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I normally don't bother to post my lists, but figured I'd toss the one I'm planning on bringing to my FLGS's tournament Saturday up here. I comment on other people's list often enough, turnabout is fair play.


Librarian, BP/Force Staff, GoI, Null Zone. (100pts)

10 Man Sternguard Veteran Squad (280pts)
1 Combi-Melta, Power Fist on Sarge

10 Man Scout Squad (227pts)
HB, 8xSnipers, Camo Cloaks, Sgt. Telion.

10 Man Tactical Squad (215pts)
Meltagun, Multi-Melta, Rhino (35pts
Sergeant w/ Bolt Pistol, Chainsword, Melta Bombs

10 Man Tactical Squad (210pts)
Flamer, Missile Launcher, Rhino
Sergeant w/ Bolt Pistol, Boltgun, Melta Bombs

Land Speeder (90pts)
Heavy Bolter, Typhoon Missile Launcher

Stormtalon Gunship (155pts)
Skyhammer Missile Launcher

Predator (120pts)
Autocannon, Lascannons

Aegis Defense Line (100pts)
Gun emplacement with quad-gun

1497pts

I would ether give the stern guard a drop pod or razor backs for transports

dont want to walk stern guard unless your playing defensive but even then i would give them a transport

goodriddans2 wrote:
I would ether give the stern guard a drop pod or razor backs for transports

dont want to walk stern guard unless your playing defensive but even then i would give them a transport

Librarian express: Gate of Infinity gets them where they need to go. As long as his brain doesn't explode, or they get sucked off into the warp, or whatever.

I've had it bite me against elder, where I just had to leg it across the board, but overall, it works.

I am less experienced than you but you've commented on my lists so I'll return the favor.

What will this list do versus an enemy with either a large amount of ranged and armored firepower or against a lot of templates?

If an enemy pours missiles and LC's into your pred and pops it turn 1, then they would have the firepower to pop your rhinos turn 1-2 and then lay into your infantry wouldn't they? That MM/Melta squad will hold down a 18" or so bubble, but if someone rolled two vindis, for example, they would be able to get into 24" range and put those fat templates down without too much fear of retaliation.

If I could pop that Predator turn 1-2, I know I could pop a speeder and even ignore the rhinos if I wanted to. Then focus down the flyer when it arrived and I'd feel pretty safe shooting this list from a distance.

Not saying I'm right or wrong, but just my thoughts.

I think I'd prefer a missile launcher in the scout squad - the Telion-enhanced shot with it can be super awesome.

I'd probably try and take a few more combi-weapons on the sternguard, they give you lots of options for cheap. If you're doing the librarian gate trick, one nice option would be to swap the two rhinos out and give the tac squads and sternguard drop pods with locator beacons, and then you don't scatter your gate move so if you place your pods right you can jump about the board really well.

 Nevelon wrote:

goodriddans2 wrote:
I would ether give the stern guard a drop pod or razor backs for transports

dont want to walk stern guard unless your playing defensive but even then i would give them a transport

Librarian express: Gate of Infinity gets them where they need to go. As long as his brain doesn't explode, or they get sucked off into the warp, or whatever.

I've had it bite me against elder, where I just had to leg it across the board, but overall, it works.

Naw man, you should really go with a drop pod.

The sternguard unit is sort of pricy so the save deep strike on first turn is pretty sweet.

UltraTacSgt wrote:
I am less experienced than you but you've commented on my lists so I'll return the favor.

What will this list do versus an enemy with either a large amount of ranged and armored firepower or against a lot of templates?

If an enemy pours missiles and LC's into your pred and pops it turn 1, then they would have the firepower to pop your rhinos turn 1-2 and then lay into your infantry wouldn't they? That MM/Melta squad will hold down a 18" or so bubble, but if someone rolled two vindis, for example, they would be able to get into 24" range and put those fat templates down without too much fear of retaliation.

If I could pop that Predator turn 1-2, I know I could pop a speeder and even ignore the rhinos if I wanted to. Then focus down the flyer when it arrived and I'd feel pretty safe shooting this list from a distance.

Not saying I'm right or wrong, but just my thoughts.

Good thoughts. Missiles don't do well vs. AV 13, unless you have a lot of them (or get lucky) If my pred dies first turn, but eats up all the long range AT fire from my opponents, I'll call that a good thing. Because that means that my rhinos moved my tac squads up and my speeder is still flitting around. It should be a little safer hiding behind the ADL. The cover save should make it absorb a prohibitive amount of fire before getting wrecked.

For Vindis (which I don't know if anyone in my area uses) my options are getting them with my pred, or moving the speeder around for a side shot. Plus the melta on the tac squad (or sternguard if need be). I will admit to being a little light on AV fire. Normally the points spent on the stormtalon and ADL would be shoring up that side, but I'm more worried about flyers then heavy armor these days. I might be wrong. If I face a lot of heavy armor, I could be in for a rough time. It might be worth dropping half the scout squad for a MM speeder, just to get some fast melta. But I'm a little worried about just 5 guys, even with a 2+ cover save, holding my objective.

Thanks for the input.

At 1.5K points, my BA don't use a flyer. You might want to get another auto/las pred and dump the flyer. Two auto/las pred can put the hurt on a lot of opposing ranged units. You can use the spare points to upgrade your missile launchers to lascannons. Lascannons have a ton of uses in 6th. Even more so since many opponents don't count on seeing them.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Oh, yeah, and buy way more combi weapons for the sternguard. I like all melta, but I'm usually running 8. With 10, maybe 5 flamer, 5 melta.

darrkespur wrote:I think I'd prefer a missile launcher in the scout squad - the Telion-enhanced shot with it can be super awesome.

I'd probably try and take a few more combi-weapons on the sternguard, they give you lots of options for cheap. If you're doing the librarian gate trick, one nice option would be to swap the two rhinos out and give the tac squads and sternguard drop pods with locator beacons, and then you don't scatter your gate move so if you place your pods right you can jump about the board really well.

One problem with that is I'm a WYSWYG guy, and only have the one c-melta. That and I take them for the special ammo, so keep the combis to a minimum, to save points. I thought about locator beacons, but like my rhinos, and am not sure where I would get the points. I have a scout bike squad I've used in the past a a mobile beacon. I only own 2 pods at the moment, so it limits what I can drop.

Remulus wrote:

 Nevelon wrote:

goodriddans2 wrote:
I would ether give the stern guard a drop pod or razor backs for transports

dont want to walk stern guard unless your playing defensive but even then i would give them a transport

Librarian express: Gate of Infinity gets them where they need to go. As long as his brain doesn't explode, or they get sucked off into the warp, or whatever.

I've had it bite me against elder, where I just had to leg it across the board, but overall, it works.

Naw man, you should really go with a drop pod.

The sternguard unit is sort of pricy so the save deep strike on first turn is pretty sweet.

I know the first turn drop sternguard works, and is popular. I'm just not a big fan of it myself. One is the lack of pods. If you just drop one or two things, they risk being destroyed piecemeal. The second is I dislike the "All-In" approach. When pods work, they work fantastically, when they don't, they fail spectacularly. There isn't a whole lot of middle ground. It is hard to readjust on the fly if you need to change things. Once you commit, you are set. I like to stay more flexible.

Plus I'm stingy. Why pay for a transport when my librarian can do the job? Saves the points for elsewhere. At some point I'll pick up another pod (shudder) and experiment with more drop-centric lists. Not going to be this weekend though.

For what it's worth, I did consider putting the sternguard in a drop pod. The idea was to land next to someone else's ADL and seize their quad gun for my own use, or just a reliable first turn insertion. But I was tight on points, and didn't have the points. 1,500 can't have everything, need to make some choices...

Valid points all, thanks.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

Martel732 wrote:
At 1.5K points, my BA don't use a flyer. You might want to get another auto/las pred and dump the flyer. Two auto/las pred can put the hurt on a lot of opposing ranged units. You can use the spare points to upgrade your missile launchers to lascannons. Lascannons have a ton of uses in 6th. Even more so since many opponents don't count on seeing them.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Oh, yeah, and buy way more combi weapons for the sternguard. I like all melta, but I'm usually running 8. With 10, maybe 5 flamer, 5 melta.

I only own the one pred. I'd love another, but alas, my funds are not infinite. The stormtalon is newly painted, so needs to hit the battlefield. It will, of course, eat interceptor fire as it enters the board and crater into the landscape, but such is the lot of new models.

The only actual ML I have is on the tac squad, which is set. While I have spare LC minis to swap, my first squad has ridden into battle (in their tiny rhino) with a ML/F since 2nd edition. Unless I'm doing something odd (like an all scout, or 1st & 10th list) they form the core of my army, unchanging in any list. Otherwise I agree with you. I'd rather have LCs for the points then the odd melta bomb on a sarge.

The MLs lack of lethality (from both types of ammo) and its low ROF make it unacceptable to me, even for BA devastators.

I'd drop the Power fist from the Sternguard, if they are in combat they are pretty much toast. use the point's you save for more combi weapons. one melta shot will not be enough to get the job done.

Have you though a bout dropping the size of the Scout squad? It looks like it is mostly there to man the quad gun. That would free up the points for a drop pod or possible a second speeder.

Pony_law wrote:
I'd drop the Power fist from the Sternguard, if they are in combat they are pretty much toast. use the point's you save for more combi weapons. one melta shot will not be enough to get the job done.

While I agree with you, WYSWYG rears it's ugly (but accurately portrayed) head again. I think 'fists are overpriced, and would much rather have 5 more combi weapons then it. But it's what the sage is packing, and does look cool. And he does occasionally get to punch out tanks with it.

I'm flipping a coin on what to get for my army next. A new bag to lug it around in, or another squad of sternguard with better weapon options then what I have now.

But for the moment, the sternguard are locked in at 1 combi melta, fist on sarge. The only variable is how large they get.

I scratch built most of my Sternguard - there's a couple of good tutorials online that show you how to make nice looking combiweapons out of a normal bolter and a meltagun, plus I also added the magazine from all my spare rhino storm bolters and targeters to make them look more sternguardy. It's a bit of work but it's pretty cheap if you have some meltaguns going spare.

darrkespur wrote:
I scratch built most of my Sternguard - there's a couple of good tutorials online that show you how to make nice looking combiweapons out of a normal bolter and a meltagun, plus I also added the magazine from all my spare rhino storm bolters and targeters to make them look more sternguardy. It's a bit of work but it's pretty cheap if you have some meltaguns going spare.

I'm not adverse to kit bashing, and have made a combi flamer for my Cassius counts-as. Unfortunately, my bits box is devoid of melta and I'd still need the bodies. My thoughts were to pick up a commander box, a command squad, and a tac squad box and toss them into a mixer. Cost should be about the same as two 5 man sternguard boxes, but yield ~16 marines. I could probably do with a combat squad box, but I don't think that comes with the special weapons that I would need. Optionally, painting them as Deathwatch could be fun, but adds the cost of those bits.

My sternguard as is stands now are:
One sternguard box (Metal, with the c-melta attached)
4 Tyranid war vets (Metal, bought 2 per blister)
1 really old vet with terminator honors and a bolter.

Nevelon,

If you're dead set on WYSIWYG, Chapterhouse studios has a nice swappable combi-weapon kit available for $5 a pop which covers all three weapons options, and even includes the magnets. The bits are small and fiddly, but it allows you to swap your loadout as often as you need too and still maintain WYSIWYG with a single model.

I'd also agree with the pod for transporting the Sterns, and dropping the PF from the Sterns. I've got that stern model and a simple saw cut, arm swap should solve the problem of WYSIWYG. Besides, if the Stern wind up in cc they are pretty much dead already, and killing an extra model or two (assuming Sgt doesn't get gib'd first) just isnt worth the points.

Even with the librarian I like the pod, as he will fit in with the Sterns, and can then use his GOI to get them out after they burn their combi-weps. If he is the transport, then you have to bunch them up on him in deep strike format, opening yourself up to massive risk from templates. From the pod you can instead combat squad and fire at two targets and spread out / use cover to mitigate the damage from templates and incoming fire. Having two squads will also split enemy fire, and you can always use one squad as sacrificial cover for the second with the librarian, which can then GOI to a new target the next round and unload with special ammo.

I'd also be in favor of trimming down the scout squad, Telion holds the ADL fine with 4-6 ablative wounds and that 2+ cover save.

If you're short on funds but willing to repaint, I've been seeing a number of old marine lots coming up on ebay. They are usualy grey, primered, or poorly painted, but they will often give you the bodies and parts needed for conversion work while paying a fraction of GW prices.

Overall I like the list though I'm not a fan of the Stormtalon and would rather see a Mortis Dread for AA, or a TFC and upgrades if you were to ignore fliers at this point range.

Hope that helps

Librarian, BP/Force Staff, GoI, Null Zone. (100pts)

10 Man Sternguard Veteran Squad (290pts)
1 Combi-Melta, Sergeant w/ Bolt Pistol, Boltgun, Melta Bombs. Drop pod

5 Man Scout Squad (147pts)
HB, 3xSnipers, Camo Cloaks, Sgt. Telion.

10 Man Tactical Squad (215pts)
Meltagun, Multi-Melta, Rhino (35pts
Sergeant w/ Bolt Pistol, Chainsword

10 Man Tactical Squad (210pts)
Flamer, Missile Launcher, Rhino
Sergeant w/ Bolt Pistol, Boltgun, Melta Bombs

Land Speeder (90pts)
Heavy Bolter, Typhoon Missile Launcher

Land Speeder (70pts)
Multi-Melta, Heavy Flamer

Stormtalon Gunship (155pts)
Skyhammer Missile Launcher

Predator (120pts)
Autocannon, Lascannons

Aegis Defense Line (100pts)
Gun emplacement with quad-gun

1497pts


Dropped 5 scouts and the Sternguard power fist. Added a drop pod and MM/HF speeder. Shuffled melta bombs around. I feel better with the fast melta for AV, we'll see how well the 5 scouts will live.

Change the Hb in the scouts to a Ml

also (just me) but I would ether give the stern ether 5 combi melta to combat squad out of the drop pod for one on a tank and one on a squad

but with just one Melta thats 4 guys who's shots your wasting on an vehicle they cant touch

i personally would just drop the one Melta use the points els were
That way you could wreck a whole squad in one go

But give them a purpose, make them a nuke of melta or an squad killing machine

you could even drop a stern guard for more meltas just an idea

I view the one combi melta like a melta bomb on a sarge. Most of the time, it never gets used. But when you need it, it's good to have. In an ideal world, I'd field a second one, just to ensure a kill, but I run with what I have.

The sternguard have a job, and it's pumping special ammo into things. Stuff with high toughness, 2+ cover saves, 3+ or 4+ armor saves. There is always something on the table that needs the sternguard love. The Librarian makes sure they get to rapid fire range of those things. I know most people use them as a combi weapon delivery system, I don't. With a full 10 man squad kept together, you get the massed bolter fire you need to get the job done. There are few things that sustained bolters can't put down, and sternguard do it better then anyone.

I like the HB on the scouts. I find it has better synergy with the sniper rifles. My scatter die hates me, so I regret every frag missile I toss down range. And as you point out, I'm not a fan of 4 guys standing around while one does the work.