Thoughts on Melta Bombs?

[Mr. Poe]

So I've been throwing some list together for 8th edition the last few weeks, and by a few I mean an unhealthy amount. 

 

With my Raven Guard I tend to stay away from tanks and fliers and try to keep a more marine based force with assault troops, scouts and land speeders. This of course puts me at the difficult position of squeezing as much my anti-tank fire power as I can from units that might not be as effective at it. 

 

For example, I might run double multimeltas on my land speeders, missile launchers in scouts squads, heavy weapons in sternguard and devestators etc...

 

One of my go to options has always been melta bombs on my vanguards. As I was going over the rules I saw that the melta bomb was a grenade with a 4" range. That seemed fine to me until I realized that grenades can't be used in the fight phase and must be used in the shooting phase. Hmmm...this seems like a big nerf to my favorite explosive...

 

I'm kind of struggling to come up with a scenario where a 4" range shooting attack would come in handy...For example take a basic vanguard squad with melta bombs; your options are:

1. Deepstrike 9" away from target and shoot. [melta bomb wont be in range]
2. Deepstrike 9" away and charge. [melta bomb can't be used in close combat]
3. Walk the Vanguards to the target and "shoot" the melta bomb when within 4"

Option 3 is the only way to make this work, right? I'm not missing anything? This is kind of a bummer as exposing vanguard veterans usually means your vv's wont be on the board the next turn. Also, most of my targets for melta bombs were usually the enemies back field support vehicles which will be difficult to reach without getting shot to pieces.

 

At least if the melta bombs were usable in combat you have a chance to get the charge off, now they seem kind of neutered.  

 

What do you guys think? Am I missing something?

[Kua]

You still can charge after throwing the bomb, don’t you?

This means you throw it every time you happen by coincidence to only have a 3" charge.

Also, with jumping gunslinger vanguard, you can leave combat, shoot and throw the grenade if you expect it to make difference. Ofc. you will be shot and charged next turn if the enemy has enough left on the board, but if the enemy is a lone flying unit and there is no benefit in binding it in combat, it could be an option.

[Mr. Poe]

You can charge after you throw it, yea. That's just the most uncomfortable situation to be in IMO.

 

I guess hiding vanguard veterans in your deployment zone, hopefully out of LOS, and using them as a counter charge unit is the safest way to go.

[Kua]

It’s only one grenade per unit anyway, so I’d just ignore them until there appears a situation where I can actually use them by chance.