Devesator Squad????

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**camboyaz**

I run a gunline SM force, and im thinking about getting a Devesator Squad. Is it good for the points? I face orks most of the time.

**AbaddonFidelis**

depends. what do you want to kill?

**camboyaz**

Well im thinking of taking 3 plasma cannons for his boyz and nobz, 1 heavy bolter for boyz, and 1 las cannon for the Battle wagon!

**AbaddonFidelis**

I think you should run all the same weapon. 1 lascannon is very unlikely to kill a battlewagon. Out of cover it's something like a 1 in 20 chance, in cover it's 1 in 40. I'm not a fan of heavy bolters. plasmacannons will definitely wipe boyz.

**camboyaz**

YAYZ FOR PLASMA!!!!!!!! Ok plasma weapons only, should i do combat squads, one all bolters, the other heavy wep? The one with bolters only could protect them from assualt.

**AbaddonFidelis**

leave the other 5 in the same squad. that way when your devestators take fire you'll be losing guys with bolters (who cares) vs. guys with plasma cannons (big deal). I don't think you need to do anything special to protect them other than to always deploy them in cover and keep them out of the way, towards the rear, with a good field of vision to the rest of the battlefield. If your opponent starts finding ways to get into assault with them then you might want to think about protecting them, but until then I wouldn't worry about it.

**Lucid**

I suggest magnets . . . easy to use, makes everything swapable. I did that with my dev squad and change their loadout every game. Another plus is that you can still use them before you go out and buy the extra bits you'd need to get 4 plasma cannons.

**AbaddonFidelis**

yeah look up earth magnets. they're really strong and small enough to use for 40k figs.

**BlackWaves**

camboyaz wrote:I run a gunline SM force, and im thinking about getting a Devesator Squad. Is it good for the points? I face orks most of the time.

I think they are worth the points. Give your devastators an extra 5 bolter marines to use as a meat shield. This way they are more surivable and effective against enemy units like ork boyz. The bolters could crush the boyz if within 12 inches [rapid fire].

As for guns, it depends what you're up against. If the enemy has mainly infantry, go for plasma cannon [with the meat shield], missile launchers and heavy bolters. If you're against a vehicle army, go lascannons. If you don't know, I would go for a heavy bolter, plasma cannon, lascannons

Just my 2 pennies. Yes, I live in England

**Nurglitch**

Something to remember is that they only get two Plasma Cannons per box. Splitting into two combat squads with different armaments helps to make a single box more efficient. Something else worth remembering is that you don't have to max out the number of Heavy Weapons, and that the rest of the squad is armed with Boltguns.

**camboyaz**

Im probley gonna use the bolter guys a meat shield, and im gonna use them in sequence with my scouts w/t snipers.

**CHR15T09H3R**

I reckon 4 missile launchers, to sort out vehicle and troops or 2 heavy bolters and 2 missile launchers (or 2 plasma cannons and 2 missile launchers/heavy bolters)

**LunaHound**

camboyaz wrote:Well im thinking of taking 3 plasma cannons for his boyz and nobz, 1 heavy bolter for boyz, and 1 las cannon for the Battle wagon!

All in 1 same squad right?

Unless they are LongFangs , it really wont be effective.

I agree 5 missile launcher will work better in everyway

**Captain Solon**

We can only get four heavy weapons.

WHY. why do we have to be worse then wolves in EVERY facet of the game >_>

Anyway. Devastators work really well if you use missile launchers. good at taking out light vehicles, and 4 small blasts can do alot more then bolters.

If you are willing to put the points into it, missile launchers. plasma just isn't optimal in that kind of squad.

Also, Can you stop overusing your ! and ?, it's extreemly annoying. you don't need more then one. it will have the exact same effect.

**AbaddonFidelis**

missile launchers are good against orks because their vehicles are made out of duct tape (mostly) and the frag missiles can cover the squads.... however you may need the plasma cannon to fight da nobz... depends on whether they're in mega armor or not. If they are a krak missile just won't do it. Otherwise it's instant death and - splat - dead ork.
AF

**CHR15T09H3R**

CHR15T09H3R wrote:I reckon 4 missile launchers, to sort out vehicle and troops or 2 heavy bolters and 2 missile launchers (or 2 plasma cannons and 2 missile launchers/heavy bolters)

Forgot to mention they are dead ass cheap (missile launchers).

**Ragnar Blackmane**

Captain Solon wrote:We can only get four heavy weapons.

WHY. why do we have to be worse then wolves in EVERY facet of the game >_>

Nah, your Devastators are not that bad either, they can take meat shield cannon fodder, the signum is nice (especially on things like lascannons) and you can even combat squad to mimik the split fire effect

.
And unlike the wolves you get cheap TH/SS termies, Sternguard and Vulkan to balance this weakness ^^.

Against Orks I would play Plasma cannons, frag missiles are a joke against boys (as you wound them on 4+ -------.....------) and the plasma can be used for better effect against things like boss bikers. However DON'T start equipping them with HBs, that's a waste of points. You would be better off with Typhoons or Dakka Preds...

**BlackWaves**

Captain Solon wrote:We can only get four heavy weapons.

WHY. why do we have to be worse then wolves in EVERY facet of the game >_>

Anyway. Devastators work really well if you use missile launchers. good at taking out light vehicles, and 4 small blasts can do alot more then bolters.

If you are willing to put the points into it, missile launchers. plasma just isn't optimal in that kind of squad.

Also, Can you stop overusing your ! and ?, it's extreemly annoying. you don't need more then one. it will have the exact same effect.

To be honest, I would not recommend this. The enemy will realise you have small last weapons and he will make sure each model in his unit is 2 inches apart, as far away as ossible in coherency. This would make the missiles useless. As for vehicles, the krak missiles would be fine against trukks, but hard to use against battlewagons. I still recommend, the HB, PC and 2 Lascannons. Only take the PC if you have a 5 man meat shield

**Sanctjud**

Yes, they can spread out.
Isn't that points well spent? You've just affected how the orc player sets up, which is giving you initiative.
You can tankshock to bunch them up.
Hell, not all orks run foot lists, you can wreck trucks and they are somwhat limited in deployment.

If the opponent needs to avoid terrain, then 2" max coherency just doesn't work as nicely as one would hope.

Missiles are not useless, they are the jack of all trades but the master of none, they are the true 'all-comers' choice.
Not all ork vehicles are battlewagons.
There are dreads, kans, trucks... even if one is tailoring there is a variety of ways to run most armies.
_______________________

I think it is universal to suggest:
DON'T MIX WEAPONS. If you do 2 different kinds MAX as you have a highly overt oppurtunity cost.

**notabot187**

I generally don't suggest running devastators in the first place, but if you insist on running them try to go with cheaper options. They aren't very points efficient to begin with: compare 5 with a pair of missile launchers to a landspeeder typhoon. 90 point for the fast skimmer vs 120 for the immobile heavy weapons squad. A Lascannon or plasma squad full sized costs more than a land raider. A squad of 5 with 3 lascannons cost more than a triple las predator.

For their firepower, there is better options, so taking them is a choice that comes down how likely your guys are going survive some losses vs the risk of losing a vehicle. You give up immunity to small arms fire, mobility, and LoS blocking utility for the ability to take cover more readily, absorb losses and keep firing, and the general SM resilience.

**Jaon**

I dont exactly suggest plasma. It WILL kill orks, but so will a boltgun.

Take missile launchers and heavy bolters, leave battle wagons to the big guns.

**Nurglitch**

Plasma Cannons will kill more Ork than the equivalent points value of Marines with Boltguns. In particular they'll be far more effective against squads of Nobs, of any kind, than Boltguns, and can do anti-vehicle (not to be confused with anti-tank) work in a pinch.

**Nantukoshade**

I definately think that if you take devs, you should use all ML, and max out your meat shields. The MLs are actually quite effective against orks, frags will get as many hist as a plasma cannon will, and won't get hot ( I know it is harder to wound with, but frags wont kill your own guys). Otherwise, kraks really work well against light armor, and side armor. And can Insta Death most infantry, including nobs.

**JSK-Fox**

Kraks will kill even more nobs than plasma because plasma shots don't insta-kill, and can be thrown around the nobs, whereas kraks do instakill, so even if only 3 hit, most of them will wound, and they will do 2 wounds each.

**Monster Rain**

4 Missile Launcher Devastators are always handy.

They wreck everything but AV13<, and isn't that what melta is for?

**Nurglitch**

You can expect a 50% improvement in the number of kills made with Plasma Cannons over Frag Missiles, even factoring in cover. Against Nobs you can expect two wounds per blast if the blast marker touches two Nob models, with an additional wound expected for every additional Nob you touch. Plus it won't be ignored by Mega Armour.

**Monster Rain**

I think the point was that Krak missiles will ID a Nob, not cause 2 wounds that will get spread out over Diversified Nob Squad Gouda.

**JSK-Fox**

Monster Rain wrote:4 Missile Launcher Devastators are always handy.

They wreck everything but AV13<, and isn't that what melta is for?

It's not like orks have a vehicle that is 13+ all around anyways, so a missile launcher can kill anything.

**Nurglitch**

Sure, but you're better off spreading the wounds around before the mob reaches close combat.

Consider a Nob squad of ten different Nobs. Four successfully Krak Missile wounds should kill four Nobs. Scratch four Nobs, usually the scrubs carrying Choppas and whatnot. Four successfully wounding Plasma Cannons hitting two Nobs each will cause eight wounds, not all of which will be distributed to the scrubs. If each Plasma Cannon hits three Nobs each, then each Nob is likely to take a wound.

Volume of fire in this case is preferable because the Nobs carrying the useful kit will be killed at the same rate as the scrubs.

**Monster Rain**

Unless you cause a LD test by killing four Nobs and they break. You are also assuming that those four MLs are the only thing I'm shooting at them.

It most likely isn't.