# Marine Scouts?? Any Good??



## D3mon (Jul 31, 2008)

Hiya all i was just wondering if anyone uses scouts?? Because i was thinking about puttin a squad of sniper scouts in my army and paying the extra points and putting the camo cloaks on them but im not sure what they are like or what the cloaks actually do lol?? And help on this would be awsome.

Cheers D3mon


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## Katie Drake (Nov 28, 2007)

I haven't had a ton of experience with them, but from what I've seen Scouts are still a good option. I was taking units like this:

*Scout Squad*
Sergeant
- Bolt pistol
- Power weapon
9 Scouts
- 5 with sniper rifles
- 4 with bolt pistols and close combat weapons

I split the units into Combat Squads, Sergeant and combat weapon buddies in one half, snipers in the other. As for the snipers themselves, they performed well, blasting Salamander Space Marines whenever the chance presented itself. Scouts may not be the most accurate of shooters in a Space Marine army but if you take a couple small units and focus your fire on a single target, you might be surprised how easily you can whittle away at enemy units.

I haven't tried the camo cloaks yet so I can't really comment on those but I don't imagine they'd be terribly worthwhile. People tend to try to assault Scouts with sniper rifles for some reason and spending points on cloaks won't help you if they do!


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## godzy (Jun 5, 2008)

( !>< katie has beaten me to it, why salamanders?)
well, first of all, the new hellfire shells look impressive, and have the same range as sniper rifles, so that's a plus. sniper rifles are best employed against high T targets, again, hellfire shell are great for that. ten scouts and a heavy weapon are just 150, a cheap troop choice. the camo cloaks will put them at 180, and grant them stealth. stick 'em in a forest, or even behind another unit, and you got yourself a power armored scout (except against stuff that ignore cover.
outflanking? I don't know, as you loos turn in which you can fire your guns, and that not smart, since your long range, and the scout move lets you get them into a goof fire position quickly. if you go with the other armaments, outflanking can be good. shotguns can get you an objective held by an infantry squad in your opponents back yard by surprise, or knock on a tanks back door with a krak missile.


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## D3mon (Jul 31, 2008)

Cool this is awsome stuff!! its just im taking on a tyrannid army soon and i want to get the best chance i can of beating him because he hast been beaten yet lol!!is ther any other tips u can help me out with for faceing nids??


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## godzy (Jun 5, 2008)

as for nids, I think you should try to take out as much of the synapse as possible if it a classic hoard. geansteller will be hard, as you will not be able to dish out enough shots with scouts, no matter which weapon you give them, and they will *EAT* your scouts. nidzilla, just get as sniper guns and missile launcher for the fifty percent chance of an STR 8 hit on a carnie. less likely to wound, but does not allows Armour save, unlike hellfire. on the other hand, a hellfire shell has direct hit on 1/3, and the scatter might still hit that huge beast, or somthing near-by. this falls down to some messy, case by case mathhammering, so go with what feels right.


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## Katie Drake (Nov 28, 2007)

D3mon said:


> Cool this is awsome stuff!! its just im taking on a tyrannid army soon and i want to get the best chance i can of beating him because he hast been beaten yet lol!!is ther any other tips u can help me out with for faceing nids??


Do you know what sort of units he takes? The more information that you can provide us with the better off you'll be as we can give you better advice.

Against Tyranids sniper rifles will be less effective than they would be against many other armies. Because of Synapse you won't have a chance to Pin many (if any at all) enemy units. If you plan to use sniper rifles, target the Monstrous Creatures with good armor saves. You'll be able to force them to take saves easily enough and the occasional Rending wound will keep them honest. If you decide against snipers, Scouts with bolters and a heavy bolter will help you greatly in dealing with the more numerous Tyranid broods like Gaunts, Gargoyles and even Genestealers.

One thing that you can try that can really throw Tyranids off is to Outflank with a unit of Scouts armed with bolt pistols and close combat weapons. Since Synapse creatures tend to hang out behind their little minions because they're slower (and usually shootier) you shouldn't have too much trouble sneaking in behind the fast wave of little guys and jumping something like a unit of Tyranid Warriors or Zoanthropes. Be sure to give the Sergeant a power fist because Zoanthropes have an excellent armor save and it's unlikely that your normal attacks will do too much damage. The fist also comes in handy when it comes to clubbing down Tyranid Warriors. You may also consider giving him a combi-melta for a almost sure wound before combat starts.

Speaking of Outflanking Scouts, remember that you can go after any Tyranid firebases with them as well. Some Tyranid players like to put Biovores near their table edge. If they do have Biovores, it's easy to pop out near them, fill them with holes and assault the survivors, if there are any. It's more likely that you'll find a Carnifex with a venom cannon and/or barbed strangler taking pot shots at your infantry and/or tanks. Scouts can handle this kind of job too with the same equipment. Blast the 'Fex with the combi-melta than assault him. Even if you don't kill it, you shouldn't have a hard time tying it up for a turn or two which is grand since it prevents the big nasty from shooting your army up anymore.

That's about all the anti-Tyranid stuff for Scouts that I can think of at the moment. If you're looking for more general anti-Tyranid tactics, take a look through this section. Also check out Space Marine army lists in the appropriate section to get some ideas as to how to equip Space Marine units to take on Tyranids.

Best of luck!

Katie D


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## Pirate Metal Troy (Jun 2, 2008)

d3mon. I'd jsut like to say that this is the most awesome threat ever. And here's why:

A daemon player, with a necron avatar, talking about how best to play space marine SCOUTS!

I just thought it was funny.

Carry on.


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## D3mon (Jul 31, 2008)

yh i kinda ballsed it all up lol im gettin rid of my daemons and i cant be bothered 2 change avatars lmao xD cheers anyway bud!!


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## Katie Drake (Nov 28, 2007)

D3mon said:


> yh i kinda ballsed it all up lol im gettin rid of my daemons and i cant be bothered 2 change avatars lmao xD cheers anyway bud!!


Getting rid of Daemons? You monster!








... I'll have them?


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## Farseer Beltiac (Jul 11, 2008)

D3mon said:


> yh i kinda ballsed it all up lol im gettin rid of my daemons and i cant be bothered 2 change avatars lmao xD cheers anyway bud!!



you happen to be getting rid of any Eldar minis:biggrin:????


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## Captain Galus (Jan 2, 2008)

I run two 10man squads of all snipers (the sarge too) and have had some good experiences with them. The new codex might change that, as now scouts hit with their sniper rifles on 4+ instead of 2+. Once i get the new codex I'll make my own judgment, but as it stands scouts, like everything else in the SM list, are only good if you use them right. Like Katie said, snipers really shine against an enemy unit where the loss of one unit would be a huge setback.


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## D3mon (Jul 31, 2008)

yh i like the idea of taking out a carnifex really early in the game (if all goes well) or the synapse creatures! at the moment i aint focused on any other army coz i really wanna beat my mates 'nids.( And as for the daemons i cant get used to them coz for me they are too unpredictable and im not keen on the whole deep striking in and not doing ANYTHING for the first turn!!


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## Spot The Grot (Jul 15, 2008)

ive always found one way of beating nids is to kill there synapse early in the game with scouts i would say snipers with a heavy bolter and hellfire rounds as that could do well against those warriors


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## Lord Sinkoran (Dec 23, 2006)

I'm planning on taking 10 scouts with telion leading it all with sniper rifles it may do ok haven't done the mathammer yet or used it in a game. Just an idea atm.


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## Katie Drake (Nov 28, 2007)

Lord Sinkoran said:


> I'm planning on taking 10 scouts with telion leading it all with sniper rifles it may do ok haven't done the mathammer yet or used it in a game. Just an idea atm.


Should work fine. Just remember to split into combat squads unless you're playing an Annihilation mission.


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## Truth Bearer (Jul 30, 2008)

I am a ig fan of scouts. I utilize mine quite a bit, and often field a squad of 9 Snipers with Sergeant Telion in objective defense, camping on one and basically rending to hell anyone they get clear fire on.


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## gblai6 (Feb 20, 2008)

And some more food for thought. I regularly field a 10 man squad with shotguns and outflank them. It is surprising the amount of times I walk onto the right edge where an opponent as left a unit. With the shotties being strength 4 now you get 20 shots and if close enough 20 attacks after close combat charge. Really does mess up all sorts of things. On top of that they usually find themselves near an opponents objective from that point which either messes with the game completely or causes them to "take it for the team" as my opponent tries to force them away from the objective.


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## Lipsidius (May 27, 2008)

Hi Demon,

I've played several games versus Nids and have fared relatively well against them. 1st, avoid CC with his stealers, 2nd, use ranged weapons such as WW's. Against his Carni's and Tyrants, some lascannons and Dreds w/Lascannons and S10 Power Fist w/Hvy Flamer kicks ass. Also flamers and heavy bolters wipe out alot of Nids quickly. Hope this helps. Let us know how you do.

Lipsidius.


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## Someguy (Nov 19, 2007)

I have kind of a silly plan for scouts.

I'm going with a unit of 5 and a storm. The sergeant has a power fist and sniper rifle, 3 guys have bolt pistol and sniper rifle, 1 guy has bolt pistol and heavy bolter. Dunno if I'll bother with cloaks.

The key to this unit is that it's flexible. Often, it will go forward in its storm and put krak grenades on tanks, and some power fist attacks. Sometimes it will go for a heavy weapons team of some kind. In either case, it doesn't really need to have loads of attacks as the heavy wep team probably won't win anyway. Sometimes, I won't want to throw my unit at the enemy, if there's no obvious target for them, so I'll hang back and snipe.

The sniper rifle/power fist armament idea came to me due to not getting an extra attack from a 2nd ccw and power fist, and sniper rifles being free. I guess that the 4 attacks I'm losing from the other scouts not having combat blades probably don't matter too much. If I'm up against nids or something I won't achieve a lot by throwing 5 scouts in the way, so they will hang back and snipe, maybe infiltrated onto an objective. The storm can still fly around burning stuff until it gets shot, or maybe go off and outflank.

I think I end up with a unit that should be pretty effective either in attack or defence.


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## Kapeesh (Oct 31, 2007)

Guys, seriously, you've forgotten the best thing! 
A heavy bolter with Telion's BS of 6? Watch the Tau fall!


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## Lord Reevan (May 1, 2008)

Snipers are great for synapse hunting. My first game using snipers they took out a fex in turn 1, a warrior brood in turn 2 and a flyrant in turn 3... although that was 4th ed. still wounding on a fixed number works wonders against MCs and the rending can really hurt them... Get a comabt squad with shotguns or bolters and use them to take out gaunts and the like


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