# Space Marine Review: Scouts



## JackalMJ (Nov 12, 2009)

So I gave this series a brief rest since with the release of the bugs codex no one was interested in marines. Now seems like a good time to pick it back up.

So Scouts, the bastard red headed step child of the space marines. Some people like them, some swear to never touch them, but the question stands, are they worth it, are they good enough? I can understand why there not popular, who plays the race of elite super human soldiers to then play the noob version. The diet coke of SM's if you will.

The weakness of scouts is simple and in plain sight. They have a WS and BS of 3 which basicly means they miss more than their brothers. They also have a 4+ armor save, which isnt bad, but isnt good for a marine.

However in the recent edition of 40k Troop choices are key to winning games and Scuots are cheaper than tactical marines. They can make a great low cost scoring unit or a disposal harshment squad.

Personally i'm not a fan of giving Scouts the bolter setup. Not because its ineffective but because it really is like taking a crap Tactical Marine squad. 

A popular choice I like is the Sniper Scouts. These guys are heavy 1, so they cant move and shot, so you want to find a location, put them there, and stay there the whole game. That said with 36 inch guns these guys ar egreat for camping an objective. There firepower is pretty crap vs low toughness units where a bolter does better, but vs MC's that 4+ to wound comes into its own. Plus you can even give one of them a missle launcher.

An additional option is to give each guy a camo cloak. This really helps there objective holding survivablity, but it also raises there cost up close to a tactical marine squad making it questionable. 

I see no reason to put wargear on the sargent in such a squad, maybe a combi melta if your worried about a charging tank. A teleport homer is a tempting option though. That way if the location comes under heavy fire you can deep strike reserves to help out.

Another option I quiet like is the combat squad. This option is a bit more risky as they are slow moving, moderatly armored and just not as tough in close combat as other marine choices. However with infilrate and move through cover you can start them off close to enemy deployment and threaten vunerable units.

for example flanking a fire warrior squad, pulling a devastor unit into Close Combat, or going after those Dark Reapers. These guys are equipped to tear up non close combat troops and you can even gear up the sargent for extra grunt. I'm a fan of a power weapon here, since that will allow you to even carve up Broadsides. The hidden fist is ususally a popular idea, but given how fragile this squad is makes me reluctent to commit so many points.


----------



## Sethis (Jun 4, 2009)

I think this is one of the units that really depends on the construction of the rest of your army. Some armies will benefit from the addition of 10 scouts, others won't.

The biggest mistake I see people making is only taking 5 of them. Especially Sniper scouts, you only get 3 hits, 1.5 wounds, and then they probably make their save. You need squads of 10 to make up for the rubbish BS. Same goes for combat scouts, you need more numbers to absorb the casualties and still remain effective.

Shotgun scouts are also interesting, being able to shoot twice then assault, it can be devestating against Guard equivalents. Generally I prefer the naked combat squad with a powerfist or the full sniper squad with Telion (special mention for Telion, best boltgun ever).


----------



## Saggamortuss (Aug 22, 2008)

I (almost) always take Tellion with my sniper squads, it's pretty handy to pick your casualties


----------



## Oodles (Feb 24, 2009)

Saggamortuss said:


> I (almost) always take Tellion with my sniper squads, it's pretty handy to pick your casualties


*Nods furiously* Telion is a champ!


----------



## JackalMJ (Nov 12, 2009)

This post is to young to die.

I admit I've always felt that CC Scouts should go in packs of 10, after all you'll probably lose some closing in for melee. Now Snipers i've been debating between five or 10, certainly jacks the price up with camo cloaks. But I can see the point that five snipers wont land many wounds.


----------



## Noxnoctis22 (Oct 19, 2009)

When it comes to CC Scouts I'm still debating what wargear they should get. I'm pretty much set on giving the Sgt. a PF but what about the other 9. Does a full 9 BP & CCW work best or do you mix some Shotguns in there? Maybe 4 of them, not sure. Having that extra shooting attacks before you assault helps out I think.


----------



## Sethis (Jun 4, 2009)

I think that splitting shotguns/CCWs is a bad idea, because if you're a Shotgun squad, you want to cause the majority of your casualties in the shooting phase (or at least break even) and then the combat phase is spent "mopping up" by assaulting with them.

On the other hand, CCW scouts really want to win via combat resolution, and need every attack at their disposal to do so, forcing a leadership test at -2 or more and sweeping their opponent off the table.

I think a powerfist on the sergeant is a no-brainer for any squad that isn't snipers, but I'd either go full Shotties or full CCWs, not split em.

I think cloaks should really only go on sniper scouts. They don't help combat scouts very much at all, and if you're using boltgun scouts, you may as well get marines for +3 points per model and get a free heavy weapon (and BS4).


----------



## JackalMJ (Nov 12, 2009)

I'm still not set on a PF in a sqaud of CC scouts. Now i'll admit that makes them a scarey unit, you've got the power to inst-gib an IC, you can take a swing at a MC and maybe even spong a Dreadnaught, but lets not lose sight of what we have here. A throw away, low cost, sucide assault squad. Given there expected life span i'm not sure its worth the points of a fist.


----------



## Lord Reevan (May 1, 2008)

Playing BA scouts I'm not sure if my experiences would be very good here but what the hey. I use my scouts quite a lot. I have 10, 5 snipers, a sergeant with fist and 4 shotguns. I obviously combat squad them but I still use them as the one unit, picking on the same enemy and all that. snipers pin the nemy unit, CC scouts hit them hard enough to survuve a round and hold them til backup arrives.

Now on the whole shotguns over CCW I would always go for shotguns. with vanilla scouts that's 2 shots that always hit on a 4+, then 2 attacks in CC that depends on the WS of the enemy. if you go for CCW then that's 1 shot at 4+, then 3 attacks that can be harder to hit.

You should never take scouts with sniper rifles as a whole unit to expect to get a lot of wounds. the mai nthing with them is the pinning. stopping movement of the enemy is a great thing to do. that should be their priority. don't use them to soften up enemies before an assault. use them to keep the enemy off an objective for as long as possible


----------



## JackalMJ (Nov 12, 2009)

While I see your point lord Raven, and its a way thats not been mentioned before, I think the idea of using Scouts to wound is vs the MC's. Things like the Nightbringer, Wraithlords or even T6 units all take wounds on a 4+ regardless. Vs a Wraithlord is like firing with a barrage of Krak missles at it. Very nice. Vs Guardians its pretty eh.


----------



## Lucio (Aug 10, 2009)

With DA, only take scouts if you have the extra points and don't have an extra Dreadnaught model. They are elites so you're much better off running a Deathwing unit or a Dreadnaught though having a ws and bs of 4 is nice with scouts. You can get 4 snipers and a missile launcher or pay 5 pts and get armor 12 and the ccw is enough to insta-kill most anything and you'll hit with it more often than the scouts will. No point to having them unless you are playing an 'army vs army' type game where points dont matter or apoc. My two cents.


----------



## Sethis (Jun 4, 2009)

JackalMJ said:


> I'm still not set on a PF in a sqaud of CC scouts. Now i'll admit that makes them a scarey unit, you've got the power to inst-gib an IC, you can take a swing at a MC and maybe even spong a Dreadnaught, but lets not lose sight of what we have here. A throw away, low cost, sucide assault squad. Given there expected life span i'm not sure its worth the points of a fist.


Again, depends how you structure your army. Scouts are still expensive enough that I wouldn't use them in that function at all. I find that with most armies it's better to strike like you mean it, otherwise you just throw away points to buy a turn of time. This is a viable tactic, but it should be a last ditch tactical effort, not something that you plan your units around.

As such, if you're paying 150+ points for a unit, I like to think that they'll kill something, and a powerfist frequently lets you do that.

Lord Reevan: Yeah shotguns will cause more hits on average, but 1. they don't count towards the combat result, 2. might leave you out of assault range entirely, and 3. you'd need to be fighting something with WS7 in order to hit on 5s, which is rather rare.

And 10 Sniper scouts can actually cause a respectable amount of wounds, which is just as well, because you need an unsaved wound in order to cause pinning in the first place. Taking 10 instead of 5 means you're far more likely to do this.


----------



## pathwinder14 (Dec 27, 2006)

I usually take a 5 man scout squad with camo cloaks, sniper rifles, 1 heavy bolter, and Telion. I works quite well against MC, Wraithlords, Characters, and squads I want to pin.


----------



## Amra_the_lion (May 26, 2008)

I find that a unit of 5 scouts, in a land speeder storm and set in reserve, has won me more than a few games. They rarely kill anything, but that last turn objective denial or capture is worth the 125pts. Also, I might throw them at a melee combat that I think I'll win just for the -2 Ld they impose assaulting out of the storm. Like if I have an assault squad ready to charge in, the scouts can add a few attacks and insure the failed test of the opposing squad.

I take my snipers in a unit of ten with Tellion and a missile. 8 sniper shots, Tellions choice on who dies and a krak missile is an effective way to bring down a tough unit. You will usually get (over the course of a few turns) a pinned unit, the toughest or best equipped member(s) dead and probably a moral test. 

My normal opponent who plays orks hates them so much he sends a unit of overpriced nobz to dig them out of their hole which in of itself is a victory.


----------

