Space Marine Scouts, refurbish or replace?

[Karhedron]

I have 20 of the old SM Scouts (half melee, half sniper rifles) and I am trying to decide what to for Scouts in 10th. At 55 points for a 5-man squad and 10 Wounds, the unit looks pretty good. Cheap action monkeys with built-in option to vanish into Reserves is pretty tasty.

 

The problem is that my models are mostly the wrong loadouts. I have no heavy weapons, far too many Sniper rifles and no Shotguns. Shotguns are important because they have the ASSAULT keyword meaning they can fire after Advancing. This is important because a unit has to be eligible to shoot in order to perform an Action so I need at least 1 Shotgun per squad to make the unit work efficiently. Adding an HB or ML would certainly be nice.

 

Now the problem is that my Scouts are the old metal ones. I don't have a problem with running old minis but I prefer to keep the models consistent within a squad. Buying old metals on eBay is ridiculously expensive. A shotgun Scout and Heavy Weapon will usually go for about £20 (depending on condition). Scouts are first appearing in the new Kill Team which is rumoured to be £80 for 10 Scouts and 10 Scorpions which means that a for the £20 it would cost to kit out a squad, I can pretty much buy one of the new shiny squads.

 

So here is my dilemma. do I spend my money reinforcing my current units or do I just get new squads? As well as being better models it also means I can load them out with exactly the options I like for 10th edition. I am kinda annoyed that the old sculpts cost so much. 

[Bouargh]

I would say that there are 2 options:

- Either you plan fielding more than let´s say 1 or 2 units and you should go for the new ones

- Or you will field only one unit as a support and  you can try to make out a single decent unit by combining some of these 20. Yet not getting any HW might be problematic, dependiing on your play style.

 

I guess that there are still some chance to get some boxes from e-FLGS, some stuff left on shelves, and use it to refurbish.

 

Otherwise, after some chop saw and with bits from IG these oldies can be used as bases for  decent proxies as Scions...

[bluezenscorpion]

Given that I don't have old models anymore, and I like the look of the new Kill Team box, I would get the Kill Team box. Sounds like the more economical choice, ten guys for the same price as a single metal mini.

[Helias_Tancred]

My advice would be going forward I'd get a new scout box and build them as you prefer? A year+ from now you will appreciate that choice even more. 

 

 

[Karhedron]

47 minutes ago, Bouargh said:

I guess that there are still some chance to get some boxes from e-FLGS, some stuff left on shelves, and use it to refurbish.

 

No, not the plastic ones that have just been discontinued. I am talking about the really old 2nd edition metal ones. If I could find a shop that still sold them I would take their entire stock. 

 

I think I am leaning towards getting the new ones. The cost is similar, the models are much better and I can choose exactly the load out I want. 

[Firedrake Cordova]

I think I'd be inclined to set a watch on e-Bay to see if any of the metal ones cropped up at a sensible price (unlikely, but you never know), whilst looking to buying the new plastic Scout squad (realistically, they're better models).

[Brother Hellion]

I had to double check and compare SM standard scouts with wolf scout rules in my index and from what I discovered is that eventually everyone is going to buy new scouts at some point. The ten man sniper squad is no more and there fore we as players need to adapt. 

 

I say buy the new kit and build how you like. I know I may look into the new wolf scouts considering they have more weapon options then standard SM scouts right now (Full ten man squad with shotguns and a flame thrower you say? Oh, how about a scout with duel Lighting claws?!)

 

[Helias_Tancred]

To repeat myself, I think down the road you're going to be very glad you made that choice. I've found so many times when faced with that situation I was glad I went ahead and moved on to the new model kit.

 

 

[LameBeard]

Those metal scouts were great models. Just paint them up and intimidate your opponents with their disdain for the optimal loadout. The dice gods surely will favour such venerable models?

[Rhavien]

Ugh, I wasn't aware of the shotgut situation. That's a downer for me as I just issued a squad with four plastic bolterguys and a metal heavy Bolter . I still have the shotgun bits, but I don't want to rip them apart. Guess it's a new box of new scouts for me then. I really like the updated look, even compared to the old metal ones. While they fill me with warm nostalgia, I also wantthe new shiny.

I would recommend the same to you Karhedron 

Edited November 25, 2023 by Rhavien

[TheArtilleryman]

What country are you in? On eBay uk there are a bunch of metal shotgun scouts atm. There’s a squad on there right now for £12.50 plus postage that includes 2 shotgun guys. As long as you don’t mind paint stripping or repainting.

[N1SB]

Brother Kahedron, you gave me An Idear.  Not sure if this will help though.

 

I got the previous Scouts (from all the way back with that Shadow War: Armageddon skirmish game).  They're the old, smaller scale.  I'm going to use them as very young Scouts.  Gonna ask my friend Timperial Guard who's got a 3D printer to find like teenage boy heads and to a headswap.

I might even buy a box of those new tall Scouts, they'll be like the Scout Sergeants, a literal Big Brother to lead them.

[appiah4]

Sell your metal scouts to me.  I have 20 of them and wouldn't mind 20 more :D

[Karhedron]

Well, GW have gone and made my decision easy as Kill Team is not coming out until January. I had been thinking of asking for it as a Christmas present but since it won't be out on time, I have gone ahead and ordered a handful of metal Shotgun Scouts from eBay after finding a trio at a more reasonable price.

 

Thanks for all the advice. I will post some painting pictures in the new year.  

[TheArtilleryman]

@N1SB When you say “teenage boy heads” I’m now imagining Greg Heffley and Rowley in power armour 

Edited December 14, 2023 by TheArtilleryman

[Deus_Ex_Machina]

On 11/23/2023 at 7:33 PM, LameBeard said:

Those metal scouts were great models. Just paint them up and intimidate your opponents with their disdain for the optimal loadout. The dice gods surely will favour such venerable models?

Retro is the new "New":

 

Scouts with Shotguns:

https://ibb.co/album/QX8fkH

 

Scouts with Sniper Rifles:

https://ibb.co/album/n6bP3Q

[appiah4]

On 11/23/2023 at 9:33 PM, LameBeard said:

Those metal scouts were great models. Just paint them up and intimidate your opponents with their disdain for the optimal loadout. The dice gods surely will favour such venerable models?

 

Come at us bro.