Scourge spam?

Question for the masses of the Dark City: anyone ever tried scourge spam MSU? How did it go in game?

On paper scourges seem durable enough and maneuverable. Plus with our six fast attack slots the the kabalite raiding party detachment they seem spamable. But the forum abounds with tales of scourges used as a one shot unit that quickly dies.

Anyone have actual experience spamming them? How did it go?

Ah the murderflock!

Love it in theory! In practice they share the same problem as the rest of our army: There is too much Str6 and AP4 in 7th edition, and the act of acquiring cover will likely be costing you a body per unit every time you try.

Bikes frankly have an unfair advantage over jump/jetpack units: +1T were that not the case I think the murderflock and assault marines would be more viable.

I've considered it. I think amorrowlyday hit the nail on the head fairly well, though to be honest I haven't tried it because I don't own that many scourges.

From a sheer numbers standpoint, the reasons to take them over something like a venom in the fast attack slot aren't compelling: A venom puts out 12 splinter shots at 36" for 65 points. 5 Scourges put out 15 splinter shots at 18" for 80 points. Since they're both scoring, splinter fire isn't really something they can compete with venoms on.

So that leaves special weapons, which are primarily AT weapons, meaning they're competing with Ravagers. And that competition brings us to the status quo, where Ravagers are tougher and more versatile, while haywire blaster scourges are more reliable at removing hullpoints from AV12+.

And all of this discussion is occurring against the backdrop of the RSR detachment, which gives up the quite significant Obsec special rule from the troops. So the initial idea sounds good, but when I analyze and truly break it down and think about it, I can't convince myself to buy enough scourges to really give it a go.

I quite agree about using scourges as a poison deliverer: venoms are certainly the way to go for sure! The special weapons have captured my imagination. Spamming haywire and blasters (in seperate units of course) appears to be an effective way to get a lot of firepower on the board, especially if ravagers are brought along anyway.

I adore reavers. Has anyone spammed them in a RSR detachment?

We have quite a few options that can output a very similar amount of shooting damage per point against infantry models. In that list we have Kabalite Warriors, Kabalite Trueborn, Venoms, Hellions, Scourges, Beastmasters and Mandrakes.

Generally vehicles are harder to get rid of than infantry, and the Venom has longer range, so is a superior option to the other choices. Getting objective secured on the Kabalite Warriors and Venom combo also gives them an edge.

Mandrakes are OK, and are the only option that has something the Venom doesn't have - that being Shrouded and Stealth to force the use of ignores cover weapons or assaults to get rid of them.

If you really like the idea of Scourges zipping around with splinter fire, I would suggest squads of Beastmasters instead. Slightly more shots for your points, and don't die moving through cover.

Adma wrote:

I adore reavers. Has anyone spammed them in a RSR detachment?

Yes, this is something that is/has been tried. Though, since you can take multiple detachments in most formats, it's generally better to simply take multiple CADs to spam them rather than the RSR. In either case, spammed reavers can do well.

I hadn't considered beastmasters. I'll be taking a closer look!