Sniper Scouts: Any good?

[Dark_Templar]

Hi All,

I love the Sniper Scout models, but was wondering how they usually fare on the tabletop?

[person person]

Better than regular scouts depending on how you like to play'em.

Just sit on an objective and snipe away. Pin anything that gets too close to an ojective. Add in Telion and you can take out unit upgrades like Power weapons, making assault more viable or melta and plasme to make vehicles and power armour feel safer. Give 'em a Homer just in case they need help or if you decide to use 'em as bait.

[Dark_Templar]

Better than regular scouts depending on how you like to play'em.

Just sit on an objective and snipe away. Pin anything that gets too close to an ojective. Add in Telion and you can take out unit upgrades like Power weapons, making assault more viable or melta and plasme to make vehicles and power armour feel safer. Give 'em a Homer just in case they need help or if you decide to use 'em as bait.

Hrm, I run a CF army and it sounds like I am going to have to use those two words I swore I would never utter "counts-as".

Telion is a sweet model and character, and I tried to avoid his awesomeness, but since I will be running a Scout heavy list, I guess he needs to be in there.

Thanks.

DT.

[Chumbalaya]

Sniper scouts with camo cloaks are great for holding objectives and providing some decent fire support. With a Conversion Beamer MotF and Telion they get really nasty really quick.

[Wolfshade]

Better than regular scouts depending on how you like to play'em.

Just sit on an objective and snipe away. Pin anything that gets too close to an ojective. Add in Telion and you can take out unit upgrades like Power weapons, making assault more viable or melta and plasme to make vehicles and power armour feel safer. Give 'em a Homer just in case they need help or if you decide to use 'em as bait.

Don't forget your techmarine to bolster the defences for +1 cover save

[Melissia]

Usually the ones I face off against get set on fire and die.

Mind you, this happens to most things I face off against. YMMV.

[eagleboy7259]

In terms of killing against most normal troops your better off just bringing bolters on tactical squads. The only time they really have an advantage is against monsters or heavy armor units like terminators so they're only truly useful against chaos marines, demons, space marines, and tyranids which still make up around 50% of the armies you see but still... Pinning? Usually never happens due to the high leadership on the types of units it'll usually be firing at, and 3+ cover save is still just a 3+ save so they aren't overly survivable against shooting and they aren't exactly wonderful in assault either.

[Emperorsmercy]

You have to be a bit careful with them, because all scouts are fragile and if a big assault unit reaches them, then they'll die. So leave them right at the back.

[Duke]

I like scouts that sit back with Sniper Rifle and ML. The thing I like about them is they are nice for "finishing off" another unit. Sometimes using a whole tactical squad to wipe out a few kroot is overkill, scouts fit that nicely.

With the ML they can pop a random rhino here and there too.

I have also sseen some success using them as a speedbump unit for a hammer unit.

Duke

[Chadmack]

Scouts die Easy

The ways to get scouts working I find are suicide squad with a power fist (and preferably a speeder transport)
Second a small sniper squad that will go pretty much ignored.

I use them a dirt cheap out flanking late game option.

So yeah they can work, just don't expect your snipers to hit anything(5 shots, 2.5 hits, 1.25 wounds) and remember they have outflank, krak grenades and pistols.

[Dark_Templar]

Thanks for the feedback.

[therealjohnny5]

personally i've had great success with them. I also usually pair them with Telion when possible, and remember he trains all scout units so it's feasible for him to be in CF army. Camo cloaks are a must and pairing with a techmarine bolster defense is great...2+cover save? thank you...i place them in the highest strongest position mid field and use ML usually to shoot stuff to smithereens...i admittedly haven't had tons of Pinning success, but i have wiped out a Hive Tyrant, and finished off a broodlord same game. they're a great cheap unit that usually gets ignored bc they can't be shot out of cover.

[Lerra]

Sniper Scouts are situationally amazing. Every 2 or 3 games they will perform amazingly and kill a C'tan or high-point monstrous creature. In the majority of games, they will be pretty "meh", though. Still, I think one squad is worth having around in a lot of armies.

They make a good objective holding squad, but against a heavy assault army, it's meaner to put them in some out-of-the-way corner. That way your opponent either has to go out of his way to take care of the scouts (in which case they earn their points by keeping the enemy away from the objective), or he ignores them and they have free reign to shoot all game.

[Cryl]

In terms of killing against most normal troops your better off just bringing bolters on tactical squads. The only time they really have an advantage is against monsters or heavy armor units like terminators so they're only truly useful against chaos marines, demons, space marines, and tyranids which still make up around 50% of the armies you see but still... Pinning? Usually never happens due to the high leadership on the types of units it'll usually be firing at, and 3+ cover save is still just a 3+ save so they aren't overly survivable against shooting and they aren't exactly wonderful in assault either.

I'd agree with what eagleboy said. I'd don't like scouts and for an all comers army there are better options in my opinion. As Lerra says they have their moments but I'd rather have a tactical squad that I can depend on to perform rather than something that may or may not do anything useful.

[Duke]

So I think the obvious statement was that scouts can be good but you can't just treat them like tactical marines.

Duke

[Melissia]

That's like saying Grots can be good, but you can't treat them like Boyz... only Scouts are definitely better than Grots, but I digress.

[eagleboy7259]

They can be good if you drop in camo cloaks, a missile launcher and Tellion, and a Techmarine... and then you sit there and wonder why oh why did you just drop that many points onto a unit like that which will still account for less then half of what you paid to upgrade them like that.

[therealjohnny5]

Well thats to say that even without the tech you'll have 3+ cover better than anything a tac marine can usually get. Camo cloaks are 3 pts ea...stunning, and the tech marine can be a MotF or TF cannon marine so obviously has other uses. That being said if you want to go fluff, CF has like all scouts and vets, Sternguard stand out for CF armies nicely with Cantor, and assault scouts can also do some damage if played correctly. lots of scouts give you more pts for tanks....

[Dark_Templar]

Well thats to say that even without the tech you'll have 3+ cover better than anything a tac marine can usually get. Camo cloaks are 3 pts ea...stunning, and the tech marine can be a MotF or TF cannon marine so obviously has other uses. That being said if you want to go fluff, CF has like all scouts and vets, Sternguard stand out for CF armies nicely with Cantor, and assault scouts can also do some damage if played correctly. lots of scouts give you more pts for tanks....

Ya, it will be Scout and Sternguard heavy, with a tac thrown in for good measure.

I will have Pedro and Telion hiding in there too.

[RocketRollRebel]

Wow this thread has really given me a much higher opinion on sniper scouts. I always thought of them as kinda lame not as cool as Ratlings snipers but by the looks of it to really make them shine you gotta make them a bit more of a focus for your army rather than an afterthought. I always thought that their vulnerability to any AP4 ignores cover weapon was kinda a big weakness but then again a lot of things in the game suffer from that problem, like the whole Eldar army! haha

[eagleboy7259]

Well thats to say that even without the tech you'll have 3+ cover better than anything a tac marine can usually get. Camo cloaks are 3 pts ea...stunning, and the tech marine can be a MotF or TF cannon marine so obviously has other uses. That being said if you want to go fluff, CF has like all scouts and vets, Sternguard stand out for CF armies nicely with Cantor, and assault scouts can also do some damage if played correctly. lots of scouts give you more pts for tanks....

When did cover saves become the godsend? It only really helps out poorly armored armies. 80% of the guns out there in there in the game are AP 5 or worse. Since most people are against plasma pistols and cannons, and guns have become a rarity in part due the large amount of cover available in 5th ed. and to squeeze in meltaguns. Starcannons are usually not taken in general in favor of Scatter Lasers now, and outside of Battle Cannons, Demolisher Cannons, and LR Redeemer Flamers there isn't that big of a list of things that frequently thrash power armor and wouldn't also laugh at cover, Fire Knife Suits being an exception. Not to mention reliance on cover forces your hand in deployment, and is still worrisome because most boards don't come close to the 25% terrain coverage, leaving you with an even smaller percentage of usable terrain like buildings and woods and units like Eldrad, the Deciever, Lash Princes, and Assassins can throw your scouts out of deployment either making them more vulnerable or forfeit a turn of shooting. IMOP they combine the worst assets of scouts and a devastator squad and fail to make use of the advantages behind either.

Fluff wise it never really made sense to me why scouts have sniper rifles. You look at any solider who has special weapons training and rank wise he's higher up than your standard trooper. If it was like Space Wolves where scouts were veterans and not fresh inductees then it would make sense to me... but thats neither helpful or fitting with 40k Space Marine canon.

[Dark_Templar]

Regardless, I think they are nice models, and despite probably not making a whole lot of sense logically (how much of 40K does), I will definitely be going ahead with them.

Thanks all.

[Bedroom General]

Do so by all means, a full squad of ten ruined my wraithlord(s) day and seriously antagonised my Avatar.