Reaver Attack Squad
Not to be annoyingly confused with the Night Lords' Reavers
Reaver Attack Squads were specialized Space Marine formations used during the Great Crusade and Horus Heresy era by the Sons of Horus.
Overview[edit]
Symbolizing the Legion's own way of war, they were heavily influenced by tribal warfare on Cthonia. Reaver units specialized in swift assaults which maimed and disabled their foes, striking down leaders, and mercilessly cutting down any isolated enemies. Acting in the tradition of Cthonian gangs, each Reaver unit was effectively an independent warband in its own right and its warriors fought more as individuals than soldiers.
This...as can be imagined, sounds way too close to Konrad Curze's own Reaver Squad MO in wrecking shit, having the same name, and even down to the whole 'independent warband' schlick. About the only real difference outside of legion colouring, is that the Reavers from the Sons of Horus were far more organised and disciplined, whereas the Night Lords were just drugged-up rejects that not even Curze could be assed to deal with. It is unknown whether this was a case of one legion taking 'inspiration' from another legion or just a matter of high coincidence, but it does raise some eyebrows.
Reaver Marines were sometimes equipped with jump packs, similarly to Assault Marines which makes them incredibly flexible. Outside of that, they wear heavily modified and up-armoured Mark IV: Maximus Armour with distinctive 'spiked 80s metal band rivets' on the legs and backpack. They were also well armed, with them typically carrying Chainaxes, Power Axes, Power Mauls, Power Lances, Lightning Claws, Powerfists, Bolt Pistols, Plasma Guns, Meltaguns, and Hand Flamers.
A number of Reaver Squads were destroyed by Loyalists, in Abaddon's failed attempt to attack the Saturnine Gate, during the Battle for Terra.
Crunch[edit]
On the Horus Heresy tabletop, Reavers come in two varieties. The first is the more vanilla Reaver Attack Squad, which are an expansion of the standard Veteran squad. Like them they have WS5, 2 wounds, Relentless and Chosen Warriors and a butt-ton of weapon options to make them your own set of special dudes. On top of that they all start with Chain-axes as standard gear and have Counter-attack (1), Precision Shots (6+) and Precision Strikes (6+) so even when they aren't all taking challenges, they are still able to pick out their targets from time to time. These are excellent assault infantry, capable of causing a great deal of damage. Remember they can issue and accept challenges in the event you want to bait out a particular character.
The other variant is the one with the jump packs called the Reaver Aggressor Squad. Their jump packs increase the squad's base cost by 30 points and adds 8 points to the cost of each added marine. They have all of the same options, but with increased Movement and Hammer of Wrath they perform even better as a melee unit. As of Legacies PDF 1.1, GW remembered they're Reavers too and they can be taken as Line Troops in Black Reaving, like their Attack Squad brothers.