Vanguard Hunters

[MickF01]

 

Haven't seen much commentary around these guys, they dont look like they are stand outs, but would be keen to see how people are using them and ways to make them effective?

The pursuit is handy to make sure you turn up when needed, and when taking a lord Aquilor having them as battleine is nice....

[Wraith01]

Yeah, not much chatter about the new units at all. I haven't bought them yet. My Stormcast army sits at a little over 1000 points and I'm planning on expanding with about 700 points of the Vanguard models. Mostly because the Gryph-chargers simply look cool. 

[Costanza7]

 Very new to AoS and just picked up these guys to add to my stormcast that I have from the starter set. Any tips on how to best use and equip these guys for a new player? 

[Snoe]

I used the Hunters and an Aquilor as general in a tournament a few weeks ago and they did good. The Hunters turned up in 1st or 2nd turn and annoyed warmachine crews and wizards. Neutralized a Bretonnian Trebuchet before it got to strike in one game. They also pulled of a nice bait-and-switch in one game where they lured a big unit of swordmasters to the table edge and next turn vanished and then turned up on the other side of the board to contest a comet in Gifts from the Heavans.
It takes some thinking ahead but it's nice when you pull of the Aquilors command ability. One turn-be in position, one turn-vanish, one turn-appear and do something worthwhile.

Try them out and see what shenanigans they can accomplish.

Oh, and for beginners, arm them with Sabres so the have the same hit/wound rolls as the xbows, makes it easy to remember.

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[Bjarni St.]

Put simply, Handaxes are better with +Hit bonuses (like Lord-Celestant CA) and Sabres are better against -Hit debuffs (Sylvaneth, Death prominently). The difference is not huge though so I'd recommend whichever one you prefer the look of.

Anyway I think they're playable but a bit suboptimal. Too many points more than Liberators, and too similar while not being Battleline most of the time. In a SC allegiance army Scions of the Storm basically does what Astral Compass does, and arguably better. As shooty/harassment units they compare quite unfavourably to Judicators (especially as battleline) and Prosecutors. If they come down a bit in points in GHB2 and hopefully become SCE battleline without the Aquilor general we might see them more.

[Costanza7]

Thanks for the all good advice guys can't wait to get them all built and try them out. Should I use them as a big unit of 10 or 2 small units of 5?

[Bjarni St.]

Minimum sized units without a doubt.

[Dibdab]

Not sure about rule or game use but in model wise this is what has brought me back to AoS

Looking to build my army around a raiding force.

 

[Aezeal]

20 minutes ago, Dibdab said:

Not sure about rule or game use but in model wise this is what has brought me back to AoS

Looking to build my army around a raiding force.

 

Not sure the short 5 turn games and objective play rewards the tactically picking of enemies etc. (I know the reason is that otherwise gunlines would dominate. But still I think AoS doesn't rewards staying save and waiting etc).

[Dibdab]

23 hours ago, Aezeal said:

Not sure the short 5 turn games and objective play rewards the tactically picking of enemies etc. (I know the reason is that otherwise gunlines would dominate. But still I think AoS doesn't rewards staying save and waiting etc).

I am mainly playing my games for playing the setting and the theme and background of the force I am taking rather than being a competitive player. Most of my games will be background and scenario driven.

[Thundercake]

can these guys use their astral compass rule to set up on a board edge if they are allied in to another order army.?

[PJetski]

7 minutes ago, Thundercake said:

can these guys use their astral compass rule to set up on a board edge if they are allied in to another order army.?

No, they have to use Scions of the Storm which requires Stormcast allegiance.

[Thundercake]

thanks, thats what I thought.

[Belper]

Vanguard hunters are terrible and have always been terrible. Liberators are better if you want cheap battleline, sequitors are better if you want good battleline, Judicators are better if you wanna shoot something.

With everything in the army being able to deepstrike and how absolutely pitiful the hunters are in combat, even their unique outflank ability is near useless.

[CommissarRotke]

Vanguard Hunters are now 110 points, which is 10 more than Liberators but 20 less than Sequitors. They have the same bravery, wounds, and save as other battlelines with +1" to move. You can Mystic Shield them to have the same save effect as shielded Liberators, so I don't think they're pitiful--though you easily find better places to spend points.

[HammerOfSigmar]

The average damage output of a 5-man hunter unit is better than a 5-man liberator in fact in normal cases(against model with less 5 wounds), hunter just lose the reroll 1 save rolls but have better mobility. Another bad thing for hunter is that it is a conditional battleline, but if you are just using one or two small unit, there is no making a big difference. Consider their special ability to DS 7" within an enemy unit, I think their points are fine currently, at least when comparing with the liberators. I have no idea how you guys draw the conclusion that hunter are terrible while liberator are fine. 

[Frowny]

Yeah. They seem alright now. Versatile. The astral compass also seems fine. Mostly they will start on the board as screens anyway so you can deepstrike harder hitters.

But they will never be the heavy lifters of a list, so I think people will need to look elsewhere for that