40K: Raven Guard Chapter Focus
Curious about the Raven Guard’s Chapter Tactics? Well wait never more because GW is back with a preview!
The Raven Guard are getting some extra love this week from Games Workshop as the Space Marines new Codex is getting more and more teasers. The Sons of Corax are today’s highlighted chapter and their ability is pretty mean vs armies with a lot of shooting:
Shadow Masters is one of the most versatile and powerful new Chapter Tactics, offering a great bonus for all sorts of armies. Raven Guard Scouts now live up to their reputation in the background, and units of snipers with camo cloaks will be incredibly difficult to displace from cover, while other ranged support units like Devastators, Intercessors and even ranged Dreadnoughts will benefit hugely from better defences against shooting. Like all the new Chapter Tactics, the purpose of this rule is to reward focused army building with powerful benefits that allow for a range of viable armies.
You better look out, or rather, take careful aim when firing at the Raven Guard. A minus 1 to any hit rolls might not seem like a big deal at first, but it can really swing the shooting in favor of the target. Trust me, as a Tyranid player with venomthropes my gaunts LOVE the -1 to hit rolls. Now that something as beefy as a Space Marine is getting it… Let’s just say it’s going to up their survival rate!
Kayvaan Shrike is back to lead his chapter as well. His ability allows his Raven Guard Jump Pack units to reroll their charge ranges! That’s perfect for pulling off those daring assault charges the Raven Guard are known for!
But let’s say you prefer to run more “generic” characters – after all Shrike is the Chapter Master, he can’t be at EVERY deployment, right? Well good news because the Raven Guard are getting their own unique Warlord Trait: Silent Stalker! This “prevents enemies from firing Overwatch” – now before anyone freaks out, it’s unclear if that only applies to the character, an aura around the character, or army wide. We’re betting it’s definitely NOT army wide.
The Raven Guard are also getting a unique Chapter Relic “Raven’s Fury” which allows a jump pack character to move faster and reroll charge ranges! When you combine the Chapter Tactics, the Warlord Trait and the Chapter Relic you’re going to have one tough target to avoid – it’s almost like the Raven Guard are good at getting up close and personal…
Games Workshop also teased a few more Stratagems as well. First off the unique Chapter Stratagem is called “Strike From the Shadows” and it allows you to do the following:
[Strike From the Shadows] allows “you to hold units back at the start of the game and deploy them anywhere more than 9″ away from the enemy just before the game begins.”
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Similar to old school infiltrate this Stratagem is really powerful. Want to pull off a first turn charge with your Assault Marines? Maybe you want to get your new Hellblasters into optimum range? Or… well, you get the idea!
Another Stratagem GW teased is the “flyer-busting flakk missile.” Now, we have virtually zero information on this one but I’ll let you speculate on what this one does. Obviously it’s some AA firepower – but that’s the only real hint we got.
The Space Marine Codex is coming soon – ready your forces and prepare for war!
What do you think of the Raven Guard’s rules? Are you ready to sneak-in and achieve your objectives?
