How do you use your snipers?

[thade]

So, played a capture and control mission and fielded my snipers, this time in the structure declared to be my homebase. I had my techmarine bolster it, so with their camo cloaks they got a 2+ save out of the building...helped them shrug off fire from a chaos predator from across the table for later turns in the game. Their crowning achievement (and, after being fielded for two other games and serving *no* purpose) they capped the Apsiring Sorceror controlling a 1k Sons unit (Telion did it) and reduced their move to a d6. That single instance scared my opponent enough that he kept units out of the scouts line of sight for almost the entire game (which ended as a draw mid-table). Otherwise they killed one other 1k son, a khorne bezerker, and kept his plague marines hiding behind a building in the middle of the snipers firing lane.

 

I will be fielding them again. =) Thanks for all the advice, everybody.

[Loyalist]

Rule clarification needed: I thought that for an entire squad to use Stealth all snipers in the squad need a camo cloak. If Telion is used, that reasoning would require all other squad members to have a camo cloak for the whole squad to use the Stealth rule. Can some squad members use a camo cloak and get the extra +1 cover save while others don't? I don't see that as being any different than some squad members having and using melta bombs while others don't.

[Boomsly]

i was under the impression that sniper weapons hit on a 2 regardless, so shouldnt that mean you are hitting alot just not wounding much?

 

unless the rule has changed from last book that is!?

[Vincent Black Shadow]

The rule has changed since the last book. :)

[Boomsly]

damn it i was still hoping that didnt change :), thanks for the heads up though

[greatcrusade08]

Scouts now hit with BS like everything else, but still wound on 4's... this makes them great vs MC's and nurgle based armies.

 

Gc08

[thade]

The rending is especially nice; my snipers took a chunk out of an opponent's Plague Marines and kept them pinnned (not "Pinned" in game terms, but literally hiding behind a bit of terrain) for over half of the game.

 

Their range is nice, and as each model hits 50% of the time, that means with a unit of five snipers I can expect at least 2 shots a round to land. (That's a very conservative estimate, mind you.) And often one or more Rend, which I like to think of as a 36" ranged Power Fist. B) (Wound + no armor save = thade is a happy camper.)

[waaanial00]

I simply dont get why people shoot camo scouts in ruins from range? Sniper scouts have never worked for me (or against me, eh GC :)) so I just dont see why people waste long ranged shooting on them. A simple look at their combat potential and your odds at doing significant damage always brings me back to a leave them alone and concentrate on something else.

 

Sniper rifles have their place, dont get me wrong, put enough of them and they are going to kill quite a bit. Drop the camo cloaks and they will draw more fire, which for me is more important that their actual damage abilities because most of the time they are operating outside of normal weapons range, which means they are drawing fire away from my Rhinos and other more valuable assets. After all they are only scouts :P

 

Wan

[thade]

Over the past month my sniper scout squad has served me very well. I've gotten in the habit of fielding my techmarine every game, so my snipers are used to their 2+ cover save, usually safely nestled in my deployment zone on one of my objectives. Four snipers and one ML. If I can afford Telion, I put him in there...then I get a BS 6 missile shot OR a BS 6 that forces a Pinning check.

 

Very often people ignore my scouts when I don't field Telion, and I'm happy with that. For every round that goes by that they don't hit anything, there are two rounds where they kill something. The 48" range on the ML keeps pressure on transports, and they are a cheap long range thing to sit on one of my home objectives.

 

My next goal for scouts is to melee them out, get turn one, then infiltrate them, scout move, then assault weak units on turn one. ;)