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Starting out: Rangers or Vanguard?


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Codex Blood Angels and Space Wolves are probably the hot tickets to get transport options, TBH.  Since you can buy them as Fast Attack options, the only tax will be the Troops choices (BA scouts are cheap as chips) and the HQ choice (you could get a lot of mileage from a Chaplain since Zealot isn't faction specific).

 

Also, BA transports are fast, for what that's worth!

Nothing you can buy separately, no.  Just Dedicated Transports for Henchman units.

 

Imperial Armour 2 has the Valkyrie assault carrier squadron as a FA choice for Inquisition, that should be as many flyer transports as you could wish for.

 

http://www.forgeworld.co.uk/Downloads/Product/PDF/i/IA2faq.pdf

I bought 2 boxes of Rangers, 1 will be a 10 man Ranger squad and 1 will be a 10 man Vanguard squad.  I also bought 2 boxes of Ironstriders.  Right now I'm struggling to figure out how I want to equip everything.

 

Here is what I've been thinking:

 

10x Rangers with 6x Galvanic Rifles, 2x Transuranic Arquebus, and 1x Arc Rifle.  The Alpha will have an Arc Pistol and Taser Goad.  The squad will also have an Omnispex.  215 points

 

10x Vanguard with 6x Radium Carbines, 2x Plasma Calivers, and 1x Arc Rifle.  The Alpha will have an Arc Pistol and Taser Goad.  The squad will also have an Omnispex.  205 points

 

Do you guys think that these two squads are over kill?  As for the 2 boxes of Ironstriders I haven't a clue yet on how I want to equip them.  My initial thoughts are to make them 2 Sydonian Dragoons with Phosphor Serpentas for 110 points but I'm still on the fence.  If I did that though I'd pick up another 2 boxes and make 2 Ironstrider Ballistarii.

 

I have also pre-ordered 2 boxes of Sicarian Infiltrators with hopes to make a 5 man Infiltrator squad and a 5 man Ruststalker squad, but that's a whole different story!

"The squad will also have an Omnispex and Enhanced Data-Tether"

 

Both? I may have been misreading the unit entry. I thought "one skitarii (ranger/vanguard) may carry one of the following..." meant only one option could be chosen.

 

One with omnispex and one enhanced data-tether... hmm...

Do you guys think its worth it to give either the Ranger or Vanguard Alpha better melee weapons?  I chose the Taser Goad because it's cheap.  I suppose they don't have to take a melee weapon but I like how it looks and it helps to identify which guy is the Alpha.

Eh, I think the melee options are unnecessary.  They're not bad, but on WS 3, S 3, and In 3 models they're not gonna do much regardless.  I know you could use Imperatives to buff them, but I think that's a waste of the 1 Imperative you get a turn.  This is a shooting army, I'd stick with pistols if you're going to give the Alpha anything at all (or a Refractor Field, cuz it's super cheap).

I bought 2 boxes of Rangers, 1 will be a 10 man Ranger squad and 1 will be a 10 man Vanguard squad.  I also bought 2 boxes of Ironstriders.  Right now I'm struggling to figure out how I want to equip everything.

 

Here is what I've been thinking:

 

10x Rangers with 6x Galvanic Rifles, 2x Transuranic Arquebus, and 1x Arc Rifle.  The Alpha will have an Arc Pistol and Taser Goad.  The squad will also have an Omnispex.  215 points

 

10x Vanguard with 6x Radium Carbines, 2x Plasma Calivers, and 1x Arc Rifle.  The Alpha will have an Arc Pistol and Taser Goad.  The squad will also have an Omnispex.  205 points

 

Do you guys think that these two squads are over kill?  As for the 2 boxes of Ironstriders I haven't a clue yet on how I want to equip them.  My initial thoughts are to make them 2 Sydonian Dragoons with Phosphor Serpentas for 110 points but I'm still on the fence.  If I did that though I'd pick up another 2 boxes and make 2 Ironstrider Ballistarii.

 

I have also pre-ordered 2 boxes of Sicarian Infiltrators with hopes to make a 5 man Infiltrator squad and a 5 man Ruststalker squad, but that's a whole different story!

I would pass on the ironstriders and just go for the Onager Dunewalkers-  2 ironstriders are about 120pts and 100$, one Onager is 90-125 pts for 66$ with much better weaponry and a more resilient profile.

I should have mentioned that the Ironstriders would be on top of 2-3 Dunewalkers lol.

 

True this army is a shooting army (minus Ruststalkers) but with the ebb and flow of a game your shooting army will find themselves in a melee from time to time.  This fact may cause you to use your melee Doctrinas some turns against better judgment. 

 

Once people understand this army better I feel like that may be one way to counter them get them tied up in melee forcing you to use melee Doctrinas instead of the Ranged ones.  In that case an Alpha, while not a melee head-turner, is better than nothing when it comes to melee.  That was my thought process.

 

I bought 2 boxes of Rangers, 1 will be a 10 man Ranger squad and 1 will be a 10 man Vanguard squad.  I also bought 2 boxes of Ironstriders.  Right now I'm struggling to figure out how I want to equip everything.

 

Here is what I've been thinking:

 

10x Rangers with 6x Galvanic Rifles, 2x Transuranic Arquebus, and 1x Arc Rifle.  The Alpha will have an Arc Pistol and Taser Goad.  The squad will also have an Omnispex.  215 points

 

10x Vanguard with 6x Radium Carbines, 2x Plasma Calivers, and 1x Arc Rifle.  The Alpha will have an Arc Pistol and Taser Goad.  The squad will also have an Omnispex.  205 points

 

Do you guys think that these two squads are over kill?  As for the 2 boxes of Ironstriders I haven't a clue yet on how I want to equip them.  My initial thoughts are to make them 2 Sydonian Dragoons with Phosphor Serpentas for 110 points but I'm still on the fence.  If I did that though I'd pick up another 2 boxes and make 2 Ironstrider Ballistarii.

 

I have also pre-ordered 2 boxes of Sicarian Infiltrators with hopes to make a 5 man Infiltrator squad and a 5 man Ruststalker squad, but that's a whole different story!

I would pass on the ironstriders and just go for the Onager Dunewalkers-  2 ironstriders are about 120pts and 100$, one Onager is 90-125 pts for 66$ with much better weaponry and a more resilient profile.

 

 

I'm not sure yet that Onagers completely outclass Ironstriders.  The former do have really solid options for their cost, but they're large models and very slow.  Ironstriders are both fast and very accurate, but they do have survival problems due to AF11 Open-Topped.  One thing to keep in mind is that the Ironstriders weapons are all Cognis, making them incredibly good at hunting fast targets, and a small unit working the flanks with Autocannons might be just the thing for putting down dangerous enemy transports.

I should have mentioned that the Ironstriders would be on top of 2-3 Dunewalkers lol.

 

True this army is a shooting army (minus Ruststalkers) but with the ebb and flow of a game your shooting army will find themselves in a melee from time to time.  This fact may cause you to use your melee Doctrinas some turns against better judgment. 

 

Once people understand this army better I feel like that may be one way to counter them get them tied up in melee forcing you to use melee Doctrinas instead of the Ranged ones.  In that case an Alpha, while not a melee head-turner, is better than nothing when it comes to melee.  That was my thought process.

 

I agree, some hand to hand ability is better than none, i'm going for an arc pistol/ pwr wpn combo on my Vanguard Alpha (if any unit is going to get caught in CC its going to be Vanguard's , the pwr wpn will be like Str4 since any unit in CC with the Vanguard unit suffers -1 Toughness due to Rad poisoning...

 

Mithril 

I guess I see your point with upgrading the CC prowess, I'm just not a fan of upgrades you may never use.  I think the Taser Goad is a good bargain for what it brings (he's now S5, so he can punch the odd tank if necessary), but otherwise I feel the pistols are the hot ticket right now.  That said, if you dig into the Relics of Mars you'll find the Phase Taser which can scare the occasional low Ld multi-wound model and the Pater Radium, which can absolutely devastate low-Toughness opponents that decide to engage your Skitarii.  The costs are comparable to several of the Alpha's options, too, so they might be a way to go.

alright, so i'm going with option 2 for building my guys, and my arc rifle has the hoodie on because I do like it's look.

 

 

just gotta make the Arqubus soon and finish up the ranger squad.

 

 

 

will say that some of the feet are a pain in the usb-port to put on bases. usually only one foot is down so prop up the other with some spare bit.

My question to you: 

 

Is a 5 man Ranger/Vanguard squad too small?  If I drop a Sternguard squad down next to them I can likely wipe out the 5 man squad in one round of shooting it would be a bit harder to do that to a 10 man squad.  Do you plan on using your Skitarii as allies not a main detachment?

 

I am making my Skitarii as a main detachment where I will use a Knight Titan and maybe ally my Black Templars.  With that I feel that since Rangers/Vanguard are the only Troop choice and they lack a Dedicated Transport (I know I can ally to get one) I don't think they do MSU very well at all, thus my thought on full 10 man squads. 

 

What's your take? 

I'm going to start with three boxes and make the following:

 

Vanguard (10)

-x3 Plasma Caliver, Omnispex, Phosphor Blast Pistol + Arc Maul

 

Rangers (10)

-x3 Transuranic Arquebus, Omnispex

 

Rangers (10)

-x3 Arc Rifles, Omnispex, Arc Pistol

 

For a total of 600 + 15 clams. Should give me a good troop base that I can work with, multiple deadly threats on the field.

Alternatively, could go MSU for more special weapons and get something like this:

 

Rangers (5)

-x2 Arc Rifles

 

Rangers (5)

-x2 Arc Rifles

 

Vanguard (5)

-x2 Plasma Caliver

 

Vanguard (5)

-x2 Plasma Caliver

 

Rangers (5)

-x2 Transuranic Arquebus

 

Rangers (5)

-x2 Transuranic Arquebus

 

Throw in Omnispexes and Alphas with pistols where necessary, saturate the field with multiple glass cannons. 

So should I get the plasma gun instead? I still have to decide on the sniper or something else.

funny enough, im at the same point you are with this...and following the same path too. after swapping some bursts of data with Rashbold about equipment choices etc

im starting my force with your option 2 also.

Option 2:

5 rangers with 1 sniper, omni-spex - have done this

5 vanguard with 1 arc rifle, omni-spex

-alpha with arc pistol - have done this also but added a pwr wpn to the alpha

what do you mean about should you get the plasma(cavalier)..if you made the above option you have no models left blink.png or have you not made the vanguard squad and are trying to decide differently?

i would (later on when you have more models) go with a squad with 3x plasma cavaliers.

Mithril

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