8th Ed. Lone "cowboy" Scar Veteran

When I refer to a lone "cowboy" Scar Veteran, I mean a Scar Veteran mounted on a Cold One who runs round the battlefield, hopefully causing havoc. Here is my build (limited at 150 points):

• Scar Veteran, Cold One, Light Armour, Fencer's Blades, Ironcurse Icon

That gives me a Move 7, WS 10, Str. 5, T. 5, with 2+ Save character.

Do you think that this is viable in an 800 points competitve game, in conjunction with 2 x 20 Saurus, 10 Skinks Sk, and a Salamander?

 

J love lone Scar Vets on cold ones, I always take one. Persnally I prefer to give him a great weapon forS7, as he has amazing defence anyway. Sometimes a dawnstone, so now hes almost impossible for normal troops to hurt. Another one I like is the stubborn crown and dragon helm with great weapon, now he has a 1+ save and you can run him into any enemy block and hes unlikely to ever flee.

 

Hello,
I'm a Big Fan of cowboy Scar Vets, And I take 2 at least Too bad that you are limited to 150 potins, because the Real Deal is 160 For example, Sword of Might Dawnstone, Charmed shield light Armour. 1+ reroallabe save S6 and some Cannon protection. Or Amulet of Itzl, Dragonhelm, LA GW, Venom of the firey frog. Both have 1+ saves and cost 160 points each,

 

I would defenitly go for a Great Weapon on a Scar-Vet. With low I, they will strike last most of the time anyway and S7 is honestly more useful than WS10, even if everyone hits you first because of you're 1+ armour save and T5.

 

LA, GW, Venom of the firey frog, Dragonhelm and Dawnstone: 161

 

Due to the "Nowhere to run, nowhere to hide" rule I'm very hesitant to take a cowboy. If a challenge is declare against him he HAS to answer it. Since challenges can be declared from any side (flank, rear, ect.) it means that even if you land a solid rear charge killy hero or lord could still declare a challenge and be moved through the ranks to come face to face with the cowboy. So things like an Ogre Tyrant, a Chaos Lord, or even a well equiped Skaven Warlord (I personally field a warlord that rips Ogre Tryants to shreds, scary huh?) could laugh off the cowboy and go back to fighting whatever else it wants.

This greatly reduces the ability of a good hammer unit. He is still a great warmachine hunter, so he isn't useless.. but I fail to see how he could do a better job than an equal number of points worth of chameleon skinks.

 

If you take a lone Cowbot Scar-Vet make sure you give him Crown of Command

 

The OP asked about low points games (800 point), in that scenario i greatly prefer a scar vet in a unit. In low points games you need him in the front line chopping things up, not by himself and hoping you dont fail a stupidity check.

As you approach higher point games (2000+), I never leave home without at least one cowboy. They serve as mage assassins, war machine hunters, speed bumps, redirectors, free combat res from flank and rear charges, and most importantly for me is that they make great monster hunters. However none of that matters at 800 points, at that level I just keep my scar vet in the unit.

Also crown of command is expensive on a scar vet, takes up a lot of their allowance so be careful.

 

There are dozens of good scar-vet builds,
Personally I am a fan of the fencers blades,
because they are an offensive, and defensive weapon,
and shore up one of our weaknesses, (low WS).

 

Don't bother with the Crown - the Scar-Vet generates enough CR himself that he shouldn't need to worry.

I would say Cold One, Dawn Stone, Dragonhelm, Light Armour, Shield, Halberd.

You are two points over budget, but with that build you get a 0+ armour save vs ranged, 1+ in combat and both with a re-roll; a 2+ ward save vs flaming attacks (the most common form of magic missile, and fairly common on units thanks to the Flaming Banner also), and 4 strength 6 attacks. He also causes Fear and is Immune to Psychology (thanks, Cold One!), all for the low, low price of Stupidity.

Whether you spend the extra two points to go for a Great Weapon is a matter of personal choice. Halberds will kill anything at Toughness 4 with a 4+ armour save just as well as a Great Weapon, and that's the majority of the stuff in the game, except every now and again you will actually get to attack first or at least simultaneously. It shouldn't be overlooked ,especially as plenty of scary things are Initiative 2 or lower (Treemen, Ogres, Hydras, Trolls, Juggernaughts, Dragon Ogres, Hellcannons, other Lizardmen, Great Weapons and, most importantly, other Scar-Veterans with Great Weapons).

Great Weapons will only really shine against bigger beasties with T5 and a better than 3+ armour save (I say better than 3+, because an armour save reduced to 6+ by strength 6 isn't really worth the paper its written on). These are rare enough, especially at low points games, but they do exist. Chariots, for one. A Halberd Scar-Vet will eventually grind one out, and with that insane armour save he is very unlikely to die before doing so - a Great Weapon Scar-Vet will just do it sooner, which has its own advantages. Especially as this is a low points game he'll be your only tin-opener, so you may want to consider it.

That being said, in theory you can just use your skinks to redirect anything scary and use a Halberd Scar-Vet to mop up.

 

0+ armour is not allowed, so the shield in that build is purely wasted points.

 

0+ amour is allowed, only you always fail on a 1. However, it still exists for purposes of strength reduction.

For example, a 1+ armour save reduced by strength 6 becomes 4+. A 0+ armour save meanwhile is reduced to only 3+.

You could drop it and take a 4th handler on the Salamander I guess, though...

 

Can't remember if it's rulebook or FAQ, but no, you cannot get 0+. It is specifically worded that you can have a max of 1+.

 

Incorrect. See the Errata to page 43.

 

Interesting. I always read it the (apparently old) way.

Welp, drop the shield and grab that extra handler then! In fact, now I can, too.

 

u can have a save of any kind you want, it isnt illigal, but for gaming purposes it is CAPPED at 1+, even if u have a -1+ or a 0+.

can never be better than 1+. This does not prevent a model
having items or special rules that would take the save even
lower, it simply caps the saving throw at 1+. Also, remember
that a roll of 1 is always a failure.”

 

Yeah, all that means is if your guy already has a 1+, you can still take a shield, but you won't get any benefit from it (other than a parry save if using a mundane weapon).

 

Now, I don't mean to be nit-picky or anything... But I just don't know if a later FAQ or change was released regarding a character with two weapons and the fact that they need to remain on foot... Can someone help me out?

 

You cannot have two hand weapons, but the fencers blades are a paired weapon and is allowed and the only way you can get an additional HW on a mounter char

 

mmmm cool! So you get the WS 10 and then an extra attack.. Extra attacks are always nice

anyways, I ran a 'Cowboy Vet' in my smaller armies as the general seeing as my usual opponents don't have too much to deal with the toughness and armour save, I didn't have any problems letting him run free

Scar vet
Horned One
Light Armour
Great Weapon

I don't care what people say, I loved that blasted Horned One even if it takes from my magical points allowance It's a simple fast and effective delivery for a cheap price. Not TOO much hitting power but enough to have his uses