Equipping my Scourges

Hi all! Hope I got it in the right section...

Im getting my pack of Scourges in a couple of days and I was wondering how to equip them.

Do I want Haywire-blasters or Blasters for my 1250pts army? At the moment I've got 7 dark lances and a twin-linked Haywire Blaster on my talos.

The reason I'm asking is that I get the feeling that it's not that popular with Blasters on the Scourges and Im wondering why?

In the future Im going to expand my army with at least 3-4 Blasters, how should I equip them then?

Thank you for any response!

Blasters are a perfectly solid option - the general beef against them is Heat Lances are better at blowing things up (within melta range) and Haywire Blasters are...well, possibly the best gun in the codex

My basic advice is this;

If your army is WWP - use heat lances.
If you're deep striking them - use blasters or haywires as needed.
If you're starting them on the board as part of a Skimmer spam list - probably Haywire Blasters are the way to go.

It can be very situational with the army as far as the best loadout of weapons for them.

What about Splinter Cannons? Most of the time when Scourge loadouts are brought up, they aren't even mentioned, is it for a good reason, or can purely anti-infantry Scourges work as well?

Anti-infantry Scourges work great.

They are overlooked because, with even our regular troops having AP5 poison weapons, the common belief that spamming Venoms is the only way to go, and the fact that lots of players like to bring assault elements...there's almost no reason to pay out for the Scourges just to get an anti-infantry tool on the board, usually we're already saturated int hat regard.

Haywires get the nod, since they're range 24 and allow early suppression fire if they start on the table. You can also use them to get cover saves, etc..

They are somewhat good, but they are horrendously expensive.
10 man squad geared is 1 point below Abaddon/Draigo.

About mixing weapons 6 man 154 points.Somewhat usefull i agree.But if you take all out hawire - some tanks are plain dead meat for Haywire Wyches next turn.

Not sure about these fellas.ANyone have some good practive with them?Maybe some dirty dricks?

Azdrubael wrote:

They are somewhat good, but they are horrendously expensive.
10 man squad geared is 1 point below Abaddon/Draigo.

This is probably worst comparision possible (better would be comparing to SM troops) but You are right - they are expensive. And probably better than those guys.


Back to topic, Marquis Vaulkhere asked good question - is it worth to mix HBlasters and HLances? Pair of first nearly guarantee stun/shake while second nearly guarantee damaging/wrecking. They have "tactical" ranges (weaker get longer one)... this definetely need playtesting because it "fixes" main problems with HBlaster (inability to kill or even damage tanks reliably) and HLance (very short range)

That's exactly how my unit of Scourges is configured, mostly because it's the best weapons option in the basic box. And yes, on a good day, it does work exactly as advertised. The recent trick I learned is to screen vehicles with them.

I like Scourges when I play for fun, but I'd probably never take them to a tournament. (So if you play just for fun then ignore this).
First of all they need to be in cover. They are jump infantry. So unless you run them in (meaning they aren't shooting first turn in an alpha strike army) they are taking Dangerous Terrain tests. We are fragile enough without killing ourselves.
I will never take Haywire Blasters competitively due to the amount of Grey Knights in the metagame. Your 134pts just became a waste, and become regulated to blocking LOS to a vehicle that costs half as much or just another anti-infantry firing platform in an army that needs no help in that department.
Blasters are fine and versatile, but unless you are maxed out in your troops and elites with blasters and feel you need more then there are cheaper places to get them.
I use Heat Lances when I play them, but the danger with them is that you have to get close to be effective, and I think RJBs are better at closing the distance (and staying alive). Heat Lances are good because they do what nothing else in our army can do, reliably penetrate AV 12 (in melta range). 6 + avg 2D6 roll (7) is 13, and with the Lance rule thats always a Pen, with a +1 modifier to the damage roll. Thats pretty good.

Thank you for all your inputs! Many valuable points I will take into consideration

Modelling wise, I bought 2 boxes and that allowed me to make 2 scourges with heat lances and 2 with haywire blasters. When I play the scourges they usually all have heat lances so the haywire blasters are "counts as". This is not confusing at all as my opponent doesn't know the difference between them and any gun other than a carbine is just a heatlance.

I take 5 man squad with 2 heatlances. WWP or non-wwp I claim them deepstriking. I got no problem deepstriking and have had good experiences so far when I do. My play style is rather aggressive with them and their sole purpose is to pop what I send them after, that is it. Sure, they are sacrificial but all of our fast attacks are and they are not terribly important for them to survive.

I have played them 10 strong with 4 heatlances in a portal and have had moderate success, put it this way, they have popped what I send them out to do and have survived the next turn. Other than that they are bulky, expensive and need to pop all the armor on the table to make their points back - haven't quite done that yet so I will let you know when I do.

IME, playing 260 points of T3 models "aggressively" may not be that good of an idea.

When I play them, they hug cover like there is no tomorrow! And with such impressive sculpts... the opponents assume they are killy killy

I go with HB's for the extra range, as well as their effectiveness. I find that all of my opponents now see my Scourges and target them immediately (same with Reavers), so the extra range does help them survive a little longer.

Sometimes.

I almost always take advantage of their Deep Strike to ensure that when they enter the table, they actually have something to shoot at. I find many players are reserving so much of their armies now you often don't have much to target for the first turn or two.

I take them in squads of five, and use multiple small squads rather than one bigger one. Allows them to target more units per turn, and also to attract more fire away from other units.