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The LOTD
Pros:
Armour save is Invulnerable
Weapon options
Relentless
Fearless
Cons:
High points cost
Must arrive via Deep strike
Slow and purposeful
vulnerable to massed small arms fire (only having a 3+save against these attacks isnt as good as a 3+ armour save and then an invulnerable save)

The legion of the damned’s heritage is amongst the most perplexing chain of ideas that the empire of man has ever brought to life, with none knowing truly where or even what these unyielding spectres are. Only appearing when and where they are needed, their presence is deemed a gift from the emperor, and worlds have been saved from the brink by these vengeful warriors.
Using the Legion in a Raven Guard force is easily explained through the above means, maybe your army has been marked for greatness by the powers that be, or you are in the midst of a desperate battle for survival, either way the legion can be an effective addition to your army. If you plan on using them it may be a good idea to plan the rest of the army to support or use the distraction they cause to the best advantage. Though they are tempting with a 3+ invulnerable save they are not a unit you should just throw at the enemy, and as they’re mobility is severely hampered by the slow and purposeful rule you will have to plan a few turns in advance. The biggest advantage to Slow and purposeful is it automatically grants you the Relentless ability which allows you to move and shoot with both heavy and Rapid firing weapons to their full effect, meaning that although they may not be able to keep pace with a Raven Guard army, They can lay down almost all the suppressing fire you could want.
As the legion of the damned arrives via deep strike it can be a risky business. Don’t rely on them coming in turn two and with this don’t (although it’s tempting) throw all your eggs in one basket; you really don’t want to fight 1500pts with only 1000pts of troops for three turns.


Tactics

The Daemon Bane
Using the use of fearless and slow and purposeful to its full advantage is helpful against daemonic opponents many of whom cause fear. Equipping higher strength weapons, and the ability to move and shoot (even on the turn they arrive), can often keep the enemy at range and knock down the wounds, remember to reroll the scatter dice if you want to try and get a better position. Normally a small squad should be the most beneficial for this role, with the optional Powerfist in case your movement rolls aren’t that great. Be warned though, the legion of the damned are a powerful unit but even they can be bested by a rampaging daemon.

Pros: A strong squad that can weather most of what an enemy daemon or daemon prince can throw at you.
Cons: Singular in purpose, Attracts a-lot of other attention from your enemies remaining units. You can get round this by varying the role to an anti-tank if you destroy the initial target and using your more manoeuvrable troops to cut off the advance of the enemy.


Deep striking in behind the enemy is an effective scare tactic you can use with the legion, forcing the enemy to choose to take care of the pesky unit behind him or on the main force in front. Using fleet to easily close the gap in front and using a survivable unit behind the enemy both increase the chances of this tactic being successful. Both the following tactics can be used in this way.


The Tank hunters
Anti tank weaponry can be hard to bring to bear with a Raven Guard force and the heavy weapons you can select can give you a boost to both long range and short range anti-tank abilities, meaning you can deep strike both at range (as described above) or in the midst of the enemy lines and rely on the survivability a 3+ invulnerable save gives you. Taking a Melta gun as well will increase your hitting power especially when deep striking close to the vehicles rear or side armour which will have an explosive effect, but bear in mind the low movement the legion can have which can often make this weapon a one hit wonder.

Pros: Mobile high strength Anti tank weaponry, ability to easily reach rear armour.
Cons: High Heavy weapon cost, mostly linear role and being cut off when behind enemy lines. Can be unreliable arriving from deepstrike.


Dropsite massacre/defender
This tactic can be used both offensively and defensively, and can be tailored with the selection of weapons to which army you fight. A large squad can deep strike near the enemies lines and unleash 20 bolter shots into the enemy before they can react, this coupled with the ability to fire say a heavy bolter on the turn it arrives can drag your opponents attention and focus fire can deal a serious toll on one particular pesky unit your enemy has. Another variant of this tactic is to deep strike in front of your own troops, to cover them whilst in cover or guarding an objective. This can help a beleaguered unit trapped and caught in fire, or bolster your position before the last gasp dash for objectives. Remember to reroll the scatted die to get a better position if you need. They can also provide close combat to tie up enemy units for multiple turns. The use of Plasma canon and plasma guns here is an insane prospect moving and shooting with high strength weaponry can even make a terminators squad or green skin horde think twice about attacking.

Pros: Good scare unit, useful for taking out key enemy units, covering a unit taking an objective.
Cons: Survivability will be called upon greatly, expensive unit.

Using other Characters ;
Tigurius is by far the most creative use special characters, with the ability to reroll reserves rolls meaning you can effectively boost your chances of them turning up when you want to and with the aid unlooked for special rule meaning they should land where you want them to. This is excellent for the drop site defender tactic (above) as you can effectively re roll passed reserve tests to keep them until later on in the game. However please note the longer they are off the board the longer you have a large heap of points doing nothing.

Although using gate can allow Tigurius to deep strike with them, you’re putting an awful lot of points into a single unit, and as destructive as they will be it would be much safer to deploy him on the field with another squad ready to gate into position to support your newly found legion of the damned friends.
In a similar way librarians can be used and whilst it cuts the cost of the unit the main advantage of Tigurius (re-rolling the reserves dice) is lost however after they land join a librarian with them to get the best of both worlds, having mobility through Gate of Infinity whilst still being able to fire all of your weapons.

For a purely anti infantry unit Bring out Darneth Lysander, and equip your legion of the damned squad with bolters and heavy bolters. Darneth’s Bolter drill and re-rolling failed to hit rolls would come in very handy, however, you are launching a very large unit that is slow enough for your enemy to avoid and stay out of effective range.

Having Vulken in your armyand dropping your legion squad in with combi-melta’s, combi-flamers, Meltaguns, flamers, or a Hevay flamer or multi-Meltas can really get the best out of vulkens chapter tactics. However these upgrades are not as cheap as they are in other units (such as Sternguard) and so they are possibly a much safer option.

Unfortunately shrike doesn’t give the Legion a lot of useful help, infiltration is lost on them as they must arrive via deep strike (not even infiltrating a locator beacon will be much good as the aid unlooked for pretty much covers it.) fleet whilst helpful for getting them into a better position sounds like a good option, you are taking away the only phase in the game Legion of the damned truly shine in, the shooting phase, so if you plan on taking shrike don’t expect him to help your unyielding spectres out too much.


In all the legion of the damned is a good unit to include due to its versatility, but due to the high points cost and the lack of manoeuvrability compared to the rest of your force they can often end up in the middle of nowhere and thus out of your army lists. Arriving via deep strike is always a risk, and although you can have a good chance of having them land where you want them to, you can’t choose when they will arrive and for all the time they don’t do something is points wasted. Scattering on enemy units and terrain can be avoided the first scatter dice roll but keep in mind the second roll is final so still be aware of the dangers of deep striking. They are a survivable choice to take although a 3+ invulnerable save does not make them immune to everything.


Anyone wants to add anything feel free, i don't claim to be an expert on the legion so the more input the better.

Editied to involve Tigurius tactic, credit to brother carc
Added plasma canon into relevant tactic thanks to FhadHQ and levitas

Not an expert? its fine as it is.
And who claims to know loD? They are a rare unit. Maybe if we get new models, then LoD could appear more on the table.

Now, i have some old metal LoD troopers ( 1 squad) and they sadly still use the old weapons (shouldermounted heavys)
so i hope for wave 2.

I think LoD are different "special Tacs", theyre wargear points at that and some options like lascannon,multimelta and
heavy flamer are way overpriced.
If i ever get new LoD, i'll give the sgt a pf, add a plasmagun and a plasmacannon.


And jasper: i appreciate that you took an non-obvious choice (at a RG forum) for a tactica.

I agree, top job jasp. Some really good points.

I'm also sure they have new models on the way, Quixote posted a pic of greens at one point.

I'm also with Fhad on the loadout, plasma seems to be the way to go using relentless. Shame they are so expensive, but like any expensive unit can be more than worth their weight. I would struggle to justify their use in games under 2000pts though.

A juicy unit, and I think we'll see thme crop up more when new models get out.

Thanks for the comments

wow can't believe i missed the plasma canon out i'll add that in when i get some more time. it is definately the best weapon to get the bang for your buck, versatile and now mobile (to some extent)

i don't get the points for them i guess you have the advantage of their survivability, but to have a large squad with a heavy weapon doesn't cut it points wise, i think its like the vanguard you have to find a good balance.

There are some BEAUTIFUL new LOD models coming.....

Mind to tell us when?

It's good, definitely good stuff.

The only thing i would add right now is just a pros and cons list at the beginning of the tactica. Other than that, it's good.
If i come up with anything i'll add my thoughts, but really very good job jasp, can't wait to see the Tau tactica

Here's something that just might work.

Tigurius, Librarian of the damned:
- First off, Tiggy lets you re-roll reserves so you should be getting those legion of the damned when you need them.
- Attach him to a LOTD squad with plasma cannon and plasma gun.
- Then gate in, re-rolling scatter dice, then cast null zone, then cast smite.
- Rinse and repeat

Alternatively, the tread bane:
- Epistolary with vortex of doom, gate of infinity and terminator armour
- Legion of the damned with melta gun and multi-melta
- Similar use as that above
- There are significantly cheaper ways of dealing with armour but even landraiders will be scared of this build

Nice carc, I lke it! it also cross links with the librarian tactica so feel free to add your thoughst there too!

Excellent stuff!

Loving the addition of Special Characters to the Tactica. Really fleshes out an already ace tactical overview of LotD.

Its such a shame I fight dakka armies, where a horde of S3 weapons will turn LotD into mince meat =(