Value of Transuranic Arquebus?

[templargdt]

Gents-

 

I am working on getting my admech army built, and I am mulling over building a few Rangers with the TA.  Frankly, it seems horribly overpriced to me.  I'm curious what people experienced with the army feel about it.  Thanks.

[CommodusXIII]

I've gotten some mileage with picking off Characters, particularly those with minor but annoying buffs.

[MithrilForge]

i guess its best to view it similar to a missile launcher...it's going to miss more than it hits   but when it hits it makes it cost back...usually 

it does also cause concern for your opponent in the fact they think it's a bigger threat than what it is and thus could redirect units to take it out...perhaps leaving your bots and onagers to fire freely for an extra turn ?!...

i'd suggest taking one at least in a unit of 5-10 rangers, sit them in strategic backfield location (which will deny your opponent some deepstrike area while your at it too) and use them as a casual harassment unit i.e. don't rely on winning the game with them  and take pot shots at targets of opportunity... 

If they work with your playstyle put more together and enjoy,if they don't then use one as a bullet magnet...

 

Mithril   

[SpiritFox22]

TA's have served me pretty well. Generally they're not amazing but they definitely do their job in most cases. I typically run 2x per 5 man rangers in 2-3 groups and park them in cover with omnispexs.

 

So far they have wither made their points back or pulled fire away from my other units when they snipe mid level characters off the map.

 

I mean they're the best snipers in the game and fishing for 6's is a bonus for them instead of the only thing you need. Strong enough to punch armor in a pinch and decent ap.

[Charlo]

Don't expect them to be a clutch and they'll be fine.

 

As people have said 5 man units with 2 Snipers sat on objectives is a sound plan, especially in cover. If you are doing this tough, be sure to take a few squads the same to focus fire.

[synthaside]

They are pretty much the only reliable, "infantry portable" heavy weapon we have access to that doesn't come on the abysmal 4+ to hit and overpriced Kataphron .

Yes, they are expensive,  so split them up you can take a whole ranger squad to babysit and bubble wrap against deep strikes for 35 points and due to the fact that we lack transports were going to be losing the deployment race anyway, i've taken to giving snipers 4 ablative wounds , I've found the best way to use them is to split them up into 2 5 man teams of  2 rifles or even  1 TUA and 1 Arc rifle and fire them last, only shooting at characters if there's not a viable damaged vehicle to target.

I dont know about the meta that has settled around where you are but for me, everyone is playing anti-tank infantry, So the value of any heavy weapon which isn't attached to a vehicle platform is a premium option.  All the others are getting erased by, Dark reapers / Shining Spears,  las-plas Devastators, or Imperial Gaurd Heavy weapons teams, even Hive Gaurd and the like wreck our only AT  the poor Onager with ease.

 

Eventually, you will hit all 4 and wound all 4 there amazing against t3 ;-) . with 1 of the wounds being a 6 ,  on a character that's pretty much certain death, but against a Razorback or predator that's  4 5+ save or  take  4 d3 plus 1 mortal wound,  I've seen onagers do Worse, especially when damaged.
 

Edited March 15, 2018 by synthaside

[Vel'Cona]

I feel like given our continued transport issues and the squishiness of Skitarii it's probably the only real way to use Rangers.  Vanguard want to play closer and naked (weapon-wise) to keep them cheap and get the most from their Radcarbines, so the TA has good synergy with Rangers.  I wouldn't expect them to survive past turn 2 unless things go very well your way, but they're a solid option for cheap-ish compulsory Troops.

[MajorNese]

Guess I'll have to try it out sometimes. For now, I'm just spamming rangers as cheap objective holders/deep strike blockers that can mostly still shoot at something, but don't actually do much. Just increasing the cost of a squishy expendable squad by two thirds by adding a single arquebus doesn't feel right...

[Tyriks]

I have yet to try the TA in 8th. Everyone loved it in 7th but I thought it was garbage so when more people were staying it was just okay I assumed it was much worse and never really looked into it until now. It actually seems like it could have some uses. Maybe my Rangers out of Forgebane will have some...

[brother_b]

They're great for PL games. Load them up and try them out unless all you play are points.

[SpiritFox22]

Guess I'll have to try it out sometimes. For now, I'm just spamming rangers as cheap objective holders/deep strike blockers that can mostly still shoot at something, but don't actually do much. Just increasing the cost of a squishy expendable squad by two thirds by adding a single arquebus doesn't feel right...

Understandably, main selling point for the TA is Str 7 AP -2 D1d3 and the ability to snipe characters at stupid long distances (60") with a semi reliable shooting thanks to Stratagems.  Rangers lend themselves to being a niche unit since they're fishing for 6's to get what should be a natural ap-1 on their guns.  (But that would've taken away Primarus's  point if you could've slapped a much cheaper unit to that same job.)  So Rangers tend to be rather unused due to inconsistently being able to do much in terms of damage so the TA gives them a niche of back field campers with a strong gun to snipe characters where getting a 6 is a bonus not what you need to do anything. 

 

So the TA gives you're opponent a "scary sniper" that needs to be eliminated or their pretty little characters or gonna get popped from the other end of the map and the usual options for taking care of it (other infantry) cant get into range for a turn or two so they tend to direct their heavier weapons to eliminate a rather cheap unit and if they don't you've got free reign to eliminate their characters either way it's win/win since the rest of your army either doesn't get hit as hard thanks to them pulling a good distraction or the Rangers get another round of putting the hurt on some characters.

[synthaside]

Another great evening for my rangers with TUA's , only took 2 1 in each ranger team  ( 1250 point league game) , they bascially worked in tandem so both snipers would shoot a character. took 3 wounds of a Chaplin and killed a couple of terminators ... basically paid for themselves.

They are a utility they aren't a superweapon, they are arguably the best sniper weapon in the game but expensive so not spammed in a way that would see them broken  , i'd love if we could take imperial gaurd style 3 man Sniper weapons teams in the elite slot but alas ... its not to be

 

[MajorNese]

They're great for PL games. Load them up and try them out unless all you play are points.

PL games? No one ever does that over here.

 

For now, I tend to keep the rangers cheap, but use a lot of them. When dividing them into squads of 5 each, they become rather immune to morale. With Lucius and shroudpsalm, they become rather resilient for their cost, and I just let half a dozen squads advance over open field. Just wreaks havoc on deep strike armies, having too many targets around to actually clear the area in time (my movement before his next deep strike) AND take out the hard hitters. Still throwing around shots on anything chaff or almost-dead is a nice bonus.

 

The rangers profile became a lot worse this edition (not having AP-1 and weaker canticles, no FnP), but now cost a fraction of what they used to (7 vs. 12 ppm). Former AP4 becomes AP-1, but with Lucius, I can ignore even that. And cover/shroudpsalm actually increases it to a nice 3+. No one will actively target them (unless to clear the ground), but they are still in the way and throw around shots with reliable accuracy/range. Last edition I used just one squad, now I use 30+, using tech-thrall models to display their current threat level.

 

I'll build a few TAs and "proper" rangers with the Forgebane leftovers, but I'm not exactly in a hurry. The Tower of Shame has been growing a lot in recent weeks, and the expendable chaff role works well enough...

[brother_b]

 

They're great for PL games. Load them up and try them out unless all you play are points.

PL games? No one ever does that over here.

 

For now, I tend to keep the rangers cheap, but use a lot of them. When dividing them into squads of 5 each, they become rather immune to morale. With Lucius and shroudpsalm, they become rather resilient for their cost, and I just let half a dozen squads advance over open field. Just wreaks havoc on deep strike armies, having too many targets around to actually clear the area in time (my movement before his next deep strike) AND take out the hard hitters. Still throwing around shots on anything chaff or almost-dead is a nice bonus.

 

The rangers profile became a lot worse this edition (not having AP-1 and weaker canticles, no FnP), but now cost a fraction of what they used to (7 vs. 12 ppm). Former AP4 becomes AP-1, but with Lucius, I can ignore even that. And cover/shroudpsalm actually increases it to a nice 3+. No one will actively target them (unless to clear the ground), but they are still in the way and throw around shots with reliable accuracy/range. Last edition I used just one squad, now I use 30+, using tech-thrall models to display their current threat level.

 

I'll build a few TAs and "proper" rangers with the Forgebane leftovers, but I'm not exactly in a hurry. The Tower of Shame has been growing a lot in recent weeks, and the expendable chaff role works well enough...

 

Quite honestly we've played quite a few games now with 8th and haven't seen much of a difference between PL and points. Points does seem to be the norm though.

[MajorNese]

The only thing we calculated PL for was quick killpoint calculation for a tournament. Worked rather closely to calculating points, except for some really weird hickups. Add one model to a squad due to leftover points, double the PL. The uneven points numbers were a problem at first, but if you click together your army in battlescribe or excel, it's no problem. PL just makes people include the most powerful loadout possible, and destroys the internal balance of a unit. Why take the cheap (but usually useful) gun if you could just max out everything for no cost? That might make TAs really good, but doesn't reflect reality that much. As said, except for maybe newbies or apocalypse grade games (anything below 20 000p doesn't count), everyone uses points.

[brother_b]

If newbies is a put down I don't mind. I've been at this game since the inception and just came back. We can quickly choose armies and get to fighting. It works well for our group and we've not looked back.

 

To play with others outside our group the norm has been points.

[Prot]

For the life of:me I can’t make them work.

 

I can’t even count the number of games I’ve used 2-3. I just suck at rolling I guess, but I have to confess that I take them out entirely, and I get sick of seeing Aura characters giving me problems and I put them back in for a game or two. Quite honestly, no other unit in my AdMech torments me like they do.

[CombatVet]

Pros you are a funny dude.

[pompeyladbfp]

I have found two units of 5 with 2 sniper rifles have been very useful especially with cawls re rolls. the mortal wound may only come into play every other turn, but the strong strength and d3 damage means you can realistically pick off one supporting character a turn (or take down transports so not wasting your spyder tanks on them) they also don't take much firepower as rest of list is quite aggressive/more of a threat

[Nemesis Divine]

Think a squad of Rangers with two arquebuses is too much of a sink at 500 points? Haven't used them before; I'm building up the core of my army and figured I'd give them a try. Playing against Guard, mainly, so I thought they'd be useful to kill some officers and deny orders.

[MajorNese]

Against guard, I guess they will be really useful. Wound officers on a 2+, get through armour saves, and enough wounds to kill said officer. Unlike playing against marines all day, where that just isn't enough unless spammed. Though it might be useful to spread the arquebuses over two squads to protect them, considering a squad is just 10p more than a single arquebus. 30" range on the standard rifles, and occasionally AP-1, is nice anyway, not doing anything wrong with that.

[Vel'Cona]

Quite honestly, no other unit in my AdMech torments me like they do.

 

Have you tried Fulgurites yet? :lol:

[Prot]

 

Quite honestly, no other unit in my AdMech torments me like they do.

 

Have you tried Fulgurites yet?

 

 

Ha... actually now that you mention it.... ah getting too far off topic, but I've got 10 Corpuscarii but have not tried the Fulgurites! (I have two boxes on stand by)

[Nemesis Divine]

I got around to playing a small game of The Big Guns Never Tire and my arquebuses were pretty useful. I took three wounds off a Primaris Psyker, causing his death on a 1-wound Perils. Also took three wounds off a Company Commander before he was mulched by infiltrating Dragoons.

 

I think they were a bit pricey for 500, but I can see them making a comeback in larger games. I ended up losing: 8-6 VPs but it was an educating game!

[MeatGrinder]

Im looking at Adm as a batallion support for my custodes, and Im thinking that a couple of ranger squads with a single TUA each might do the trick as my core troops.

 

Sniping off characters at long range and giving access to dunecrawlers is pretty decent. Shame the tua is so expensive.