Editing Warhammer 40,000/8th Edition Tactics/Renegades And Heretics (section)

==Unit Analysis==

===HQ===
The Renegade HQ choices are all fairly reliable, and comparable to their Astra Militarum counterparts in most ways, however they are fragile when compared to, for example, a SM Captain, and lack any form of save better than a 4+. Keep them out of the line of fire, but they can score a few choice hits in melee and make quite a difference if given the opportunity.

* '''Renegade Commander:''' A Traitor Astra Militarum Commander. Is the source of your Covenant of Chaos. FAQ made them a character, so they are no longer in danger of being mulched by heavy weapons as soon as they come on the table. They are Okay in melee. You can do anything you want with these guys, but they don't provide any aura buffs,so keep them away from the fighting if they are your warlord. 5++ is their best save, but 4W 3A 3+ BS/WS on a guardsman statline is lackluster, so if you go into combat make sure you fight enemies that aren't going to kill you, so ranged focused infantry like guardsmen and fire warriors, tanks that can't shoot after falling back, or anything weak enough for you to kill it before it can strike back.
**Though being 5 points cheaper might seem nice, you lose out on the ability to issue two orders a turn. Aside from your warlord, these guys are useful only as an HQ tax, then on the field you can then throw around in heroic interventions hoping to the four that the little extra oomph might help the squad in combat win. Alternatively, these guys are ''perfect'' for Daemonic Rituals, being both {{W40kKeyword|Chaos Characters}} and cheap as dirt, so there's no big loss when they inevitably go pop.
* '''Malefic Lord:''' Once absurdly cost-effective, now a bit on the overpriced side. He has a 4++, T4 and 4W, and knows 2 Psychic powers in addition to smite. If he perils and survives he gets massive bonuses to his melee, dealing 2 Damage and increasing his strength to 8 and AP to -2, but he has to deal with the lost wounds from his peril (with no way to restore them), which might mean he dies before getting any good melee off. For 80 pts he is a solid psyker choice, but it is unlikely that you will get to use his possessed form. Not bad if you want a single reliable model to take up an HQ slot once you've run out of Renegade Commanders, or if you want a more versatile caster, but if you have points to spare the Rogue Psykers are more reliable for getting 1D6 Smites or Unnatural Vigor activated, and more likely to survive perils. He IS a Character though, so he's able to more effectively accompany your hordes without being focused down.
* '''Rogue Psyker Coven:''' 5 Rogue Psykers for 100 points, they know only one psychic power in addition to smite and are pretty bad in any form of non-psychic combat, only having 5+/5++. They do have a 5++, and the extra bodies helps prevent psychic explosions from perils of the warp. Can choose to roll 3d6 in the psychic phase instead of 2d6, but lose 1d3 wounds from it. For some reason they have 3 wounds each, which means they can afford to use the extra dice on almost every round without severe penalty, and can take a fair amount of punishment. Good for casting Unnatural Vigor on a large squad of mutant rabble heading for melee, or a reliable Warp Flux squad, but not combat or shooting effective outside of the Psychic Phase. They do have the potential to deal a fairly reliable d6 of damage on smite, so nothing to laugh about. The most reliable smite unit in the game, since they only ever fail to cast it if they peril. Just be aware that they'll get blown the fuck up if exposed, so keep them out of sight. Keep in mind if a psyker dies to mortal wounds while manifesting a power it automatically fails the psychic test. So if you do 3D6 cast you have a 33% chance of failing the power. Not at all worth it for Smite/Warp Flux.

===Troops===
* '''Renegade Cultists:''' Cultists from the CSM list that exchange mark of chaos for chaos covenant. Good for armies that want a few reliable, but cheap infantry for ranged firepower, but inferior to their guard counterparts unless you kit them out for melee or use their covenant for a specific purpose. They can only take Heavy Stubbers and Flamers, so they are killier than Militia, but less customizable. A small squad with Autogun/Stubber could deal some good damage, as could an assault squad with flamers and Brutal melee weapons. If you want mid-range Dakka for sitting on objectives these seem to be the right squad, kitted with autoguns and a stubber they can deliver lots of shots downtable or at any pesky flankers. Just don't expect them to put much of a dent into MEQs, especially Primaris. Now outright superior to their CSM counterpart, since they no longer benefit from Legion Traits, while R&H Cultists can take Chaos Covenants!
**Due to an inability to take Chaos Sigils or Voxcasters these guys rely on either taking a 30pt Enforcer model or spending 2CP on a troop unit. Whether this, the lack of customisation, and/or being 1pt more per model is a fair trade for an extra +1WS/BS over Militia is up to you. (It probably isn't, you have Disciples and brutes for advanced shooting and melee respectively.)
***NOTE: The FAQ that reduced the price of CSM Cultists to four point from five didn't work on them, since these guys aren't Cultists, but rather Renegade Cultists.
* '''Renegade Militia:''' Poorly Trained mortal soldiers,  only hitting on 5+ in melee and shooting, and with 6+ saves. They can take heavy weapons (1 per 10) and special weapons (1 per 5), but you should only ever give them Heavy Bolters/Stubbers, Mortars or Flamers. In numbers and with an Enforcer to stop them fleeing they can make up for their poor accuracy, but otherwise you should mostly use them to screen your valuable units.
**Interestingly, these guys can actually form a surprisingly sticky back line, for GEQs anyways. One, they can take both a Vox-caster and Chaos Sigil, which significantly props up their otherwise flimsy Leadership, otherwise you will need an Enforcer. Two, if loaded up with Mortars and Grenade Launchers, they can actually lay down more ranged damage than a similar-sized Cultist unit through sheer mass of fire, even with their poor BS. Additionally, the Champion has +1 WS/BS over his charges, and he can take a Plasma Pistol as well. Combine with the Nurgle or Tzeentch Chaos Covenant, and you have a surprisingly solid block of troops for fairly cheap. They are going fall flat in melee, though, so stick with Cultists and Mutants for that and NEVER give them melee weapons. On a side note, the champion can take a krak grenade for some reason. Go figure.
**The volume of bodies and special weapons these guys can take make for an interesting close range shooting unit. 20 bodies with vox, sigil, and 4 flamers will run you just over 120 points and put down a decent amount of fire up close and be too good at overwatch for your opponent to able to charge them without getting hurt, especially if you have Covenant of Tzeentch which makes your flashlights just as accurate on overwatch as they are in your normal shooting phase! Don't forget to give the champ a krak grenade, you lose nothing by taking it, and since his shooting is better than anyone else in the unit, you might as well make it count.

* '''Renegade Mutant Rabble:''' A decent meatshield squad, especially since they have a chance to get T4. They roll a D6 at the start of the battle and either get +1 Movement (2-3), +1 Attacks on the charge (4-5), +1T (6) or lose 1d6 models (1) to uncontrolled mutation. Good meat-shields, and can do a bit of damage if they get into melee. An Enforcer can be the difference between this squad dying to small arms fire, or getting into melee, so if you intend on running more than 10 models you should take one. An enforcer also combines well since they can take a plasma pistol to fire into melee, and get a few wounds on any valuable units your mutants might tangle with. It is advisable to use this squad to force enemy weapon teams and tanks to fall back, or encircle them entirely if you have enough models. Don't have melee weapons outside of the Champion (who has +1 WS), but can replace their pistols with Shotguns, letting them spray and pray as they sprint up the field. 1/6th of 80 shots is still roughly 13 hits.
**On closer inspection these guys are the dedicated tarpit unit and not much else, mainly because they have no bloody CCWs for some reason. So in squads of 20 or less they are in stiff competition with Militia as assault units, believe it or not. Militia, who have double the number of attacks, up to four Flamers, and all the support of Sigil/Vox/Com-Vox without needing a dedicated Enforcer to stick around. Muties' main selling point, the mutations table, while pretty and all, doesn't make them kill stuff any harder except for one bonus, which merely ties them over attack number with Militia and only on a charge. So, if you are looking to put an actual dent into something in melee on the cheap, consider Militia instead.
**Obviously, bigger is better with this unit, as the number of models lost to uncontrolled mutation or Unnatural Vigor doesn't scale with the unit.
**If comboing this unit with Rogue Psykers w/ Unnatural Vigor and an Enforcer, place the Enforcer on one side, the Psykers at least 6" away from him and the Mutants in the middle. This way the Enforcer will not be wounded by Unnatural Vigor, but will still buff the Mutants due to only needing 1 model within 3" to affect the whole unit. See the diagram for more detail.
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*'''Diagram'''
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[[File:Unnatural_Vigor_Management.png|300px|center|thumb|They obviously do not need to be this close, this isn't Fantasy.]]
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===Elites===
Elites are the hammer of R&H armies, with all of the elite choices quite killy. They will be making your plays while your troops soak up the hits. Taking a Renegade army of nothing but Vanguard detachments and Transports is a perfectly reasonable strategy.

* '''Renegade Command Squad:''' A squad for boosting the morale of nearby units, or reducing enemy morale. Their Banners provide bonuses to melee or reduce enemy morale, and the Command Vox-Caster allows all units with a vox-caster within 10 feet to use the command squad's leadership, if it's higher. Command squads are good for armies that contain lots of infantry hordes, or Disciple-heavy armies that don't want to take enforcers. Keeping them near the front lines is advisable, so that they can use their banners to full effect. Take a special and heavy weapon and keep them in a 4 man squad if you don't have a banner, so that you can put them away from danger and still keep using their good BS. Otherwise, give them a melta/flamer and get into close quarters, so that you can give the banner benefits to nearby hordes/enemy squads. Banner of the Apostate stacks well with Creeping Terror for 2-4 leadership reduction, making an enemy squad quite likely to fail morale, even on a bad Creeping Terror roll.
* '''Renegade Disciple Squad:''' 5-15 Veteran equivalents, with 3+ to shoot and hit in melee, and only a point per dude more expensive than cultists. Good for when you need accurate shooters and the best squads for taking Heavy weapons. Can be equipped with a single flamer for an assault team (no option to take shotguns) which combos well with covenant of Khorne or Tzeentch. Cultists can do the same job, but these guys do it slightly better; however, they are best reserved for good shooting squads. Can only take 1 special weapon, and 1 heavy weapon, so they lack the firepower of guard veterans, or the dakka of the militia, but can field up to 15 bodies to compensate, and have the option to be taken in 5-man squads instead of 10. They have Fanatic ''and'' a Vox-caster, meaning you roll 3 dice and choose the highest before adding 3, giving you solidly average leadership of 7.96, unlike the 7.47 of only having Fanatic.
* '''Renegade Enforcer:''' Stops your rabble from running away by beating 1-3 guys to death. They are pretty much Chaos Commissars before Commissars were nerfed. Keep in mind these are more grimdark than regular Commissars, they will kill 1d3 of your guys instead of even taking the morale check, so if you've got a morale check that you could actually pass, these guys are a hindrance rather than an asset, but with how bad your morale is that's a rare occurrence. They combo best with over-sized units, since taking 1-3 losses on 5 10-man squads is worse than 1-3 on 1 50-man squad. If you run hordes, you need a couple of these. They can also take a pistol or melee weapon. The pistol is the better choice, since if you take a melee weapon and charge into melee, the opponent gets to target the enforcer.
**Enforcers are one of the only three characters in your army, and unless you give a Malefic Lord Unnatural Vigor and your warlord Inspiring Leader, Enforcers are the only ones doing jack shit for buffing. Guard them as such.
**For five extra points and being moved from the HQ to Elites slot, you get a Renegade Commander that can't unlock Convents but has the morale aid. If you want a fighter character, get a Commander. Unlike a Commissar for the loyalists, this guy is not your cheap duelist.
* '''Renegade Marauder Squad:''' Squad of 5-10 marauders with 0-2 brutes; these can and probably will be the stars of your army. They are a good unit for precision strikes or long range attrition warfare. Small sniper teams or large assault teams are your best options. Marauders have a good stat line, with 3+ BS and WS, T3 S3, A2, and Ld7; their Chieftain has 2 wounds, Ld8, and can take a bolter or one item from the ranged weapon list and a melee weapon. To be clear, you get a rifle of some description (shotgun included) ''or'' you get a pistol and a melee weapon. Brutes get 3 wounds and Strength 4, as well as an extra attack, but are badly overcosted at 30 points per model, compared to 6 point marauders, and with the latest FAQ clarifying they only have stock CCWs, instead of the rest of the squad's guns and grenades, they aren't worth the space on the board they take up, let alone the point/PL cost. 2 models in the squad can take special weapons regardless of size, and the unit comes with 2 special rules: "Specialist" and "In it for the Money". The latter means that instead of rolling morale you roll a d6, on a 2+ the unit if fine. on a 1 the entire unit flees off the table; use a command re-roll if you fail this, because there isn't much else you would use re-rolls for unless you plan on using heroic morale. Makes the unit quite resilient to grievous casualties, but also makes them vulnerable to losing a few models since the roll is all or nothing - the number of models you expect lose to Morale is always 1/6 of the number you have alive, provided you took at least one casualty, no matter how many casualties you've taken beyond the first. Specialist gives them one of 3 Doctrines:
** ''Stalker:'' -1 to enemy shooting at the unit, and +1 to cover bonuses. Combos well with long ranged weapons like Plasma, Grenade Launcher and Sniper Rifles, and makes you the envy of Raven Guard, Alpha Legion, and Alaitoc, who only get this at 12" or more out.
***This is generally going to be your best choice, hands down - take a bolter, two shotguns, two plasma guns (though this is a lot less tempting since CA almost doubled their cost), and this specialty, and go out there and start winning firefights.
** ''Murder Cultists:'' Re-roll failed to-hit rolls in the fight phase. Okay, but the unit is Str 3, so it's wounding enemies that poses a problem. You can get re-rolls anyway with unnatural vigor (unreliably, and at the cost of d3 models), and if you really want to get stuck in melee, you should be going for the carapace save.
** ''Hereteks:'' Carapace armor and Krak grenades (so that you can have a second Krak grenade, for the lolz). A balanced choice that is particularly good for Armored fist units, or anyone who wants a reliable save. 
***Benefits your close combat and shooting units equally, but remember that power swords will straight-up deny your save, so watch out for them.
***Standard Marauders can't take Heavy Stubbers or power weapons like they could in last edition, which is sad since it makes the murder cult weak, and makes snipers their only long range option.
***Note that these guys are Chaos' ONLY source of actual sniper models. And with their Stalker rule, they are honestly quite good at it. A trio of 5 Man squads with 2 sniper rifles and a boltgun each is a touch under 200 points. Toss in a Renegade Commander to stay cheap or a Rogue Psyker Coven for some psychic support and you've got yourself an excellent backfield objective holder.
***These guys can make some fairly good Melta vets; give two a Melta, the champ a Chainsword/Brutal Assault Weapon and a Plasma pistol, and give three other guys shotguns. Take two squads like this and shove them in a Valkyrie. Have them Grav-chute next to anything short of a titan and it'll die, and you can drink the bountiful tears of you opponent.
* '''Renegade Ogryn Beast Handlers:''' 3-6 Hounds and an Ogryn Pack Master. The hounds reduce enemy morale by 1 if they deal unsaved wounds, and the Ogryn Pack Master is equipped with a Ripper claw (SUser AP-1 D1d3) and Mauler Goad (Suser AP0 D1, but an unsaved wound grants the Hounds +1 to hit rolls against the same unit for the turn). Can use combat stims to increase the number of attacks of the beastmaster infinitely (if you want to get that cheeky goad wound, or get wounds with the claw), but you risk killing him if you do so (see the Brutes section for more discussion of stims, but this unit can only have one Ogryn in it, so the risk is greater). Good for killing hordes, since they have a lot of attacks and affect morale. The entire unit is infantry, so they benefit from cover.
**Even with Covenant of Slaanesh this squad suffers from footslogging as it's not the quickest getting across the table with a base movement of 6".  That combined with a 5+ save, crap leadership and a max unit size of 7 means it's vulnerable to getting spammed out with dakka, which is a shame as it's quite killy for a sub-100 point choppy unit which really should be able to charge in and tie things up early on.  On the other hand it fits very nicely in a stolen Valkyrie which in addition to allowing you a reliable T1 charge can also drop Malefic Lords along the way via gravchute should you feel like summoning some daemons to back them up.
* '''Renegade Ogryn Brutes:''' 3-12 Ogryns, but without guns. Have Ogryn weapons, which are S+1 AP-1 D2, so with mark of Khorne they can tear T7 vehicles a new one, but their main use should be against characters - they aren't built for monster-hunting. They can take multiple wounds, and they deal multiple wounds with AP, and their reliable WS and number of attacks means they're likely to score several unsaved wounds; 3 wounds is all you need to bring most characters down. With a 3 man unit, you are getting 12 attacks on the charge, potentially at S7, so if you want to remove an SM Captain, or a pesky Primaris squad, this is the unit. Keep in mind this is relying on them hitting first, so don't go charging a howling banshee squad and expect to come out on top (though at proper numbers you should). 
**No longer cost obscene amounts of points this edition for an impressive squad.  Comparable to Chaos Spawn...   OH GOGDAMWWARGHRAGFAGRAHGYUGCGBGH ... anyways, the youknowhats are speedier and potentially more damaging with their mutations and D6 attacks, and Ogryns having more consistent power with their flat 3 attacks (4 on the charge, 5 with a 2+ on the stims roll, potential 7 on a 6) and S6 attacks before covenant bonuses.  Being {{W40Kkeyword|infantry}} is also a boon since they can take transports.  Cram 3 Ogryns and a Boss into a Chimera and you have a solid beatstick that's relatively fast and can scare multi-wound infantry and support characters off of objectives.
**They have the same Combat Stimms rules as the Packmaster above.
* '''Renegade Plague Ogryns:''' As 3-9 Ogryns above, but they only have a Covenant of Nurgle for saves, their weapon is SUser AP-1 D1d3, and they explode on death, dealing a mortal wound to any squad that does not have the {{W40Kkeyword|nurgle}} keyword within 3" on a 4+. They are interesting, and even better for killing characters, but the lack of a save versus anything Str 5 or better, and a bad save against everything else, is worrying. Coupled with their explosive death, they are a serious tactical liability, unless you can keep your minions the fuck away from these things.  On the plus side, they always have the Covenant of Nurgle, so your vanguard detachment can use the HQ slot for something useful rather than the commander tax. This also means that they have a Covenant even when you have a non-R&H Warlord.
**Put four of these guys in a Valkyrie and throw 'em out with Grav-chutes. Congratulations, you now have Ogryns that explode in the enemies ranks on turn one.

===Dedicated Transports===
* '''Chimera:''' You know it, you love it. Gem of the metal bawks world, can take 12 of your squishy goons, now with toughness, wounds, move values and variable statistics! Unfortunately, their price went up considerably; you've been warned. Still gets the job done, but its attacks depend on volume of fire over value. No AP on anything but the Heavy Bolt/Flamer. Flamer is a good option, since it doesn't suffer from the vehicle's accuracy decay as much, and as Renegades you aren't afraid of a little CQC are you?

===Fast Attack===
* '''Hellhound:''' Set things on fire with a flame tank! Curiously, you have access to the hellhound variant guns like the Chem Cannon and Melta Cannon... But you should probably take the auto-hitting ones because your BS is <strike>garbage</strike> exactly the same as normal guard. Sadly, these don't bypass cover saves anymore, but cover saves aren't as strong either. Take the basic Hellhound for hordes of GEQ, otherwise there's the Bane Wolf, whose vicious Chem Cannon wounds everything that's not a vehicle on 2s, with improved AP (at the cost of range). Thanks to renegades straight up jacking the codex entry for these tanks the Devil Dog has benefited from the same buff the normal one got: its melta cannon is now assault type. This is a pretty big boost and turns that option from worthless into one of our most reliable anti tank weapons. Zip up 12", fire away, and watch anything tank shaped melt. Sadly the hull mounted multi melta is still heavy so always take the heavy flamer for defense.

* '''Scout Sentinel:''' These will probably be your main source of anti-infantry Heavy Weapons, because your normal heavy weapons teams are terrible shots. A T5 chassis is okay, but you are still vulnerable to small-arms, especially with a 4+ save. The scout move can be used to keep your sentinels out of danger if, for example, the enemy player steals initiative, so that is a plus. You will take this sentinel mostly for speed, so take rapid fire weapons like the multilaser, Autocannon, or Heavy Flamer (Or frag missiles from the Missile Launcher if you are feeling lucky). These will likely get focus fired at the start of the game if you don't have enough other threatening targets, but they do have 6 wounds each and no damage table, so taking a few wounds is not a problem. With Outrider Detachments you can take nothing but HQs and Sentinels, which actually isn't too bad of a army build if you organize it properly.

* '''Armored Sentinels:''' These will probably be your main source of anti-tank seeing as to the fact that they can plop themselves in cover without being afraid of wasting the scout sentinel's extra maneuverability. Plasma cannons make them good at clearing up heavy infantry, Autocannons are good versatility, for both infantry and light vehicle targets. Lascannon/Missile Launcher are your best bet for taking out enemy armored vehicles and monstrous creatures, but will draw a heck of a lot of fire, so keep them in covered positions. If you are only going to take only one group of sentinels, the Missile Launchers are good options, since they can thin out enemy infantry squads quite nicely, and also deal with most armored targets. Lascannon is good for popping heavy tanks, where the 3+ wound -3 AP really matters.

* '''Salamander:''' Cute little light tank with guns otherwise found on sentinels or heavy weapons squads. Pricier, tank-y-er than either; great if you have the points and are not otherwise concerned about getting bogged down in CC as these things ''will'' get bogged down in CC.

*'''[[Chaos Spawn|THE THING THAT SHALL NOT BE NAMED]]''' - The gribbly beasts you know and love from the CSM codex make a return, this time in the FA slot and not requiring a chaos covenant to unlock! Still have the D6 random attacks, but now have 4 Wounds and an armor save of 5+ with no uptick in points (actually got a points ''decrease''). The D3 table of mutations has mostly stayed the same.  1 gives your punches AP-4, 2 gives you +2 attacks, and 3 lets you re-roll failed wounds in close combat. Take a full unit of the gribbly bastards and harass your opponent's flank and squishier heavy weapons teams with anywhere from 5 to 30 S5 AP-2 attacks. Got a pretty sizable nerf to their speed though, going from 12" to 7" movement, but you still slightly outspeed most basic infantry. <strike>Are infantry type now, so they get full benefits from cover. Use this to your advantage and they'll be significantly more survivable. </strike>These guys are an even better [[DISTRACTION CARNIFEX]] unit, as it will take serious firepower to dent T5 W4 models with anything less than heavy weapons. FAQ changed these from INFANTRY to BEAST so can no longer board vehicles. Not that anyone would have ever taken advantage of that...
**Note: The points listed for the beast are ''per'' beast, meaning they are now 33 points for each beast, instead of 55 for 3 like they were in the previous edition. Whether this is a deal-breaker is up to you.

===Flyers===
*'''Valkyrie:''' The original bad bitch of the skies can hold 12 Infantry; Ogryns of any variation count as 3 models. Any infantry with the Renegades & Heretics keyword count. Transports can hold multiple units now, so have fun! Even better, Grav-Chute Deployment allows you to put anybody the bad bitch can carry 9" away from the enemy...''after'' the Valkyrie's 20" minimum move. Can you say 'turn 1 charge with ogryns?'  And to top it all off it has 2 MORE wounds than a Leman Russ tank (though 1 less toughness). Cue the music!
**''Note:'' On the firepower side of things, hellstrike missiles are no longer one-use only (but you can fire only 1 per turn), and the multiple rocket pod is a nice infantry muncher. However, the Valkyrie isn't immune to the penalties for firing heavy weapons on the move, and being Airborne it HAS to move, so it'll be shooting like an Ork most of the time (unless you hover but then you can also be shot at normally and/or charged by flying stuff). Spring for Multiple Rocket Pods, multilasers and door gunners with Heavy Bolters to power through the penalty. But it also may hover. So if you really want to kill something, you may switch to hover mode and let go. But prepare to die afterwards, since all the Flyer buffs are then gone like the wind.
**''Other Note:'' The Grav-Chute deployment still only counts as a disembarkation from a transport, allowing you your normal movement afterwards with your marauders, or your 4 Renegade Ogryn Brutes for that charge... Ogryn ''can'' fit in Valkyries, just not Vendettas (which doesn’t matter, since we don’t have access to those anyway).

* '''Arvus Lighter:''' Actually not a bad choice for delivering units and taking  heavy weapon. Gets a 3+ save, and BS 4+, and '''Does not have a damage table'''. In addition 8 woulds with an 3 up and hard to hit is never bad for a T6 flyer. It's not going to win any killing contests, but it will get your models where they need to go, and can take some potshots along the way. Also hilariously lacks the supersonic trait, which means you can do 180 degree turns all day, without having to worry about flying off the table. Twin Autocannons or Twin Heavy Stubbers seems to be the best choice for weapons, but taking the Multilasers or Twin Hellstrikes is always optional. Cheap enough to warrant being used as a tanky flying Heavy weapons team after you deliver your cargo. Unfortunately cannot transport Ogryns of any variety.

===Heavy Support===
* '''Renegade Heavy Weapons Squad:''' A pair of Militia with a big gun, able to be taken up to six teams in a single unit. Very unreliable yet statistically mighty cost-efficient if spammed and kept the hell away from enemies.
**A heavy weapons team with 3 mortars is 36 points, indirect fire for a ton of potential shots is useful for such a cheap unit, against hordes or even as a distraction, when you end up rolling 6d6 shots against one unit, they draw the eye ever so slightly.
**These are more points efficient with Lascannons than Disciples. You can get two HWTs with lascannons for 9 less points than a minimum Las-Disciples squad, with the same chance of landing a single hit. This also makes them slightly more points efficient than a las-predator, just a lot weaker on the defence.
**As of CA19 the fortifications still don't count them as two passengers, meaning you can stick two 5-men squads in a bunker and hose everything down with HBs or Autocannons, although their cost-effectiveness diminishes sharply in that case. Still, 14 Autocannons on a Leman Russ-grade metal box that can't be shut down with melee in hilarious. And very menacing.

* '''Leman Russ Battle Tank:''' The sturdiest tank in the galaxy, point-for-point. For 122 points, a T8 W12 platform with a 3+ save will consume a lot of [[Dakka|firepower]] before dying. Its basic Battle Tank Cannon is Heavy D6 S8 AP-2 and took some big hits. It (along with many others) practically lost large blast, with it being lucky to get 2 hits <strike>(sorry but, 2 hits would be 5/6 of the time? Far from "lucky". That's not even average. 3 hits would be average.)</strike> (No, because you roll d6 for the number of shots which then roll to hit - so 3 or 4 shots average, 1.5 to 2 hits on BS4+) and getting 4 or more will be a rare occurrence indeed. MEQ now get a darn 5+ save instead of being auto-pasted like its 5th-7th edition iteration, but this thing's now decent against enemies with 2+ armor which is a decent trade-off. The Exterminator took a 1/3 firepower hit as well, placing it squarely worse than a predator autocannon versus big targets, and is no longer more accurate with heavy bolters than ordnance Russes. Speaking of which, with Heavy Bolters also being worth a mere 8 points each (less than half of a Heavy Flamer), adding 3 Heavy 3 S5 AP-1 weapons is a thrifty 24 points, making them more worth their points. Unlike the vanquisher. The vanquisher is proof that GW is incapable of statistics, as it performs worse against heavy armour than every leman russ turret except the exterminator, but is now one of the cheapest options (doing 0.93 wounds to another russ, every other variant manages at least 1 wound). Sad thing is if GW had given it a flat 2+ to wound against vehicles or flat 2D6 damage instead of 2D6 drop the lowest, it’d perform better against most vehicles than other russes. Hopefully this will be corrected in the codex. Chapter Approved saw the Vanquisher get a 5-point cut, making it one of the cheapest variants now. The other mixed bag is the often overlooked Eradicator. You are effectively getting a Vanilla Russ that drops two Strength from its cannon in exchange for Ignores Cover. It's better against cover camping infantry squads (like those squishy Eldar and Tau) but may struggle against anything else. Let’s not forget that the Grinding Advance rule allows you to shoot the main gun twice if you moved less than 6”. A solid buff!  Because of the wording of Defenders of Humanity in the IG codex, our Leman Russes also get ObSec when in a spearhead detachment. Not sure if this is applicable only for loyalist Imperial Guard, so it's quite possible Renegades and Heretics don't get Objective Secured for their Leman Russ tanks...

* '''Leman Russ Demolisher Tanks:'''The brawlers of the battle tank variants; no guns over 36" (except the Lascannon) and a LOT more power in exchange. The Punisher and Demolisher are statistically your best friends against troops and vehicles/monsters, respectively - a Punisher with 3 heavy bolters (166 points) or a Demolisher with 2 multi-meltas and a lascannon (222 points) can wreak impressive amounts of havoc for a single model, and unlike previous editions they don't mind being in melee (in fact with a trio of heavy flamers they'll be quite painful to charge). Also back in the running is the Executioner. With 2 plasma cannons and a hull lascannon (192 points) it can put out an impressive amount of MEQ-hate. And unlike every other model with plasma, a 1 on the hit roll of an overcharge shot doesn't kill you! Instead it inflicts 1 mortal wound. So...yeah it’s safe enough, the Dark Mechanicus fellas said so! Really if you want to overcharge any plasma weapons, go for the Executioner cannon, a gets hot will only inflict D6 mortal wounds, it won't be disabled after overheating, and it isn't penalized for firing on the move.  Like the other Leman Russes, they get ObSec when in a Spearhead detachment. Again, unsure if it's only a Loyalist Imperial Guard thing, so it's possible Renegades and Heretics don't get them.
**A great Russ to consider is the cheapest (150 pts) for a Punisher and hull heavy bolter (add on storm bolter and sponsons if you have spare points). This is a very effective anti horde platform and since you are able to bring huge amounts of nearly unbreakable hordes a few of these is your ticket to heavily out mobbing every army you come across. Just clean up your opponent’s zerg swarm with the Punisher then charge in your cultists to tie up their entire army. If your opponent doesn't have a swarm army then you're already laughing.

* '''Basilisk:''' One of your better units for hitting hard targets, the old Basilisk is back in action. Sitting at 110 points, its one of our more efficient units for hitting targets with 2+ wounds from across the table. Focus on that last bit - keep it away from enemy units.

* '''Earthshaker Battery:''' Since it's not in production anymore, you'll have to convert them down from the Basilisk Kit. What you would get from your work is just what you expect it to be; a stripped down Earthshaker cannon without any of the Basilisk's mobility and less survivability. Not that you took it for either of those. At 5 points more than the Basilisk, it drops the HB but gains one of the sillier rules: Immobile. Which makes you get autohit in melee (in case something clearly went wrong in your backline) but lets you shoot that giant cannon while in melee (and even at the chumps punching you since [[derp|the Earthshaker no longer has a minimum shot range]], I guess it just fires directly upwards or something). Overall the Basilisk is way better because 4 more Wounds on the same gun for less points, so avoid it like the plague, unless you really dig the aesthetics.
**Do note, this battery (conveniently) has no crew, and is technically a separate unit from the crewed, carriage earthshaker one to which Renegades have no access, despite all the other batteries being crewed ones. They are also 'not' Immobile but still have M0. Just... make of it what you will...

* '''Medusa:''' Normal Medusae are not a thing anymore, but instead we get access to the Armageddon Pattern Medusa. Effectively a vindicator, but always has D6 shots, at the cost of D3 damage, and 1 less toughness (Which is compensated for by the gun shooting 12 inches further. Similar enough to be replaced by the vindicator if it fits your style better, but as with everything on this list YMMV.

* '''Medusa (Carriage) Battery:''' Same deal as with the Earthshaker, this is a stationary Medusa cannon that has less wounds and costs the same. This one is crewed, so one more downside to a pile of downsides. Hard pass.

* '''Wyvern:''' Its infamous Wyvern quad mortars generate more attacks they did before, doing 4d6 S4 AP0 hits that re-roll to wound. Thanks to the new 8th Edition rules, the old "enemy spreads their models out to avoid blasts" tactic is moot. It's lost its "Ignores Cover" ability, which really hurts given its lack of AP. It gets 14 shots and 7 hits on an average roll, which at S4 and AP- will only reliably kill 2 or so marines. (Wait, marines? Why didn't you take a basilisk?) The Wyvern excels at killing GEQ and similar lightly armored infantry blobs, whether they're footslogging Orks, loyalist Guardsmen, or other traitors. Using this thing to target Marines is just a waste of fire and not what the weapon is designed for.

* '''Griffon:''' A Str6 AP -1, 2d6 taking the highest dice shots, ignores cover and line of sight on a Chimera EQ chassis. A strong little weapon platform, especially since it can move and shoot without much penalty other than -1 to hit. Keep it in the back, or with your other light vehicles like your Chimeras for the extra firepower. Good for killing T3 infantry squads and light vehicles, but for marines the volume of fire of the Wyvern is better.

*'''Hydra:''' The original AAA is back in action! with the revision to Skyfire, the Hydra can hit ground troops on 5s, and with its '''eight''' autocannon shots it's a potentially good investment even if you didn't expect flyers from your opponent. The power comes at a price, though: 123 points, up from 75. Flyers will learn to fear it, though; it puts out enough power to statistically guarantee damage versus most aircraft.
** It doesn't just get +1 to hit against flyer. It gets it against anything with the '''FLY''' tag. Guess who has the Fly tag? Eldar Jetbikes. You did magnetize that Wyvern you bought, right?
** There's a surprising number of other units with '''FLY''', like the aforementioned jetbikes, Jump troops, anything that used to be a skimmer in 7th, Monoliths, half of the Dark Eldar and Tau Army Lists... It's really quite staggering. Make sure you check the tags on your target's datasheet before opening fire. And do take a picture of your opponent's face when you inform them of this.

*'''Malcador Tank Family:''' Down(?)-graded from Lord of War to Heavy Support, the light-super-heavy tanks of the Malcador family has been smiled upon in 8th by the removal of weapon facing. This means the bizarre fixed-transfer casement the main gun sits in (and the fact that the sponsons can't train forward) no longer limits its shooting ability; also gone is the chance to break down every time it moves, apparently they finally fixed the engines on these things. The Demolisher cannons have Grinding Advance, as well. Note: The Valdor tank destroyer is still taking a Lord of War, so no spamming Neutron Lasers (not that you could spam a tank this size anyway).

*'''Malcador Heavy Tank:''' The basic Malcador is a Russ on a steroid binge - 18 wounds instead of 12 (this is standard across all Malcadors), and it can carry autocannons or lascannons in the sponsons.

*'''Malcador Defender:''' ''Now we're talkin'!'' In a remarkable display of foresight, the Defender eschews the nerfed turret weapons of its brothers for an interwar-style turret fitted with ''five(!)'' heavy bolters. Two more on the sponson mounts make for a bullet hose to rival the Stormlord - at 21 shots, it can chew up blobs but good! It also adds 1 to its overwatch hit rolls, making it a very solid charge deterrent to protect your gunline. Shame Chaos Covenants don't effect Vehicles, or else Tzeentch's Covenant would be outright mean. A demolisher cannon is still present on the hull for tougher targets.

*'''Rapier Laser Destroyer Battery:''' Got nerfed hard and went from auto-include to nope. Twin-linked is gone but it still fires only one shot; so there is no chance to reroll that 4+ except CPs. Still the gun is S12 and '''if''' the shot hits on a roll of 3-5 it does 2D6 damage and on a 6 it's upped to 3D6 (so you ''could'' hypothetically one-shot a Land Raider but it is highly unlikely). The price got almost doubled to 74 points for one gun and a crew of two. The rapier has 3 wounds now but unfortunately is only T5. Mathhammer says it will only beat out a team of lascannons (of similar cost) against 2+ models, models of T6 and below, and 3+ models of T9 and above. Not worth buying, but if you have it, save it for the ''really'' tough stuff.
**'''Alternate opinion:''' These are all valid criticisms and Forgeworld should really refund the money of any poor soul who bought these in the twilight days of 7th Edition, but putting this out here: if this thing does hit, it will kill almost anything you point it at. 
**It is also more durable than a lascannon in general, as the crew can't be targeted unless they are the closest model (even by sniper fire). It also helps you out by adding the one thing R&H need: Infantry based mid range Anti-Tank firepower. The insane wound potential also helps as a selling point, since 2d6 wounds is the average, and the gun has potential to do more on a good roll. It may be niche, but this gun fits nicely with renegades.

*'''Heavy Mortar Battery:''' Another crewed gun, the Heavy Mortar hits like a midway between a normal mortar and the Earthshaker Cannon. Unfortunately it takes after the latter in price - 72 points for a 3-man team and the gun carriage. Potentially viable if you've got the models, but nothing special.

*'''Heavy Quad Launcher Battery:''' Also known as the Thudd Gun. Invented by [[squats|a race of abhumans]] whose worlds were lost to the Tyranids sometime in the mid-M40s (it's not clear) and much beloved by [[Death Korps of Krieg|Grim loyalists]], 8th Edition's Thudd Gun behaves like a Wyvern's quad-gun, without the rerolls to wound (perhaps it doesn't use airburst ammunition?). It's also the exact same cost as a Wyvern, sans the heavy bolter the latter gets with its Chimera mobile platform. Workable if you have it, not worth the money if you don't.

*'''Colossus Bombard:''' Finally gaining the toughness of the Leman Russ chassis it's mounted on, the Colossus still ignores cover, though that doesn't do as much now. Downside, it costs as much as a Leman Russ, too. The mortar itself has gotten a HUGE range increase (In fact this might be a typo - 240 inches), and hits like a Heavy Mortar with slightly better AP. It fires twice as many shots, too.

===Lords of War===
* '''Macharius Family:''' the middle child of the super heavy tanks, the Macharius series starts to wield titan-sized guns, while the non-tank variants of the chassis bring to the field some of the largest transport capacities in the game. '''FAQ ADDED THEM TO THE R&H LIST'''
** '''Macharius Heavy Tank:''' Suffers from a lot of the problems that the Leman Russ suffers from, and it doesn't even get to ignore the -1 penalty for firing its main weapon on the move. It has the potential to deal a lot of damage, but like the Leman Russ battle cannon, the likelihood of it actually doing anything isn't that high. If you really have your heart set on this tank, consider the Macharius Vanquisher as an alternative.
** '''Macharius Omega:''' Its plasma blast gun is pretty amazing, especially if you can keep it still. Only 1 mortal wound per to-hit roll of 1 on the supercharged firing mode, and even if you play it safe, each shot is still doing as much damage as a normal supercharged plasma gun shot, but with much better range. Consider this if facing big squads of MEQ... now, if only FW still made the model for it.
** '''Macharius Vanquisher:''' Two Vanquisher shots are better than one, and if all else fails, you can fire this as a slightly less potent version of the twin battle cannon that the Macharius Heavy Tank has, making this a more versatile choice. It's still nothing to write home about in the grand scheme of things, but at least you get two shots for the Vanquisher cannon instead of 1.
** '''Macharius Vulcan:''' The Vulcan Mega Bolter retains the ability to spin up to maximum speed if the tank hasn't moved, doubling its rate of fire to 30. On a S6 AP-2 gun, that's some SERIOUS pain. With 15 hits on average, you'll be mowing down entire GEQ squads with an average of 12.5 wounds per shooting phase. This is a nice tank to have up your sleeve when that Ork player floods the board with Boyz.

*'''Baneblade:''' The galaxy's premier super-heavy tank has been lucky this edition, with almost-universal reductions in points, retention of fire points, ''amazing'' toughness, and the addition of the Steel Behemoth rule. The Steel Behemoth rule is especially powerful on Baneblades; Versus targets ''in'' melee it may fire its twin heavy flamers and twin heavy bolters like pistols, targeting foes within 1" - this makes a fully-armed Baneblade one of the ''meanest models in the game'' in close quarters, dealing out an average of '''31''' hits, at S5 AP-1 - and that's before it uses its adamantium tracks, which swing at s9 ap-2 for d3 damage up to 9 times. And those flamers hit on overwatch, too. All variants have a twin heavy bolter on the hull, and may take up to 4 sponsons, each with a lascannon and a twin heavy flamer/twin heavy bolter.
**'''Baneblade:''' First of the turreted variants, and the only one available to you as a R&H player (though with the removal of facing that's not as relevant anymore), the original Baneblade packs the mighty Baneblade Cannon, an autocannon, and a hull Demolisher Cannon. Old but gold. 

*'''Minotaur Artillery Tank:''' One of the two variants of the Malcador chassis that retains the Lord of War title...Though you could be forgiven for not noticing, since it's had two Earthshaker cannons mounted on it. ''Backwards.'' Simultaneously the coolest thing on treads and an ungodly abortion only Hereteks could love, and boy do they. Has two heavy bolters mounted on it...somewhere. As a side effect of mashing two Basilisks together it gains Steel Behemoth and a 5+ Invulnerable save against shooting attacks (which is copy-pasted from the Gorgon's entry, because the two are such similar machines...Bravo, Forge World!). The durability comes at a cost: for the firepower of two Basilisks it's almost as expensive as three.
*'''Valdor Tank Destroyer:''' Recently added to the R&H list in the latest FAQ (in the Forces of Chaos book instead of the Forces of the Astra Militarum where our rules are, but still counts!) The other Malcador variant that's still a Lord of War, the Valdor is to vehicles what the Infernus is to infantry. It packs a Neutron Laser Projector, a cannon that hits plenty hard, fires more than one shot and gets damage rerolls vs vehicles (who also take a -1 shooting penalty if the shot damages them). Be wary: the reactor powering this thing is closer to a bomb than an engine. When killed, the Valdor explodes on a 2+, inflicting D6 mortal wounds on everything within 2d6". Sadly, it's too pricey to be taken just for the spectacular not-a-deathstrike suicide attack.