Legion Predator Uses and Viability

[No Foes Remain]

So I was looking for tactica on Predators but aside from people comparing them to Sicarans and basically calling the Preads useless. I think there is some use in them, they only cost 75pts base and you can get them in squadrons up to 3 so you are getting 3 tanks for one slot.

Also I don't feel like they are really battle tanks, I think they are best used as Infantry Support tanks. Going in to give your foot squads some fire support rather than going tank hunting where the Laser Vindicator or Sicaran Venator would serve better in this role.

 

Main gun wise they have the following choices:

 

Predator Cannon         48"            S:7  AP:4 Heavy 4
Plasma Executioner     36"            S:7  AP:2 Heavy 3, Blast(3")
Flamestorm Cannon    Template   S:6  AP:3 Assault 1
Magna-Melta                18"            S:8  AP:1 Heavy 1, Large Blast, Melta

Heavy Conversion Beamer:
1:            <18"           S:6    AP:- Heavy 1, Large Blast, Firing Calibration
2:            18"-42"      S:8    AP:4 Heavy 1, Large Blast, Firing Calibration
3:            42"-72"      S:10  AP:1 Heavy 1, Large Blast, Firing Calibration
(Firing Calibration: This weapon may not be fired if the model carrying it has moved in the same turn, regardless of the Relentless special rule or if the carrying model is a vehicle, etc...)

 

Out of the main weapons I feel like the Beamer is the strange choice, on paper it seems good but most games end up quite close so its awesome 3rd stats and decent 2nd stat gets mitigated quite quickly.

 

 

Sponson wise there is the choice of heavy bolters, lascannons and flamers.

 

 

So what do my fellow fraters think? Are Predators a decent/viable choice or am I just mad?

[Gorgoff]

I guess it is not allowed to post whole rules. Maybe you have to edit your posting accordingly.

Having said that, I must say that whoever has the opinion that Predators are useless don't have any clue how this game works.

The Executioner is just plain awesome and has killed so many marines in my games that I resist the urge to buy another one.

[Bung]

Well, you need them to pkay an Armoured Breaktrhough list as Preds with Autocanons are the compulsory troops choice + they get fast for being only 3 Hull points with that RoW.

 

Personly i think i will use a  few variants in some games.

 

I think 3 Preds with Autocanons, Heavy Bolter Sponsons and additional Heavy Bolter is something to consider.

[Marshal Loss]

Predators are fine but should be kept cheap. The moment you start throwing expensive turret guns on them they fall short compared to other options. Honestly though, I feel like the main reason they don't get used very often is because there are many other sexy 30k styled options that people tend to lean towards. :P

[N1SB]

Well, you need them to pkay an Armoured Breaktrhough list as Preds with Autocanons are the compulsory troops choice + they get fast for being only 3 Hull points with that RoW.

 

Having faced this, let me tell you what it's like to be on the wrong side of these guns.  The list was, to the best of my recollection, like this:

 

HQ: Usually you need a Delgatus, but I think he had a Predator?

 

Troops: 6 Preds, all with just the autocannon, no sponsons

 

Elites: Contemptor Dreads, designed for pure melee

 

Heavy: even more Preds

 

The net effect was, he had no Infantry.  Everything was a Vehicle, minimal upgrades, just so he can saturate the field with tanks.  The Dreads were there to be the Pred's close combat.  The idea was, unless your army was specifically designed to be anti-tank, you didn't have enough Heavy weapons to crack open all his Preds.

 

The Armoured Breakthrough Rite of War specifies the Troops have to be Predators, but the way this player strategised it, even if it wasn't a requirement, he'd still have chosen them.  It's because they are simply the cheapest option and his goal was to spam Hull Points with decent Armour Values, even the autocannon's pretty good.

 

I absolutely agree with Marshall Loss; people getting into 30k do so for the iconic 30k stuff, like Mk II and Mk III armour instead of 40k's more standard Mk VII.  I think it's that because people probably want to get only a few Vehicles, whereas my friend took advantage of their low (but worth the points) cost and took a dozen.

 

In short, Preds have a nice quality for their points, but as a result, quantity also has a quality of its own, and I reckon I wouldn't take 1, I'd take like 6.  Otherwise I'd probably go for actually Leviathans out of personal preference.

[okonomiyakimarine]

 

Well, you need them to pkay an Armoured Breaktrhough list as Preds with Autocanons are the compulsory troops choice + they get fast for being only 3 Hull points with that RoW.

 

Having faced this, let me tell you what it's like to be on the wrong side of these guns.  The list was, to the best of my recollection, like this:

 

HQ: Usually you need a Delgatus, but I think he had a Predator?

 

Troops: 6 Preds, all with just the autocannon, no sponsons

 

Elites: Contemptor Dreads, designed for pure melee

 

Heavy: even more Preds

 

The net effect was, he had no Infantry.  Everything was a Vehicle, minimal upgrades, just so he can saturate the field with tanks.  The Dreads were there to be the Pred's close combat.  The idea was, unless your army was specifically designed to be anti-tank, you didn't have enough Heavy weapons to crack open all his Preds.

 

The Armoured Breakthrough Rite of War specifies the Troops have to be Predators, but the way this player strategised it, even if it wasn't a requirement, he'd still have chosen them.  It's because they are simply the cheapest option and his goal was to spam Hull Points with decent Armour Values, even the autocannon's pretty good.

 

I absolutely agree with Marshall Loss; people getting into 30k do so for the iconic 30k stuff, like Mk II and Mk III armour instead of 40k's more standard Mk VII.  I think it's that because people probably want to get only a few Vehicles, whereas my friend took advantage of their low (but worth the points) cost and took a dozen.

 

In short, Preds have a nice quality for their points, but as a result, quantity also has a quality of its own, and I reckon I wouldn't take 1, I'd take like 6.  Otherwise I'd probably go for actually Leviathans out of personal preference.

 

your opponent probably used a predator as HQ  by master of the armory rule that exists in that RoW. One can give him a sicaran battle tank as well.

 

The RoW can be pretty mean on low points games, because you can have cheap predators. For standarg games above 200pts of course you might want to add some more scoring units. Troop-Predators, especially when you take them as singles will get taken out at some point because they are quite a threat for the points, but not super durable.

 

I don't see why your opponent would not add predators in the troop slots and take heavier stuff for HS.

Edited May 2, 2020 by okonomiyakimarine

[Sgt.Sangha]

you know what I think would be cool for white scars, since they love speed so much give them a predator with no sponsons, just the main gun and a heavy bolter ( i.e the white scars strip the preds down to keep them faster and mobile) then give them an additional movement. I think that would be very thematic for them. 

[The Scorpion]

I wish the magna-melta turret was more useful, shame it gets overshadowed by the vindicator's demolisher cannon.