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So I am going to get a Start Collecting Skitarii box so I have a place to put Cawl (since my understanding is he can replace a Techpriest Dominus in any formation). I know different versions of the Dominus Maniple exist, one that has Vanguard and the other with Rangers. My question is, for the purposes of the Dominus Maniple, which unit is better? I am partial to the Rangers for their appearance and their, IMO, better guns. But Vanguard definitely are cool with their rad guns. Which would be better for an Allied force for my Space Marines (Crimson Fists and Deathwatch)?

Also, the Onager. Definitely putting a Neutron Laser on it, or am I nuts?

Vanguard are pretty good against a lot of things. If you have a lot of MEQ and/or monsterous creatures in the area then I would recommend Vanguard. If it is mostly Tau, Eldar and tons of units with just a 4+ save or worse then Rangers are great.

Neutron Laser is always worth it, I personally love to take the extra cognis stubber for 5pts with it.
Another viable option is the Icarus Array when you got a lot of fliers and skimmers in the area.
The base gun is also not bad if you like to play stuff bare-bones.

 Arlen wrote:
Vanguard are pretty good against a lot of things. If you have a lot of MEQ and/or monsterous creatures in the area then I would recommend Vanguard. If it is mostly Tau, Eldar and tons of units with just a 4+ save or worse then Rangers are great.

Neutron Laser is always worth it, I personally love to take the extra cognis stubber for 5pts with it.
Another viable option is the Icarus Array when you got a lot of fliers and skimmers in the area.
The base gun is also not bad if you like to play stuff bare-bones.

I am thinking Vanguards will probably be the way I go, but they are getting the damn hooded heads because they look better (I am painting their cloaks Dark Angels green).

I have other stuff to deal with flyers for my Crimson Fists (a Raptor Wing if not playing DftS and a squad of Stalkers if playing DftS), so I am thinking I will just go with the Neutron Laser. Is the Cognis Manipulator worth it on an Onager?

Since you will only have one of them, I do not think it is worth it.
I take the Cognis Manipulator mostly when running a unit of three and then only one on the Onager at the front of the unit. That way i can put it to the back when it has lost some hullpoints, allowing it to repair some. Making the unit even more durable. But since you will be having Cawl around you can grant IWND to any vehicle once per game, achieving more or less the same thing.

 Arlen wrote:
Since you will only have one of them, I do not think it is worth it.
I take the Cognis Manipulator mostly when running a unit of three and then only one on the Onager at the front of the unit. That way i can put it to the back when it has lost some hullpoints, allowing it to repair some. Making the unit even more durable. But since you will be having Cawl around you can grant IWND to any vehicle once per game, achieving more or less the same thing.

That is a good point. Canticles!

From what I can tell, the Onager's guns appear to be fairly easy to magnetize, so I might do that.

If we're being anal about it, you can only field what it says on the organisation page that comes with your box.

Mine only gives Rangers as an option, so I'm obliged to only use them.
Depends on who you're against though, and whatnot.

 Buddingsquaw wrote:
If we're being anal about it, you can only field what it says on the organisation page that comes with your box.

Mine only gives Rangers as an option, so I'm obliged to only use them.
Depends on who you're against though, and whatnot.

I will be happy with either since I will be using the Ranger heads regardless.

But I gotta say, the mystery of what I will get is a little exciting. My brother is getting a box as well, so we will probably trade depending on what we get.

Well, I got my box and the formation is for Rangers!

What is the best way to equip Rangers? And the Techpriest Dominus?

 casvalremdeikun wrote:
Well, I got my box and the formation is for Rangers!

What is the best way to equip Rangers? And the Techpriest Dominus?

You're going to have Cawl, right? That kind of will affect suggestions for the Dominus(and the Ranger Alpha).

Personally(YMMV, others will tell you different etc etc), I like to have a couple of Ranger Squads with triple Arqeubi. The ability to reach out and pop anything shy of superheavies is huge, especially against transport heavy armies.

Can't go wrong with Arc Rifles though. Haywire with short range on a unit that can MTC is nice.
Omnispex is an absolute given, mandatory 10 points, as the Data-Tether is basically useless since it does not stack with the vehicle mounted variant...which comes on all Skitarii vehicles as standard.

Dominus you can't really go wrong with any of the options on the sprue.

 Kanluwen wrote:

 casvalremdeikun wrote:
Well, I got my box and the formation is for Rangers!

What is the best way to equip Rangers? And the Techpriest Dominus?

You're going to have Cawl, right? That kind of will affect suggestions for the Dominus(and the Ranger Alpha).

Personally(YMMV, others will tell you different etc etc), I like to have a couple of Ranger Squads with triple Arqeubi. The ability to reach out and pop anything shy of superheavies is huge, especially against transport heavy armies.

Can't go wrong with Arc Rifles though. Haywire with short range on a unit that can MTC is nice.
Omnispex is an absolute given, mandatory 10 points, as the Data-Tether is basically useless since it does not stack with the vehicle mounted variant...which comes on all Skitarii vehicles as standard.

Dominus you can't really go wrong with any of the options on the sprue.

Yes, I will be using Cawl, but I am going to setup the TPD to have him. Probably the Eradication Ray and Macrostubber. I am thinking I will probably do the Arquebus, since I, too, enjoy the ability to reach out and touch vehicles.

unfortunately the formation loses out on scout so it weakens the vanguard a bit, but since you chose rangers then it's not that big of a deal.

In all honesty, and im my own opinion it's either Arc Rifles or nothing. The arquebus is pretty expensive for only wounding Toughness models half the time with sniper, while the armour bane part is cool but you can just pick up an arc rifle and save 10 points.

Arc rifles are 24" while their main gun is 30" and can provide some nice long range support to plink off a few models with Str6 ap5 .

Rangers could also be used fairly well on the move, with having them stick to any mid-field cover because they have the Move Through cover special rule. try and get them into a hard to reach spot and take potshots at anything that moves!

The onager's neutron laser is always great, but it's not too hard to magnetize in order to switch between weapons. Eradication cannon helps put the hurt on squishier infantry at range and killing harder targets that deep-strike in or charge up to you.

for the dominus always pay the 5 points for a conversion field 4++ invuln, and you can decide if you want to have a smaller version of the eradication ray (str 6 ap 3 blast at 24", str 8 ap 1 at 12" ) or to keep the infantry mowing volkite cannon on him. Macro-stubber is always a keeper for more dakka too.

 casvalremdeikun wrote:

 Kanluwen wrote:

 casvalremdeikun wrote:
Well, I got my box and the formation is for Rangers!

What is the best way to equip Rangers? And the Techpriest Dominus?

You're going to have Cawl, right? That kind of will affect suggestions for the Dominus(and the Ranger Alpha).

Personally(YMMV, others will tell you different etc etc), I like to have a couple of Ranger Squads with triple Arqeubi. The ability to reach out and pop anything shy of superheavies is huge, especially against transport heavy armies.

Can't go wrong with Arc Rifles though. Haywire with short range on a unit that can MTC is nice.
Omnispex is an absolute given, mandatory 10 points, as the Data-Tether is basically useless since it does not stack with the vehicle mounted variant...which comes on all Skitarii vehicles as standard.

Dominus you can't really go wrong with any of the options on the sprue.

Yes, I will be using Cawl, but I am going to setup the TPD to have him. Probably the Eradication Ray and Macrostubber. I am thinking I will probably do the Arquebus, since I, too, enjoy the ability to reach out and touch vehicles.

Doesn't matter where you have him.

Simply having Cawl in your army means you have access to his Relic list.

Dominus--Sacrifactum Autorepulsor(makes units attempting to charge subtract 2 from their charge range roll)
I'm partial to the Volkite(it lets him do a bit of horde clearing, potentially) and the Phosphor(Luminagen=a godsend)

Alpha--Don't give him a melee/pistol. Retain his Galvanic Rifle for the 30" range. Give him the Memento Mortispex(at the start of each turns, choose Cognis Weapons, Monster Hunter, Skyfire, or Tank Hunter) relic.

Onager--Set this up as you want. I'm partial for Icarus Array on lone Onagers, if there's a chance of enemy FMCs or Skimmers.

I am actually leaning toward Arc Rifles on the three Special Weapon Skits. They seem to be the more useful of the weapons for their price. I can convert some easier than pay the $10 people want on eBay.

Really, I suppose if I get Cawl, I could get another box of Skittles and run him as the HQ in a CAD.

I suppose I could use a Skitarii Maniple for Scout and attach Cawl to my main force in an HQ slot. That might be a better option.

 casvalremdeikun wrote:
I am actually leaning toward Arc Rifles on the three Special Weapon Skits. They seem to be the more useful of the weapons for their price. I can convert some easier than pay the $10 people want on eBay.

Really, I suppose if I get Cawl, I could get another box of Skittles and run him as the HQ in a CAD.

I suppose I could use a Skitarii Maniple for Scout and attach Cawl to my main force in an HQ slot. That might be a better option.

You could also buy two more Start Collectings and try for the Vanguard rules paper...

That's partially a joke, but with how flipping many Skitarii Rangers/Vanguard I have built(and still yet to build!) that box is a godsend for anyone wanting to get Skitarii and an Onager.

 Kanluwen wrote:

 casvalremdeikun wrote:
I am actually leaning toward Arc Rifles on the three Special Weapon Skits. They seem to be the more useful of the weapons for their price. I can convert some easier than pay the $10 people want on eBay.

Really, I suppose if I get Cawl, I could get another box of Skittles and run him as the HQ in a CAD.

I suppose I could use a Skitarii Maniple for Scout and attach Cawl to my main force in an HQ slot. That might be a better option.

You could also buy two more Start Collectings and try for the Vanguard rules paper...

That's partially a joke, but with how flipping many Skitarii Rangers/Vanguard I have built(and still yet to build!) that box is a godsend for anyone wanting to get Skitarii and an Onager.

If I get more, it will probably be in the form of this box. Though what I am going to do with a bunch of Techpriests is up in the air. Even if I get three total boxes, I am still only out about $300. Not bad. I really love the Onager. Such a cool looking model.

 casvalremdeikun wrote:

 Kanluwen wrote:

 casvalremdeikun wrote:
I am actually leaning toward Arc Rifles on the three Special Weapon Skits. They seem to be the more useful of the weapons for their price. I can convert some easier than pay the $10 people want on eBay.

Really, I suppose if I get Cawl, I could get another box of Skittles and run him as the HQ in a CAD.

I suppose I could use a Skitarii Maniple for Scout and attach Cawl to my main force in an HQ slot. That might be a better option.

You could also buy two more Start Collectings and try for the Vanguard rules paper...

That's partially a joke, but with how flipping many Skitarii Rangers/Vanguard I have built(and still yet to build!) that box is a godsend for anyone wanting to get Skitarii and an Onager.

If I get more, it will probably be in the form of this box. Though what I am going to do with a bunch of Techpriests is up in the air. Even if I get three total boxes, I am still only out about $300. Not bad. I really love the Onager. Such a cool looking model.

Run the formation multiple times?

Also, given that you have Cawl...

Cawl->Dominus Maniple
Dominus->Dominus Maniple
Dominus->Dominus Maniple
Dominus+2 boxes of Kastelan Robots->Cohort Cybernetica

At that point, I could just run a Grand Convocation!

 casvalremdeikun wrote:
At that point, I could just run a Grand Convocation!

Not with all the goodies, but...the double Kastelans is kinda nice to park Cawl in.

 Kanluwen wrote:

 casvalremdeikun wrote:
At that point, I could just run a Grand Convocation!

Not with all the goodies, but...the double Kastelans is kinda nice to park Cawl in.

I could put the Onagers in a squad and park a TPD in the middle, put Cawl with a Knight.

Having the rangers take 3 Arquebi, with a Neutron Crawler, along with a Dominus that's lit up a vehicle with the Scryerskull Perspicatus is pretty fun.
Rerolling hits for a rerollable armourbane. Can't go much wrong with that, eh?