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So,

I've been struggling to bring down things larger than a dreadnaught in my games with Deathwatch mono, and I have had success with two relatively cheap ideas.

But because no one else is doing it, I feel like I'm either wrong, or too dumb to realize there is a much better option.

So I have two Vanguard Vet squads, one decked out with HTHs and the other equipped with dual inferno pistols. I consider both melee focused, but the dual pistols have a better time of it with get within an inch, shoot, charge, fight with pistols.

Am I doing something wrong here? For 155pts I get a squad that is basically doing 10s at s8 ap-4, d6d. They get two rounds with the shooting and then the fighting. Why is this a dumb idea an I should stop playing?

The inferno pistol only has 6 inch range which is the real issue with the vvets. Ideally you want to deepstrike them and have them bully units. However you deepstrike your inferno vanguard and they have to charge or else they are 155pt 5 wounds that, with a sneeze, die. I would suggest more combat oriented vanguard vets or guns with 12 inches or more of range.

Ven Dreads with Autocannons or LC/ML. That's about all you can do.

Ok, but my point was for Anti-tank. This paperthin unit, if played correctly, can deal 24 wounds for EACH model.

Lets say they go up against a Redemptor. T7, 16 wounds. This unit would deal 21 wounds to it.

How about a Land Raider? T8, 16w, 2_ save? This drops it to 3 wounds in one go. If it gets lucky on one damage roll, it pops it.

I don't see how 155pt unit taking out twice it's points is a useless idea...

CAN is your keyword.
Let's assume all of this unit fires at a Rhino, for example. Yeah, you kill it out of Melta range. That Redemptor you make mention of though? You need to be rerolling the 1 to wound against it, otherwise you're still at less than 1 dead one. Contemptors just live, and that's not even taking into account the Ven ones. The moment you have an Invul, the idea falls flat.

That's why I suggested the Autocannon Dreads as a possibility or the LC/ML ones.

The problem is 6" range on the pistols, the unit is dangerous at that range but it's very difficult to get there. You can't shoot them when you deepstrike and the unit is just 5W with a 3+ save. You also can't fight with the pistols in melee (unless there's some ability or stratagem I'm not aware of), you can shoot them in your turn during your shooting phase even if you're within 1" of enemy models.

On what planet are you getting within 6 inches of a Redemptor with that loadout? Every gun on the board is going to be aimed at those VanVets.

Not to mention the salt when a target with an invuln appears and you start pinging your shots off.

 FezzikDaBullgryn wrote:
Ok, but my point was for Anti-tank. This paperthin unit, if played correctly, can deal 24 wounds for EACH model.

inferno pistols can only deal 6 DMG. So potential wounds are 12 per model. It's when in half range roll 2 d6 and pick the highest. If you really want to run inferno pistols I would maybe have the squad leader have one maybe another guy.

The Deathwatch +1 to wound stratagem and their own combat Tactic may help you out a bit. The only thing it can't deal with would be the Dedicated Transport, and it is the blind points that flavours Aeldrai, since many of their troublesome vehicles belongs to that category.

If something seems to work for you that the internet is not talking about, you are probably in a more casual meta than high tier tournament play. Great. Have fun with it.

In a competitive setting, pretty much any unit of vanvets you bring is going to be hosed off the table by the absurd firepower any tournament list will have. If it can't do wht it wants to do out of deepstrike, it's useless - or at least, it's always going to be less efficient than a longrange shooting choice.

The best DW antitank options are forgeworld, since they have a fairly solid chapter tactic for fighting tanks with high str weaponry, and forgeworld dreads can have quad lascannons, invuln saves, BS2+ so you can use a captain instead of a watchmaster, all that good stuff. contemptor dreads, leviathan dreads using the great deep strike stratagem, and vendreads in the main dex.

if vanvets work for you - awesome. They aren't terrible for me either! yay for metas that dont make you want to die.

This sounds like you're doing something wrong with those pistols. You don't get to shoot with pistols during the assault phase, you still only get to fire them all once in the shooting phase.

Also, a VV shooting an inferno pistol with a Watch Master reroll, the +1 to wound strat, and rerolling 1s to wound shooting a 3++ Knight will still only average a bit over 1 wound per pistol. Against a T7/T8 tank without an invulnerable, sure, ~3W per pistol is quite good, 5 dual VVs will easily destroy any vehicle, but how did the enemy let you get within 6"?