Ratlings vs Marbo

[RocketRollRebel]

Hello all! Been a very long time since I've posted on here but I had a question that my friends couldn't really help me on and I'm still up in the air on so I thought I'd turn to my old pal the internet. Anyway I'm preparing to send in my final list for DaBoyz GT tomorrow night and am torn by my elites options. Like most guard players, I havent touched elites much since veterans moved to troops so I dont use the slot much aside from ratlings every now and then. Anyway I've been playing with which are either a 5 man(ish) squad of Ratlings or Marbo and his package and am thinking that one of those would be my best option.
Heres my pros and cons for each...

Ratlings- Pros: good sniper unit, infiltrate, speed bump, can soak up a good amount of shooting, drop some wounds onto a big scary target, pinning on some armies and I love the models and have a soft spot for the lil guys...
Ratlings- Cons: T2,Ld 6, easy kill point, not much killing potential

Marbo- Pros: DEMO CHARGE!, pops up anywhere you like, stealth, can psych out some players and can make a nice mid game distraction, I have a sweet mini for him too

Marbo- Cons: dies very quickly, easy kill point, one trick pony, a lot of good opponents wont let him bother them, demo charge has a tendency to scatter 11" lately , and I'll take a hit on my comp score for using him.

So I dont know. Both in my eyes are similar in their roles but I'm not expecting a whole lot out of either. Any suggestions on who is better and any uses for either that I haven't really addressed?

also here is my list roughly so u can see what they will be working with...

CCS w/3 plas,medic, Chimera, astropath
Lord Commissar
PCS w/4 flamers and chimera
41 man blob with commissar, 4 meltas, 5 pw
Las cannon hw squad x2
auto cannon hw squad
3 Grenade Launcher Special Weapon Squad
melta vets in vendetta
penal legion
3 Scout Sentinels w/AC and HKM
Manticore
Medussa w/armored crew compartment

any ideas or suggestions are welcome! Thanks!

[Mr.Pickelz]

I'd take the ratlings over Marbo, as he is only good for 1 round of the game, where as those ratlings can be effective over the course of the game. You seem to have your anti-tank set, just have the ratlings shoot whatever comes out, and pray for some rending wounds.;)

[Lord Azaghul]

My personal preference is the ratlings. 5 of them.

The infiltrate ability is just nice, stealth makes then rather survivable & people over look them (IG players and opponents). And hey they ARE snipers! Sometimes that alone is enough. I never expect anything from them, but for 50pts you really can't go wrong. And if they die - so what!

Rambo: because of his plethora of rules and stuff people tend to expect him do be awesome - I've rarely had him do much most games, sure the demo charge is nice, but mine seems to have bad habit of shattersing (yup even at BS5). I've had him demo charge himself more then once, and in CC (if he lives to that) he rarely does anything.

[RocketRollRebel]

Thanks for the helpful replys. I think I wanted the Ratlings all along, I just needed a little nudge over the edge :p. And with the Ratlings in my list, that means I fill the comp rubric with no points off. So I can brag about my perfect comp score from the bottom tables!

[w7west]

Marbo is like having a golden coin in your pocket. No matter what great rolls your opponent gets in the first couple turns, you know that sooner or later, marbo is going to pop out exactly where you want him and make his points back x 3. It's good to be unpredictable because once your opponent knows everything you are going to do, you lose (unless playing gk / fullmech guard).

[Pikante]

I saw a squad of ratlings take out a deceiver in one turn of shooting. Since that day I have always been afraid of the little buggers. Ratlings any day over marbo especially since they also have stealth and are in squads of 10 for what I believe is 100 points. Don't really infiltrate them keep them back and use them as good cover units.

[Lord Azaghul]

I saw a squad of ratlings take out a deceiver in one turn of shooting. Since that day I have always been afraid of the little buggers. Ratlings any day over marbo especially since they also have stealth and are in squads of 10 for what I believe is 100 points. Don't really infiltrate them keep them back and use them as good cover units.

I usually run one or two squads of 5.
I have:
1 shot av 14 vehicles
1 shot DE transports
Penned numerous av 10 vehicles
Taken out Daemon Princes
Pinned Biker Nobs
Pinned hw teams
Killed loads of termies
And once...killed 2 remaining marines in an assault...the first one wiffed the 2nd had a pf, and my ratlings killed them both :P

Marbo on the other hand...well he managed to miss a tightly packed squad of chaos marines w/ demo charge - then kill 0 of them in an assault - like he 'missed' 4 of the attack rolls...

[Pikante]

I usually run one or two squads of 5.
I have:
1 shot av 14 vehicles
1 shot DE transports
Penned numerous av 10 vehicles
Taken out Daemon Princes
Pinned Biker Nobs
Pinned hw teams
Killed loads of termies
And once...killed 2 remaining marines in an assault...the first one wiffed the 2nd had a pf, and my ratlings killed them both :P

Marbo on the other hand...well he managed to miss a tightly packed squad of chaos marines w/ demo charge - then kill 0 of them in an assault - like he 'missed' 4 of the attack rolls...

If I ever saw your ratlings I would probably shake your hand and say good game.

[Lord Azaghul]

If I ever saw your ratlings I would probably shake your hand and say good game.

LOL

Keep in mind I take my ratlings ALOT...I play them just like any one unit in my IG - completely expendable! :D

[scadugenga]

I usually run one or two squads of 5.
I have:
1 shot av 14 vehicles


How can you 1 shot an av 14 vehicle with a weapon that has a max pen roll of 12?

@ the OP

Your comp score should be fine as you're not melta-vet spamming in valks/chimeras, and you don't have a true leafblower-style force.

Personally, Marbo is the only time I break my "no special characters" rule. He's just so fun and fragile to use that it's worth it for the shenanigans that ensue.

For every time he died like a punk, there are times he's performed above expectations--wiping out HQ units, trashing a wave serpent, surviving the counter, then wiping out an entire fire dragon squad in HtH over the course of 2 turns. Those moments (even as a primarily eldar player for 20+ years) make me chuckle.

[Lord Azaghul]

How can you 1 shot an av 14 vehicle with a weapon that has a max pen roll of 12?



:eek: rear armour lad...rear armour!

I'm pretty sure it was a russ.

[scadugenga]

:eek: rear armour lad...rear armour!

I'm pretty sure it was a russ.

Ah, you might want to be a bit more specific then.

AV14 could easily have been interpreted as a landraider or a monolith. ;)

There's a joke in there somewhere about ratlings and rear penetration...

[Alex4AJM3]

Marbo every time, just for the quotes his actions can give you :)

[Brymm]

Q: Who wins in a fight? Abbadon or Calgar?

A: Marbo.



You can place him ANYWHERE and then democharge at BS5. The potential vs points is close to the best in the game. This is a no brainer.

[sverigesson]

This is why I hate comp scores! Why should you be docked for taking Marbo? You know, I run a part Cadian veterans/Command Squad, part Catachan powerblob plus Marbo,with a Tallarn tank commander leading my Heavy Support, a (coming soon) Death Korps Commissar, with Elysian Vendetta support. The Fighting 505th Irregulars, composed of the leftovers of a number of broken regiments. Everything fits in with my vision perfectly, and fluffwise I think its an interesting concept (and one which the Codex itself endorses), and I bet that in a tournament with comp scores, I would still get penalized for taking vets, Marbo and Vendettas. Comp needs to go away.

As far as your question, if you have only one extra elite slot, then Marbo should go in it. He has never failed to let me down.

[slopike]

Marbo just for the pure fun factor alone!

Plus he can be effective too I suppose:)

Plus I can speak from experience that nothing is quite as surprising and possibly worrisome as seeing Marbo appear behind your last scoring unit trying to hold a point:)

[newtoncain]

I like Marbo better for the psycological effect on your opponent.

[chipstar1]

Always Marbo. 80% of the time, he works every time.

[Bean]

Of the two, Marbo is certainly the more efficacious. However, it might not be worth the comp hit, especially if you find yourself wanting to play Ratlings anyway...

[CrimsonTurkey]

Marbo, and if you use a Infinity Ariadna SAS model he's extra badass.
http://images.dakkadakka.com/gallery/2011/7/31/253512_md-Ariadna,%20Infinity,%20S.a.s.jpg

[Control NZ]

Marbo, having someone that can turn up anywhere and distract some of the enemy is really useful. Especially for me when I just like to park up my tanks and shoot up everything.