Editing Warhammer 40,000/7th Edition Tactics/Renegades and Heretics (section)

==ALLIES==

The Renegades & Heretics still function identically to Chaos Space Marines in 7E with respect to what they can or cannot ally with, the new chart just moved a few things around.

===Battle Brothers===

*'''Chaos Space Marines''' - probably the most obvious one for both fluff and functionality. You get to combine the Helldrake AND Hydra flak tanks and DOMINATE the skies. As battle brothers your characters can join each others squads and/or benefit from each others abilities, so you can have an impressive number of psykers buffing each other up. Actually, any of the basic HQ units ''(but not Lords - see below)'' make good choices since Dark Apostles can make your massive renegade squads fearless & zealots and Warp Smiths can fix up your multitude of tanks that you'll probably have. 
**Unfortunately, this combination has a few glaring problems: namely, both detachments requiring themselves to be your ''PRIMARY'' detachment in order to gain the best goodies. So if you take Chaos Space Marines as allies, you lose out on being able to take Cult units as Troops choices, but if you take Renegades as the "allied" detachment you lose out on multiple units being unlocked through your Master of Renegades rule and you can only take a Demagogue Devotion if the model is your Warlord.
***NOT ANYMORE! Thanks to Traitor Legions, any allied CSM detachment which is described as one of the cult legions (Thousand Sons, Emperor's Children, Death Guard, or World Eaters) can take their respective Cult units as troops, circumventing the need for the primary detachment. So ally Plague and Noise Marines to your heart's content, little heretic. You may still not need a Lord over a Dark Apostle, but it really doesn't matter.
*'''Chaos Daemons:''' A good source for psykers, good melee units and deep strike deployment, particularly of objective holding troops (such as ubiquitous [[Plaguebearer]]s or the 2+ re-rollable cover save [[Pink Horrors]]). Soul grinders of Nurgle are now unspeakably awesome because they automatically have a 5+ cover save due to shrouded and have 4 HP with AV 13! Fantastic mobile cover, and they pack a punch, too! Troops are no longer obscene amounts of points in this codex, either, and heralds are fuckcheap HQ units; the mandatory units in an allied detachment can cost as little as 135 points, meaning you could take Soul Grinder support in lists as small as 1000 points and still be none the worse for wear. Meanwhile, bloodthirsters follow the flying monstrous creature rules and have WS 10 (10!). Lords of change are mastery level 2 psykers by default, level 3 with the upgrade (which you will always take) and can take either Tzeentchy witchfire powers or Divination powers. 
**Protip: Wanna make your Bloodletters or Daemonettes actually survive so they can reach combat? Run them straight towards the enemy every turn, then park a rhino/chimera in front of them and block all incoming fire! Then deliver your delicious, demonic payload right into those helpless loyalist corpse-fuckers' sphincter!
*'''Khorne Daemonkin:''' Permitted since Renegades are counted as "identical" to Chaos Space Marines with who they can ally with. This immediately solves many of the problems faced by taking Chaos Space Marine allies as the "Cult" units are already unlocked as Troops, but not that it mattered since you could take allied "Formations" instead of using the FOC. Also, the Blood for the Blood God rule means you can gain free daemon units quite reliably. Just be aware that '''only friendly units with the BftBG rule''' can actually contribute towards the Blood Tithe with their death, but since you can mix it up with melee & powerful ranged units you should have no problem accumulating those Tithe points from the blood of your enemies. It basically just means you have to be sparing with what allied units you can sacrifice.
**Ordnance Tyrant and lots of cultists. The enemy not giving you enough blood tithe points? Add Wyverns, then [[Grimdark|SACRIFICE YOUR OWN CULTISTS!]] BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD!
**Since no one has mentioned this yet: Heralds. Of. Freaking. Khorne. Did you want a 55pt tax to make an unstoppable tarpit? Then you're in luck. 30 mutants + a Herald of Khorne is an insanely cheap blob of fearless fun. That big unit your opponent has without Hit and Run? Yeah... it's not going anywhere this game.
*'''Renegade Knight Household:''' Wassat? The renegades just jacked an Imperial Knight? Hell yes! The Renegade Knight adds an insane amount of dakka to an already heavy-firepower force. You can go either way between anti-infantry or anti-armor, just like your Renegades! Avenger Gatling Cannons tear through anything short of Terminators, while Land Raiders and Monoliths have a hard time against Thermal Cannons. Or just go fucking bonkers on walkers and monstrous creatures with a Reaper Chainsword. While a Renegade Knight adds a lot to any Chaos force, it seems Renegades and Heretics possibly have the most flexibility with it.

===Allies of Convenience===
*'''Necrons:''' The use of night scythes and/ or monoliths can be used with large squads of warriors/ immortals with an attached overlord with resurrection orb to have a rapid deployment of a tough objective holder, with enough power in one turn of shooting to wipe a smaller, unsupported objective holder. Spyders with fabricator claws are good for fixing up your tanks. Scarabs can eat through your opponents tanks with ease.  
*'''Orks:''' The basic ork are like the '''Worker/Mutant rabbles''', but made worthy. Can be used to screening, in the FieldMek/"biggest ork/grot blob avaliable", (sort of) vanguard in the Warboss/Nobz/Battlewagon or the Bike Warboss/bike Nobz. Also a XBAWSHUEG blob of Lootas can do a good anti-air unit (they go usually at 5+. Going 6 is no great loss).

===Desperate Allies===
*'''Dark Eldar:''' This could be a good (or at least interesting) pairing, with massive renegade blobs holding down the objectives while the Dark Eldar range ahead and blow things to pieces. Don't worry too much about the whole Desperate Allies thing; Renegades don't have that many abilities that would benefit the Dark Eldar, and the Dark Eldar ARE so much faster than the rest of your army that you don't need to worry about the whole One Eye Open, "we won't work within 6" of you" thing.
*'''Tau:''' 3 words: Early, Warning, Override. Have some stripped down, volume-firing units with this system hugging your flanks, then watch your enemy fail to alpha strike anything, especially with HBC Riptides and Plasma Crises/Broadsides.

===Come the Apocalypse===
*'''Imperial Guard:''' - If you ally with Imperial Guard you've probably missed the point of playing a Renegades & Heretics Army, you have a lot of overlap with your units, but since you're only convenient allies you cannot join each others squads or benefit from orders. Plus, if it's just loads of tanks you want, ally with '''Armoured Companies''' instead.
*'''Eldar:''' Faster objective snatchers: good. Stronger Psychic Phase: good. Mobile, accurate shooting: excellent. Drawbacks: only marginally more durable infantry (Wraith units excepted), can't share Blessings, and not enough slots to counteract all of this army's major weaknesses at the same time.
*'''Imperial Knights:''' - Work better with AM blob infantry. Allied here, they're vulnerable to alpha strike, but provide a good firebase/Distraction Carnifex.
*'''Loyalist Space Marines:''' - As your first strike, amazing; use the Renegades to anchor your Drop Pod Assault. Just avoid taking Renegades that will go where your Marines want to be. Only do this for stuff CSMs just don't have (Grav weaponry, Storm Talons, Assault Bikes, TFCs, etc).
*'''Tyranids:''' - Serviceable way to make a Genestealer Cult. With Tyrranocytes, you avoid much of your setup hassles. Just remember to keep your Spore Pods between your assault bugs and unengaged enemy models. Ideally, you can use your tarpit units to set up assaults your Stealers stand a chance of surviving. You definitely need screening units on the board to make this alliance work. Alternately, you can go for a Line-breaking approach, basically bringing in a miniature Godzilla army to suppress the hard counters to your Militia-Trained shooting game. The key thing is to start with as few bugs as possible in your deployment zone, and only checking for OEO when you can't avoid it. Trygons are helpful in this regard, especially the Sword-wielding/Poison-spewing kind, if you want an Objective Secured Tervigon.