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I got 9 reavers during christmas from my brother and I have wanted to use them in a list but im not really sure what to do with them. So I kinda would like some help on how to use them.

They suffer from being not as good at what they do as other units in the codex, although they do have the advantage of being in one of the weaker sections of the Codex (ironic that FA would be the weak section for DE, but meh!)

If I were you, I would run them as mobile tank hunters, fitting them with blasters or heat lances, turbo boost on turn one to close range and get a cover save, then go for the most immediate threat. They are very fragile though, so don't expect them to last much past turn two or three on a regular basis.

azreal13 wrote:They suffer from being not as good at what they do as other units in the codex, although they do have the advantage of being in one of the weaker sections of the Codex (ironic that FA would be the weak section for DE, but meh!)

If I were you, I would run them as mobile tank hunters, fitting them with blasters or heat lances, turbo boost on turn one to close range and get a cover save, then go for the most immediate threat. They are very fragile though, so don't expect them to last much past turn two or three on a regular basis.

I knew about the tank hunting idea but what about their bladevanes stuff is that good or just gimmicky. Plus i was thinking of a using a arena champion with them.

They are too expensive and fragile to not be turboboosting around getting a 3+ cover save and hitting people with their blade vanes. I fit mine with 2 heat lances as well, but almost never use them. Whats better for dealing with say, longfangs, than a 9 man squad of turbo boosting jetbikes that can smash through them and then keep on going > Just be VERY wary of units that will be in range to assault them and avoid that situation like the plague XD

It's an option to go bladevanes, no doubt. My one thought would be they're a tad more situational than high strength shooting, which will have an application against most any army, whereas bladevanes are only really optimum against hordes. Sure you can have a pop at meqs with them, but they don't really have the ap to do real damage (a unit of 9 with caltrops wouldn't suck though)
As for arena champions? No, they are an assault upg character for a unit that should be avoiding assault if at all possible, and therefore a waste of points.

I did up a very long post on this very topic - its on another forum... will post it here when i get home later

azreal13 wrote:It's an option to go bladevanes, no doubt. My one thought would be they're a tad more situational than high strength shooting, which will have an application against most any army, whereas bladevanes are only really optimum against hordes. Sure you can have a pop at meqs with them, but they don't really have the ap to do real damage (a unit of 9 with caltrops wouldn't suck though)
As for arena champions? No, they are an assault upg character for a unit that should be avoiding assault if at all possible, and therefore a waste of points.

thanks for the tips. I have been trying to use some of the stuff my bro got me for christmas instead of borrowing stuff or proxying stuff. I have been looking for something that I could use that is good against my main opponet who plays crons. Since were still learning our codexes. So i was hoping to friend some tips on reavers to use against his crons.

Honestly reavers are probably #3 in the FA slot.
WIth number 1 being beasts and 2 being scourges.
Beasts do better at killing infantry and scourges kill vehicles better...well cheaper anyway.
The edge scourges have is small unit size. Groups of 3 as a suicide unit can be annoying and if they get destroyed then at least it was cheap to buy, but if they work even once they have their points back.
Groups of 6 get outclassed by 5 scourges, as in I can get as close as you and get the same number of shots, break and not rally at the same point and cost the same per model but they need one less. 9 reavers is just a huge footprint and a lot of points.
Bladevanes are gimmicky that's really all there is to them.

Bladevanes are gimiky but can be nice to remove cover from certain models as there is no LOS.

Reavers can be a ton of FUN but are not too competitive. Scourges are better as posted above but Reavers are faster, much faster and with that you can frustrate your opponent endlessly.

Be VERY careful to avoid heavy flamers, turbo cover does not protect against it and wounds you on 3+

If you have 9 Reavers... suicide them for ultimate harassment units.

Like 3x 3man Reavers, each with one Blasters.

Most folks don't like that idea.. but, I started with Orks and in almost every list, I do 3x solo DeffKoptas with TL-rokkits and Buzzsaw (aka, Green Barons).

What this does is that if nothing else, they'll shoot at the reavers... thus, theorectically giving your other units time to move or another round of shooting.

Reavers work well for the blade attacks just make sure you take the caltrops. So 6 bikes yields 2d6 S6 and 4d3 S4 hits. I have found these invaluable as ways to kill MC especially demon lords and princes. The problem with them is I would say you want 2 units of 6 so that is a lot of points.

They can set up other squads for gaining pain tokens and forces an opponent to bunch up. However they do tend to die early so make sure their attacks count.

As far as shooting, due to low T (4) and low armor save (5+) I don't like shooting them until I at least have a pain token on the unit. Otherwise it is turbo boost/bladevain with an eye for setting up next turn's bladevain attacks.

Take your blasters/heat lances (both are good) so that when they are reduced in strength, they can kill the odd duck vehicle that strays too close.