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Personally I love them

I have a whole unit of guard snipers. Unfotunately I have to count them as ratlings.

I think they rock! screw hobbits make some models of Guard snipers if they haven't?

They look great and in a game are ok. Unfortunately to grant them the privalege of hitting you have to get ridiculous-looking ratlings.

If GW made a less-hideous Ratling model, then I would get a squad, but right now I wouldn't even touch them they're so terrible.

Valk

Then do what I do. I've got 3 catachan snipers, 2 cadian and 2 vostroyan and they all look awesome but to use such a squad I need to count them as ratlings. Whatever, I just pretend lying in wait for hours has reduced their S & T because they got that pins and needles feeling all over.

Love 'em. Most of the models are cool, they're fluffy and the Ratling Trolls are hideous. Although, I find them not very effective...

The OC-D

The catachan sniper model,where the sniper is lying down is AWESOME

Ratlings are okay from what I've seen. Regular Guardsmen with sniper rifles are awful though. If they're infantry or special weapon squads, they've only got BS3. If they're veterans, they should have plasma or melta guns.

Sniper rifles always hit on 2+

KamikazeCanuck wrote:Sniper rifles always hit on 2+

Maybe back in 4th Edition

I like the snipers the ratlings are cool and the special weapon unit with 3 snipers is great its my favorit way to deal with those high toughness guys in other armys.

I like Snipers. I call them Autocannon Teams. Stick them in cover, have them potshot the enemy, and Go to Ground+Get Back in the Fight.

MagicJuggler wrote:I like Snipers. I call them Autocannon Teams. Stick them in cover

What do you call HWTs with Autocannons then? Do you call them Snipers?

Yes. Yes I do.

MagicJuggler wrote:I like Snipers. I call them Autocannon Teams. Stick them in cover, have them potshot the enemy, and Go to Ground+Get Back in the Fight.

Ilike that thinking.

KamikazeCanuck wrote:Then do what I do. I've got 3 catachan snipers, 2 cadian and 2 vostroyan and they all look awesome but to use such a squad I need to count them as ratlings. Whatever, I just pretend lying in wait for hours has reduced their S & T because they got that pins and needles feeling all over.

I must agree, this is what I was planning to do.

Catachan snipers have yet to disappoint me, however I have never used ratlings.... are they "better"?

I don't know why GW keeps including sniper rifles in a regular guard squad/SWS when they also give your ratlings. I mean, the ONLY reason to take regular snipers over ratlings is if the models make you puke and you're not a good converter. Otherwise ratlings are cheaper and better, so there's no good excuse for taking snipers over ratlings.

And even then, I don't think I'd ever take ratlings. Sniper rifles are the worst weapon on the game next to laspistols.

Now, if they actually gave them GOOD rules, other than the illusion of rending/S5 they might be worth taking (such as letting you target individual models with any sniper rifle, like the vindicare can), otherwise they're just crap, regardless of how nice the minis look.

Ailaros wrote:
And even then, I don't think I'd ever take ratlings. Sniper rifles are the worst weapon on the game next to laspistols.

You've never fought a biker, carnifex, daemon prince, wraithlord, C'tan, Warboss biker, Trygon, Hive Guard, Tyrant, or anything resembling a monstrous creature before, have you? Sniper rifles wound anything on 4's, and are really useful for doing just such against targets like those. While there are far better weapons Guard can use to deal with these targets, sniper rifles are cheap.

KamikazeCanuck wrote:Sniper rifles always hit on 2+

Hah, look at this guy still playing in 4th edition. This hasn't been true in years.

Brother SRM wrote:
You've never fought a biker, carnifex, daemon prince, wraithlord, C'tan, Warboss biker, Trygon, Hive Guard, Tyrant, or anything resembling a monstrous creature before, have you? Sniper rifles wound anything on 4's, and are really useful for doing just such against targets like those. While there are far better weapons Guard can use to deal with these targets, sniper rifles are cheap.

The best part of Sniper rifles is; whatever you should be shooting at will usually be too large to gain a cover save (MCs and Tanks) so having Rending involved really comes in handy. There's nothing like telling a Nid player that, not only do they have 4 armor saves to make, but I also rend once or twice.

Sniper Rifles are broken down as such:
Platoon Infantry: never take it, you only hit 50% of the time and Only wound 50% of the time you hit, also you only get 1 per squad.
Platoon Command Squad: you can take up to 4 of them but on average only 1 will actually wound, Also you want your Platoon command squads to be moving or doing something useful.
Veterans: BS4 + 3 snipers make them better than PIS, but @ 85 points for the squad they are ridiculously overpriced, and you want your vets moveing/doing something useful.
Co. Command: BS4 + 4 snipers still too expensive even though you do not necessarily loose maneuverability.
Ratlings: Dirt Cheap, Infiltrate, and stealth. The only viable option for fielding Sniper rifles; Just use the Guard Sniper models if you hate the ratling models so much.

Smashotron: Sniper rifles are only S3 vs vehicles, so at best you can glance AV12

Yeah, my point was primarily on denying MCs armor saves. I use Ratlings every time I deal with MCs.

A tad off topic here, has the Catachan Codex gotten any love/updates since 4th?

I thought Codes Catachans was from 3rd ed? I know the previous two Guard codexes were, anyway.

AFAIK there has been no talk about releasing a new Catachan codex. They seem to be rolled into the main Guard codex, which has a sizeable section showing pictures of the Catachan models.

SWS aren't that bad, they're cheap,scoring and often missed in the large melee. One might consider investing them in a Vet squad, giving you a higher BS and access to useful Camo-cloaks, however these are more expensive and definitely won't be missed by your opponent on the battlefield.

Brother SRM wrote:

KamikazeCanuck wrote:Sniper rifles always hit on 2+

Hah, look at this guy still playing in 4th edition. This hasn't been true in years.

1 year(s)? Where's the plural?