Devastator squads?

[Paul]

Also, as mentioned above, it can help immensely with getting lanes of fire and still cover.

Put the Sergeant and five Bolters into cover, then string out the heavy weapons into open terrain with wide fields of fire.

You'll be getting a cover save AND you'll be able to shoot well with the heavy weapons.

Add a Techmarine and that save becomes a 3+ if it is a ruin.

[Xyon]

I like the flexibility of 10 man dev squad, but like has been said it depends on your situation.

3 5 man dev squads is the most efficient use of your points, so it could be good for tournaments, but if you're not building a tournament army then you dont need to worry about that as much.

With 10 man squads you can have 1 big squad, or 2 combat squads, people dont usually mix heavy weapons, but with the current combat squad option it becomes a bit more viable.

You could have 2 missiles and 2 of any other weapon, and split so you have 2 weapons in each combat squad, throw in a rhino for the squad and one combat squad can pillbox while maybe the other is deployed in cover, or toss in a razorback to add more firepower.

Or have all 4 weapons in 1 combat squad, the other 5 marines deployed in front of the dev squad to give cover save, or put into a rhino or razorback to give some extra mobile rapid-fire bolter rounds where needed.

Heck you could take a 10 man dev squad, power fist the sgt, rhino, and take zero heavy weapons.

I guess just have fun with it, its a game after all.

[codiddy]

I always use 10, but that's because my regular opponents are so worried about them and their missile salvos that they take a lot of fire. In that case the extra 80 points is worth it because you have to throw A LOT of shots at them before you reduce their effectiveness.

[UltraBlood]

Thanks for the advice on the question everyone. I guess I will just need to try it out in some games going forward to see what would work best for me. I got some very good pointers that I wasn't even considering such as the extra 5 guys allowing me to extend cover to the heavy weapons while potentially opening up some fire lanes.

[Grenadier]

When I field my Black Templars as vanilla marines I'll often assemble two Devastator squads. I personally find the best combination of weapons is two plasma cannons and two lascannons. Pricy but it means you'll mangle troops and tanks a like.

But I never field a full 10 man squad. Sure, you can preserve your heavy weapons better this way. But I think it is wasteful. First of all, if you deploy your Devastators well and support them with other units they shouldn't have to worry about a lot of threats. Especially being assaulted. Secondly, those points spent on 5 more guys could be better spent elsewhere I think. Sure, 5 men for a single squad isn't a big deal, but if you run more than one squad you're looking at 10 or 15 more marines. For that you could field some other unit. The best thing to do with a Devastator squad is give them a Razorback for additional firepower and deploy them in the rear in cover. Slap a scout squad somewhere nearby to run interference for them. And if all else fails retreat them into the Razorback and redeploy.

[mysterex]

Ten man squads are rarely worth it

I'd argue that even 5 man squads are rarely worth it with the Space Marine and Dark Angel Codecii.

All missile launcher 5 man units work out better with Blood Angels but then they don't really fit with their "fast moving" theme.

I use missile launcher & heavy bolter equipped land speeders instead because of their mobility.

[UltraBlood]

I use missile launcher & heavy bolter equipped land speeders instead because of their mobility.

I have not had any luck keeping land speeders alive long enough to do much. Do you just hide them in the back in cover?

[bubblehearthz]

I have to be honest, I usually only take 5 man dev squads because in the 5 man form, you are getting tremendous value for your points. When you upgrade to 10 man squads, it just seems to me like those points could have gone somewhere else, like towards a 5 man tac squad, which would give you an extra scoring unit!

[Ravenger]

Even though you can take more missile with two units of devastators, what about if you dont have the extra force org slots to use, this way you can split fire by putting two 5 man units with 2 missile launchers each to fire on separate targets.

[mysterex]

I have not had any luck keeping land speeders alive long enough to do much. Do you just hide them in the back in cover?

No so much in the back but definitely at least partially behind cover and at least 24" away from most things. We tend to play with a lot of multi-level building ruins which makes it easier. I try to position them at the sides of the table if possible so that I'm out of range from the opponents heavy weapons but so that the middle of the table is within my range.

I also use them in single vehicle units which makes them easier to hide but can also make giving up kill points easier.

The great thing is that the can move a relatively long distance to get angles on the target or take advantage over cover and yet still shoot.

I always use the heavy bolter/missile launcher combo now because shorter ranged weapons used to put them too close to the action and therefore easily shot down.

However if you play on terrain that looks like a golf course, then yes, they die easily.