Next up for my Trench Crusade overviews is my favourite Fallen faction, the Heretic Naval Raiders. I really love the idea of the piratical heretics scourging the Mediterranean, and I've created my own little warband based on a submarine crew of heretics raiding the coastlines of Italy and Greece.
Unique Rules
Close Assault Weapons- Submachine Guns costing Ducats instead of Glory is really great, as in such a close-quarters focused warband being able to take more Submachine Guns for more shots and ASSAULT is really good. It also means you can start campaigns off with SMGs immediately, which starts you off so much easier.
Fast as Lightning- +1 Dice to Dash actions is just action efficiency, and will make your mobility quite a lot more reliable. It doesn't guarantee Dash successes though, and I couldn't even guess the amount of times I've still failed Dashes even with +1
Let Sleeping Dogs Lie and Light Troops- No War Wolf, only 1 Artillery Witch and 2 Anointed. Restricting all of the big troop options means you have less to work with, but in a campaign you're likely starting with all 3 ELITE models and a range of regular troops. It also means that later in a campaign you won't have much access to models that aren't simply Heretic Troopers or Wretched, so Naval warbands will end up going pretty wide later down the line in a campaign.
Unseen Advance- The ability to buy 3 non-ELITE models INFILTRATOR is fantastic, as you can put your close assault units with melee weapons, SMGs or Flamethrowers close to your opponent right from the start of the game (assuming the scenario allows it, which isn't always) and makes for a great 2-stage team added with your Death Commando. Either for early game pressure or objective taking you'll get value out of more infiltrating units, but be careful not to overextend.
Heretic Legions Units
Heretic Priest- As your LEADER model you have to take one, and there are few slightly different ways you can build a Priest. No matter what loadout you give it though, it's a great generalist profile with +2 dice to both melee and ranged making it fairly reliable at everything (and meaning you want to give it both kinds of weapon to make the most of it) while TOUGH keeps it in the fight a bit longer. The other thing to note is Puppet Master as you can use this to manipulate positioning and being able to move any model within 12" D6" is quite good. Early game you want to use it to move your own models up the board and get things into better positions, while later game you can use it to move things into combat with your own models or out of cover where you can really punish them. My personal favourite loadout, at least at the start of a campaign, is giving them a Silenced Pistol or grenades so they have an ASSAULT weapon and 2 Sword/Axes with Standard Armour. This is a fairly budget build so you can fit in more of the other elites (Priest, Chorister and Commando to start is something I'm a big fan of) and it's quite easy to kit them out later on with better gear as you should be making decent amounts of money for a campaign.
Chorister- When you have a close-range warband having a close-range debuff piece is really great, and -1 to all success rolls from enemies makes it so much harder for them to actually achieve things in game. Also having a +2 melee piece means you can have a really consistent Sacrificial Blade with a 2nd action for another weapon. Polearm is another great option as you can use it to set up near an objective and just make it really obnoxious for an opponent to get near you or to even attempt objective actions, as in order to attack you from a charge they'll be -2 dice base. Choristers are really great models all around and I think they're something every Naval Raider warband, especially with the new plastic model looking so nice
Death Commando- As an ELITE with INFILTRATOR the Death Commando is a piece that you can use to put some really early pressure on an opponent, and they can do a lot of damage if they succeed with their rolls. You can pair them with other models with INFILTRATOR in Naval Raiders and make use of the +1 Dash to play really aggressively early on and try and take away activations from your opponent. Tartarus Claws make this way easier as it gives multiple attacks and another movement with even more attacks if you kill something, so with a good grenade throw you can get a heap of damage out in a single activation. They're harder to shoot with a native -1 dice to shoot them (which you can stack with the Chorister) so as long as you're keeping them moving between cover they'll be really annoying to take out. I always start with a Tartarus Claws Commando to get experience on it early, but also to have things that are going to give value early on and flesh out the numbers later.
Anointed- The heavy-hitters of your non-ELITE, and often the things you want to promote, but they are quite expensive and tend to want even more expensive gear. I haven't tried out a starting roster with any Anointed yet but they are one of my first purchases, as they can put in a ton of work and tend to be one of the tankier units in the roster with their built-in Reinforced Armour. As the only models in the warband with STRONG they are also a natural place to put HEAVY weapons onto, and things like Greatsword/axe or Hellblades are great on them. None of the HEAVY weapons in the warband are especially fantastic, as you usually want ASSAULT on at least a grenade option so you have the option of charging in mid-game. A turn of shooting with a non-ASSAULT weapon is a turn you're losing out on combat so is something to consider, although Heavy Flamethrower is a really good option early game to put the hurt out as an alternative to grenades.
Heretic Trooper- Your basic troop, and something that will be decent enough any time you take it. Regular Troopers I tend to just keep with rifle and bayonet just to have something that can sit back on an objective and plink shots off, or move up and take positions aggressively while the rest of the warband do the killing work. Legionaries on the other hand are great with the INFILTRATOR upgrade, as with an SMG and 2 melee weapons you can infiltrate them in, dash out to shoot twice and then charge with 2 attacks. I personally put the +1 into melee so your 2nd attack is still at flat dice normally, and although they add up in terms of cost they also get work done in terms of creating a threatening presence that your opponent has to deal with while the rest of your warband makes it up the table.
Wretched- The lightest infantry option in the faction, but also quite garbage. I do want to take the time to try out a few Wretched with double melee at some point as light, disposable shock troops but they aren't really that much cheaper than Heretic Troopers for a significant drop in quality. You probably don't want to take them outside of meme lists, but it is a tempting meme that I want to test out.
Artillery Witch- While you can only take 1, a Witch is a great take as it gives you some long ranged blasting in a faction that tends to want to play closer up. There's not much else to say about the Witch that isn't standard for all Artillery Witches, as you need to keep it fairly safe and Witches can be pretty squishy. As a non-ELITE it is also far more likely to just die if it gets taken out as well, which you don't want to happen. Try and keep it in cover where possible, and out of melee.
Mercenaries
Sin Eater- Physically imposing and fairly hard-hitting, the Sin Eater works with Naval Raiders but it will get stuck behind a bit as it isn't necessarily as fast as the rest of the warband. Being able to hit multiple models is really helpful and plays into the Naval Raiders theme of SMGs and multiple melee weapons to keep attacking. I don't think it's worth taking over a Goetic Warlock or the glory items for the warband though, and its definitely something I would take far later in a campaign and only really consider for one-offs rather than actually take.
Goetic Warlock- For a close-assault, fast-moving warband I really like the Goetic Warlock as it has its own ways to teleport around and jump to better positions or steal specific enemy pieces for assassination. I've played it a fair bit in one-offs and it works quite well, and as the cheapest Mercenary for Fallen factions it is also something easier to get to as opposed to the other options.
Scripture Guardian- Still quite expensive, and Naval Raiders have great ways to spend Glory otherwise. If you somehow manage to buy everything else and run out of Glory later in a campaign then sure buy it, but I wouldn't go out of the way to get it before other things.
Glory Items
Blasphemous Staff- This is going to go on your Heretic Priest if you take it, nothing else will get enough value out of it. Death Commando can't spare the hand as you want Tartarus Claws on it, and the Chorister doesn't have actions to get enough out of the Staff. +1 to Puppet Masters is good, but potentially at the expense of a 2nd melee weapon so it's something to consider and not always take
Anti-Materiel Rifle- The single best hard-hitting gun you can get. This rifle will tear through armour and reliably kill non-TOUGH models or trigger TOUGH on those that have it, you want it on something that can hit more reliably like the Heretic Priest. In the case you take the AMR on a Priest I'd pair it with Grenades of some kind just so you still have an ASSAULT weapon, but you will get great value out of this every time. Heavy is a downside here though, and in a list where you likely want to be charging you do have less charge range which hurts.
Hellblade- A very good melee weapon, but also likely going on Anointed as the ability to one-hand it on an Anointed while pairing it with another hand is fantastic. The LIMIT:2 doesn't even really matter here either as Anointed are also restricted to 2 so you can give them both Hellblades and not have to worry.
Automatic Rifle- An option for slightly longer range compared to an SMG, but generally speaking I think not as good given the Glory cost vs simply paying for an SMG.
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