Sentinels Practicallity

[SteveBerenyi]

I know you can field a total of 12 sentinels in an IG army, but is this practical?

What would you say is the practical limit on Sentinels?

[lynxrpken]

personally I do not use them but I would think one in the comand squad and maybe two fast attack. on the bright side they do add speed to a army. on the down side they get targeted a lot but you can plan for that and use it to your advantage make sure if you use them


1 do not use them with the lascannon chances are they are not going to kill there points worth I like the autocannon one good power multipal shots

2 always protect them with something I would use a AFS sense they can almost keep up with the unit they are protection the frunt armour on the chimera can absorb shots that may carm your sentenal and provide cover and target priority is you put a heavy bolter in the AFS it will also balance out fire support and he can fire without dismounting.

edit also with the heavy bolters on the tank (you can have two) your hitting with 9 HB and 2 AC shots+ the 6 lasguns that can fire from within the tank.

3 I might take one with a heavy flamer if facing high save hord armies. like other ig nids or tau.


hope this helps

this post brings up a question for me though or at least my responce does. If you have a heavy weapon in a chimera and the chimera moves I know one unit can still fire from the top doors on the tank but can the (move or fire rule) heavy bolter be one of them or should I replave it with a heavy flamer (move or fire does not apply even theough it is still a heavy

[SteveBerenyi]

no, as anything transported in a tank is considered to have moved if the tank did, the hvy weapon inside of it can not fire.

[munkey joe paints]

Originally Posted by lynxrpken

1 do not use them with the lascannon chances are they are not going to kill there points worth I like the autocannon one good power multipal shots

2 always protect them with something I would use a AFS sense they can almost keep up with the unit they are protection the frunt armour on the chimera can absorb shots that may carm your sentenal and provide cover and target priority is you put a heavy bolter in the AFS it will also balance out fire support and he can fire without dismounting.

3 I might take one with a heavy flamer if facing high save hord armies. like other ig nids or tau.

This seems to sound like solid advice... I like to use them personally BUT the get crushed alot and seem to be incoming fire MAGNETS....

I agree with the autocannon...I rarely use a multi las and almost never use lascannon (it dies quick!!). the autocannon us helpful for troops and such even marines. I ALWAYS give them armor upgrades because #1 they draw fire and #2 the armor is like reinforced tissue paper (10 all around). I dont use the flamers much as I rely on my foot troopers for that. And I usually do have a chimera AF squad around them. I never realized it until it was brought up by lynxrpken, but I do protect them with the troops.

[Dravenguild]

Though I think under 5th edition rules Sentinels will be more practical and hard hitting, or at least a staggering punch to enemy armor.

[lynxrpken]

thank you for the info and i use AFS to protect a lot of things for the exact above mentioned reason

[Dravenguild]

I wonder if guard will be getting any new tanks or sentinel patterns for their next codex?

[lynxrpken]

personally I would like to see two weapons as a option of them IE cadian pattern would come with one lascannon with the option for two for points of course

[Dravenguild]

I can understand that, but it would make a squad of sentinels a little too good you know?

They have a single weapon for a few reasons I can surmise-

*To keep balance, seeing as they come in squads of 3.

*To keep points low so they aren't more of sink.

*Fluffwise I think to include more than one weapon would make their systems sluggish and very compromisable.

my 2 cents.

[Baron Spikey]

not sure if that would be likely, too similar to Eldar War Walkers. Besides Imperial Tech doesn't seem to point to a Light Walker like a Sentinel having the required controls to fire 2 weapons.

[SteveBerenyi]

though it seems IIRC they can have a HK missile as well

[lynxrpken]

what about a upgrade like " master operator" or something like that where the driver of one sentinal per squad can be upgraded like a vet sargent if to be abel to handle a second weapon but the rest of the squad remained the same.

also what could a new pattern carry that the old ones dont in the way of useful weapons

[Baron Spikey]

well i suppose you could twin link them- just couldn't have them firing separately. And the HK only fires ONCE hardly the most taxing of activities

[Dravenguild]

Yeah, maybe you can make a larger more sophisticated command sentinel that has two weapons for fun with your friends.

[Four20edLogan]

In my opinion any IG army above 500 points should have at least one squad of Sentinels

[Dravenguild]

They should have an apocaypse datasheet for a sentinel detachment, with cool abilities like a command sentinel and the ability to fleet with them or something.

Or give em tankhunters or stealth.

[hairyyahoo]

i love my sentinels! i think the trick to using them well is to realise that they need to be hidden from enemy fire as they do tend to fall down if the enemy so much as fa.rts in their direction. get sneaky with them, cover hop them till they can get a side shot on armour and give 'em some infantry backup. just don't have them roaming the open fields between cover as they will get dead rather quickly.

on the subject of hoard control, 3 catachan sentinels with flamers and hardened fighters can really slow down a big mob of gaunts and allow the infantry to counter charg. just a thought.

[Scoutmaster477]

Originally Posted by hairyyahoo

i love my sentinels! i think the trick to using them well is to realise that they need to be hidden from enemy fire as they do tend to fall down if the enemy so much as fa.rts in their direction. get sneaky with them, cover hop them till they can get a side shot on armour and give 'em some infantry backup. just don't have them roaming the open fields between cover as they will get dead rather quickly.

on the subject of hoard control, 3 catachan sentinels with flamers and hardened fighters can really slow down a big mob of gaunts and allow the infantry to counter charg. just a thought.

Very good advice, I have enough to field an Emperors Talon (10) never had a chance to use it yet. might have to change a few to mount flamers.

[lynxrpken]

Originally Posted by SteveBerenyi

no, as anything transported in a tank is considered to have moved if the tank did, the hvy weapon inside of it can not fire.

thank you for answering my wuestion


the only thing this changes is if the tank moves you loose 3 shots you still get the cover fire from the shooting from the tank + the fire from the sentinal essentially you just get more offencive fire if the tank stayes still so it acts like a shield and fire fupport against small arms and dont forget there is a FULL AFS insid ethis tank that can unload shoot and if needed assault any unfrendly foe.

[Dravenguild]

Yay! everybody wins with sentinel power!


However, I think they still need some type of ability to counterbalance how fragile they are.

[hairyyahoo]

well the scout rules give you the opportunity to get them into some cover before the enemy shoots them to hell. it would be nice to see them with the fleet rule though as that would be a very fluffy development.

[Nanolathe]

Is it only infantry that can take advantage of the new "Run" rule in 5th Ed?

[Baron Spikey]

no apparently walkers can to.

[munkey joe paints]

Originally Posted by Baron Spikey

no apparently walkers can to.

I can see a sentinal "running" but how funny would a dread be duck running across the field.......LMAO