[Guitardian]

Has anyone used dark reapers in 3-man squads just to take an exarch with a Tempest Launcher and perhaps crack shot, hide them behind a building and just indirect fire the tempest every turn. My brother told me the Tempest does not need line of sight, so such a small squad effectively becomes like a shorter ranged, easier to conceal, more powerful hit than a 6 man Imperial Guard mortar squad (for about twice the points cost).

It seems to me that the typical 5-man squad of reapers is a bit of overkill, and requires line of sight (which they will undoubtably be denied if your opponent has any common sense). It is horribly expensive, and likely will not win back its points, whereas using the squad as an excuse for the tempest will, firstly, keep it out of LOS and most likely survivable, and secondly, always have a shot. The addition of Crack shot means that nobody within 36" is safe. Does this seem like a good idea?

[Autarch_Kalesh]

It does work. However remember that you will be rolling scatter when firing the Tempest Launcher. 2d6 taking the highest for enemies that are not in LOS and 1d6 for enemies that are in LOS. It is a high risk high reward. Personaly while Reapers are excellant MEQ killers they are also a #1 target. They are hard to protect.

[crazedmongoose2003]

How about fast shot instead? Then they'll be anti-MEQ mortars....



Having said that, the 5-man reaper squad is meant to be an overkill as they draw the enemy towards them so effectively....

[TigStripe]

My general use for Reapers is long-ranged point of entry denial. You can't easily target Reapers that are 5" from the table board when every other unit in the army is in front of it.

As for Reapers being overkill: ...lolwhut? Five-man Fast Shot Reapers squads are only 11 shots. On average, that's only 3-4 wounds on a Marine squad a round. I've even added an Autarch to the squad just to make it 13 shots on occasion.

Guiding a Reaper squad is evil. Aside from that, I find that they don't hit enough, despite hitting on 3's, to be of use in small numbers.

And I've contemplated the whole "Crack/Fast Shot Tempest Launcher", but wounding Marines on 4's doesn't cut it for a big upgrade like that. Also: Scatter. I'd rather take an EML and Fast Shot to tankbust over that. Reapers are pretty survivable for Eldar units, and if you're firing from in cover, they can be rather annoying to try to kill.

[dcook130]

Another option might be a 3-man squad with exarch lugging a missile launcher. Obviously give him fast shot. This makes that squad a threat to armor as well, although you do need LOS :-\. The range on the weapon makes this acceptable, however.

[shas ek denekai eart]

if you give 5 reapers LOS of a lot of the board no one will go there.
Or if they do they will be hit so bad that that the models fly of the board and hit the wall.

[pwner50]

what about using maybe 10 of then, and have 3 vibro cannons?

I think that would be a hard choice for an opponent

[shas ek denekai eart]

Max reaper Squad is 5 men pwner50

[Mordekiem]

Originally Posted by Sniper King

Max reaper Squad is 5 men pwner50

right so 10 of them would be two units of 5, plus the vibros as the third HS choice. I don't think he meant to take all 10 as one unit.

[redbeard]

Originally Posted by TigStripe

And I've contemplated the whole "Crack/Fast Shot Tempest Launcher", but wounding Marines on 4's doesn't cut it for a big upgrade like that. Also: Scatter.

Against marines, I'd use crack shot instead of fast shot. One less template, but ignore cover and get a re-roll on the wounds. Don't forget the pinning check too.

For a three-man squad, with upgraded exarch, you're looking at just over 150 points. They're not going to die, as they're deployed out of line-of-sight, and with AP3, they're going to kill some stuff during the game. Victory point denial is a valid strategy. In a cleanse mission, they secure your home quarter. They serve as insurance against opponents that are hopping from terrain to terrain.

I don't think this is a bad way to run them at all. The fact that they're not easily targettable means that they only have upside. Unlike normal reaper configurations, which can be blasted off the board by long-range fire before they ever fire, these guys are sticking around, they're points that your opponent won't be earning.