[SWA] Best Scout loadouts?

[Kastor Krieg]

I'm sitting down to kitbash about 15 Scouts, for my Templar Neophyte list, looking for the best possible loadouts. 

I already have 4 camo cloak + sniper rifle scouts from 40k, a LOT of the BP + CCW metal types and four shotgun dudes. So these are already covered. I also have my Sword Brother covered by the Telion miniature, unless I should specifically add something to it, like a power weapon (he has a silenced bolter with a sniper scope on it and a camo cloak.

For the rest, I need guidance on what to model for SWA specifically. 

 

I have 15 leg sets and 16 bodies (4 of those are camo cloaks). I have an abundance of Marine weapon bits and of the Scout-specific ones I have 4 sniepr rifles and 8 shotguns left. It's feasible for me to magnetize arms and switch weapons if need be.

I assume I will need some bolter dudes, a heavy weapon dude (HB?). Some of them will need to be permanently kitbashed onto the cloaked bodies.

Please advise!

Edited April 18, 2017 by Brother Tyler
Tags edited

[Eddie Orlock]

Optimal loadout will depend upon your combat environment, both the terrain of engagement and the nature of the opposition.

 

Please advise on what you think you'll be up against and the density of the theater.

[Kastor Krieg]

Fairly to very dense 4"x 4", some vertical variety, some fire lanes possible. All comers.

[Brother Valor]

I'm sort of in the same situation. I have a lot of neophytes from my Templar days with various weapons. I'm building a couple of Heavy Bolter scouts one with a cloak & one without. I also have two build out a team scouts with cloaks. I'm going to try to magnetize them to swap out their weaponry.

[Brother-Chaplain Kage]

Back when I still played, I had a winning strategy: Roll enough dice and you'll kill anything (that you can conceivably wound). To start out with, I'd pack as many bodies into the list as possible with minimal gear and then work on upgrading them as you earn promethium.

[Kastor Krieg]

Sure, but I want to have models painted beforehand :D

[Eddie Orlock]

Fairly to very dense 4"x 4", some vertical variety, some fire lanes possible. All comers.

So, all comers, in a dense area. Alright, you'll want some tools to deal with the few but tough, some to deal with numerous by squishy, some to deal with the stand off and shooties, and some to deal with those that get up close and personal. Also, you're into Templars, right? I've skewed my narrative choices toward that.

 

Sergeant

- Camo Cloak

- Clip Harness

- Assault Blade

- Sniper Rifle

- Telescopic Sight

 

Gunner

- Camo Cloak

- Clip Harness

- Heavy Bolter

 

Noviate

- Shotgun

 

Noviate

- Shotgun

 

Noviate

- Shotgun

 

Noviate

- Camo Cloak

- Assault Blade

- Bolt Pistol

 

Alright. The 'Sword Brother' with his rifle can narratively take up a perch to oversee his charges and support them as they gain combat experience. His telescopic sniper rifle will let you out reach most teams that try to 'play the range game' and force them to come to you or create blind spots to give your neophytes a chance to secure the loots. It also auto-wounds, making it a good choice if you encounter someone who has invested in high toughness targets. He's packed his sword, 'cause he's a sword brother after all, and it provides serious insurance should he get ambushed into a close assault.

 

Our gunner's brought a heavy bolter because sustained fire is your best friend. If the environment's target rich, you can pin 'em all. If it's thin on the field, it lets you take care of business against the one guy you can see. The reality is that most likely he'll spend most of his games camped out somewhere overlooking the objectives on overwatch, the very presence of the heavy machine gun acting as a suppressant to control where the enemy manoeuvers.

 

Three noviates with shotguns, they hunt as a team. Three small blasts that help us deal with large numbers of weak combatants. Also the buckshot has a hard cover mitigating ability, and being a template you might be able to pin multiple enemies at once and pinning can be a big deal against numerous, but low initiative foes, like orks. Also, read up on pinning on a ledge and let the sprawl hurt them for you.

 

The noviate with the cloak and dagger is a bit of a roving trouble shooter on this team. He's there to act as a reserve to bail out any of your shot gunners that get close assaulted and serve as a counter charge element. Alternatively you send him on flaking missions where he uses his camo and fast movement to get the drop on enemy fire support units. If nothing else, he may draw fire from hidden fire support your own fire support would ordinarily be able to pick off if it weren't hiding. When they shoot they lose hiding.

[Race Bannon]

Campaign or goof off games?

[Seahawk]

You can't have more than half your list be Novitiates.

[Eddie Orlock]

You can't have more than half your list be Novitiates.

Shhhh! Can't you see I got four likes for it.

 

Alright, we amend it by upgrading cloak and stagger guy to a regular, ditching his sword and camo cloak. Also abandon the gunner's cloak.

[NTaW]

 

You can't have more than half your list be Novitiates.

Shhhh! Can't you see I got four likes for it.

 

Alright, we amend it by upgrading cloak and stagger guy to a regular, ditching his sword and camo cloak. Also abandon the gunner's cloak.

What about this option?

 

Leader- sniper rifle w. toxic rounds, camo, photo visor

Trooper- assault blade, bolt pistol

Specialist- heavy bolter

New Recruit x3- shotgun each

[Kastor Krieg]

Huge thanks, Eddie, that's a great brainstorm. Appreciated! 

[DadJokes]

I'm a big proponent of buying my heavy weapon after the first mission. You don't need to have a killer team on game 1, but positioning yourself to make the best use of your resupplies is crucial.

 

I don't know much about Templar fluff, but I've been struggling to build my Dark Angels list, and I think this is what I settled on.

 

++ Kill Team (Space Marine Scouts) [1000pts] ++

And They Shall Know No Fear

 

+ Uncategorised +

 

Chapter: Angels of Redemption

 

+ Leader +

 

Scout Sergeant [330pts]: Chainsword, Clip harness, Photo-visor

. Noisy, Parry

. Sniper rifle: Red-dot laser sight, Telescopic sight

. . Silent, Sniper Weapon

 

+ Troopers +

 

Scout [200pts]: Camo gear, 2x Chainsword

. Noisy, Parry

. Bolt pistol: Red-dot laser sight

 

+ Specialists +

 

Scout Gunner [170pts]: Camo gear, Clip harness

. Bolt pistol: Red-dot laser sight

 

+ New Recruits +

 

Novitiate Scout [100pts]: Camo gear, Shotgun

 

Novitiate Scout [100pts]: Camo gear, Shotgun

 

Novitiate Scout [100pts]: Camo gear, Shotgun

 

Created with BattleScribe

 

This gives your sniper to the most able body, a dedicated CC threat, and camo across most of the team to protect your threats and increase the effectiveness of the shotgun group. You also have the points to strap a red dot on all 3 shotguns!

 

Some points juggling let's you run two troopers with snipers for triangulation of fire and area denial. Combine that with the heavy bolter at the start of mission 2 and you can make it very hard for your opponent to advance on your position.

[Beams]

I've found sniper rifle with toxic rounds to be absolutely lethal against me.

[Mcrat]

I'm going with the following for my starting team:

• Sergeant with Sniper Rifle, RDLS
  
• 3 x Scout with Boltguns and Photo-Visors
  
• 1 x Gunner with Heavy Bolter
  

Plan is to recruit 4 x Novitate scouts with Shotgun + Camo gear for 100 points each to bring my total kill team size to 9 (so 3 down before bottle test). Then once they become full scouts, upgrade their gear to whatever I need at the time.

[FlamingDeth]

I don't think I have it in me to put a red dot on a shotgun regardless of in game effectiveness.

[DadJokes]

I've been trying to quantify the value of the missile launcher as well as the weapons available to other factions that sir above the 200pt mark. These can only, save one skill choice, be taken at team creation. Is this limited access accounted for in their points cost? Are we getting a discount in exchange for the massive opportunity cost.

 

This send to incentivize teams to front load purchases of high cost items, and to spend additional points protecting them.

 

I pushed some ideas around on paper and came to this extreme list:

Sargent: Bolt pistol, chainsword

Scout: Sniper rifle, clip harness

Gunner: Missile launcher w/frag & krak ammo, clip harness, photo-visor

Gunner: Bolt pistol, clip harness

Noviciate: Shotgun

 

After the first game, the second Gunner gains a heavy bolter and photo-visor. His pistol should be given to the sniper.

 

This is a massive investment in order to have two equipped Gunners to start the second mission.

[Chaplain Raeven]

I don't think I have it in me to put a red dot on a shotgun regardless of in game effectiveness.

 

Those are laser sights, that's why targets facing the shooter get a 6++ save. I'm fine with logic as long as you can't place a scope on a shotgun

[DadJokes]

My scouts ended the first mission with 3 dead noviciates and a captured sniper, so I get to try something new! This time I'm looking at making my snipers better at keeping targets down, and focusing on the strengths of each fighters profile.

 

Scout Sergeant [285pts]: Assault blade, Chainsword

. Bolt pistol: Red-dot laser sight

 

Scout [190pts]: Clip harness

. Sniper rifle: Red-dot laser sight, Toxic rounds

 

Scout [190pts]: Clip harness

. Sniper rifle: Red-dot laser sight, Toxic rounds

 

Scout [185pts]: Assault blade, Chainsword

. Bolt pistol: Red-dot laser sight

 

Scout Gunner [150pts]: Bolt pistol, Photo-visor

 

My chapter, Angels of Redemption, focus on combat, shooting, and stealth skills. The noviciates' lower WS/BS makes them much less valuable melee or while holding expensive guns. So I've decided to maximize my snipers for area denial. Under their cover, my CC fighters can advance into position to get into melee.

[Ioldanach]

I finally got to play yesterday, though I was just experimenting and learning the rules. Since time is a commodity I have very little of, and I will only play if I have painted minis (that just applies to me, I don't hold my opponent to that standard), the squad level skirmish games like SWA, Necromunda, and Kill Team are perfect for me. I'll wait until we get new rules for Enforcers before I invest in Necromunda (still have a squad in the box). In the meantime, since I had so much fun yesterday, I'm working on some kill teams for SWA. One of those teams is a Space Marine Scout kill team, so I figured I'd run my ideas across more experienced players for their input.
 
I'm building the list for campaign play with an eye towards how it will grow through the campaign. I'm also building it as a Legio B&C kill team in scout armor (to complement my Legio B&C kill team in power armor using the Grey Knights Kill Team rules), mostly because I want to play with the idea of each fighter being a scout from a different chapter (i.e., some variation in the appearance of the models regarding their shoulder pads). So to that end, I'm adapting the idea of the Space Wolves Wolf Scouts rules (i.e., no novitiates).
 
Here's my initial list for you to chew up and spit out:
 
SCOUT SERGEANT w/ boltgun, bolt pistol, combat blade, red-dot laser sight, and clip harness
SCOUT GUNNER w/ sniper rifle, bolt pistol, combat blade, telescopic sight, clip harness, and camo gear
SCOUT GUNNER w/ sniper rifle, bolt pistol, combat blade, telescopic sight, clip harness, and camo gear
SCOUT w/ shotgun, bolt pistol, and combat blade
SCOUT w/ shotgun, bolt pistol, and combat blade
 
The concept is that there are two elements - the maneuver element and the fire support element.
 
The fire support element consists of the gunners with their sniper rifles. They sit back and shoot, covering the advance of the maneuver element.
 
The maneuver element consists of the sergeant and the shotgun scouts. They advance to the enemy, using their firepower en route; then they engage the enemy in melee if necessary.
 
While one game isn't sufficient to quantify proper tactics, I found that ammo rolls didn't come up. So I've skipped ammo reloads in this starting list, instead opting for a bolt pistol as a backup weapon. The advantage here is that it gives each fighter an extra die in assault when coupled with their combat blades.
 
I've included two gunners in the starting list simply because they're expensive and I want to both maximize their fire support role (higher BS with the sniper rifles) and allow them to get better weaponry through the campaign. My initial campaign progression would probably be to add more bodies early on, then improve weaponry and equipment. Much of the specific progression would really depend upon the other forces in the campaign, so I'm not going to straightjacket myself with guesses right now. Ultimately, I would want to give my gunners the heavy weapons (most likely heavy bolter for one and missile launcher for the other) with shooty scouts (those with BS advances) getting sniper rifles. I would have roughly half of the team be fire support (so two gunners and three snipers) and half of the team would be maneuver (the sergeant would eventually get a power sword).
 
At least, that's my initial guess. Any advice to improve this list/plan would be appreciated.