Detachment Focus: Renegade Raiders (Updated July 30, 2024)

In this series of articles we take a deep dive into a specific detachment for a faction, covering the faction’s rules and upgrades and talking about how to build around that faction for competitive play. In this article, we’re covering the Renegade Raiders detachment for the Chaos Space Marines.

The Tenth Edition release of Codex: Chaos Space Marines gives the faction access to a whopping eight detachments, each with their own strengths and weaknesses. These can dramatically change how the army plays, as each one tends to push players to build in a different way. In this series we’re diving deep into each Detachment and talking about what its rules are and how to play it.

Changelog

• Update: 2024-07-30 for the Q2 Balance updates and new lists
• Published: 2024-05-11

Detachment Overview

Renegade Raiders brings the Red Corsairs to life in tenth edition. The playstyle is almost a bit similar to Dark Eldar, with a focus on mobility and hit-and-run tactics and Transport synergies, but with the strength of power armour and the Dark Gods behind you. While this detachment is clearly themed around the Red Corsairs, it could also feel thematic for Night Lords players who want to surgically strike high value targets or a variety of homebrew chapters. A number of rules in this Detachment key off of MOUNTED units and INFANTRY units which have disembarked from a Transport, nudging you toward more of a bikes-and-transports approach, but there’s plenty of juice here for other units.

Following the Q2 Dataslate and balance changes, the Renegade Raiders detachment has emerged along with the Pactbound Zealots and Soulforged Warpack detachments as the viable ways to play Chaos Space Marines competitively.

Detachment Rule: Raiders and Reavers

Ranged weapons equipped by Heretic Astartes models from your army have the ASSAULT ability, and each time a Heretic Astartes model from your army makes an attack that targets a unit within range of an objective marker, improve the AP of that attack by 1.

Both halves of Raiders and Reavers (army-wide Assault, and army-wide +1 AP versus units on objectives) are very powerful. Combine them, and this is one of the best Detachment rules in the entire game. It’s generically powerful – unlike many of the other rules in the book it even works on DAMNED units – and this works for you whether you’re doing work in shooting or melee.

Note that the +1AP versus units on objectives isn’t locked to ranged weapons, but instead benefits both ranged and melee attacks. There are so many units in the CSM codex that have a good volume of attacks, but are held back by low AP – think units such as Venomcrawlers, Legionaries, Raptors and Havocs. This detachment takes all of those units to the next level. It’s an offensive buff that’s roughly on par with the Sustained/Lethal Hits buff from Pactbound Zealots, with an added mobility benefit in Assault and the guarantee that you can really use every Stratagem in the Detachment.

The biggest winners from this Detachment rule? Rubrics. Surprise! Yeah, turns out being able to give them +1 AP against units on objectives – targets they’re already likely to re-roll all wounds against – turns them into absolute monsters. As we look at top tournament lists, expect to see 3x Rubric Marines as a recurring theme for this Detachment.

Enhancements

The Raiders and Reavers enhancements are decent, but not great overall. Mark of the Hound is the real stand-out here. They’re all about moving and getting up the table faster, which makes sense thematically.

• Despot’s Claim (15 points) – If the bearer is on the battlefield on your Command Phase, you gain 1CP on a 5+. If you bearer is wholly within 12” of the opponent’s deployment zone, add 1 to the roll.  
• Dread Reaver (15 points) – Each time the bearer makes a melee attack while wholly within 12” of the opponent’s deployment zone, you can reroll Hit and Wound rolls. It’s situational but great when it works. 
• Mark of the Hound (25 points) – The bearer’s unit gains Scout 6”. This is incredibly powerful and flexible, and going to go in every one of your lists. 
• Tyrant’s Lash (20 points) – You can re-roll Advance rolls for the bearer’s unit, and the bearer’s unit can Fall Back and Shoot. Solid in theory, but Chosen can already fall back and shoot while Legionaries and Raptors aren’t so big on Shooting. 20 points is a bit much for this effect, given who it’ll go on.

Stratagems

Renegade Raiders have an extremely powerful suite of stratagems, and they’ll be a key part of your game plan when you play this Detachment. 

• Unfailingly Obdurate (Battle Tactic, 1CP) – This is your Detachment’s Armour of Contempt effect (reduce the AP of incoming attacks by 1 for non-DAMNED units) but for spikey Marines. Getting access to this for 1CP is a big power boost, and a good defensive ability to have in this Detachment.
• Scour and Seize (Battle Tactic, 1 CP) – A Heretic Astartes unit in the Fight Phase gains PRECISION when attacking a unit on an objective. Another big effect – having access to this is so huge in key moments. It’s going to change how comfortable putting any units that rely on a squishy Leader on any objectives. It’s also just great for stealing Assassination VP if the unit is otherwise too hard to crack.
• Opportunistic Raiders (Strategic Plot, 1CP) – At the end of the Fight Phase, one Heretic Astartes unit that was eligible to Fight that phase can make a Normal Move of 6”, or 12” if it is a Mounted unit. If it’s within Engagement Rage of an enemy unit, it makes a Fall Back move instead. A unit cannot use this stratagem to re-embark in a Transport if they disembarked that turn. This is incredibly powerful, and really plays into the hit-and-run themes of the Red Corsairs. And while you can’t re-embark in the same turn you disembark, being able to get back into a transport for free otherwise is still pretty solid.
• Warpcharged Engines (Wargear, 1CP) – A Transport or Mounted unit auto-advances 6”. This is a great stratagem to have in your pocket to reach an objective or do actions late in the game. It pairs exceptionally well with the Detachment rule giving you ASSAULT, as it means you can Advance 6″ and then still do an action like Cleanse or Deploy Teleport Homers.
• Ruinous Raid (Battle Tactic, 1CP) – In the Shooting or the Fight Phase, a unit that disembarked from a Transport this turn and makes an attack versus a unit on an objective gets full Hit and Wound re-rolls. Getting +1AP, full Hit rerolls, and full Wound rerolls means any unit that disembarked from a Transport this turn is going to completely destroy opponents on objectives. 
• Reavers’ Haste (Strategic Ploy, 1CP) – Advance and charge for an Infantry or Mounted unit, with the additional bonus of +1” to charge if at least one of your charge targets is on an objective. Just good clean fun, and something you’re going to use every game. Also works if you didn’t Advance, so if you need to attempt an 8″ charge out of Deep Strike, this is an option too.

Playing This Detachment

Focus on winning fights on the flanks and being able to out-skirmish other armies to drive down their Primary scoring, while you stage to deliver a big punch later in the game. 

Because this Detachment has buffs for a huge variety of units, you’re going to want to include a mix of unit types in your list to take advantage of everything this detachment has to offer. 

You’re definitely going to want to include a few Rhinos (or Land Raiders if you’re feeling spicy) to take advantage of the Transport based buffs in this Detachment. You’re going to want to have a lot of MSU units to take advantage of the flexibility of this ruleset, and put up a ton of points on the scoreboard. You’re also going to want a few heavy hitting units in the mix to deliver a big punch with the innate power of Dark Pacts. 

The main thing you’ll want to avoid is going 100% in on shooting or 100% in on melee. Huron Blackheart is a practical leader who is going to bring the right tools for the upcoming battle. Draw inspiration from him for your own lists. 

It’s also worth pointing out that the Cult troops really, really love being in this Detachment. Rubrics shooting at targets on objectives at AP-2 is just insanely strong, and being able to Advance and shoot makes them much deadlier. Likewise Plague Marines love to re-roll their hit rolls when they’re coming in with heavy plague weapons in melee, and they love to get AP-2 shooting on their plague spewers just as much. Berzerkers are still the worst of the set but rest assured they’re also plenty more deadly when they can Advance and Charge and strike units at AP-2. Raiders is absolutely the place for getting the most out of these units and in Pariah Nexus the fact that they’re all BATTLELINE units is an added bonus.

Josh Roberts’ List

Josh took this list to a 5-1, 3rd-place finish at the Sheffield 40k Super Major in mid July after losing in the finals. It’s an infantry-heavy list running four units of Rubrics (remember, they’re BATTLELINE) and three Rhinos, combining Legionaries and Chosen with Rubrics in Rhinos and a pair of Vindicators for ranged support.

Josh Roberts' List - Click to Expand

There’s a lot of units here, and not enough Rhinos to hold them all. With only 5″ of movement, the most likely scenario here is to put at least one unit of Rubrics in each Rhino and pair two Chaos Lords with the Chosen and one with Legionaries. With the ability to Advance and Charge, there’s potentially an avenue where you put the Chosen on foot, but ultimately Rubrics are too slow with 5″ movement to walk anywhere so you either want them in Rhinos or Strategic Reserves as the opponent dictates. With lower point costs, the Legionaries are more effective early trading pieces than the Chosen, and so the game plan is going to likely feature them in Rhinos during deployment, though that can depend on the opponent:

• Against more melee-heavy opponents, you can leave Rubrics back, putting two on the table while the Chosen and Legionaries eat up 4/6 rhino spots.
• Against shooting-heavy opponents, you put three Rubrics in the Rhinos with the two Legionaries units and one of the Chosen.

The Chosen outside the Rhino are a natural Advance and Charge threat on their own and you can cycle units in and out of the Rhinos during the game as needed – opponents have become more savvy about killing Rhinos these days but taking down three in a game is often asking to waste resources which need to be directed to killing impact units. Once your units leave the Rhinos, remember that they can still Advance and shoot via the Detachment rule.

It’s also worth considering putting one of the Rhinos in Strategic Reserves, particularly on layouts and missions where it’s hard to find three solid staging areas for charges, and using Rapid Ingress to bring in a Rhino and drop out two units – Rubrics and Legionaries – for both some strong flamer attacks and a shorter charge with Reavers’ Haste.

This list has a lot of pieces to play the middle of the table, trading up with Legionaries and scrapping over objectives, where units like the Chosen and Rubrics can really punch up with re-rolls and added AP. The Vindicators offer durable, ranged fire support that’s solid for handling both vehicles and elite infantry targets like terminators or Custodes. The Dread Reaver Chaos Lord is your ace in the hole against bigger targets like greater daemons, able to fish more effectively for Devastating Wounds against targets your Chosen and Rubrics can’t easily crack.

Ryan Brown’s List

Ryan took this list to a 4-1, 7th-place finish at the 2024 Boise Cup in late July. The list eschews Rubrics in favor of Abaddon and a trio of Predator Destructors, which pack incredibly nasty firepower and really benefit from the added AP they get shooting units on objective markers.

Ryan's List - Click to Expand

There’s only one rhino here, packed with a unit of Chosen with Chaos Lord and a unit of Legionaries. Abaddon meanwhile joins the ten Chosen , staging for a big Advance-and-Charge move, while the Terminators are supported by a Sorcerer, and can opt to teleport in as needed or walk if the opponent is capable of screening them out. Both the Terminators and Predators can act much more mobile thanks to gaining ASSAULT on their weapons, Advancing around the table and taking out key threats. This army plays well into elite infantry armies, where it has high volumes of damaging fire.

Final Thoughts

This is a very strong Detachment for Chaos Space Marines. It combines a solid increase in damage output with a solid boost in mobility and an incredibly useful toolbox of stratagems. Whether you’re playing with friends on your kitchen table or trying to compete at the most competitive tournaments in the world, you will have a lot of fun playing Red Corsairs (or any other Legion using this ruleset) – it combines solid rules with very interactive play that rewards fighting over objectives.

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