Scouts are a troop selection in the Space Marine codex. They can have a wide range of uses and roles within any Space Marine army. They come in many different builds to give them a very good role. In this article I will be discussing their different uses and how I use them in my army.
Long Range
This is probably the best role for scouts. With this type of unit go large or not at all. The Ballistic Skill (BS) is only 3 which makes it hard to shoot down anything with just 5 scouts. To compensate with their low BS I equip them with sniper rifles and one heavy bolter with hellfire shells. This guarantee's on anything from a grot or a high toughness creature that you will wound it on a 4+ and rend on a 6 with the sniper rifles and more importantly the heavy bolter will wound on a 2+. This unit now has a solid role in killing high toughness creatures. In previous experience I have seen ten man squads take out the Nightbringer and completely destroys Daemon Princes. Also because the unit is a troops choice it can just sit on an objective in a building. The camo cloaks are a must with this unit. Instead of the regular 4+ save you will add one to your role which means it is effectively a 3+ save. If you have a techmarine or Lysander in your army, you can bolster the building so then your scouts have a 2+ cover save. The last good thing is the sniper rifles have pinning so if a unit takes a unsaved wound, they need to take a leadership test, if they fail, cant do anything next turn. This can be a really good thing to cause on a unit which is not fearless and units that have big fire power such as a devastator squad. The big thing to be aware of with this unit is flamers and heavy flamers. They ignore cover and can potentially ruin your day. This risk can be seriously reduced by taking Telion in a squad. An article on Telion is to come.
Two ten man squads on one objective firing at the same target is a hard defense to push off an objective. Nothing other than tanks should get through. This is where short range scouts can come in handy
Short range
Expect the scouts to die and they will supprise you. I recommend having an all-round use and only taking 5 in a squad. Due to their 4+ armour save these do not have the survivability of a tactical squad. An all round lineup would be 1 Missile Launcher, the other normal guys have combat blades and the sargent has a powerfist. This allows the following tactical options such as infiltrate to the side armour of a tank, outflank onto an objective, and also using teleport homers to assist a deep striking army. The combat knives total up to a semi decent amount of close combat attacks.
Overall Scouts are underrated in my opinion and most space marine armies could find a very good use for them. My description of them is they are the special forces and if played correctly are a troop choice to be chose above tactical squads.
A basic scout based list.
Captain, 2x 10man scout sniper squads, 4x 5man scout squads, 2x Venerable Dreadnoughts in drop pods, 1x thunderfire cannon in drop pod. TOTAL:1750
