Tactica: Reivers

[PeteySödes]

With the release of our rules update it seems we've had a craving and cause for some new discussions relating to our units. Every week we'll feature a new unit available to the 6th with the purpose of discussing the tactics, use, and synergies around them. The Space Wolves are also about legends, sagas and great deeds as well so each week will also kick off or feature a showcase for you bloodclaws and longfangs alike to show off your units and inspire your battle brothers. These discussions will be archived to allow for reference by the new and old as well!

Note, this isn't to lament any nerfs, etc, from previous editions; the rules are as they are so try to unlock its potential for those who wish to use them all the same. Similarly, this thread is only for using the option being discussed; it matters not if you feel something is a better choice as such comments aren't constructive to the topic and shall be removed.

- Week 5 -

- Reivers -

How do Space Wolves best use Reivers?

• Wargear?
• Which strategems are worth throwing out?
• Any solid unit combos?

What say you fearless Warriors of the Rout? And please post your finished heroes here!

[PeteySödes]

Im eager to test these with our new rules. They got dunked on so hard (including by myself) previously but as a huge fan of tactical shenanigans I think they may be able to work now. Im going to try to think on some weird annoying strats with them. :)

[BadgersinHills]

They do quite well in Assault Doctrine, with Gene Wrought Might they'll be quite nice to put the hurt on some fellows. Shock Grenades work good with this role, making sure your unit arrives in good shape and makes the retaliation (Ideally there would be none) less harsh. Will post more thoughts tomorrow. 

 

Fluff, they seem to hark back to the Great Crusade days of the Emperor's executioner idea. I do like this unit, but not quite the Phobos legs. Ah well.

 

Edit: A thought, with counter charge they might be useful to deal with something like Thunder Hammer armed fellows.

Edited May 4, 2020 by BadgersinHills

[ranulf the revenant]

Has anyone made them work as part of the vigilus stalker pack detachement?

[Guest Triszin]

 

They can be buffed with Stalker Strategems, if I remember correctly, if a unit with teh stalker keyword succesfully wounds a unit then another unit with stalker keyword gains +1 to wound? * if I remember correctly

 

in this instance, I think 2x5 man squads of reivers armed with Bolt Carbines and grav chutes. set up to pepper and wound a target, to trigger the strat, in conjuction with a max unit of Bloodclaws ( who then charge in)

could be ok?

 

but then that comes to command points and what is worth it and not worth it. and is investment into this specialist detactment and specialist strategem worth the cost

Edited May 5, 2020 by Triszin

[TiguriusX]

They can be buffed with Stalker Strategems, if I remember correctly, if a unit with teh stalker keyword succesfully wounds a unit then another unit with stalker keyword gains +1 to wound? * if I remember correctly

 

in this instance, I think 2x5 man squads of reivers armed with Bolt Carbines and grav chutes. set up to pepper and wound a target, to trigger the strat, in conjuction with a max unit of Bloodclaws ( who then charge in)

could be ok?

 

but then that comes to command points and what is worth it and not worth it. and is investment into this specialist detactment and specialist strategem worth the cost

That stratagem doesn't require a wound from a stalker pack.

 

Just a wound period

 

The morkai bolts are the best for that combo IMO

 

And more Reiver fail is the point of my post basically

Edited May 5, 2020 by TiguriusX

[Guest Triszin]

While they may not be great.

 

Are there any circumstances in which they are?

 

Outside the box, grapple in killteam with reivers is decent

[TiguriusX]

While they may not be great.

 

Are there any circumstances in which they are?

 

Outside the box, grapple in killteam with reivers is decent

Kill team reivers are awesome.

 

The shock grenade is great too but getting it into position and using it before they die is tricky.

[PeteySödes]

=][= Alright Brothers, as a reminder, this is not the place for talking about how bad a unit is or wishlisting. We don’t need a thread on how not to use a unit. This series is to give ideas on how we can use our various units, especially the less popular ones and come together for making cool ideas and strategies. All else is not needed and will go away. =][= Edited May 5, 2020 by PeteySödes

[Guest]

Reivers can be great anti-horde units, lots of attacks on the charge. Reivers with melee+pistol and on the charge are doing 4 attacks hitting on 2+ at S4. I have had them charge boyz and slaughter almost whole packs of 30. There is 2 issues with them in my opinion. The first is Grav-chutes are much needed and should have been standard issue for reivers, without grav-chutes they are just intercessors with 1 extra attack and no range or worst range weapons. The other is a game mechanic: the charge. It is very high-risk:low-chance to make those charges, but once you do it is so sweet to have them rip apart the enemy. 

[BadgersinHills]

Reivers can be great anti-horde units, lots of attacks on the charge. Reivers with melee+pistol and on the charge are doing 4 attacks hitting on 2+ at S4. I have had them charge boyz and slaughter almost whole packs of 30. There is 2 issues with them in my opinion. The first is Grav-chutes are much needed and should have been standard issue for reivers, without grav-chutes they are just intercessors with 1 extra attack and no range or worst range weapons. The other is a game mechanic: the charge. It is very high-risk:low-chance to make those charges, but once you do it is so sweet to have them rip apart the enemy. 

 

The Litany of Hate helps tons, but getting the Reivers can be tricky. Possibly putting them with some Wulfen nearby so you can reroll charges and add 2 to charges to both the Wulfen and the Reivers? 

[Arentius]

Actually been finding great success with them as a small bodyguard for Ragnar, 5 of them in the impulsor means they are usually able to get the Shock grenade off and then using Ragnars rerolling charge ability ties people up quite well.

 

Support them with a squad or 2 of Incursors and you've got a solid line of people tying the enemy up / clearing chaff while the main elements of your force move up

[Guest]

Actually been finding great success with them as a small bodyguard for Ragnar, 5 of them in the impulsor means they are usually able to get the Shock grenade off and then using Ragnars rerolling charge ability ties people up quite well.

 

Support them with a squad or 2 of Incursors and you've got a solid line of people tying the enemy up / clearing chaff while the main elements of your force move up

I've been wondering this, it seems like a good match. Ragnar wants to be in melee, reiver want to be in melee. Shield Impulsors are tough and can take them to combat, and Ragnar will boost the reivers. The issue is that impulsor will be a prime target.

[PeteySödes]

I don’t have ragnar yet but I could see that being pretty sweet. I think another good way to use them could be for late game obj grabbing. I know that’s what a lot of other chapters use them for.

 

Our situation though I frequently see savvy opponents trying to screen the edges waiting for units outflanking but the drop would be a really useful pumpfake. Maybe combine them with my other late game hero, a JPRP with lightning and is not much is going to feel good with them around.

[Karhedron]

I think the Impulsor pretty much requires the Shield Dome to give it a chance to deliver its cargo.

[Valerian]

I love the concept of Reivers; I think they are among the coolest units to come out of the Primaris line. Their models are fantastic as well; they look exactly as a Marine “terror troop” ought to. Because of these two points, I would use them in every single game that I play in which Command Points don’t matter, and that I don’t have to pay Points to use units in Matched Play games.

 

V

[ranulf the revenant]

Well, if "scaring people in melee" would be a viable tactic... then I would see a point in "terror troops" :D

[Guest Triszin]

Well, if "scaring people in melee" would be a viable tactic... then I would see a point in "terror troops" :D

Wolves can still do freak show.

 

Krom, reivers, Lukas, howls, phobos runs priests.

 

They can stack neg lead values pretty fast

[ranulf the revenant]

Hmmm... Fair point, but does this make a significant difference in game?

Plus, your example includes *stacking* debuffs, but this wouldn't necessarily mean that Reivers as a single unit become super efficient at it without that help. But I'll keep it in mind :)

Edited May 5, 2020 by ranulf the revenant

[Debauchery101]

I have yet to use reivers with wolves but I often do with raptors and salamanders.

 

I think they work best with using a phobos Cpt/wolf lord and phobos librarian/rune priest.

 

1-using lord of deceit you can redeploy the reivers and psyker into a favorable position to potentially move, temporal corridor while ignoring terrain to get into grenade and charge range easily....be keen to see how players deploy and move....there are many of times they are not going to waste movement of screens and hvy weapons units to gain elevation and just block openings in ruins, doors, etc ...you can go over the wall, mountain, river and get behind them easily....Imagine they have Wall Hack and can just ghost wherever they want. I've surprised many players this way....

 

Unfortunately there isn't successor wolves chapters to get extra move/charge traits or characters that boost move/charge that can deploy with the reivers but the Wolf Lord/rune priest combo can mostly do the job.

 

***Stalker Pack*** Now like I said I haven't used reivers but I do use Blood Claws and a Stalker Pack Battle Leader on Thunderwolf Warlord with Saga of the savage....so this is a nice line up that you could do pretty much the same thing with reivers who deep strike

 

The turn I can reliably charge the Warlord I drop the blood claws near him to maybe suck overwatch but mostly to use the specialist stratagems...

2cp-Blood Cent...use vs infantry/monsters that have taken any wounds...get +1 to wound for all stalker pack units...not normally needed for the blood claws because the leader and wolf guard have fists/hammers but could really help the Reivers who only have str4 attacks

 

1CP-Pack Killers-roll 3d6-discard lowest for charge after a pack member makes a successful charge within 12inches. Any help for a 9 inch charge is great.

 

If needed You can still put them in reserve

 

As for lethality options i prefer the pistol/blades...its a lot of attacks for 5 guys

 

There is some merit to having rifles that can always bust 2 shots at 24" while this unit moves/advances again ignoring terrain. They can easily stay at a decent distance holding or moving between objectives...though at the same price you can grab Suppresors for this role

 

 

Reivers are really good when filling brigades as well being a flexible unit at 80-90pts unfortunately Wolves can't take 1 or 2 primaris Apothecaries to fill the elite slots

 

All in All...I don't think Space Wolves can really boost reivers to their max potential be the Alpha Strike/flash bang unit without having codex marine traits or codex warlord traits/buffs. Which is what I use them for. I am looking to tailor my wolves into an armored rush using impulsors with Ragnar. I may try using the assault vehicle rule to rush reivers up to trap and flash bang before ragnar charges

Edited May 6, 2020 by Debauchery101

[Valerian]

Debauchery, you can’t Charge with your Reivers after you’ve used Temporal Corridor on them.

[Debauchery101]

Debauchery, you can’t Charge with your Reivers after you’ve used Temporal Corridor on them.

Well you're right but I'm also so used to having a buff that allows you to do so via Raven Guard warlord trait. Which brings us to my final statement of the wolves not being able to boost them to max potential. With raptors most of my CP is used pre game for 2xWarlord traits, master upgrades, relics and deepstrike options.

I know this can be achieved with Saga of the Hunter but since the buff starts at the end of the phase it takes the first strike option out

 

 

Now I've been scheming also to use raptors and wolves together. Raptors provide pretty much the ultimate potential to tarpit enemies and pick off characters prior to wolves closing the gap for hth. I'd probably go easy on pregame upgrades with CP because Wolves have some of the best ever Stratagems to make their damage output ridiculous. Like yeah 6+extra hits is cool but you can still use touch of the wild(all characters) and vicious executioners (wolf guard, which includes battleleaders) to shred anything on anyturn

Edited May 6, 2020 by Debauchery101

[Arentius]

 

I've been wondering this, it seems like a good match. Ragnar wants to be in melee, reiver want to be in melee. Shield Impulsors are tough and can take them to combat, and Ragnar will boost the reivers. The issue is that impulsor will be a prime target.

 

 

Not with the list I've got, I've given them the tempting target of  a stormwolf full of hammer wulfen too, Incursors backed up by a Rune priest and wolf priest.

 

Make sure the impulsor stops within range of cloaked by the storm for that extra -1 to hit. (provided you've got first turn ofc). Many melee threats means they don't know what to focus...and currently more people want to kill the wulfen as thats the threat they know...Ragnar is massively underestimated and people still think Reivers are useless