Ravenwing Army Breakdown Part 3: Vehicles

Ravenwing Army Breakdown Part 3: Vehicles

I'm going to take a break from tournament battle reports to finish this up. If you'd still like to see those as well let me know.

Darkshroud
The second most important part of a ravenwing army, after black knights. The darkshroud plays to all of the ravenwing’s strength. It’s cheap, gives you fear (which almost never comes up but is hilarious when it does), ignore overwatch and stealth. Plus it has shrouded for itself. Which means 2+ rerollable jink saves, which it can also provide for nearby black knights (and a 3+ for other ravenwing). A darkshroud is a core part of every ravenwing army and taking two is fine if you have the slots/models. Generally one darkshroud can cover 2-3 units early on when you’re being shot at. Never bother with the assault cannon upgrade, there’s always a better way to spend 10 points. Like black knights, you need to be very careful with positioning your darkshroud and keep it away from ignores cover and assault. Not being open topped and 3 hull points will help against weak weapons like heavy flamers or smart missiles but in general you want your shroud out of line of sight, unless you’re using it to block charges or something.

Stealth and Shrouded makes it hard to take a clear picture of this thing

Ravenwing Land Speeder
They've got a pile of weapon options, they're fast skimmers, and they benefit from rerollable jink. On paper they look like they're perfect for a ravenwing army. Unfortunately, they're also made of that paper, with only 2 hull points. They also can't tie units up in combat and don't come with Scout unless they're in a formation. Attack bikes do multi meltas equally well or better, missile launchers aren't particularly useful and heavy flamers can't be used while jinking. This makes land speeders a poor choice most of the time, especially when accompanying other ravenwing units.

Land Speeder Vengeance
Like the regular land speeder, the vengeance doesn't really fill a role that's needed while being less survivable than bikers. The plasma turret seems cool and the extra hull point helps, but for the price of 3 black knights you get a plasma gun with 3 shots or a large blast. Neither are twin linked and taking a librarian just to babysit this guy with divination is an awful idea. Most of the time it will glance itself to death if your opponent doesn't throw a squad of 5 tactical marines at it first to kill it.

Nephilim Jetfighter
Continuing a trend among Ravenwing vehicles, the Nephilim doesn't really fill any strategic niche. It seems to be an air to air duelist but the S6 gun it comes stock with is pretty useless for this, and it can't swap out its heavy bolter for something more useful. It's missiles are only s7 ap 3 which doesn't help against other fliers and aren't good for strafing ground targets. If you switch the bolter out for a lascannon you'll have 3 different weapons with different strength and ap, meaning one of its guns will almost always be wasting shots. It's survivable, but most fliers already are.

The most heartbreaking part is that it's the only Space Marine flier that doesn't look like a flying toaster.

Dark Talon
I'm going to lighten up on the Ravenwing vehicles for this last entry. This thing is silly and potentially a bucket of fun. The Stasis bomb turns Eldar into Tau in cc and can be dropped independently of your other weapons. Also the one time it wounds a stormsurge or necron overlord will be a story you tell your friends about for years. The rift cannon is equally goofy with a chance to spontaneously start dragging things into the warp. Plus it has some hurricane bolters in case you're feeling Orky and want to make some noise. I wouldn't call it great but it's funky weapons aren't terrible and might find their way into a list or two for dealing with death stars or static armies (not that you see much of the latter anymore).

Up next, Detachments and Formations!

Ravenwing Army Breakdown Part 2: Bikes

Ravenwing Army Breakdown Part 2: Bikes

After a short break, we're back for part 2!

Ravenwing Bike Squad 
For 4 points more than codex marines (more specifically, white scars) you lose skilled rider and +1 S to hammer of wrath for rerollable jink, teleport homers and scout. This isn't a bad deal but bike squads are unfortunately overshadowed by your other choices in a ravenwing army. There's no reason to ever take plasma on them because black knights just do plasma better with less risk, and 2 attack bikes with multi meltas have more wounds and a safer range for only a few points more than 3 ravenwing bikers with 2 meltaguns. This of course means the only reason you'd take ravenwing squads is for grav, but there's no easy ways to give them rerolls to hit or ignores cover that doesn't involve having to attach a character to their squad. Ultimately they fail to be the cheaper, less resource hungry version of black knights that they want to be. That being said they aren't bad, but like a few other options here they're overshadowed by your other choices. The option to combat squad may be their only saving grace, as being able to split up into 3 units isn't bad, but probably too situational to rank these guys as a better pick than black knights or attack bikes.

Ravenwing Attack Bike Squad
2-wound multi-meltas. That is the only thing you should ever consider taking these guys as. Surprisingly there is no optimal squad size for them. If they’re your only source of anti-tank then 2 squads of 2 is good, but a larger squad as part of an attack squadron or a single model running around to annoy people are perfectly viable too. If you’re considering taking one with a heavy bolter you will 9/10 times be served better by a land speeder with a heavy bolter or flamer. The debate between these guys vs. land speeders is a close one, but I always prefer attack bikes due to their immunity to blowing up and their ability to tie squads up in close combat, coupled with hit and run to break off and annoy someone else. Ravenwing lack cheap units that can hang in the back and snag objectives and these guys are the best option for that job.

Black Knights
These will be your bread and butter for any ravenwing army and are one of the strongest units in the Dark Angels codex. They cost as much as deathwing terminators and get all the special rules regular ravenwing get, plus skilled rider, plasma talons, corvus hammers and +1A and LD. With a darkshroud nearby or night-fighting they're getting a 2+ rerollable jink save. They excel at hunting MEQs, other fast units, and ranged oriented monstrous creatures like riptides. Remember that they are expensive, will crumple under close combat deathstars and monsters, and ignores cover weapons will ruin their day. If they're already jinking they can shoot at flyers or other snap shot targets without sacrificing their shooting and don't forget to use their grenade launchers before charging. Stasis grenades will often be the difference between hitting on 3s or 4s. Interrogator chaplains and librarians both make excellent characters to attach to these guys, the chaplains for an invuln and rerolls to hit and the librarians for some buffing psychic powers. The Eye of the Unseen relic also synergizes well with them, even though their plasma talons are already twin-linked. Squads of 4-6 of these guys tend to be the best size.

I can’t stress enough that black knights are what make ravenwing so strong at the minute. They have incredible shooting, melee, utility, and survivability, with their weaknesses being their cost, single wound, and reliance on cover saves. As a jack of all trades unit it's very important that you learn to pick your targets well and play them with a good balance of offense and defense. Try to resist the urge to snap shoot their talons too much because a single failed armor save is 40 pts down the drain.

Ravenwing Command Squad 
A squad of black knights with a cap of 6 models and a few extra options. The apothecary is a little expensive but awesome. With toughness 5 there arent a lot of things inflicting instead death and ignoring their fnp. The banner is a must-take for armies relying on hit and run. The champion is cheap and a nice little buff to the unit but not necessary. This unit is one of the things that makes Dark Angels great allies and is the core of several popular death star builds.

May 28th. Castle Dice, Londonderry, NH

Format: Nova
Number of Players: 11
Rounds: 3
Placing: 9th (Tie, Ugh)


Lots of the same guys from previous tournaments. A lot of good players and I once again failed to show up against them.


List:

Inquisitorial Detachment:


Ordo Xeno Inquisitor, Power Armor, Liber Heresius, Psychotroke Grenade, Level 1 Psyker, Rad Grenades
Inquisitor Coteaz
Henchmen Warband, 5 Crusaders, 4 Death Cult Assassins, Psyker, Priest w/ Eviscerator, Priest. Land Raider Crusader Transport, Psybolt Ammo, Dozer Blade

Ravenwing Strike Force:

3 Black Knights

3 Black Knights
Darkshroud
Attack Bike, Multi-Melta
6-Man Command Squad, Banner, Apothecary, Champion, Grenade Launcher
Librarian, Eye of the Unseen

White Scars Librarius Conclave:

Level 2 Librarian, Axe
Level 2 Librarian, Bike, Wrath of the Heavens, Sword
Level 2 Librarian, Bike, Hunter's Eye, Axe


Game 1:

Khorne Demonkin with a Brass Scorpion, 4 Soul Drinkers and 3 Maulerfiends

Result: 7-19 Loss

Game 2:

Iron Hands CAD with 5 Dreadnoughts, a Sicaran and the RaptorStormTalonHawkEagleBirdPerson
Result - 16-9 Win

Game 3:
Mobile Suit Tau (Riptide Wing, 2 Stormsurges)
Result - 11-16 Loss


Highlights:
This was rough. Walkers give me a ton of trouble to begin with, and I didn't get a single invisibility after NINE rolls on telepathy in game one. I got demolished in CC and he was fast enough to keep up with me. Game 2 I decided to go with technomancy and wish I'd done that game one. That discipline is awesome against vehicles. I destroyed a dreadnought and 2 land speeders with his own sicaran thanks to subvert machine, and the +1 toughness spell helped my star a lot. The last game was against a tau player I've beaten twice already. Had the game ended on turn 5 I would have won, on turn 6 I would have tied, and there were 4 models left at the end. I can think of one or two mistakes but I've ultimately decided to change up my list for my tournament next month. In a week or two I'll post part two of my Ravenwing tactica.

Ravenwing Army Breakdown Part 1: HQ

Ravenwing Army Breakdown Part 1: HQ

I'm going to try to do one of these breakdowns every week or two between tournaments to talk about my favorite army, the Ravenwing. I'll start by going through each slot (maybe Elite and Heavy support together), then the detachments and formations. Finally I'll do some allies discussion and finish it off with something like an FAQ if people have enough questions. They'll be intermittent between tournament posts.

Sammael
The only character with the Ravenwing special rule (along with fearless and hatred (CSM) like all deathwing), at first glance there's a lot to like about Sammael. A plasma cannon, 4++ and ap2 power sword at initiative look great, and his fixed warlord trait is one of the best in the game for Dark Angels. Unfortunately, Sammael is one of a few units that only looks good on paper. In practice he will rarely get to fire his plasma cannon because he will be jinking. His eternal warrior isn't all that useful and if you're using his invuln to tank for the squad something has gone horribly wrong to begin with. Also S4 means he swings like a wet noodle in close combat, even with his ap 2. For as much as 5 black knights Sammael just won't give you enough to make back his cost most games. His main problem is that he has a laundry list of rules that don't really mesh together. His warlord trait and skilled rider make closing the distance much easier, but then he doesn't do all that much damage in combat and won't be firing his plasma cannon if he's jinking. He could be decent at flying around in the back sniping things with his plasma cannon, but there are much much cheaper ways to get plasma cannons on the field and Ravenwing are already saturated with plasma. He might have decent potential as an ally for other armies because he's one of the few units that can pass out hit and run to his squad and his warlord trait could help a real heavyweight to get into cc. This would only be useful if you want to make the mother of all deathstars though, because his point cost is still a lot. A small point discount or another point of strength or two is all he needs to actually be the powerhouse he wants to be, but unless that happens I'd pass on him for competitive builds. His model remains one of the most gorgeous in all of 40k though.

My Sammael model, painted by a buddy wielding an axe gifted by another friend.

Sableclaw
Similar issues to Sammael on his jetbike. The drive by attack isn't very good although this thing is tough as all get out with 14 av on 3 sides and a 4++. You may be able to get a little more mileage out of Sammael in his land speeder because he can jink or just avoid anti tank weaponry thanks to his speed and make decent use of his weapons. He's still very expensive for what he does and his awesome warlord trait and laundry list of utility are gone or mostly useless in his speeder.

Librarian
Cheapest choice to lead a ravenwing army. You can get a lot of mileage out of these guys. They give your block of bikes fearless and access to a huge range of powers. There's something useful in pretty much every discipline and it would take awhile to analyze all of them, but I'll give a few highlights below. Interromancy is surprisingly useful, and giving this guy Eye of the Unseen can make him a makeshift chaplain as well.
Invisibility - This power is silly and we all know it. Never need to jink again.
Righteous Repugnance - Black Knights with Rage and Eye of the Unseen will smash a lot of things in close combat.
Aversion - Like a reverse invisibility from a discipline that sucks less.
Mind Wipe - Probably 1 warp charge too much because no one ever fails that leadership test, but hilarious all the same. Also as far as I understand this can be used on vehicles, they'll just auto-pass the leadership test.
Mind Worm - Short range is offset by the the speed of the bikes. Once against Eye of the Unseen can help guarantee this will suck someone's brain out.
Veil of Time - Useful against armies who will pile on the saves in cc or ignore cover.
Null Zone - You have a plasma fetish and they want to use protection.
Electrodisplacement - Like invisibility most of the rest of this discipline is bad, but if you're a crazy person and get this power it is OH SO ridiculous thanks to ravenwing’s speed and scouting.

As far as other gear goes for this gentleman, an auspex isn't a bad choice and can round out your list if you've got points to spare. Conversion fields are iffy because ideally he's rolling with people who have are rerollable jink, and the blind effect will rarely matter except against necron and idiotic tau players who shoot you at point blank. Shroud of Heroes is ok if he's gonna go rolling around on his own. Force mauls are unnecessary since you have black knights. Swords are ok but in an all comers list I'd also go with the force axe for some better ap for your squad.

One of my Librarian models, painted by my roommate and wielding another Space Wolf axe (sense a trend here?)

Chaplain
He's cheaper than an interrogator while keeping hatred and an invulnerable save. The only real benefit to him is that he's cheap though, because he ultimately doesn't do that much for your army that a librarian doesn't. Better combat is only useful if you expect to be slugging it out in cc a lot, and hit and run certainly works well with hatred, but with so many popular tournament builds using psykers a few extra warp charge and better deny the witch is going to be better than a 50% invuln a lot of the time. Also remember this guy doesn't get access to relics.

Interrogator Chaplain
If you're thinking about taking Sammael and then decide you don't like wasting points, this gentleman is an excellent choice. He can make a decent beatstick hq and the extra wound and 4++ over a librarian is nice. Unfortunately ravenwing are a jack of all trades army and a chaplain forces you into a more melee focused build. This doesn't make the chaplain bad, but unless you know what you're going up against the librarian tends to be a better choice. Easy access to a power fist and a shroud of heroes can make the chaplain stand out though, so I certainly wouldn't overlook him.

Techmarine
A weird choice, I've personally never tried this or seen someone try it, but it might have its merits. A 2+ armor save helps a lot against ignores cover weapons which usually don't have good ap, and he'll even get his save against things like baleflamers. The built in two power fists are pretty solid as well. I could see him being a decent choice if you want to follow a knight or other big allied vehicle around while also keeping your black knights alive. Ravenwing do make excellent allies and if you already have a different way of dealing with psykers (like a culexus) this could be a viable, if sorta silly, strategy. Remember, for the same cost of a techmarine with a servo harness you could have a level 2 librarian. Make sure you're willing to specialize your force at the cost of more general utility.

Summary
The librarian reigns king as the cheap utility choice to lead a ravenwing army, but the other options aren't necessarily bad. Techmarines and chaplains are cheap and enhance your survivability and melee strength at the cost of psychic defense and powers, while interrogator chaplains are strong but expensive and again only help in combat. Sammael suffers from his inability to hit very hard or decide what the hell he's doing, making him arguably the worst choice, but managing to stay above “awful never take him” because of his huge list of utility. If you have a specific plan in mind for a character take that one, but when you need a generic hq you'll be served best by a librarian.

May 7/8th. The Portal, Manchester CT

Format: Nova
Number of Players: 36
Rounds: 5
Placing: 19th (Ouch)


This tournament was at the same place as the last but the competition was completely different. It seems like only the better players were interested in a longer tournament/time commitment and the competition was way better. Even worse, due to some shenanigans with my ride bailing on me I had to catch a train at 6 am and was lacking sleep the first day. That said, I learned a lot from this one.


List:

Inquisitorial Detachment:

Ordo Xeno Inquisitor, Power Armor, Liber Heresius, Psychotroke Grenade, Level 1 Psyker, Rad Grenades

Inquisitor Coteaz
Henchmen Warband, 5 Crusaders, 4 Death Cult Assassins, Psyker, Priest w/ Eviscerator, Priest. Land Raider Crusader Transport, Psybolt Ammo, Dozer Blade

Ravenwing Strike Force:

6 Black Knights, 1 Grenade Launcher
Darkshroud
Attack Bike, Multi-Melta
6-Man Command Squad, Banner, Apothecary, Champion, Grenade Launcher
Librarian, Eye of the Unseen

White Scars Librarius Conclave:

Level 2 Librarian, Axe
Level 2 Librarian, Bike, Wrath of the Heavens, Sword
Level 2 Librarian, Bike, Hunter's Eye, Axe


Game 1: 

Ultramarines CAD with Tigirius, Centurions, and a bunch of dreadnoughts

Result - 25-13 Victory

Game 2:

KDK Puppy spam with Renegades and Heretics Wyvern and Thudd Gun batteries
Result - 7-25 Loss

Game 3:

Blood Angels Stormraven Formation with Assault Terminator star
Result - 13-15 Loss

Game 4:

Mobile Suit Tau (Riptide Wing, 2 Stormsurges)
Result - 25-7 Victory

Game 5:

Space Wolves, Dark Angels and Ultramarines Conclave super friends death star
Result - 8-25 Loss

Highlights:
I think my list patched most of the weaknesses of the previous ones, but I collapsed against the better competition in this tournament. The lack of sleep day one (games 1-3) probably only affected the 3rd game, where on a few occasions I totally forgot about psychic powers I had cast. The two games where I got destroyed were due to me mis-positioning the land raider. Game 2 I had hoped invisibility would protect it from his bloodthirster, but in hindsight I should have made my bikes invisible and bubble-wrapped the land raider with them. Game 5 I underestimated his charge range and he bubble wrapped the land raider with his star, wrecking it and killing everyone inside with the emergency disembarkation. I also had never played against the 3 lists I lost to, while I play Ultramarines and Tau all the time. Instead of blaming my list or bad rolling, I'm going to keep my list the same and try to get some games in with a wider variety of opponents. Bad tournament showing, good learning experience for me.

March 19th. The Portal, Manchester CT

Format: ITC
Number of Players: 48
Rounds: 3
Placing: 2nd (Tie)

This was my first large tournament and was absolutely wild. The store hadn't expected so many people to turn out and games were running for around 10 hours. After all 3 rounds were played there was a 4-way tie for first. After the tiebreaker points (margin of victory), I ended up tied for 2nd. In lieu of game breakdowns I'm just going to post about what lists I played against and whether I won or lost. Feel free to ask me about specifics and I will talk about it to the best of my memory.

List:

Inquisitorial Detachment:

Ordo Xeno Inquisitor, Power Armor, Liber Heresius, Psychotroke Grenade, Level 1 Psyker, Rad Grenades

Henchmen Warband, 5 Crusaders, 4 Death Cult Assassins, Psyker, Priest w/ Eviscerator, Priest. Land Raider Crusader Transport, Psybolt Ammo, Dozer Blade

Ravenwing Strike Force:

6 Black Knights, 1 Grenade Launcher

Darkshroud

6-Man Command Squad, Banner, Apothecary, Champion, Grenade Launcher

Sammael

Dark Angels Librarius Conclave

Ezekiel

Level 2 Librarian, Bike, Axe, Conversion Field, Auspex, Eye of the Unseen

Level 2 Librarian, Bike, Sword, Shroud of Heroes

Game 1: 

Grey Knight Purifier Spam+Flesh Taxis+Melta Knight

Result - 10-1 Victory

Game 2: 

Flyrants, Lictors and Mawlocs (oh my)

Result - 8-4 Victory

Game 3: 

Mobile Suit Tau (Riptide Wing+Stormsurge+Broadsides+Crisis Suits)

Result - 11-1 Victory

Highlights:

In 2/3 games my star got stuck in combat against something it was having a lot of trouble killing. After this tournament I decided to find a way to get them hit and run and slightly more reliable ap2/high S

New Blog and Introduction

Hi everyone,

The last few months I've started going to Warhammer 40k tournaments. I've really enjoyed the competition and managed to place top 2 in 3/4 of the tournaments I've gone to. After some good feedback for post-tournament threads on reddit I decided to just make a blog where it'd be easier to keep track of all my contents and posts. So a quick about me:

I play for the Cambridge, MA based Arvard Ard Boyz Club, been in the hobby for about 12 years, and primarily play Ravenwing in tournaments. I have a very large collection of space marines, technically split into 3 different chapters (Star Phantoms, Dark Angels, Iron Hands), along with some Cadians, Inquisition, Elysians and a pile of Orks.

For a quick summary of my view on the current tournament scene:

I think the 40k tournament scene is too much of a "gated community". As a big fan of Esports, any player can watch a pro match, see what loadouts they use in CS:GO or what runes and masteries they use in League of Legends. In 40k it's rare to see a top-tournament player's list posted, and unless you go to the tournament yourself you'll never be able to see how they play it or ask them questions.

In my opinion this hurts everyone. For people not going to the tournaments it means they have no idea what to expect if they go to one, unless they know regular tournament-goers. Also, it means you get a lot of people on forums who don't really understand how things are played or what works well in the competitive scene, even if they know what lists are strong.

For the tournament players, they miss out on the possible help from the "armchair generals" on the forums. People here may have great insight into countering a top-tier army or have a crazy strategy in their heads that they might not be able to share because they have no idea what's actually being played in tournaments. They see the obvious things like "Wraithknights and Decurions are good" and can't offer possibly good advice because they're missing part of the picture.

So here's my attempt to open the gates a little.