Watching Out 2: Veterans

[Masked Thespian]

Sergeant is good if you have another character in the squad that you don't want to get challenged. Or you can give him a storm shield and use him to tank character attacks through challenge.

He can also take an auspex which is very good in close ranged squads.

I hadn't considered the possibility of taking a Storm Shield to tank challenges, but the fact that he isn't getting a bonus for two weapons to begin with means that the downside doesn't affect him. It's something to consider, especially considering the relative cheapness of it. Plus, the idea of having a "breacher" model with the tower shield-style Deathwatch Storm Shield and a Boltgun seems like a pretty cool conversion opportunity.

I'm not so sure of the Auspex. I'm giving up one model's shooting in order to reduce an enemy unit's cover save by 1 (and isn't cumulative with multiple uses). But the squad comes with Dragonfire Bolts as standard that ignore cover to begin with. I'm not sure it's worth the points to do that.

How does this sound for a general load out for Veterans?

10 Veterans with 2 Frag Cannons, and 1 Heavy Thunder Hammer (300 points)

Why not 4 Frag Cannons?

Because... Well, you see... That is, to say, I...

Frankly, there isn't a reason I can think of. I guess there's a part of me that doesn't want to because I know it's the most powerful option and another part of me that doesn't want to because it's making an already expensive squad even more expensive, but neither of them are really screaming, "DON'T DO IT" at me. When I'm done with my Deathwatch army, I'm planning on probably getting around 8-10 boxes of Veterans, so ironically I'm not even opposed to doing this on grounds of not having enough bits to do it with.

That'd pump the cost of the squad up to 350 points (360 if I take mika_angelus's advice to take a Watch Sergeant with Storm Shield) which would make two squads almost half of a 1500 point army. That's a lot of points. But they are capable of dishing out a decent amount of damage.

[mika_angelus]

 

 

I'm not so sure of the Auspex.  I'm giving up one model's shooting in order to reduce an enemy unit's cover save by 1 (and isn't cumulative with multiple uses).  But the squad comes with Dragonfire Bolts as standard that ignore cover to begin with.  I'm not sure it's worth the points to do that.

 

 

It costs only a melta bomb, you still got your bolter and you do not have to use it. If you got melta guns in the squad or you happen to go against some vehicles/monstrous creatures it is well worth the points. Remember that you can also use it on a different unit then the one your squad will shoot at. It's a cheap and very usefull upgrade and you do not need it on every squad. I usually take two auspexes in an army.

[Vash]

The Auspex I use in two units as mika_angelus. Luckily I have librarians in these units so the veterans are free to use their boltguns/special weapons. It really does wonders against vehicles. They are usually hiding behind a wall to survive. Once could argue that a drop pod will be good to avoid cover saves for vehicles, but more often than not, the scatter messes these things up. For a low cost, the auspex assures a better chance to crack the vehicle open. 

[Prot]

I also throw a few Auspex's in my army. It's because the Frag Cannon doesn't get those deny cover rounds and sometimes that's when you need it most. Don't forget a Sargent can do target a squad with the Auspex, and that unit is affected period. So a different squad could fire at it. I often use Auspex's on Flyerss... (great against Nurgle DP's), and the Jink is reduced... or like I said I'll just set it up for a different squad to truly take advantage of it.

 

I will say a LIbrarian often works, because you might pay for the Terminator upgrade, but he doesn't have a weapon by default so I find I FEEL like I'm not wasting points by putting an Auspex on something with a bolter, and having to make that decision. Just my 2 cents.