Friday 7 June 2013

361 Advice Sought: How Do I Equip an Armoured Sentinel?

Exactly as it says above, folks: I'm after a bit of advice, please!
[image from GW]
One of my very very few 40K purchases over the last three years was a partially (badly) made armoured sentinel...dirt-cheap on ebay.

HOWEVER...

I've never played with one before: they seem an incredible points sink, but I really like the model. My question though, is what do people think is the best armorment and tactical role for it?

Please help if you've any insights!

Many thanks,

- Drax.

9 comments:

  1. I run the pair of mine with plasma cannons, as the PC is otherwise sort of hard to come by in the guard list. The PC is nasty enough that it can threaten most any unit type, and if it blows up due to an unfortunate Gets Hot roll (or more frequently my own tactical ineptitude) it's not as big a point sink as the Leman Russ Executioner.

    As another option, getting a little baggie of magnets means you would never have to choose just one weapon. :)

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  2. I think it really depends who you play regularly - anything from a Lascannon to a Heavy Flamer can be useful depending on what your targets are...

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  3. Even armoured, they die to bolter fire. So make whatever gun you give them be the nastiest possible so that when you do get that turn of fire off, it'll hopefully pay for itself.

    My light (Unarmoured) Sentinals get Multi-Meltas. Rush them up and pop enemy armour knowing full well they'll be gone the following turn. :)

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  4. I have a unit of 3 armed with 2 missile launchers and a lascannon. That way they can flick between hitting armour or taking out infantry. Multi-purpose :) It's only 200pts too man, not too bad

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  5. Yeah, that's the issue Admiral, they just aren't that good, especially with two hull points. Generally with Armored Sentinels it's about maximizing their AV 12 fronts. Therefore weapons that allow them to stand off and limit fire angles are key.

    Plasma cannons and autocannons I think are the only real choices, as both allow you to threaten almost anything in the game. PCs are more expensive and more fragile (damn you Gets Hot!) but will likely have a stronger impact on the game. Autocannons might survive to counter charge assaulting units and lock them up- most marines will have a tough time getting through them in less than two turns with krak grenades, and fewer sergeants have pfists nowadays thanks to challenges.

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  6. I generally field my armoured sentinels with autocannons and a hunter killer.

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  7. Plasma and auto cannons are deffo the most popular choices it seems.

    Mine are Las Cannon (and plasma cannon at 2:1) for fluftastic reasons (Stompa huntaz), but looking at them as a way of getting more HKs into your army sounds nice. I can imagine your opponent deploying and expecting the bayonet charge only to have his heavies battered by a swarm of HKs. It does sound like a rude shock for someone.

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  8. I LOVE sentinels!! I have them in 3/5 of my Guard armies, 2 squadrons of 2. (Can't take them in my Krieg Lists!) I run Autocannona and Plasma Cannons, with the exception of my Elysians who have Multi Meltas!

    I love them, take loads!

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  9. Crumbs! Thanks, guys!

    I scarcely think I could've got a more enthusiastic or disparate response.

    That given, I think the plasma cannon camp may have swayed me. I like the look of the autocannon more, but it just doesn't seem worth spending so many points for something so relatively lightweight (these days) as S7 AP4.

    As for a hunter-killer?

    You'll see my three sentinels on the banner above - I used to equip the flamer one with an HK to give it a bit more flexibility when flanking; I also tried HKs when I ran 3 lascannon/HK scout sentinels...and the bottom line is that:

    I'VE NEVER ONCE HIT ANYTHING WITH A BS3 HUNTER-KILLER. Not once.

    Nada.

    Even statistically I ought to have hit half the time!

    Bah!

    I guess the bottom line is that I reckon I'll go with whatever just looks best...

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Thanks for taking the time to comment!