Editing Warhammer 40,000/7th Edition Tactics/Renegades and Heretics (section)

===IMPORTANT THINGS TO REMEMBER===
====Astra Militarum, They Ain't====

It is important to disabuse yourself of the notion that Renegades are just Guardsmen that switched sides. Your army lacks the uniformity of discipline, the tactics, and the history (in the form of a large stable of named characters and a small bank of formations) of the the Imperial Guard, and just can’t tackle the same roles in quite the same way. It’s better to think of the Renegades as combining the best (and worst) qualities of the two other mass infantry factions in the game: Space Orks, and Tyranids. In most regards, this army functions similarly to the Skaven, in that it relies heavily on large numbers of cost-effective (if of dubious quality) infantry, supported by potentially deadly ranged weapons, specialists, and vehicles. While neither as random-as-code-for-crazy as Orks, or as situationally fragile as ‘Nids, this army functions best when you leverage your FUN* units against your more predictable ones.

====...Except When They Are====

While the above statements are generally true, there is an exception to much of that, which presents itself when list building. Three of your six Demagogue Devotions (Master of the Horde, Arch-heretic Revolutionary, And Bloody-handed Reaver) make your army behave in a manner similar to IG, the first making your massed infantry units bigger and harder to permanently neutralize, the second vastly improving your army’s overall discipline (and mitigating some uncomfortable randomness), and the last, making your army the most Guard-like, by getting basic armor saves where they’re needed, and giving a good chunk of your army a boost in reliability. Additionally, much of your shooting game can be greatly improved by taking Militia-Training, for a modest cost, wherever you need small quantities of accurate, high-strength, direct fire shooting.

====Nor Are They Chaos Marines====

An important point about Guard is that they are not Space Marines, thus they are not as useful in certain situations, namely close combat. Similarly, Renegades, Master of Renegades options notwithstanding, are not Chaos Space Marines. Your assault units are just not of the same caliber, quality armor saves are at a premium, and your specialist assault kit is better suited for taking on vehicles than other infantry. But it’s not all bad news.

First off, you can run away whereas CSMs and their squishier compatriots can’t. Unlike CSMs, your characters never have to accept challenges they don’t wish to fight. More to the point, although not as uneventful as it is with Skaven, if done right, the penalties for refusal are of no consequence. For best results, lead from the rear, and always aim to put at least 3 ranks of infantry between your Champion and the point of contact. Also, Fearless is at a premium, so a judicious use of Our Weapons are Useless can keep pointless slugfests to a minimum (keyword here is "pointless"; sometimes, standing your ground is exactly what you want). Lastly, as you aren’t beholden to the whims of the Dark Gods in quite the same way CSMs are, you can focus on roles they aren’t optimized for. 

*While not as talented offensively or defensively as their CSM/CD brethren, units with the covenant of Khorne are a bit better at abating assaults, especially against slower MCs.
 
*Nurgle covenanters are marginally more durable than their fellow Renegades, but the goal in taking that covenant is to get Plague Zombies (or Blight Drones), not making tougher troops.
 
*Slaaneshi mortals are going to be either your mountain of attacks that get stuck in reliably, or your last turn Hail-Mary objective grab, but all things being equal, a metal box is more efficient at doing the latter, especially flying boxes.
  
*Tzeentch always has a plan, and in this case, the plan involves making your infantry blobs give Tau a run for their money in the shooting department. Even without Militia-Training, you out-shoot most armies when getting charged, using Skyfire weapons to shoot at infantry, or trying to pot-shoot down flyers. (Remember: Interceptor no longer lets Skyfire shoot ground targets at full BS anymore, so Renegades are one of only <s>three</s>four armies that can fire Interceptor attacks at more or less full BS). You're snapfiring at BS2 - introduce some Valkyries to your autocannons.

====Go Big or Go Home====

The key thing to remember when fielding Renegades is numbers, pure, simple numbers. Most of your squad upgrades are flat-costed, meaning that the more models you field, the less of an impact choosing to upgrade that unit has on your point total. Conversely, some squad upgrades are highly situational and should only be taken when you need them. Militia-Training is best used on small units carrying guns that need to roll to hit. Sub Flak Armor is generally a waste of time. And unit Champion wargear, beyond Covenants, is generally not worth it, unless the unit is small, and meant to get into combat (although Gunslinging Champions do add a bit of ranged AP to the mix). Additionally, even with Militia-Training, your vehicles will be cheaper than Guard analogues, and can be taken in bigger squadrons, so it’s always worth it to run multiples.

====FUN* Management====

The biggest drawback of this army is how unreliable its soldiers can be, as a result of the Uncertain Worth rule. It is therefore advisable to take units and wargear that can mitigate the risks of rolling badly, or at all, when determining your units’ leadership. Enforcers are pretty much an automatic second HQ, no matter which Demagogue Devotion your Warlord takes. Also, unless you are relying on fieldcraft (through Mutants or Veterans) as part of your strategy, the Banner of Hate and a Command-Net Vox are also necessary purchases. If a unit can take both, a Vox-caster and a Chaos Sigil are well worth the points.

Mutant units are best kept in Reserve or used en-masse, to mitigate the impact of rolling a 1 on the Curse of Mutation table. Taking vehicles, and other Fearless units will also mitigate Horrific Disfiguration, and grant tougher shooting/assault units to screen your Rabble.

As an interesting note, most of the hard leadership bonuses will cost you ~30 points. A basic enforcer, banner of hate, or even just a trade in of two compulsory mutant units for an infantry platoon with access to leadership based items all run about the same, but are very different in their effect, scale, and most importantly use. Be mindful of what kind of enemy you will be fighting and the role you have in mind for your unit.

As mentioned above, Militia-Training is best when used on units that need accurate shooting to be successful. With most of your vehicles and support units, it all comes down to role versus cost. Most transports don’t need Militia-Training to fulfill their duties, especially since your two best Transports have Blast and Template weapons as options, but don’t lose anything by choosing to upgrade. Support squads, Artillery, and Tanks carrying Blast weapons, likewise don’t need Militia-Training, but need to be careful to avoid engaging targets too close to your other guns. Basically, don’t target anything within 6 inches of your units, or 12 of something you absolutely don’t want to lose (the bigger the Blast, the more distance you want). The only vehicles and units that must have Militia-Training are those with the direct-fire weapons essential to your success: Support Squads with Lascannons (or Missile Launchers, so Infantry doesn't slow you down) and Covenant of Tzeentch (arguably your best AA/AT multitasker), Direct-firing Russes with Multi-Meltas and Lascannons, and your Super-Heavy Tanks that can take it.