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Space marine scouts, ratlings, really any model with a sniper rifle suffers from the same issues. Their weapon is totally unreliable. What happened to the mantra of one hit one kill?

I would have the sniper rifle profile changed to give +1 to hit (snipers are marksmen with accurate high powered scopes). Any wound on a 2+. Rending rules and current ap I would still apply. (have you guys ever seen a 50 cal. rifle hit something? It blows apart bodies and goes through steel. You would think that they would at least be ap3 or ap4 but I don't want to push my luck.

Would this fix sniper rifle squads? Would it make them over powered? What do you guys think?

Maybe improving the BS on units that take them. Space Marine Scouts w/ Sniper Rifles might be more inticing if they had a better BS.

Personally...make scouts BS4 and the rifle cost +2 pts per model. No changes other than rending hits ignore cover.

TheLionOfTheForest wrote:Space marine scouts, ratlings, really any model with a sniper rifle suffers from the same issues. Their weapon is totally unreliable. What happened to the mantra of one hit one kill?

I would have the sniper rifle profile changed to give +1 to hit (snipers are marksmen with accurate high powered scopes). Any wound on a 2+. Rending rules and current ap I would still apply. (have you guys ever seen a 50 cal. rifle hit something? It blows apart bodies and goes through steel. You would think that they would at least be ap3 or ap4 but I don't want to push my luck.

Would this fix sniper rifle squads? Would it make them over powered? What do you guys think?

Your position starts with the assumption that they aren't worthwhile to begin with, which I think they are. Sniper rifles are not uber weapons that magically turn the shooter into an amazing killer. They are a tool and are only truly amaxzing in the hands of a truly amazing shooter. Scouts with sniper rifles are scouts given the ability to shoot at longer ranges, not suddenly an impressive unit of uber snipers. They are, after all, *still* scouts. Ratlings do a little better with a higher BS, because they are better shooters. If a sniper in 40k is shooting at a lightly armored target they then often are 1 shot, 1 kill. Against heavily armored targets it should be harder to take them down. Ultimately a sniper is a fear/terror weapon and not exactly a direct warfare weapon as it is the fear of the sniper that has the most effect than taking out a target. A sniper kills 1 member of a squad and the rest of the squad wants to hide because they don't know where the shot came from so aren't going to continue with their own plans and goals as easily.

I loved my radical daemonhunters force that included corrupted marine scouts with sniper rifles. They did a great job of pinning down enemy units and limiting the return fire that my other troops faced to get into position to get the job done and that is exactly what they should have done. They worked great in the role they are intended for.

Skriker

My only beef is the lack of range on the Necron Deathmarks... most every other sniper unit in the game gets at least 36" but Deathmarks only get 24" which really impedes their ability to reach out and touch the enemy effectively. Other than that I do like the sniper rules.

Wait, what's wrong with sniper rifles? They cost 5 points for a vet guard and it wounds on a 4+ and is rending out to 36 inches...

The space marines can't be perfect at everything guys...

AP3? what do you think Power Armour is made of? you compare the effect of a .50 round on steel but Kevlar we have today is 5 times stronger than steel on a weight ratio. plus Carapace armour (4+) is naturally many times stronger than Kevlar

2+ to wound? if you hit the face then it's a wound, if you hit the chest, well it's no more deadly than a bolter round, which are .75 explosive rounds. someone on another thread said something along the lines of:
"I'll let you have these buffs if you can only fire every 5 turns as your snipers aim"

some Snipers may be 1 Hit 1 Kill types but others may actually be trying to take down as many enemies as possible, even if they're not dead they may be out of the battle.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

SGrimhart wrote:My only beef is the lack of range on the Necron Deathmarks... most every other sniper unit in the game gets at least 36" but Deathmarks only get 24" which really impedes their ability to reach out and touch the enemy effectively. Other than that I do like the sniper rules.

don't they Deep Strike?

sfshilo wrote:Wait, what's wrong with sniper rifles? They cost 5 points for a vet guard and it wounds on a 4+ and is rending out to 36 inches...

The space marines can't be perfect at everything guys...

There is a substantial section of people on dakka who, for some reason, insist that sniper rifles should be uberly over-powered.
I'm with you on this (okay maybe not giving snipers to vets).
There are some units that are supposed to be OMGAWESOMESNIPERS but they have their own special rules. See Rangers/Pathfinders who're devastatingly effective at sniping.

2 words for you my friend, Sargent Telion.

Currently with bs 3 you need 4 snipers to score one wound, statistically speaking. Shooting at light infantry does not increase these odds, so the weapon can in no way reliably score 1 kill per shot. If the target gets a 4+ cover save forget about causing much damage. You may get one lucky roll where they kill enough guys to cause pinning but meh.

If you think he stats are fine then you should be at least able to target any character or model in a squad. Sure I need 4 shots to cause one wound, but they are shooting your space marine Srg with powerfist, priest, farseer... Whatever.

I just want my Rangers to be able to pick their targets in enemy squads...give them that, they'll be competitive again.