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So a friend of mine who plays SM is going to run scouts as his second Troops choice. Now, for some reason or another, he doesn't want another tactical squad, so I was wondering how he could configure them in his list.

I was thinking something like this:

7 Scouts-126
Heavy Bolter
Teleport Homer

They simply add a little ranged support for his other units, whilst having the Teleport homer to get his Grey Knight Terminators into battle without the random effects of Scatter.

You can't go wrong with most set ups for scouts. Although if their combat oriented save the points and drop cloaks.

10 Scouts w/
Powerfist

155 points

I've thought about scouts, or a suppa scout strike force but I've been running this for vanilla:

Vanilla List

I've been using mine as an advance force in a land speeder storm. So far they haven't been too bad. Still trying to decide on shotguns or CCWs there though.

Tossing them into cover with camo cloaks, sniper rifles and a heavy weapon seems decent as well.

my buddy runs em almost every game with cloaks and sniper rifles, he places em in a corner, and rends stuff to death. Its pretty effective, especially with commander taleon. The only problem is their very poor BS...

with shrike 10 CC scouts with a PF sarge can kill Targers ot Opporotunity on turn 1, such as leman russes, battlewagon nobs, or weaker MCs. They could also tie up large horde units like guardsmen, or, in a pinch, ork boyz.

I only run scouts no tac squads
Here is why, sure they can not take the punishment of a tact sqaud and have worse BS but they can leave a lot more points to spend to buy bigger and better things and are far better at taking objectives and killing MCs

900th post i'll try to do something useful!

Well we can probably break it down into a couple of categories. This is only because scouts can be used in a lot of ways actually. The one thing from the start would be to keep them cheap! I recommend NOT to use a PF just because of the cost, but it can be a viable tool if you want them to get into assault. PW is to be never used. NOT worth it. Plasma pistol is also questionable and I recommend to not use it either.

Do everything! - the Do everything scouts are just there to do whatever you need them to do. Tactically flexable, and while not as strong as a tac squad in a rhino, they are cheaper and faster. Take objectives, pop an x-port you name it they do it.

Scout Squad - 90
5x; Bolters; Combi-Flamer; Meltabombs
Landspeeder Storm - 65
Multi-Melta

Objective Campers - The key to these units is to keep them cheap, be able to sit in cover and stay there for a while while not dying! The best way to run these IMO is cheap as possible and with a lot of scouts. This unit could also be run in a 5 man 90 point unit if you want something even cheaper. The 10 man is supposed to live, the 5 man is just to annoy your opponent and make him have to focus down a 90 point unit that is supposed to die while you actually do what you need to do.

Scout Squad - 90
5x; 5x Sniper Rifles; Camo cloaks

Scout Squad - 170
10x; 10x Sniper Rifles; Camo Cloaks

Teleport Homers - Name implies it all. Can be used as objective campers also! Keep them cheap! They will be close to the enemy to call in DS so prepare for them to die. They can be run with any weapons, here they just have bolters.

Scout Squad - 105
5x; Teleport Homer; Camo Cloaks

Tank Busters - Scout move then assault the tank? Yes I think I will! Equip the first squad with anything but snipers and avoid the heavy weapons since they will want to get into CC and the 2nd squad can have snipers if you please and a Missile Launcher is a must. The first squad can give the sergeant a Power Fist but IMHO its a suicide squad, i'll take it for cheap. The CC squad obviously rides in the LSS. The shooty squad uses Telions BS on the ML.

Scout Squad (CC) - 90
5x; Shotguns (BP+CCW is fine also); Combi-Melta; Melta Bombs
Landspeeder Storm - 65
Multi-Melta

Scout Squad (shooting! doesn't NEED camo cloaks but hey it helps them live) - 147
5x; Camo Cloaks x 4; 3x Sniper Rifles; Missile Launcher; Upgrade Sergeant Telion

MC Killers! - This role makes those pesky scouts into monster killers. Snipers will really shine here. Can be taken in 5 and 10 man sized packages but I think 10 man will get the job done better. Telion isn't NECESSARY but is a nice addition.

Scout Squad - 200
10x; Camo Cloaks x 10; 8x Sniper Rifles; Heavy Bolter (can be a ML if you please but hellfire shells = win); Upgrade Sergeant Telion

Assault Squad! - These guys will finish up wounded infantry. Shotguns or BP+CCW both work.

Scout Squad - 115
5x; BP + CCW; Combi-Flamer; Meltabombs; Power Fist
Landspeeder Storm - 60
Heavy Flamer (assault cannon can be used by DAMN it's expensive for this vehicle!)

ATM I really can't think of much more than that. Post any other builds below and i'll add them.

I'm probably guessing he want to run a shooting-type list.. so he'll probably go with sniper rifles...

Now, another question. Are tactical squads absolutely better in every way? Because he doesn't really want to buy another squad of them (Hell, he doesn't even want to but ANY other troops choices, so his entire army is technically illegal...)

Cryonicleech wrote:I'm probably guessing he want to run a shooting-type list.. so he'll probably go with sniper rifles...

Now, another question. Are tactical squads absolutely better in every way? Because he doesn't really want to buy another squad of them (Hell, he doesn't even want to but ANY other troops choices, so his entire army is technically illegal...)

Ugh. I hate when people run marine gunlines. It's a waste IMHO. (small rant ignore it)

If he doesn't want Tactical Squads in his army stop playing marines now. Seriously. Scouts have purposes. I just posted a ton of them above you. They do not do a tactical squads job. Scouts will do a role and might be able to surpase the tac squad in that single role. They won't ever be better than a tactical squad. Tac squads are more expensive, but they are flexible, tough, great all around troops.

IMHO scouts aren't the unit to get if you want to stand there and shoot. Snipers are fun and all but they aren't as effective as marines rapid firing or even just shooting.

I run sniper scouts with camo cloaks and a ML most of the time.

The nice thing about them is:
1. they're scoring and can sit back, protecting the home objective
2. they're long range and can shoot at almost anything
3. they're theoretically able to harm any kind of vehicle with rending an ML
4. they have some chances at taking out MCs with their sniper rifles
5. big point: The enemy usually does not see them as a thread. Five lowly scouts, somewhere far away in a little forest? They don't get much attention, but can be a pain in the ass if you ignore them. And if you shoot at them, they are T4 units with 3+ cover save that just don't die. Never lost a full scout squad in any game until now. Depleted to one guy, yes, but never lost a whole squad.

Yay scouts! But I agree that you need Tactical Marines for the REAL work on the frontlines.

Yeah, you can't really run marines effectively without tacs. they are the backbone of the list. Not glamorous, but necessary. And a marine "gunline" is somewhat subpar due to SMs being largely midrange firefighters. If you want a gunline go Tau or IG (tankline?). Besides, they pretty much define the marine aesthetic!

Scouts, like many SM units, are specialists. They just aren't very good specialists. They can be built to be decent in a number of different roles, but are guaranteed to lack the versatility of tac squads. That doesn't mean they can't be useful, but rarely will you want more than about 10 of them. And as for them being cheap, they aren't really that cheap once you start upgrading them. A slight point difference, but consider that at 10 man squads, tacs effectively get 15 pts worth of free weapons and pack BS/WS4 and 3+ saves.

If I use scouts its usually 5 of them on my home objective with a ML. Other than that they are bare. If anyone really wants to waste shooting at them with decent AP weapons, they can just go to ground for the turn.

Have to agree on that. Yesterday I noticed how valuable tac squads are...first they shoot orks all day long until the orks are so nerved that they leave their objective to assault you, then you take the opportunity to counter-assault them and still do decent damage due to WS4 S4. And all the time they simply won't die to anything but heavy fire or powerklaws.

How this is related to scouts: Yes, basically, bolter scouts can try and do everything that tacs do, however, their low BS, WS and 4+ save usually make them a) unable to really kill things and b) die faster than tacs, so they aren't even that good as a speed bump.

Therefore my fondness of sniper scouts. Keep them away from the dangerous stuff, let them keep an objective and provide semi-helpful support fire that has its good moments.

Never tried CC scouts, but I guess they can ruin Tau's day. Maybe IG, too, but against anything else I want to have tacs or, better, assault marines in there.