Raven Guard List - Post FAQ

If you look back a few posts you’ll see I took a Raven Guard list to LVO and DM3. Both lists were based on a Talon Strike Force, with a Battle Demi Company and Shadowstrike Kill Team. The heavy lifters in both lists were 3 tooled up Vanguard Squads. This relied on the Vanguard’s ability to come in from reserve, any turn I chose (including turn one), and assault out of deep strike. The lists differed in the Vanguard’s delivery mechanism.

The key is landing the Vanguard without scatter so they don’t mishap and are in guaranteed charge range. As part of the formation, you need to take 2-4 units of scouts. If the Vanguard deep strike within 9” of 2 of scout units, they don’t scatter. In the LVO list I had 4 units of scouts in Land Speeders Storms. I infiltrated them, scouted them into position, and deep struck off the LSS’s hulls. However, the problem was, if I wasn’t going first, the scouts needed to survive a turn of fire before I could bring in the Vanguard. Given how fragile Scouts are (even in Land Speeders Storms), first turn was pretty important.

Drop Pod Battle Company

I’ve always enjoyed playing drop pod armies. There’s something dramatic about deploying nothing, and then swamping the board with pods. It can also be pretty tactical. Picking your targets and pod placement is crucial. However they have one major drawback.  Once you’re down and out your pod, the army if pretty static.

Back From the Dead

Yet again, rumours of my death have been greatly exaggerated!!

After a dramatic start to the year (3 tournaments in 3 months Caledonian Uprising, LVO and Dark MIllenium 3), I hadn’t played a game of 40k until this weekend!! Real life has conspired against me, and the hobby has been on the back burner for some months – even to the extent that all my models, paints etc are packed away to the garage.

However, things have improved, and I’m getting back to playing with my toys again. Breaking news is I’m going to the LVO again in 2017. After this year I know I don’t want to sight see in Vegas (horrible place), and my hope that I would recover from jet lag by getting there early was plain silly. So next year it will be a flying visit – I fly in on the Thursday and out on the Monday. My gaming buddy isn’t joining me this year (he’s just back from the ETC, and feels that a trip to Vegas might just be a little OTT), but my brother is. So I’m going to fly half way around the world for 9 games of 40k, and to spend some time with my brother (who I only see a few times a year because he lives in the US). Sounds good to me!! 

But anyway, I played in a one day 20 man  RTT on Saturday. … and that’s really what this post’s about.

Raven Guard list

I’ve been thinking about the Vanguard Vets. Some comments suggested a reworking of their load out.

I’m not a “maths guy”, but I’ve done my best! The conclusion I’ve reached is that the load out I have is probably the most effective. I think it balances survivability, flexibility and efficiency reasonably well, while at the same time being pretty hard hitting. Other combinations (power mace, axes, melta bombs) just didn’t feel right. I have however made one change to the Vets, and some consequential changes to the rest of the list.

Further Raven Guard List Analysis

So I need to come to some sort of conclusion on the changes I plan to make on my list after the LVO and DM3. I also plan to reply to the really interesting comments by Jjpwyrm in this post.

As mentioned in my last post the main issues I found with the list were problems with flyers, problems with intercepting Tau, and fragility of the vanguard. I concluded that there was little I could do about flyers, adding in a grav centurion squad might work versus intercepting Tau, and trying to squeeze in 3 more Vanguard would allow me to combat squad one of the units creating a naked 5 man unit who could eat over watch.

So, after long hours with battle scribe, I’ve come up with a couple of options.

Raven Guard List

I think the list worked really well. Being able to get the alpha strike off reliably, whether I go first or second, and not needing to worry about getting seized on, is huge. All I sacrifice for it was 2 land speeder storms, and 2 Multi Meltas. Swapping out the Assault Squad for a bike squad is an improvement. Having a fast OB Sec unit is great, and with the Techmarine and the Chaplin, it’s no slouch in combat against anything short of a dedicated combat unit. And making the Techmarine the Warlord, give me a re-eoll on the Strategic Objective table, which is the only one worth taking with this list IMO.

Dark Millennium 3

I know, I know, 3 posts in as many days –what the hell’s going on – well, I’m loving playing 40k again!

Just back from another weekend Tourney – Dark Millennium 3, run by a good friend. This is the 3^rd year it’s run, and we had over 30 people at the weekend. Six gamers at 1,850pts, using the ETC missions and FAQ. A great weekend.

I took a variation of the list I used at the LVO.