What is the best armament for a non-sniper scout squad aboard a Land Speeder Storm?

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**Sir Arun**

I am torn between boltpistols + cc-weapons, and bolters.

Because the Land Speeder Storm is an open-topped vehicle, kitting all 5 Scouts out with Bolters will make the Storm spew forth 3 S5 Ap4 (HB) + 5 S4 AP5 hits and, because it is a Fast Skimmer, I think I don't have to worry much about range. Thanks to 6th ed, I can move the vehicle and still fire the Bolters at 24"

However on the other hand, BS 3 isnt great, and I actually want my Scouts to primarily focus on objective grabbing. Because the Storm is fragile, I want my Scouts to stay embarked on it for as less time as possible, preferably landing them on the objective. And because the Storm is an open-topped vehicle, I can assault out of it, so boltpistols and ccws come in great - this armament is superior over shotguns, too, if the Scouts do not manage to rout the enemy squad the turn they charge and deliver blows on them, because then in the opponent's cc-phase I have twice the amount of attacks with bps and ccws compared to shotguns - heck, with shotguns I am no more powerful than with bps and ccws on my own turn of charging, except of course I inflict more wounds during the shooting than in cc, meaning I remove more models before cc begins, so when facing I4 or higher opponents, there's a slight advantage there.

What do you guys suggest?

**Jasper**

I managed to lose a combat to scouts when they rolled up with a power weapon and my tactical marines had nothing.

If you want an assaulty force for small eldar / marine combat squads then,aybe go with power weapon on the leader and shotguns on the others. Ideally shoot the armour off the opponent and use the power weapon to seal the deal.

The bolter gun boat does sound like a good option. Take the hevy bolter for the scouts as well.

**Sir Arun**

Hey thanks for the idea. A veteran Scout Sergeant with a boltpistol and power weapon has 3 base attacks (4 on charge) and WS 4 to boot. Can definitely hurt any MEQ unit foolish enough to charge the scouts.

For the Gunboat idea, a Heavy Bolter will be a waste as you can only fire snapshots if the Land Speeder Storm moves.

**TompiQ**

What chapter tactics are you using?

I am considering a land speeder storm with heavy flamer, filled with 5 CCW+BP scouts, for my White Scars list. Add to that the str 2 large blast and you can actually do a number on T3 units with the 45 pts speeder alone. With blind, your target is also one failed initiative test away from weapon skill 1 for two assault phases. That syncs extremely well with CCW+BP for the passengers.

**Sir Arun**

your unit looks very similar to what I have in mind myself, except I'll invest the 10 points and buy my scout sarge a combi flamer to whoosh any enemy infantry unit in a sea of flames before my scouts charge in to ease them winning the combat considerably.

Also, do any chapter tactics make a difference on the Landspeeder Storm unit?

The only one I can think of right now is Imperial Fists for the bolters and Heavy Bolter and UMs of course.

**TompiQ**

If I had another ten points available, that'd be the investment I'd make as well.

Well, as far as ChapTacts goes, they do provide minor boons to different roles:

*Ultramarines is very situational and depends on how well triggering one of the doctrines would improve the rest of your army that said turn.
*White Scars gives Hit&Run, which speaks for a CCW+BP squad. If you charge a unit that has been blinded by a Cerberus launcher, you're hitting on 3+ and will be hit on 5+ for 2 rounds of combat, which means even 5 scouts should be able to survive charging a standard unit for 2 rounds of combat and then H&R out for another charge in their own turn.
*Imperial Fists speaks for using the LSS as a gunboat with the scouts wielding bolters to maximize ranged damage output.
*Iron Hands are fit for a small objective camper unit, with camo cloaks perhaps.
*Salamanders would only provide a boon to the combi-flamer, and so are negligible.
*Raven Guard gives scout and first turn stealth. For a unit embarked on an LSS, this is worthless.

I'd say White Scars and Imperial Fists are the only tactics that would make me lean towards one build over another merely because of the tactic itself.

**Sir Arun**

Now that you mention it, Iron Hands definitely makes for a more survivable unit both for the Speeder and the Scouts