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I simply love this guy, at 55 points he seems great. But I'm considering the best way to turn out his squad.

I'm stuck on 2 ideas.

1.) Harker and squad with 3 Grenade launchers. Harker being able to move and fire at str 5 would Complement the assault str6 grenlaunchers. So infiltrate in run about and cause a mess.

2.) Harker and squad with Auto Cannon/heavy bolter and 3 sniper Rifles. So infiltrate in and be a support fire base some where. This doesnt take advantage of his move and fire, but still seems appealing

What are your thoughts? and I'll really like to hear if any Guard players have had poss/negitive experiences using him.

cheers

Personally i had a game against tau recently, we were both new to the armies and hadnt played for a while so take my experience with a does of salt, but I took harker, 3 plasma guns and a HB team, sat them in a crater and spent the game mowing down fire warriors, a battlesuit and a devilfish.

6 HB shots are brilliant for taking out infantry followed by 3-6 Plasma shots depending on range will either chew through heavy infantry or fend off most armoured vehicles, its a very versatile build.

not sure about the plasma gun option, I have a fantastic knack of rolling 1's. If using as a fire base I'd like them to stick around for a bit!

Mathhammer Vs experience, I lost 1 vet to overheat and 3 to pulse rifle fire, could be a fluke, but its a nice deterrent, especially against tau as his flamers could easy wipe out the squad at the risk of sitting his expensive crisis suits next to 6 rapid fire plasma shots.

Harker has one useful ability: making vets outflank. As such, you should give them guns that let them take full advantage of them appearing out of nowhere on the side of the board. In my mind, this means meltas, as I've killed SO many vehicles with Al'Rahem appearing off the side of the board with a melta retinue, it's proabably more than my other vehicle kills combined. Also, I could see plasma, as you're likely to get some side shots in on vehicles, but this is obviously less than preferable unless local meta dictates.

Of course, if you do like most noobs who use Harker and take him with sniper rifles or grenade launchers like you're suggesting, you're going to spend 150 points on a squad that does absolutely nothing. Of course, once in a blue moon he inevitably will, and then you'll just remember the couple of games in which he made a difference and then forget the game after game of crapulence in between and come to the conclusion that a harker+GL squad must ROCK, when it really doesn't.

If you're going to give vets GL's, actually keep a diary of what they did and after each entry write down what they could have done armed with plasma or melta. Shouldn't take much empiricism for you to outfit them properly.

I like the grenade launchers.

P.S. you should make it a poll just for fun.

Melta all the way, you outflank to get the rear/side armor of a vehicle might as well do a good job on it ... Let's face it, Grenade Launchers suck on vets and you have just wasted points in putting them on a Harker squad

Question:
Can a Harker squad with a dedicated chimera deployed separately still outflank?

h0r0 wrote:Melta all the way, you outflank to get the rear/side armor of a vehicle might as well do a good job on it ... Let's face it, Grenade Launchers suck on vets and you have just wasted points in putting them on a Harker squad

Question:
Can a Harker squad with a dedicated chimera deployed separately still outflank?

Yes

Stormrider wrote:[

Question:
Can a Harker squad with a dedicated chimera deployed separately still outflank?

Yes

I kinda like that harker is basically 25 points since you get stealth via a doctrine (you lose out on defensive grenades though)

Still a hefty investment though, getting them meltas/shotties and pop in with assault weapons blazing seems to be the most effective way

I tested Harker at the Ardboys level (2500 pts) and gave his squad 3 melta guns and a Chimera so they could lend some support to the outflanking Valkyries. He is ok but good players will not let you get short range melta shots without moving 12 and getting out which exposes your expensive squad. He is a good distraction that needs to be dealt with and can net you a vehicle kill but is kinda expensive. I ultimately decided not to go with him and just put infantry squads in my Valkyries.

konort ranger wrote:

Stormrider wrote:[

Question:
Can a Harker squad with a dedicated chimera deployed separately still outflank?

Yes

Ah, careful here.

If the transport is deployed on table at game start but Harker is outflanking then no problem. You cannot however place Harker outflanking and the transport in normal reserve as the rules insist on them outflanking together, Harker mounted inside.


Edit: Dammit, bugrd the quote

h0r0 wrote:Melta all the way, you outflank to get the rear/side armor of a vehicle might as well do a good job on it ... Let's face it, Grenade Launchers suck on vets and you have just wasted points in putting them on a Harker squad

Don't forget to go for Demo! BOOM!

i run mine with 3 meltaguns with the demolition ability.. this way they can move every turn and lay down a great deal of firepower

I let Lt. Harker lead my 50 man blob unit of Catchians, he has caught my main opponents Space Wolfs flat every time he chooses to run his plasma gunline army. If I run him in my HQ unit he gets a plasma gun and I add a shotgun to the 6-man team and vox box to support and assult with any unit I choose him to lead and he is great in close combat as Catchias can infiltrate wood/jungles it is very cool. Meltas are my fav weapon in Catchian units for anti-vehicle and tear up Termies very well.

LordWynne wrote:I let Lt. Harker lead my 50 man blob unit of Catchians, he has caught my main opponents Space Wolfs flat every time he chooses to run his plasma gunline army. If I run him in my HQ unit he gets a plasma gun and I add a shotgun to the 6-man team and vox box to support and assult with any unit I choose him to lead and he is great in close combat as Catchias can infiltrate wood/jungles it is very cool. Meltas are my fav weapon in Catchian units for anti-vehicle and tear up Termies very well.

What? What? What?

Harker is a sargent to a vet squad. He can't be taken as anything else. So the blob squad cannot have him nor can your Hq. He is part of a troops choice called the Veteran squad.

Hello Catchians are considered vet squads on their special skills and drills

What game are you playing? Harker can't take plasma guns, be attached to combined squads, or join your HQ. Skills and drills? You must be using some long out-of-date book.

yes but have yet to buy it sorry......I would be better off using a basic officer than special chars then...darn GW every freakin 2-3 yrs new rules changes.....

o_O hasn't that new codex been out for...um... awhile?

LordWynne wrote:yes but have yet to buy it sorry......I would be better off using a basic officer than special chars then...darn GW every freakin 2-3 yrs new rules changes.....

Yeah, or more like 8-10 year codex updates, the last IG codex was from 3rd edition. Not THAT hard to follow