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Hi there, (my first forum post)

After a long hiatus I have decided to come back to 40k, and have settled on building a Raven Guard force. I also want to use the Gladius Strike Force but I have come across a speed bump in my plans.
I want to use a single demi-company with one or two auxillary selections, and being Raven Guard most of my choices if not all will be quite mobile. So tacticals in drop pods, scouts, land speeders, vanguard veterans, etc.
Unfortunately it seems that I can only have a single assault squad, which kinda sucks as I consider them a staple of a Raven Guard force...

Was this an intentional handicap to assault squad heavy forces? Am I reading things wrong in my old age, or merely a mistake in the text? Budget restrictions mean I can't feasibly fill out two battle demi-companies and even if I could, the tactical squad-to-assault squad ratio would seem a bit off for a Raven Guard force, well to me at least.

Greetings!

There's nothing (to my knowledge, anyway) that says you can't run a Gladius Strike Force as a Detachment, and also run along side of it as part of the same list, a second stand alone Combined Arms Detachment (CAD) consisting of say, a Chaplain or Librarian (with or without a Jump Pack, your choice) along with a pair of five man scout squads, for your mandatory two troops choices, as well as an Assault Squad in one of the three Fast Attack slots in the CAD. That would allow you to run two Assault Squads (One in the Gladius, and one as part of the CAD), a couple of Scout Squads (which is fluffy for the Raven Guard if my memory serves), and a second HQ choice. I'd suggest a Librarian, unless you're planning on running a Librarian as part of your Gladius as the HQ choice.

You'll be paying a 'tax' of points for the pair of Scout Squads and the HQ choice as well, but you won't be missing out on any free transports this way for one and the scouts will have Objective Secured since it's a CAD.

That's how I would work it, were I you.

Gladius with whatever you choose to field in it, with an attached CAD list consisting of at least the HQ, two small (5 man) scout teams, and an Assault Squad.

I hope that helps. Take it easy for now.

-Red__Thirst-

That is indeed a pain. One option is to bring a combined arms detachment alongside the demi-company and auxillary detachment. I think you can bring all three? Someone correct me if I'm wrong.

In the combined arms detachment, bring Shadow Captain Korvydae as your HQ (beautiful Forgeworld model or do a conversion) as he allows assault marines to be troops if you bring at least one scout squad, in which case you just bring the cheapest, bare bones scout squad you can. That detachment gives you some fun with infiltrating assault marines.

Or just go Unbound. A Demi Company, one or two Auxillaries if you like, then Unbound whatever else you want. The Formations get their special rules and the Unbound is the odd man out with no Command Benefits. If you use a named HQ as your Warlord with a fixed Warlord Trait, really the downsides are tiny. I play against a couple people that do Unbound alongside Formations. Check your group to see if they're cool with Unbound of course.

First, Welcome to Dakka.

While not the answer you are looking for, consider a 1st company taskforce with 3 vanguard vet squads.

Formations are good if they are what you like. The gladius does a good job putting a “traditional” marine army on the table. RG don’t really fight this way, so it’s not the best match for them.

Unreliable_Babysitter wrote:
Hi there, (my first forum post)

After a long hiatus I have decided to come back to 40k, and have settled on building a Raven Guard force. I also want to use the Gladius Strike Force but I have come across a speed bump in my plans.
I want to use a single demi-company with one or two auxillary selections, and being Raven Guard most of my choices if not all will be quite mobile. So tacticals in drop pods, scouts, land speeders, vanguard veterans, etc.
Unfortunately it seems that I can only have a single assault squad, which kinda sucks as I consider them a staple of a Raven Guard force...

Was this an intentional handicap to assault squad heavy forces? Am I reading things wrong in my old age, or merely a mistake in the text? Budget restrictions mean I can't feasibly fill out two battle demi-companies and even if I could, the tactical squad-to-assault squad ratio would seem a bit off for a Raven Guard force, well to me at least.

Truthfully, the nonsense about Raven Guard having a higher proportion of Assault Squads comes from writers who seemed to be thinking that "guerilla tactics" and "ambushes" had to involve fast moving Jump units.

The fluff has been finessed significantly more now to the point of Raven Guard actually executing ambushes and fast-moving guerilla warfare with their Tactical Squads, Devastator Squads, and Scout Squads being the ones who spring the ambushes and then the Assault Squads come into play.


To represent that, you have a really good way of doing so.

Gladius Strike Force
10th Company Task Force
1st Company Task Force consisting of 3x Vanguard Veteran Squads

Additionally, you can add in a Storm Wing--the fast moving and heavily armed nature of which would jibe well with a Raven Guard force, which might not carry large amounts of heavy weapons in their midst.

Hrm,
10th Company Task Force and 1st Company Task force seem to adhere to my vision of the Raven Guard.
Thanks guys!