Shield on an assault sergeant...when?

[ShinyRhino]

Another one of those "situational analysis" questions.

 

When is it useful to take a shield on an assault sergeant? I like the IDEA of the sergeant having the stormshield, but am not sure about proper utilization.

Since assault squads are "best" run 8 strong or more, the shield seems like an afterthought. Let's say you go with double special weapons for the rank-and-file troopers (two flamers or plasma pistols) and a powerfist or powersword/meltabombs on your sergeant. You've got five ablative wounds in an 8-man squad before you start losing wargear. Seven in a full 10-man squad.

The only role I can see the stormshield being useful for is attempting to deflect off an AP3 or better hit in shooting, or a close combat attack that ignores armour. But if you upgraded your sergeant, that's a HUGE gamble to make on a 4+ Invulnerable save, when you could just burn off an ablative wound.

The shield makes more sense once you're out of ablative Marines or started with a 5-man unit, but why risk the sergeant and his heavy hitter weapons over the flamer/plasma Marines? Perhaps this is a good option against say, a horde army where your flamers can cut swathes through Tau/Ork/Guard. But are those guys really dishing out a lot of high-Strength hits, or those that ignore armour? Ork Nob, sure.

Another idea for soaking hits with the shield might come in the form of a sergeant with JUST the shield as an upgrade. Minimal points invested for a 50/50 chance to ignore an instakill. This might be best in a small squad that is focused more on the plasma pistols/flamers. The specialized weapons survive to put the hurt on their specialist targets (light armour, mobs) while the sergeant gambles with his life.

Finally, I can see the shield being useful if youplan to face a lot of large blasts that can wipe large amounts of Marines at once, say Russ Demolishers, Vindicators, or Basilisk rounds. You'd be taking so many High-AP hits that the sergeant at least has a shot at coming out alive from a blast. But, he might be all alone when he does so. Not a ton of use after that, though he might go on to a streak of luck with his shield-granted Invulnerable saves.

 

So, I put it to you folks. Do you think the shield on an assault sergeant is worth the investment? If so, when?

Let's try to frame this under the guise that you ARE taking an assault squad for whatever reason (love, available models, etc.). The virtues of Assault Marines versus Terminators or Bikes isn't applicable here.

[Vel'Cona]

I'm a strong believer that cost analysis should play heavily into wargear decisions. Yes, the SS is shiny and makes the Sergeant look cool, but for what it does I can't rationalize the cost. My Assault Squads are nearly always max size with x2 Flamers and a PF Serg. Ablative wounds are far more likely to repel attacks, and I wouldn't allocate wounds to my Serg regardless of saves (he's something like a 45ish point model, that's just a bad idea). While it's nice to give him that extra dose of survivability, it comes into play so infrequently (like Extra Armor) that I'd say use those points for other things if you can. However, if you've got the points to spare (say less than 25 points left), it's not a terrible idea. In that case, I'd treat the SS for Assault Sergeant as a "and also" upgrade.

[Koremu]

1 Assault Marine = 18 points

 

Sgt w/ PFist and Storm Shield = 68 points

 

68 / 3 = 22.666

 

22.666 > 18

 

Translation: Expensive Sergeants are too likely to die to be worth the invesment. Cheap Sergeants aren't worth protecting. Sometimes, you just gotta let a Brother Marine take a missile for your Sergeant.

[Grey Mage]

*Shrugs* Math isnt the only way to play the game, else wed just put down our lists and say "oh, look! George won via the Uber 7 Algorithym of Dark Reapers, well done george!".

 

Id say that a Stormshield is best put on the seargent when 1) Your going to use the squad as a distraction, 2) You expect to see alot of monstrous creatures, powerweapons or AP 3-, and 3) When facing special-heavy armies like SoB.

 

Because:

1) Its an oppurtunity to stay alive longer and further distract your opponent, aswell as potentially preserving a KP.

2) The lowering of your squads attrition means that itll stay functional longer- think of it this way, if that 15pt upgrade saves even a single AM who then gets into combat it has paid for itself. Even on an otherwise unupgraded seargent the ability to potentially deny the enemy a low AP wound against every salvo the unit takes is certainly worth less than the price of a single marine.

3) Damage Stacking- depending on the number of Low AP shots you take you can decide to either stack them on a single member of the squad with a special weapon OR take them on the seargent who has a normal chance of saving against those otherwise automatic wounds. If you take 11 wounds from my GHs, of wich two are plasma then your probly going to want that stormshield to try and preserve your squads strength.

 

No model that can still play a part in the succes or loss of your game should be considered "ablative" unless youve taken the squad for that purpose or it directly serves the path of victory- those "ablative" marines attacks might be the difference between win and loss.

[JamesI]

I put a storm shield on one of my VAS with powerfist for 2 reasons.

 

1) it makes him distinct from the other VAS with a powerfist for wound allocation purposes (not an issue in an assault squad)

2) To give him that chance to survive when he ends up in base with an IC. His unit gets killed off, he's taking power weapon wounds. Let him have a chance to get to use his fist on the character.

 

Plus, it looks cool.

[Pyriel]

Its not even close to being worth the points. The only reasonable excuse to pay points for an assault veteran shield is that it just makes him look good.

[greatcrusade08]

I love seeing expensive models, makes me go all tingly when Telion turns thier heads into soup :)

 

Realistically though, with ten models in the squad i dont think you need the extra protection on the assault sergeant.

 

GC08

[Grey Mage]

I love seeing expensive models, makes me go all tingly when Telion turns thier heads into soup :tu:

 

Realistically though, with ten models in the squad i dont think you need the extra protection on the assault sergeant.

 

GC08

Except that it helps keep Telion from turning their heads into soup ;)... that would be a good reason eh?

[Gornall]

You can almost buy an extra Assault Marine for the price of that shield (if you weren't taking a full squad anyway), so I tend to forgoe it. Against anything that doesn't single out models (Telion, Mind War, etc) I'd rather have the extra Marine, simply because I don't like risking saves on my Sarg unless I can't avoid it. To me the extra guys are there to protect that PF... any wounds they do is just bonus. The only time I can see it being useful is when the enemy is mixing AP3/PW wounds in amongst normal wounds, forcing you to take a save on him anyway. He takes a 3+ save on the AP shot while the other Marines take the normal ones. However, it does make for a cool model and can be situationally useful, so I've seen worse ways of spending 15 points.

[pryor]

I won't use it but I'll attach it to the model just for looks (like my jump chaplain - he doesn't need it but he looks better with it).