Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

How should an Armoured Sentinel be armed? I'm having trouble deciding what to give my second one as I don't want it to be a waste of points should it ever hit the field or any other Sentinel I may buy. Any opinions would be greatly appreciated.

Also, should squadrons of vehicles usually be equipped similarily as I have a missile launcher Sentinel that may be squadroned with my new one.

I use mine with plasma cannons after I got fed up with CC and random railgun/melta hits popping my executioners. I'll trade the extra 35 points and immobilized-as-wrecked for AV12 in CC and the stray las or railgun leaving me with at worst one less plascannon shot.

I could also see running them with lascannons maybe, but a vendetta does the job better than a lascannon ARSent squad in every way except...that it requires only one good AT hit to put down, versus three. but for the extra *80* points, and the net loss of twin linking on your 3 lascannon shots...and the loss of fast and skimmer movement.....Eeeehhh I might have to think about that one a while.

Like SOFDC I have used mine with Plasma Cannons to good effect. I think you need to look at what you need then do do in your list.
Auto Cannons can give them some decent Anti Transport shooting.
Las Cannons offer you a mobile Lascannon on AV 12 but at 70 points its not cheap.
Plasma Cannons are are tougher to get weapon in the IG codex and I like them for the same reasons SOFDC stated above.
Heavy Flamers can make them more able to help with hordes.
I feel that the Multi Laser is not really worth it and you would be better off picking up a chimera as it can double as a transport.

Its hard to recommend anything specific without knowing what else you plan to field but perhaps you should look into Magnetizing the weapons so that you never have to choose which one to build. Also generally I find that loading up the sentinels in a squad the same way keeps the unit focused on what it is meant to do.
Hope that helped.

Cheers,
~Volkan

Heavy Flamer and not in squadrons to tie up enemy squads for a cheap amount of points. Depends on the rest of your list though

Plasma cannons are fun!

L. Wrex

Flanking autocannons are nice, good beginning-mid game

winnertakesall wrote:Flanking autocannons are nice, good beginning-mid game

I agree, but armored sentinels can't outflank and ACs are best on Scout Sentinels

Sorry, I thought he was talking about sentinals in general, scouts I find are usually the best as they can outflank and pop transports

winnertakesall wrote:Sorry, I thought he was talking about sentinals in general, scouts I find are usually the best as they can outflank and pop transports

Yes, I also like scouts more. I find the armored sentinels a bit too pricey. LCs the vendetta does better, Plasma Cannon kind of cool but it's very expensive also (havent really given it a chance myself). ACs is better on scout sentinels and that leaves the option of the Heavy Flamer as I mentioned above which keeps it fairly cheap. Drawbacks are that it's easy KPs and that it's usually hard to find a Fast Attack slot for it considering all the nice options we have there.

I've tried to find a use for these guys since I got one with the battle force.

Currently running two naked with smoke and searchlights in separate squadrons (I'm too cheap to buy vendettas), mostly to screen infantry and chimeras, blocking and tying up the odd squad, illuminating targets without wasting firepower and just generally cause nuisance completely inordinate to their cost.

I don't give them weapons anymore as I prefer them in a utility role.

AC: I used this for a while but in the end couldn't see it performing any better than a multilaser, so I ditched it for smoke.

HF: Probably the most appealing option honestly. It's like with chimeras and their hull HF over HB. You may not fire it all that often, but it's going to be sweet when you get to those fire warriors camping in a ruin on T5. Usefulness will vary with terrain density.

PC: Has worked pretty well for me, but people generally know to stick to cover, and if not will learn quickly. This configuration will tend to attract more fire than it's worth. This can obviously work in your favor, but don't expect it to actually kill much.

ML: Pretty interesting option but at bs3 I'd sooner take the AC

LC: At this point, the sentinel has definitely crossed the line between sort of annoying robot chicken and sort of legitimate AT threat. With such a high threat profile, I feel like you might as well just take scout sentinels as it's probably going to die if it needs to anyway.

To Elaborate a little more I have had good success running Plasma Cannon Sentinels in a list that had 2 LRBTs and a manticore filling out the Heavy Section. I didn't have room for an executioner so I ran sentinels for my AP2 and honestly in many games they were my MVP unit. People generally focused more on the large blasts coming their way or the mechanized vets squads. If they have other high priority targets on the board with them they wont draw as much fire.

Currently I am running a foot horde styled list and I have decided on 2 non squadron-ed Las Cannon Variants. I need the Long range anti tank and while a Vendetta would be cheaper it doesn't fit the feel of the list and it is much much harder to keep out of sight. So far they have given me mixed results each game but they haven't failed to take something down.

So Again its going to be about what you need and its synergy with the rest of your list.
Cheers,
~Volkan

i do not disagree with any of the above statements about how to arm an armoured sentinel. as for my self, i have three seperate squadrons.

scout sentinels: auto cannon on all three.

armoured sentinel, auto cannon on all three

armoured sentinel squadron 2: lascannon on all three.

i like the versitility of the autocannon. multiple shots, offs transports and troops alike.

The best thing an armored sentinel can take is the dusbuster upgrade, so it can keep itself clean while it rides the shelf.

Seriously, all you're bringing is a piece of AV12 with a single infantry heavy weapon, for HOW many points? Look at your armored sentinel, then look at a hydra, then back at the sentinel. See how it's already collecting dust?

Even if you have all your HS slots filled, an armored sentinel still fails compared to the vendetta and even the hellhound variants it competes with. It doesn't even have the advantage of being cheap or being able to outflank like the scout sentinel.

Well it was nice to see the thread go a little while with people actually answer a question before someone says "just don't do it there are better choices" hopefully this thread won't turn into another collection of "don't take it" because in no way does that help the OP.

I'm glad this topic came up, I don't play guard by I am going to make some Gue'vesa battlesuits for Apocalypse that are counts as Sentinels, I'm gonna use them to protect my Broadsides from Outflanking/deepstrike assault units and have been debating between giving them a Heavy Flamer so they can focus just on those assault units or giving them a Plasma Cannon so that they can have some ranged ability in case there aren't any assault units. Also isn't it better to have squadrons of 2 or just a single sentinel then a full 3 vehicle squadron?

Ailaros wrote:Seriously, all you're bringing is a piece of AV12 with a single infantry heavy weapon, for HOW many points?

This is exactly it. It's a piece of walking AV12. For how many points? Well, about half the cost of a dreadnought. I'm not going to say that it can compete with a hydra or hellhound or certainly not a vendetta in shooting stuff, because that would be stupid, but some things it can do just as well as them for a fraction of their cost.

I've been toying with mech vets for a while now and like I said I run two separate. These have smoke and searchlights and have been more handy to have around than barrels full of blueberries. Take the gun completely out of the equation and look at what you're getting. Frankly the ability to tie squads up alone makes it worth it for me.

Now, in a foot heavy army it's obviously just a target for AT fire. I would muse that the trick is to have a bunch of other armor that your opponent would much rather shoot.

I am saying that he should maybe run the sentinals as counts as scouts with autocannons, they work better than armoured, cheaper, and a nasty outflanking surprise

winnertakesall wrote:I am saying that he should maybe run the sentinals as counts as scouts with autocannons, they work better than armoured, cheaper, and a nasty outflanking surprise

I wouldn't go so far as to call it a nasty outflanking surprise. A Vendetta is a nasty outflanking surprise!

But what it does do is make your oponent have to deal with something that he wasn't counting on. if he ignores it,
it could pop transports or weak rear armor. if he does deal with it, he's doing something he didn't have a plan for.
even if you slow a squad for a turn, that's one more turn of being able to shoot it from a distance or, whatever....

alarmingrick wrote:

winnertakesall wrote:I am saying that he should maybe run the sentinals as counts as scouts with autocannons, they work better than armoured, cheaper, and a nasty outflanking surprise

even if you slow a squad for a turn, that's one more turn of being able to shoot it from a distance or, whatever....

Exactly why I'm using them for my Tau

It's not even really a surprise in most cases is it.

//Deployment//
You: So yeah these sentinels are outflanking.
Guy: Alright.

//Turn 2//
You: Okay rolling for my outflanking sentinels now...
Guy: Shoot.
You: *roll 3*

//Turn 3//
You: Rolling sentinels again.
Guy: Go ahead.
You: *roll 3*
You: My sentinels are outflanking from the left!
Guy: WHAT! SNEAKY SENTINELS!

Warboss Imbad Ironskull wrote:Well it was nice to see the thread go a little while with people actually answer a question before someone says "just don't do it there are better choices" hopefully this thread won't turn into another collection of "don't take it" because in no way does that help the OP.

Actually, it DOES help the OP. After all, he said...

miragefla wrote: I don't want it to be a waste of points

He doesn't want it to be a waste of points. The only way to prevent an armored sentinel from wasting points is not to take one. OP helped.

Except when you read that within the context of the discussion he wants to maximize it's ability for when he uses it in game. So it's clear that he plans on using it eventually and is wanting help on the best way to equipt it when he does use it. Telling him not to use something that he intends on using is not adding anything usefull to what he needs at all and you shoulden't kid yourself by thinking it did.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
@OP: I suggest you ignore Ailaros, it's aparent he has nothing usefull to actually add to the thread within it's context.

Well I do plan on using them as I don't want to go with the units everyone says "you must take!" such as a Vendetta and cost is a problem (I don't care what people say, I like my assault tanks). I also like the fact this thing can actually get cover, has smoke and searchlights and can tarpit certain units down away from the rest of my vehicles.

So far, with the given input, I think I may be going with the plasma cannon as my army does lack weapons that can hurt 2+ Sv units on the field at ranges past 24'' although how good are missile launchers on Sentinels? Are they too costly given the fact it's BS 3?

I like the AC and the Multilaser options the best. the best way to beat the BS3 problem is multiple shots, IMHO.
seeing that i can almost get 2 scouts for 1 Armored Sentinel(after weapons are added in ) is why i don't use them. the fact you're throwing out a
blast template means you might have a chance of clipping something, where as a lascannon shot doesn't hit, it's gone.

It is Likely the OP bought a Battle force(which is a nice-ish value without the Sentinel, because it is either a nearly complete army: 1 HQ 2-Vet squads, or a Bare Platoon; also it saves $14.50USD without the $25 Sentinel). That said it is also likely that $ is tight for the OP so getting the most use out of that roughly 30% off box could be of great importance.

I have said it before and I will say it again; if you decide to use the armored sentinel it should be in one of 2 ways:

1) As a Plasma Cannon Platform, there are 3 ways you can get Plasma cannons in your guard army: Armored Sentinels, Leman Russes, or Servitors. Armored Sentinels are the Cheapest, most maneuverable way to get them. Servitors effectively cost 90 points for 1, 45 points for a second, which is still 15 points less than 2 Armored Sentinels, but they have a 16.666% chance to blow themselves up/shot fired and cannot fire on the move. A pair of Leman Russ Plasma Cannons cost an additional 40 Points to the already fairly pricey Russ(or 190 for a 3-Shot Plasma Cannon-Russ) and cannot fire both if the Russ moves(although said 190-point Russ can fire all 3 shots while moving, but that is still 40 points more than a Squadron of 3 Armored sentinels which are at least as durable if not more so).

2) As a tar-pit. Keep it Cheap, either no upgrade in weapon(multilaser) or a Heavy Flamer. in both of these cases it can move and fire and pick on units either without Krak grenades/Power fists, or just to hold up units with those gear. Remember in this role the Armored Sentinel is to be a bully, picking on Weak units that have little to no chance to damage it and just effectively removing them from the game(Saturday I charged one of my P-Cannon Sentinels into a unit of Wyches that did not have Haywire Grenades in order to protect one of my troops units, they were stuck with it for 2 turns until the Talos finally showed up and wrecked it; but by that time it was too late the Wyches and Talos ate 2 squads worth of Heavy return fire and evaporated).

Personally I have had no luck with scout sentinels. The fact that bolters can wreck them with a single (lucky it may be) shot frustrates me. They seem to fall over to a stiff breeze if anything decides to give them attention. The scout sentinel is at the very least not opened topped and has an AV 12 front. As a small bonus it comes with Extra Armor Stock.

I guess another plus is that I find them very fun to play.

Cheers,
~Volkan

Kommissar Kel wrote: there are 3 ways you can get Plasma cannons in your guard army... Armored Sentinels are the Cheapest, most maneuverable way to get them.

This is why I went PC. The maneuverability and range lets you put that cup of tea where you need it. Also, as mentioned above, the enemy usually has more important things to shoot at (tanks/transports/artillery), giving it plenty of shots.

winnertakesall wrote:Flanking autocannons are nice, good beginning-mid game

OT but this has been a game winner for me on more that one occassion.

For Armoured I have only ever used Plasma Cannons. I tend to have it using LR's for cover taking shots of opportunity at important targets. Lets face it no one likes having plasma blasts on them so this tends to keep it firing that little bit longer.