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As I sit here and continuously ponder over my Raven Guard army I'm starting to wonder if Shadow Captain Shrike is worth the points. I absolutely love the model, partly the reason I switch to Raven Guard, and I want to continue using it but should I just use it as a Chapter Master or Captain instead?

Here's some of the breakdowns I'm looking at...

Shrike - 185

Chapter Master - 175
-Jump Pack, 2x Lightning Claws

Master gives me +1 Wound, +1 Attack and Orbital Bombardment that Shrike doesn't have. Saves me 10 points too.

Captain - 135
-Jump Pack, 2x Lightning Claws

Cpt. doesn't give me extra stats, just saves me 50 points.

Hell I could even swap out the 2x Lightning Claws for The Burning Blade (+25 pts more) or Teeth of Terra (+5 pts more).

Now granted I lose a bunch by giving up Shrike.
-Warlord Trait: Angel of Death (Fear USR)
-Raven Guard Chapter Tactics by default (I can still choose them anyway)
-See, But Remain Unseen (Stealth and Infiltrate for him and his unit, Jump Infantry only)
-His upgraded Lighting Claws (Master-crafted and Rending)

What's your thoughts on Shrike? Is he worth it as is? If I was to still use the model in place of a Master/Cpt. how would you kit him out?

They wrote an article about this in Bell of Lost Souls.com

The verdict was very negative.

The warlord trait isn't that great, I'd miss the infiltrate part and the rending lightning claws I think

 Red Marine wrote:
They wrote an article about this in Bell of Lost Souls.com

The verdict was very negative.

I read that article as well. Wondering if that was the view overall or just one person perspective. Just hate being stuck with a model I love that isn't that great on the table.

His loadout is mediocre, and you pay a lot for a buff to just a single unit. In batreps, I've only ever see him die.

I have a huge raven guard army as well. So let me give it to you straight. Raven Guard are a strong army but the build is just not what it used to be. It used to be shrike with termies, and bunch of scouts maybe some storms and jumpers.

Well now it's like 120 marines in rhinos that scout forward and split into combat squads and say come get me. Think a drop pod force that doesn't come in piece meal and can't be countered with interceptor.

Does skrike work in that list? Sure. But it's not very shrikey. And he's expensive and the points could be put elsewhere.

I kinda like the dominions, ravenguard, cotaez think Ihave going at the moment, with liber hereticus for another scouting unit.

In anycase, it's a very BOO! list.

He seems to be a gimme Victory Point, easy to kill Warlord and all.

He's definitely not as big of a threat as he used to be for sure. I still like him though. I partner him up with an assault squad and a Chaplain with a jump pack. I infiltrate them in and in the right conditions he runs amok in the backfield. This is assuming you have other big threats in play.

He's not my go to HQ truth be told. I have a CM on a bike with the burning blade and artificer armor that I love using. Is he ultra fluffy? No. Is it awesome have an HQ choice who can tangle with some of the big bads though? Yes, yes it is.

Dustin V wrote:
He's definitely not as big of a threat as he used to be for sure. I still like him though. I partner him up with an assault squad and a Chaplain with a jump pack. I infiltrate them in and in the right conditions he runs amok in the backfield. This is assuming you have other big threats in play.

He's not my go to HQ truth be told. I have a CM on a bike with the burning blade and artificer armor that I love using. Is he ultra fluffy? No. Is it awesome have an HQ choice who can tangle with some of the big bads though? Yes, yes it is.

There is a better beatstick.

Haha, yeah that's true. My CM isn't fluffy by any means but I do play an RG army so I am just going to have to hope that they release a supplemental codex for Raven Guard and hope there is some decent wargear in there to make my CM more killy.

Would Cypher do the same thing infiltrate wise?

Has he ever been a great choice?

I was looking at Shrike today too and thinking how nice it would be to infiltrate Vanguard. He's actually 5 points cheaper than my Bike Captain.

darkcloak wrote:
I was looking at Shrike today too and thinking how nice it would be to infiltrate Vanguard. He's actually 5 points cheaper than my Bike Captain.

I'd pay 5pts for +1T and Jink all day.

You could try Korvydae (IA 8). Cheaper and assault marines become troops (as long as you bring a scout unit)

I have a metal OOP shrike, raven guard was one of my first armies. I really really wish shrike was at least decent, but he isn't. Considering you can get 5 termies with LC's for the same price, it really shows how bad he is for the points. He is probably the worst HQ choice, especially considering the only build that is even close t competitive for raven guard is rhino spam (or bike spam, but that really doesn't matter on Chapter Tactics).

As has been said before, Smashbane is 1,000x better, clan Raukaan's version is the best HQ option in the SM dex bar-none.