Epic!
 

Recently, I have been on somewhat of a Ravenwing army list building kick.  I want to see if I can develop an army that I would be happy with taking to a tournament.  Therefore, this is my latest rendition of the list.  It does have some significant weaknesses (which are identified below) but I think it is a step in the right direction for the army.  Now all I need to do is start play testing the army and see if it is really worth while.  Sooooo much to do before Adepticon....


Ravenwing 1850

Sammael on Jetbike (200) = [200]

librarian (65) bike (20) and Auspex (5) = [90]

Bike command squad (120) Banner of Devestation (65), Apothecary (30), Champion (5), and 1x grenade launcher (0) = [220]

Ravenwing Bike Squad (6 man) (161) 2x melta guns (20) and an Attack Bike (45) with multi-melta (10) = [236]

Ravenwing Bike Squad (6 man) (161) 2x melta guns (20) and an Attack Bike (45) with multi-melta (10) = [236]

Ravenwing Bike Squad (6 man) (161) 2x melta guns (20) = [181]

Ravenwing Bike Squad (6 man) (161) 2x melta guns (30) = [181]

Dark Shroud (80) with heavy bolter (0) = [80]

Dark Shroud (80) with heavy bolter (0) = [80]

Black Knights (8 man) (336) with 2x Grenade Launchers (0) and a melta bomb (5) = [336]

Total = 1850


Logic:


Sammael deploys in the command squad, the libby deploys in the black knights. In the command squad, the plasma talons go on the champion and the apothecary as they are characters, therefore they can precision shot with them. Both units are fearless, thanks to the character.

I am not sold on the psychic power for the librarian, but it will probably be something off of the divination chart. Misfortune or the 4+ inv save one is nice. I do have access to prescience, but mostly everything is twin linked. It could help in the assault phase though (with all of those rending close combat attacks wounding on 2's).

The Dark Shrouds will never shoot. They should always be turbo boosting to get a 2+ cover save. Since Sammael has skilled rider, in tandem with stealth from the speeders, the command squad will get a 3+ cover save for just moving. Black Knights also have skilled rider, so they will give it to the libby for the same thing. Both units are fearless and if they turbo-boost, they would get a 2+ cover save. Everyone else would just get a 4+ and a 3+ respectively.

I am sure you guys know that Rad Grenades lower toughness of the unit they hit. Therefore, plasma talons can instant gib some of the nastiest units in the game (looking at you paladin death star).

All of the bikes have access to outflanking (via scout) and combat squadding. Therefore if there is an IG parking garage, all of that melta can go to town on the flanks. If you get first turn, you can always scout the entire army to be within 2d6 melta range as well.

All of the bikes have hit and run. Therefore, against helldrake lists, you can run them up, charge, ignore the heldrake for a turn, then get the hell out of assault to shoot again.

Problems:

Hordes in cover. I don't care how many bolter shots this list has, if a unit is entrenched in area terrain and gone to ground, it isn't going to do anything. Whirlwinds are a possible solution to this problem. Another possibility is flamers and combi-flamers on the bike squads.

Psychic power based lists. Especially with the nid flying circus or armies which rely on psychic powers, this army has 0 way to shut down defensive powers. Biomancy powers will hurt. Allying in Eldar or Space wolves as a secondary could assist this.

Zero long range. I have played bike armies a lot and long range weapons are essential to open up transports in order to get your weapons on those vulnerable squads. However this army needs to get close to do so, which can be risky. I really like rifle dreds and devestators as they are cheap, but they detract from the list.

Drop Pod Lists. Fucking pods.... Not really sure how to tackle this one.

Open tables. This army needs to avoid all oncoming fire power. Having cover all the time is awesome, but the army will go down to massed fire power lists. Outflanking and deploying second will assist with this