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So like my Grey Knights thread, I am making add-on forces for my Crimson Fists with other armies. This is my planned add-on for Skitarii. Looking for some pointers (I only have the Rangers and Onager).

Skitarii Maniple
5 Rangers (Refractor Field, Omnispex, 2x Transuranic Arquebus) - 130 pts
5 Rangers (Refractor Field, Omnispex, 2x Transuranic Arquebus) - 130 pts
10 Vanguards (no upgrades) - 100 pts

Sicarian Ruststalkers (Refractor Field, Prehensile Dataspike, Transonic Razor and Chordclaw on everyone) - 175 pts

Onager Dunecrawler (Neutron Laser and Cognis Heavy Stubber) - 115

650 pts total.

Hi there, so it's widely believed among Skitarii players that you should never have more than one squad dedicated to Arquebii. See, they are expensive guns that aren't so great against armour by themselves, you'll roll an average of 7 on your penetration rolls, that makes it a 11 on average to pierce armour, which is enough against say Dark Eldars vehicles but not against good vehicles like a Vindicator or a Leman Russ. If you equip one squad with Arc Rifles that may make a difference, as the Haywire weapons are almost always guaranteed to strip at least one HP, with chance of important damage on a 6. They are shorter ranged (24" rapid fire) but with the Rangers you can benefit from their Move Through Cover rule to hide them in scenery, ruins or the likes of it and quickly be in range of your targets. Don't forget you'll have Scout and Crusader, that can give you a speed boost in your first turns. I personally think Rangers are better than Vanguards for the purpose of using Arc Rifles because their standard guns (Galvanic Rifles) are S4, so if you aim at a really light vehicle or the rear armour of most vehicles you'll glance it on a 6. That means you're not "wasting" shots when firing with your Arc Rifles at a vehicle, whereas the Radium Carbines are short-ranged ans can't do anything to any vehicle.

I'd recommend dropping the Refractor Fields if you need some points, they'll mostly be in a cover that gives the same if not a better protection, and it's only your Alpha who benefits from the Refractor Field, and he won't have the Arquebus. Omnispex is mandatory with those squads though, good choice.

Bare Vanguards are nice and cheap, I love the face of my opponent when I start rolling 30 dices that hit at 2+. I run them sometimes with a single Plasma Caliver so that after my Radium Carbines have wounded, I can finish off any characters or special weapons with a AP2 gun. It's damn expensive though, I do not recommend it for every list.

I play the Infiltrators myself but the Ruststalkers look really good from certain people, just watch out for S6 shots, they may have 2 Wounds and a FnP but against S6 you may as well be a Guardsman. It requires a bit of thinking to manoeuver these guys around so that they hurt what they're meant to hurt.

I love the Dunecrawler, it moves wherever it wants and kills whatever it wants. Neutron Laser all the way for me, when you have 5 points to spare you can give him an additional Cognis Heavy Stubber, it saved my Dunecrawler once when getting charged by Wolves (yeah go figure why Wolves attacked a metal vehicle). For 25 pts you can give him the Cognis Manipulator, which gives him IWND, it's good to have on a single Onager, as you don't have anyone to repair him. It's expensive but in my opinion worth it. It doubles your Strength and makes it hit at AP1 too, when the need arises you can charge with this monster and smash whatever you want smashed. I mostly place mine in a ruin so that he gets a 4+ cover save to boot. A really good vehicle.

If you intend on adding a few Cult Mechanicus models, consider the Techpriest Dominus as he is just among the best generic HQs of the game. He can take a relic that costs 25 pts and allow him to select an enemy vehicle anywhere on the field, and all failed penetration hits against the vehicle may be rerolled, and if you get a glancing hit you can try to make it a penetrating hit with a reroll. Combined with the Arquebii, that's the way to make them worth their 50 points. The Neutron Laser works well with that too, when you really want that Land Raider to stay where he is.

Switching to the Arc Rifles on one squad does seem like a good plan. It gave me the points to have give the Vanguards an Omnispex and put a Refractor Field on the Alpha. I like the additional protection, so I can stick the Alpha up front to attempt to absorb a hit rather than my special weapons. That left me with 5 pts, which I used to upgrade the Ruststalkers Princeps's Refractor Field to a Conversion Field. I figure the 4++ is a good choice on them, but also the ability to blind stuff. Here is the new list. I like it better since it adds some variability.

Skitarii Maniple
5 Rangers (Refractor Field, Omnispex, 2x Transuranic Arquebus) - 130 pts
5 Rangers (Refractor Field, Omnispex, 2x Arc Rifle) - 110 pts
10 Vanguards (Refractor Field, Omnispex) - 115 pts

Sicarian Ruststalkers (Conversion Field, Prehensile Dataspike, Transonic Razor and Chordclaw on everyone) - 180 pts

Onager Dunecrawler (Neutron Laser and Cognis Heavy Stubber) - 115

650 pts total.

Yes, you'll have more versatility like that. Careful, the Conversion Field does Blind on a failed initiative test but you and any friendly unit in range of the D6 has to pass it, friendly units can reroll it but still, you may find your own units reduced to WS/BS1, so careful. It goes well with the Sicarian Infiltrators as they reduce the enemy's Initiative by one point.

I would agree that you don't really need the refractor on the rangers, the extra heavy stubber is worth more on the onager. Do you have any AA in the other part of your list? Adding another crawler with the icarus array might be worth it.

Ceann wrote:
I would agree that you don't really need the refractor on the rangers, the extra heavy stubber is worth more on the onager. Do you have any AA in the other part of your list? Adding another crawler with the icarus array might be worth it.

I have two Stormtalon Gunships. So not hurting for AA at all.

I made some minor adjustments to my list. I changed the Conversion Field to a Refractor Field since I don't like that variable hanging over my head. I used the extra 5 pts for an added heavy stubber on the Onager(a little extra shooting might help it out in Overwatch). I like the Refractor Field on the Alphas just for peace of mind.

Skitarii Maniple
5 Rangers (Refractor Field, Omnispex, 2x Transuranic Arquebus) - 130 pts
5 Rangers (Refractor Field, Omnispex, 2x Arc Rifle) - 110 pts
10 Vanguards (Refractor Field, Omnispex) - 115 pts

Sicarian Ruststalkers (Refractor Field, Prehensile Dataspike, Transonic Razor and Chordclaw on everyone) - 175 pts

Onager Dunecrawler (Neutron Laser and Cognis Heavy Stubber, Cognis Heavy Stubber) - 120 pts

650 pts total