Raven Guard MSU spam

In my last article on MSU spam I noted that it was a little weak at 1500 point Maelstrom because of the Khan tax. You need scout (and outflank) on all the Rhinos for this army to work. That becomes difficult if you've already paid 200+ for a chapter master and 60+ for a librarian in order to make your Maelstrom list capable of scoring the easy cards. With Khan, your HQ allotment is now 450 odd points, which doesn't leave you much to work with. One solution is to use Raven Guard instead, as their Rhinos come with Scout for free! Now obviously this isn't the most powerful Chapter tactic, but that's great if your scene uses comp score. A sample list:

Chapter master with terminator armour, shield eternal, thunder hammer
Librarian with force axe and ML2 (or maybe a storm shield)
Tactical squad in Rhino with meltagun, combi-melta, melta-bombs
Tactical squad in Rhino with meltagun, combi-melta, melta-bombs
Tactical squad in Rhino with meltagun, combi-melta, melta-bombs
Tactical squad in Rhino with meltagun, combi-melta
scouts with boltguns
Thunderfire cannon
7 sternguard in a pod with 5 combi-meltas

The Sternguard can pod down with the chapter master and librarian to get first blood with their meltaguns, then be very annoying downfield. It is a strong unit in close combat, able to take down all targets. The librarian can chew through enemies in close combat if the CM is tied up in a challenge. The chapter master's presence allows the unit to herd your opponent's army away, so dropping the unit near an objective is doubly effective. The Sternguard can camp and fire down-range while the Chapter master goes hunting. The CM also allows the unit to survive return shooting until the rest of your army arrives.

That might be immediately thanks to scout on the Rhino squads. A double-tap bolter alpha strike is no joke. If your opponent is mechanised you can pop open the transports with melta-totting combat squads and then rapid fire the contents with the other combat squads. Scout also allows your tactical squads to completely occupy the midfield on the first turn, which can be critical in some Maelstrom missions, notably the one where you draw cards equal to the number of objectives you have.

The thunderfire provides some infantry control, but all the boltguns can do that quite well on their own. The real usefulness of the thunderfire is as a barrage weapon, allowing you to snipe annoying characters, and in holding backfield objectives.

After the alpha strike you go into survival mode. Get back into your Rhinos and focus entirely on scoring objectives and not dying. The veteran unit can lay some beats but mostly you're just scoring cards and not worrying about really killing anything.

* EDIT

I realised that I had undercosted the terminator captain when drafting that list. So here is a different one:

Chapter master on bike with artificer armour, shield eternal, thunder hammer
Librarian on bike with force axe
Command squad with 5 grav-guns
Tactical (10) in Rhino with melta-gun, combi-melta, melta-bombs
Tactical (10) in Rhino with melta-gun, combi-melta, melta-bombs
Tactical (10) in Rhino with melta-gun, combi-melta, melta-bombs
Tactical (10) in Rhino with melta-gun, combi-melta, melta-bombs
Scouts (5) with boltguns
Thunderfire cannon

Raven Guard chapter tactics don't work on bikes, assault squads, terminators or centurions. The command squad, however, should be able to reach a high priority target on turn 1 with the 12" move + 18" range on the grav-guns. If they reach the target they will drop it. I can't think of a more effective way to kill things like Wraith Knights and Riptides. If you don't go first you can scout the Rhinos in front of the command squad to block line of site.

I can't think of a more effective support unit. The rhino squads don't hit very hard, nor does the thunderfire, but they can't kill infantry and standard tanks. What you need is something to kill heavy infantry and MCs - the command squad does that and neatly unlocks the chapter master on bike, who is a monster compared to the equally priced terminator captain in pod. I have given him the full load out here, with the hammer and relic shield, because the army is lacking a rock unit. He can be it with that load out. Capable of downing Wraith Knights, greater daemons and walkers without much trouble.

What else could you use? Because land raiders aren't dedicated transports the scout doesn't confer to them, which rules out vanguard veteran squads. A sternguard squad would be great, but means you need an overpriced terminator captain or to run a bike master on his lonesome.

I also don't like the scout squad, but they can stand in the backfield if you need or on a hard to reach objective, like on top of a tower in the midfield. I thought maybe a devastator squad full of multi-meltas that could scout forward to be in range would be helpful, but they are paper thin and quite expensive. Plus MM don't really work at >12".

This list is pretty strong. You should get first blood with your scout move and grav-weapons unless your opponent has a Sternguard squad. Your Warlord won't die and he will own challenges. You can harness the warp without having a useless librarian on the board. Your mini-death star is quite potent, especially if you drop a grav-gun for an apothecary. You have loads of tough, fast scoring units. Your tactical squads can handle most infantry and tank threats and your thunderfire provides some sniping support and can hold a backfield objective with the scouts. You will need to play well to win but all the tools are there. At 1750 I'd add some Sternguard in a pod and give the scouts a land speeder storm. At 1850 I'd swap to White Scars and get Khan - just use the BAO list.

***EDIT

I cracked the code! Instead of the command squad you want a Ravenwing command squad from the Dark Angels chapter. That way the command squad can scout, you still have riptide slaying power with plasma talons and grenade launcher and you get a quality assault unit. It does mean doubling down on the death star though. Here's the list I'll be using for the next few months when I want to test this concept:

Chapter Master (RG) w/ bike, artificer armour, power fist, shield eternal
Librarian (DA) w/bike, force axe
Ravenwing Command Squad (DA) w/grenade launcher
Tactical squad (RG) w/Rhino, meltagun, combi-melta, melta-bombs
Tactical squad (RG) w/Rhino, meltagun, combi-melta, melta-bombs
Tactical squad (RG) w/Rhino, meltagun, combi-melta, melta-bombs
Tactical squad (RG) w/Rhino, meltagun, combi-melta, melta-bombs
Thunderfire cannon

That leaves about 65 points to spend on some combination of the following:
- auspexes to ensure your command squad really does drop that high priority target on scout
- a thunder hammer upgrade to make the CM fierce in big challenges and give the command squad an edge in round 2
- ML2 for the psycher so that divination is worth it (otherwise just take psychic shriek unless invisibility turns up for you)
- a scout squad, perhaps with sniper rifles or camo cloaks
- melta-bombs for the Librarian and command squad sergeant
- an apothecary for the command squad
- a company champion for the command squad (seems redundant)