Predator or Vindicator

[Lord Blackwood]

I am looking into picking up a tank  for my army , I am curious as to which is considered better the Predator or the Vindicator 

( I dont have the money for a Fellblade or a Sicarian ) 

[Lucien Eilam]

What's in the rest of the army?

 

In the absence of any information, I'd say the Vindicator, it can earn its keep with even a single shot from the Demolisher. But generally you want a pair of them and a list with plenty of other armour. The short range makes a single tank fairly easy to handle, and AV13/11/10/HP3 isn't that tough to kill when you're forced to advance.

 

If you'll only have one tank, I'd probably take the Predator. It's easier to get some use out of it than a single Vindicator, even if you just stick it in your backfield and shoot at things from turn one until something blows it up.

 

(Honestly, if you'll only have one tank, I'd say keep saving until you can afford a Sicaran.)

[Lord Blackwood]

The rest of my army is a thunderwolf Horde and two Imperial Knights  I probably can only afford one tank  so Ill likely have to go with the predator then.

[Frater Cornelius]

Neither, but I was forced to pick, I would go for the Vindicator in most cases. Maybe it is just my preferred play style to advance and get close, but I feed the predator lacks that certain bang for its buck.

[Lucien Eilam]

You can probably get away with the Vindicator in that case. It's not going to be the scariest thing on the table by a long shot.

[Submarine]

I don't have the sicaran rules but isn't that a Horus heresy unit. Can it be used in 40k standard game?

[Lucien Eilam]

It's a relic unit in Imperial Armour Volume 2, 2nd Edition - War Machines of the Adeptus Astartes.

[Huggtand]

Yes it can but as with all FW models they do recomend you check beforehand so its ok (even if it is both a FW and GW stamp on it and its says its intended for standard 40k)

 

 

I don't have the sicaran rules but isn't that a Horus heresy unit. Can it be used in 40k standard game?

[Donkalleone]

In realtity a single sicaran (+book) cost the double-triple amount of a Vindicator/predator. He is Good and i luckily got one "cheap" but this thing cost  money.

 

Btw it has 6x STr7 AP4 Rending shots that ignore jink and has 13/12/12 as a fast tank. to sum it up

[Frater Cornelius]

In realtity a single sicaran (+book) cost the double-triple amount of a Vindicator/predator. He is Good and i luckily got one "cheap" but this thing cost  money.

 

Btw it has 6x STr7 AP4 Rending shots that ignore jink and has 13/12/12 as a fast tank. to sum it up

 

This so much. Sicaran every day. They are Twin-Linked as well, by the way.

With Schizm of Mars if you feel hardcore.

[tylerw]

If you want to stay within your budget (and not just hold off a while longer or something to buy a sicaran), I'd go with the predator, but for a few reasons unmentioned so far:

1. Playwise, these tanks fill Heavy Support slots, but have slightly different roles.  The Predator is great at picking off lightly/medium(ly?) armored targets, and can be solid at heavy armor murder at times, with the options for anywhere from the dakkamobile (2 heavy bolter sponsons, autocannon turret), spitting out 8 shots a turn (assuming you can line up both sponsons, which isn't a given!) at a mere 95 points, all the way up to the tank-breaking laz-mobile, at 140 points.  You're getting to shoot 3 Str 9 AP 2 shots, 1 of which is twinlinked.  This may not break every transport, but it will break a lot of them in one flurry of shots.  You also might go with the "happy medium" of just adding lascannon sponsons, giving you 2 of those shots and 2 more of the autocannon shots up top - something that people like to do to have an extra shot that is still relatively high str/low AP.

 

The Vindy, well, he's great vs hordes of course, with the huge template, and solid against the sort of targets you'll be shooting at with the predator, but he can't snipe as well (both because of scatter and because of the "mere" 24" range) - he will mess up heavily armored units, both elites and mechanized as well, given the higher strength, especially if they're something like a 10 man terminator unit, which even a autocannon/lazturret pred could only kill 4 of at BEST.

 

2.  Use beyond the model itself - if you buy a predator kit, you can also use it for a Razorback or Rhino.  If you buy a Vindicator kit... I can't think of anything else you can (easily) swap it for.

 

3. Forge world crap - Should you want to merely upgrade the turret(s) on your predator, you can fairly easily turn it into something like a Predator Executioner or Infernus.  The turrets aren't common to come across alone, but you can find them on ebay occasionally, in trading boards, etc.  You also may be able to cobble together a solid customized turrent for one or both of those, giving you access to some other powerful options, options that the Vindicator does not have afaik (please correct me if I'm wrong!).

 

Basically, if you want a great "sniper" type unit that will pick up first blood with some regularity, which also has a lot of functional flexibility, I'd recommend the predator. 

 

If you want to blow up hordes while still being a threat to a unit with heavy armor, the Vindicator is probably the way to go.

[Frater Cornelius]

If you want to stay within your budget (and not just hold off a while longer or something to buy a sicaran), I'd go with the predator, but for a few reasons unmentioned so far:

 

1. Playwise, these tanks fill Heavy Support slots, but have slightly different roles. The Predator is great at picking off lightly/medium(ly?) armored targets, and can be solid at heavy armor murder at times, with the options for anywhere from the dakkamobile (2 heavy bolter sponsons, autocannon turret), spitting out 8 shots a turn (assuming you can line up both sponsons, which isn't a given!) at a mere 95 points, all the way up to the tank-breaking laz-mobile, at 140 points. You're getting to shoot 3 Str 9 AP 2 shots, 1 of which is twinlinked. This may not break every transport, but it will break a lot of them in one flurry of shots. You also might go with the "happy medium" of just adding lascannon sponsons, giving you 2 of those shots and 2 more of the autocannon shots up top - something that people like to do to have an extra shot that is still relatively high str/low AP.

 

The Vindy, well, he's great vs hordes of course, with the huge template, and solid against the sort of targets you'll be shooting at with the predator, but he can't snipe as well (both because of scatter and because of the "mere" 24" range) - he will mess up heavily armored units, both elites and mechanized as well, given the higher strength, especially if they're something like a 10 man terminator unit, which even a autocannon/lazturret pred could only kill 4 of at BEST.

 

2. Use beyond the model itself - if you buy a predator kit, you can also use it for a Razorback or Rhino. If you buy a Vindicator kit... I can't think of anything else you can (easily) swap it for.

 

3. Forge world crap - Should you want to merely upgrade the turret(s) on your predator, you can fairly easily turn it into something like a Predator Executioner or Infernus. The turrets aren't common to come across alone, but you can find them on ebay occasionally, in trading boards, etc. You also may be able to cobble together a solid customized turrent for one or both of those, giving you access to some other powerful options, options that the Vindicator does not have afaik (please correct me if I'm wrong!).

 

Basically, if you want a great "sniper" type unit that will pick up first blood with some regularity, which also has a lot of functional flexibility, I'd recommend the predator.

 

If you want to blow up hordes while still being a threat to a unit with heavy armor, the Vindicator is probably the way to go.

Good post, brother.

[callmeMrBadger]

If the rest of the army is Thunderwolves, then surely the sensible approach would be the predator. The vindicator is a great weapon, but with such a large pie plate being thrown around, and the nature of TWC should be in combat turn 2 at the latest, you will be shooting close to your own guys with a nasty scatter that can instant kill your own guys. That SS at the front of the pack won't do much good against a scatter from the rear.

 

If you were going to change your army, add a few packs of grey hunters and play a mid-range shooting list, then a vindy.

[Frater Cornelius]

Vindi with TWC is fine because they take pressure off each other. With TWC up front and Pred in the back most opponents will focus TWC.

[Teetengee]

Knights and twc are rushing forward, take pressure off with the vindicator and give the enemy a devils choice. Every so often you will drift onto your twc and ruin your own day, but most of the time you will be fine and shouldn't drift too much. Keep in mind that the pie plate will put some serious hurt on just about anything.

[Bloody Legionnaire]

if you're going to get the Vindicator, it's highly recommended you get two. If you're only going to get one tank, then maybe getting a predator and magnetizing would be the way to go. I really like the Vindicator, I have used it in a list that had TWC in it, but it was more of a Drop Pod list using TWC for fast support, running duel vindis adds a little more target saturation, and if you opponent may happen to knock one down, there's still another coming from em, it's great fun.