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What's wrong with stern guard


Jorre

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I had 3 games on the weekend with mates. Nids, demons and necrons, I decided to take a 10 man squad of sternguard in a pod with heavy flamer 2 combi plasma and 1 combi melta.

 

This squad absolutely demolished my enemies. Against the nids they took out a squad of warriors with a warrior prime lash wips and bone swords. Agaisnt the necrons they killed some swarm unit that had over 30 wounds and some other jetbike squad with heavy guass cannons. agaisnt the demons on the drop alone they killed a soul grinder and a 10 man squad of demonettes.

 

I know these guys are expensive and die just as fast as normal marines but they really are distracting for the enemy

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I had 3 games on the weekend with mates. Nids, demons and necrons, I decided to take a 10 man squad of sternguard in a pod with heavy flamer 2 combi plasma and 1 combi melta.

 

This squad absolutely demolished my enemies. Against the nids they took out a squad of warriors with a warrior prime lash wips and bone swords. Agaisnt the necrons they killed some swarm unit that had over 30 wounds and some other jetbike squad with heavy guass cannons. agaisnt the demons on the drop alone they killed a soul grinder and a 10 man squad of demonettes.

 

I know these guys are expensive and die just as fast as normal marines but they really are distracting for the enemy

Of course they rock against units with a low armour save.

Not to mention the swarm which is vulnerable to templates if I recall correctly. But hey... You have to be very close to the enemy and against hard hitting close combat units you will not do very well.

 

But if they work for you. Go for it. I allways like to use units my enemy is not expecting. ^^

I'd kill to be able to buy them jump packs.

 

If I could to that I would run a squad EVERY game for the ultimate mobile fire support.

 

I was very said that this was not in the codex; my 5 deathwatch veterans with jump packs and bolters have been relegated to counts-as special weapons in my assault squads :D

I had 3 games on the weekend with mates. Nids, demons and necrons, I decided to take a 10 man squad of sternguard in a pod with heavy flamer 2 combi plasma and 1 combi melta.

 

This squad absolutely demolished my enemies. Against the nids they took out a squad of warriors with a warrior prime lash wips and bone swords. Agaisnt the necrons they killed some swarm unit that had over 30 wounds and some other jetbike squad with heavy guass cannons. agaisnt the demons on the drop alone they killed a soul grinder and a 10 man squad of demonettes.

 

I know these guys are expensive and die just as fast as normal marines but they really are distracting for the enemy

 

There's nothing wrong with Sternguard and they can be very effective. I have to say though, you must have been fairly lucky to take out a Soulgrinder with them as it was only the combi-melta that can reliably hurt that.

Take this with a grain of salt, as I'm writing here from a 'Nilla Marines perspective, but I look at Sternguard as Super Tacticals. They've got all the tools to take care of any opponent (short of, ya know tanks and stuff - but you've got Melta for that) - at range - (and thats a big caveat).

 

Anyway, my point is, especially in a Blood Angels list, typically your only Horde defense is melee. Thats fine if they're opponents you can reliably beat up on, but in my rather limited Blood Angels experience (and this is from the OTHER side of the table, if you follow) the ability to reach out and mess up any foot model means you can neuter an opponents Melee monsters (Hammernators, Thunderwolves, Genestealers etc etc) while your Assault Marines or whatever deal with the bubble-wrap (other less CC oriented troopers, like guardsmen or termagants).

 

Shoot their CC and CC their Shooty.

 

How rockin would it be to torrent down a Wraithlord or Tervigon wounding on 2+ without sacrificing a turn of shooting from a MM Speeder or a Dev Squad.

 

They've got their place, they're definitely not an Auto-Include, but I've never regretted taking them.

 

Cheers!

Phos

I've used sternguard with Tycho in a drop pod (usually with a priest too) and they are awesome, a unit of these can make for an awesome support unit, plus with a small upgrade on the pod vanguard can drop in next to them and mess things up.

 

They are in actual fact especially useful in blood angel armies, as noted above because they provide some much needed fire support for our choppy units. Their versatility means that there is almost always a good opportunity to use them.

 

That being said, I'd pretty much never field them if I didnt give em a pod and tycho + priest. Tycho is basically an uber sternguard that provides some melee support to the unit and the priest means that you have a reasonable unit should you need to charge the enemy instead... not to mention the priest basically mitigates the 'gets hot' rule from AP3 bolters.

 

I've used them combined with vanguard to great effect vs necrons, marines and tau.

 

Expensive but useful if used right.

I had 3 games on the weekend with mates. Nids, demons and necrons, I decided to take a 10 man squad of sternguard in a pod with heavy flamer 2 combi plasma and 1 combi melta.

 

This squad absolutely demolished my enemies. Against the nids they took out a squad of warriors with a warrior prime lash wips and bone swords. Agaisnt the necrons they killed some swarm unit that had over 30 wounds and some other jetbike squad with heavy guass cannons. agaisnt the demons on the drop alone they killed a soul grinder and a 10 man squad of demonettes.

 

I know these guys are expensive and die just as fast as normal marines but they really are distracting for the enemy

 

There's nothing wrong with Sternguard and they can be very effective. I have to say though, you must have been fairly lucky to take out a Soulgrinder with them as it was only the combi-melta that can reliably hurt that.

 

The Rear armour of a soul grinder is only 11 and I managed to get my pod in behind it, Rapid firing plasma is actually quite good for 11 armour which is lucky cause my melta shot missed and the plasma still got him.

My main oponent is an iguard player so I take sternguard almost everytime. I like to pop 10 in a pod with 10x combi meltas. I will pod in where ever the concetration of tanks is highest and combat squad once I hit the ground and the subsequintly pop two tanks. Now the unit comes in a 335 points, but when you drop two leman russ tanks on the first turn it is worth it :D

 

Note: I am not saying that you will absolutely pop two leman russ, just saying it happens quite a bit for me.

 

Edit: this unit also worked well in conjunction with a drop poding honour guard unit coming in close by and that added 4 extra melta shots and a priest. Mech players hate me :D

Why heavy flamers? that seems like a waste of point on anything that isn't relentless. If you are that close to begin with, you will obviously get charged. Did you ever get a shot off with it?

 

 

You're not serious, right? A flame weapon that's considered Heavy would be absolutely worthless, IMO.

 

Anyway, I've seen Sternguard do amazing things, in my opinion, they can be kings of the battlefield, assuming they don't die like a standard tactical marine.

I guess I fail to see the point in taking a unit of sternguard. Just grab a HG unit, give them 4 meltas or 2 meltas and 2 plasma guns. You have FNP and you can give them jump packs. If sternguard was a troop choice or heavy support, ya. You would have to really do some fast talking to get mt to replace my dreads or termies. A furioso dread is the same points as a sternguard and can really pump out some hurt. Sternguard feel like a one trick pony to me. You drop and get a round of shooting off, then die.

 

Honor Guard are much more adaptive and dont take a FOC slot. There are just to many solid Elite options in the BA list. If you want a devo squad, get one. The extra melee attack wont mean much anyhow.

Why heavy flamers? that seems like a waste of point on anything that isn't relentless. If you are that close to begin with, you will obviously get charged. Did you ever get a shot off with it?

 

 

You're not serious, right? A flame weapon that's considered Heavy would be absolutely worthless, IMO.

 

Anyway, I've seen Sternguard do amazing things, in my opinion, they can be kings of the battlefield, assuming they don't die like a standard tactical marine.

 

Ya I was serious. Your right, a template weapon that is heavy would be useless. Hence my question. I just saw HEAVY flamer and thought just that. Sorry, my mistake. I appreciate the welcoming vibe though. :devil:

Heavy Flamers: the "heavy" is the weight, not the weapon category. :|

 

Sternguard and Honor Guard are two different units doing different jobs- Honor Guard get their pick of special CCWs and guns, but Sternguard get special ammo and heavy weapons (as well as being the only infantry unit with a Heavy Flamer.) Honor Guard are thus good combat specialists or point-blank shooting that brings a FNP bubble to the field, while Sternguard are flexible shooters who can fire big guns out of the top hatch of a Rhino.

 

People try to use Sternguard as a suicide drop unit and get disappointed because that's not what they're for. 25pts for Tactical Marine survivability just doesn't cut it as a unit to put in the enemy's backline. Run them alongside your other guys (or, more accurately, drive them) where they are tough to pick out of the pack and and contribute firepower without being exposed and you'll find them to be a much more valuable asset.

Nothing wrong with sternguard as far as i know B)

 

They can ignore cover saves (good against eldar, guard etc) they can wound on 2+'s (good against MC's) and can fire AP3 bolters (very nice against MEQ ^_^)

 

so yea, they can do tackle just about anything...

 

They are abit less survivable in combat then vanguards though but with 2 attacks each they can still hold their own...imho ;)

exactly Dem, they're probably one of the most versatile units in either space marines or blood angels. add a priest to them and give the sergeant a power sword or fist and they are just as good as our RAS in close combat also.

 

It seems they are useful in providing long-range fire support to an army. I'll have to judge how much of that I need after I've played a few games with my Assault Squads.

 

I have to say, though, I'm coming round to the idea the more I think about them!

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