Without further ado, the pros and cons.
Pros:
-Great range
-Markerlight
-Pinning
-Stealth Field Generator
-3 units to a FOC
-Small footprint
-AP3
Cons:
-Fairly expensive
-Competes with broadsides and Hammerheads
-Delicate
-Only one type of unit in the game they can put any hurt on (Meq)
-If the spotter dies, they ALL die
-Can't move and shoot
Generally, I'd only take them in a stealth themed list or as a fun harassment unit.
UPDATE: Now that the 6ed stealth field generator rules are in place, these are an extremely good unit. The ability to have the entire unit get a 2+ cover save without going to ground or anything is amazing, as well as the fact that you can have the BS4 spotter fire quad guns or what have you. Also, they can now pose a decent threat vehicles, what with the new hull points system, and they are better at killing marines due to cover saves now being (normally) 5+. But the best part? They don't have to compete with the other heavy support options as much now, as the Force Organization Chart doubles at 2000pts, and even below that the demand for broadsides has decreased, now that missiles pods and plasma have a fair chance of wrecking vehicles.
They are definitely a fun harassment unit that can do a surprising amount of damage.
ReplyDeleteI like to deploy them well forward (these guys need infiltrate or scout in a big way) and off the the side. Then I just leave them put. Even if the enemy is goign to charge them next turn they stay put. Getting off that one more set of shots is more important than their survival, it's for the greater good really.
Now why this works out for me, well there are two main possibilities.
1) The enemy spends a turn or two trying to shoot them and failing before he either gets close enough or assaults them on about turn 3. Hey, you know what? That was 3 turns where these guys did some damage and a part of my opponents army did none. Victory.
2) He ignores them and sings past them on his way to my firewarriros and broadsides. This is a win too, why? Well because I get to spend 5 or more turns putting marine killing rounds into any bail outs from transports or penetrating shots into the side and rear armour of vehicles. If I am really lucky I might force a unit to spend turn pinned (hasn't happened yet so I don't count on it). Also, being Strength 6 and able to partially negate cover saves, these guns are great for whittling down Scarab swarms on the way in (ID them) which is really handy vs the large number of Necrons in my area. Again a Victory for the unit.
So yeah, for 80 points I either distract the enemy or do a surprising amount of damage. I won't say a game hinges on what my Sniper Teams can do, but they sometimes give my other teams a chance to do what I need them to do.
Now I generally only take the one, and it is my third heavy support choice. In a bigger game I might throw in a second or even a third since I know there will be a lot for them to shoot at and Missie Pods and Fusion Blasters will pick up the slack for my Broadsides.
Precisely how they're meant to be used.
DeleteThe only thing I disagree with is taking more in larger games. In smaller games (1500+/-) they are fine, but in 2000+ points games, I can't sacrifice the broadsides. Leman russ, predators and landraiders are simply not for the likes of the humble missile pod.
To be honest, if it's over AV 13 my preferred weapon is a Melta-Gun anyway. My dice just don't give me consistent enough penetration and killing on the railguns.
ReplyDeleteI've never had that problem, broadsides out out plenty of high-accuracy fire and it's usually more than enough, so I tend not to rely on fusion blasters. Plus, Fusion Blasters only pile on the damage at 6" (bad for an army that does poorly in assault) compared to the massive 72" range of the railgun, meaning an 84" threat radius for a hammerhead with a multi-tracker.
DeleteYep,I have started using them when 6th came out with the stealth rules,I usually run them in lists when I run a democrat and a stealth team
ReplyDelete