Vanguard Spearhead: The 11th-Edition Space Marines Stealth Detachment

Shadow Masters gives your units the Benefit of Cover against ranged attacks made from more than 12" away. In practice your infantry are always "in cover" versus anything shooting from range, so they weather long-range fire while holding the midfield.

Important 11th-edition change: the previous version also subtracted 1 from those hit rolls (stacking toward -2 to hit with Stealth). That -1-to-hit was removed in the June 2026 pack — Shadow Masters is now cover-only. If you're reading older 10th-edition guides, they will overstate this rule; the current version is the cover bonus alone.

• Strike from the Shadows (Shooting) — the detachment's main damage buff: better accuracy and extra AP against distant targets, and killing models can force Battle-shock. Your go-to on Eliminators or a key gun unit.
• Calculated Feint (opponent's Charge phase) — an evasive reposition to dodge or blunt a charge (retargeted slightly in 11th ed to an infantry unit within 12" of the charging enemy).
• Guerrilla Tactics — pull an infantry unit off the board into Strategic Reserves to disengage and redeploy elsewhere.
• A Deadly Prize (Command) — rig an objective so enemies moving nearby take mortal wounds; holds ground you can't physically contest.
• Surgical Strikes (Fight) — Precision melee to snipe an attached enemy character.
• Armour of Contempt (defensive) — the universal AP-worsening save-saver.

• The Blade Driven Deep — the bearer's unit gains Infiltrators, deploying up the board more than 9" from the enemy. Superb for early board control.
• Ghostweave Cloak — Stealth plus Lone Operative, making a lone character extremely hard to shoot.
• Execute and Redeploy (Phobos character) — a short reposition move after shooting, for endless hit-and-reposition.
• Shadow War Veteran (Phobos character) — disrupts enemy stratagem use near the bearer; note the 11th-edition pack limited this to once per turn rather than every enemy stratagem.

(Points weren't independently confirmed for 11th edition.)

• Infiltrators — deny enemy deep-strike in a 12" bubble and screen your backfield; core troops that hold the midfield under the cover rule.
• Incursors — objective-holders with scanner utility, durable under Shadow Masters.
• Eliminators — the signature snipers; long-range precision fire that loves the >12" cover bubble and Strike from the Shadows.
• Reivers — aggressive infiltrating harassers for early pressure and objective grabs.
• Suppressors — mobile jump-pack fire support with anti-heavy shooting.
• Phobos characters (Captain/Lieutenant in Phobos) — carry the Phobos-only enhancements and lead the stealth core.

Take Vanguard when you want an attrition and board-control army that is very hard to shoot off objectives and plays a mobile, evasive game rather than a hammer-blow alpha strike. It rewards a Phobos-heavy, Raven-Guard-flavoured collection. At 2 DP it fits a 2,000-point (3 DP) list alongside a 1-DP support, or stands alone at 1,000 points.

Sample gameplan: deploy an infiltrating screen to push up early, deny reserves and grab midfield objectives turn one. Sit units where Shadow Masters hands them Benefit of Cover against anything shooting from 12"+ away. Snipe key targets with Eliminators plus Strike from the Shadows, trade space with Guerrilla Tactics and Calculated Feint, and win on primary and secondary scoring rather than tabling the opponent.