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Yaho,

Got ahold of a discounted imperial armour - Apocalypse book (primarily for the vulture formation) but found the rather pleasant Imperial Sentry Gun entry a welcome surprise.

These are immobile 2hp 15 point twin linked bs 2 heavy bolters with either a fixed 90 degree firing arc, or an 18 inch 360 arc. This seems CONSIDERABLY better than the HWT equivalent points wise so since I'm a filthy filthy treadhead and have enough unusable heavy bolters to cross my room if laid end to end, I figure some conversion fun is in order (thinking the SM turrets from DoW1)

However, has anyone actually used these? Any hints or tips ?

I have made extensive use of Tarantulas in my army (I have 3).

I've tried them in multitudes of configurations but the one that I find to be far and away the best is the Twin-Linked Lascannon with a Camo Net.They're tough, take significantly more firepower to put down than a HWT and the twin-linking makes it reasonably reliable as well.

If you really want to use them as heavy bolters, I find the 360 degree firing arc one is good for dealing with Deepstrikers. Leave them at the back protecting arty and that's a bubble of reliable Heavy Bolters ready to punish them.

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The best luck I've had with them was in a game against another IG - my Tarantulas took out 1 Chimera, 1 Valkyrie (this one surprised us both, he rushed it hoping to be past it the next turn) and stripped a few wounds off of a Stormlord.

EDIT - whilst BS2 looks bad on paper, BS2 twin-linked is statistically more reliable than BS3. So they're better at hitting things than Guardsmen without orders.

malamis wrote:
(primarily for the vulture formation)

Wait what? What is this? You mean the ancient Apocalypse-only one that (IIRC) wasn't even that good? Or did I miss something, and there's a 40k-legal one with modern rules?

As for the sentry guns, they're mediocre at best. The fact that you can't choose your own target and have to choose between limited arc or limited range is pretty bad, and the reason they're so cheap. And they take up a full FOC slot (unlike the HWS, which you can bring effectively unlimited of) for that questionable firepower. Maybe in RAW 7th, with formations everywhere, that's not such a big deal anymore, but it's a questionable use of a FOC slot in places that limit formations and try to bring some sanity to the game. On the other hand, they're cheap, and that counts for something. IMO they're not a bad thing to throw in if you have points and FOC slots to spare and nothing better to spend them on, but I wouldn't make taking them any kind of priority. I've taken single sentry guns to fill up the last few points and they've usually met my (low) expectations.

 Peregrine wrote:

malamis wrote:
(primarily for the vulture formation)

Wait what? What is this? You mean the ancient Apocalypse-only one that (IIRC) wasn't even that good? Or did I miss something, and there's a 40k-legal one with modern rules?

The Carrion Claw with its "check our 4+ s5 ap3 ignore cover apoc blast", yes. My Apocalypse armies are (quite understandably) geared towards Direct fire weapons for titans and superheavies, and having something that can clear out a skyhammer is what's generally missing without tying up a critical threat removal asset. Since I have the Vultures now anyway, I figured why not

 Peregrine wrote:

As for the sentry guns, they're mediocre at best. The fact that you can't choose your own target and have to choose between limited arc or limited range is pretty bad, and the reason they're so cheap. And they take up a full FOC slot (unlike the HWS, which you can bring effectively unlimited of) for that questionable firepower. Maybe in RAW 7th, with formations everywhere, that's not such a big deal anymore, but it's a questionable use of a FOC slot in places that limit formations and try to bring some sanity to the game. On the other hand, they're cheap, and that counts for something. IMO they're not a bad thing to throw in if you have points and FOC slots to spare and nothing better to spend them on, but I wouldn't make taking them any kind of priority. I've taken single sentry guns to fill up the last few points and they've usually met my (low) expectations.

That was my feeling - the cost/benefit compared to another plasma gun came into the consideration