40K Sniper Scouts in a Land Speeder Storm

[ravingmad8Participant 1000xp 0]

I’m getting back into 40K. Picked up the rulebook and the SM Codex and thought I’d have a read through before getting models. One thing that stood out to me were SM Scouts with sniper rifles. The Character targeting rule and the chance to do mortal wounds really appealed to me. Then I thought if you stick a squad of 5 all with sniper rifles in a Land Speeder Storm you could have a really mobile character killer team. Open topped allows all within the vehicle to fire plus the vehicle itself gets to fire. That 36 inch range makes the unit relatively safe from incoming fire. I thought I might have stumbled upon a gem. Any thoughts from the community and experienced SM/40K players?

[conscriptborisParticipant 403xp 1]

All you have said is true, but at 7 W T5, it can get shot out the sky quickly. And transport rules of having to disembark at the start of a turn is a pain.

could be useful, really depends on your local meta tbh.

[bigdave 3704xp 1]

Been a while since I’ve played marines but I have seen Storms with bolter armed scouts to harass the likes of gaunts or in my case, Imperial Guardsmen.

If I remember right, sniper rifles suffer a -1 to hit when moving (and no overwatch), also have to remember that scout units embarked in the Storm cannot fire if it falls back from combat (they don’t have the Fly keyword). If you get charged it will seriously decrease your firepower and you were already on a -1.

I’m probably wrong as like I say I’ve not played them in a while, but the idea of kiting some snipers around the board does sound like fun, even if it’s not very economic to do so compared to just leaving them in a piece of terrain somewhere and hoping they get ignored in favour of bigger and better targets…

[limburger 21775xp 1]

Even without it being used as a mobile sniping fortress having a fast transport for snipers is an advantage that can compensate for poor deployment.

It would allow you to re-position your snipers almost at will.
Just take care not to get shot at while you’re moving … because it is a juicy target.

[ravingmad8Participant 1000xp 0]

Thanks everyone for the advice so far. Yeah, the unit would be a bit of a glass hammer, and yes they do get the -1 to hit if they move. Still, I’m curious to find out if it works. I agree with limburger about the re-positioning. Deploy badly and your snipers sit in a corner all game. With the Land Speeder I can book it across the board and get in a better position.

[Author]

Posts