A returning players oppions on our units; Scourges

Who wants all the guns? the scourges apparently, because this unit can be armed to the teeth. Lets see.

Scourges
Our jump infantry take on a different role to that of most armies, one of the few infantry units not dedicated to assault scourges take on the role of fire support. You can equip them with 4 special or heavy weapons in any combination and while they don't have an immense choice of weapons, (at least not by the standards of some books) they do have lots of good anti tank options, some reasonable anti MEQ and a strength 6 blast weapon.

Haywire blasters and heat lances aren't available to cabal warrior squads which is a little sad but understandable. The haywire blaster is a bit random but has the chance to do a large amount of damage to a vehicle as well as applying some mortal wounds to more fleshy targets with some luck, it's fire rate of d3 is a bit of a downer but it's well priced and looks entertaining to use.

The heat lance is our most damaging gun (man I wish I could stick them on a venom) at d6+2 damage it hits like a train. The only down side is its a heavy weapon so -1 to hit after you move this keeps the blaster in contention for the slot. It kind of boils down to either having more reliable hits with the blaster or harder impact when you get though the saves with the heat lance.

As for standard armament scourges come with the fantastic shard carbine (remember when true born had that option?) 3 poisoned shots each is a good amount of firepower for a standard dude. They are a great choice for prey on the weak as more dice equals more benefit. The solorite has access to a unique power weapon, the power lance whos stats are great (would love to see more units have it).

On the table top scourges have the option to be an alpha strike unit, deploying via deep strike they can be a good way to add firepower to the flank who needs it, snipe important units and generally be a nuisance your opponent can't ignore. Or they can sit at the back in cover using lances, cannons or blasters to support the advance of your raiders, they aren't that tough even in cover but you can force your opponent to direct weapons towards them and away from your raiders if you so wish.

A few other things worth mentioning is that they are BFH which means that in a real space raid you can benefit from the black heart stuff. They have the haywire keyword which lets you use the associated strat, generally it's not needed but d3 mortal wounds is d3 mortal wounds right?

Fast, reasonably priced, hard hitting and flexible. The scourge should be considered in any DE army the firepower they bring is just to good to miss.

Next time Hellions and Reavers!

I'm surprised you are not mentioning Shredders. They are cheap and put out massive hurt to blobs of Cultists or Guard. We have lots of ways to get AT weapons, mostly thanks to how much Darklight we can field.

I think all the AT loadouts are suboptimal in this edition. They are all heavy and expensive. Heat Lances are okay, but at 18" they turn Scourges into a suicide unit. HWB deal less Mortal Wounds now. I argue that Dark Lances are the best AT loadout but this makes Scourges way too expensive for their durability.

Blasters are fine but their job has changed into anti-MEQ, which is not something we have a shortage of. 4 Shredders is just +20pts and it adds the kind of utility that we can't get anywhere else.

I didn't feel the need to run the math on it for everyone, but for 80 points (minimum cost for a unit with 4 shredders) yes they do pump out allot of shots.

I use my Scourges with Dark Lances. The -1 to hit doesnt bother me, since I deploy them from start.
After all, who needs movement with 36" weapons range? Heatlances and Blasters are for Reavers, Talos and Kabalites in Transports.

That makes a high threat target, sure, but it also means, my opponents focus is at least divided...

Zenotaph wrote:

I use my Scourges with Dark Lances. The -1 to hit doesnt bother me, since I deploy them from start.
After all, who needs movement with 36" weapons range? Heatlances and Blasters are for Reavers, Talos and Kabalites in Transports.

That makes a high threat target, sure, but it also means, my opponents focus is at least divided...

A well set up unit is a juicy target that has to be dealt with, you can't leave 4 dark lances free all game.

Thats exactly my point. Imagine, what cant be shot, while my Scourges are under fire.
They are just T3, but 4+/5++ in light cover could take quite some pressure.