Red Scorpion Sternguard

[henrythesecond]

Hi guys,

I'm not usually lured into the 'must-get-the-latest-codex-and-army' hysteria, but I must confess to being
seduced by the whole Badab War fluff. Consequently, I've begun building a Red Scorpion Army around
the fantastic Carab Culln mini from FW. One of my buddies has started up a Mantis Warriors list too, so
we're looking forward to some hardcore Badab goodness in a few months time.

However, back on topic, I've been reading through my copy of IA 9 and also the Red Scorps section of
IA 4. Aside from realising I'm going to need to drastically rethink my usual SM tactics (keeping with fluff,
I'm not going to be using Infiltrate or Scout USRs) and that I'll need to convert one of my current LRs
to a Helios variant, I've come across what I believe to be a rather decent little tactic.

In Imperial Armour 4: The Anphelion Project, pp122, under Purity Above All it states:
"Any Red Scorpions Tactical or Veteran Squad may upgrade its Sergeant to an Apothecary for +25pts."

This of course confers Feel No Pain onto the units in question. Whilst questionable for tactical squads
due to the loss of the PF or Melta Bomb Sgt (except perhaps a dedicated objective-holding squad),
if you took an Apothecary with a Drop Pod Sternguard unit, I think it's well worth the loss of the Sgt's
options to give the unit FNP.

Anyone feel this is a viable tactic or are the Sgt loadout options more useful? And would it be as useful
on Tac Squads?

[WereWolf_nr]

My thought would be that it is worth protecting the special ammunition that the Sternguard can carry with an Apothecary and that the Sgt. in a Sternguard squad is not the star he is in a Tactical Squad.

[henrythesecond]

That's a good angle to come from, I like it. Cheers.

[plawolf]

If I run sternguard in one of my BA lists, I always make sure there is a priest either with them or close enough to grant FNP.

Sternguards are considered a serious threat in pretty much everyone's books. That makes them a fire magnet, and given what they can do, making them more survivable is always worth it in my book.

I am, however not all that sure about drop podding them. Maybe this is from a BA prospective as we have more than enough bodies to drop in the opponents' face, but I always feel you run a serious risk drop podding sternguard into anything but decent cover. If that's you game plan, perfect. I just always cringe at a suicide squad of combi-melta sternguards getting nuked just so they can pop a transport.

With sterngaurd, the last place you want to be is in assault, take vanguards if that's you intention. I always take my sternguard and place them in a nice bit of terrain in the middle of the board or close to a critical objective and just shoot the crap out of anything that gets in range.

With good cover saves and FNP, they are going to be a bugger to shift with shooting, so your opponent can waste his shooting trying to get rid of them, leaving the rest of your army alone, or he can try and assault them. But you get to place the sternguard, so you can almost use them as a trap to lure in the enemy's CC specialists.

The Sternguards are not killy enough to be game winning, but they can cause disruption way beyond their actual damage potential. Use them to disrupt the enemy's game plan, especially if you make them unexpectedly resilient with FNP, and that should help you dictate the flow of the game to best suit your needs.

Ideally pack some combi-weapons (plasma is a favorite as FNP helps with gets hot) so you can kill something juicy with them and help make the enemy focus overly on them, or hold the shots and just make the sternguard look so much more threatening.

If you want to really shake things up, you could try small sternguard squads with some cheap heavy weapons.

Its always amusing when someone forgets they are sternguards and think they are going to roll over some devastators when they get a face full of special ammo and two attacks base back. :p

[Tynskel]

I have always thought drop podding stern guard is the wrong way to go. They are more effective in a transport or in terrain. I don't like taking combo Meltas, either. There are many many better anti-tank/transport units in space marine lists.

[rle68]

if your going to play generic space marines then you have to take Kantor as your cm. making SG count as troops is a big benefit

and i fully endorse combi weapons for all SG unit members but a mix of them works well combi flamers plasma and meltas works wonderfully well at 5 points each you really cant go wrong

i dont subscribe to drop podding them tho.. too risky and they ARE bullet magnets

i run 3 squads of them i usually take razorbacks but rhinos work equally as well

if there are points i will throw a pf in the squad but more often then not its 6 guys all combi weapons laying down murdeous hate on anyone