Starting Out 3: Sicarian Infiltrators and Ruststalkers

[Vel'Cona]

Welp, I'm holding off on assembling mine until I see how the rest of the list plays out.  I'm sort of in a similar situation that I have plenty of anti-tank already, but I'm not sure if limiting the squad to essentially MEQ killers is the answer, either.  I did notice that the Flechete Blaster has Shred, which is something I didn't see in the spoilers and it does narrow the gap between the two options more.  Luckily I have my Onager and the Skitarii themselves to focus on for now!

[Vash]

Welp, I'm holding off on assembling mine until I see how the rest of the list plays out.  I'm sort of in a similar situation that I have plenty of anti-tank already, but I'm not sure if limiting the squad to essentially MEQ killers is the answer, either.  I did notice that the Flechete Blaster has Shred, which is something I didn't see in the spoilers and it does narrow the gap between the two options more.  Luckily I have my Onager and the Skitarii themselves to focus on for now!

Hmm, I totally missed that shred rule!

Thanks for that find. Been going after the WD profiles, and once I got the enhanced version I thought everything would be the same...

[Aethernitas]

I did notice that the Flechete Blaster has Shred, which is something I didn't see in the spoilers and it does narrow the gap between the two options more.  Luckily I have my Onager and the Skitarii themselves to focus on for now!

If it helps you decide - the Flechette Blaster does pretty much exactly the same wounds on MEQ as the carbines. The range is shorter ofc but the taser goads more than make up for that.

[Marshal Ommadon]

If you take a Battle Maniple and choose the Infiltrator Princeps as your Warlord you can get Preferred Enemy for the squad thus giving you re-rolls of a 1 To Hit and re-rolls To Wound from Shred.  Taking the Blasters also gives you +1 attack in CC and when you pair that with Preferred Enemy that's a lot more chances to score 6s to generate more free Taser hits too!

[Dusktiger]

If you take a Battle Maniple and choose the Infiltrator Princeps as your Warlord you can get Preferred Enemy for the squad thus giving you re-rolls of a 1 To Hit and re-rolls To Wound from Shred.  Taking the Blasters also gives you +1 attack in CC and when you pair that with Preferred Enemy that's a lot more chances to score 6s to generate more free Taser hits too!

the blasters aren't pistols; they're burst pistols.  until GW adds an errata to the BRB adding burst pistol as a new weapon type that adds +1 attack in CC, it's likely we're supposed to treat it like how we treat assault weapons.  If would be nice if it gives the extra attack, but its probably unlikely it does.

[Annatar Giftbringer]

On the other hand, if they weren't meant to act as pistols, why not just call them assault 5 weapons?

[Zembar]

 

If you take a Battle Maniple and choose the Infiltrator Princeps as your Warlord you can get Preferred Enemy for the squad thus giving you re-rolls of a 1 To Hit and re-rolls To Wound from Shred. Taking the Blasters also gives you +1 attack in CC and when you pair that with Preferred Enemy that's a lot more chances to score 6s to generate more free Taser hits too!

 

the blasters aren't pistols; they're burst pistols. until GW adds an errata to the BRB adding burst pistol as a new weapon type that adds +1 attack in CC, it's likely we're supposed to treat it like how we treat assault weapons. If would be nice if it gives the extra attack, but its probably unlikely it does.

But the burst pistol rule says that burst pistols are treated as pistols except they fire five shots. Hence the +1A. They'd also get gunslinger if you could take two...

[Vash]

[burst Pistol]

"A weapon with this special rule fires five shots when fired, but is otherwise treated as a Pistol."

 

 

I don't think they need an errata really. It already states in the codex (which is prioritised over the BRB) that it is treated as a pistol, meaning all its rules. In the enhanced version they even mention the gunslinger rule for the flechette blaster. 

[Vel'Cona]

I like the idea of making the Sicarian Princeps (either unit) the Warlord, except for the fact that now my Warlord is in an already very shooting-attracting unit.  I dunno, it seems like a high risk-reward situation that can be solved by simply adding The Omniscient Mask to the Sicarians (essentially Fearless and re-roll to hit in first combat round).  I suppose it saves a few points, but if you're taking Sicarians you're probably already looking away from a purely cost effectiveness standpoint, IMHO.

[Dusktiger]

 

 

If you take a Battle Maniple and choose the Infiltrator Princeps as your Warlord you can get Preferred Enemy for the squad thus giving you re-rolls of a 1 To Hit and re-rolls To Wound from Shred. Taking the Blasters also gives you +1 attack in CC and when you pair that with Preferred Enemy that's a lot more chances to score 6s to generate more free Taser hits too!

the blasters aren't pistols; they're burst pistols. until GW adds an errata to the BRB adding burst pistol as a new weapon type that adds +1 attack in CC, it's likely we're supposed to treat it like how we treat assault weapons. If would be nice if it gives the extra attack, but its probably unlikely it does.

But the burst pistol rule says that burst pistols are treated as pistols except they fire five shots. Hence the +1A. They'd also get gunslinger if you could take two...

 

i hadn't caught that the first time i read through, just that they make 5 hits after reading through all the additional hits rules the rest of the new wargear comes with as well.

[BassWave]

Oh my Omnissiah are taser ninjas good, especially with the mask. In my last couple games they have wrecked shop in my opponent's rear lines. Ill eventually try out the stalkers, but being able to cause -1 to bs, ws, and initiative has been huge vs marines.

[Marshal Ommadon]

I wouldn't count out Ruststalkers just yet.  I believe they have their place.  To me their biggest downside is the fact that we don't have a native transport vehicle (nor one with the Assault Vehicle special rule).  Besides that the Transonic Razor and Chordclaw Ruststalkers do sound appealing AP2 weapons (on 6s the first round and then guaranteed thereafter) are nothing to sneeze at.  Yes they are S4 but they do have Furious Charge though.  Coming from playing Tyranids it's nice to have a CC unit that has grenades and I like the Transonic weapon mechanic too!

[ronin_cse]

I wouldn't count out Ruststalkers just yet.  I believe they have their place.  To me their biggest downside is the fact that we don't have a native transport vehicle (nor one with the Assault Vehicle special rule).  Besides that the Transonic Razor and Chordclaw Ruststalkers do sound appealing AP2 weapons (on 6s the first round and then guaranteed thereafter) are nothing to sneeze at.  Yes they are S4 but they do have Furious Charge though.  Coming from playing Tyranids it's nice to have a CC unit that has grenades and I like the Transonic weapon mechanic too!

 

I think they will really come into their own if you take the formation. 3 Squads of them that can move 9", run 9", and then charge at least 4" would get some work done. At some point when I get all the models I plan on trying this out, if only because they look so cool! Although building that many won't be fun :(

[Marshal Ommadon]

Putting together both the Infiltrators and Ruststalkers has been lots of fun, at least for me!  I love the models, I only wish they gave you a set of spare legs to go with the extra torso you get but hey it's no big deal!

[CommodusXIII]

I'm on the fence about the Infiltrators myself, but I can't help but giggle at the thought of clubbing a Tactical Squad like the metro cops from Half-Life 2.  "Pick up that can, Marine!"

[Vash]

Ruststalkers are not to be overlooked. They bring some nice additions to the game.

Against Marines, they are great as they will probably not kill the unit outright, meaning they will stay in combat until next turn, thus protected from enemy shooting. The very next turn their weapons are AP2 and will probably chop down the remaining marines.

 

The Grenades they have are great too. They put so much pressure on vehicles.

[Rybnick]

Just got in my follow up order of 4 boxes of infiltrators/rustalkers for my formation, going to be running them primarily with GK at this point but I'm loving the models and they are proving pretty fun to paint so far. 

 

So I've purchased 5 boxes and I want to be sure and get the best bang for my gaming buck, with that in mind I'm looking at prospective builds for each unit. Please keep in mind these will pretty much always be run in the Sicarian Killclade formation. The infiltrators are the easiest pick in my opinion the taser goad/fleschette blaster is just so good and the 12" shooting band synch's well with the formation buff to neurostatic aura. The rustalkers are harder to land on, my initial instinct is to retain the transonic razor/chord claw set up because they are so darn versatile but their might be some appeal to having to having a squad with the transonic blades as well. Has anyone play tested this set up yet?

 

I'm thinking with my 5th box I'm going to use to make extra bodies for the rustalker squads in case I decide that having the ablative wounds is beneficial. 

 

regards,

Rybnick

[ronin_cse]

Putting together both the Infiltrators and Ruststalkers has been lots of fun, at least for me!  I love the models, I only wish they gave you a set of spare legs to go with the extra torso you get but hey it's no big deal!

 

I just didn't like how the legs went on, kind of hard to get them in the right position and more finicky than the other Skitarii models I have put together. The rest of the model is great though.

 

Just got in my follow up order of 4 boxes of infiltrators/rustalkers for my formation, going to be running them primarily with GK at this point but I'm loving the models and they are proving pretty fun to paint so far. 

 

So I've purchased 5 boxes and I want to be sure and get the best bang for my gaming buck, with that in mind I'm looking at prospective builds for each unit. Please keep in mind these will pretty much always be run in the Sicarian Killclade formation. The infiltrators are the easiest pick in my opinion the taser goad/fleschette blaster is just so good and the 12" shooting band synch's well with the formation buff to neurostatic aura. The rustalkers are harder to land on, my initial instinct is to retain the transonic razor/chord claw set up because they are so darn versatile but their might be some appeal to having to having a squad with the transonic blades as well. Has anyone play tested this set up yet?

 

I'm thinking with my 5th box I'm going to use to make extra bodies for the rustalker squads in case I decide that having the ablative wounds is beneficial. 

 

regards,

Rybnick

 

What about making the Infiltrator squad a 10 man? That way you can be more aggressive with infiltrating them to get the maximum benefit from the debuff aura.

[Rybnick]

@Ronin - brilliant and no idea why I didn't consider that option sooner, plus if I make the princeps my warlord it gives him a little cushion. That's the winner idea currently.  

[ronin_cse]

@Ronin - brilliant and no idea why I didn't consider that option sooner, plus if I make the princeps my warlord it gives him a little cushion. That's the winner idea currently.  

 

Just don't forget you only roll a D3 on the warlord table if he's an Infiltrator and since he wouldn't be from the Maniple he wouldn't confer preferred enemy on the squad.

 

Oh and I don't think you could re-roll on the table either :/

[Rybnick]

Ah good call, I had the maniple on the brain and had the idea that he gave them preferred enemy, so likely just keep the Warlord elsewhere, still more infiltrators seems like a good idea. 

[Vel'Cona]

I'm guessing that's an oversight. Sucks for the Killclade, though. Just confirms me not wanting to try it.

[Rybnick]

I play tested the killclade in a small game last night and have to say that hands down I like the razor/chord claw rustalker better, the +1S was a poor trade off for the flexibility of haywire grades and the fleshbane AP2 attacks in the second round of combat came in handy as well. Overall I enjoyed the speed of the rustalkers and the formation bonus of being able to run and assault for a single turn was a nice trick. I played them with my GK (nemesis strikeforce detachment), it was a lot of fun to have my units coming in on turn 1 or shunting forward turn 1 to distract from my sneaky metal men charging across the board. 

[ronin_cse]

I'm guessing that's an oversight. Sucks for the Killclade, though. Just confirms me not wanting to try it.

Well with the princeps only being able to roll D3 on the warlord table I think it's obvious that they want you to take an Alpha as a warlord instead. Pretty sure the intent is not to have your warlord in a Killclade. I don't know if I would want mine in there anyways, these types of units seem like they will run in right away and probably die soon after.

[Kilofix]

Sorry, I keep asking the same question - but have folks figured out if 5 man Infilmand / or Rusts are viable (as opposed to 10 man)?