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Which one is better?

Tac Marines are getting quite bad press, what with their points cost. I don't see many people commenting on Scouts though.

They do combo with Lysander reinforcing a ruin, but do they bring enough to a game to take over from Tac Marines?

The only time I use scouts (and they actually DO something) are when they are loaded with Snipers/Cloaks and ran with Telion in a ADL and Quad Gun, and even then, it's probably better to use normal marines

I've had some luck sticking a 5 man vanilla unit in a Stormraven and sending them on a last minute objective grab as well.

The weapon options, higher BS, better armor save and bolt gun with the rapid fire changes, make the TAC better in almost every situation IMO.

Edit:

If you find yourself using them (scouts) anyway, and you want to bolster a ruin, I would recommend bringing TFC's, instead of using Lysander for that sole purpose --- that is unless you are already bringing Mr. Wreck Face anyway

I regularly use the Lysander and Bolster with sniper scouts tactic, then Lysander runs around with some sternguard for bolter shenanigans. Since allies were introduced I occasionally throw in some blood angels so I can have a Librarian with Prescience join the scouts. Increases their output to something actually affecting the game, especially with precision shots. It's an expensive combo so is reserved for larger games though.

I was looking at Imperial Fists, using Kantor as my Warlord and Lysander at the head of a large Tac Terminator squad with Scouts as troops and Sternguard to claim quarters.

Lysander is as tough as nails and bolsters the Terminators and Scouts quite well.

I find Tactical Marines very effective in Codex: Space Marines, especially when they benefit from Combat Tactics. Scouts IMO accomplish an entirely different role-- outflanking disruption.

I typically start a Space Marine list by taking two squads of 10 Tactical Marines-- after that point, I add more Tactical Squads, Scout Squads, etc. as needed. That said I do not typically take more than one or two squads of Scouts, as I think they have serious diminishing return.

Scouts bring a lot of tricks to the table, but don't take fire well. If I want more troops, and don't want another 10 man tac squad, a 5 man scout squad offers a lot to the army. They don't replace tac marines, but do supplement them.

One of the things you need to do to win is get scoring units to objectives, and keep them there until the final buzzer. Scouts help with this. Snipers with camo camp a home objective very well. Mobile scouts have a long list of abilities to help them get to somewhere across the board. But they will fold if someone decides that they need to die.

Tactical marines, for all the mathhammer against them, and all their peers that cost less and fight harder, still take time to kill. They might not do it as efficiently as other units, but they get the job done. Don't sell them short.

I always bring a 5 man scout squad with sniper rifles, a missle launcher and camo cloaks to camp on a home objective. I find the opponent usually ignores them as they don't bring enough firepower to really bring down anything big, but they are definitley a nice support unit. I would even go so far as to say they live through 75% of my games.

All that being said, there is a reason I only take one squad. Tac marines are overall better and MUCH more versatile than scouts.

When playing Marines, I always viewed Tactical Marines as a tax. 2 squads costs you almost a quarter of your army in 1500 pt games, and generally doesn't contribute much in the way of damage output. I do the same thing with Infantry Squads in my IG army. The difference is that they're 50 pts for 10 guys vs. 170.

Long story short, you probably need to take a couple squads. Scouts, while they're troops, don't really form the backbone of most Marine armies as they generally want either a Bolstered ruin or Telion, and you can't get those all over the map.

 NickTheButcher wrote:
The only time I use scouts (and they actually DO something) are when they are loaded with Snipers/Cloaks and ran with Telion in a ADL and Quad Gun, and even then, it's probably better to use normal marines

[snip]

The weapon options, higher BS, better armor save and bolt gun with the rapid fire changes, make the TAC better in almost every situation IMO.

Edit:

If you find yourself using them (scouts) anyway, and you want to bolster a ruin, I would recommend bringing TFC's, instead of using Lysander for that sole purpose --- that is unless you are already bringing Mr. Wreck Face anyway

I was going to give my opinion, but Nick already did it. It's this. I don't know who's knocking tactical squads to you, but they're pretty awesome. A squad of snipers with Telion can be tasty, but they're more like a weak elites choice that happens to occupy a troop slot. I wouldn't field them as my line troopers. Tactical squads have an enormous amount of flexibility, and I can't recommend them enough.