Editing Warhammer 40,000/8th Edition Tactics/Space Marines (section)

==={{W40Kkeyword|Raven Guard}}===
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[[File:Raven_Guards_Livery.jpg|100px|left|]]In the grim darkness of the far future, death comes from the shadows.<br>
Thematically, these guys are THE specialist of covert operations and rapid deployment, striking their enemies before they can react.<br>
On the tabletop, these guys are well-suited to picking off characters, either from long range sniping, mass Jump Pack assaults, or smash captains flipping entire units by themselves, and either way they're tricky to actually land a hit on. Thanks to a wealth of deployment and redeployment options, they will constantly be moving in to attack from multiple directions, and they are one of the few chapters that can reliably deliver Primaris units into close quarters without relying on transports.<br>
''If you want your marines to '''behave like the special forces they are''', keep quiet, and stalk the shadows with the Ravens.''
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====Special Rules====
*'''Chapter Tactics - Shadow Masters:''' Your units get the benefit of cover if they're being shot beyond 12". If they're not vehicles and happen to be entirely on or within a terrain feature (not just receiving cover), enemies must also subtract 1 from their hit rolls.
**Of help to long-range attackers of all types, from Scout Snipers to ranged Dreads. One of the best chapter tactics available, as is basically good on ''everything'', from units that can pick off opponents from afar to melee units that need to cover long distances to reach their intended targets, preventing them from being shot up quite as badly. 
**While it's a nerf from the old -1 to hit (it being restricted to far-away cover), a 2+ save still helps, and your vehicles get cover in the open: hard to destroy -1 to hit (Smoke launchers) 2+ Rhinos (Shadow Masters) [[JoJo's_Bizarre_Adventure|without also getting within 12" of them]]. It's also worth noting that Vanguard Primaris means that there are now more units with Camo Cloaks, as opposed to just Scouts, and they'll all enjoy that +2 to saves at 12". Turns out that Salamanders don't have a monopoly on infantry that can ignore AP-1.
*'''Combat Doctrine - Surgical Strikes:''' While the Tactical Doctrine is active, all your models add +1 to hit and wound rolls when targeting a character. Unlike most doctrines, this isn't restricting you to any particular method of fighting...though you can snipe a character earlier than you can reach it in melee. Naturally, sniper Scouts and Eliminators in particular will appreciate these bonuses, triggering Mortal Wounds on a wound roll of 5+. 
**This rule is an absolute nightmare for opponents running large, monstrous characters. Knights with relics, Greater Daemons, Hive Tyrants, Mortarion, and Magnus were already fire magnets, and this makes the situation far worse for them.
====Warlord Traits====
#'''Shadowmaster''': The enemy can't fire overwatch against your warlord, enabling him to make the charge first, selflessly (and [[Reasonable Marines|safely]]) <u>screening his retinue from overwatch</u>. Works on any kind of warlord... but it's obviously better on those who reroll charge ranges, like Shrike or a {{W40Kkeyword|Jump Pack}} Captain with the '''Raven's Fury'''. Do keep in mind characters with auras that benefit the charge should charge last, or their retinues would no longer benefit from them...''like Shrike's''.
#'''Master of Ambush:''' At the start of the first battle round, but before the first turn begins, remove your warlord and 1 non-Centurion infantry unit and place them anywhere on the battlefield more than 9" away from the enemies deployment zone. 6 Aggressors??! Note that it allows a Chaplain to infiltrate together with Scouts, Vanguard Primaris units, and other Vanguard HQs without spending a CP.
#'''Swift and Deadly''': Friendly Raven Guard units within 6" of the warlord can be chosen to charge even if they advanced. Jump Packs? No, lets try bikes!
#'''Master of Vigilance''': When resolving an attack made by a melee weapon by this warlord, an unmodified hit roll of 6 inflicts a mortal wound in addition to any other damage.
#'''Feigned Flight''': When this warlord falls back, they can move across models and terrain as if they weren't there. In addition the warlord may shoot and charge in a turn that they fell back.
#'''Echo of the Ravenspire''': Once per battle, at the end of your movement phase, the warlord can vanish into the gloom if they are more than 6" away from any other models. When it does, remove it from the battlefield and set up the warlord again at the end of your next movement phase anywhere on the table that is more than 9" away from enemy models. Excellent on a Terminator or Gravis Smash Captain.

====Relics & Special-Issue Wargear====
Relics are now split into two categories. Relics of Ravenspire may only be taken by Raven Guard (unless you use a stratagem). Special-Issue Wargear can be taken by Raven Guard and their successor chapters
=====Relics of the Ravenspire=====
*'''The Armour of Shadows''': Treat AP-1 attacks against the wearer as AP0. In addition, an unmodified hit roll against them of 1, 2, or 3 always fails (i.e. it's harder for elite units to hit you, but worse melee units won't notice). Watch as your opponent's WS2+ smash unit hits as well as a guardsman.
*'''The Ebonclaws''': Replaces Lighting Claws. SU AP-3 D1d3 A+1, re-rolls wounds.  
*'''Ex Tenebris''': Replaces a mastercrafted stalker bolt rifle, mastercrafted occulis bolt carbine, or mastercrafted instigator bolt carbine. Replaces the profile with 36" Assault 3 S4 AP-2 D2, it can target enemy characters even if they are not the closest, and it adds 1 to its hit rolls and ignores cover. Was made by Corax and supposed to be given to Konrad Curze. Probably would have helped his shooting. Consider putting this on a Primaris Captain who's supporting your backline to snipe characters, or even better, a Primaris Lieutenant (+1 to hit increasing him to 2+ to hit) since he's cheaper and his buffs stack with the Phobos Captain, who also has a sniper rifle. Since it's a relic, it sadly does not stack with the Marksman's Honors trait.
**The +1 to hit bonus stacks with the Combat Doctrine, allowing even a Lieutenant to ignore a -1 to hit penalty on other sneaky characters. So it's wasted on a Captain.
*'''Oppressor's End''': Replaces a combat knife with S+1 AP-2 D1 A+1. Against an enemy character, the damage improves to 3. Not shabby, but the only HQs that can this are the Phobos Captain and Lieutenant... and they'd probably rather take Ex Tenebris.
*'''The Raven Skull of Korvaad''': Once per turn, you can re-roll a hit roll, wound roll, or damage roll. In addition, if the model carrying this relic is destroyed by an enemy unit, you can add 1 to the hit rolls of any Raven Guard unit targeting that enemy unit for the rest of the game. Kind of begs for martyrs, which should be easy to find with Templars, but this does have its uses regardless.  
*'''Raven's Fury''': Jump Pack model only. Can charge even after advancing, and re-rolls failed charge rolls.  It also inflicts a mortal wound on its charge target on a 4+. While its extra speed might be ignored so your other Jump Infantry can keep up, and Champions don't have access to them, it is of great help to a Shadowmaster RG Warlord to get that charge.

=====Special-Issue wargear=====
*'''Adamantine Mantle:''' FnP5+++. "Not dying" is good for everyone, but (smash) captains/Primaris are the ones with the most wounds to proc it with.
*'''Artificer Armour:''' 2+/5++. Most useful for Lieutenants and Librarians, who lack invulns.
*'''Digital Weapons:''' Do an additional attack when the model fights. If it hits, the target suffers a mortal wound.
*'''Master-crafted Weapon:''' +1D to a weapon, and it now considered a relic (so now some WTs no longer affect it and such). ''4D Thunder Hammer!''
*'''Korvidari Bolts:''' Select one bolter weapon from Codex Space Marines that model is equipped with, when that model is chosen to shoot you can fire a Korvidari bolt. The model's ranged weapon's range is increased by 6" and can target units that are not visible, but only one attack can be made with the weapon. Great on a Phobos Captain, as he only gets one shot anyways, or an Eliminator sarge to always use the best ammo despite being out of LoS.
*'''Shadow Master Cloak:''' 3++ invuln save while completely within a terrain feature. Good on Lieutenants and Librarians for the same reason as Artificer Armour, the choice depends entirely on the availability of terrain.
*'''Silentus Pistol:''' Models with a bolt pistol or heavy bolt pistol only, replaces it for a pistol 2 S5 AP-2 D2. It can target a character even without it being the closest and can add 1 to the hit roll.
**Since it doesn't fully synergize with the Combat Doctrine (it gets the to hit and to wound bonuses but not the AP bonus), it works better on a Successor Chapter.
*'''Shard of Isstvan:''' +1 attack, and when a morale test is taken for a chapter unit within 6", the test is automatically passed.

====Stratagems====
Raven Guard Stratagems can be divided into four broad categories; Mobility, Offense, Disruption/Survival, and Universal.
*'''Mobility:''' If White Scars are the masters of speed, Raven Guard are the masters of deployment. 
**'''Infiltrators (1 CP)''': At the start of the first battle round, but before the first turn begins choose an infantry unit and move them. As long as you finish more than 9" from enemy models. Each unit can only be selected for this once per battle. As your turn hasn't begun you can use this multiple times on different units.
***Best utilized on Jump Infantry, though as Concealed Positions also happens before the first turn, it can also be used to reposition an infiltrating unit.
**'''Strike from the Shadows (1 CP)''': Lets you place a {{W40kKeyword|Raven Guard}} Infantry unit in ambush, allowing them to deep strike.
**'''Strike from the Skies (1 CP)''': Start of the Charge phase. One {{W40kKeyword|Raven Guard}} Jump Pack unit can charge even if they advanced and adds 1 to the charge rolls. 
**'''The Raven's Blade (1 CP)''': Allows you to reroll all charge rolls against one enemy unit. Useful for removing an important enemy unit by charging several of your melee units into it simultaneously.
**'''False Flight (2 CP)''': One {{W40kKeyword|Raven Guard}} unit can now shoot and charge after they fall back. There's plenty of utility here, from making a fighting retreat to double-dipping on any charge bonuses you get.
*'''Offense:''' Compared to other chapters, the Raven Guard have only a few Stratagems that enhance their damage output, and they are either limited to once per turn or very narrow in scope.
**'''Lay Low the Tyrants (1 CP)''': Use during the melee phase. Pick a {{W40kKeyword|Raven Guard}} Infantry or Biker unit. When they resolve a melee attack against a character that is not a vehicle or a non-vehicle unit with a model that has 4 or more wounds, add 1 to the wound roll. Stacks with Surgical Strikes, giving you +2 to wound against enemy Characters.
**'''Vengeance of Istvaan V (1 CP)''': A {{W40kKeyword|Raven Guard}} unit can reroll all attack rolls in melee when targeting a Word Bearer, Iron Warrior, Alpha Legion, or Night Lord unit. Avenge the Drop Site Massacre. ”Come on you fucking pansies! Fight us face-to-face! For Corax! For Brothers lost! CHARGE!!!”- Master of Shadows Kayvaan Shrike, battle for Hope’s Pyre against Word Bearers.
**'''Ambushing Fire (2 CP)''': Use at the start of your moving phase if the Tactical Doctrine is active. Until the end of the next battle round, all {{W40kKeyword|Raven Guard}} units shooting Rapid Fire and Assault weapons in your army improve their AP by 1 on an unmodified wound roll of 6. Can only be used once per battle.
*'''Disruption/survival:'''While most armies have stratagems aimed at utility or defense, the Raven Guard emphasize disrupting your opponent's plans and making it harder for them to use stratagems, target your units, and take/score objectives. 
**'''Stranglehold (2 CP)''': Use during the first turn of the game to screw over your opponent's stratagems. You must have {{W40kKeyword|Raven Guard}} Scouts or Phobos units in your army. roll 1d6 each time an opponent spends a command point on a stratagem. on a 5+, the opponent must spend an additional command point or the stratagem is countered and cannot be used again this round. Only works during the first turn. 
**'''See but Remain Unseen (1 CP)''': Use this stratagem at the end of your turn. Select one Raven Guard unit that did not make any attacks. Subtract 1 from any hit rolls that target them. You could possibly be a dick and use this on transports working as meat shields for your army, you're not gonna miss a few WS 6+ attacks or less than 10 Storm Bolter shots. Works especially well if you position your units such that your opponent must engage the transport. Also makes an Infantry unit in terrain with Smoke Grenades ridiculously survivable at -3 to hit (>12").
**'''Decapitating Blow (2 CP)''': Use when you kill the enemy warlord with a {{W40kKeyword|Raven Guard}} unit. For the rest of the game, enemy units are at -1 leadership.
**'''Deadly Price (1 CP)''': Use at the end of your turn to boobytrap an objective. If an enemy unit tries to take it, roll a d6. On a 2-4, they take d3 mortal wounds. On a 5+, they take 3 mortal wounds instead. Can't be used on the same objective more than once per battle.
**'''Force their Hand (1 CP)''': Tactical objective shenanigans. Force your opponent to discard a tactical objective and draw a new one. You need to have a bike or infantry unit on a objective in your opponent's deployment zone to use this. A lot of hoops to jump through to make this work.
*'''Universal:''' All Chapters Supplements include some variation of the following three stratagems.
**'''Masters of the Trifold Path (1 CP)''': Non-named characters can generate a second warlord trait. No duplicates. once per battle
**'''Favored of the Ravenspire (1 CP)''': A {{W40kKeyword|Raven Guard}} Sergeant can take certain relics
**'''Token of Brotherhood (1 CP)''': The standard successor relic sharing stratagem.

====Litany & Psychic Discipline - Umbramancy====
As a discipline, Umbramancy focuses on shadows, disruption, and making your solo-operators more deadly. Its two mortal wound powers are somewhat weak, but the rest of the powers are fairly solid, if somewhat limited by targeting restrictions. Two of the powers (Umbral Form and Spectral Blade) only affect your librarians themselves, while a third (Shadowstep) only affects characters, and the last (Enveloping Darkness) can only affect a single enemy unit. Nevertheless, there are several combos that present themselves (The Abyss + Spectral Blade), (Spectral Blade + Umbral Form), (Shadowstep + Enveloping Darkness/The Abyss/Smite), (Spectral Blade + Enveloping Darkness + a unit of Reivers).

#'''Umbral Form''': Warp Charge 5. The psyker gains a 4++ Invulnerable save.
#'''Enveloping Darkness''': Warp Charge 7. One visible enemy unit within 18" cannot fire Overwatch and subtracts one from their hit rolls. Basically a psychic Shock Grenade, which stacks.
#'''Spectral Blade''': Warp Charge 5. Until the start of the next psychic phase, the psyker's Strength is equal to their Leadership. In addition, they have AP-4 when resolving an attack against a unit with a lower Leadership. In most cases, this will make your Librarian Strength 9, and you can guarantee the AP bonus by using one of the numerous Leadership penalty sources available (suddenly, Fear Made Manifest gets better as a warlord trait).
#'''Shadowstep''':  Warp Charge 7. One {{W40kKeyword|Raven Guard Character}} within 18" of your Librarian redeploys wherever he wishes while 9" away from the enemy. Once again, it can be used to send a Chaplain to support infiltrated Marines, or to teleport around a Terminator or Gravis Smash Captain.
#'''The Abyss''': Warp Charge 6. Select one visible enemy unit within 18". Roll 3d6; for each each roll of 4+, the target takes a mortal wound. If any models are destroyed, then the unit suffers a -1 penalty to their leadership for the rest of the turn.
#'''The Darkness Within''': Warp Charge 6. Select up to 3 enemy units within 18"; roll 1d6 for each unit. On a 4+, they take a mortal wound. If you rolled a 10 or higher on the psychic test, add 1 to the d6 rolls.

'''Litanies of Battle - Swift as the Raven:''' Raven Guard within 6" can fall back and shoot, and also charge that turn if they can Fly.
*Inceptors want to tie up units that cannot fight them back, like small troop squads and vehicles, to hide from enemy shooting or force them to fall back. This litany lets them do just that. Let the Chaplain give +1 to hit to their Plasma Exterminators for safe plasma supercharge, and use Swift as the Raven when they reach the enemy. They are the only flying unit that can both shoot and melee, more than Suppressors. If you can get over the autism of mixing a manlet Jump Pack Chaplain with Primaris Inceptors, that is.

====Special Units====

*'''Primaris [[Kayvaan Shrike]]:'''He’s been spoiled as a Vanguard Chapter Master. He’s finally got a gun (even though it’s a pistol), still has the Raven's Talons, the jump pack, and that fuck-ugly emo hairstyle. He now lets you re-roll all hit rolls as per the Chapter Master rules revision. His gun, Blackout, is an 18" AP-2 D2 bolt pistol that can target characters and do mortal wounds on 6+ like the usual sniper rifle. In addition, he now has 6 wounds and a ''14" move''. Combine all that with Winged Deliverance (re-roll charges for units within 6"), and... hoo boy.
*'''Shadow Captain Korvydae:''' This guy was dropped from the game in a FAQ; instead, you're told to use the model to represent a generic Captain.
**Good model for a Raven's Fury/Thunder Hammer Captain. They make decent character assassins, as the sheer speed at which they can close with a target can catch people off guard.

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'''Forgeworld''' {{W40kKeyword|Successor Chapters}} '''Characters'''<br>
Remember you don't necessarily need to pick Inheritors of the Primarch to be Raven Guard successors and use this supplement.
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{{W40kKeyword|[[Raptors]]}}<br>
*'''[[Lias Issodon]]:''' Chapter Master. Lias is the king of Infiltration Fuckery. When he infiltrates (at the end of ''any'' Movement Phase, thus it supplements Strike from the Shadows), he can take up to three {{W40kKeyword|RAPTORS}} {{W40kKeyword|INFANTRY}} units with him (barring {{W40kKeyword|TERMINATORS}}, {{W40kKeyword|PRIMARIS}} and {{W40kKeyword|CENTURIONS}}, but now allowing jump-pack Marines). [[Meme|Surprise, motherfuckers!]] He has a 6" aura that adds +1" to all move, advance, charge, and fall back moves (making his base movement ''8"''), on top of his Chapter Master 6" aura of rerolls to hit. His weapon ''Malice'' is a 30" Assault 3 S5 AP-4 D1d3 murdermachine with ignores cover, which he can fire after retreating from melee with Hit & Run. In addition to all of this, Lias essentially has a 0+ save while sitting in any cover (though of course save rolls of 1 always fail, this is more to troll enemies who try to negate cover saves). This means, when he is in cover, he gets a save against ''every weapon in the game''. Yes, including those AP-6 Titan weapons. Plus he has a master-crafted power sword, just in case he needs to run interference to protect your ambushers from small opportunistic chargers. Storm of Fire is the preferred Warlord Trait, as he'll largely be hanging out with other shooters.
**Potential ambushers to think about are Devastators, Sternguard, or Company Veterans (never waste this ability on units that already have the means to deep strike via cheapish Jump Packs!). Remember he can also buff Inceptors and Cataphractii Terminators, as they can deep strike next to him without his rule, and any [[Aggressor|Primaris units]] you infiltrate with Strike from the Shadows *cough*Assault Centurions*cough*. Nothing beats the feeling of deep striking 30 multi-melta Devastators in melta range of an IG tank column or Knight Castellan.
**Raptors seem to be gaining in popularity. Using this dude takes caution and practice, but if done right you can route your enemy in spectacular fashion. One of the main questions you should be asking yourself is what will I use to clear screens, and how will I force my opponent's movement to open gaps for the ambush? Build your list around sculpting your opponent's plays, and let the mind games begin.
'''Successor Tactics:''' Inheritors of the Primarch works just fine for them, and are perhaps even better built for them than their parent chapter! Inheritors is also absolute cheese on Issodon’s deepstrike force (put them down in cover and you have a group of 15 lascannon-toting Devastators who reroll all failed hits, with -1 to hit and a 2+ save, along with Issodon’s 0+ and -1 to hit). If you feel like mixing it up, however, Tactics like Preferred Enemy, Long-ranged Marksmen, and, of course, Stealthy are all fluffy and effective picks. Consider that the Hungry For Battle Trait, combined with the Master of the Vanguard Warlord Trait and Lias Issodon's built-in +1 to charge can give your reserve force a respectable 6" charge out of deepstrike, season with Raven's Blade for a re-roll to taste.

{{W40kKeyword|[[Space Sharks]]}}<br>
*'''[[Tyberos the Red Wake]]:''' Chapter Master.  An unholy, terrifying murder machine whose melee damage went through the roof in this edition. Comes with 2 weapons: Hunger and Slake. Hunger is a chainfist that does a flat 3 damage (one better than the normal), and Slake is a lightning claw that does 2 damage while still getting the re-roll to wound. He grants all Carcharodons models within 6" +1S including himself, he also gives all Carcharodons units within 6" re-roll to hits (including shooting). His statline is almost identical to that of a Terminator Captain but Tyberos has 5 attacks instead of 4, 1 more strength due to his buff and 1 less BS. Tyberos excels at fighting small units composed of models with multiple wounds and HQs due to his damage output. Keep an assault unit of some sort alongside him and together they should destroy any MEQ or TEQ unit with absolute ease. While VERY expensive Thunder Hammer armed Vanguard or Assault Termies become more effective at killing high toughness units when alongside Tyberos. ''((The S10 they get from Tyberos' buff combined with the Thunder Hammers means they'll go from wounding T8 and T9 units on 4+ and 5+ respectively to wounding them on a 3+ and 3+ respectively (this means they can wound even a Knight or Warhound Titan on a 3+). A squad of 5 will put out 11 AP-3 Dmg 3 Strength 10 hits that can cause a maximum of 33 damage and they get to re-roll misses due to Tyberos. That's a potential of 48 damage in a single fight phase between them and Tyberos using Hunger (15 from Tyberos 33 from the hammer unit.''
**If Tyberos is your warlord, you should really be pumping everything you can into his attacks - his hitting power is strong, but his overall volume of attacks quite low by comparison. To start with, give him The Imperium’s Sword for +1A on the charge, which compliments his existing +1A from Shock Assault. Cast Might of Heroes on him for another +1A and +1S, giving him '''eight''' attacks at S12 ap-4 dmg3. Finally, drop the Whirlwind of Rage successor trait and keep a Lieutenant nearby, and watch your sweet little bundle of death chew through an Imperial Knight every turn.
**Since sharkboy has '''no ranged weapons at all''', not even a bolt pistol, any turn where he isn’t wrecking face in cc is a waste of his substantial 205 points cost - so absolutely invest in a transport to get him up the board as quickly as possible. Bonus cool points if you play [https://youtu.be/lV8i-pSVMaQ his favourite song] while disembarking.
'''Successor Tactics:''' Whirlwind of Rage is an absolute must here, Tyberos benefits too damn much from it. Great choices for your second Tactic include Hunger for Battle, to get into melee ASAP, or Tactical Withdrawal, to keep Shock Assault up and working for you. Fearsome Aspect is a fluffy, if not as brutal option.  


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====Tactics:====
'''Objective Defense:''' The Ravens can defend an objective simply because of how difficult it is to hit them. You can take things to an extreme with just a couple vanguard troops: keep them close and have a squad use their smoke bombs (and thus not shoot) and use '''See But Remain Unseen'''. Next, have a Phobos Librarian use '''Shrouding''' on the other squad to <u>force the enemy to target the -3 to hit squad</u>. ''That's an auto-miss on BS4+''. And '''Deadly Price''' stacks with Incursor mines, meaning your units can barely be shot at, and anyone who wants to contest the objective is greeted by a flurry of mortal wounds. On top of now being too close to Incursors. Happy haunting!

'''Aggressor Rush:''' ''The First Axiom of Victory is to be other than where the enemy desires you to be''. Your enemy doesn't want Aggressors near his lines, or defending the objectives he placed. ''The First Axiom of Stealth is to be other than where the enemy believes you to be.'' Your enemy believes Chaplains cannot move quickly without giving up their litanies. 10,000 years later, Corax's tennets remain true. Risky, but devastating when your enemy isn't prepared to meet & greet six Aggressors buffed by a Chaplain. Add support to it, like a couple of Invictors, and your enemy simply won't be able to take care of your stealth ball of hate fast enough. The enemy HAS to move back to avoid the charge, and that more than 5" (Aggressor move) + 7" (average charge) = 12". Congrats, your mere presence FORCED the enemy back and gave you cover in the open (>12") to top it all!

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