Goatboy’s 40k Review: Ravenguard Campaign Update – Yay or Nay?
Goatboy here again and I figure it is about time for a full review of some new 40k product – The brand new Raven Guard!
While the Tau are out and fresh I would rather chatter on about some of the new Marine stuff. I will tackle the White Scars update next but figured I would go with the lesser “played” chapter with the new Raven Guard rules. As a whole I found them to be interesting, fun, and actually a benefit to the game in general. I don’t think there is much “power” stink in there and all the options seem really fluffy and a part of the Raven Guard Mythos. So with that in mine – here is a basic Review breakdown.
Chapter Tactics & Relics
We’ll start at the top of the release. The Chapter Tactics stay the same and we have an updated Warlord trait table. You can also take Relics from both sets – the Raven Guard and the regular Space Marine relics. So basically you cannot escape the Shield Eternal love. Oh and a Single Scout Sarge can get a special Sniper Rifle. FLUFFY!!! The Warlord Traits are mostly Fluffy with one having a change to be powerful. Being able to subtract one from the ending Game turn roll could be extremely useful when you over extend into a winning position. The Vanish into the Night option seems neat but only being able to move a D6 means it will be less useful to get the heck out of dodge. The amount of ignore cover that we are starting to see limits some of the other options as well. As usually – you will be rolling on the Strategic Warlord Traits.
The Relics are alright with most filling in as a fluffy option. The super sniper rifle is pretty neat with added in Armorbane. Plus you get to shoot at a different target then your unit if needed. The Shadow Armour sounds neat but with some much ignore cover your abilities to be stealthed or shrouded if you didn’t move isn’t worth it. The 2+ armor save is nice though and you could make for an interesting character on a bike with feathers flying all over the place. Swiftstrike and Murder both combo up to be a neat option. If only it had rending or some other way to get around 2+ armor. There is also a cool bolter that is cheap enough to throw on a Chaplain or other “non” crazy combat option character. It throws out a decent amount of shots and with precision strike you could forge a narrative of killing that leader character before you plow in.
The “Decurion”
The army has a new “Decurion”-style formation that gives you some interesting rules as well. The best ability is getting to re-roll who deploys first. A lot of this game is starting to head into the Null Deploy and hope to not go first territory as armies try to lessen the alpha strike and utilize the power of the beta strike. This ability is pretty dang strong for a decurion. You do lose Objective Secured which is rough. You also have the option to have things come from reserves on the first turn on a 4+. There are some combos with this ability in other formations so this is another “powerful” rule. You also get the neat rule of being able to fall back whenever your want. I can see some lists that utilize this rope a dope action to get armies to come closer as you pull back, regroup, and move in for the bolter kill. The Decurion has all the new formations plus a new Battle Company as well. It has most of the other marine Formations and this gives a pretty robust army building organization to utilize.
The new Battle Company option for this army is pretty powerful. It starts out the same – with Captain/Chaplain, 3 Tactical Squads, 0-1 Command Squads, 1 Assault Squad and 1 Devastator Squad. From there you can add in 1-5 Scouts/Scout Bikers as an option. The powerful rules they get is that the Scout Sarges can spot for another unit that is within 9 inches from them. That new unit gets Ignore Cover. This is pretty strong as you can easily set up for a devastating Alpha Strike if you go first and your 4+ friends get in close. The other interesting rule is the Scouts can lead another unit from reserves. You don’t roll for the other unit and when the Scouts come in the other unit follows them in from the same side if you outflanked or table edge. You can’t deep strike in but you could easily have a ton of guys lead in by their scout friends. The unit that is lead in gets Stealth as well if they stay within 9 inches. 9 Inches is kind of a weird measurement as normally you see most 40k stuff set in 12 inch bubbles. Still all of these rules really brings out the idea of having a strong Null Deployment option for your army if you wanted. This could help versus other Gladius and let you sneak in for a quick punch.
Raven Guard Formations
There is a bunch of formations that run from being fluffy to being pretty powerful. I will go through them and try to gauge them as best as I can. A lot of this stuff is going to have to fight through the power of the normal Gladius. I still see some gems in here that help boost up some alright units and might see some play on the battlefield.
Bladewing Assault Brotherhood
First – that is a lot of words to ram together for a formation name. It should just be called the Bladewing as adding all the other stuff makes it sound like some kind of weird Fraternity. It is made up of 1 Captain/Chaplain, 1-3 Vanguard Veterans and 2-4 Assault squads. Total models you can have is 30 in this formation. Kinda weird they limit you especially when they sell an expensive assault marine kit. They all have to wear Jump Packs, have cool feathers dangling off of their belts, and have cool nick names like Dark Murder or The Depth of Darkness. They get the ability to get the heck out of there once a game even if locked in combat and go into ongoing reserves. That is a pretty interesting ability as you can quickly change up the landscape of the battle. You also have the ability to land in a line because you are coming down off of a Thunderhawk. You can reroll your scatter too. The unit also happens to come in all at once so if it is full of guys you can have a huge advantage by dumping a ton of marines down. If only the Vanguard Vets could still heroically assault after they land. Overall this is one of those fluffy formations that could be fun but probably won’t be impressive on the battlefield.
Ravenhawk Assault Group
This name just seems so lame when you have some of the others. Why use Group? Why not use just use Formation as it sounds a lock cooler. I guess then it would be called the Ravenhawk Assault Formation Formation. Ok that sounds dumb as heck too. Anyway this formation is made up of 1 Sternguard Squad, 1 Dreadnought (Ironclad, Regular flavored, or Aged) and a Storm Raven. I call this a point and buy unit as it is 3 things you normally don’t buy. Hell I could see this as an Xmas special boxed set. The extra rules are kinda lame as it basically says when it first comes in you can pick a unit and everything rerolls against it. Also the Storm Raven comes in via Deepstrike and has to hover when it lands. Basically this is a snoozefest for a formation.
Skyhammer Orbital Strikeforce
If this doesn’t sound like a 90’s Saturday morning kid show then I don’t know what does. This one is pretty basic in composition – 3 sets of Tactical marines plus a unit of speeders. They get to pick a point on the field when they come in from deep strike and any enemy within 12 inches of that has the formation reroll failed hits and wounds of 1 against them. Also any unit only scatters d6 within 12 inches of this spot and the tacticals can sorta battle focus to get closer (Run and then shoot). The name is the coolest thing from this formation and its rules are ok. It sounds like there is a lot of set up for it and you need to drop the speeders first and then the Pods to make sure you don’t give your opponent first blood.
Raptor Wing
Name isn’t terrible and it fits the formation composition. You get 2 Storm Talons and a unit of speeders. The Storm Talons come in on Turn 2 automatically so that is pretty neat. You also get to nominate enemy unit within 18 inches with a speeders and the Talons get to reroll everything when shooting at that unit (Wounds, penetrations, hits). This isn’t a terrible formation and gives you some neat Anti Air if you wanted to run a set of Talon Twins.
Shadow Force
It seems they have stopped adding a word to imply they are all part of something. This one is made up of a Captain, 1 Sternguard Unit, 1 Vanguard Veteran Unit, and 1 unit of Speeders. This is an interesting group as you can have it on other Chapters as they allow you to take any other “captain character”. This formation gets a bunch of movement rules (Acute Senses, Scout, Move through Cover) and can reroll their run distance if a nonvehicle or go an extra 6″ if in a vehicle and they flat out. I kinda wish this was one of the rules you could get in on the battle company as I think it would be a great way to not have to be White Scars and get scout. Still it is a pretty fluffy formation.
Shadowstrike Kill Team
Now here is where we get the interesting formation. I dare say this one is pretty powerful as it breaks a few rules and can combo up with the Demi Company to create a rather – rough situation for an opponent. The make up is 2-4 Scout Squads plus 1-3 Vanguard Veterans. The first rule is that the vanguard Vets can choose to pass a reserve roll. The next rule allows them to assault after deep striking. They also don’t scatter if within 9 inches of 2 scout squads. This little combo seems pretty strong as you can create some first turn assaults and other shenanigans if needed. I do like being able to choose when you come in and if you have this added onto the Decurion you can get a sweet first turn assault. Of course you are telegraphing this pretty hard for your opponent but it seems pretty strong in most circumstances.
The Raven Guard Verdict?
Overall the Raven Guard Supplement/Campaign Rules/Extras seem pretty fluffy. The power level isn’t near where the White Scars supplement is but it still seems decent enough to be good on most table tops. It does feel very fluffy and fits the overall theme of the chapter. I wish we had more things like this for the armies instead of massed bullets, D Templates, and other “model removing” combos. Next week I break down the White Scars Supplement and how it has one of the more format breaking relics in the game.
Initial combo list using the Shadowstrike Kill team plus dumb Ally combos. Only viable if whatever event, house rule, etc have characters join up with the Vanguard Vets and get to Assault. it is a sticky situation and this is the 2nd unit that allows you to charge after Deep strike. The question is always – when does a Unit change what it is by adding in special characters. I am not sure if this is as powerful as people worry about as you can’t have Thunder Wolves assault etc.
Goatboy’s Raven Guard List
Blood Angels CAD + Space Wolves Champs of Fenris Detachment we all Hate + Shadowstrike Kill Team
Blood Angels
Sanguinary Priest, The Angel’s Wing, Lightning Claw
Chaplain, Jump Pack, Vitae Ver thingie – Warlord
Tactical Squad X 5, Meltagun, Combi-Melta, Drop Pod, Locator Beacon
Tactical Squad X 5, Meltagun, Combi-Melta, Drop Pod, Locator Beacon
Tactical Squad X 5, Meltagun, Combi-Melta, Drop Pod, Locator Beacon
Champs of Fenris
WGBL, Runic Armor, SS, Powerfist, Jump Pack
WGBL, Runic Armor, SS, Powerfist, Jump Pack
WGBL, Runic Armor, SS, Powerfist, Jump Pack
WGBL, Runic Armor, Wolf Claws X 2, Jump Pack, Armor of Russ
Servitor
Servitor
Shadowstrike Kill Team
Scout Squad x 5, Combi-Grav
Scout Squad x 5, Combi-Grav
Scout Squad X 5, Combi-Grav
Scout Squad X 5, Combi-Grav
Vanguard Vet Squad X 10 – 5 SS/PF, 5 Power Axe/Bolt Pistol, Jump Packs
So this list just is kinda dumb and trying to cram a ton of crap into one unit plus lots of locator beacons and other nonsense. It probably wouldn’t work but it isn’t the normal deathstar you see out there and it covers the table in guys. But again – it probably doesn’t work that well. My points might be off too – as some things did not show up to choose in one of the many builders so I had to hope they added up. Plus my son was whining while building this so I could be off. Anyway it isn’t bikes, it isn’t thunderwolves, it is instead Jump Packs for days!
~Victorus Aut Mortis
