Tactics: Adeptis Rahn

Today I'll be doing a tactics review of the warcaster I took to Hardcore at Diecon.  Adeptis Rahn is a premier, FOC 8, spell focused warcaster for Retribution, who supports his army as well as being a strong spell caster.

Throughout the course of this tactics article, I'll try and cover Rahn's strengths and weaknesses as well as offer up some insight into how he plays.

First off, let's take a look at what Rahn can do.  He's SPD 5, but won't have to worry about keeping up with his army too much because he has FOC 8.  He's got an average defense of 14 with a higher than average ARM 16, letting him camp up to ARM 24.  His Force Barrier makes him DEF 16 from ranged attacks, so he's generally pretty hardy given the right circumstances.  Beat Back on his weapon is situationally useful for when you need to get up close enough to do some spell casting yourself, such as on a Stealthed caster.

Spells


Chain Blast - a VERY useful spell for clearing infantry, especially on the feat turn.  This is also a good spell for doing damage against a warcaster if you're trying to go for the assassination.
Force Blast - a situational spell.  I would mostly use this to clear up the Phoenix if your opponent ran to engage and prevent spell arcing.  This could also be used to push an enemy warcaster closer to what will be able to kill it, but will take a lot of effort to pull this off.
Force Field - an awesome upkeep I always cast on turn 1.  The ability to choose deviation direction is so solid, especially when playing with minimal Battle Mages, or against models that have any continual effect attached to their AoE (here's looking at you, eFeora bonded Redeemer!).
Force Hammer (I'm seeing a trend in spell names) - the premier starter to an assassination run.  This spell under the feat turn can very reliably knock down enemy warcasters allowing the rest of your army to chip away at them.  Follow up with an eEiryss shot, pulling with Battle Mage Force Bolts, and finish them off with a Phoenix or Fane Knight to the face.
Polarity Shield - A great denial spell.  This spell prevents a unit from being charged in the front arc.  I generally like to use this on the Mage Hunter Strike Force.  This is also useful on warjacks or Rahn himself.
Telekinesis - Rahn's premier spell.  This spell has so many different uses and possibilities.  Use it on your own models to extend their threat range.  Use it on your own models to get them out of melee.  Use it on your opponent models to get them closer to you.  Use it on your opponent models to face them away from you, allowing the rest of your army to hit in the back arc.  Most of my assassination runs happen by casting TK, Force Hammering, and TKing the Phoenix or Fane Knight closer to the caster.

The Feat
Rahn's feat is really what makes Rahn Rahn.  He gives boosted magic attack and damage rolls to all models in his control area (including himself), and boosts the range of non-channeled spells by +2 RNG.  Most of the time, I pop his feat on a turn I plan to assassinate my opponents warcaster.

The List
Most of the time, a Rahn list will include a few things.  Phoenix, Battle Mages, and Magisters are very very common.

Phoenix - The Retribution heavy Arc Node.  He also happens to be a monster in melee with a Concentrated Power from an Arcanist.  He also has auto-fire on his sword, crit-fire on his ranged weapon, a regenerating shield, and a combined total of 34 damage boxes.  Oh, and not to mention he can blow up and kill a ton of infantry.  All around a very very solid warjack.  His only drawback is that he's 10 points.

Battle Mages - Rahn's favorite infantry.  They can facilitate a lot of assassinations with their fully boosted Force Bolts.  They can also kill two infantry models per Mage with 2 MAT 6 P+S 11s.  They are also very hard to kill from range, being DEF 15 from range and immune to blast damage.  An all around versatile unit that Rahn helps greatly with his feat and spells.

Magister - An awesome utility solo.  He has Force Bolt, like the Battle Mages, but he also has Whip Snap, which let's a friendly model within 3" advance 3" on hit.  This can set up a Phoenix charge, or clear up a charge lane.  He also has Combo Smite, letting him slam big stuff over smaller stuff, knocking it down, enabling the rest of your army to kill it.


Example List
Adeptis Rahn
-Phoenix

Arcanist
eEiryss
Fane Knight
Artificer
Battle Mages
Magister
Mage Hunter Assassin
Mage Hunter Strike Force
-UA
Narn

The idea behind this list is to have an insane amount of ways to get to the opponent warcaster, as well as a lot of models capable of killing a warcaster.

Well, I just ran out of steam.  There's all my ideas for now about Rahn.  Feel free to leave comments and questions.