My aim is to paint a 1000 point principally Primaris-infantry based force for the event, and I want to get plenty of practice games in before the day to refine the army selection.
A slight tangent; the model above is the 2016 Imperial Space Marine, based on the original Beakie model, who whilst not a Primaris Model is very cool and will see play on the table top as a HQ choice with a Relic bolter of some description. More on the Raven Guard Relics later in the post.
The new Space Marine Codex and associated Chapter supplements have boosted the power level of Marines significantly with additional benefits being made available for only running Marines (the Combat Doctrines), and even more for only fielding a single Chapter.
Surgical Strikes is the Raven Guard specialist ability. Whilst not as obviously powerful as some Chapter abilities, it is flavourful (+1 to hit and wound Characters when Tactical Doctrine is active) and makes weapons like Sniper Rifles more effective. My initial army list is designed to make some use of it, with a unit of Bolt Sniper Rifle wielding Eliminators, and a Lieutenant armed with the Ex Tenebris Relic. Assuming Surgical Strikes is active:
- Stationary Eliminators will hit Characters on 2s, and wound Marines (Toughness 4) on 2s. Mortis Rounds are AP-2, D3 damage and will proc Mortal Wounds on a 5 or 6 (edit: the Sarge can forego his shooting to proc Mortal Wounds on a 4 up)
- Ex Tenebris allows the Lieutenant to hit Characters on 2s even if he Advances, wounds T4 on 3s with 3 shots at AP-3 and 2 damage apiece.
I'm using the Master Artisans Trait which gives the units some insurance when odd 1 or 2 to hit and wound turn up; it should make the units quite effective in getting wounds to stick on character models.
I've played my first game with the new Codex as part of a doubles match (play testing a new mission. My partner played an Emperors Spears marine force (Ultramarine successors), and we had a pre-game discussion with our opponents on how the Combat Doctrines should work. We agreed that the doubles force should be treated like a regular marine army, so since we were running mixed Chapters we would get access to Combat Doctrines, but not the single Chapter specialist abilities (so no Surgical Strikes for me!)
My list was a 1000 point Battalion, using the Stealthy Trait in addition to Master Artisans:
- HQ: Primaris Captain with Master Crafted Auto Bolt Rifle and Power Sword
- HQ: Primaris Lieutenant with Ex Tenebris
- Troops: 5 Intercessors with Grenade Launcher & Chain Sword
- Troops: 6 Intercessors with Grenade Launcher & Power Sword
- Troops: 5 Infiltrators
- Elite: 4 Bolter Aggressors
- Fast Attack: 3 Bolter Inceptors
- Heavy Support: 3 Eliminators with Bolt Sniper Rifles
- Heavy Support: 6 Hellblasters
The Aggressors are intended to provide the melee element within the list (given the somewhat restricted set of assault-based Primaris units). The Aggressors are some what slow (move 5), and cannot charge if they advance, but luckily the Raven Guard Codex gives some options to mitigate this disadvantage. The Captain is given two Warlord Traits via use of the Master of the Trifold Path Stratagem:
- Shadow Master which makes the Captain immune to Overwatch
- Swift and Deadly which gives the Captain a 6" aura to allow units to charge even if they advanced
So the plan is that the Captain goes in first to soak the Overwatch, then the Aggressors can follow in unharmed behind. This needs a certain amount of positioning to ensure the Aggressors remain in the aura, but this sort of planning is part of the fun and challenge of such an army build.
Another slight tangent; I've spotted 3 ways to avoid Overwatch with the Raven Guard supplement, if I include any Vanguard Veterans in a list I'll be sure to exploit them! Each has a level on unreliability associated with them (such as having to cast a psychic power or kill a model with Suppressors), so having redundancy if you intend to rely on this ability is probably necessary.
The Raven Guard supplement also gives access to a fantastic charge-related Stratagem; the Raven's Blade. This allows you to nominate an enemy unit and if it's the only target of a charge, then any of your units can re-roll charges against that foe.
There's loads of nifty tricks like this within the Raven Guard book (pre-game moves on the Aggressors, and deep striking Hellblasters for example), and I can't wait to try more of them out. I'll keep you all informed as the Carcharadons continue their new campaign of war.
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