Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

I recently purchased a sniper scout scout. as the title says I'm trying to figure out if the missile is worth it.

more to the point is a 15 point upgrade worth it on a BS 3 marine?

thanks for opinions and experience

I'm leaning towards no on this one. The Missile isn't a very good anti-tank weapon anymore. And any turn you fire it at a vehicle you're wasting the points you spent on the sniper scouts. I'd give them the Heavy Bolter or nothing.

I'm also in the HB crowd.

If you are going big game hunting with the snipers, the krack missile is going to do fine, and has the perk of some AP over the sniper. If you are shooting troops, there is always the frag, where the extra inch scatter from being a BS3 shot may or may not be relevant. And you can take pot shots at tanks, if needed.

But I don't think they are worth the points, even if I can see a few reasons to field them.

I would say no.

If you are already using the scouts with Sniper Rifles than you will probably get more mileage out of keeping them uniform.

Scouts are most effective in two forms:

5 Sniper Rifles
5 Shotguns

Any other loadout typically results in splitting their focus and ultimately reducing their effectiveness.

Think about it like this:

Both the heavy Bolter and the Missile Launcher are heavy weapons, so they ultimately require that the squad be stationary to be most effective (they can fire snap shots but that's a last resort, not something you want to make a habit of). So the best way to maximize the utility of your scouts is to keep them uniform.

Giving them all sniper rifles means that all their shots will wound on 4+ from 36". That's a decent method of keeping Monstrous Creatures under control, or causing pinning on squads that are not fearless. Adding a single ML into the mix may give them some ability to threaten light armor, but it removes the use of the Snipers so you are splitting the focus of both items.

Using all shotguns means that you can move about freely, and engage soft targets as you move from cover to cover (which is how all scouts should move). Also being that the shotguns count as assault weapons, they can fire two shots per and still assault, which is pretty effective against infantry that have a lower Initiative. (Orks, Tau, Tyranids).

Is the hellfire shell useful?

I actually think for Sniper Scouts, the Missile Launcher makes more sense than the heavy bolter. If it absolutely must fire at a vehicle, it can. Otherwise, it'll be targeting the same things as the snipers -- probably monstrous creatures.

However, if you're going up against a lot of high-toughness models with 2+ armor saves (like, say, Riptides), I would say it's not worth the 10 points. He's only going to hit half the time, and what happens after that depends on his target.

My advice is: Tally up the rest of your army, and add the ML in if you have 10 points laying around. Don't make it any kind of priority.

@ CDRAlbrechtthis seams a great place for magnets =P

Scouts should have a defined role. Snipers for basecampers, shotguns for infiltrators, CCW for outflankers. Any special weapons aside from combi-meltas tend to override their targeting and waste shots.

 Tiger9gamer wrote:
Is the hellfire shell useful?

I liked them when they were free. There were times when I used them, but mostly stuck with the normal shots. This is partially due to the relationship I have with my scatter die (one of mutual hate) That said, when you need them, they are good to have. When shooting at big targets with high toughness, even a bad scatter might still be on the base, and the wound on a 2+ is very nice.

I'd probably plan to include them, but if I needed to shave points, they would be one of the first things on the cutting block.

I usually lean to yes. For two reasons.

1- Sniper rifles are usually targeting high T units due to the sniper rule. Str 8 fits nicely into this roll and will often wound on a 2+ vs a 4+

2 - Also given the sniper rifles with rending they are able to hit strength 3 + 6 + 3 = 12 on a vehicle. Again a ML is better suited towards this threat then a HB.

Hazal would you include flack missiles in that assessment??

I'd just go all sniper and call it a day.

I don't get the point of using the frag. If you hit with it, only one model could be wounded. If it scatters, you'll be lucky to have two models under the template. Why not just krak, AP3 ftw in this case.

I would not bother with the missile launcher and scouts.

Naw wrote:
I don't get the point of using the frag. If you hit with it, only one model could be wounded. If it scatters, you'll be lucky to have two models under the template. Why not just krak, AP3 ftw in this case.

I would not bother with the missile launcher and scouts.

That really depends on the target. Close packed orks or nids are a great target for a frag missile, and units in ruins or behind defences are also often close together. Deep-strikers are another great target due to the cluster they arrive in - even terminators are a viable shot here.

Even outside these situations, it's often surprising how few peoplea ctually use the full 2" coherencey available to the for a number of reasons, icnluding a packed table, battlefield choke points caused by terrain,a nd simple ease of movement (so they don't ahve to measure each coherency distance). I'd say the average coherency is probably about 1".

Mali wrote:
Hazal would you include flack missiles in that assessment??

That is a tough one, I am all for cheap and efficient. In a dev squad with 4 flakk I consider it worthwhile, for 1 it is less so.

-- Also there are lots of situations where the frag will net you 3+ hits.

I would take the heavy bolter if I used sniper scouts and give it the rounds that wound on 2+ is it? This just allows the snipers to add more wounds on targets to make them fail saves.

I would rather spend those 10 pts to give a combi-weapon on a tac sergeant, a couple of dozer blades on my Rhinos or melta bombs on assault squads.
Unless in a scout army, sniper scouts should be cheap, resilient objective campers. Give them camo cloaks, stick them in a bolstered ruin and do the victory dance if they manage to actuallly put a wound on something.

I don't like taking the ML on my scouts because I have terrible luck. I brought it along the first few times and I never hit anything with the ML or the squad sergeant. I highly recommend taking sniper scouts with the heavy bolter with hellfire shells.

I feel like it gels well with the sniper rifles and what your targets are most likely going to be, for me it's MC with a high toughness. You'll get the occasional rend from the sniper rifles but the more wounds you can cause means the more armor saves they have the chance to fail.

Scouts have really underpreformed for me, I've been most impressed with their shotgun/outflank setup. I always run them to grab objectives at a low points cost and this is in my experience most effective.

Running 10 doesnt cost much and can really clean up other troop squads late game.

ML is like a swiss knife, useless until you need it.