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.

Hello people,

I just bought a vanguard veteran squad and wanted to know what you guys have found to be the best weapon choices for the squad?? Is the Relic Blade on the sargent worth it as I have never seen one in combat...

Thanks.

Well, I think most people here are probably going to say no to this. And to Vanguard Vets in general, most don't like them at all.

I have a feeling V.V. are too expensive.... Is that the general consensus???

Paysee wrote:I have a feeling V.V. are too expensive.... Is that the general consensus???

Exactly. Their special ability seems nice but it is an expensive one-hit wonder. Especially if you start laying on extra gear on the squad.

Personally I have faced Vanguard exactly one (1) time in battle. Although they did manage pull off the instant assault trick, they became bogged down in a protracted melee and so did not achieve anything game winning.

yep... wayyyy overpriced. maybe if they were 25 points a piece, including jump packs, i'd use em... if I could get a decently equipped 5 man squad for 200 points, i'd use em. and by decently equipped, maybe a relic blade, 2x power swords, 2x stormshields. Still worse in combat than terminators, much more fragile, but useful still.

Honestly they pay way too much for their weapons. Single wound models paying character prices for weapons and upgrades isn't a good deal at all. They die just way to easy to give them a cost that can easily go over 50 points each. If you don't upgrade them you might as well play with regular assault marines (which aren't exactly good outside of BA).

Totally agreed here. I don't know why they have to pay for their jump packs, but they do. And that alone makes them way to expensive. They seem cool, to look at in the codex...but thats about it.

I agree with all that is said here; in order to use their heroic intervention(an ability you already pay a premium for) you must also buy them all jump packs(another item they pay a premium for). Sure you get 3 attacks per model on any turn you do not assault.

175 points for a 5 man Assault squad with +1 attacks on each model(other than the sgt) is just too damn much, even with the "Free" power weapon.

I would rather have a 10 Man Assault Marine Squad with a Power Weapon Sgt than a 6 man Vanguard squad with no upgrades. They cost the same, but the 10 man squad gets 2 more attacks.

I agree. WHY JUMP PACKS, WHY???!!?!?!!

Generally I scoff at someone taking it, but one time they came in the middle of my Chimera Parking Lot and wrecked like 4 vehicles with meltabombs. Of course, they died the next turn, but still...

If he hadn't taken them he could have had so much more in his list. They're soooo overpriced.

Thanks for your input guys! Looks like I'll have to convert them into something else.

Vanvets for regular marines are bad, and never worth the points. For blood angels they can be useful, if you dont go crazy with wargear They're still pretty expensive, but at least you pretty much negate the times you scatter out of assault range.

I only ever run them when i feel like playing an all jump pack blood angels variant, with 50 assault marines, 4 sanguinary priests, sanguinor and a libby, which leaves around 250 pts for finishing touches.

i could take a 6th assault squad yea, or spend 15 more points for 4 less models, with 3 pwoer weapons and a power fist that assault on deepstrike.

They never see the light of day in anything but jumppack spam though.

I wouldn't call them bad, but very very tricky. We have a guy at our FLGS who runs vanguard with his vanilla codex. More times than not they do something very useful. They are an extremely tricky unit to use and pull off effectively, but when in the right hands they can tip the battle to your favor. The biggest thing if you want to run them is don't go crazy with them. Also, don't expect them to just kill anything. Be smart and they might actually do something.

pdawg517 wrote:I wouldn't call them bad, but very very tricky. We have a guy at our FLGS who runs vanguard with his vanilla codex. More times than not they do something very useful. They are an extremely tricky unit to use and pull off effectively, but when in the right hands they can tip the battle to your favor. The biggest thing if you want to run them is don't go crazy with them. Also, don't expect them to just kill anything. Be smart and they might actually do something.

+1. There is a local player who runs a small unit of 5 with powerfist, thunderhammer and power weapon in a drop pod heavy list. The two or three locator beacons combined with two terminator squads and a regular assault squad provide a good combination of reliability for the heroic intervention and enough target saturation to help keep them alive. The Vanguard Vets complement his build quite well.

I ran them in a tournament and they worked really well against everything but double lash. Drop pod army combined with vanguard vets and lo cater beacons, they showed up where I needed them to.

There was an idea that was posted here awhile back about running 5 Vanguard with TH/SS and Jump packs. I think it came in at about 380 pts or so.

Now wait and hear me out.

They are just as effective as ass termies with TH/SS in CC same amount of attacks and a little less survivable (being 3+/3+ instead of 2+/3+) but they are cheaper to deliver where you need. Taking 5 TH/SS termeis at is cheapest with a land raider is still 440pts where as the Vanguard come in 60 pts cheaper.

Now this tactic relies highly on you landing where right where you need too. Drop pods or bikes can make them hit where you want but there again you are relying on your reserve roll.

Im not saying this tactic is a game winner but it sure is awesome to see you opponents face when you pull it off.

lethlis wrote:I ran them in a tournament and they worked really well against everything but double lash. Drop pod army combined with vanguard vets and lo cater beacons, they showed up where I needed them to.

This regularly hurts me when I play against it. You can't spend all your time killing the pods and ignoring all the stuff coming out of them. Then...WHAM! Vanguard with power weapons assaulting your terminators out of nowhere...

I will have to admit that I never thought of using a beacon on pods to land them for intervention. That is an awesome tactic that I am going to have to try!

Boyofdestiny205 wrote:There was an idea that was posted here awhile back about running 5 Vanguard with TH/SS and Jump packs. I think it came in at about 380 pts or so.

Now wait and hear me out.

They are just as effective as ass termies with TH/SS in CC same amount of attacks and a little less survivable (being 3+/3+ instead of 2+/3+) but they are cheaper to deliver where you need. Taking 5 TH/SS termeis at is cheapest with a land raider is still 440pts where as the Vanguard come in 60 pts cheaper.

Now this tactic relies highly on you landing where right where you need too. Drop pods or bikes can make them hit where you want but there again you are relying on your reserve roll.

Im not saying this tactic is a game winner but it sure is awesome to see you opponents face when you pull it off.

But looking at it in this light, you ppay 60pts for a 2+ save and a landraider of your choice, which exponentionally increases their survivability. Seems worth it to me.

That is WAAAAAYYYY to many points for a vanguard unit. The trick with them is don't go crazy with the upgrades. A couple PW's, a fist or melta bombs should be enough to accomplish what they need to do.