Equipping Scions

[tatro43]

Hey guys,
I just bought my first 2 boxes of these guys(creating 10 scions) and in my building process, want to equip them with the correct equipment to execute my desired plan.

I'm going to do 2 things with them:

1) If I run the 10 man unit, I'm looking at making them deep strike behind enemy lines and mess up anything that is killing me from afar, or destroying my opponents best unit from behind them. 

2) If I run a 5 man unit, I want to give them a Commisar and put them in a Vendetta and again drop them behind enemy lines for the same purposes as #1.

I'm asking for some help here.

1) Is this a viable tactic, or would these guys just be shredded off the board?
2) How would you equip each unit(including commisar) in #1 & #2?


Any help would be appreciated! Thank you very much!!

[Casiarius]

Sometimes deep striking behind enemy lines to meltagun some enemy vehicle or other high-value target is a very effective tactic. Unfortunately, the deep striking unit, behind enemy lines and surrounded, is typically blown to bits on the next enemy turn. Because of this, there is generally no benefit to giving them any extra gear which is not central to their mission. For taking out a high value target: 5 men, 2 meltaguns, and you're good.

If you want to drop units behind enemy lines in a semi-safe location just to steal poorly-defended objectives and mess up their order of battle, then extra bodies are good for purposes of survival, but I still would not invest a lot of points in frills like power fists or plasma pistols. Extra troops/wounds good, gratuitous wargear bad.

[Lord General Armstrong]

Casiarius pretty much summed it up, though adding onto that, dual plasma guns can also be an effective deepstrike unit, more targeted towards taking out monstrous creatures, HQ choices, putting wounds on terminators, etc. If you kill more than the squad is worth, or just rid yourself of something that was detrimental to the enemy, then they've done their work. In a very crude analogy, perhaps somewhat accurate to the thinking of 40k, is that they should be considered to something on the lines of a fire-and-forget missile. You pick a target, drop them in behind it/on its flank, and have at it. Then expect them to die next turn, if they don't, try to cause as much damage as possible the following.

[tatro43]

Awesome, thank you for the help!

Would you have a command squad in there? Commander and a Vox, or just keep it simple?

[howscat]

I have used my Command Squad many times and I prefer to use them as plasma teams to take out HQ choices. Remember that they can only issue one order so it is most useful to order yourself also, with the deep strike scatter it is fairly easy to have your men fall in to far apart for their order range. I always take two command squads as well, one for deep strike and the other as my warlord to sit in the back field with security forces holding my table side.

[gamma016]

I'd suggest that if you are taking a command squad to kit them out with hot-shot volley guns. They are cheaper than plasma guns and can dish out a lot more heat.

[Lord General Armstrong]

I haven't used the scion command squad yet, so this is more of an educated guess. But I'd say avoid them unless you're actually playing the Scion mini-codex, or planning to ally with them. All of their drawbacks are shared with the platoon and company command squad, whilst this is mitigated slightly with better armour, it's at a substantially higher cost than what they actually bring. Couple that with the chimera nerfs, outfitting an entire squad with special weapons also seems like a waste of points, as you can no longer fire all of your weapons out of the top hatch, often meaning you trade firepower for protection, or you risk putting your squad on foot. With each casualty costing you a special weapon, and a bucket load of points. All in all, from prior experience with blob guard and stormtroopers of prior editions, I'd say focus on smaller tactical squads of scions with either paired melta or paired plasma. Dropping behind enemy lines and causing as much damage as possible.

[howscat]

I have been playing the scions from the mini codex. If you take them as part of the IG they are only effective as suicide anti tank units. yes hot-shot volley guns are cheaper but they are only effective as defensive weapons because they are salvo. Any unit you deep strike in expect to die so keep them cheap and have them fulfill a specific mission. From the mini codex they scions have some good orders that makes me want to take them as their own detachment rather than as IG elite slots. Also the weird thing I have noticed is don't put your scions in transports. With the rule changes in 7th ed the Taurox prime is now a fast troop choice if taken as dedicated transport, and the Valkyrie is anti-air or anti-ground support and serves no purpose because scions can deep strike.

[tatro43]

Thanks for the help then.
So, this is how I'm going to equip them:

10 man unit
1 Tempestor
1 Vox caster
2 Melta Guns
1 Plasma Gun
5 Hot Shot Volley Guns


Thoughts?

[yvain]

You can't put that man special weapons in a single squad. A regular unit only has 2 slots. The Command one has 4.

[Rolling Thunder]

Please refer to them as either "Stormtroopers", "Kasrkin", or "Blood Pact". /bittervet

[imperatordeus]

I think it's still worth taking the command squad even when taking your Scions out of the AM codex. That officer can issue orders and "First Rank Fire, Second Rank Fire" can now apply to Hot-Shot Lasguns too. My scions are usually too far forward to benefit from my Company Commander or Platoon Commanders, this way I can Deep Strike my Scion Command Squad with them. The only problem is that the points cost can get tight, Scions aren't cheap. You can seriously mess up a squad of MEQs with 7 guys shooting HSLGs with an additional shot each, and whatever assault weapons you decide to go with. If you're not careful about where you deep strike them you could end up losing a lot of points in the next enemy turn.