[guardian angel]

I was wondering, which is the best heavy support option for an army?

I am currently looking to expand my army and am torn between a shooty dread, predator annihilator with heavy bolter sponsons or a devastator squad.

I like the look of the predator, but the dreadnought seems more flexible and the dev squad, well they'd be harder to kill perhaps!

Which is the best one?

 

[Addoran]

Er firstly, a Dreadnought isn't a Heavy Support option - so we can discard that right away.

So for your Heavy Support slots, that leaves the choice of a Devastator squad or a Predator. Both are good units with similiar battlefield roles. Myself I'd rather have a devastator squad, they are more survivable despite the lack of an armour value. e.g. a Railgun hits your Predator = Dead Predator. A Railgun hits your Devastator squad = One dead marine out of the Squad.

One important thing NOT to do (which many newbies do do) is to not dedicate your Predator/Devastator squad to a purpose i.e. mix anti-tank tank and anti-infantry weapons.

e.g. you have a Devastator Squad/Predator with both Heavy Bolters and Lascannon. You fire it at a tank - the Lascannon hits but the Heavy Bolter shots are utterly wasted. You fire at an infantry squad, the Heavy Bolters hit but the Lascannons are now expensive overkill. Dedicate your heavy support to a purpose don't mix and match weapons.

 

[guardian angel]

Sorry, I know the dreadnought is in the elite section, I was thinking of using it as fire support, hence why I termed it "heavy support".

Thanks for the comments though.

 

[Lord Malachi]

I was wondering, which is the best heavy support option for an army?

I am currently looking to expand my army and am torn between a shooty dread, predator annihilator with heavy bolter sponsons or a devastator squad.

I like the look of the predator, but the dreadnought seems more flexible and the dev squad, well they'd be harder to kill perhaps!

Which is the best one?

The Dev squad is by far the best choice for heavy support (i.e. fire support) for two reasons - more flexible weapon choices and its ability to absorb shots from the enemy. Never mix weapons. Go with 4 HB and 6 bolters against most troops (non-power armor) or 4 Missiles and 4 bolters against vehicles and/or power armor. These are the best choices for the amount of points. Lascannons are better placed in Tac squads as they are too expensive in Dev squads.

 

[Addoran]

Indeed I'd recommend you avoid buying the Devastator Box as it gives you a mish mash of weapons. Buy 4 figures with the same heavy weapon, of wait till you have the spare missile sprues from your tactical squads and make them up that way.

 

[Cadian7th]

As mentioned the 8 man 4 missile squad Is all-round the best, as for Predators my favourite Is the TL Las and HB the ability to move and fire In 4th ed Is vital, just lining up your pred for line of sight with the three LC's just does'nt cut It.

P.S If you play BA's the Baal rules all!

 

[Katie Drake]

As mentioned the 8 man 4 missile squad Is all-round the best, as for Predators my favourite Is the TL Las and HB the ability to move and fire In 4th ed Is vital, just lining up your pred for line of sight with the three LC's just does'nt cut It.

P.S If you play BA's the Baal rules all!

w00t! Go Baal!

I'd go with a 4 ML squad of Devastators. 4 with ML 4 with bolters equals a nice and tidy 200 points. Great for army building.

 

[Chaplain Stephen]

For the survivability go with the Dev squad. I posted earlyer asking for some assistance on a related matter. I'm finding that my Destructor is target 1 and just about a waste of points. Most of the advice I've received points to the Dev's as the choice to make. However if you are wanting a mobile fire support platform the Dread is a resonable choice. For some reason most folks seem to think less of a dread than a Tank and prioritize accordingly.

 

[CaptShrike]

aah

it depends if you are going to charge into the enemy with a mass of assault marines then take the predator when somoone on the field sees it because its a tank.. it will become a fire magnet allowing your assault marines to mash'em in CC but if u r shooty go for the devastors

 

[SquishyB]

hmm okay so i have a question now. In a 750 point army, would it be smart or stupid to take a 8 man dev squad with 4 ML as fire support? Because i was thinking of taking one, but not sure on the weapon conbination.

 

[Mephiston the king]

My favarite combination of weapons is 2 missile launchers and 2 lascannons

 

[Grand Master Belial]

hmm okay so i have a question now. In a 750 point army, would it be smart or stupid to take a 8 man dev squad with 4 ML as fire support? Because i was thinking of taking one, but not sure on the weapon conbination.

Missile Launchers are one of the most versatile weapons in the SM armoury. You can have 4 Anti-Tank hits or 4 Anti-Infantry Blast Hits.

They are a great all-rounder so take them; unless you go against horde armies with no armour then switch to Heavy Bolters.

 

[gen.nehring]

Definetly if u take a predator go with lascannon sponsons and give it machine spirit. Shoot a sponson lascannon at normal BS, plus the Twin linked at machine spirit BS.

I know everyone like devvies but i dont like them cuz everyone uses them. i also dont like them because they are easily outmanouvered.

BUT, if u do buy devs, buy the space wolf long fangs box set. You get a multi melta instead of hvy bolter, plus the normal space marine pieces (considering u dont play SW's) then on top of that u get the kick @$$ space wolf accessory sprue that has pwr weapons, a pwr fist, and a meltagun!

 

[gen.nehring]

EDIT

You get a multi melta instead of missile launcher. I dont really like ML's plus you get plenty of those in tactical squads.