Sentinels and 8th Edition

[Inquisitor Fox]

I've always loved Sentinels, and they provide wonderful mobile heavy weapons support for my Storm Troopers and Inquisition force.  Yes, I'm aware they take a -1 for moving with a heavy weapon now, but I think the durability and movement will still be good.

 

Previous edition the Armored Sentinel with autocannon seemed like the best all around choice, and it's what I was building my Sentinels towards.  Granted I have two of those, then 3 other models of the old old Sentinel kits, so having to bits three armored canopies is proving problematic.

 

Which leads to my question, how about the Armored vs Scout Sentinel in 8th edition?

 

Fundamentally, it seems like it's a 1 power level/5 point upgrade, losing scout and one inch of movement, and gaining 1 armor save and the ability to take a plasma cannon (which seems a sort of meh option).

 

Is it really an auto upgrade now still?  How do Scout Sentinels play on the table in reality?  With the intention of being forward units and fire support for infantry who don't have a heavy weapon option, backed up by things like Land Raiders, Chimeras, Valkyries... which really seem to make more sense?  Double down on Armored for two squadrons, or go with a squadron of each?  My Armored squadron is autocannon, but do things like a missile launcher make more sense now?  Multilaser seems kind of... meh...

[Bmseifer]

I'm toying with the idea of 3 scout sentinels with flamer as a flank harassing threat. Haven't done the numbers yet and maybe a hellhound variant is better

[Mr. Moe]

I'm toying with the idea of 3 scout sentinels with flamer as a flank harassing threat. Haven't done the numbers yet and maybe a hellhound variant is better

 

The cool thing with the scout move is being able to deny the enemy more deepstrike options with them having to be more than 9" away from your models, it could be very useful in some circumstances. 

 

I think I'd go heavy flamer on scout (advance to deny deepstriking) and lascannon on armored sentinels (parking in the backfield basically being a fireteam)

[zero88]

Scouts also seem good for using their scout move to set themselves up for a first round alpha strike volley without the minus 1 penalty. A scout Sentinel with a lascannon or missile launcher and a HK missile is only 61 pts but has the potential to do a lot of damage to a hard target

[ThatOneMarshal]

The Sentinel power walker is looking interesting. It has a 9 inch movement and strikes at STR 10 -2 AP. And its only 3 points more than a Bullgryn. Seems like a nice counter charging

 

The normal sentinels are incredible fragile, however they seemed to be a mechanized version of a heavy weapons team. They are actually pretty good in a mechanised list because the enemy AT is going to be pointed at your scary tanks, leaving your tiny sentinel to be free to go and fire it's lascannon

[Sawtooth]

I'm planning on bringing 3 individual Sentinels just so I can satisfy the Brigade detachment requirements. I like heavy flamers on scout sentinels because they're fast and I want them moving, and combined with the heavy aiming penalty for moving the heavy flamer seems built for the role. Unfortunately I don't feel the sentinal chainsaw, cheap though it is, brings enough to actually be worth even it's tiny price.

I like armored sentinels with long range guns because ideally I'm going to park them in cover and not move most of the game, so the increased save becomes more attractive. This edition I think of armored sentinels as heavy weapons teams that can pick up and move more quickly, so lascannons and autocannons seem like the most ideal choices. I'd even consider a hunter-killer missiles on armored sentinels. The plasma cannon I'm less certain about because of reduced range.

[major higgins]

With a deepstriking terminators squad in alpha strike wich are going to prolify, three scout sentinel are pretty indispensable now...

[spafe]

I was planning to use 3 scouts to fill out my fast attack brigade requirements and force back early deep strikers, although everything I've read says multi lasers are poor now, which is annoying as mine are old ones with them glued in. Is it worth me ripping them off and trying to get soemthing else to put there? Or is this in very competative terms they are sub par and considering I'm just doing power level games it'll not be too much of a disadvantage?

[WarriorFish]

I used Sentinels a fair bit in 7th and got a lot from them, the movement penalty is unkind - I wish there was a Walker keyword that ignored it but I'll take an improvement to durability. Flamer Sentinels are more inviting for it, but I'm not sure about Armoured Sentinels yet. Perhaps they'll do better keeping enemy units busy?

[Inso]

Seeing as you guys are talking about Sentinels, can you answer me a question?

 

How does a Sentinel's stats compare to an Ogryn's? 

 

Are they about the same or completely different?

 

I am making an ogre sniper and want to use scout sentinel rules for him :)

[Zectz]

In 7th I liked Plasma Cannons on sentinels because it was a cheap way to include Plasma Cannons in an AM list except Leman Russ sponsons, which were never taken really because of Ordnance rules.

 

Now unfortunately with the overcharge rules on Plasma weapons, in 8th it's better to have overcharge Plasma on cheap units you can spam and don't care if they die to overcharge (infantry/special Weapon Squads with 7 point plasma guns) or on a unit which you can guarantee reroll hits (Leman Russ tank orders, Scions orders).

 

If a Sentinel overcharges it's Plasma Cannon and rolls a 1 it's a much bigger loss and even though it's a vehicle it doesn't have a rule like the Leman Russ to avoid killing itself outright. And they can't receive orders to get any sort of reroll (unless you are Catachan and bring Harker escorted by sentinels lol....)

 

So yeah unfortunately I don't think Plasma cannon is great on Sentinels anymore. It's a shame because I have 1 with the loadout because it looks awesome. I think now the way to go is scout Sentinels with Heavy Flamers or armoured with autocannons/multi lasers. Speaking of which we having seen multi lasers talked about much....

[Tallarn Commander]

I'm excited to see how my sentinel recon lists will do in 8th. On one hand I lost outflank, but on the other hand:

-Since brigades can take up to 5 fast attacks I no longer have to resort to the old double CAD shenanigans to work all 15 sentinels into a list.

-On paper, with a 4+ save and 6 wounds my scout sentinels seem more survivable than any previous edition. I'll have to test this out of course. In the one 8th edition game against Eldar where I used an armored sentinel it was definitely way more durable than it has ever been in any previous edition. Time will tell if the same is true of the scout variant.

-Sentinel chainsaws! I'm already raiding my ork bitxbox so I can give each of my walkers one of these. I'd like to think my orks would approve of this theft. :)

-9 inch pre-battle movement plus a 9 inch regular movement finally means my little chicken walkers are true fast attacks!

-Sentinel demo bombs are back. Back in 3rd edition my sentinels often did more damage to the enemy by exploding in melee than they did in the actual melee. The rules/codex creep in 5th through 7th reduced my sentinels' ability to hurt the enemy when they exploded. Now that's back since we have a 1 in 6 chance to do a wound when we die and it's a mortal wound. Yay!

-As you all mentioned, lascannons, missile launchers, and heavy flamers seem to be the best weapons for sents this edition. Luckily mine are all magnetized.

 

All in all, I'm looking forward to using both sentinel variants in 8th!

[duz_]

Zectz I am not sure how you came to that conclusion on Plasma cannons?
The new addition gave you an optional additional and improved profile while the standard profile that has been in most previous additions got the benefit of losing Get Hots.
Yes the supercharged profile will remove the unit entirely, but that's the risk reward aspect.
The down side is the fact that youre only getting D3 shots @ BS5+ if you move. However that is the case for all weapons except the heavy flamer.

TC I agree with your points. Although I am disappointed the Sentinel chainsword is only AP-1 and not +1A as I was almost going to add them on for that!

I think scout sentinals are probably best with heavy flamers and counter attack / deep strike denial roles.
The armoured ones I am not sure of yet. I do need to finish my 3 metal / plastic armoured ones and see how they fair on the battle field.

Edited June 29, 2017 by duz_

[Zectz]

Zectz I am not sure how you came to that conclusion on Plasma cannons?

The new addition gave you an optional additional and improved profile while the standard profile that has been in most previous additions got the benefit of losing Get Hots.

Yes the supercharged profile will remove the unit entirely, but that's the risk reward aspect.

The down side is the fact that youre only getting D3 shots @ BS5+ if you move. However that is the case for all weapons except the heavy flamer.

That's my point though.... I love Plasma this edition, what I was saying is that the Sentinel is probably the worst platform to use it for the reasons I said. The risk vs reward varies so much on who is using it. It's a vehicle with 6 wounds without a special rule to avoid killing itself outright compared to the Leman Russ. Why use Sentinels to bring Plasma to your army when you can bring Plasma on cheap expendable guardsmen or on a Leman russ which can tank the wounds without killing itself in a single turn?

 

Or why bring it on a Sentinel when you can bring it on guardsmen and Leman Russ tanks which can both easily secure reroll of 1's to hit? It just doesn't make sense to bring Plasma on a Sentinel compared to these other options.

Edited June 29, 2017 by Zectz

[major higgins]

I had few games till now... Scout sentinels will have great time now, but all of us have to keep in mind that they will die quickly enough, so don't go mad.

 

Wich weapon is the best? Well they are in movement most of the time, so every heavy choice will drop us to a mere 5+ to hit. Heavy flamer are the best, but one of the most expensive choice. I will say multilaser, not for it's shining profile but:

 

1)  3 shots = better chance to hit something

 

2)  Sentinel are great to engage nemy armor, or poorely armed infantry, not for their killing ability, but to lock it in combat and force our opponents on the choice between stay in combat and do nothing, or move away and for one turn don't shoot at us.

 

Obviously that if you have spare points H. Flamer is the best setting.

[duz_]

I had some Bolter Scouts assault a Scout Sentinel on my second game.

It ended up tying up my Scouts for the rest of the game, with little damage being done on either side, but neither of us willing to fallback! 

[Beaky Brigade]

So how mad would it be to start a 'Sentinel Cavalry' Regiment in 8th edition? I want to flood the field with nose art adorned sentinels. I suppose with the 3/4 variants we can take it would have some room for variety.

Edited June 29, 2017 by Beaky Brigade

[Withershadow]

The Sentinel Lifters from the Index are actually pretty beastly.  They may be the best variant of the Scouts.

 

Instead of a heavy flamer, you have 3 melee attacks at S10 AP-2 and D3 damage.

Edited June 29, 2017 by Withershadow