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I recently got into 40k, and am starting to assemble my first army (Raven Guard). I have made this first list that uses all of the miniatures I own.

Some pointers, This is not a list per se, but rather all of my stuff together, as I'm planning to mostly run games like Kill Team and up to 1000 points. More than advice on the list, I'm looking for advice on building the individual squads and pointers on optimal list building with what I have.

I'm planning to, in the near future, expand the army with some drop pods, rhinos, vanguard vets and scouts, also thinking of getting another Captain that works better with a RG army (current one is termi cap from BaC), but as of now, I can't add much to it.

I'm asking for C&C on the way I'm planning to build my units, so I can avoid pointless decisions and to keep it both simple points-wise and coherent fluff-wise.

This is what I've thought of so far, but any changes or suggestions are of course welcome.

Cheers!

1755pts Raven Guard Chapter Tactics

HQ (260pts)

-Captain (140pts) Terminator Armour, Chainfist, Combi-melta

-Chaplain (120pts) Power Armour, Crozius Arcanum, Jump Pack, Plasma Pistol


Elites (670pts)

-1x Contemptor Pattern Dreadnought (175pts) Multi-melta, Searchlight, Smoke Launchers

-Sternguard Veteran Squad (320pts) 7x Veteran [Bolt Pistol, Combi-melta] 1x Veteran Sergeant [Bolt Pistol, Combi-melta] 2x Veteran with Melta Gun

-Terminator Assault Squad (175pts) 4x Terminator [2x Lightning Claws] 1x Terminator Sergeant [2x Lightning Claws]


Troops (580pts)

-Tactical Squad (195pts) 1x Space Marine Sergeant [Plasma pistol, Power sword] 7x Space Marines 1x Space Marine with Plasma Gun 1x Space Marine with heavy bolter

-Tactical Squad (170pts) 1x Space Marine Sergeant [Boltgun, Chainsword, Meltabombs] 7x Space Marines 1x Space Marine with Meltagun 1x Space Marine with Missile Launcher

-Tactical Squad (215pts) 1x Space Marine Sergeant [Meltabombs, Plasma Pistol, Power Fist] 7x Space Marines 1x Space Marine With Missile Launcher 1x Space Marine With Plasma Gun


Fast Attack (245pts)

-Assault Squad (125pts) 1x Space Marine Sergeant [Combat Shield, Power Sword, Meltabombs]4x Space Marine [Jump Packs]

-Assault Squad (120pts) 1x Space Marine Sergeant [2x Lightning Claw, Meltabombs] 4x Space Marine [Jump Packs]

Welcome to 40k! A few questions/tips.

First, I love the melta gun enthusiasm on those sternguard, but you're looking at massive losses any time you lose a couple models there. Tone down the upgrades to bring it to a squad of 10 with a drop pod. That way, you can combat squad them to pop something open with the combis, and lay into whatever was inside with your other half packing special ammo.

The assault squad is going to die like that before it'll get a chance to do anything. If you can't find the points for a raider (which you should REALLY really do), a good ratio for assault terminators is generally 3 TH/SS 2 Lightning Claw. Gives you extra survivability and nasty strength 8 hits.

The tacticals - first, plasma pistols are almost never ever worth it. I see you've given the sergeant a power sword. Now, imagine your pistol blows up your serge and you've just killed 50 some odd points. You probably won't be needing both melta bombs AND a power fist on the same guy. It looks like you want to assault with your tacticals, which can SOMETIMES be a good idea if you have a numbers advantage or need to tie something up, but you're packing heavy weapons in the same squad. Not a terrible plan if you want to combat squad them and leave the heavy behind to camp, but then you've got a CC upgrade on a 5 man tactical squad and thats just asking to lose points. Especially without a transport of some kind. Either drop the heavy weapons, or change the CC weapons to combi guns and shoot things more.

First, welcome to Dakka.

Have you already built these models? Or do you just own them. Some of the wargear could use some work.

TDA captain is not bad, but not the best either. I personally replaced my BaC captain’s c-melta with a lightning claw. Makes him more focused as a CC machine. As-is, he’s very middle of the road. A little shooty, a little choppy. It makes him hard to fit into a squad.

Is your chaplain the BaC one? Might be hard to give him a jump pack. Also, avoid plasma pistols, pretty much everywhere. They are comically overpriced. That said, I left mine on my BaC guy, just because it looks awesome. Pistol swaps are easy.

Dread is fine. Both guns work if you wanted to go with the AsC.

I like my sternguard bare-bones, usually with a pair of HFs if anything. If you want to go melta heavy, I’d just go with a 5 man squad. More then that is overkill. I guess you could combat squad out of a pod and try for two tanks.

I sense the BaC terminators. Assault terminators, while good, need to TH/SS ones up front to soak plasma. Tactical terminators are mediocre, but fun. Frankly, I think building them with the HF and a chainfist would be more useful. Or get then a LR.

I’d keep your tac squads sarges a little lighter on gear. Combi to match the squad’s special. I might look into picking up a dev box for more heavy weapons. What you have is OK, but I’d prefer to see a MM to match the melta gun, and grav cannons pair well with plasma for a squad on the move. Rhinos/pods should also be on your to-buy list.

I like a pair of flamers in the assault squads. Also, invest in vet sarges here. I’d keep them simple with a power weapon. 2xLC seems a bit much for a 1W guy.

In summary, boys before toys.

Alright, then I'll keep the combi-weapons on the sternguards at 5. How about the meltaguns? Are they worth keeping? Or should I go 5 combi and 5 Bolter?

Yes, I'll be combat squadding most of my Tacs and Sterns.

Alright, I'll see if I can get some TH/SS bits. The Termies are gonna be magnetized, as I'm using the BaC ones, so they can be Normal Termis or assault ones.

I'm dropping the powerfist and making the tacticals more shooty. Every sergeant will carry a combi-weapon matching the special weapon for each squad.

How about changing the Tacs so 2 squads carry melta and one carries plasma? Which one is "better"?

Many thanks for the help.

--Edit, for Nevelon's Post--

I haven't built more than a pair of tacticals, I want to get my gear all decided before continuing.

The LC on the Termi Captain sounds actually very good to be able to pair him with the other termies.

Any suggestions on alt weapons for the Chappie?

I really want to get some LR for the termies, but It'll end at the back of my priority list as I don't intend to use them lots in 500- points games.

Yeah, The sarges have had their weaponry changed, I'll see if I can trade for some heavy weapons on my LGS.

Would it be reccomonded to add the 2 flamers to both assault squads, or only in one? I'm gonna give the sarges an upgrade and drop the lightning claws.

IMHO the only gun worth taking the special ammo away from the sternguard for is a HF. They actually have a lot of synergy with most of the special ammo, and operate in the same range my SG tend to find themselves in. Once you blow the combi-weapon alpha strike, you are going to be shooting at softer targets with the bolters, not tanks. Only two melta guns is not going to reliably kill a tank, and the rest of the squad is not going to be helping at that point.

It’s hard to say what the “best” option for a tactical squad is. A lot depends on overall army composition and who you are more likely to face across the table. The ones I tend to use are:

ML/F, basic sarge (I use these because tradition, they are my RTB01 squad from way back)
MM/M, c-melta sarge (solid AV presence, bolters for hordes)
HB/F, c-flamer (focused anti-infantry)

I’m still working on incorporating grav into my tactics, But a grav cannon mixed with either grav or plasma guns/combis would be a good anti-MC/heavy infantry unit. Which would be good to have in today’s meta.

I like my chaplains bare-bones. They are there to buff the squad, not be a personal killing machine. One of their perks is that they come well equipped for the points. A jump pack to keep up with a squad, and the odd melta bomb with spare points is about all mine sees. If I run one on foot (such as with a drop pod assault squad or in a LR with a choppy squad) I run Cassius. One of the perks of being an Ultramarine. I don’t know how handy you are with a hobby knife. The BaC chaplain has part of his cape attached to his backpack, which is why I thought it might be rough to switch him to a jump pack. Swapping the plasma pistol for a bolt pistol would be easy. If I could only have one (non-magnetized) chaplain in my collection, it would be jump pack, crozious/BP.

I like terminators, but they are not in the best place right now. They pay a lot for the 2+ save, and there is a ton of things out there that just ignore it. A LR is a good way to get them into combat, but then you are looking at a 450+ point box of pain. Not the best for small or even moderate sized games. And there are a lot of things that cut through AV14 as well. Lightning claws termis will blend MEQ, but how much of that do you need? I run with a pair of them in my TDA assault squad, but I’d not do a whole squad of them. One problem with the BaC terminators is if you want to run them shooty, they only have the HF as a heavy weapon. I normally run my shooting squads with an assault cannon and a chainfist.

I always run 2xflamers. You have the mobility to lay the templates down to cover as many guys as possible. You are giving up one CC attack every round (which might miss) for a number of automatic hits equal to the number of guys you can catch. There is the slight risk of burning so many guys that you have trouble making the charge, but that should be rare.