Raven Guard; Decapitating Strike with Maun & The Boys!

[lokkorex]

So, I want to get my buddy into playing with me 30k with me on occasion.

Therefore I'd like to get a 30k Raven Guard army, with lots of plastic to make it cheaper to collect, since I already am collecting IW, WE and DG, so that he has some reasonable marines to face me with.

Here's my WIP 3,500 points list:

 

HQ 255 pts

Alvarex Maun.

Damocles Command Rhino w/ Extra Armour and Heavy Bolter.

 

Elites 1329 pts

Mor Deythan(10) w/ 7 Combi-Flamers, 3 Plasma Guns, Sergeant w/ Artificier Armour & Melta Bombs.

Darkwing dedicated transport w/ Armoured Ceramite and Extra Armour.

 

Destroyer Squad(10) w/ Jump Packs, Melta Bombs, Missile Launchers, Sergeant w/ Artificier Armour, Raven's Talon and Phosphex Bomb.

 

2 Quad Launchers w/ Shatter Shells.

 

2 Apothecaries w/ Jump Packs.

 

Troops 725 pts

Tactical Squad w/ additional Chainswords, Vexilla, Sergeant w/ Artificier Armour & Power Fist.

Drop Pod.

 

Tactical Squad w/ additional Chainswords, Vexilla, Sergeant w/ Artificier Armour & Power Fist.

Drop Pod.

 

Recon Squad(10) w/ Sniper Rifles, Nuncio-Vox, Cameleoline, Sergeant w/ Artificier Armour.

 

Fast Attack 705

Dark Fury Assault Squad(10), Sergeant w/ Melta Bombs.

 

Seeker Squad(10) w/ Nuncio-Vox, Combi-Plasma Guns, Sergeant w/ Artificier Armour and Power FIst.

Drop Pod.

 

Heavy Support 415 pts

Leviathan Dreadnought w/ Armoured Ceramite, Phosphex Discharger, Siege Drills.

Dreadnought Drop Pod.

 

List currently stands at around 3426 pts or there about.

 

What I'm unsure of is:

 

the Damocles: is Maun enough for reserves manipulation?

 

the rapiers: most raven guard lists i've seen seem to go for infiltrating gravito n cannons, but they scream iron hands to me, plus quad-mortars are cheaper.

 

the recon squad: are sniper rifles worth it in the heresy? My plan for these is backfield objective huggers and guiding the rapiers fire with their nuncio, but they are quite pricy...

 

Maun goes with the mor deythan in the darkwing, speed towards a good position to bring down the pods.

Leviathan and the seekers come down to start threatening the opponents priciest units.

Destroyers and dark furies supported by apothecaries are tasked with attacking any unit with an IC, i'm looking forward to seeing just how much damage the destroyers should be able to do, preferred enemy IC+Furious Charge+Rad Grenades+Hammer of Wrath.

Also, Power Fists for the sergeants, yay or nay?

Edited March 30, 2020 by lokkorex

[Ultramarinebo]

Solid list man, some great ideas in here. I've run Raven Guard a few times with a similar set up. Few suggestions:

Going all out with the reserve manipulation and scatter control isn't a bad idea but might not be entirely necessary. I've tried this combo before and didn't need it but it's all dependent on your map, terrain and board size. It could be super valuable. Don't forget that pods don't mishap so no scatter isn't all that useful.

 

I love Seekers especially with Plasma but because you've got access to Mor Deythan's I'd be maxing out on Mor Dey's over Seekers cause they fulfil the same role but slightly better. Keep your flamer MD's and grab a 10 man plasma MD squad. I've had ridiculous success with multiple Mor Deythan squads in rhinos infiltrating. They get where they need to be by turn 2-3 and are super cheap considering how well they can perform. Going with your Deep Strike approach is more expensive but brutal for your opponent.

 

The Raven Guard storm eagle is sweet in a fluff sense but is hugely underwhelming on the board for its point cost. The only strength is its 3+ jink. Being an assault transport, you aren't able to fully utilise it's potential with Mor Deythans. If you take one I'd suggest filling it with chain fist terminators, deep striking it without scatter, jinking and assaulting straight from it the following turn. In saying all this, it's still a great choice and will be effective at delivering the Mor Deythans.

 

Destroyers and Dark Fury's are great choices and will be fun while remaining fairly competitive.

 

Unless your versing a weird monstrous creature mechanicum list, I'd drop the snipers on the Recon team. Recon teams are great with standard bolters - they are pure objective holders, avoid everything, go to ground and allow them to sponge up all fire power with 2+ cover. Their strength lies in the fact that your opponent will ignore them until late game and by that stage they will survive and pull in VP's.

 

The rapiers are an interesting choice - you don't have a lot of high strength Anti Vehicle fire power. I'd be tempted to take them with Str 9 Lasers. Handy while infiltrating.

 

Now for the Leviathan... I have many mixed feelings about Leviathans dropping in. They can be utterly devastating or the completely ineffective. It's a bit of a cheap move dropping a 'knight' equivalent model in your opponent's base, you'll get more kicks out of manoeuvring and setting up tactical assaults. I'd drop it and the Damocles which gives you a healthy 500pts to play around with.

 

You're Raven Guard so max out on small specialist squads. Utilise infiltrate, swarm and pop units twice their size. Veterans, tactical support squads and Mor Deythans can do what a Leviathan does, you just have to think about the timing and placement.

 

Sick list man! Enjoy

[lokkorex]

Ultramarinebo: Thanks for the reply and suggestions! I based the army list on what strategy blogs and tacticas I could find for the Raven Guard, but I'm glad I got some more input!

 I reworked the list:

 

HQ 140 pts
Alvarex Maun.

Elites 1119 pts
Mor Deythan(9) w/ 7 Combi-Flamers, 3 Plasma Guns, Sergeant w/ Artificier Armour & Melta Bombs.
Rhino dedicated transport w/ Extra Armour and Dozer blade.

Destroyer Squad(10) w/ Jump Packs, Melta Bombs, Missile Launchers, Sergeant w/ Artificier Armour, Raven's Talon and Phosphex Bomb.

3 Graviton Cannon Rapiers.

3 Apothecaries; 2 w/ Jump Packs, 1 w/ Artificier Armour.

Troops 790 pts
Tactical Squad w/ additional Chainswords, Vexilla, Sergeant w/ Artificier Armour & Power Fist.
Drop Pod.

Tactical Squad w/ additional Chainswords, Vexilla, Sergeant w/ Artificier Armour & Power Fist.
Drop Pod.

Recon Squad(6) w/ Nuncio-Vox, Cameleoline, Sergeant w/ Artificier Armour and Combi-Weapon.

 

Recon Squad(6) w/ Nuncio-Vox, Cameleoline, Sergeant w/ Artificier Armour and Combi-Weapon.

Fast Attack 1080 pts
Dark Fury Assault Squad(10), Sergeant w/ Melta Bombs.

Seeker Squad(10) w/ Nuncio-Vox, Combi-Plasma Guns, Sergeant w/ Artificier Armour and Power FIst.
Drop Pod.

 

Seeker Squad(10) w/ Nuncio-Vox, Combi-Plasma Guns, Sergeant w/ Artificier Armour and Power FIst.
Drop Pod.

Heavy Support 375 pts
Heavy Support Squad with Hardened Armour, Missile launchers with Flakk, Sergeant with Artificier Armour and Augury Scanner.

Total: 3504

 

Maun infiltrates with the Graviton Cannons, allowing pods to land safely nearby, while the cannons ake care of any heavy armour threat in range. heavy support squad deploys preferably in some cover and let loose against any target of opportunity as well as being my AA.

mor deythan+apothecary rush forward in rhino to get within flamer range against the juiciest infantry target available.

destroyers and dark furies with apothecary babysitters deep strike with nuncio-vox aid(or maybe deploy in cover somewhere and rush forward?) and engage in close combat.

 

still unsure about; hardened armour on heavy support squad, the amount of nuncio-voxes, armaments on sergeants.

 

think i'll eventually get a leviathan, but i'll save it for when i get around to buying corax and  some termies for a pride of the legion style list.

[The Scorpion]

I see you are taking recon marines. Have you considered the "Recon company RoW"? It works amazingly well with Raven Guard since everything scouting or infiltrating gets 'shrouded', and in the XIXth, EVERYTHING infiltrates.

 

That is before mentionning the 1st turn/seize bonuses and the fact that the limitatons (no terminators and HS start in reserve) aren't crippling for Raven Guard. The only real downside is the lack of legion drop pods.

[lokkorex]

oh, I'm aware of the Recon Company ROW, will propably build towards using that ROW eventually as well, though I'll propably be adding Corax and some drop podding dreads to it!

Went with the Decapitating Strike ROW, because I'm intrigued by Maun, a character I initially dismissed due to his lack of invulnerable save and close combat prowess, and he pairs exceptionally well with deep strikers.

[Fangbanger]

He is great in a decap list. Great fun and is great synergy but yeah, he's no beat stick but certainly a force multiplier

 

I would echo the comments above, multiple Mor deythan squads are deadly, such a strong and cool unit. I used to run 2x7 man in rhinos with plas and a squad would easily wipe out a preator and his death star. 2 acts as an insurance policy.

 

Dark fury are fun, they will get massacred easily though, especially if most of your force is coming in piecemeal. Play them safe

 

I would think about how you are going to take on av13/Spartans as at 3k, you will definitely see them and currently have no way of effectively dealing with them

Edited April 22, 2020 by Fangbanger

[lokkorex]

i'm thinking the graviton cannons and maybe the meltabombs on my destroyers will hopefully take care of any super-heavy, but i agree, it's not much.

then again, this army will mainly be so my buddy can play with me, againstmy iron warriors, which so far has a total of one in-pieces spartan.