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I am curious if anyone uses their WS with TW Shruiken Cannon, and a single Shruiken Cannon underneath. Being able to fire both the single cannon, and TW cannon while staying on the move, for a cheap cost seems like it could be worth it.

I was keen to use TW EMLs with the cats underneath for a versatile mid point option, but perhaps the former might be a bit more worth it. I wouldn't be against using TW BLs on some but since I plan on having Dragons in my list eventually I have been leaning for more versatile and quick options.

I run mine with Twin Shuriken Cannons and Twin Shuriken Catapults, so they are extra cheap. I try to squeeze every extra vehicle hull in that I can. Although, I've been thinking of switching to scatter lasers for the turret for the extra range and shot, which come in really handy on many occasions.

whitedragon wrote:I run mine with Twin Shuriken Cannons and Twin Shuriken Catapults, so they are extra cheap. I try to squeeze every extra vehicle hull in that I can. Although, I've been thinking of switching to scatter lasers for the turret for the extra range and shot, which come in really handy on many occasions.

What use is having a ton of vehicles if they can't kill anything themselves, and if the contents die quickly after they get out?

This has been my dilemma with wave serpents. Make it so they're worth having, and they're costing almost as much as a leman russ, but without nearly the same killing power.

Leave them "cheap" and you just don't have enough firepower on the table to make a dent in your opponent's army.

That being said, I've been using the following configurations:

Twin-linked bright lance, hull twin-linked shuriken catapults. Bright lances aren't too hot at killing vehicles, but can really put a hurt in obliterators, broadsides, nob bikers, etc. and give you a little bit of a chance to stop a land raider or russ.

Twin-linked EML turret, shuriken cannon hull. The ability to move 12" and fire a shuriken cannon and plasma missile at a doomed target has proved itself invaluable. If the target is not doomed, its killing power is reduced drastically, however. Still not much killing power for the points, but 3 str 6 and a str 8 crack missile gives you a good shot at AV 10/11 vehicles.

I like TL BL , because i really dont like BS 3 Eldars -_-
and thats the only thing worth TLing

I always use mine with twin EMLs because of their versatility.

Armament for a Wave Serpent should depend on whats riding in it.

If the Wave Serpent is delivering Fire Dragons or an Assault unit then going cheap with just TL Shuricannon and Spirit stones to prevent stuns from stoping the wave serpent is the way to go since the Wave Serpent will be moving fast and then unloading fire dragons close to the enemy where you might be shaken or destroyed so there really is not a point to taking a more expensive weapon since it might not be used.

If the Wave Serpent is carrying troops that don't need to be on an objective till towards the end of the game then TL Brightlance for anti tank is preferable with spirit stones to prevent being stunned.

Twin linked BLs give the serpent a nice bite, one of the few places to take a BL that we can count on usually hitting. Most games now there is enough armor running around that the extra AT is useful. I find that for the dragon serpents, when they are unloading the dragons the serpent can almost always find another enemy armor unit to take a shot at as well. Plus those rare times that there is no second armor unit around, its not bad to pop an enemy transport with the BL and then get to shoot up the passengers with the dragons.

Its going to depend a bit on your army tho. If all the vehicles that you have are 3 serpents, then they are obviously going to draw all the AT fire and not be worth the points spent on BLs for them. If you are running 3 prisms, then its likely that the AT fire is going to be ignoring the serpents a bit and BLs will pay off.

Its seldom that all of my serpents run the same weapons load tho. Twin linked BL, EML and scatter lasers are all fun. The flexibility on EMLs is nice too.

The only times I run with a lower shuriken cannon is if Im twin linking EMLs, or using the serpent to provide a home for a scoring troop unit. There just arent a lot of times that my serpents would be able to shoot with two heavy weapons, the way my army operates.

As a side note, spirit stones pay off often enough to make them a good buy.


Sliggoth

Ditto Avariel's statement. If it's going fast, don't spend anything on guns. If it's moving slow (12" or under) go with TL BL, as tank-mounted mech lists are often light on anti-tank (at least number of anti-tank units, as the usual single squad of Dragons rarely lives past it's first shot).

I would also add that any Serpent that will be moving over 12" to deliver _vital_ cargo deserves vectored engines, unless you have redundant units for a given role. 20 points is worth it to halve the chance of your only CC unit or squad of Dragons being pinned. It's not a good fit for every Serpent in your list, but on, say, your only unit of Banshees or a foot council's ride, totally worth it.

I run 2x TL EML+Shurican WSs and 2x SLShurican WSs (all w/stones) at 1750.

My Footcouncil w/Eldrad and thier support unit get the two cheap WSs, so they fly up disembark, then start tanks shocking everything. My Troops get the EML+ Shurican WSs, so that they can fire across the table while enjoying thesafety of the WS hull and energy field.

I think you just have to put TL BL on serpents. You really have no better option in your entire list for taking down Land Raiders/MCs. The gun is also perfect for the BS 3 TL wave serpent...you've got a 75% chance to land the shot. With all of the vehicles and MCs running around, I've found that TL BL are required. It turns your transport into a potent tank/MC killing machine and without taking up a heavy or elite slot!

Run them with Spirit stones and Missiles. Nice and cheap and they can take out some light armour

combo wrote:Run them with Spirit stones and Missiles. Nice and cheap and they can take out some light armour

QFT

I have one Wave Serpent, a forgeworld kit I bought for 3rd edition.
It has the bright lance for the quality shot, but the price of said shot now is too much. I am even thinking about buying a shuricannon turret for it to avoid the horrid +45pt price tag.

Wave Serpents are still there to deliver aspect warriors or Wraithguard, not to shoot. So long as the quality guns are overpriced I will be moving to the cheap ones.

skipdog172 wrote:I think you just have to put TL BL on serpents. You really have no better option in your entire list for taking down Land Raiders/MCs. The gun is also perfect for the BS 3 TL wave serpent...you've got a 75% chance to land the shot. With all of the vehicles and MCs running around, I've found that TL BL are required. It turns your transport into a potent tank/MC killing machine and without taking up a heavy or elite slot!

When you're running ALL mech, it does indeed help to have a TL BL or two. Most mech players pack in a unit of Dragons too though, and they will take out one Land Raider or MC with good reliability. Depending upon the rest of your force, you may or may not need more help. Jetbike councils or 2x+ bike units with spearlocks tend cover anti-vehicle duty pretty well.

In 1850, I do field one or two BL serpents, but that's because I glued one of my FW turrets on. I used to field _all_ BL Serpents (3-5, depending upon the size of my bike or HQ contingent, alongside 2 Prisms), but found I was lacking in anti-horde power.

Orlanth: You would be surprised how well magnetized guns fit on FW turrets, if you space the two guns from each other with another magnet or two. That's how I field EML Serpents now, as I bought all BLs (7 of 'em) to start with.