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I got my Land Speeder Storm done. Such a cool model but I don't know what to run them with. Currently, I am having a 5-man scout with power fist in them. The Land Speeder Storm has a Heavy Flamer.

Just that it got annihilated by Razorback LasPlas. Never see any action.

How did you play it? Usually I get a first turn charge out of it, or when going second I outflank it. I use it with Vulkan, though. And my setup is with MM, and sarge has a PF and combi-melta. They always damage something, and even when they die they'e immobilized/killed/delayed something important.

Heavy Flamer seems a bit of a waste imo.

LSS are av10 and open topped, which is going to blow pretty quick. Getting up close and personal to use its weapon will allow closer range for melta or other enemy guns. Besides, the scouts will drop out after it blows, and we all know scouts aren't great in h2h. Agreed with heartserenade, use a MM

MM without Vulkan mean they will miss and waste that 15 pts. Heavy flamer doesn't require weapon skill .

If I put a combi-melta on the sarge, I can do:
Scout move, move 12", pop out the squad. Sarge combi-melta the transport.

Transport blow up => Heavy flamer from LSS, charge with squad.
Transport doesn't blow up => charge with squad. LSS hopefully live to flame someone else .

My HQ is Librarian with terminator armour, null zone w/ 5 TH/SS terminators in a LRR.

Scout move 24" and you get a cover save anyway...

MM, combi-melta, meltabombs is the "tri-melta" setup and can be used for turn 1 alpha strikes since you get essentially 3 chances... Some people prefer fist instead of meltabombs, but that's getting a little expensive for me. Or if you get second turn then outflanking late game objective grabber. Usually there is somewhere to turboboost that is safe on turn 2-3 that you can end up scoring around turn 5.

-Myst

LSS is a really fun unit. Scouting towards their heavy support and wrecking it is awesome. I agree with the heavy flamer all the way on them. But you should still take Vulkan as that combi-melta also needs it's best chance to kill something. Scouts die to a stiff breeze in the open, so cracking open a transport and getting them into combat with something soft is the best way to go.

Fill with 5 scouts and combi melta. Take mutli-melta, Scout move foward, get cover save, first turn pop tanks, and if you have to, assault the vehicles that never moved.

It's a reserve unit for late turn objective grabbing. It gets shot down quickly otherwise

labmouse42 wrote:It's a reserve unit for late turn objective grabbing. It gets shot down quickly otherwise

Yeah its a 155pt bomb (scouts, combi-M, MB, LSS with MM) that will die. But I think its better then the 185pt bomb (sternguard, 5combi-M, DP) they too will die when they arrive. I say better cause the scouts are cheaper and can out flank if need be.

To explain a bit further...

It's an outflanked that can move 24" onto the board, so it can come in late game (if your lucky) and nab an objective that was otherwise ignored.

It can also be used as a melta bomb to take down enemy armor such as a Russ or Manticores

You hit the nail on the head!

Like with all scout-moving units, bear in mind that if you're going first, you have to make the decision about whether to deploy or outflank *before* you see your opponent's deployment.

So you'll only be able to get your turn 1 sucker punch against an opponent who doesn't know about it, since he'll be able to see where you LSS is before he sets up, and thus can deploy/screen/reserve accordingly to counter it.

I've had good results with 5 scouts PF combi melta sarge, and MM LSS.

Just because I dont have vulcan doesn't mean I'll miss. BS 3 is not the end of the world. The combi melta sarge is BS 4. You get 2 melta shots out of the complete unit. With the PF you have 2 melta chances, and 4 krak grenades and 3 PF chances to kill a vehicle if you go for a first turn strike. I like those odds.

I run a pair of such units, which helps me quite a bit, but I only go for first turn strike if I go first, if i go 2nd, i outflank them.

Flavius Infernus wrote:Like with all scout-moving units, bear in mind that if you're going first, you have to make the decision about whether to deploy or outflank *before* you see your opponent's deployment.

So you'll only be able to get your turn 1 sucker punch against an opponent who doesn't know about it, since he'll be able to see where you LSS is before he sets up, and thus can deploy/screen/reserve accordingly to counter it.

With a 24" scout move it doesnt really matter that much where you set it up. If a 160pts unit makes the opponent reserve everything then Im one happy panda. That said, bubble wraping can be a pain.

It's more about screening than reserving (although good null deployment armies aren't disadvantaged by starting in reserve).

If your opponent can see where the LSS is, he can put a cheap, expendible screening unit in the spot 24" away where the Storm *wants to go.* Then, because a scout move can't bring you within 12" of an enemy unit, that can push the LSS well back from vulnerable tanks in turn 1.

Flavius Infernus wrote:It's more about screening than reserving (although good null deployment armies aren't disadvantaged by starting in reserve).

If your opponent can see where the LSS is, he can put a cheap, expendible screening unit in the spot 24" away where the Storm *wants to go.* Then, because a scout move can't bring you within 12" of an enemy unit, that can push the LSS well back from vulnerable tanks in turn 1.

easier said than done. LSS has 24" move, then 12" move, then 2" disembark, then 6" assault. It takes a lot of bubble wrap to keep a LSS from getting to at least one good destination... and if they do bubble wrap that much, there is always the option to just hide with the LSS for late game objectives and then shoot the &*!%$# out of the bubble wrap. Most people take mech these days and aren't equipped with a bunch of cheap bubble troops and doing that strategy will most likely carry a heavy cost and will change their gameplay. Either way, worth 155 points and a fast attack choice to me. The biggest weakness of LSS is if you don't get first turn since outflanking for a late objective is ok at best.... and of course if they steal the initiative it's also bad news bears.

-Myst

SM should have a commander that give initiative stealing on a 5+. Cato reroll of initiative stealing is statistically equal to a 5.5+

So, the final words is:
Land Speeder Storm
5 scouts
Sergent with Combi-melta + Powerfist

Initiative => blow something up.
No-initiative => outflank and blow something up.

I'm running 2 Storms/MM with scouts and combi meltas in my Vulcan list this weekend. I also drop an Ironclad in with them to "threaten" a flank. My main push is up the middle with 2x vindicators and a Redeemer with TH/SS terminators and Vulcan. If you focus on the flank, my middle is there turn 2 to deliver the hammer. If you ignore the flank, well, I can kill alot of vehicles fast.

Having the option to outflank, scout move, contest objective, denigh deepstrikers area, and help assault units win combat (-2 to LD when assaulted from it) makes it very flexible and valuable unit in the game. I think it is one of the most usefull vehicles their is. IMO

Mysticaria wrote:

Flavius Infernus wrote:It's more about screening than reserving (although good null deployment armies aren't disadvantaged by starting in reserve).

If your opponent can see where the LSS is, he can put a cheap, expendible screening unit in the spot 24" away where the Storm *wants to go.* Then, because a scout move can't bring you within 12" of an enemy unit, that can push the LSS well back from vulnerable tanks in turn 1.

easier said than done. LSS has 24" move, then 12" move, then 2" disembark, then 6" assault. It takes a lot of bubble wrap to keep a LSS from getting to at least one good destination... and if they do bubble wrap that much, there is always the option to just hide with the LSS for late game objectives and then shoot the &*!%$# out of the bubble wrap. Most people take mech these days and aren't equipped with a bunch of cheap bubble troops and doing that strategy will most likely carry a heavy cost and will change their gameplay. Either way, worth 155 points and a fast attack choice to me. The biggest weakness of LSS is if you don't get first turn since outflanking for a late objective is ok at best.... and of course if they steal the initiative it's also bad news bears.

-Myst

Yep, I'm aware of how it moves, but I don't think I'm making myself clear. It only takes one screening unit, because you're setting up second.

You don't have to cover every possible spot where the LSS might go. You just look at the space marine player's deployment and see where it's going to want to go with the scout move: in order to suckerpunch a valuable tank, or whatever. Then you put a unit in the one spot where the LSS wants to go.

Like for example if you castle up, you put a screening unit about 12" in front of the castle, between the LSS and the leading edge of the castle.

Because you have to be more than 12" from enemy models at the end of your scout move, the LSS is blocked out of that 24" circle where the screening unit is located. It can't move far enough with a scout move to get past the screening unit (which is probably about 24" away from the LSS deployment if you've screened right). So the LSS probably just moves fast for a cover save, and then in turn 1 it can only get close to the castle by moving too far to disembark. Then you shoot it down.

leohart wrote:Initiative => blow something up.
No-initiative => outflank and blow something up.

If the game was only about blowing stuff up, then I would agree with you.

2/3 of the games are objective based.

If your coming in on turn 4, is it better to grab an objective with your scouts, or just try and suicide into a predator?

I was thinking of blowing up whatever is currently on the objective which I want to contest/grab right now. Chance is that my side of the objective should be covered. It is just that objective far far away in the middle of a couple of razorback lasplas and assault marines that I need to contest/get.

I've only played against it a few times, but last time it was used against me to counter my sniper scouts. It came in with a HF and Shotguns, torched my guys, shot the shotguns, and then blew up to a LC.... Seems to me that its most useful to hit keep it in reserve and then swing it out mid-game to blow up something thats really annoying you.