Background.
These are the scouts of the Imperial Army, the trackers and the outriders who reconnoitre the way ahead.
In many ways, they're like the space marine legion recon squads. Except they're mortals.
Strengths.
To be clear, this is a relatively cheap squad with access to weapons like sniper rifles and shotguns. As such, they are functionally almost identical to the space marine recon squad and have some of the same advantages such as built in "move through cover", as well as "infiltration". Of course, they also have scouts which lends itself very nicely to combine with infiltrate.
Weaknesses.
As with almost everything in this army, these scouts are mortals. They are strictly worse than space marines in almost every statistic apart from wounds! That said, they do have BS=4 which makes this squad well worth the (low) price tag associated with them. They're going to be shooting just as well as space marines. I'd therefore use their special rules to get them into position and try to release a suitable volley of shots in the first turn or two of a game before their (almost) inevitable demise.
Notice as well that they're not scoring -- they have the support squad special rule. Treat them accordingly.
Builds.
Quite a few options to think about here, but they're analogous to other scouting units. I'll therefore keep to only two examples: the snipers, and the distraction.
5 Scouts, sniper rifles, cameoline (95 points)
A nice build that many people will probably be tempted by. Functional and probably worth the price tag as well. Just make sure to get off a volley or two in the early turns. Take infra visors to taste.
5 Scouts, lasrifles, sergeant with melta bombs (60 points)
A bit of a distraction squad. Use via either outflanking, or position them at range to make some long shots (recall the 30" range on the lasrifles), or perhaps even get close to a tank to use the melta bombs on. They're expendable, and that's part of the point and the attraction.
These are the scouts of the Imperial Army, the trackers and the outriders who reconnoitre the way ahead.
In many ways, they're like the space marine legion recon squads. Except they're mortals.
Strengths.
To be clear, this is a relatively cheap squad with access to weapons like sniper rifles and shotguns. As such, they are functionally almost identical to the space marine recon squad and have some of the same advantages such as built in "move through cover", as well as "infiltration". Of course, they also have scouts which lends itself very nicely to combine with infiltrate.
Weaknesses.
As with almost everything in this army, these scouts are mortals. They are strictly worse than space marines in almost every statistic apart from wounds! That said, they do have BS=4 which makes this squad well worth the (low) price tag associated with them. They're going to be shooting just as well as space marines. I'd therefore use their special rules to get them into position and try to release a suitable volley of shots in the first turn or two of a game before their (almost) inevitable demise.
Notice as well that they're not scoring -- they have the support squad special rule. Treat them accordingly.
Builds.
Quite a few options to think about here, but they're analogous to other scouting units. I'll therefore keep to only two examples: the snipers, and the distraction.
5 Scouts, sniper rifles, cameoline (95 points)
A nice build that many people will probably be tempted by. Functional and probably worth the price tag as well. Just make sure to get off a volley or two in the early turns. Take infra visors to taste.
5 Scouts, lasrifles, sergeant with melta bombs (60 points)
A bit of a distraction squad. Use via either outflanking, or position them at range to make some long shots (recall the 30" range on the lasrifles), or perhaps even get close to a tank to use the melta bombs on. They're expendable, and that's part of the point and the attraction.
As an Alpha Legion player (soon, anyway; one test Marine painted, only oh god 40 and a Contemptor and 5 Cataphractii and a Land Raider and WHAT HAVE I DONE to go), I love the idea of this- especially with the new Sacrificial Offering Rite of War that lets you hold the line with allied Cult/Militia while a Legion primary detachment outflanks- but I'm kind of at a loss as to how to model them. I'm trying to stick to GW/FW models, and ideally ones that will fit alongside the rest of my allied force (plastic Chaos Cultists for infantry and resin/plastic Vraks Militia for Grenadiers; soon to add Beastmen as Levies). I'm tempted by the idea of CHAOS RATLINGS, but that might be just a bit too silly...
ReplyDeleteSounds awesome! If you're going to have some abhumans or beast men, then I reckon ratlings would be perfect! Equally, don't listen to me, do some tests and see if you like it :)
ReplyDeleteI think I'm not, upon reflection. Ratlings are awesome and reasonably priced, but don't quite fit the Chaos beasties thing- I'm also looking into using Bullgors as Ogryns, and Ratlings would be the odd one out. And while it's fine in 40k, but their size could lend itself to cover abuse.
ReplyDeleteAs it stands, an allied detachment for Sacrificial Offering pretty severely limits my choices anyway, so I'm dropping them for a more practical set of Troops choices (a max-sized squad of Grenadiers and 4 or 5 Fire Support teams, depending on how many models I can get together for it).