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Statistically S7 weapons are the best at dealing with skimmers. Does anyone else have anyother suggestions for taking out things like the eldar tanks that make you re-roll dice. Any special rules or equipment that people know of. Especially when they cannot be stunned?

Use...more...lascannons...with...loaded...dice...

Hold out for 5th edition. Years from now, gamers will look back on 4th as the days of "Skimmer Hammer."

Statistically S10 weapons are the best at dealing with skimmers. It's the multiple attacks and range that weapons like Autocannons get that make them effective anti-skimmer weapons.

The Ork Grabbin' Klaw is handy for denying skimmers the movement they need to stay alive.

anything kills most skimmers. against eldar and tau the S7 and S8 weapons do best, mostly because of cheapness or shots. for DE anything above a bolter does the job. so it's about what your want. take the lascannon if you want to hammer at both skimmer and heavy vehicle. if you just want one anti skimmer unit take something like autocannons. for marines i dunno what would be best...my guess plasma on devs or tac squads

Could you, please, explain your reasoning on why S7 are the best for taking out skimmers?
I understand that they are the cheaper option, but not "better."

(Let's assume Space Marines are shooting at Eldar)
For example, a S7 weapon shooting at a skimmer that moved 6+ inches.
He needs a 3 to hit (same for both weapons).
Presuming he hit, he needs a 5 or 6 to glance with a S7 weapon. With a S9 lascannon, for example, this jumps to a 3+ to glance (4+ vs. Wave Serpents).
A S9 lascannon has double the chance (1.5x the chance vs a Wave Serpent) to glance the skimmer, presuming it is hit.

How is S7 superior to that?


Eric

it isn't. The strength 7 argument is entirely based on the fact that two str 7 shots from an autocannon is as good as one str shot 9 shot from a lascannon at taking down skimmers (or at least roughly the same). Since the autocannon is cheaper, it's "better".

But it has nothing to do with str 7, it has everything to do with autocannons are cheaper than lascannons. a str 11 weapon would be ideal (i'm sure the str 12 weapon would just cost too many points

Tank Hunter is very nice on dual-AC Terminator squads. You're putting out eight shots a round, and TH doubles the number of glances you get.

To echo what the others have said, it isn't the strength you have to pay attention to so much as the number of shots at a particular strength. A higher strength is always better, however this can be mitigated by number of shots. If you look at the math, the auto cannon is better at taking down wave serpents than the las cannon or missile launcher is. But this is due to a few things. The first is that shots in the front and side arch are redcued to str 8 at most when shooting at a wave serpent. That and the number needed to get though the armor is similar after that so with twice as many shots from the auto cannon, you are more likely to down the wave serpent.

Now if you are talking about skimmers in general and not so much the ones fielded by eldar, then just keep in mind that anything that can get though their armor will do just fine. Bolters fired at vypers, land speeders, and raiders will take them down if you deluge them in shots. Las cannons do a good job too since if you hit your glance them automaticaly. Tau skimmers are much more vulnerable to high strength fire since they have higher armor values than eldar skimmers do.

If you are primarily worried about eldar skimmers then you may want to look into things like tank hunting twin assault cannon terminator squads. They do a number on eldar skimmers. Plasma guns are good too if you can get them into rapid fire range (for the same reasons the auto cannon is good).

Other that that, the best thing to do with eldar skimmers is shoot them till you damage them once and they can't shoot anymore and then ignore them till next turn while you focus the rest of your firepower elsewhere.

the better as stated above comes from more shots (AC's, plasma at 12") and the weapons being relatively cheap. for tac squads the 5pts more is no big deal, but for guard and dev squads the difference is 10-15pts between AC's/missile launchers and the lascannon. yes you should have some lascannons, but those shouldn't be on dev squads or guard unit meant to take down light vehicles.

Take lots of necron Gauss weapons...

There's also Castellan Missiles from Whirlwinds. Sure, it's only one hit per minefield at S6, but since skimmers needs to keep moving and you can lay down quite a few minefields, then you can hit the vehicle with a minefield it'll want to move out of, and (if you play it right) into or through another minefield or two. If they start to respect the odd minefield kill and start avoiding minefields, then you can encourage the other skimmer-wielding player to choose between moving into or through minefields or moving into lines of fire. Whirlwinds are also good for mopping up the survivors of exploded skimmers.

Edit: I thought I might point out that the minefield hits on a 4+, inflicts the S6 hit against the rear armour, and glances anyways. See p205 of the rulebook for details.

I like the WW solution (more correctly: I hate it!), but when it comes to Eldar, I think instead of just slapping the templates down wherever the skimmers currently are, it's more effective to place them where you know they'll have to go to deliver their cargo (and deploy your own forces accordingly). That way you threaten the skimmers, but also hit your opponent where it really hurts (the FDs or Harlies).

True. Those S6 hits'll hurt Eldar infantry pretty hard too.

S6 minefields hit most anything hard. the only thing they don't do amazing against is those pesky MC's but then you have other stuff for that.

The minefields are particularly great if they land on target covering a Falcon's back hatch. Disembark your harlies at their peril! Of course you'll feel a bit silly if the Falcon has Fire Dragons, but you can generally figure that out.

I appologize for not specifiying about how S7 is better. But statistically since a skimmer USUALLY can only be glaced and you get twice the shot for less points than a lascannon which eldar often may reduce to S8 and are therefore only 16% more likely to glace however 50% less likely to hit for more points Autocannon is the most efficient. I guess the tank hunter rule is a way around the thing but still a S9 lascannon is reduced to S8 then +1 tankhunters leaves it at its base 9. However I was thinking about guard. We cannot take tank hunters.

I think the best suggestion I heard was the ork grabba. Can I put that on a trukk. I cannot remember. That was an excellent idea.

Load it up with troops then latch on. It will be penned next turn and the guys wont be able to get out so they are all dead.

Also, the guass weapons sounds good however I dont play necrons. Sadly for guard looks like they will have to rely on the old autocannon which has a 16.67% chance of a glance per turn then a 6% chance to destroy it. For a total of 2.75 % to take it out on a given turn.

A squad of: (Assuming you can only glance + Hollowfield thing, this was run for Eldar)
3 AC's have a 8.25% chance to take one out. Cost 80 Points Efficiency : 9.7 Points per %
Vets w/ 3 plasma guns and plasma pistol 12.96% Cost 85 Efficiency: 6.56 points per %
Platoon Squad 4 plasmas + Plasma Pistol: 12.96% Cost 90 Efficiency: 6.94 Points per %

Someone can double check me if they want. I did this hastily.
So it looks like the vets win. However since they usually cannot be stunned you can bet they will be moving. So even if you threw all 3 vet squads at one eldar skimmer it will be 295 points for a 38.88% chance of taking one out. How many points are eldar vehicles. Will a 295 point investment be worth it?

Also, has anyone else overlooked the IG strength against mines. Or is this blatant answer a mystery to people in this new wave of minefield craziness?

Also, has anyone else overlooked the IG strength against mines. Or is this blatant answer a mystery to people in this new wave of minefield craziness?

What on earth does IG's supposed strength against minefields have to do with the minefields' supposed strength against skimmers?

Nope, no Grabbin' Klaws on Trukks. I'd suggest taking one on a Battlewagon taken as a dedicated transport by some Nobz. That way it doesn't really have anything better to do be hare in close and try to catch a skimmer.

tegeus-Cromis wrote:

Also, has anyone else overlooked the IG strength against mines. Or is this blatant answer a mystery to people in this new wave of minefield craziness?

What on earth does IG's supposed strength against minefields have to do with the minefields' supposed strength against skimmers?

Nothin' sort of a separate comment. How do mine fields work against skimmers?

I was mentioning the IG thing cause to the best of my knowledge they are the best at clearing mines.

They work just as they do against normal vehicles. The only reason they're worth mentioning is that when it comes to Eldar, the contents of the skimmers are a large part of the problem, and proper positioning of minefields and units can often threaten both at once.

If you can make it work, an ork Deffrolla is actually an amazing weapon against skimmers. A grabbin' klaw, because you can't put them on trukks is exceedingly difficult to use against a skimmer

A side note to your question about killing skimmers. It is not only the Strength of the weapon that matters but also the mobility of the weapon. The fact that skimmers are so manueverable means that the majority of the guns in an IG gunline will never get a clean shot at a skimmer.

@Smart_Alex, Your IG army has, in excess of, 30 shots a round at S:6 or greater. The problem is not enough guns, the problem is that none of those guns move and fire.

Darrian

Just recruit some Necron Destroyers. I'm sure they'll be happy to help.

3 s6 shots at 36" and moving 12" a turn. Woot!

or you could equip a bunch of Chimeras wih ACs?

@ darrian, yeah I understand that. I am trying to come up with somthing alittle more mobile. Even toying with the entire mechanized list.

I fought against mech guard once. The guy was slaughtered horribly. So I am weary about it. That eldar list is tough. A good player will deny shots to his opponent. I was thinking tau might do ok, but tau vehicles are easier to take out than the eldar ones.

sure they are if you use them oddly, done right they should never be in range of to much enemy fire at one time having ridiculously long ranges and such. the best army to me for anti skimmers is the IG. they just have so many ways and things with S7+ that they can take out any skimmer, unless they are playing DE because then Sm's and CSM's do the best, being able to glance raiders with bolters and all.