HQ tactics for scout armies

[greatcrusade08]

[center; background-image:url(http://www.bolterandchainsword.com/hq2.gif); background-repeat: no-repeat; background-position: 8px 2px; padding: 12px 8px 12px 8px; border: 1px solid #DDD; margin-left: 0 auto; text-align: left; color: #fff; text-indent:50px; font-size:130%; width:50%;">HQ tactics for scout armies[/center]

In this article I hope to delve into the new 5th edition codex and come up with some inventive combinations of IC’s and scout units. Im going to discuss the individual character, the tactics they can utilise to benefit scout units, and the reasoning behind their inclusion in an all scout force (the fluff).

An important fact to remember when choosing your HQ is that we can use counts as rules, so instead of thinking why would Marneus Calgar be running around with scouts, think of your own character with his own history to try and make him fit in, your only using his rules not the character himself.
Remember my credo, if you can write it and it sounds believeable, go with it.

http://www.bolterandchainsword.com/hq2.gif); background-repeat: no-repeat; background-position: 8px 2px; padding: 12px 8px 12px 8px; border: 1px solid #DDD; margin-left: 0 auto; text-align: left; color: #fff; text-indent:50px; font-size:130%; width:50%;">Cato Sicarius

I am not overly familiar with Captain Sicarius having never used him before, he is however a captain and can be used to represent a 10th company captain or even the master or recruits. Im a little dubious about using him in with scouts as his special rules specifically states he comes to battle accompanied by 2nd company, if it was just his character fluff it could be re-written using counts as, but it is ingrained in the rules.
Also the Battle forged Heroes rule could not be taken advantage of since you wont be fielding any tactical squads.
The good points to taking Sicarius is that all models on the table get to use his leadership, and at the beginning of the battle he can re-roll for seizing initiative, getting the first turn can be extremely beneficial to scouts, more so than most other armies.

Pedro Kantor

Pedro Kantor is of far better use to Sternguard than scouts, but he is not without his good points, firstly as chapter master he can be used to represent the master of recruits and has access to orbital bombardment, secondly he grants a +1 attack bonus to all units within 12”, attached to a unit of ccw scouts, they have the potential for 4 attacks each on the charge.
This in turn allows you to use more shotgunners in your force to counter high intiative armies, as these extra attacks will more than cover the shortfall.

Darnath Lysander

Captain Lysander is another of those powerhouse characters that require little support from an attached unit, much like Calgar he is expensive and hard-hitting, meaning you can fill the ‘uber’ unit gap missing in most scout armies.
To make best use of his close combat abilities I would use him in much the same way as Calgar mentioned above, a cheap unit of ccw scouts will add ablative wounds as well as prevent him from being bogged down and surrounded by a more numerous opponent. Again the best delivery for him would be a land raider, but much like Calgar this can get very costly in points.
Another use for him would be to attach him to a unit of bolter scouts as his bolter drill rule allows for re-rolls to any type of bolter weapons, these re-rolls will compensate for the lower BS of the scouts and turn them into an effective firing unit, the problem with this is your not making use of the best ability which is his hard hitting CC power, the re-rolls can however be applied to bolt pistols bolstering pre-assault shooting.
Lysander grants stubborn to any unit with chapter tactics, which like Marneus’ god of war can come in very handy with lost combats, ignoring Ld modifiers means you can avoid taking extra wounds as a result of losing combat and can ‘tarpit’ or hold enemy units until help arrives.
By far ther best ability granted by Lysander is his bolster defences rule, which allows you to potentially get a 2+ cover save on cloak wearing snipers.

Kayvaan Shrike

Captain Shrike is an amazing character to add to a scout army, he has the infiltrate special ability and grants Fleet to any unit with chapter tactics.
I have seen lists in the past containing Shrike and 6 ten man squads of ccw scouts all getting first turn charges due to infiltrate, scout move and fleet all being used. Personally I find this kind of aggressive build a little too risky as you tend to lose both the element of surprise and overall control after the first turn or two, against a weak close combat army like Tau this tactic would be extremely effective, but in games terms would be one sided and not a good idea if you want to make friends.
Also this kind of build can often be dependant on getting the first turn which again highlights how risky it is.
For more regular use, he can be combined with a single ten man ccw squad, his ability to infiltrate means he can deploy 18” from the enemy, the scout squad can either deploy with him and try to fleet to the enemy or use its scout move separately and Shrike can catch up in the movement phase with his jump pack and join the unit in turn one ready for an early assault.
For those of you who are interested in adding some power armour to a scout force, then Shrike can be taken with a unit of assault troops or vanguard vets, and as he gives them Infiltrate it allows you to take them as a scouit veteran option. As they can infiltrate it is relatively easy to create some viable fluff to explain thier inclusion, plus it allows you to run an 'uber' unit that can manage first turn charges.
With the problems inherent with not getting first turn the vanguard vets could opt for heroic intervention or deepstriking as another option if you lose first turn, much like how scouts can choose to outflank.

Vulkan He'stan

As a counts as character I see no reason why you cant take Vulkan in a scout force, his knowledge with technology fits in well with the unique weapons and wargear used by the scouts, the same could be said of adding a master of the forge. His main ability is that he makes all flamer and melta weapons twin-linked, for a scout army who often suffer with lack of high strength anti tank weapons this is extremely useful, the combi-meltas wielded by scout sergeants now become more reliable at hitting enemy tanks and if used at close range can become deadly with re-rolling misses and rolling 2 dice for penetration.
With LSS also able to take multi-meltas it potentially allows scouts the ability to form a mech killing force.
Vulkan is also a capable close combat monster and could be accompanied by a scout ‘assault’ squad to deliver him into the enemy.

Kor'sarro Khan

Khan is by far my favourite special character in the 5th edition space marine codex, he gives an attached unit both hit and run and furious charge, he is best used to accompany a unit of ccw scouts (scout assault squad) as the strength and initiative bonuses more than outweighs the need for shotguns.
Getting the charge means they will all hit first against space marines, if at the end of your opponents turn they are still locked in combat, then the hit and run can be used to ensure you can get a fresh charge off in your following turn, hit and run could be used at the end of your own assault phase but it then leaves you open to shooting attacks.
Taking with a bike, Khan can be used to bolster a unit of scout bikers whose toughness bonus makes them more durable in combat with troublesome units, combined with the furious charge bonuses it makes this unit very deadly.
Khan on bike also gains fleet USR, so can ‘catch up’ with infiltrating bike units in order to co-ordinate a hard hitting charge in the following turn.
Once in combat Khans own intiative bonus means he can strike before most IC’s, his coup de grace ability granted by his sword ‘moonfang’ means he can quite easily kill enemy characters before they can strike back, his unit then fighting at I5 can then cause wounds on the IC’s unit before they can strike back, effectively neutering a hard hitting close combat squad, and taking fewer wounds in return.

Varro Tigurius

Librarians fit into a scout force quite well, during their development scouts are closely monitored for signs of psychic potential.
Tigurius is by far the greatest psyker available to a space marine army, knowing all abilites and capable of using three a turn is immense, although he is very expensive in points and relatively delicate.
His ability to re-roll reserve rolls is very handy, making it more likely your outflanking bikes and scouts and deepstriking Land speeders will turn up when they are most needed.
In terms of in game tactics, he is best put in a large unit of scouts for protection from shooting, and although with his might of ancients and master crafted force weapon he is capable of being a close combat monster, he is far better utilising force shield and gate of infinity abilities to bolster a shooting unit and preventing them from being assaulted, with bolters or shotgunners this means you will be able to get duel shots off and be able to escape if assaulted.
With vortex and machine curse he is also able to fill the role of anti-tank.
Generic librarians can be mounted on bikes to perform similar roles with the bike squads, using the higher toughness and force shield to get rapid fire grenade launchers shots and be more survivable when assaulted and gating away in the next turn.

Chaplain Cassius

Cassius fits in very well with a scout force, as with all chaplains he holds the place of mentor and spiritual teacher to all space marines, something that is much needed amongst new recruits, his weapon is armed with hellfire rounds which fits into a scout army very well (a nod to previous tyranid hunters)
His liturgies of battle ability is best combined with a large scout assault squad to make best use of the re-rolls, chaplains are hardly the assault monsters they use to be, but with his toughness of 6 and feel no pain a counts as Cassius would make a fine addition to a scout force.
The downside to the scout assault squads is unlike their marine counter-parts they don’t have access to jump packs or dedicated transports, again the only real choice of transport is a land raider, failing that equipping your generic chaplain with a jump pack or bike and have him play catch up to slower moving, infiltrating scout squads is quite an effective tactic.

Mounted tactics

Anyone whos familiar with scout bikers knows they can pull off first turn charges with ease, the secret to getting IC’s bonuses in first turn charges is to leave 3 or 4 scout bikers as stragglers forming a life line to within 12” of your deployment zone, this will leave the remaining seven members able to charge but also means the IC’s who have to deploy normally can reach within 2” of a bike and join the squad before the end of the movement phase, when it comes to assault the IC wont get to attack but the unit will still get the bonuses.
This tactic would work very well with Khan and or a chaplain, hitting on S5 I5 and with rerolls should hurt most opponents even if your IC’s don’t get to attack.

Scout armies can include a land raider, I have used one as a command vehicle and will probably continue to do so, it is the best delivery system for a powerful close combat character and although scouts don’t have specific ‘uber’ units, 10 assault scouts and a counts as Khan and or a chappy will still cause a lot of damage.

[center; background-image:url(http://www.bolterandchainsword.com/hq2.gif); background-repeat: no-repeat; background-position: 8px 2px; padding: 12px 8px 12px 8px; border: 1px solid #DDD; margin-left: 0 auto; text-align: left; color: #fff; text-indent:50px; font-size:130%; width:50%;">Generic HQ options[/center]

Ive covered the special characters, showing how they can of benefit to a scout force, but its important to note that not all players want to use special characters.
Generic characters are superior in two ways to special characters, firstly they are usually cheaper and secondly they can be outfitted with a wider range of wargear which for a scout force can be extremely useful.

http://www.bolterandchainsword.com/hq2.gif); background-repeat: no-repeat; background-position: 8px 2px; padding: 12px 8px 12px 8px; border: 1px solid #DDD; margin-left: 0 auto; text-align: left; color: #fff; text-indent:50px; font-size:130%; width:50%;">Chaplains

Chaplains are the ultimate support character for a strong assault unit, fluffwise they are the mentors and spiritual teachers of the chapter, and the scouts need these more than regular space marines, to help nurture their development within the chapter.
Because they are best used with an strong assault squad, then nothing short of a 10 man ccw unit will suffice, again a chaplain cannot infiltrate and barring the use of LR’s he can be used with a jump pack or bike much in the same way as described above.
A chaplain could be used with a bike squad, but unlike the captain he doesn’t have the option of grenade launcher, also with their limited number of attacks his re-rolls wouldn’t be of as much use. The upside is due to the high toughness the bike squad, they will take less wounds back, so it’s a matter of weighing which option is the best for you as with re-rolls they may still cause more wounds and win combat.
Ultimately the best way to use a chaplain is to accompany another IC in with a strong assault unit, the Khan or generic captain and chappy combo with a 10 man ccw squad is extremely effective as an ‘uber’ unit, but would be best suited in a land raider transport.

Librarians

Librarians were mostly covered in the Tigurius section above, the main difference is the cost, as generic libbys can be relatively cheap, the downside is you will only get the choice of two powers and only get to use a single one per turn, unless you pay the extra points for an epistolary.

Non-scout units to boost IC's

So far in this article I have discussed IC’s and how they can benefit scout units, and which scout units can best support those IC’s.
In reality most of the characters are far better suited with a non-scout unit in tow.
Most of the hard hitting combat monsters like Marneus or Lysander would cope far better with a unit of assault terminators than accompanied by a scout assault squad, but if your running a scout army you need to decide for yourself where you draw the line.
If you want to run ‘uber’ units then you must have good reasoning for their inclusion into the list, much like Shrike taking a unit of vanguard as infiltrators, it fits into the general theme of a scout force, if you can come up with something like this then by all means, experiment and let me know how you got on.
Another option is to be adventurous with conversion work, for example talking a captain allow you to take a command squad, an option is to convert these models to show scout heraldry or scout armour, and use counts as rules for the game dynamics..
This shows you have thought about the idea and theme to your army and is both fluffy and allows for an effective assault unit to be taken.
If you do go down this road it allows for all manner of 'uber' untis to be thrown in, with combinations of powerful charcters, chaplains and strong CC units, for more information see Captain Idahos article on uber combat units Here.
Hope this all helps

GC08

[greatcrusade08]

C+C welcome guys this all all WIP, please point out if ive missed anything

 

Thanks

 

GC08

[Brother Tual]

Marneus in terminator armour also allows you to utilise the teleport homer to bring down land speeder storms from reserve, this serves two purposes, firstly it allows the LSS to come on without fear of mishaps, secondly it allows you to bring on a ‘nuisance’ unit to strike at the same point as your ‘uber’ unit.

This again is beneficial for two reasons, firstly the land raider/Marneus will attract a lot of the enemies attention keeping the LSS out of harms way for longer, secondly it allows you to focus an amazing amount of firepower and CC attacks on one part of the battlefield, essentially crushing a big portion of the enemy at one time.

It also allows for the LSS squad to assault the same unit as Calgar, potentially resulting in the Cerberus launchers giving the enemy a leadership modifier to Calgars attacks.

 

sorry to rain on your parade - but teleport homers only work with deep striking terminators.. he needs a locator beacon to do what you have described...

 

Also, you cant assault from deep strike - so unless the LSS scouts spend a turn in game after they deep strike they cant assault with him.. They have better movement than he does so you may as well 'float' them near by..

 

 

Captain Lysander

On the contrary, bolter scouts would deny him the ability to charge - He costs more than the scouts so in applying his re-roll hits, you are generally wasting more than you gain. Bolt pistols are the better option, but this is hardly a strong attribute..

 

You missed his 'bolster defences' rule - coupled with scouts with cloaks you can get a 2+ cover save.. Scouts with as good as terminator armour? yes please!

 

Captain Shrike is an amazing character to add to a scout army

Granted, but this army is only going to work half the time (a little bit less) as it needs 1st turn... Line your scout units up in rapid fire range of tau and see what happens.. Shrike is a good (on the same level as Khan) support character for an uber unit. With shrike, you can get an assault element with similar rules as scouts and thus can easily introduce some mobility and PA in your list with out compromising your all infiltrate theme.. Vissah Uses him and vanguard very effectively and he really enjoys puttng them on the table - Again, reliant on first turn used this way, but both units can be altered in play style (heroic intervention) if you happen to loose the first turn.. I think shrike is great in a scout army as it lets you play with 'faster' scouts (as they lack transports) and lets you bring some more durable units into the game, which can only be a benefit..

 

 

Khan on bike also gains fleet USR, so can ‘catch up’ with infiltrating bike units

- he can only join a unit in the movement phase - running is in the shooting phase - He can never run with other bikers as they simply dont have the rule.. The only way he can fleet is if shrike is also in your list and you have selected his chapter tactics over khan's OR Khan is riding SOLO. (or you play apoc with allied eldar or something like that..)

 

Of the 9 character mentioned, 4 have strong utility in 'scout' only armies - Shrike, Khan, Tigurius and Cassius. The others do better with other support units to command - Lysander is golden with tactical terminators - calgar works well with HG etc - Of them all - I would say, barring MM LSS, Vulcan is the least effective simply because of the lack of special weapons available that he affects. As a hard character though, he is strong..

 

C+C welcome guys this all all WIP

I like what you are doing here brother - You know I support you endeavour and hope you dont find my comments as negative.. Some things though are not correct in application -

 

Something I think would be interesting to look at would be combo's of 'nameless' characters and wargear - I know it is alot to encompass but not everyone wants named characters...

 

Anyone whos familiar with scout bikers knows they can pull off first turn charges with ease, the secret to getting IC’s bonuses in first turn charges is to leave 3 or 4 scout bikers as stragglers forming a life line to within 12” of your deployment zone, this will leave the remaining seven members able to charge but also means the IC’s who have to deploy normally can reach within 2” of a bike and join the squad before the end of the movement phase, when it comes to assault the IC wont get to attack but the unit will still get the bonuses.

This tactic would work very well with Khan and or a chaplain, hitting on S5 I5 and with rerolls should hurt most opponents even if your IC’s don’t get to attack.

This I really like - very sneaky! hahah

 

 

After you finish with this, are you going to add it to your original body of work? It would be awesome to see it all collated into one giant scout 'handbook'!!!

[Paulochromis]

Monted tactics

...

I know that marines feel undressed without their PA, and scouts generally wear less, but "The Full Monty" is a little far-fetched.

 

Seriously though, nice article.

[white radish]

Lysander should also affect Heavy Bolters. How his re-roll on failed "to hit" rolls affects the Hellfire shell option for Scout Heavy Bolters, I don't exactly know since it specifies "to hit".

 

I would disagree somewhat with Brother Tual about Vulkan, but only if you're taking LSSs en masse & Combi-Meltas/Flamers, and/or guiding appropriately armed Dreadnoughts into battle. Vulkan has more of an effect on Tacticals, but Vulkan is arguably better than taking a vanilla Captain with no synergies with anything else.

 

Khan and Cassius seem like two of the best Captains for my purposes... cheap and good at making others better than they are... but then you're talking about Land Raiders for a real assault unit, and that might not fit a 10th Company theme very well.

 

I also like the mention of the "teardrop" deployment into infiltration so that ICs can join up. Tyranids also used to do a "teardrop" to put fast units ahead while staying in Synapse when you couldn't Run... it's kind of un-natural, but it works for the bugs... I think that's a real gem of an idea there. I wondered how I'd make Khan-on-bike work with Scout Bikers, and that neatly fixes the issue.

 

A shame that Khan-on-a-Bike doesn't make Scout Bikers into Troops.

[greatcrusade08]

I like what you are doing here brother - You know I support you endeavour and hope you dont find my comments as negative.. Some things though are not correct in application -

This is an important process in making a successful article, you know that better than most, so i dont take any offence to any feedback, its a good thing and i appreciate all your help. Plus i have a thick skin and am well known for making mistakes with the rules ;)

 

sorry to rain on your parade - but teleport homers only work with deep striking terminators.. he needs a locator beacon to do what you have described...

 

Also, you cant assault from deep strike - so unless the LSS scouts spend a turn in game after they deep strike they cant assault with him.. They have better movement than he does so you may as well 'float' them near by..

 

You missed his 'bolster defences' rule - coupled with scouts with cloaks you can get a 2+ cover save.. Scouts with as good as terminator armour? yes please!

All fixed, nice catch!!

 

With shrike, you can get an assault element with similar rules as scouts and thus can easily introduce some mobility and PA in your list with out compromising your all infiltrate theme.. Vissah Uses him and vanguard very effectively and he really enjoys puttng them on the table - Again, reliant on first turn used this way, but both units can be altered in play style (heroic intervention) if you happen to loose the first turn..

I added this in as it kinda comes under the second category as laid out in my last article, i dont want to get into 3rd or 4th categories as it opens the brackets far too much for my current planned set of articles.

Good catch though, you could use them as a counts as scout veteran unit, very fluffy and it adds the uber unit to the force.

 

Khan on bike also gains fleet USR, so can ‘catch up’ with infiltrating bike units

- he can only join a unit in the movement phase - running is in the shooting phase - He can never run with other bikers as they simply dont have the rule.. The only way he can fleet is if shrike is also in your list and you have selected his chapter tactics over khan's OR Khan is riding SOLO. (or you play apoc with allied eldar or something like that..)

I tidied up the wording a little, i think its a case of wires crossing, he runs solo with fleet in order to catch up with the infiltrating units. Once with them all normal rules apply.

 

Of the 9 character mentioned, 4 have strong utility in 'scout' only armies - Shrike, Khan, Tigurius and Cassius. The others do better with other support units to command - Lysander is golden with tactical terminators - calgar works well with HG etc - Of them all - I would say, barring MM LSS, Vulcan is the least effective simply because of the lack of special weapons available that he affects. As a hard character though, he is strong..

Yeah i understand what you mean, and i may have to put in a section on adding in the odd non-scout unit (2nd category again), the main point to this article was to describe how these IC's can support scout units with bonuses, so my direction was towards that goal, it would be handy to note the uber unit point, much like Shrikes inclusion of assault troops, i need to figure out the fluff reasons behind taking uber units for these other guys too.

 

Anyone whos familiar with scout bikers knows they can pull off first turn charges with ease, the secret to getting IC’s bonuses in first turn charges is to leave 3 or 4 scout bikers as stragglers forming a life line to within 12” of your deployment zone, this will leave the remaining seven members able to charge but also means the IC’s who have to deploy normally can reach within 2” of a bike and join the squad before the end of the movement phase, when it comes to assault the IC wont get to attack but the unit will still get the bonuses.

This tactic would work very well with Khan and or a chaplain, hitting on S5 I5 and with rerolls should hurt most opponents even if your IC’s don’t get to attack.

This I really like - very sneaky! hahah

It is sneaky, but whats even sneakier is its your idea ;) B) ^_^

 

Something I think would be interesting to look at would be combo's of 'nameless' characters and wargear - I know it is alot to encompass but not everyone wants named characters...

Yup im going to add this in at the end of this article, hopefully some time today.

 

After you finish with this, are you going to add it to your original body of work? It would be awesome to see it all collated into one giant scout 'handbook'!!!

Exactly what i was planning, you ruined the surprise ;), the why take scouts article was supposed to read as the introduction to the articles which will follow.

My next article is the first in the series of Scout tacticas, this one will be part 1: Space marines, im currently working on it and it should be posted by the weekend. I will no doubt need alot of help sorting throuigh it though..

 

Monted tactics

...

I know that marines feel undressed without their PA, and scouts generally wear less, but "The Full Monty" is a little far-fetched.

 

You Ozzies dont miss a beat do you?, nice find though.

 

Khan and Cassius seem like two of the best Captains for my purposes... cheap and good at making others better than they are... but then you're talking about Land Raiders for a real assault unit, and that might not fit a 10th Company theme very well.

 

A shame that Khan-on-a-Bike doesn't make Scout Bikers into Troops.

 

A big point with keeping scouts fluffy is having to explain when you add any non-scout unit to your army, the HQ is a required element, and this is how i explain the inclusion of a LR in my own army as my captains command vehicle, i keep it fluffy by adding scouts as his 'uber' assault unit.

 

I checked with GW and mounted assault rule unfortuantely doesnt cover scout bikers, thats not to say you cant make an army of them as 3 full units comes in at about 900 points leaving you plenty of room to fill the required force org spots.

 

Thanks again for all the help, please have another read through when i get the generic charcter info up, ive no doubt a few mistakes will slip past me.

 

GC08

[yergerjo]

A note regarding Chaplains, regarding HQ choices they are the cheapest Power Weapon (Crozius comes stock along with Bolt Pistol), 100 points 3 attacks (4 on charge), 3+/4++ saves, 2 wounds, and everyone gets to re-roll missed attacks. This just spells win to me.

 

As you said he can't infiltrate or scout, but have him in a LRC with your captain (115 points to be equivalent with Chappy) and 10-man CC squad and you will have a dead enemy unit.

 

For heavy support, use drop pods to bring in a Thunderfire or 2. Makes sense fluff wise, dropping artillery ahead of the main force with the scouts to soften up the enemy...plus you get the techmarine for free and get your snipers up to 2+ cover saves.

 

Running scouts save you so many points, so why not run a bare-bones command squad unit with special weapons (flamer/meltagun/plasmagun) in a drop pod as well. 3 pods, 2 TFC 1 CS.