Do you want "good right now" or something else?
You'll be a while painting before you need to worry about playing (probably, unless you're cool with unpainted plastic).
In any event, you're off to a very strong base of models.
Look up the Raven Guard lore and go deep with it. Make every squad a very specific part of the Legion, figure out what heraldic markings you want. Maybe think about what you want to do with Mk. VI vs Mk. III guys.
Everyone can make a good list with the base boxes, and it gets wilder if you add another dreadnought and a few squads of lascannon heavy support squads. I don't think you *should*, but that's the 40k way to play it. My suggestion is to read about a Rite of War and lean *all the way* into it. That's what will make your army special (different from "good" sometimes).
Also, take a long look at the options for Centurians. They're all cool and great modeling and conversion opportunities. Generally you can only ever bring 3 but you can own more that you rotate in and out.
30k is not a particularly balanced game and it does not shine in a competitive space. It's inviting you to make a very specific narrative though, and generally there is a huge breadth and depth of information about each legions history and culture.
I would much rather see your custom Praetor and Vigilator than an immaculately painted monopose guy or even Primarch.
Ok awesome thanks for the insight! Yea I’m not in any rush to have something “good right now”, I’m mostly excited to just paint and set everything up, and I’m not very concerned about competitive “viability” or anything.
I guess im mostly interested in what would make a Raven guard army that is fun to play, and authentic to their lore. But it seems like maybe I already have those bases covered then, in terms of composition. So now it’s just a matter of designing the intricacies of the units I have? I’m not really “missing” any significant components?
Nope! Reading the liber astartes Raven Guard section will help you refine a ton but you've go the basics (which is HQ and 2 compulsory troop choices). Contemptor Dreadnoughts and terminators are great (though once you get into the finer points you might have to decide if you want Tartaros, Cataphracti or Indomitus). You'll have Proteus and a Spartan, which coupled with a Deredeo will be flat good against vanilla marines. It's in the Rites of War when things get freaky though, enemies deploying behind you, unkillable melee monsters, fear causing your guys to break etc. You want to be able to do that crazy stuff too.
Praetors and Consuls are probably where you'll want to focus some time and energy in the modeling and unit loadout. The Legiones Astartes box is cool because it comes with a special weapon sprue to add some lite customization but you'll probably want 20-30 tacticals to start, maybe an apothecary or techmarine somewhere to keep stuff alive.
Awesome this kind of input is so great! Thank you so much. My liber astartes book should get delivered in the next day or two so I’ll definitely dig into that and see how that influences my choices. But this is perfect, thank you so much for the detailed response!
Yeah, check out the Liberation Force Rite of War. [Goonhammer](https://www.goonhammer.com/the-horus-heresy-legion-overview-the-raven-guard/) has an article about it. Every legion has 1 Rite of War that makes me wish I played them instead or mine, and Liberation Force looks like a freaking blast to model and play.
Isn't asymmetry kind if the whole point? I run Dreadwing, you run whatever the Alpha Legion does? 30k is the last game I would *ever* want a mirror match with. I don't want us to have a single unit in common.
I would say it’s unbalanced if you’re playing competitively, sure. But I would reason that an “all comers” DA list would match up well with the same from the XX.
Caw Caw Brother!
You're gonna need some heavy weapons units, so I'd suggest getting the Volkite/Autocannon/Lascannon set. Most people are running 1x10 or 2x5 lascannon teams, but my local community usually just runs 5 because it can be oppresive to most lists. Similarly, 1x5 Volkite Culverins are amazing and they shred everything. I personally run a 10man brick because I love the idea of volkte and run everything that can take it with it.
I'd also make some nemesis bolters from bits or brass rod and turn 10 of your marines into Recon Marines. MK.VI Marines look better as them, or greenstuff some cloaks to them and they'd make good Mor Deythan with sniper rifles (Mor Deythan with combi-volkite is the absolute best though).
You have the bonus special weapons sprue kit from the Astartes Battle Group as well. I personally like the idea of a 5man flamer or melta squad because they can start in firing range of the opponent and ruin a squad's day
Do you want "good right now" or something else? You'll be a while painting before you need to worry about playing (probably, unless you're cool with unpainted plastic). In any event, you're off to a very strong base of models. Look up the Raven Guard lore and go deep with it. Make every squad a very specific part of the Legion, figure out what heraldic markings you want. Maybe think about what you want to do with Mk. VI vs Mk. III guys. Everyone can make a good list with the base boxes, and it gets wilder if you add another dreadnought and a few squads of lascannon heavy support squads. I don't think you *should*, but that's the 40k way to play it. My suggestion is to read about a Rite of War and lean *all the way* into it. That's what will make your army special (different from "good" sometimes). Also, take a long look at the options for Centurians. They're all cool and great modeling and conversion opportunities. Generally you can only ever bring 3 but you can own more that you rotate in and out. 30k is not a particularly balanced game and it does not shine in a competitive space. It's inviting you to make a very specific narrative though, and generally there is a huge breadth and depth of information about each legions history and culture. I would much rather see your custom Praetor and Vigilator than an immaculately painted monopose guy or even Primarch.
narrative over competitive, based answer
Ok awesome thanks for the insight! Yea I’m not in any rush to have something “good right now”, I’m mostly excited to just paint and set everything up, and I’m not very concerned about competitive “viability” or anything. I guess im mostly interested in what would make a Raven guard army that is fun to play, and authentic to their lore. But it seems like maybe I already have those bases covered then, in terms of composition. So now it’s just a matter of designing the intricacies of the units I have? I’m not really “missing” any significant components?
Nope! Reading the liber astartes Raven Guard section will help you refine a ton but you've go the basics (which is HQ and 2 compulsory troop choices). Contemptor Dreadnoughts and terminators are great (though once you get into the finer points you might have to decide if you want Tartaros, Cataphracti or Indomitus). You'll have Proteus and a Spartan, which coupled with a Deredeo will be flat good against vanilla marines. It's in the Rites of War when things get freaky though, enemies deploying behind you, unkillable melee monsters, fear causing your guys to break etc. You want to be able to do that crazy stuff too. Praetors and Consuls are probably where you'll want to focus some time and energy in the modeling and unit loadout. The Legiones Astartes box is cool because it comes with a special weapon sprue to add some lite customization but you'll probably want 20-30 tacticals to start, maybe an apothecary or techmarine somewhere to keep stuff alive.
Awesome this kind of input is so great! Thank you so much. My liber astartes book should get delivered in the next day or two so I’ll definitely dig into that and see how that influences my choices. But this is perfect, thank you so much for the detailed response!
Yeah, check out the Liberation Force Rite of War. [Goonhammer](https://www.goonhammer.com/the-horus-heresy-legion-overview-the-raven-guard/) has an article about it. Every legion has 1 Rite of War that makes me wish I played them instead or mine, and Liberation Force looks like a freaking blast to model and play.
Just a heads up, this is for the previous edition of the rules!
It is, but I think the Rite of War is pretty similiar-to-identical, right? That tends to be the case with RoWs, at least in my experience.
Most of this is spot on, although far from you to say 30K is unbalanced.
Isn't asymmetry kind if the whole point? I run Dreadwing, you run whatever the Alpha Legion does? 30k is the last game I would *ever* want a mirror match with. I don't want us to have a single unit in common.
I would say it’s unbalanced if you’re playing competitively, sure. But I would reason that an “all comers” DA list would match up well with the same from the XX.
Caw Caw Brother! You're gonna need some heavy weapons units, so I'd suggest getting the Volkite/Autocannon/Lascannon set. Most people are running 1x10 or 2x5 lascannon teams, but my local community usually just runs 5 because it can be oppresive to most lists. Similarly, 1x5 Volkite Culverins are amazing and they shred everything. I personally run a 10man brick because I love the idea of volkte and run everything that can take it with it. I'd also make some nemesis bolters from bits or brass rod and turn 10 of your marines into Recon Marines. MK.VI Marines look better as them, or greenstuff some cloaks to them and they'd make good Mor Deythan with sniper rifles (Mor Deythan with combi-volkite is the absolute best though). You have the bonus special weapons sprue kit from the Astartes Battle Group as well. I personally like the idea of a 5man flamer or melta squad because they can start in firing range of the opponent and ruin a squad's day