the next set of asterisk if you don’t want to read about my personal garbage/story/background** So a little about me first. I learned to play 40k just before 3rd edition came out, so my first exposure to the game was 2nd edition, and I was instantly addicted. My first army was of course Space Marines, and I became fixated on trying to cram in as many Dreadnaughts and Terminators into my army list as possible. One of the first books I ever purchased was Angels of Death (the first one from 2nd edition mind you, not the new one out now), and I found myself gravitating towards the Blood Angels from a fluff perspective. As I grew along with the rules of the game, I found myself becoming drawn more towards the fluff of the game, which in turn led me to try to create my own chapter (Based on Blood Angel gene seed), and becoming more and more fixated on mobility to win my games. Fast forward to later editions of the Space Marine codex, and it became a more viable option to play the less-than-popular Raven Guard, which allowed things like Assault Squads as troops and a few other special rules through the first rendition of the Chapter Tactics system. 4th edition is when I started to get really serious and competitive, and I took my Raven Guard around to multiple GTs and local tournaments. Had a blast, and was really in love with the current rendition of the game (very much heavy character and assault focused). Those of you who played during that time frame will refer to what I liked to call “Assault Cannon meta”, as it was one of the strongest weapon profiles in the game, and playing a successful marine list competitively involved cramming as many as you could into 2000 points. Couple years later I make some big changes in my life, sell off my 2nd Marine army (a True Grit/Mechanized list), along with my Eldar army as well. Gave away all my terrain and my custom table to a buddy, and moved across the country. The only thing I kept was my prized Raven Guard which was fully painted and has a display board. I kept reading the fluff and somewhat following along with the rules editions and books, but pretty much stopped playing altogether after moving across the country. Now, almost 8 years later, I can’t stand it any longer, and I miss face to face gaming so much, I am getting back into the hobby (not just 40k), and I am at a bit of a crossroads with my beloved Raven Guard. **Personal garbage over** My list/available models looked(looks) something like this: HQ: Shrike Captain with Jump Pack and LCx2 (SS&M) (My Shrike conversion before he got a model) Chaplain with Jump Pack x 2 Shadow Captain Korvydae Elite: 2 x Venerable Dreadnaught (1 TL-LC, Power Fist w/ SB, 1 TL-LC & Missle Launcher) Troops: ~40 Scouts 6 x BP + CCW, 6 X Bolter, 6 X Shotgun, 14 x Sniper Rifle, 2 x Missle Launcher, 2 X Heavy Bolter 1 x Vet Scout Sergeant with Power Sword + BP, 1 x Vet Scout Sergeant with Power Fist + BP Fast Attack: ~40 Assault Marines 6 x CCW + Plasma Pistol, 2 x Flamer, 28 X BP + CCW 3 x Vet Sergeant with Power Fist + Plasma Pistol, 1 x Sergeant with Power Sword + Plasma Pistol 5 Man Bike Squad (with Attack Bike) 2 x Plasma Gun, 1 Attack Bike with Multi Melta Heavy Support: Whirlwind Basically this list relied on two full 10-man assault squads both with a Chaplain rolling up the flanks, with the scouts deployed in terrain across the table holding objectives and forcing a ton of pinning checks (back in 4th each time a unit was shot at by Snipers they took a pinning check). Now that we are on into 7th Edition, this available model pool has a lot of garbage in it, more or less. A couple things to note: 1) I don’t have any librarians, the psychic phase was pretty awful when I played, and psykers and Raven Guard didn’t seem like a fit to me at the time 2) Chaplains, while they aren’t bad, they are not nearly as strong as they used to be. While they are good in theory, they don’t really fit now in a modern Raven Guard list (other than a cheap tax). You can’t put them with VV in a SSKT, and the only real home for them is with a regular Assault Squad, which….sucks for the most part. This makes me sad because I love the modelling and fluff behind Chaplains (plus I love the idea of a RG Chaplain being a quiet/reserved type of leader that inspires his men, the “When he speaks everyone in the room listens” kind of leader, lead by example, not by words, etc). 3) I wanted to minimize armor (and transports), and what armor I did have I wanted to be walking/on foot, hence the Dreadnaughts. Back in 4th a Twin Linked Lascannon was great for taking out armor, now in a world of Hull Points and the Vehicle Damage table the way it is, its lackluster to say the least. 4) My scout models are all over the place. I personally feel (and in my limited playtesting) that Sniper scouts are more or less bad, and bolter scouts seems to be the best use of points (cheap and flexible). I still use Camo Cloak Snipers to camp objectives in my lists, but they almost never do anything of note other than score Maelstrom cards. I also don’t feel great about heavy weapon scouts either. 5) I don’t have any Tactical Marines (I have a fair amount of unbuilt tacticals I have acquired along the way). When I built this army, I did so because I wanted to AVOID tactical marines. I loved the dynamic of Scouts hunkered down calling in support from their older brothers, and them descending from the skies from Thunderhawks on wings of flame. That sort of dynamic is either A) bad, or achievable with some formation combinations but still not strong (except the SSKT, which I LOVE) 6) You’ll notice lots of Plasma across my Assault Marines and Bikes. This obviously was the choice before Grav existed, but is sub-optimal now to say the least. Not attached to this at all anymore, just making a note of why it is the way it is. 7) My lone Whirlwind. I fielded this for a couple reasons 1) I loved it thematically. It just seemed to fit to have scouts calling in an artillery strike, and back then it added to the pinning theme. 2) While it is armor, it was always back in a corner usually hidden from the enemy, so it didn’t really “count” per-se. If I was to redo the list today, I feel like I would either up it to a squad of 3 for the bonuses, run it in the Landspeeder formation, or swap to Thunderfire Cannons entirely to reinforce the “on foot, mobility” theme. Some notes about new things that have come along: 1) Land speeder storms look amazing to me, I have never played with one before, but from my perspective they appear to be quintessential Raven Guard (Whispercutter anyone?). Would love to work these in (if I do go down the road of updating my army) 2) Grav and Centurions: I have been playtesting my “new” list with Centurions, and they are amazing. To me, they also feel very Raven Guard since they are once again, on foot, mobile, and could be easily dropped off and extracted for a task (and quickly). 3) I am a big fan of the Raptor Wing, and back when I played Flyers were non existent (it was commonplace to ask for an opponents permission to run one, and most tournaments restricted their usage, much like you’ll see with Gargantuans in todays meta). Two little flying gunships bringing in support seems awesome. 4) I have been I love with the Damocles Rhino since I saw its rules a few years back, and it feels very Raven Guard to me, while it takes a CAD to get it, I have toyed with wanting to do so. Now on to my modern list I have been testing: TSF Battle Demi Company Captain, Ravens Fury, SS&M, Melta Bombs 1 Dreadnaught with Multi-Melta, PF w/Heavy Flamer in Drop Pod 5 Man Tactical Squad w/ Heavy Bolter (I tested Gravs on foot for a while, but found I needed to move around too much to be effective, more on this later) 5 Man Tactical Squad w/ Heavy Bolter 5 Man Tactical Squad w/ Heavy Bolter 3 Man Centurion Devastator Squad w/ Grav Cannons, and Omniscope 1 Attack Bike with Multi-Melta Shadow-Strike Kill Team 5 x Scouts with Bolters 5 x Scouts with Bolters 8 x Vanguard Veterans 5 x Twin LC (and Melta Bombs) 3 x PF & SS Raven Guard CAD 1 Librarian ML2 with Armor of Shadows (Goes with Cents) 6 x Scouts with 5 x Snipers, 1 x Missle Launcher, Camo Cloaks 6 x Scouts with 5 x Snipers, 1 x Missle Launcher, Camo Cloaks 1 x Drop Pod So the above list has been my “bare bones” and I typically flesh out from there (frequently playing at 1700 and 1850). I put the centurions in the pod with the Librarian, and I typically drop them in the middle of the table in cover on an objective, and they sit there getting a 2+ cover. This seems to work well against non-psyker armies, and is useless against lists with a respectable warp dice pool. I have played with a 10-man Assault squad with 2 flamers, Vet sarge with Power fist, and a chaplain (old school), and it does okay, but it almost never earns its points back. Their strongest suit appears to be having ObSec from the Demi Co bonuses (also I have tested a couple games using Korvydae in a CAD with Obsec Assault squads, which seems…okay?) So with all the above crap written out, and assuming you are still reading this, why am I writing all this up? Well, to generate some back in forth discussion, because frankly, after coming back to B&C forums after years of hiatus, you have no idea how much it warms my heart to see the sort of activity the forum has now. Back when I played it felt like it was only me and 1-2 other people that ever posted anything of note, and discussions were minimal. So with that in mid, here are my “talking points” Talking Points 1) Tactical Marines: What the hell do you do with your tactical marines? If you put them in a transport, you lose half our Chapter Tactics (and having them mechanized in Rhino or RB feels unfluffy to me). Drop pods feel more fluffly (Im a big fan of the 5 Man Melta/Combi Melta in a pod), but that still costs us the use of our Shrouded. I have been testing Tacticals on foot, and keeping them cheap, and it feels okay, but unfulfilling. Would love to hear others thoughts on the subject. 2) Assault Marines: Feel like garbage now. In fact, the more I play with them, I feel like they are good for TWO things and TWO THINGS ONLY, 1) 2 Flamers, 2) Re-rollable Hammer of Wrath. Hammer of Wrath is shockingly good, much better than I ever considered it on paper. I feel like it gives more damage than my actual CC attacks do in most fights. Feels like playing Assault Marines without ObSec is 100% awful 3) Librarians: I feel like playing with a lone wolf Librarian can seem okay, but most often I play against other psykers, and I feel like a guy who brought a knife to a gun fight. Feels like if you want to tap into the psychic phase, bring a conclave or go home. Has anyone had any success trying a Raven Guard conclave? 4) Grenades and the FAQ: Does anyone find the new one-grenade in close combat rule ridiculous? I feel like as a Raven Guard player that was my go-to for dealing with vehicles, and now its considerably neutered. Does your local play group use this rule in the FAQ? If they do, do you find it impacts you? Do you run other things in your list to crack armor? 5) Scout Bikes and Land Speeder Storms: I own neither of these (model wise, and I don’t really have something similar silhouette wise for proxy) but they feel very Raven Guard. Do you have experience running them? How successful are you with them? What do you use load-out wise? 6) Battle Demi Co vs Pinion Demi Co: I haven’t played Pinion at all yet, because frankly, I don’t have transports for my tacticals, and if im going to be outflanking them, I feel I need Scout bikes and Tacticals in Rhinos or Razorbacks. That being said I am in love with the Demi Co and its ObSec (even if I forget to use my Tactical Doctrine half the time, oh, and I never remember to use my Hurricane Bolters on my Centurions either!) 7) Shadow Strike Kill Team: Oh my lawd, is this the business or what? Its fluffy, its fun from a modelling perspective, and its damn good to boot. Less of a talking point but more of a “how do you equip your SSKT?” I would love to see how people outfit both their scouts and their Vanguard Vets. 8) Lastly, and this is less tactical and more of a modelling question: My whole army is pewter, or plastic/pewter hybrid kits. While I have a handful of sculpts I am attached to, plastic as a whole is so much easier and better to work with (and lighter to haul around). I am giving serious consideration selling my entire army (sans 2-3 figures I have a personal attachment too), and then starting over from scratch and having new plastic kits on everything. If you were in my shoes, would you do the same?

Stats: 12" move, 2+ WS/BS, 4 S/T, 5 wounds, 5 attacks, and a 3+ Equipment: Ravens Talons: user strength, AP -3, D3 damage and can re-roll wounds. Iron Halo: 4+ invulnerable save Special Rules: Chapter Master: You can re-rolls of failed hit rolls for friends RG units within 6" Winged Deliverance: You can re-roll failed charge rolls for friendly RG jump pack units with 6" And he's 150 points. At first I was really annoyed when I saw that he still has a 2+ armor save. It really ticked me off, specially because a lot of the other characters are still rocking 2+ like Calgar, Captain Sicarius, Captain Lysander, Pedro Kantor, High Marshal Helbrecht, Vulkan and the whole lineup of BA, SW and DA characters. The points for these guys fluctuates seemingly without reason....for example Lysander is 150 points same as Shrike while Kantor is 170 points if I remember correctly. Anyway, a drink or two later and a quick flip through the rest of the leaks and I started to feel a little better. Seem like the ability to re-roll charges are a rare commodity. I think I only saw something similar on one of the space wolf sheets. It's pretty powerful as that increases your odds of charging off the deep strike quite a bit. The Chapter Master special rule is pretty nifty too. Also, one of my big issues with Shrike in previous editions was that you could easily replace him with a equally able captain for less points. This doesn't seem to be the case anymore. What do you guy think? Just for the Wings of Deliverance rule alone he seems like an auto include.

So my friend Paul wants to get in on 40K. Alex lent him basically the chaos marines from dark vengeance to play. We did a simple King of the Hill mission. I brought jump chappy, 10 tacs with heavy bolter, flamer, and combiflamer, 5 sniper scouts with cloaks, and 6 ASM with 2 flamers, and a vet sgt with claws. Vsgt and chappy both had meltabombs. Paul went first. I had made the rookie mistake of sitting on the objective, and not in hard cover within 3" of it. So he shot my scouts a lot. He got aggressive with the helbrute, and the chosen. I moved up the assault squad, and repositioned the tac squad. The tacs ate some chosen, and the snipers put a wound on the champion. His turn, he moved the helbrute up, one cultist mob, and the chosen up. I lost 2 tacs in shooting, 1 assault marine, and another scout. The helbrute charged the assault marines, and got blown up by a meltabomb for his trouble. Paul didn't expect that. He had moved up his cc cultists w/ warlord to join in next turn. My turn, I moved up the assault squad, tacs and last 2 scouts camped and shot. Whittled his chosen down to 2. Flamed the cc cultists, but failed the charge by an inch! His turn, he somehow managed to clip another scout, and I failed morale. His cultists and warlord got all my assault marines but chappy, Alpha Legion got to my dice. Then he charged chappy. Rosarius deflected the 2 power sword wounds he managed to inflict. Chappy killed him in the challenge, and swept the cultists. My turn, moved chappy to threaten the chosen, but my shooting did nothing. In the assault chappy fell to a power ax and lightning claws, without inflicting a single wound. His turn, chosen made it close to my tacs, but his shooty cultists were ineffective. He charged, and got me down to 3 tacs, and they broke from combat. My turn, moved scout sgt within 3" of objective is LoS-blocking cover, and shot up the chosen. It was a massacre all around, but I won 9-3 victory points. A good time was had by all, and Paul is hooked. I made sure to make plenty of rookie mistakes to make it fair, but Paul catches on quick.

Picture of full Raven's Talon Strike Force at 1850 Hi All, Been repainting everything for a little while now so I thought that I would share some images. Frugal use of Forgeworld RG upgrade bits and lots of Resin bases. I am doing the entire 2nd Company and have started with a small force led by Chaplain Torovac. I will post more as I go and the entire list within the posts of this thread. Thanks for looking GotR

This is Veteran Sergeant Arnd Kyvus, 7th squad, 3rd Company (WIP). He is the FIRST member of my coming Raven Guard army. It will start out as an allied force for my 6k Blood Angels army, eventually becoming its own army. I've come to love the Raven Guard and Corax through my first few audio dramas and stories. I own and have read everything about the Raven Guard that Black Library has published or put out on audio. I can only claim that for two other chapters, Blood Angels, and Crimson Fists .... So lore-wise I know quite a bit about the Raven Guard going from the Heresy to current 40k times. Absolutely love them, and their strategic outlook, tactics, chapter culture, views and values, etc. This is sort of a big deal for me because since I started the hobby a few years ago I've always prided myself on being a one army owner and player, Blood Angels. I've finally found something else that I really like and want to play! I hang out on the Blood Angel forum a lot, but I will be keeping up on this one too! I'm still working on him, hes around 85% finished so far.

I didn’t know if these would be more appreciated on the “post your primaries” in the hall of honor or here, where the Raven Guard players be, but I figured here was best. Been slowly building a Raven Guard kill team for a while! Here are a few I photographed recently.

Hi All I managed to get in a few games yesterday with Raven Guard using the new chapter tactics and stratagems and thought I'd share the experiences in case it proved useful! I played three games using this list: 2000pts Battalion Detachment - 6 CPs 10 Deployment 'Drops' Captain w/ Thunder Hammer Chaplain w/ Jump Pack Vanguard Vets x10 - 5 Swords, 3 Fists, 2 Axes, 4 Plasma Pistols, 3 Storm shields Vanguard Vets x10 - Jump Packs, 6 Twin Claws, 4 Fists, 4 Storm Shields Sternguard Vets x6 - 6x Combi-Melta, Rhino Scouts x5 - Sniper Rifles, Camo Scouts x5 - Sniper Rifles, Camo Tactical x5 - Combi-Flamer, Flamer, Rhino Land Speeders x3 - All Heavy Flamers & Multi-Meltas Devastators x5 - 4 Missile Launchers I thought this was quite a balanced and competitive list and was greatly looking forward to using Strike from the Shadows with the Vanguard Vets! FIRST GAME - TAU EMPIRE Tau List: Ethereal 10 Strike Team 10 Strike Team 10 Strike Team 6 Crisis Suits - All Twin Plasma & Fusion 10 Pahtfinders 10 Pathfinders Longstrike Hammerhead Hammerhead Stormsurge (!) The battle field was mostly open with a couple of hills in each deployment zone but with a large landing pad complex just off centre in the middle. Devastators and Scouts deployed far back to give supporting fire, land speeders, tacticals and sternguard ready to move forward as fast as possible... and of course one squad of vanguard with the chaplain and the other vanguard with the captain deployed in the complex ready for a first turn charge! The Tau deployed all their fire warriors opposite the complex with the stormsurge behind them, while longstrike and his hammerheads covered the open ground. Crisis Team in Reserve. 10 Drops to 11 meant the Ravens went first (thankfully!). The early game went ok for the Ravens, with the Landspeeders and Devastators blowing a hammerhead out of the air and the captain leading his vanguard in slaughtering one strike team and damaging the stormsurge with their plasma pistols. The chaplain and his vanguard were not so lucky taking 6 casualties from a lot of 'For the Greater Good' overwatch. They still killed a strike team though. Then things went wrong for the Vanguard Vets... the Stormsurge and some fire warriors leaving the Captain feeling very lonely and the newly arrived Crisis Suits doing the same to the Chaplain. Longstrike and his hammerhead buddy also shot down two of the land speeders. A very good counter-punch from the Tau! The stormsurge had to go, so the Devastators and last landspeeder opened up on it, reducing it to 5 wounds. Then the Captain, fully expecting to be obliterated by the overwatch charged it... and made it in with 2 wounds left. And smacked it down with two Thunder Hammer hits The Chaplain was useful in harrassing the hammerhead and some pathfinders by charging in and making them relocate, which he continued to do until the final turn when he was finally shot down. The Sternguard jumped out of their Rhino and took out 4 Crisis Suits with their meltas. Things were looking ok for the Ravens, but the Tau firepower started to show in turns 3 & 4 - The captain was shot down by Fire Warriors, who also repulsed an attack from the tacticals (the last one killed by the Ethereal in assault!) who had finally caught up. Longstrike and the last Crisis suits took out the Sternguard, Land Speeder, Chaplain and even started attacking some sniper scouts. All in all, a close and fun game, which resulted in a minor victory for the Tau, who only had Longstrike, 2 Crisis Suits, a few pathfinders, 3 Fire Warriors and the Ethereal left. The Ravens only had the Devastators, one squad of scouts and two rhinos who were merrily charging into the remaining pathfinders repeatedly! So far, Strike from the Shadows seems a decent (if very risky) tactic for Vanguard Vets, especially against an army like Tau with effective overwatch. Shadow Masters didn't really have any effect this game since most of the fire fights were within 12"... On to the next game...

What’s your opinion on them? I mean, they are bikes with wing deco, and wings shouldn’t be unfamiliar for ravens. Or is everyone too much used to them belonging to Dark Angels? Or is the deco too pompous for sneaky ravens? And what if it’s a command squad instead of regular bike squad? (I guess this discussion had had place during the last two editions, but I wasn’t playing at that time.)

Brothers (and Sisters?), a couple quick questions. I've been reading through all the releases on Warhammer Community, etc., but I haven't been able to keep up with the discussion here on B&C. I don't see anything in the 8th Edition Discussion board that addresses this, although the Black Templars have been speculating a little: 1. Are we expecting chapter Codices to be released at some point, in addition to the Index books that have already been announced/leaked? (Spikey Bits says "no?" BellofLostSouls thinks "yes," in the model of AoS's Battletome) 2. Do we expect chapter tactics to be announced at some point? Maybe tied to the chapter keywords? I looked through the leaked rules, and it looks like there isn't much to distinguish chapters from each other at this point, although the leaks are only portions of each book... Other than including a a high proportion of scouts and jump units in our armies, what is going to make Raven Guard "Raven Guard" in the 8th Edition? Or any other Codex chapter, for that matter. Can anyone direct me to productive discussion of these topics?

– Lexicanum (and a well known info anyway) Now, how does one have to imagine this for reserve companies who consist of mainly the same unit type and are this way left with very few tactical options? And do you expect them to alter their organization, like the 6th Comp being trained not only with bikes and the 7th not only with LS?

Ho, fellow brothers of the Ravenspire. I have to report on the glories of the Raven Guard in a tournament I played in recently. This will share feedback and thoughts I've had after said tournament. I will break down each game in a post of it's own in this thread, so don't worry if you don't feel like reading a wall of text. Without further ado, here is the basic breakdown: Tournament - 1 day only - 3x 1500 point games and 1x 500 point game - Unbound lists allowed! Standing - I tied for 4th place (which is REALLY good for me, as I'm more a casual gamer and the other lists were brutal) My 1500 point army list: So, on to my thoughts: The Good: The Raptor Wing is golden. These guys are easily my team of the match. They took out so many targets and caused so much havoc it was crazy. Ignores cover is big. My devastators were awesome with this rule and popped many a priority target for me. Scouts are great. Most of my opponents either thought they were an easy kill or were useless and got a nasty surprise for their hubris. Scout bikers are a must. The grenade launchers helped quite a bit with a number of targets with its versatility. Having Shrouded for the first game turn makes the army so survivable. Could weather the storm of fire and come back for a nice counter punch. The Ugly: My Captain was "eh" at best. The extra hits were great, but on anything tougher than a marine you suffer greatly. Having the auspex on him was a waste, so need to change that idea. Having only 1 squad of bare minimum assault marines didn't make the best use of Winged Deliverance, so was pretty underwhelming. It did help the scout bikers a little, but nothing major to report about. Hope this helps everyone in some way. Feel free to comment or ask questions for me to clarify. Victorus Aut Mortis!

Hey B&C! I've been a fan of 40k for over 15 years but I've never owned any 40k models or played a game. After starting up with Seraphon in AoS for my first hit of plastic crack, I've finally decided to start my 40k army! It took months of deliberation, research, and general waffling, but I'm finally happy with my choice to do Raven Guard. The fluff, the rules, and very unique play style that the chapter specific formations provide really call to me (plus I just like jump packs and beaky helmets). Anyways, I've decided to document my progress here as a means to keep myself motivated, and to bounce ideas around. Hopefully I can provide some enjoyment for people laughing at my mistakes along the way, and glean some knowledge from the veterans here as well : ) So here I begin: http://i.imgur.com/Lqecadv.jpg My first purchases assembled - 5 Van Vets, 2x TH/SS, 3x LCs 5 Tac Marines, Grav/Combi-Grav 5 Sniper Scouts (will use my Seraphon feather bits to spruce up one rifle for Nihilus) 5 ASM, 2x flamers 1 Stormtalon (one more still in box - Raptor Wing almost done!) and my favorite model which will be my captain - the Deathwatch RG model It's been hovering around 90 with absolutely horrid humidity for weeks now so I've yet to be able to prime anything. My feelings on assembly so far - Across the chest gun poses suck to glue, and I'm constantly questioning if I'm giving models the right loadout. I've seen plenty of batreps and I have a general idea of how effective each weapon is, but having never played a game myself, I can't help second guessing my choices. I may post my novice idea of a good 1850 list for you fellows to pick apart. It would definitely put me at ease making my next purchases and assembling them knowing that I'm building towards a viable list.

So given Warhammer TV just posted how to paint RG skin. Mine is a combination of 1 Kislev flesh 2 Flayed one flesh 3 Reikland fleshshade 4 Drakenhof nightshade (for the bluish hue) 5 Maybe some highlighting with flayed one Im still fine tuning (and trying not to forget what my recipe is each time) So what is your skin recipe?

So, for a few months already I've been working on my first army, I first became interested on the RG because of Corax and the whole Edgar Allan Poe influences going on, then I read their fluff and simply became enamoured with them. I'm in more for the hobby than the actual playing, but looking forward to get a nicely sized army soon. The whole building and painting has been a slow process, so far, but it's indeed progressing little by little. I'm following the theme that RG have a lot of older marks of equipment and minor ornamentation compared to chapters like the Ultramarines, so most models will have Mk 4-6 armour and minimal use of Mk 7+, thinking of maybe adding a few MK3 marines to vary the bunch a bit. Since I'm planning to mostly play Kill Team or smallpoints games, I'm trying to give every model a bit of individual uniqueness. So far I have two tactical squads pretty much complete (still missing sealing and weathering pigments), and a bunch of other units and kitbash characters in different states of progress. Without any further ado, I give you some pictures of the army. A few more pictures can be found on my gallery right here Tactical Squad Nox The first models I ever painted, 10 man squad, equipped with a Missile Launcher and Meltagun, Sergeant Daryth Nox carries a Combi-Melta. Tactical Squad Mortis The second finished squad, Heavy Bolter, Plasma Gun and a Combi-Plasma on Sergeant Mortis. And that's it for the moment. I'll be back soon with yet more of the sons of Corax. Cheers!

Hi All, So I've been looking at starting my RG army ever since the Montka formation dropped. I had never really been into SM's but after the new formation dropped it pushed me over. I decided for my collection I would initially base it around a Pinion Battle Company. Which would consist of + Core + Pinion Battle Demi-Company Assault Squad [2x Flamer, Jump Packs] Captain[bolt Pistol, Power Sword] Devastator Squad [2x Lascannon, 2x Plasma Cannon, 9x Space Marines] Scout Bike Squad [2xScout Biker with Astartes Grenade Launcher] Scout Squad [shotgun] + Land Speeder Storm [Heavy Bolter] Scout Squad [shotgun] + Land Speeder Storm [Heavy Bolter] 3x Tactical Squad [Flamer, 4x Space Marines] + Razorback [Twin-linked Assault Cannon] + Auxiliary + 1st Company Task Force Sternguard Veteran Squad Drop Pod [storm Bolter] 2x Veteran [Combi-grav] 2xVeteran with Special/Heavy Weapon [Grav-gun] Veteran Sergeant [boltgun, Grav-pistol] Sternguard Veteran Squad Drop Pod [storm Bolter] 2x Veteran [Combi-grav] Veteran Sergeant [bolt Pistol, Combi-grav] 2x Veteran with Special/Heavy Weapon [Grav-gun] Sternguard Veteran Squad Drop Pod [storm Bolter] 2x Veteran [Combi-melta] Veteran Sergeant [bolt Pistol, Combi-melta] 2x Veteran with Special/Heavy Weapon [Meltagun] 'Raptor Wing * Land Speeders Land Speeder [Assault Cannon, Heavy Bolter] Stormtalon Gunship [Typhoon Missle Launcher] Stormtalon Gunship [Typhoon Missle Launcher] 'Shadowstrike Kill Team * Scout Squad [3x Boltgun, Heavy Bolter, 4x Scouts] Scout Squad [Missile Launcher (Frag & Krak), 4x Scouts, 3x Sniper Rifle] Vanguard Veteran Squad 4x Veteran [Lightning Claw, Lightning Claw] Veteran Sergeant [storm Shield, Thunder Hammer] I imagine this should cover most my bases for casual and competitive play. My only real concern is the 1st CTF and SSKT. Both of these are made of veterans which are very expensive and each time I've played them I felt like they haven't really earned their points and I could invest in better options. Particularly in a competitive environment. So definitely open to suggestions on that. As for colour scheme for some reason I've gone mad and decided that I will do my entire army in an urban digital camo... Not particulary SM I know, must be the guardsmen in me coming out. (Which doesn't make to much sense given I play Mordians! ;) ) I'll probably use this thread as a WIP too. Here's what I've done so far: (NB: Lots of my PA guy's are missing shoulders and heads because at some point I want to do a FW order to have them all with RG shoulder pads and Corvus helmets).

Do I paint Shryke I'm custom Chapter Colors or leave him as is. I'm also thinking of replacing his head with a reaver helmet I have somewhere

So I really want to get some custom Storm Shields for my upcoming builds with Vanguard Vets. My issue is I have zero 3d modeling experience, and I want to get something printed up on a site like Shapeways. My questions for you all is as follows: 1) Have you seen anyone on a 40k site offering to do commission/custom 3d modeling? I have seen it with Decals on our own site here, and I figure with the abundance of Shapeways shoulder pads, finding someone who is willing to do this shouldn't be too hard. Furthermore, if you know of multiple folks that are doing it, do you have one you would recommend? 2) My crappy paint mockup is below, I have two different designs in mind. I want a shield that is sleek, with minimal ornamentation, but uses the RG symbol as the overall shape and style. I also want the shield to have a lot of hard angles to convey that "stealth" feel. Minimalistic and modern. (Some examples include the F-117A Nighthawk fighter, and meshed with the Corax/Dark Fury aesthetic that Forgeworld has put out recently). If you have any feedback on the designs below, I would love to hear it!