Scourges

I was hoping to get some advice on how I should build my 10 Scourges. I was thinking of running a squad of 10 with a Solarite and 2 heat lance/2 haywire blasters. But would it be better to run them in 2 squads of 5 one as above and the other with either 4 cannons, 4 lances, or even 2 blasters/2 lances. I have no experience with them so I thought I get a little experienced advice.

I use squad of 5 men with 2 splinter cannons and 2 dark lances several games in a row
They did perfect every time.

And i think Solarite isn`t that good. Better save some points
The good thing about them - is to make anti-everything squad, so use some magnets or else to have every type of weapons ready for batle.
For example i do not use magnets, just clue hands with weapon and attached it to body (hold in place pretty nice). Try different tactics like deep striking anti-tank unit (lances) or target holding long range support (heavy armory)

P.S. Personaly, i think scourges are one of the best options in our book. Not to mention FA slot

@Devilogical wrote:

I use squad of 5 men with 2 splinter cannons and 2 dark lances several games in a row
They did perfect every time.

You do realize that Scourges are meant to be a mobile unit, but Splinter Cannons lose two shots and Dark Lances can only snapfire if the move?


Most people equip them with Haywire Blasters, some with Heat Lances or even Blasters, but they are generally used as tank hunters.

I run one heat lance squad and one haywire blaster squad, no solarites. I sincerely advise against Dark Lances or mixing weapons.

separate squads fulfilling a single role is generally what I would suggest for more competitive play. HWB get a 24" range so you don't have to be exact with the drop. Yes they are only s4 ap4 but it allows you to be a bit more sloppy. Either way you can expect them to probably die after you DS them. Although as an alternative if you bring a fortification being able to get a 5 man unit with 4 DL or 4 cannons depending on your army for like 140? points or so is pretty legit. Especially if it is in an imperial bunker or something of the sorts. You could always drop them with an Archon w/ WWP you can match it up pretty nicely to either set him up for an assault next turn (with shadowfield in front) then hop the scourges away next turn and try to match him with an assault from somewhere else if you can. But generally that's a lot of planning and is hard to set up.

@Rokuro wrote:

@Devilogical wrote:

I use squad of 5 men with 2 splinter cannons and 2 dark lances several games in a row
They did perfect every time.

You do realize that Scourges are meant to be a mobile unit, but Splinter Cannons lose two shots and Dark Lances can only snapfire if the move?


Most people equip them with Haywire Blasters, some with Heat Lances or even Blasters, but they are generally used as tank hunters.

They stay at hight point (with objective marker) and shoot their 36 inches guns.
In recent games i moved them once - just to secure tactical objective .

I know, that they are used as tank hunters by most players, but who says you can`t find different task for them? As i mentioned befor - they did perfect every time

I have like 25 scourges and have a squad each of HWB,DL,SC and extras so I can add some extras to soak up a wound or 2. I try to make them dedicated and not mix weapons. I have to say that when effin GW douches made the SC a pos salvo weapon it really killed their flexibility. I mean the big thing was to move 12 and unload 24 x 36" splinter shots...NOW if you move you get a frikkin whopping 18" range..so now if you do not kill your target,you get shot to crap by bolters or whatever because of the range or you get assaulted,really?! Wtfh GW.
DL squads are placed to cover areas of vehicle advance I only move them if needed and then the 12" helps..if I snapshot oh well.
The HWB are the mobile at for me make opponent have to think about how to move.

Bottom line..if you plan on keeping a unit of SC scourges moving and shooting you may want to forget the sc and use the extra points to add a couple more to the squad and keep only the shard carbines..You will be at the same 18" range and extra scourges will help the unit last longer

I run two units: one with four blasters and one with two haywire blasters (ooh, controversial!). I find that the blaster squad is able to pick off things about as well as a unit with four darklight shots can be expected to do (damned by faint praise, I know).

The haywire unit really came down to what worked for me in my current meta. Now, no one is going to tell you that a full haywire unit isn't going to murder vehicles but for me I found that I play daemons, nids and infantry hordes often enough that going full haywire limited the squad. For 100pts I get a solid mopping up squad that can deal with things that would be a waste of shots for other units.

I generally vouch for keeping your squads focused... for Scourges that means leaning toward 4 of one type of weapon.

One of the most popular is 4 Haywire Blasters, as for a scant 120 points you get 4 decent-ranged, very-solid anti-tank shots. Considering that our lance weapons are... reliable, but not great (as in, we can count on having a 4+ to glance, but those odds aren't actually "good"), having a squad that can do some serious reliable damage from range is a pretty neat thing.

Now, the only problem is that once armor targets are gone, the Haywire weapons are pretty lackluster... which is why I've been wanting to toy with Heat Lances. Shorter range, which may kill it (scourges have good armor by DE standards, but are pretty squishy all told), but extremely deadly... and a solid gun vs heavy infantry once the tanks are popped. Still affordable on a budget, points-wise.
At higher levels, you can expect enough vehicles (barring Deamons/Nids) to make the Haywire worth it, plus it's a small enough investment to matter less that it's super-dedicated vs one type of target. At 1k though? It's a bit much to waste if there aren't tanks running around. Etc.

I've got a unit of 2 haywires 2 heat lances because a) you've got the bits in the box and b) as has been mentioned this gives it good anti-armour punch whilst not being useless against other targets if there are no vehicles.

I don't think 5-man sharcarbine units are bad either - it's quite a lot of mobile anti-infantry firepower.

It's a good point that I've never really considered... on the move you're really paying 15 points a pop for a single extra shot if you load up on Splinter Cannons... hardly a cost-effective approach. I guess it depends how often you can justify standing still with Scourges, but I doubt that to be too horribly often...

I use two squats. One with HB and one with HL. Four each. Last game I dropped the HL scourges and popped a fully equipped serpent. They were killed by the wraith guard inside, but it was worth it. One squad of HB scourges is rarely wasted. Only few armies don't have any tanks and if you already destroyed all of them and they are still alive they have fulfilled their purpose and can be used to grab objectives.

I run two squads of five, each with four haywire blasters. Aside from a bit of a wobble in their last game where one unit missed every shot against the Hellhound speeding towards them (they got it next turn), both units have reliably stripped hull points of multiple vehicles each game. The increased range of the haywire blasters over the heat lances means they don't need to get as close to be effective, so are less likely to get assaulted by the occupants of any transport vehicles they wreck. I never deep strike them either, as every time I used to do that they'd scatter towards other enemy units after hardly doing anything to their target, it was too many variables to make them reliable for me.

@Rokuro wrote:

You do realize that Scourges are meant to be a mobile unit, but Splinter Cannons lose two shots and Dark Lances can only snapfire if the move?

Used some with Splinter Cannons vs Nids... not exactly a good benchmark as any of our units is good vs nids but the mobility part in that case is overrated.
You put them somewhere behind and fire away stationary. You will always have plenty of targets anyways and only use your mobility if for some reason a tyranid unit comes close.

But yeah.. under normal circumstances I would not use them either as they cost as much as 2 Venoms and are stictly worse.

Since the new Codex launched I have been running the below:

5 Scourges, 4 Heat lances
5 Scourges, 4 Haywire blasters
5 Scourges, 4 Haywire blasters

These are always in reserve and deep strike. Never had many issues with mishaps. Obvious tactics is obvious, they drop down and try and take out the biggest threat, most fun I've had is dropped all three down around a Knight with Blasterborn, covering all four facings.

Rarely, I have put my Archon with a Webway with the Heat lance Scourges.

I've found them to be quite survivable as come turn three, my opponent is trying to deal with all my Sslyth and Reavers and has tough decisions to make.

Did anyone try to put five in a raider for more survivability and range? I occasionly use five with hwb with o
verall good effect.

I would call that cheating...

Quote :

Only Infantry models can embark upon Transports (this does not include Jump or Jet Pack Infantry), unless specifically stated otherwise.

Ok! Haven't checked that yet, just though they were bulky ..

Last night I used the RRD with 5 units of DSing scourges. It was against a Nurgle foot slog so the blasters didnt really do much, it was fun but I didn't really get to see their full potential because he had no vehicles... I'll have to try them again.

Squad of 5 scourges with 4 heat lances deep struck in. Destroyed an Imperial Knight. The Knight blew up and landed on them.....3 survived.

I always take 5 with HWB.
They usually pop a vehicle, rarely two, and die in the turns thereafter, which seems fine to me. Theyre quite durable with 6++ and FNP for our standards, usually they draw multiple units worth of shooting.
Last game I used the last surviving Scourge to run down a fleeing unit (they were at -5 from all the debuffs in the area) opening up a route for my harlequins to charge a different unit.

Theyre useful. Im planning on fielding a bit more but I wonder if reavers arent better for the things I use them for like popping transports, capping objectives. etc

If reaver could take a special weapon for every model like our cousins can do. Yes. In that case bikes would be better than scourges

@CptMetal wrote:

If reaver could take a special weapon for every model like our cousins can do. Yes. In that case bikes would be better than scourges

Skyweavers are bikes with Haywire weapons. Would you take them instead of Scourges though?

@Rokuro wrote:

@CptMetal wrote:

If reaver could take a special weapon for every model like our cousins can do. Yes. In that case bikes would be better than scourges

Skyweavers are bikes with Haywire weapons. Would you take them instead of Scourges though?

Skyweavers are very expensive bikes with haywire weapons, i dont think i personally would take them instead of scourges.

Having said that, I already prefer reavers to scourges as they stand, to be honest.

Well the thing is for skyweavers they do a great job and you are paying 25 a wound. Not to mention the special rules they come with and the ability to be STR 5 on the charge with out and combat drugs, thus making their charge more reliable. Reavers are cheap and are great in massed numbers due to their hammer of wrath attacks. If they could purchase special weapons like both our cousins, maybe had shardcarbines instead of splinter rifles, or had a 4 up armor.