40K: Primaris Reivers Rules Prei-view
Reivers are the Shock Troops of the Primaris. With powerful weapons and abilities they can wreak havoc on the battlefield.
GW has just reivealed the reivers–at least a little. While we still don’t have an exact summary of their rules, we’ve got a good at their capabilities today. As mentioned, they’re all about assaulting units your enemy really doesn’t want assaulted. With wargear that disrupts an enemy’s ability to shoot back, and a special rule that allows them to modify leadership checks, these units are sure to ruin the day of even the best laid plans of a gunline.
So for tips on how to terrorize those troops, read on.
via Warhammer Community
For weapons, the Reivers are equipped with heavy bolt pistols and combat blades. Effectively, this is a very similar configuration to most assault units and will function just as well, piling on a huge number of potential hits. Each Reiver will be attacking 3 times in the fight phase, meaning that even a small squad has a high potential damage output. Compared to an Assault Squad, you’re trading the ability to take special weapons for more Wounds and more Attacks. The heavy bolt pistols are very useful – unlike most pistol carrying units, these aren’t just an additional free shooting attack but also modify the enemy’s saves by -1; possibly enough to contribute key casualties to a difficult combat.
Where the Reivers really shine is with their special issue wargear and abilities. The shock grenade, in particular, makes the Reivers very dangerous, as it prevents enemies from firing overwatch and subtracts 1 from their hit rolls. Used to directly support the Reivers and other assault units, this is a great way to mitigate your opponent’s defences against charges, such as units that possess additional Ballistic Skill when firing overwatch or flamers. By modifying hit rolls, these also allow the Reivers to maximise their effectiveness as disruption units, using their grenades to weaken one shooting unit and then charging another to tie it up in combat.
Pretty neat stuff. And we know that they’ve got the same basic statline as most Primaris Marines. With the same armo(u)r saves and extra wound that we’ve come to know and love (or loathe, depending on which end of the Primaris you’re on). And those bolt pistols being str 4 ap -1 can help them punch through weaker units with aplomb. Really though, those shock grenades seem like they’ll be clutch. Penalizing to hit rolls is an incredibly powerful tactic in this edition. Especially since you can’t reroll until after the modifiers have applied. What’s hilarious is that shock grenades make overcharged plasma even more deadly to the firer–but you never want to overcharge anyway. Moving on:
The signature rule of the Reivers is called Terror Troops and represents their terrifying presence on the battlefield. In-game, this forces nearby enemy units to subtract 1 from their Leadership. Like shock grenades, you’ll have to be deep in enemy lines to maximise the effectiveness of this ability, but it’s worth noting that this doesn’t just directly aid the Reivers themselves but also their fellow Battle-brothers. If one of your opponent’s gunline units is caught fighting Reivers, units within 3” will also be suffering penalties to their Leadership (we imagine that if a bunch of skull-faced giants were tearing up your mates, you’d be a little demoralised as well). In practice, this penalty is a great way to rack up more losses from morale for your opponent, either in thinning out hordes or attempting to force losses against more elite units.
All told, these guys look like they’ll be a hard to deal with harasser unit. Hitting with all the punch of the Primaris while tearing up the backline. How will your Primaris fare? Only one way to find out.
Pre-order your Primaris today–and knowing the Reivers, the moment you pre-order them, they’re already there. Right behind you.
