Reecius here from Frontline Gaming to discuss the list I was going to play at Adepticon: a competitive Scout based army. As always, check out our Tactics Corner for more great tactics articles!
I love Scouts. They are one of my favorite part of the 40K setting. Space Marines are iconic, awesome shock troopers, but the stealthy SpecOps style of the Scouts always appealed to me more. I like the idea of units of highly trained Scouts operating behind enemy lines using guerrilla tactics and trickery as much as brute force. I have always wanted to play a Scout army but as I am primarily a competitive player, that has always been tough to do as Scouts tend to struggle a bit in that regard.
However, in 6th ed a lot of factors have changed in the environment of the game to alter this.
For one, being a Space Marine doesn’t count for a whole lot anymore. Your basic Marine who in the fluff is depicted as shrugging off almost any damage, die in droves in the face of the firepower of most factions in the game. Unless taken en masse, Marines will drop like flies to concentrated firepower. Heldrakes, Riptides, Broadsides, Grav Centurions, etc. all make you pick up your super space warriors by the handful. Don’t even bother comparing them to Deathstars, whose points efficiency is so out of whack with their points cost as to be comical.
That is where the humble Scout comparatively rises in value as their lower point cost but similar abilities and stats mean that while yes, they will also die in droves, you are losing a smaller percentage of your army per casualty. So, assuming that you accept my first premise that a Marine really isn’t that durable anymore, Scouts are more points efficient defensively than Tactical Marines. Meaning, an equal amount of points spent on Scouts will typically last longer and be more durable than an equivalent amount of points spent on Tactical Marines.
Tactically, Scouts also offer you a LOT of utility in great USRs. They have (obviously) Scouts, which is great for the pre-game redeployment. They also have Infiltrator which when combined with Scouts, means they can start 12″ away from your opponent which is HUGE. You save points on transport vehicles and start out in a position to inflict maximum damage right away. It also means you get to deploy after seeing where your opponent deploys, even if you are going first which is also a big advantage. Both of those USRs also allow you to Outflank for further deployment flexibility. Scouts also have Move Through Cover to keep them quick in broken terrain and the all important And They Shall Know No Fear. Probably one of the best rules in the game. Finally, Combat Squads means you can double your number of scoring units if you desire to do so. I Combat Squad my Scouts almost every game. The reason why is that not only do I have more scoring options but also due to the fact that in the face of all of the units in the game that can obliterate 10 Mariners in a single attack with ease, splitting your units into smaller sizes effectively halves the amount of potential kills your opponent can get in a single attack. It also doubles the amount of units you have for things like soaking up Overwatch (declare a multi-charge with a sacrificial unit to clear the way for their comrades), force Grounding Checks, etc. MSU is also great to counter Deathstars as they can often only kill one unit a turn and if you present them with 20+ cheap units, they will run out of game turns before they can take out all of your assets.
Offensively though, there is no question that Scouts don’t compare to Tactical Marines. They have lower BS and WS and fewer options for the special and heavy weapons which end up doing most of the damage in a unit of Tactical Marines. They do still have Frag and Krak grenades which are HUGE for these little guys, particularly now that they can be thrown and work on Monstrous Creatures in assault. However, Chapter Tactics is what really helps the Scouts. Chapter Tactics like Hit and Run from the White Scars makes assault Scouts so much better. 6+ FnP from Iron Hands, etc. all help to give Scouts a nice boost. The one that grabbed me through, were the Sentinels of Terra Chapter Tactics (Imperial Fists supplement). They get a number of benefits, but the primary among them is Close Ranged Bolter Drill which let’s you reroll misses at half range with Bolter Weapons. That is SO GOOD. Scouts go from a 50% chance of hitting to 75%–better than a Space Marine. You also get other nice benefits like Devastator Centurions in Elites, freeing up your important Heavy slots, but the main bonus is the twin linked Bolters.
When you combine that with their advanced deployment through Scouts and Infiltrating, you can get into double tap range turn 1. What this means is that if you go first, you get to see where your opponent deploys, counter deploy your Scouts, and then hit them with 120 twin-linked Bolter shots as your opening salvo. It is absolutely brutal. On average dice, that is 45 wounds to T4 targets. I have wiped out Deathstars on turn 1 with these little bad asses in practice games. The look on the other guy’s face when their Deathstar gets vaporized by Scouts is worth making the army alone!
The combination of deployment options, defense through numbers (MSU tactics), ATSKNF to ensure you are a threat to the last model (and I often have a single Scout fall back after his unit gets damaged to go camp an objective and remain a vital tool to me), grenades to hurt nearly any target, Combat Squads for flexibility and twin linked shooting to shred infantry, MCs and to ground FMCs has proven to be an excellent combo that is also a blast to play.
My list starts with 6 units of 10 Bolter Scouts, Melta Bombs on the Sarges, and a Heavy Bolter (also twin linked at half range). The nice thing is that these units are dirt cheap, too! Only 123 points a pop that gives you potentially 12 scoring units!
From there, you have a lot of options to fill out the list. I have tried a ton of variation but I have found that Coteaz is essential to stop the seize if you go for the Alpha Strike. I typically bring another 3 units of Henchmen for a crazy 15 scoring units to overwhelm my opponent’s ability to stop me from winning objective based missions.
From there, you can fill out your list with some support units. I go with 2 Stalkers for AA. I prefer these to Storm Talons as they start on the table and give you better defense and kill power against FMCs which are harder for me to deal with than true flyers. I take a T-Fire Cannon to give me that all important Barrage weapon, and a unit of Bikes with Grav Guns for AA and AMC that the Scouts can struggle with. I also take a hard hitting unit in a Drop Pod to add additional pressure turn 1. Often this will be Sternguard or Grey Hunters with a Rune Priest to provide Jaws and a 4+ to deny powers in their backfield, possibly with some Long Fangs for ranged firepower. The other nice offensive bonus the Scouts bring is that they can dog-pile on MCs to pin them down and wear them down with grenade attacks. I routinely dog-pile Riptides, Wraithknights, Imperial Knights, etc. and eventually destroy them but more importantly, take them out of the game for several turns.
My Warlord is a Telepathy (usually) Librarian on a bike.
From there you can fill out the list to suit your taste, but that covers all of your bases.
So far, the list has done extremely well for me against very competitive lists. I have taken down 4 Riptide lists, 3 Riptides with Missileside support, Seercouncil with Servo Skulls, Centurionstars, Serpent Spam, White Scars Bikers and Daemons. I have lost 3 games so far, 2 of them came to the last roll of the dice. 1 was against a TAC Marine list that seized on me when I had deployed for the Alpha Strike (and even taking a massive hit turn 1, it still came down to the last armor save of the game). Another loss came against Taudar where I made a tactical error and lost a close one. My biggest loss was against FMC heavy Tyranids where I went for a huge risk to win the game early that didn’t pan out, leaving my exposed and I ended up losing by a large margin. However the vast majority of my games, the massive pressure the list puts on and sheer volume of dice it throws out is too much for most players to handle.
You also have to be careful in Kill Point missions. When you flood the field with units, you are playing at a disadvantage in these missions. They aren’t insurmountable by any means, you can choose not to Combat Squad, but they are the hardest mission. So long as you play in an area where they follow the book ration for KP missions (1/6) and the missons are layered to allow multiple paths to victory, you can play around that set-back with clever tactics.
The army is also very flexible. If you don’t go first, you can scatter and play to objectives. If you find yourself facing counter-infiltrate tactics, it actually isn’t that bad. I find that I can slip between gaps in the Servo Skulls or just deploy behind them in the enemy deployment zone if they aren’t very careful with model placement. Either way, your ability to put a big chunk of your army anywhere on the table forces your opponent to change their normal deployment strategies to react to you.
Most importantly, the army is fun! I love the Scouts running around and my opponents enjoy it too as stuff is dying left and right. I really enjoy playing it and think I will stick with it for the rest of the year in tournament play. I think you can play it with Assault Scouts, too, if you want a different spin on the theme and try it for yourself.
Respect the scouts!
(boink!)
If the bolters the scouts are shooting get re-rolls, doesn’t that mean that even though they do have worse BS then tactical marines, they are getting more value out of the chapter tactic? Wow! That’s awesome!
Between this and using infiltrate+scouts to unleash a barrage of bolter fire, this seems like a really effective strategy!
I have put this list to the test in many, many games and it is no joke. It works really well and it is super fun!
I know when I faced this list and Reece set up all those scouts that close, I was sweating lol
Yeah, that was my test game without Coteaz and I got seized on, of course. Lol, that was rough.
My. Coteaz expected your coteaz and shanked him pre game lol
There can be only one!
With a toothbrush shank, prison style!
I was trying a similar idea while I was looking for a good “counts as” for my Eisenkern. My brother’s obsession with Crones led me to taking Biomancy for the debuffs. (Those things murder Scouts if not dealt with quickly)
Enfeeble alone makes the mass bolters even more effective and also makes each grounding check that much more crucial.
Totally. Enfeeble makes this army gross! And yeah, Crones are a nightmare for this army. That is why I take two Stalkers.
That looks like a really cool and fun list. If it was me though, I would take at least a couple of units of ccw & bp scouts and perhaps one with sniper rifles. I just think it would be more fun with a bit of diversity and it seems like a shame to take six copies of a unit with four(!) different basic weapon options and not even use them.
When will we see this army in a YouTube battle report?
Yeah, I have tried mixing it up and the assault Scouts work well, too.
We will post videos up soon. We were keeping it secret to surprise people at Adepticon, but I ended up judging.
I am trying something similar but I got 4 units of scouts in storms. Great mobility as well as the heavy flamer.
Combined with a pedro and drop podding sternguard it is everything in your face turn one guranteed.
Backed up by centurrions and devastators in a bastion and good times are had. I look forward to trying it out.
I tried Cents, too. It works pretty dang well.
I was toying with the idea of using DA scouts with the dev banner. My problem was reliable AA. The best I could come up with was black knights but they’re so expensive!
Ally it in?
It boggles my mind, that 40k is going to continue having “niche” marine factions, that don’t have what is rapidly becoming “standard” issue gear.
DA’s can’t take space marine flyers, because they’ve gone and put chrono-bombs and SUPER MEGA BOLTERS OF DOOM on all of theirs?
They can’t have hunters/stalkers “just coz”. I know people would have bitched about having to buy the space marine codex, but they should have just allowed DAs to use them.
I kind of feel like a lot of the peripheral codexes around marines, should either come out immediately following the C:SM launch, or reference C:SM and really be “very large” hard copy supplements with a full launch. Like, aside from any arguments over whether Blood Angels deserve a “full” codex, simply for the fact that there should be a standard, baseline codex, which sets the rules for all drop pods, all SM flyers, all SM new support variants of the rhino etc.
Keep bhaal predators, maybe don’t let BAs get hunters because that’s some form of “variant”. But DAs are now SO out of step with C:SM, and I can’t imagine that blood angels and space wolves are going to miss out on grav guns.
I don’t play DA btw, but they really do get the raw end of the deal every edition!
Rest of the tournament season? I heard a rumor that you went full time judge and 40k theorist leaving the greatest player in the world to represent frontline gaming at tournaments.
Lol!
Ahhhhh barrels or its not real!!!
Bat reps, incoming =)
Man Reece! That idea is awesome, I am jealous! Maybe I’ll have to jump on your scout bandwagon in the future!
Yeah, go for it! It is super fun to play.
What a funny list lol. My question to you Reece is that do you think the army has done well because people have underestimated it, have been caught off guard by it, or do you think it can actually perform toe to toe with a person who is prepared and in the know. My question is why would a seer council player not reserve and use his serpents//wk to pop stalkers and tfc and turbo boost away from the scouts when they come on the field. Same thing goes for Daemons to reserve the FMC and deploy troops, then vector strike and FF the scouts off the board.
Either way I want to try my luck against this list!
He had first turn, so he didn’t reserve.
I think this list can hang with any deathstar. It is a tough fight, for sure, but it has all of the tool sit needs to win.
Don’t forget too, that Flickering Fire and Vector Strike may not wipe a unit. And with all of the twin linked bolters, I have generally smoked FMCs. It hasn’t been that hard. Crones were rough due to the Flamer, but even that I can play around with good model positioning.
Def want to try my luck against it. You, Frankie, and Geoff kept me in suspense for 3 months haha.
Lol, we wanted it to be a surprise but I ended up judging. Oh well!
I have been playing a scout army since 5th ed as I feel they are more tactically pleasing to play than regular space marines… I also play a raven guard gun line that does well with scouting up to an aegis, but that is another story lol. I have been playing around and came up with a sentinels of Terra scout list I think will do good. Here in Okinawa we don’t have many Death Stars to worry about the biggest threats are triple riptide and demon FMC lists. I have done well so far.
The hardest part about this army is modeling all of those scouts…
Troof!
lol dangit! And here I thought I was doing great just finishing my 20th scout up!?
Semi-related but do you think scouts are something you need to go “all-in” with…or not at all? Ex: Could a good troop base be 20 tac marines and 20 Scouts (combat squadded as needed of course)? If so, would it affect the way you equipped them?
Oh yeah, for sure, you can mix Scouts in. I do it all the time and it works great. You don’t have to take 60, by any means.
While I had originally dismissed the bolter spam when it was a dark angels thing, sentinels of terra I admit has a huge potential with not needing a banner to function. Just goes to show I need to read these supplements to for myself, as I thought the chapter tactics was just reroll 1s on bolters.
My biggest concern for the list is the rather large disparity between how it plays when going second. The going first alpha is huge, I understand that, but I would want all my allies to either support going first with something like immotek and coteaz or be tailored to deal with a Death Star that went first, like maybe grey knight ravens with über dca for mind strikes and counter assault. I may not even test games where you go first, as learning if 60 wounds kill a beast pack pre fortune is kind of silly to test in a game.
Also, if 2 detachments only become a thing, the inq coteaz will eat your ally slot, but a coteaz is pretty much required for the seize protection, leaving you fewer ally options.
Did you have any issues with the scouts cluttering up and reducing your shots in your games?
Going second hasn’t been an issue, actually. I play to objectives, and still press the attack aggressively. I don’t get as big of an Alpha Strike, but I still hit hard on the bottom of turn 2.
Having to take Coteaz isn’t that bad, honestly. I take Henchmen with Psybacks. They’re great troops, stupid cheap, and get a solid ranged attack.
I have not had a problem with Scouts getting in the way, no. I usually form a half circle around the other guy with them, and then move in to press the assault.
Reece – have you tried it with Land Speeder Storms? The added speed and manoeuvrability is impressive, and the Heavy flamer coming in from reserve, outflanking is pretty sweet too. Usually load them out with assault scouts.
EYIG
Haven’t tried that, yet, no. I will have to give it a shot.
Whats the full list then! Inquiring public wants to know 🙂
I had debated somthing along these lines following a kill team event when i tried imp fist scouts (and heavy bolter attack bikes)
It varies, I always mix it up. But the core is:
Libby: Level 2, Bike, Bones of Osrak
Coteaz
Inq: Psyker, Servo Skulls
Scouts x 10: M.Bombs, H.Bolter
Scouts x 10: M.Bombs, H.Bolter
Scouts x 10: M.Bombs, H.Bolter
Scouts x 10: M.Bombs, H.Bolter
Scouts x 10: M.Bombs, H.Bolter
Scouts x 10: M.Bombs, H.Bolter
Henchmen x 3: Psyback
Henchmen x 3: Psyback
Stalker
Stalker
T-Fire
That leaves a lot of extra points for other units. I switch it up a bit but often I go with Attack Bikes, Command Squads, Stormtalons, etc. It just depends on the tournament and the local meta.
Do you take hellfire rounds or just stock HB?
Stock, saves points and you get the hot twin linked action!
Ive been playing about with lists, i like the idea.
Have you tried the baby inquisitor with the book that gives scout and then having a few of those characters in a mini star maybe? You get another unit to push up field and somewhere to put coteaz and the inquis? and make good use of those grenades. somthing numerous and cheap/cost effective/troops to keep that pseudo horde look going.
I was looking at gh’s (so you get a rune priest too) add in a wolf guard and then have a suicide wolf guard unit in pod (where the priest can go too if you think you can get a good jaws), or blob guard with some axes? somthing like that.
or – randomly ( to go with your other article – a crusader squad – if i remember correctly, you can only not include psykers if they are part of the primary detatchment right?)
So if you took the above list you could add in the book plus a uber jump pack eternal shield chapter master (no bike cos of focus fire) and like a 13-14 man blob made up mainly of more scouts.
or if you dont like paying out for the chapter master, as you keeping things all pretty low points to spread the threats; then maybe a modest crusader squad but then put the points in to the standard marine back up you mentioned (talons/attack bikes etc )
I did try the inquisitor with the book and a Centstar. I was OK. I found that the speed of the Scouts meant that the Cents were often way out of position.
Great article as always Reece!
I have actually had an idea similar to this one for ages, but I have always thought of using the Mantis Warriors chapter tactics. This gives all Mantis Warrior infantry Hammer of Wrath, and Furious Charge when they charge from cover (it also gives Librarians divination, and allows you to re-roll for deployment and seizing).
Do you think a list like yours could also work with close combat scouts? Or is it simply not possible in today’s meta? Also, how vital do you feel that Coteaz in your list?
Mantis Warriors could totally do it, no doubt. You can do it with a lot of the CTs, actually. I just liked the Sentinels of Terra the most, personally. Coteaz is not all important, he just gives you insurance against the seize.
Close Combat Scouts work quite well, too. I often use 20 of them and enjoy them quite a bit.
Thanks for the advice! And thanks also for helping me get out of that “competitive” mindset that scouts that worthless!
Man, it seems like GW really hit the nail on the head with the new Space Marine codex. There are so many competitive builds that are not spammy/deathstar filled and are all fun to play!
I really wish they could have had the same standard for some of their more recent codex releases….
I feel you. Space Marines are absolutely awesome. Everyone is doing the Centurionstar/White Scars thing, but there are so many other viable builds in that book.
Hmm I thought up something similar with assault White Scars scouts > look in the forum. And frankly it was inspired by Reecius’ review of the scouts. Imagine this combo: A Grav weapon wounds the MC. After this a Landspeeder Storm fires both His M-Melta and his Cerberus Launcher at it. Cerberus hits and the MC has to do an Initiative test on a 1 or go blind. After that, the melee Scouts with a vet sarge+powerfist charges onto a BS1 WS 1 Ini 1 MC with at least 1 Wound already down…. ouch! Since you can give the sarge a Grav Pistol, this isn’t that unlikly
I have thought about the Grav weapons but haven’t tried it yet. I was using JotWW on a Rune Priest in a pod at first, and with Grav weapons that is a savage combo!
I got my ass kicked by a scout army not too long ago. All scouts all on foot, and it was just firepower raining in from every angle. It was insane. You gotta do some bat-reps with this list Reece, I really want to see it in action!
Yeah, that is the way it works! Shots from everywhere. It is super fun!
I’ve been using 20 scouts (two 5 man bolter squads in Land Speeder Storms and a 10 man sniper) mixed with some bikers and I have really loved the scouts in the storms. Great vehicle with a heavy flamer to burn up your opponents weak troops in their deployment and a some nice firepower from the scouts in there as well. Its made me really appreciate scouts more!
Yeah, I’ve always loved Scouts. They provide a lot of utility that I think players miss when looking at just their stats.
I was one of those people until the new SM codex came out and Smurfalypse convinced me to try them out. Once I did there was no looking back. For the exact reason you said, a lot of utility.
Yup, me too. I use Scouts all the time and everyone underestimates them.
I’ve been thinking about this option since I read the new book, just wasn’t to keen on painting a crap-ton of scouts.
Would love to see a battle report if you guys get a chance.
Bat reps inbound, for sure =)
This makes me absurdly happy… When the 5th edition BA codex came out, I had 25 scouts. 10 were painted horribly (the old metal minis), 10 were painted pretty decently (five of the new minis, five snipers), and five were based only. I’m just gonna throw this out there that I have never gotten so much of an army painted before. Then came the nerf to WS/BS 3 (I had the 3rd ed. book before that, then skipped the 4th by accident) and I just… couldn’t play them anymore… Not with those point costs. Then I got a land speeder storm (and a half) along with another 5 scouts for $10-15 and made 15 more scouts out of them, just because they looked cool. 2 HB and 13 bolters, with 2 possible sergeants. Now I find they’re not useless!!
Scouts have always been my favorite unit in the SM codex, but I never had any idea how to use them. Thanks for this, mate, you just made my day.
Cats out of the bag!!! Wonder who the tyranid Player that beat you was… Hmmm 😉
Some no talent hack that got lucky! =P
Loloolol
Gosh, really LOVE that idea. So much actually, to consider starting Space Marines from scratch.
I always loved the model of Pedro Cantor and think he would be the perfect addition to your list, while supporting the IF-Theme.
Get him, 10 Sternguard in DP, 5 Honorguard in DP and a DP for the TFC. Put Pedro into the HG, and Coteaz into the SG and go for the ultimative Alpha Strike.
Twinlink Pseudo-Sternguard which scores and beefed up Honorguard through Pedro.
Awesome!
You’re right that assault scouts are fun, throw them in Landspeeder Storm’s, use the (I think it’s called) Cerberus launcher for a close combat debuff to the unit you’re assaulting out at.. very cool, very effective, very fast!
Hope I’m not too out of date in commenting on this. Just wondering how you have found the scouts in 7th. I’ve been thinking of something related. Not really the same thing but a marine army with 5 min scout squads all with land speeder storm dedicated transports. Its 10 obsec units with multiple deployent options and some fast late objective grabbing obsec if i can keep some storms alive. Running it with big firepower threats to keep my opponent busy. Like this:
Master of the Forge (bike conversion beamer)
Scouts / Land Speeder Storm x 5
Bike Squad
Contemptor Mortis (2 x Kheres Assault Cannon)
2 x Sicaran
Fire Raptor
Cerastus Knight-Acheron
I am still rocking my Scout army and doing very well with it, actually. Scouts are still fantastic for the points. I am running 40 at present instead of the 60 I was running.
That list looks solid, though.