[HH1.0] Raven Guard Tactics

[Sevatar]

Hi, 

I'm just mulling over the Raven Guard rules.

 

Legion Rules - I like them. Infiltrating 20 man squads is very powerful, and the potential to launch a nice alpha strike is great. Furious charge on Terminators is good; it gives them an edge over the standard - I would have liked to Infiltrate my Spartan, but that is life. 

 

Rite of War - I like the idea. It is Orbital Strike without many of the restrictions, allowing you to pod in the units that need it, such as Support squads. Personally, I'm opting out since I always use my Heavy Support squads. However, you can use Rapiers to compensate nicely. It is gold with tacticals, since you can pod in, and unleashing Fury right off the bat. Also, character assassination is just plain cool 

 

Mor Deythan - these are much better Recon marines. The addition of Stealth, BS 5, and Fatal Edge makes them worth it, as yo can pop small squads. I really think they should have the Snap Shots that Corax does, do fit the background better.... but other than that, a nice investment.

 

Dark Furies - average. While the Lightning Claws are nice against MEQ, they are too expensive, especially compared to Templar Brethren and Gal Vorbak. Should be 20-5 points for the next squad members, in my opinion. 

 

Corax- okay. He buffs the army well. Automatically Running full distance gives the army great mobility, while improving Outflankers is nice. His weapons and fighting scales let him slaughter marines, but he is bad against Primarchs. Why? 2 factors. Firstly, his armour is poor. 5++ really isn't good enough at a against Terminators and other Primarchs. However, he only had WS 7. Why? From the background and novels I don't believe Curze or even Perturabo are more skilled than Corax. If it was to balance him, it works too well, since he loses to both in a fight, when, in my opinion, he should beat both. I am heavily biased, but this made no sense. Why doesn't Corax has a 4++? Curze does, and still benefits from Shrouded fine. Give Corax a 4++ or WS 8 , but to give him nothing is just bizarre. 

 

Don't be mistaken by my negativity - he is good for his cost, I just expected him to be one of the best in combat, considering his cost

 

Overall:7.5/10 for the Raven Guard 

 

Thoughts?

Edited April 8, 2017 by Brother Tyler
Tags edited

[Sevatar]

No thoughts? :( The Raven Guard must be well hidden....

[blackoption]

I am taking this from another thread.  As while I am annoyed that Corax is WS7 also... I do not think it is as bad as people fear.

 

 

 How
is it Curze, Perturabo and Dorn all have WS 8, while the Prince of
Ravens has WS 7? That is the one thing that bugs me about Corax.

 

I brought this up in another thread and this is the answer I got

 

> 

A bit surprised that Corax only has WS 7

The Panoply of the Raven Lord. Type: Melee, Shreed, Blind, Fighting Style, Two-handed.

 

Blind rule in short: If hited = INIATIVE test = if failed = WS + BS reduced to 1. 

 

Thet's why he is WS 7 only. It's like lesser version of invisibility ...

 

 

If he hits a target and they fail the initiative they only hit him on a 5+. Now while this will not work on a number of primarchs, he will still be an impossibly lethal close combatant to  most enemies out there.

[Sevatar]

That does make him better. Sorry if I appear whiny, but eh... I would have liked either 1 of the 2. Oh well.

[depthcharge12]

I wouldn't cry over his WS 7 as Curze beat him up and sent him scurrying away on Isstvaan, especially since he gets blind and a bunch of other combat stances.

 

As for you saying to have legion tacticals doing fury of the legion upon drop pod arrival, it is an illegal action. Fury of the legion is only permitted if the squad hasn't moved that turn.

[Sevatar]

Darn. Still, it is very nice with Melta support squads.

[Emperor's Furor]

I wouldn't cry over his WS 7 as Curze beat him up and sent him scurrying away on Isstvaan, especially since he gets blind and a bunch of other combat stances.

 

As for you saying to have legion tacticals doing fury of the legion upon drop pod arrival, it is an illegal action. Fury of the legion is only permitted if the squad hasn't moved that turn.

Curze didn't even hurt him, he just mugged him of a lightning claw :P

[brojob]

I have become interested in Raven Guard, but I'm not sure where to start with building a list. The ROW looks fun, but I'm usually more of a heavy support player. The idea of playing a sneaky legion is fun, but I don't know if I can do it justice. Does anyone have any pointers for a Raven Guard list? I'll probably use a Sicaran and some Javelins. Beyond that, I don't know. Maybe a 20 man blob for objective camping or advancing would be nice. Obvioiusly, drop pods would be good, but I'm not sure what to throw in them. Then I think about bikes or some kind of outflanking force and I just get frustrated. 

[Tiger9gamer]

i have been thinking of a ten man plasma support squad with a librarian attached infiltrating up to someone. thats a lot of plasma up close and personal, and would surely hurt units quite a bit.

 

Would Pride of the legion work better with this too? sniper vets appearing out of nowhere and laying down heavy fire while Jump packs glide up to support looks like it's fun to do.

 

So many things you can do with infiltrate I think. So much fun.

[brojob]

Infiltrating is fun but I play with people who use a lot of troops. Outflanking or infiltrating and trying to be sneaky won't help when my units will just get drowned in enemy bodies. 

Also, what does furious assault do?

Edited April 28, 2014 by brojob

[Tiger9gamer]

I guess it's fancy furious charge? 

 

Also, fun thing i thought of: can you infiltrate 1 destroyer squad with a rad missile, no jump packs? that can add some support that gives -1 T due to rad missiles. Might be worth it?

[brojob]

I don't think it would be worth it, at least not for the -1 T.  There won't be many models on the table with more than one wound. Lingering death could be a bit of a pain in the ass to an advancing army, though. If I were to do something with rad weapons, I would take a Lightning and fill it up with rad and phosphex armaments. If I'm going to violate the Geneva Convention, I may as well go all out. 

[Emperors Teeth]

It is gold with tacticals, since you can pod in, and unleashing Fury right off the bat.

 

 

Are you sure about that? You can't 'Fury' if you've moved, and if you podded in and deployed from the pod, then you've moved (Deploying from deep strike transports pg36 of rule book). Or have I missed something?

[Emperor's Furor]

You can drop in and rapid fire, then next turn do fury of the legion.

[Tiger9gamer]

you can drop pod support tacticals if that helps. Infiltrating then fury of the legion sounds fun too.

 

 

Would psyker support be helpful? or maybe mechanicum allies?

[brojob]

I think support with a deathwind, some speeders, and whatever else may work fine. I'm currently thinking about a krak deathwind, 2 lascannon javelins, a sky hunter squad with a volkite or plasma cannon, and maybe a whirlwind scorpius. That's a lot of high S shots coming in from all directions in turn 1. That Raven Guard stormraven with those special RG seekers sounds fun but expensive. I'm not sure if I want to drop tacticals in or just infiltrate 18 inches away and move in for fury of the legion shooting. I hope to playtest a list soon. 

[TheForgottenAngel]

Sounds like a really entertaining list!

[brojob]

Thanks. Yeah I think so too. I just hope it's somewhat effective. I'm not always a good list builder. I really want to use the Mor Deythan but I'm not sure how I would do so. I guess I will infiltrate them and have them move in for the kill while my drop pods, speeders, jetbikes, and whirlwind alpha strike. I think I would also like to use a recon squad to help hold my side of the table and cover the whirlwind. I'm not sure if 5 recon members is enough or if I should go for 10. 

[TearsOfTheRaven]

That Raven Guard stormraven with those special RG seekers sounds fun but expensive

Not heard of these before, could you tell me what they are/what they do?

[brojob]

RG get a special Storm Raven with outflank, stealth, and some kind of special missiles which can blind the targeted unit. The transport capacity is reduced to 16. The RG seeker guys are called Mor Deythan. They have to take either shotguns, sniper rifles, or combi weapons. One in three can take a special weapon. Their big thing is that once a game, all of their shooting attacks for the remainder of the turn are twinlinked and have rending. Sniper rifles rend on a 5+. So imagine a 10 man squad with 20 twinlinked bolter shots with rending. Mor Deythan also have a pistol and CCW, so I imagine a 10 man squad with 20 twinlinked, rending shotgun shots followed up with an assault would be fun to do. RG also have a jump pack guys with pairs of claws who get a 5+ cover save when they drop in and attack at initiative 5 on the turn in which they assault.

[SW1]

Can someone with the 3rd book PM details of the options of the raven guard specific jump pack unit?

 

I'm going to be including them for my ETL and want to make sure I'm doing the right units rather than do box standard and then kick myself when I eventually get the 3rd book.

[Tiger9gamer]

RG get a special Storm Raven with outflank, stealth, and some kind of special missiles which can blind the targeted unit. The transport capacity is reduced to 16. The RG seeker guys are called Mor Deythan. They have to take either shotguns, sniper rifles, or combi weapons. One in three can take a special weapon. Their big thing is that once a game, all of their shooting attacks for the remainder of the turn are twinlinked and have rending. Sniper rifles rend on a 5+. So imagine a 10 man squad with 20 twinlinked bolter shots with rending. Mor Deythan also have a pistol and CCW, so I imagine a 10 man squad with 20 twinlinked, rending shotgun shots followed up with an assault would be fun to do. RG also have a jump pack guys with pairs of claws who get a 5+ cover save when they drop in and attack at initiative 5 on the turn in which they assault.

Waaaaaait a second. wait a second.

 

1: they can have combi-weapons

2: they can take flamers per 3?

 

Shoooot that brings up some ideas. Imagine if you will at least 6 guys with combi/flamers and shot guns. They can Twin link it without any strings attached, hitting a high priority squad, and also have rending? wow that is powerful with flamers. then they could assault right after it and finish off the squad or something. I like that a lot! I think I might have found a squad for the praetorian! are they expensive? and which slot are they?

Edited May 6, 2014 by Tiger9gamer

[b1soul]

If he hits a target and they fail the initiative they only hit him on a 5+. Now while this will not work on a number of primarchs, he will still be an impossibly lethal close combatant to  most enemies out there.

 

Which primarchs? 

 

 

I wouldn't cry over his WS 7 as Curze beat him up and sent him scurrying away on Isstvaan, especially since he gets blind and a bunch of other combat stances.

 

Nope, that never happened

 

Have you even read the book?

[depthcharge12]

 

If he hits a target and they fail the initiative they only hit him on a 5+. Now while this will not work on a number of primarchs, he will still be an impossibly lethal close combatant to  most enemies out there.

 

Which primarchs? 

 

 

 

I wouldn't cry over his WS 7 as Curze beat him up and sent him scurrying away on Isstvaan, especially since he gets blind and a bunch of other combat stances.

 

Nope, that never happened

 

Have you even read the book?

I did indeed, however he did not truly beat him up, but blocked his attack and shredded some of his gear. Corax then thought it was wise to leave said situation.

[b1soul]

I did indeed, however he did not truly beat him up, but blocked his attack and shredded some of his gear. Corax then thought it was wise to leave said situation.

 

No...he didn't "shred some of his gear". Curze talked some smack to a Corax who had just been dueling Lorgar. Lorgar was the one who damaged Corax's gear. 

 

Corax then flew off. 

 

In short, Curze didn't "beat him up". He blocked an attack and talked smack to him...and that's it.