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Been seeing a lot of lists built around character abilities and character bubbles. So I wanted to try a list that does the basic Raven Guard "play the mission" thing, but then instead of exploiting the Raven Guard funky deployment rules, to make a list that instead maxes out on anti-character capabilities to disrupt all those character-dependent plans my opponents came with.

*Note that Shrike does not have the "CAPTAIN" keyword, so he doesn't prevent me from taking a captain.

Battalion, Raven Guard

HQ
-Shrike (130)
-Phobos Captain* (with Korvidae Bolts) (95)
-Phobos Lieutenant (with Ex Tenebris) (80)

Troops
-3X5 Tactical Marines, no upgrades (90 each, 270 total)

Elites
-3X5 scouts with sniper rifles (90 each, 270 total)
-Chapter Champion (with either Silentus Pistol or the Blade of Triumph) (70)

Heavy
-3X3 Eliminators with Instigator on the sergeant (90 each, 270 total)

Dedicated Transports
2X Landspeeder Storms (55 each, 110 total)


...and that leaves about 870 points for countercharge units to guard the obsec units that sit on my #2 objective: some combination of Assault Centurions, Aggressors, Terminators, Vanguard Vets, also the possibility of a melee-armed command squad to keep *my* characters safe in the open.

Concept:
In 8th edition, when I just had 15 sniper rifles, people hid their characters and killed my scouts with TFCs and Whirlwinds. In 9th edition, I infer that players have to move their characters out in the open more, that characters have to keep up with the units they support out on the objectives, and that few people are hiding characters in transports. Also the problem in 8th edition was that 15 sniper rifles wasn't really enough to kill a character a turn--a problem that's even worse now that the mortal only triggers on an unmodified 6 to wound.

So this army has 9 additional shoot & scoot sniper rifles, plus every HQ is a sniper. Land speeder storms move sniper scouts to get angles on hidden characters. Some test rolling shows that--with the tactical doctrine bonus--this much shooting can take out a tough character like a gravis captain every turn and usually have enough left over to put some wounds on a second character. 4-wound characters go down like paper, 2-3 per turn.

Thoughts? Feedback? Am I missing something?

Your missing a vindicare assassin..

Only partly serious there. Its a cool idea and props for still taking scouts in elites, although I feel like many factions have pulled back on their character count now due to detachments costing cp.

Anyway as a purely fun list it will definitely ghost characters like nobodies business.
EDIT- and then I did math. Ok so thats a cool basis whats the rest of it?

I like the inclusion of cents and vanguard. And then consider a flyer or 3. They can also potentially snipe too and are fairly durable for their cost.

I was thinking about this too. Maybe not building a whole list around it, but the fact that if virtually everyone and their mother will be running around with an Apothecary or similar super buffer character, is it worth devoting a chunk of the list to removing that 4-5wounds ASAP?

The rest of it is nearly any combination of the standard "make your stand in this spot" units from the Space Marne list. Based on models I have, it could be about 3 of any of the following:
-3-4 Assault Centurions
-5-10 Assault terminators, all hammers or a mix of hammers and claws
-5 regular terminators (powerfists are now weak against dreads, so I'd want to find all my chainfist bits)
-5 or 10 Vanguard Vets with jump packs and melee weapons, dual claws are currently both efficient and fluffy
-5 Bolter Aggressors
-6 Bladeguard vets is the new hotness

Also I am really liking the idea of a 5-vet command squad--hear me out on this--armed like bladeguard vets with power swords and storm shields. They don't get the Bladeguard specials or strats or the clutch 2D swords, but they get more wounds for the points and, with an identical statline, they have more (?) attacks for the points. Also the bodyguard rule, as I read it, protects characters even against weapons that ignore "look out, sir," so my characters would be safe from the thing I'm trying to do to my opponents until after they were gunned down. Also I already have the models.

In my dream world I would also find points for an ancient to get the most out of my melee and a chief apothecary to heal my centurions/terminators, but those are low priority.

I like flyers for sniping characters, but it really takes a lot of big chunky Elite units to consistently achieve overwhelming superiority at your #2 objective so I feel like I need the points.

I might seriously pull together the points for a vindicare, though, just for fun.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

bort wrote:
I was thinking about this too. Maybe not building a whole list around it, but the fact that if virtually everyone and their mother will be running around with an Apothecary or similar super buffer character, is it worth devoting a chunk of the list to removing that 4-5wounds ASAP?

IMHO the chief apothecary is a little overrated because, at most, you can expect him to resurrect maybe 2-4 models during the course of a game (especially if you go first and won't be taking any casualties for turn 1). So unless you're resurrecting centurions, you're lucky to get the 90 points back out of him.

Also, I'm thinking actually as this list being built around the core of troops/elites that take and hold objectives, with the snipers as the harassment units that distract and disrupt the opponent. You have to have something that will score secondaries for you. So instead of taking a speeder or tiny unit of assault marines or whatever, why not take something that can score those mobility objectives, and can also stress your opponent about where he's putting his characters?

And if you're playing Raven Guard anyway, might as well put the chapter's advantages to use.

It’s not just the res, there’s also the 6fnp.

I also had a similar thought on the bodyguard, I wasn’t thinking I’d go out of my way to get them, but if I have like 40-70pts left over I’d get a 2-3 man squad to be combo bodyguard and cheap action/claim unit.

dominuschao wrote:
Your missing a vindicare assassin..

Only partly serious there. Its a cool idea and props for still taking scouts in elites, although I feel like many factions have pulled back on their character count now due to detachments costing cp.

Anyway as a purely fun list it will definitely ghost characters like nobodies business.
EDIT- and then I did math. Ok so thats a cool basis whats the rest of it?

I like the inclusion of cents and vanguard. And then consider a flyer or 3. They can also potentially snipe too and are fairly durable for their cost.

Does the Vindiare screw up your chapter's tactic?

No they fixed that awhile back with the agent of the imperium rule.