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Hey guys, I have a 5 man devastator squad...I know it's bad but im the kind of guy who plays with what I've got. I have 2 lascannons and 2 heavy bolters...what would you recommend to equip the sergeant with? Also please give tips for tactics on these buggers, even they are rendered useless in 6th.


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 MilkyDamBusters wrote:
Hey guys, I have a 5 man devastator squad...I know it's bad but im the kind of guy who plays with what I've got. I have 2 lascannons and 2 heavy bolters...what would you recommend to equip the sergeant with? Also please give tips for tactics on these buggers, even they are rendered useless in 6th.

Ps, cheaper the better but will consider other stuff.

The Sergeant should have a bolter. Your weapon match is very poor, can you switch out the las cannons for missile launchers, or switch the heavy bolters for plasma cannons with what you have?

Agreed, a sergeant bolter shot is more likely to be useful than anything else for a unit which will presumably spend its time in cover at the back of the battlefield. And it's cheap.

and agreed, that's not a great combination of heavy weapons (in 5th Ed or 6th Ed) - some shots will be overkill (against infantry) or ineffectual (against vehicles) most turns, unless your army has special rules allowing splitting fire (few do). Strongly recommend buying another dev box, so that combined you'll have an all-HB squad and a all-Lascannon squad, both of them useful.

Why not just add 5 more Spessmarheens and then combat squad them?

The sergeant should not be firing he should be using the signum, so his weaponry doesn't matter.

BlackSanguinor wrote:
The sergeant should not be firing he should be using the signum, so his weaponry doesn't matter.

Which of course means you might as well take the bolt pistol for the extra attack.

-Matt

Fair point. Unless a lightly armoured horde is running towards you, I guess the signum is almost always more valuable than a single bolter shot.

 DarkHound wrote:
Why not just add 5 more Spessmarheens and then combat squad them?

+1 to this advice

 DarkHound wrote:
Why not just add 5 more Spessmarheens and then combat squad them?

That is certainly an excellent idea. Both HBs and three guys in one, the Sarge + 2 bolter marines and the Lascannons go in the other (at least I would prefer to keep the Signum for the more powerful weapons). Five used bolter marines should come pretty cheap too.

Awesome thanks guys! I will give the sgt a bolt pistol and get a combat squad to go with the other 5 devastators.

Do you paint squad markings on your models? Do you have other heavy weapons hanging out in your tac squads?

My dev squads rarely see the table, but the minis do a fair amount of work subbing in for tac squads. If you are going to combat squad half a tac squad, that's a great place for a LC. HB/F works well for a full tac moving up or dropping in an anti-infintry role. If you can free up a pair of MLs, they make great filler for dev squads. 2xML, 2xLC for anti armor, 2xML, 2xHB for hordes and light vehicles.

If you plan on combat squadding in half, look at sterngaurd. They can get two heavy weapons for roughly the same price, and exchange the sergeant's signum for a veteran statline and special ammo for the extra bolter marines. They do take an elite slot though.

I don't know how big your collection is, or how much you plan on adding. The devastator box has a very nice collection of weapons, more then most armies will need (or the box itself can build, I think there are 8 weapons and 5 bodies in there) Picking one up will let you tailor your heavy weapon picks to help support whatever list you roll with.

I like using Devs. Expensive? Yes. But, they are pretty good at paying for themselves. The only difference is I usually run the tried and true 4 Missile Launcher setup and combat squad them when it's appropriate.

Nevalon makes a good point, you can either use the models to expand your TAC squad heavy weapons OR get some basic bolter marines and combat squad them sticking both HB in one squad and the 2 LC's in another.

Sternguard would fit better as Nevalon said, but if this is all you have and don't want to spend a lot of money, some basic TAC marines can be picked up pretty cheap on Ebay to flesh out a full unit of Devs (although with a minimal conversion work, can be made into Sternguard as well )

Ok thanks very much guys! I have a 5 man Sternguard squad and of course kantor, (I have crimson fists). So should I get a 10 man tactical squad and convert 5 marines for the Sternguard and 5 for the devastators?

 MilkyDamBusters wrote:
Ok thanks very much guys! I have a 5 man Sternguard squad and of course kantor, (I have crimson fists). So should I get a 10 man tactical squad and convert 5 marines for the Sternguard and 5 for the devastators?

That's probably a good idea. You can always use more sternguard. I'm not sure what comes in the 5 man combat squad box, but it looks like it lacks the special/heavy weapons. The full 10 man box should net you another ML, which is always a good thing. At some point, you are going to need more basic guys in power armor, either for weapon options, kit bashing, or just more bolters on the field. Might as well get the full box, it keeps the cost per model down, and adds more bits.