# Imperial Guard Snipers



## KellysGrenadier (Jul 13, 2008)

For my Imperial Guard HQ Platoon, I'd like to include a single full special weapon squad of snipers. The reasoning is, my girlfriend plays a Chaos Marine force, and my 2 Guard platoons are stocked up with Lasrifles (not the best choice for knocking out power armour...).

My question is this; are sniper rifles a viable choice for taking out heavy infantry models in relation to their points cost and effectiveness?

Thank you in advance.


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## beenburned (May 15, 2008)

Against heavy infantry I would say no. The whole thing with snipers is that you hit on a 2+ wound on a 4+ - great...but the marines still get their sucky armour save.
So I would say leave them for MCs and TMCs, and other such things with high toughness, but when what they give you against space marines is a gun that has a high probability to hit...and that's pretty much it...I just don't think they're worth it.


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## julio d (Apr 20, 2008)

with the new sniper rules if you can hit and then rend with enough of them they would seem good against chaos


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## Alaric (Jun 10, 2008)

dude they will kill in 5th edition which is going now if i remember correct sniper rifles are RENDING!


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## Duke Vorian (Jun 21, 2008)

Dude, you have the best weapon to take out all those marines: Thy holy las rifle.

Seriously, enough lasgun shots are sure to bring them down. Other then that ordance, ordance, ordance. Personally though, just putting enough shots into them with my las rifles and the random special weapon with pie templates scattered sparingly has proven usefull for me.

OR, just tell you girlfriend that if she doesn't let you win you won't sleep with her...wait, thats impossible for a man to do, er, tell her you won't buy her chocolate...wait, no that won't work. OH! I got it, tell her her sister and/or best friend is kinda cute. Their we go, I like that one...


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## delta555 (May 27, 2008)

yeah snipers are rending now ... awsome plus pinning so al you have to do is kill one and the whole sqd might not be able to attack next turn


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## Morgal (Sep 26, 2007)

Sniper rifles are good for killing marines. and good vs chaos big bad monsters...
but plasma is still awesome...if entertained by your own squad occasionally buying it.


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## Mutants_ho! (Jul 3, 2008)

I would have to say if you wanted Snipers (and your elite choices arent maxed out) that you should just get some ratlings. Without those little guys i would waste many a shot killing wraithlords ><


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## KellysGrenadier (Jul 13, 2008)

Duke Vorian said:


> .... just tell you girlfriend that if she doesn't let you win you won't sleep with her...


Yeah right...

But in all seriousness, this has been fruitful. Thank you very much guys. Much appreciated.


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## Catachan55th (Aug 4, 2008)

Recently played with Blood Pact vs Black Templers, its a close match up to your game... lots of lasguns do eventualy work...eventualy... sure I lost 160 men to his 40 odd, but that means I actualy won!... I had 20 guys left. Blessed are the cheap!
new rules: snipers great if you hit... ratlings a great choice, unless, like me, you want all humans in your guard.


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## KellysGrenadier (Jul 13, 2008)

Already sorted. Bought 2 blisters of Catachan snipers. They look more sniper'ey, and they're cheaper.


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## Juiceypoop (Jun 5, 2008)

just remember that snipers no longer hit on a 2+ all the time now, they use the firer's ballistic skill, so with guard they won't hit all that often. if you want anti marine stuff, put 4 plasma guns in your command squads and platoon leaders.


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## QuietEarth (Aug 18, 2007)

A cheap way to make snipers is just to extend the barrel of a standard lasgun with a piece of a paperclip. Looks good and is effective. If your opponent is lenient you can use the snipers from the Catachans Codex.


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## Iraqiel (May 21, 2008)

I played my only game to date using CSM versus imperial guard, and in all honesty the most effective thing against my marines was the leman russ that sat at the back of the table taking pot shots with its ordnance template. Having said that, I didn't play very well, and the game was basically a 'hold the pass' style on a really long and narrow table, where I got bottlenecked. Basically, I found my marines could dish it out well, but as soon as my mate rolled back his infantry and let the armour loose, I lost far more points than I liked.


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## Longinus (Apr 21, 2008)

I would say that ordnance and autocannons would make short work of any power armoured units. As Juiceypoop said they don't hit on 2+ any more and rending have been nerfed in 5th edition. But if you realy want snipers i would go for ratlings as they
have higher BS than a ordinary guardsman


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## KellysGrenadier (Jul 13, 2008)

Ah well, adds flavour. Also, I like the Catachan snipers better than the Cadian ones. There's no real difference. Ratlings require a doctrine point, too.

Also, I don't like armour except for Sentinels.


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## Lord_Murdock (Jul 16, 2008)

The only problem I see with sniper weapons is that they now use the firer's BS (they no longer hit on a 2+), and guardsmen only have BS 3... ratlings have 4, so they'd be better.


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## KellysGrenadier (Jul 13, 2008)

True say, but Ratlings also have a very poor LD, and require a doctrine point to use. Then again, so do human snipers.


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## Longinus (Apr 21, 2008)

You should not forget the extra cover save for ratlings and that the ratlings cost less points and can infiltrate.


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## lawrence96 (Sep 1, 2008)

ratling work for me mate recently took down a chaos sorcerer with the 1 surviving member of my ratling squad, if you can get them in high cover i.e on a building or such then you should be able to kill anything before it gets to you, and they'll have a hard time of actually hitting you


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## Cole Deschain (Jun 14, 2008)

My ten Ratlings have notched up more Carnifexes than all of my other ARMIES put together.

They've also got the best survival rate, barring none, of all of my guard infantry.

Even when they DO fail leadership, they just get pinned.


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## KellysGrenadier (Jul 13, 2008)

I like Ratlings on paper, byt I don't like their models and their fluff dooesn't fit into my army (Ratling drop troopers..? I'm not so sure).


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## Cole Deschain (Jun 14, 2008)

KellysGrenadier said:


> I like Ratlings on paper, byt I don't like their models


Neither did I. I converted Skaven Plague monks.:grin:


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## CommissarHorn (Apr 14, 2008)

Try use the Death World snipers, 3+ cover save (now a 2+), re-roll to wound, ambush rule thing, rending, tough as nails veterans with all the cool, tough as nails veteran stats and theyre independent although they can't move through the whole game unless you voluntarily make em disappear.

40% of my models in my Guard army are snipers, i got more sniper rifles than men.
I never use em though, really bad rolls with my snipers. My average hit rate per turn is like 3 out of 10.


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## lawrence96 (Sep 1, 2008)

same problem with me, but i usually have a 60% hit ratio with no wounding, however when they do hit and wound (6's gotta love em) they are definitely worth the misses


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## KellysGrenadier (Jul 13, 2008)

I did actually buy a blister of 3 Catachan snipers as they're better value for money and look more like snipers, in my opinion. They have a 4+ Sv with Carapace.

Hoooowever, I am looking to include a second Imperial Guard army that is totally separate, but from the same world as my drop troopers. They'll be light infantry using Tallarn models, with a high proportion of snipers. I don't know whether to make them Jungle/Forest Fighters or Light Infantry. Or both.


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## lawrence96 (Sep 1, 2008)

i stuck with ratlings, go to ground best rule for snipers


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## Wolf_Lord_Hellclaw (Nov 29, 2007)

Catachan55th said:


> new rules: snipers great if you hit... ratlings a great choice, unless, like me, you want all humans in your guard.


You could just do what I do and use human sniper models and say they count as ratlings. No one i've played has ever complained about that :grin:


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## Catachan55th (Aug 4, 2008)

*making your own sniper rifel*



QuietEarth said:


> A cheap way to make snipers is just to extend the barrel of a standard lasgun with a piece of a paperclip. Looks good and is effective. If your opponent is lenient you can use the snipers from the Catachans Codex.


the snipers in my catachan army are also converted. snip the front of a regular lasgun off at just after the cartrige and trim it down into a block with the barrel, then take a secon lasgun and snip the end of the barrel off at the cross bracing and replace it with block and barrel from the first. makes a cool looking 'long las' with grip half way up the barrel. also I recomend attaching a scope from the heavy weapons sprue aswell.


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