No love for snipers?

[GodEmperorOfMankind]

Hi Guys, long time lurker, first time poster.

 

I'm just starting a successor BA chapter, Angels Absolute (cue awful AA jokes), and looking through the army lists posted I can't really find any with snipers in, any reason for this? I was thinking of fielding a few in my army and have doubts now due to their lack of apperance in anyone else's lists.

 

thanks all.

[JamesI]

Welcome to the B+C and the Blood Angels!

 

I personally don't use snipers for 2 reasons.

 

1) I haven't taken the time to repaint mine to Blood Angels yet (I've only been playing Blood Angels for 5 years or so, give me time!)

 

2) Sniper scouts are ok, but I don't think they meld well into a DoA list (my preferred playstyle)

[fivepointedstar]

I've used them once in a BA list, and they worked ok. But I prefer to use them in a Codex Space Marine list with Telion, and ML.

Other than that I use the BA list for what Sanguinius intended, for the Blood Angels to get in close with there foes, and bring the hurt.

[ArdezFurioso]

I know some people had been toying with the idea of including a tech marine in their army, as pitiful as they are, and using its bolster defenses ability on some ruins, and running your scouts to it right at the start of the battle. And when camo/infiltrate and their other abilities it is a 2+ cover save. Basically in a last army standing type of game don't use snipers. In an objective game it might be worth it depending on what the map looks like.

[bushman101]

Snipers are okay if you need some shooting in your list. But prefer Tact or Sterngurad for quantity of attacks and the armor save.

If you do run Sniper Scouts, I recommend a missle launcher in the unit. It adds more options to the unit

[bushman101]

I know some people had been toying with the idea of including a tech marine in their army, as pitiful as they are, and using its bolster defenses ability on some ruins, and running your scouts to it right at the start of the battle. And when camo/infiltrate and their other abilities it is a 2+ cover save.

I've done this and it works well until your opponent gets smart and dumps attacks that ignore cover saves into them. I still do it in Apoc games, but in regular games, you don't get enough points to throw away in a 'might work okay' situation

[Taranis]

I occasionally use 4 snipers with a heavy weapon. Mostly as a cheap troop choice at low points.

In most BA lists they are too static and gets caught in cc or shot into fallback. Being close to the table edge can easily mean no regrouping.

[Grey Mage]

Alot of the problem with Sniper-scouts is that they only have BS 3, and a weapon that likewise wounds only half the time against... everything. You get more mileage out of them when your facing low-leadership lists to be sure, but mostly their job on a space marine list of any sort is hunting monstrous creatures. Monstrous creatures arent common in marine lists... as most simply dont have the option to take MCs. If you find many of them in your area- nids, daemons, wraithlords etc- youll probly like having them around because for their points they do excell at that.

 

Other games... well, they camp objectives pretty well, terrain allowing. Though, as has been noted, they can be overwhelmed in CC if your opponent is fast enough to get there- wich is why you need to keep the pressure on with the rest of your force.

[GodEmperorOfMankind]

Ok well thanks for the replies guys, I'm gonna field some and see how I get on.

[I am Legion]

Absolutely, go try them out. I know we all have at some point once or twice.

If you want to try something new or interesting, why don't you have 10 with bolters accompany a scouting baal pred, and some drop podding dreads (or anything else in our army ;)). It'll be something for the opponent to waste shots on while your assault units come in, and then pop out for support or run away to hold an objective while no one is paying attention to them.

[knife&fork]

I'm no fan of scouts, but so far I've only been using the minimum 5 man units. I've found that for various reasons a lot of other units perform much better once you increase their numbers, like tactical terminators and Death company with jump packs, perhaps the same is true for scouts?

[AGPO]

I used to use sniper scouts a lot back in the days when they were BS4, when they were fantastic. These days they're not so hot but in a squad of ten with camo cloaks and a missile launcher they can really ruin someone's day. As with anything it's a trade off and for those points I'd probably take another tactical squad instead. If you're going to be facing a lot of monsterous creatures though they're great and can make their points back in a turn.

[The Holy Heretic]

They're what I base my army on.

 

Sniper scouts with camo and ML for distraction/objectives and hard hitting assault squads to do the hard work.

 

They look cool, and thats what its all about -_-

[grandmaster lisander]

Depending on the mission type and army im facing, I usually like to take at least a few scouts to pin enemies and cause mayhem.

[I am Legion]

They're what I base my army on.

 

Sniper scouts with camo and ML for distraction/objectives and hard hitting assault squads to do the hard work.

 

They look cool, and thats what its all about :tu:

 

I wholeheartedly agree with this. They really do look awesome on the table :huh:

My friends and I would use them for fun once in a while. But I would never use them competitevly unless I missed something, which is possible since I rarely give them a chance.

[The Yncarne]

I don't play against enough high toughness opponents to justify it. If there was an Iyanden player in my group, they'd be used a lot. If I didn't have furious charge throughout the army, I'd take the more often against my Nurgle opponent.

[Nutzin23]

If they could be used and equipped like Wolf Scouts... they would get a lot more love from BA players. :P

[Volcatus]

I use them in some of my lists. Basically, if you're going to have an infantry backline, i.e. Devastators, a 5 man Scout Squad w/cloaks, Sniper Rifles, and a Missile Launcher adds a nice scoring element and provides a place to hide a Priest. The Priest bolsters the Devs and gets Stealth from the Scouts. :)

[pararanger]

I am a huge fan of Snipers. I've done some amazing things with them. That being said... my 9 year old son has recently taken up this wonderful hobby, and as far as snipers goes. That kid rolls 6's to wound more times than I've ever seen. the 5 man sniper squad he uses has the 4 sniper rifle/missile launcher load out and yeah... I've lost more Marines to his snipers than anything else he likes to use. Sternguard done in by rending fire... check, Death Company done in by rending fire... check, Terminators done in by rending fire... check, and lastly... Gabriel Seth done in by rending fire... great big check. I wanna say I was upset, but his first big match against me... the little monkey crushed me... 11 kill points to 2. I've never been more proud.

 

So in the right hands, and with the right dice... snipers are amazing.

[Zeller]

I run traditional tactical squad lists and even then I find little use for snipers. Their BS3 really hurts them in the scheme of a marine list when you need shots to hit more reliably if that makes sense. My army is mechanized and as such scouts not terribly useful as they are stationary and cannot react to enemy movements without compromising their strength - shooting. I really only use them as cheap troops so I can get more of the fun stuff. I can use my MMAB, speeders, vast array of tanks, and other AT weapons to do what the snipers are there for which is take out MC. Pinning is great but I don't count on anything that relies on failing leadership in this game since the number of modifiers are pitiful at best.

[AngelOfDeathXIII]

I do run (10) Scouts but usually with bolt pistols and a heavy bolter. This give them just a little bit more flexibility, protecting objectives and still being able to pack/deal a punch in close combat... I've had them wipe a 16-strong Kroot squad out without taking a casualty.

[Drachnon]

I sometimes run a small unit scout snipers with cloaks, they just sit on the back of the board holding an objectives while trying to pin squads I think are going to be a problem. The biggest problem is that with 4 rifles and a missile launcher you hit 2 and wound 1 of the 4 rifles making your chance to actually pin something rather small. It's still great when it happens though.