Heavy weapons teams, are they worth it?

[jebjeb]

Brand new Astra Militarium player here. Got my first few guys off Trade me (E-bay for Kiwi's) so have command squad, commissar, platoon command, 30 guardsmen and 2 special weapons squads. I also got 3 heavy weapons teams with them. are they worth taking in a squad or should i use those points in other things? (like some more armour or some of the specialist troops like Ratlings or Rough Riders)

[RedsandRoyals]

Jul 1, 2016 23:11:44 GMT -5 jebjeb said:

Brand new Astra Militarium player here. Got my first few guys off Trade me (E-bay for Kiwi's) so have command squad, commissar, platoon command, 30 guardsmen and 2 special weapons squads. I also got 3 heavy weapons teams with them. are they worth taking in a squad or should i use those points in other things? (like some more armour or some of the specialist troops like Ratlings or Rough Riders)

Are they un-assembled or already built with specific weapons? What weapon they have determines how useful they are.

Also I can't look at your avatar and not think of this.

[emptyhat]

They are very fragile and reduce squad mobility. But they are often a nice increase in power and threat for a squad. Firing from a Chimera will keep them alive longer. Grouping them into teams of 3 can work if you can mitigate incoming fire with cover, favourable LoS, and having fire magnets. Autocannons and Lascannons are good. Mortars and Missile Launchers are maybes. H.Bolters are dire.

[Rolling Thunder]

Never take dedicated Heavy weapons squads, except mortars. HWTs can be useful if you want your infantry to hold ground/tarpit

[cdrwattz]

For me it depends on (as with any unit) where you put them and what you use them for.

I have run them in veteran squads to great effect. But the squad has been built with intention. I've used emptyhat's tactic often as well.
10x Vets, 2x plasma guns, 1x Lascannon HWT. Chimera.
Even thou this unit gets pricy. It has great range and is nasty the closer things get to it. Good for sitting back all game then pushing forward to grab objectives.

10x Vets, Forward Sentries, 3x Sniper rifles, Auto Cannon HWT.
This unit is great for sitting on objectives in your back field. Put them in cover or behind an Aegis Defence Line to make better use of their cover save. Plus it's pretty cheap.

10x Vets, Sgt.Harker (used to be much MUCH better in the previous codex), 3x Grenade Launcher, Heavy Bolter HWT or Missile Launcher HWT. Awesome for waisting light hordes at range.

The pros of HWT's in veteran squads is your not only making use of their BS4 but you give the squad an extra long distance punch (thou I'd probably avoid mortars).
The cons being, as soon as the HWT moves it can only snap fire meaning you don't want to move them to make full use of the weapon. Not to mention adding anywhere from 10 to 25 points on a unit that often gets a but tonne of upgrades in the form of special weapons, war gear and transports add to the mounting cost of a unit that suffers from being T3 and a not very nice armour save.

In platoons... (I should mention I've never actually played with platoons but I'll chuck in my two cents anyway).
The main problem with platoons is their BS3. Hitting 50% of the time for me can be infuriating. So keep that in mind. (Even when considering special weapons too).
Generally speaking if you are running platoons you need to lean of your CCS and PCS and their orders with perhaps some psychic twin linked goodness to make your HWTs deadly.

I've heard of people using 5x 10 man squads with a Lascannon HWT in each behind a aegis defence line. They throw in a commissar for a leadership buff. Then use a primaris psyker to dish out the twin linked psykic power. Thats 5 twin linked lascannons a turn. CCS can order the unit to ignore cover. Psyker twin links them... Pretty cool. Problem is thats quite a lot of points for that specific role.

As for Heavy Weapons Squads... spam. Don't mix HW within each squad. Remember that they are T3 and theres 6 wounds. They'll run easily if not get wiped out. But you can take 0-5 with every platoon. Nice. Get them in cover. You could take mortars here to negate the BS3. They're very nice for hiding on objective out of LOS and can still dish out wounds with their barrage weapon. (That being said for 5 point more and drop the ob sec, you can have a 12/10/10 vehicle with 4 twin linked small blasts with shred... damn wyverns).

[nutty]

I often use a 30 man platoon with 3 lascannons (some flamers for overwatch), and one or two heavy weapon squads with autocannons as a firebase. Using a primaris joined to the to twin-link them, and ordering ignores cover with a CCS makes them usefull in my book.

Deploying the platoon in some ruins (I rarely bring an Aegis) with the CCS in a chimera behind them. The autocannon team(s) deploys within range of the CCS but rarely in the same ruin as the platoon.

But I do tend to back them up with some Leman Russ Tanks and/or mech-vets. Those units tend to be enough of a distraction that the teams (mostly) get ignored. Every once in a while they get torn up by flamers that come out of a pod or some outflanking buggies... but that's the life of an infantryman really.

An autocannon team should not attract to much attention and can contribute to the battle by finishing off light vehicles that your main units have damaged.

Be carefull setting up heavy weapon squads next to your board edge though: one lucky s6 shot could send them running of the table.

[treadiculous]

autocannon team vs a battlecannon turret is something to consider.

[Walk]

I'm a big fan of running a 30 man blob with 3 auto cannon teams. I camp them on an objective and will often put a CCS with a lascannon behind them to give orders. Other than that I tend to find better uses for points.