White Dwarf has been the place to get Crusade rules this year and while we’ve been more or less regularly reviewing Crusade rules updates as they’ve released, it was pointed out to us recently that we had missed the Crusade rules for Raptors space marines back in White Dwarf 494. So without further ado, we present our review of those rules.
Who Are the Raptors?
If you’re unfamiliar with the Imperium’s most tactical marines, White Dwarf 494 also includes an Index Astartes on the chapter. The short version is that the Raptors are a Raven Guard successor who are masters of infiltration, camouflage, and ambush tactics. They’re known for wearing drab green armor and exercising flexible tactics on the battlefield. You know how the Imperial Fists are known for wearing bright yellow armor and mostly sticking to sieges? The Raptors are like the total opposite, changing things up and trying to stay out of sight. They’re the closest thing the Space Marines have to an army operating on real tactical principles of modern warfare.
Raptors Crusade Rules
As a Raven Guard successor chapter, the Raptors use the rules in Codex: Space Marines, and run standard Oathsworn campaigns. The updated rules in White Dwarf #494 add Agendas, Requisitions, Crusade Relics, and Battle Traits for players running the Raptors Chapter. These add some alternative benefits to the subfaction. It’s not a ton, but the Raptors are pretty niche as a faction – their primary time in the sun was back in late eighth edition, when Raven Guard rules were very good and you could run Chapter Master Lias Issadon with his own special rules. These days he’s been relegated to a standard profile – the Legends document on Warhammer-Community suggests running Lias as a Captain in Phobos Armour.
Technically these can be applied to any Space Marines Crusade army, but if you use these and you aren’t running Raptors or a chapter similar to them, you’re kind of lame.
Beanith: The other two acceptable scenarios for using these additional rules are:
- You use a Phobos Strike Team when playing Kill Team and now you have a chance for them to become something other than a speedbump in 10th.
- Or GramGram brought you a box of Reivers for Christmas after being assured by the store owner that everyone needs at least one unit in their Space Marine list and now you’re stuck with a bunch of yahoos with grappling hooks.
Agenda: Survivalists
If you’re the Attacker, then at the end of the battle you can pick three of your Marine units after the battle that are in your opponent’s deployment zone. If you’re the defender, you pick three in your zone. Each gains 2 XP. This isn’t a ton of XP but it’s pretty reliable and easy to get if you’re the defender. Less so as the attacker, but if you’re running Raptors you should be using Infiltrators and reserves.
Beanith: Not a terrible Agenda; as we’ve mentioned, it’s easy enough to score as the Defender and stacks well with the Know No Fear Agenda from the Marine codex. Probably an auto-pick if you get a bonus Agenda from Underdog status.
Requisition: Oathkeepers (2 RP)
This one’s used before a battle if you’re in an Oathsworn campaign. If you win the battle, you gain double the Honour points. You can only pick this once per Oathsworn campaign. Pretty straight forward, and a nice way to spend RP to up the stakes in a game. Very handy if you’re on the last battle and you’re a few points shy of upgrading your Captain to Chapter Master or Chaplain to a Master of Sanctity.
Battle Traits
There are three sets of Raptors Battle Traits you can access, one each for Land Speeders, Battleline, and Phobos units. It’s a good change of pace and fits into the infiltrator detachment vibe.
Speeder Traits
The three traits here can be given to Storm Speeder Hailstrike, Hammerstrike, and Thunderstrike models.
- Aerial Hunter – Ranged weapons for the model get [ASSAULT].
- Evasive Manoeuvres – The model has a 5+ invulnerable save against ranged attacks.
- Point-Blank Strike – You can re-roll hit rolls on ranged attacks against targets within 12”.
These are decent! The 5+ invulnerable save is great for a pretty lightweight vehicle relying on a 3+ armour save, and gaining Assault is particularly good for Storm Speeders as they all have abilities that key off hitting an enemy unit with a ranged attack, meaning adding Assault gives them additional flexibility to get in good position for those shots. Similarly, re-rolling hit rolls against close targets is alright, though generally means getting way closer than you want most of the time.
Beanith: Why hello there Raven Guard and White Scar enjoyers. Fancy seeing you here…
Battleline Unit Traits
These can only go on Battleline units.
- Unhesitating Advance – Add 1” to this unit’s Move characteristic.
- Rapid Insertion – The unit gets Scouts 6”
- Tactical Precision – When the unit makes a ranged attack, if they score a Critical Hit against a unit with a CHARACTER, their hit gains [PRECISION].
These are pretty solid. +1” Movement doesn’t seem like a lot, but it’s great on Heavy Intercessors and Assault Intercessors. Scout 6” is also pretty much just always good, all the time. And Tactical Precision is also great on Heavy Intercessors, turning them into a nasty sniper unit.
Phobos Units
These can go on Phobos units – Infiltrators, Incursors, Reivers, and Eliminators. Though it’s worth pointing out that these don’t specify non-CHARACTER units, so they can potentially go on characters, but we’d recommend a house rule to keep them off characters as they don’t really feel like they’re written with Phobos Characters in mind.
- Superhuman Speed – Once per battle at the start of the Fights phase you can activate this to give the unit Fights First for a phase.
- Fighting Retreat – The unit can fall back and shoot.
- Field Modifications – Add 6” to the range of the unit’s ranged weapons.
These are… not that great. The biggest challenge is that there aren’t really any standout units in the Phobos stable – they’re all fine utility units, but none are strong enough that you’d build around them and run multiples. You can put Superhuman Speed on a unit of Reivers, Fighting Retreat on Eliminators, and Field Modifications are fine on Incursors and Infiltrators. Beanith: Assuming of course you were lucky enough to roll for, like the good boys and girls and bugs that we know you all to be, and get the right trait for the unit in question and not end up with Fight First on your Eliminators.
Beanith: As mentioned, meh level Battle Traits for the rank and file. Not sure the house rule bit is needed for the Phobos characters as there are much better Traits out there for them. Although a Phobo Captain with a 30” Instigator bolt carbine coupled with whatever Weapons Modifications added does sound very tempting indeed.
Crusade Relics
There are three Crusade Relics available here, one for each relic tier.
- Holo-Shroud (Artificer) – The bearer’s unit gains Stealth.
- Sanctus Gem (Antiquity) – Once per turn when an attack is allocated to your bearer, they can activate this to gain a Feel No Pain 4+ against that attack.
- The Tyrant’s Standard (Legendary) – Add 1 to the Attacks characteristic of weapons equipped by the bearer and they can re-roll Wound rolls. On top of that, each time their unit destroys an enemy unit, if you’re in an Oathsworn Campaign, you gain an Honour point.
Holo-shroud is decent – Stealth is always a welcome buff. The Sanctus Gem makes no sense given it only applies to a single attack – getting a 4+ Feel No Pain for exactly one attack just doesn’t feel like a good use of an Antiquity Relic slot. I don’t know that there’s a great fix for this that doesn’t make it too good, however – extending it to a full activation would be a lot.
Finally The Tyrant’s Standard is just straight bonkers. It’s one of the few buffs in the game for both ranged and melee attacks, and that re-roll wound rolls ability is super-good on anything with Devastating Wounds. If you’re trying to stay Phobos-oriented, the clear winner is the Librarian in Phobos Armour, whose Smite ability really benefits from this, but the Judiciar is another solid shout, as is the jump pack captain sporting a Thunder Hammer. If you’re looking out for potential problem units in your campaign, those are the big ones to watch for.
Beanith: I am legitimately annoyed by the Tyrant’s Standard. It’s a banner they nicked from an Astral Claws Ancient during the Kebab* war and then in presumably small font doodled the names of all the fallen Raptors from that little skirmish. The sight of this banner is what inspires your Raptors into a vengeful fury and not into a fit of giggles at the sight of the Captain or Librarian or etcetera using the damn thing like a cape. I propose a Goonhammer House Rule that it becomes a Relic for Ancients only that oddly enough replaces their Astartes Banner when they hit Legendary. This way you can still give the Jump Captain the Vortex Grenade thus restoring balance to the tabletop.
*I wonder how many people will take the bait…
Final Thoughts
These are some decent rules if you’re running Raptors and want a fun way to model and reinforce the chapter’s style of warfare. If there’s a downside here, it’s that this is even more rules to pile on for Marines to use in Crusade, where they already have a wealth of riches and Codex-havers like Dark Angels and Blood Angels end up having four or five sets of rules they can use at any given time and that probably needs both a heads-up GM and players who understand there’s a lot of opportunity to take things too far. The good news is that if you’re using these with an eye toward a Phobos-heavy force supported by speeders running the Vanguard Detachment, you probably don’t have anything to worry about – there’s some fun stuff here but nothing too good.
Beanith: It’s a fine set of rules for what is mostly just an excuse to add a dash of flavour to the special little Phobos units and your zippy little land speeders in your forces. The Raptors Crusade Rule at the start of the article seems a bit tacked on given there isn’t an actual specific Detachment for them beyond the obvious Vanguard one. My feeling on the matter is that if the Chapter in question doesn’t have Chapter specific units like Black Knights, Wolves, or people very cross with a chap called Horus then there’s not a lot of point in trying to lock it into a specific chapter when clearly these can be used by anyone who got given a box of Phobos marines by accident. Cool rules none the less.
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