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Raven Guard Chapter Tactics:

HQ
Captain on Bike w/ Shield Eternal and Force Axe
Techmarine on Bike

Troops
5 man Tactical Squad w/ Lascannon in Razorback with Assault Cannon, Storm Bolter and Hunter-Killer Missiles
5 man Tactical Squad w/ Lascannon in Razorback with Assault Cannon, Storm Bolter and Hunter-Killer Missiles
5 man Tactical Squad w/ Lascannon in Razorback with Assault Cannon, Storm Bolter and Hunter-Killer Missiles
5 man Tactical Squad w/ Lascannon in Razorback with Assault Cannon, Storm Bolter and Hunter-Killer Missiles

Heavy
Predator w/ Twin Lascannon and Lascannon Sponsoons, Storm Bolter and Hunter-Killer Missiles
Predator w/ Twin Lascannon and Lascannon Sponsoons, Storm Bolter and Hunter-Killer Missiles
Predator w/ Twin Lascannon and Lascannon Sponsoons, Storm Bolter and Hunter-Killer Missiles

Flyer
Stormraven Gunship w/ Twin Assault Cannon, Twin Heavy Bolter and Two Hurricane Bolters


Expecting to face Marines, Space Wolves, Imperial Knights, Tau and Tyranids
Around 1960 points, not sure if the HQ choices are correct and perhaps I could cut the vehicle upgrades to take another unit? C&C welcome, I'll take all the help I can get

Actually love this list.

Plenty of soldiers on the board. 7 vehicle hulls. loads of ranged punch, lots of multi-damage weapons. I like it! for that expected enemy lineup, this list looks ace

I feel like I would prefer something other than lascannons on the tac squads, but thats a super minor nitpick. Looks like a solid list, I play wolves and nids and this would be pretty annoying to face LOL.

Thanks for the feedback! I wasn't sure about lascannons on the troops, would something like plasma gun and combi plasma or flamer and combi flamer be preferable?

Yeah looks good, I'd probably swap out a couple of those las cannons for missle so you can have some flexiblity if facing hoardes. There's not much of a drop off in effectiveness for Krak vs Lascannon vs medium armour.
You could also maybe drop one of the Razorbacks and stick a Tac squad with melta and flamer in the stormraven. Might free up some points for some scouts for a bit of early board control.
But that's all minor stuff, it's a list that would cause a lot of armies headaches!

Hmm I'll think about missiles, the only reason i didn't use the raven as a transport is that i was a little scared of putting all my eggs in one basket. Thanks for the advice.

I also think about missile launchers. Maybe two of the squads with them.

How about using Salamander tactics for the re-rolls on key models like Lascannon/Missile tacticals ?

HQ
Captain w/ Jump Pack, Thunder Hammer and Storm Shield, Iron Resolve trait
Librarian on Bike w/ Armor Indomitus and Force Axe, knows Null Zone and Might of Discipline? (Unsure on second choice)

Troops
5 man Tactical Squad w/ Missile Launcher in Razorback with Assault Cannon, Storm Bolter and Hunter-Killer Missiles
5 man Tactical Squad w/ Missile Launcher in Razorback with Assault Cannon, Storm Bolter and Hunter-Killer Missiles
5 man Tactical Squad w/ Lascannon in Razorback with Assault Cannon, Storm Bolter and Hunter-Killer Missiles
5 man Tactical Squad w/ Lascannon in Razorback with Assault Cannon, Storm Bolter and Hunter-Killer Missiles

Heavy
Predator w/ Twin Lascannon and Lascannon Sponsoons, Storm Bolter
Predator w/ Twin Lascannon and Lascannon Sponsoons, Storm Bolter
Predator w/ Twin Lascannon and Lascannon Sponsoons, Storm Bolter

Flyer
Stormraven Gunship w/ Twin Assault Cannon, Twin Heavy Bolter and Two Hurricane Bolters

The goal of this change was to give my HQ choices clear roles, as well as introduce a few Missile Launchers. Thoughts?

Wow, this is so many wasted points. Lots of vehicles that dont get the -1 to hit chapter tactic, nothing to strike from the shadows, lascan preds are overpriced, no heavy bolters for hellfire shells, no ML for flakk missile, no dev squad with cherub for double use of flakk missile and hellfire shells.

Use contemptor mortis dreadnoughts to replace the preds. They hit on 2+, they have a 5+ inv sv, they have -1 to hit, have two twin lascannons as well, can actually fight back in CC when being attacked, with 4 attacks hitting on 2+, with S7 AP0 D1. All of this for 206 pts. The quad lascannon predator for 190 pts is worse in every way, no inv sv, hitting on 3+, no -1 to hit, does nothing in CC. He is only better at movement.

I suppose so, however I can get three predators off a friend for £60, while three contemptor dreads will cost around £160

 p5freak wrote:
Wow, this is so many wasted points. Lots of vehicles that dont get the -1 to hit chapter tactic, nothing to strike from the shadows, lascan preds are overpriced, no heavy bolters for hellfire shells, no ML for flakk missile, no dev squad with cherub for double use of flakk missile and hellfire shells.

Use contemptor mortis dreadnoughts to replace the preds. They hit on 2+, they have a 5+ inv sv, they have -1 to hit, have two twin lascannons as well, can actually fight back in CC when being attacked, with 4 attacks hitting on 2+, with S7 AP0 D1. All of this for 206 pts. The quad lascannon predator for 190 pts is worse in every way, no inv sv, hitting on 3+, no -1 to hit, does nothing in CC. He is only better at movement.

To be fair most competitions don't allow Forge World models because they aren't properly balanced. Which means you'll be buying models to use in an unbalanced way against friends and then not use them at competitions and need to buy Las Preds anyway. If you compare a Las pred to a stabdard drednought then the comparison is much closer.

 small_gods wrote:

To be fair most competitions don't allow Forge World models because they aren't properly balanced. Which means you'll be buying models to use in an unbalanced way against friends and then not use them at competitions and need to buy Las Preds anyway. If you compare a Las pred to a stabdard drednought then the comparison is much closer.

If balancing is an issue, some GW models, like knights, should be banned as well. Compare a knight to a land raider, or a quad lascannon predator. Knights are OP².

How about I replace the Predators for three venerable dreads with twin lascannons and missile launchers? This gives me lots of upsides such as 2+ bs, salamander tactics, stats that dont deteriorate over time Etc. The point savings also allow me to take a 5 man vanguard veteran squad with a TH/SS veteran to escort the captain, thoughts?

 Redluck78 wrote:
How about using Salamander tactics for the re-rolls on key models like Lascannon/Missile tacticals ?

HQ
Captain w/ Jump Pack, Thunder Hammer and Storm Shield, Iron Resolve trait
Librarian on Bike w/ Armor Indomitus and Force Axe, knows Null Zone and Might of Discipline? (Unsure on second choice)

Troops
5 man Tactical Squad w/ Missile Launcher in Razorback with Assault Cannon, Storm Bolter and Hunter-Killer Missiles
5 man Tactical Squad w/ Missile Launcher in Razorback with Assault Cannon, Storm Bolter and Hunter-Killer Missiles
5 man Tactical Squad w/ Lascannon in Razorback with Assault Cannon, Storm Bolter and Hunter-Killer Missiles
5 man Tactical Squad w/ Lascannon in Razorback with Assault Cannon, Storm Bolter and Hunter-Killer Missiles

Heavy
Predator w/ Twin Lascannon and Lascannon Sponsoons, Storm Bolter
Predator w/ Twin Lascannon and Lascannon Sponsoons, Storm Bolter
Predator w/ Twin Lascannon and Lascannon Sponsoons, Storm Bolter

Flyer
Stormraven Gunship w/ Twin Assault Cannon, Twin Heavy Bolter and Two Hurricane Bolters

The goal of this change was to give my HQ choices clear roles, as well as introduce a few Missile Launchers. Thoughts?

I'd ditch the JP on the Captain and the Bike on the Librarian, would free up some points there. It does seem awfully light on numbers for 2k. I'd also consider dropping a Predator, allowing you to get some more boots on the ground, and some Sniper Scouts may be good to deter DS units.

 Redluck78 wrote:
How about I replace the Predators for three venerable dreads with twin lascannons and missile launchers? This gives me lots of upsides such as 2+ bs, salamander tactics, stats that dont deteriorate over time Etc. The point savings also allow me to take a 5 man vanguard veteran squad with a TH/SS veteran to escort the captain, thoughts?

Sounds good. I have had good success with dual twin autocannon dreads. 8 shots with S7 AP-1 D2 hitting on 2+.

Honestly I think your tooled up for some armies but are vulnerable to others.

Against Knights, the volume of lascannons will certainly help and dividing your units into MSU will be very effective. You may find your assault cannons lacking against a pure Knight army however as their lowest toughness is 7 but that said, they are very useful every other opponent.

Against Tyranids and Tau, your list is optimised. Lascannons for the big stuff, assault cannons for the gaunts and again, MSU which allows for better screening of units. People always Assault that assault is the best counter to Tau and I don't subscribe to that belief. A -1 to hit and sheer weight of shots will quickly remove marker lights and drones, leaving your lascannons to really mess up some

When you encounter Marines however, this is where I think you may start to falter as you lack any real counter to Marines - especially primaris. Sure your lascannons will start to tear through their armour but as with the space wolves, when they get into your lines - they will really start to make a mess. The same concern applies to Tyranids but your guns are not so optimal against 3+ saves.

Overall, the real issue with the list that you need to consider is that you have a solid gun line, but if these are objective based games - you will struggle. Sure you have 7 tanks on the board and they aren't slow - but theyre not ObSec and the moment you start pushing forward your Marines, your firepower is going to drop and your going to risk assault which is your weakest area.

My suggestion therefore is this:
Drop a predator and use the points to get some scout squads
*Cheap, disposable and can infiltrate - good source of some early objective stealing. Also will act as a buffer to further protect your gun line.
Drop the techmarine and replace with a lieutenant.
* The re-rolls of 1 they can give your Predators will be far more valuable.
The gunship is great against Tyranids and pretty pants against the restf your opponents in my opinion. I personally would drop it in favour of 2 assault squads which I would hold back a couple of turns to either attack my opponents back lines or to reinforce the gun line when the inevitable charges come.