CCW Scouts

[Barbedwire]

Hello there. I'm wondering how I should equip some CCW scouts I have. I don't particularly like the land speeder storm model and as such I would like to field ten of them instead of an usual five. I'm thinking that they will sit on a home objective being supported by a dreadnought that can join them in melee if needed, in case they are attacked. However I'm mostly unsure about the sergeant, should I give him any upgrades or use him barebones, since there's a chance they won't be doing anything for a lot of the game? And lastly are five enough for sitting on an objective or should I use ten to have some more bodies on the table? I'm mostly going with CCW since it fits with the theme of my army and I'm thinking that it won't do such a large difference compared to bolters anyhow.

[minigun762]

For a dedicated objective camper you're better off with something that can shoot past 12". That said, close combat Scouts can work to take objectives if you keep to cover. I'd give the Veteran at least a melta bomb for killing heavy armor or wounding MCs.

A power weapon could be useful, particularly if you are running Black Templars or Salamanders.

[Gideon999]

Agreed.   Especially if you use IF tactics you can give them all bolters and reroll the 1's to hit, makes them actually fairly accurate and gives them a gun with an AP value as well.   

 

Optionally you could opt for sniper rifles, which in a squad of 10 can actually do some damage at good range.

[brother_contagion]

5 would be better in a Storm than 10 on foot, imo. Using it in tandem with the Cerberus Launchers can make them quite effective. I'd suggest a Power Sword and/or Combi-Melta. They could be used to hit soft targets or soft up harder ones before the real assult troops arrive. But you're asking about holding objects, I think given them Snipers would be much better, otherwise they're just sitting there with potentially nothing to do.

[Barbedwire]

Thank you for the comments. I'm afraid I've already bought ten scouts and modelled them with close combat weapons, otherwise I would have considered a Storm for them. However you are probably right that they are better at softening up targets than sitting back on an objective so I will try to think of a better role like that for them and maybe have a combat squad covering my home objective. I have also given the sergeant a power weapon.

[Gideon999]

Well since you have them set up as close combat and a sgt with power weapon you still have a very useful unit.  If you dont have Land Speeder Storms, do you have a land raider or storm raven?    With the assault ramp and even better, an attached chaplain or other beatstick character, you can make some fun messes charging out of an assault ramp.

 

Barring that, infiltrating them close to a vulnerable unit will give your opponent something to plan against and take heat off of your other units as well.

 

Scouts are actually quite good when used to their strengths!

[UltraTacSgt]

I agree with the above advice.

 

Scouts that sit on objectives should have Bolters or Sniper Rifles. CC Scouts should be assaulting something or assisting in an assault.

 

CC Scouts can hold their own quite well against most other troop type infantry units. Just think of good ways to get them into combat without taking a ton of fire or covering too much open ground. Familiarize yourself with how Infiltrate and Outflank will best work in different situations and get crafty.

 

For Sergeant gear, I'd give them a MB at the low end and maybe a combi-weapon or Power Sword if you have more points to spare.

 

If you modeled them with regular super glue just stick them in the freezer for a few hours and you can pop their arms right off.

[knife&fork]

For assault scouts the grav pistol is an ok pick. 

[Gideon999]

Not to say that its the wrong choice, meta in your area can make it very much correct, but in my meta I would not take grav on a scout squad.   Anything that grav will do good damage to (MC's, elite infantry) will usually mulch scouts in close combat.   Maybe ok against a vehicle, but with only one shot thats a lot to bank on to get a 6 on damage roll.

 

Personally if I was going to give the sgt anything at all, it would likely be a combiflamer or combimelta.   Since the unit is squishy I would want the flamer to help do some damage before I charge (or wall of death if i get charged) or the melta to kill a tank if that is what is my best target.

[knife&fork]

Not to say that its the wrong choice, meta in your area can make it very much correct, but in my meta I would not take grav on a scout squad.   Anything that grav will do good damage to (MC's, elite infantry) will usually mulch scouts in close combat.  

 

It doesn't matter if you are using expensive marines, middle of the road scouts or cheap stuff like guardsmen. They all die the same way vs monsters. You want to use those krak grenades, right? Not much of a difference if it's a guardsman, scout or marine throwing them. The grav will at least give you a chance to score as many wounds as possible before they get to hit back. 

 

If I want to kill a vehicle I'll need about 4 melta shots to be reasonably sure. The single combi melta is not to be counted on. 

It's not bad, but I'd rather spend any spare points on dedicated anti AV. CC scouts end up with a fairly specialized role, I'd rather make them better at it. 

[Gideon999]

Fair enough, I think I would use something other than scouts for MC hunting though.   Really the combiflamer and meltabombs would be my options of choice.   Krak grenades and a melta shot againt AV has a good chance (the melta may fail, but allows a charge against rear armour with krak grenades immediately after).

 

And yes, stock marines die to MC's just as quick as scouts, but the scouts have lower BS and WS, meaning that the strikes they do get are less likely to be useful.  And most MC's are I4 or lower anyways, meaning that you would strike with all your krak anyways.

 

Maybe personal choice, heck I have seen people use set ups I thought were terrible that worked really well so I am certainly not the ace of scouts or anything, but for my money scouts are better used to do damage to things they can kill or tie up.   And a flamer or meltagun would do that better in my opinion.   (Heck even the melta would be dicey as its still BS3).

[Cornelias]

remember they can bail from the storm raven without risk and are scoring so the raven is a great tactic to reinforce a unit that's in trouble trying to hold an objective, depending on the army you're facing a maul isn't a bad choice and can even whack a few vehicles if need be. I never look at ccw scouts as fighting solo against something rather they should add cheap weight where some of your more expensive units have run into bother.