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Simple question, is the Space Marine Hunter/Stalker good enough to take in lists? Most of us know the Stormtalon and Stormraven are better, but has anyone had luck with the marine ground AAs?

I think Stalkers are worth taking a look at. If I allied in space marines to my BA, I'd probably use them in a large game.

The cool thing about the stalker is that you can double its firepower against ground based targets by using its special firing mode - you still make all shots at BS 1 though

The hunter is a nice idea but badly executed so I'd avoid it. The stalker is a damn good tank for the points. The problem is it takes up much need heavy support slots.

What's nice with the stalker is because it's pretty much always going to be snap firing at ground targets, you can pretty much always move it 12 and fire at two targets. The ancillary benefit of this is you can tank shock one unit while targeting two others. It's not hitting too often on said ground targets but it still has more use than say a hydra. I'd definitely always give it the storm bolter.

To put it simply: Don't. If you're buying them for rules - don't. It's all crud, and not worth it.

Hunter sounds good on the paper; tossing decent missiles towards flyers. If it misses, it slams into the target's rear automatically. The problems, however, kill the good idea:

- It's a single model, and it's a damn vehicle. If the opponent wants to keep his fliers in the skies, your vehicle suffers from the Vindicator Syndrome (= becomes a bullet magnet)

- It's just a single missile per turn. Whoop-de-freaking-doo.

Meanwhile, the Stalker tries to be a good AA tank so much it is barely anything. The idea - once again, in theory - sounds good: twin-linked autocannons with a different name, which can also split their fire into two targets simultaneously, but what's this? At the cost of -1 BS? Heck no!

In a nutshell, both units TRY hard to be a decent AA choice for SM players, but fail miserably. Not only you need more than one to turn them useful, they fill your Heavy Support slots quickly. I don't see any excuses for people to take a Predator instead, which does SO much more, and even could snipe something off the skies with a daring, and lucky roll.

But when it comes to the package itself and its contents, it's one of the most multi-purposeful kits there is. You get a classic Rhino chassis, which you can use as is, a Hunter turret, and the Stalker autocannon array. I personally got myself a pair of Thunderfire cannons out of those darlings, and when I wanna add some spice to the army lists, I use the Hunter loadout as Whirlwind Scorpius.
Ultimately, you'll get FIVE units out of that kit, if you're ready to do some counts-as action.

So in a nutshell; it's a mixed bag. The bits in the kit are wonderful. The rules, however, are terrible.

Ground-based AA isn't worth it unless you know in advance you're going to be fighting lots and lots of planes, or it's one of the rare AA units that can still hit ground targets (Battlesuits, Contemptor Dreads).

No Interceptor means no good. There are better options out there that don't run the risk of being blown up by the flyer when it comes on the board. They would be a lot better if they had Interceptor. Of the two, the Stalker seems to be the less-worthless one, since it can fire at multiple targets (poorly, but still multiple targets).

I hate facing them as a deldar player there cheap and effective verus skimmers as well as planes. Sure they have counters but while trying to kill them more/other important targets get a free pass for a turn or 2 and with fragile armys that can mean a lot more than with meqs.

The fact the most armies have skimmers helps a lot with the skyfire restrictions. You should have something to shoot at. And it’s not like they cost a lot of points. They do eat a HS slot, which might be more of an issue.

Stalkers are really good, but the Hunter isn't fantastic. If it were 10 points cheaper, it would be a considerably better option.

Not that good huh. Shame, the model looks very cool.