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Is a list with lots of scout units and Landspeeder storms a feasible and efficient army? I was thinking mainly cheap scouts, with assault marines, devastator squads, and telion thrown in...

Any good?

I don't see why it cant be effective. Sniper rifles + that heavy bolter with special rounds should help as flexible anti infantry fire support whilst the assault squads drop pod/rhino/jetpack their way into the thick of it.

I've been playing with scouts as my only troop choice for a while now (fluff driven). They are very, very fragile. They can do some neat stuff... but if things don't go according to plan you're toast.

5 man scut squad witha powerfist in a Land Speeder Storm, which has X2 Multi-meltas
1st turn alpha strike the LSS gets into te nemy deployment the scouts charge out attacking any vehicles and the LSS multi-melta hits any AV14 that's in range.
Simple, effective and pretty cheap considerng.

I've gone Scout heavy in the past, and while their abilities are useful compared to Tactical Marines they simply don't have the staying power that normal Marine have. My own advice would be to take scouts in addition to tactical marines as support, distraction or flanking units, but not as a main attacking force.

@purplefood: don't you have to make that move first turn then charge/shoot the second turn due to firing restrictions? an AV10 skimmer probably isn't going to survive long enough for the second turn, nor will its 4+ saving passengers. Unless I'm missing something

timetowaste85 wrote:@purplefood: don't you have to make that move first turn then charge/shoot the second turn due to firing restrictions? an AV10 skimmer probably isn't going to survive long enough for the second turn, nor will its 4+ saving passengers. Unless I'm missing something

The storm has a scout move and with the ability to go flat out for 24", it could be pretty effective delivering a heavy weapon for up close shooting. The MM on the Storm can be fired after going 12" as well since it is a fast vehicle.

purplefood wrote:5 man scut squad witha powerfist in a Land Speeder Storm, which has X2 Multi-meltas

FYI - LSS's can only take one weapon. The MM only replaces the HB, unfortunately...

That being said though, Scouts, I find are useful if used in larger amounts. Usually, I run either all Scouts as my Troop choices, or I run no Scouts at all. And like others have said, their 4+ armor save makes considerably more fragile. You will begin to appreciate how great a 3+ armor save is too, trust me.

At any rate, when played right, they can be very effective. When I play Scouts, I usually Outflank with them on an LSS. An effective 20" charge range is pretty good, coming in from either side of the board, so you are bound to get something within assault range. Sniper Scouts with Camo Cloaks and Telion work great together too. I usually avoid taking heavy weapon upgrades with them though, as I usually have better Anti-Tank units on my list. On the LSS's, I equip my Scouts with CCW's and BP's, and I give the Sgt a Power Fist.

In previous editions I played scout heavy lists, but with the tweak down in stats they can't really stand on their own. You can't do enough to mitigate their short comings; so you end up with an army that is some where near Imperial guard units, albeit with unique abilities that become redundant with unit spam, but lacking the special weapons, heavy weapons, and vehicles that make IG viable. Other SM units can help, but you have to ask what the point is in having your army act as such a crutch.

What I determined was to make it work you need some other unit that can act as both troops and some other role. I chose Cantor along with two partial units of Sternguard, droping a number of scout squads to 3 but filling out partial squads. I filled out the FA with Landspeeders for vehicle hunting, thunderfire for hordes.

Scouts can bring utility to a rigid space marine troop selection, but are too fragile to be taken all on their own IMO.

A small unit of sniper scouts can add some homefield scoring capability letting your tougher tactical squads join the fray, or a group of 5 BP/CCW +PF/shotgun in a LSS for first turn assaults (dont expect them to be alive at the end of the game though)

Budgie wrote:Is a list with lots of scout units and Landspeeder storms a feasible and efficient army? I was thinking mainly cheap scouts, with assault marines, devastator squads, and telion thrown in...

Any good?

Well, I have Korvydae (The raven guard captain of the 10th company, and 35 scouts and 3 scout bikes. Not the best army, need some support, but overall works well.

Any HEAVY weapons, shrike?

Budgie wrote:Any HEAVY weapons, shrike?

Cheeky little...
And yes- 2 heavy bolters, 2 missile launchers.