Sentinels might have skimpy legs... but damn can they still kick some butt

It has been awhile since I have covered any of the other units that the Imperial Guard has in their repertoire. So I decided to cover something that as of late, perhaps in some circles has either been underused, or under appreciated.

The Scout Sentinel

When the codex was first released much ado was given over the Armored Sentinel and the Scout Sentinel, the armored for its armor 12 front, and how that would affect it in close combat as well as shooting, and the Scout Sentinel for its low, low points cost.

However as time went on, and I saw more people playing the codex, both at my FLGS and tournaments in the local area and also Adepticon, I saw less and less people using them in lists, minus the oddball who stuck with them. I personally always enjoyed them and when I could I fit them in lists. Heck a scout sentinel was what I believe was the reason I –won- the first game of the Semi’s for ‘Ard Boyz last year and had a chance to go to the finals if Xerohack from MI40.com had not rolled me with his Blood Angels (first time I had –really- plated against a competitive BA list, and baaaad die rolls and baaad scenario for my list, and great strategy on his!) in the third round.

Yet even I stopped using them as much, maybe taking a pair in separate squads, in my 1850 lists and putting them out in front to draw fire… but not much else. However I decided to play with them again randomly, taking a squad of three with their Multi-lasers and found their effectiveness to be stunningly good. Not only does the amount of firepower hurt infantry, but with that many STR6 shots, taking down a Rhino or Razorback does not become to hard.

My love for them was furthered by their ability to hold off those treacherous Space Wolves’ Wolf Scouts from their back-dooring ways, providing nice protective flankers for my tanks.

They also become nice cover makers for my Leman Russ tanks, being able to move out of the way during the movement phase, and if I don’t have anything to really shoot at with them, they can run back in front and provide protection again.
Last but not least the Scout Sentinel has the “Scout” special rule, allowing it to not only move around a bit before the game starts, but allowing it (more importantly) to outflank, something that recently became a huge factor in the recent Team tournament I participated in with that same Xerohack as my teammate. In the second game we had to do capture and control with table quarters, the opposition took first turn and started lighting into us early, as they were playing a mix of Tau and Chaos Marines. I lost a tank quickly and was set back in kill points. However having set my Scout Sentinels aside to outflank and with a 2/3rds chance of coming in on the side I wanted, we waits, kept them from moving in on our objective, and eventually they came in as I wanted and on the last turn, assaulted up a building, and were in range of the opponents objective to contest, thus giving us the victory 1 objective to their 0.

So next time you are building your list, try some out, play with them in different ways, I think you will be surprised at their versatility with the amount of weapons they have (Multi-lasers, auto-cannons, missile launcher, Lascannon for Scout Sentinel) and their play style.
Until next time, burn some heretics, kill some mutants, and do it always....

FOR THE EMPEROR!