Space Marines 101 - Predators

The Predator is a great support choice for your SM army, capable of killing of infantry and tanks alike. The weapons on the Predator have all decent range, that combined with AV 13 on the front, can be a real pain for every opponent. And the best thing of all, is the price.

The point value for the Predator is great, but if you only include one, the enemies might pick it off early in the game. You are more likely to have better results with 2 or even 3 of these. And they don't have to compete for land raiders for Heavy Support slots (Terminators can take those as dedicated transports), unless you take many raiders of course.

Predator Patterns:


The Destructor pattern Predator is armed with a Autocannon as its main turret. You can upgrade it to carry Heavy Bolter side sponsons, or lascannon sponsons.

The Autocannon/Heavy Bolter variant is the cheapest of all the Predators (unless you don't take any sponsons at all, which I dont recommend). For a mere 85p you get a high armoured, heavy infantry, killing tank. These Predators can lay down 8 med/hi str shots a turn each.

However sometimes you want something that can penetrate other tanks. And thats when you take the Autocannon/Lascannon variant. For 120 points you get 2 str 7 and 2 str 9 shots that can mess with any vehicle in the game. But this version of the Predator is a lot more expensive than the heavy bolter sponson variant, and it can sometimes fail to get its point value back. This is because you can easily fail both lascannon shots a turn for several turns.


The Annihilator pattern Predators main turret is a twin linked lascannon. This version is pretty expensive and costs 105p without sponsons. You can add the same sponsons as you can on the Destructor. But the role of the Annihilator is a tank buster, and should be used accordingly.

The T-L Lascannon/Lascannon variant is the best anti-tank version of the Predator. Being able to put out 3 lascannon shots (one t-l) per turn. This version is extremely expensive (165p) and most opponents that have vehicles in risk will keep it at least shaken for most of the game.

The T-L Lascannon/Heavy Bolter variant should not be used as its too expensive for what it does. With this variant you either waste low strength heavy bolter shots at a high toughness/armoured target, or waste a high strength shot at easy targets. I think you'd be better of with just the T-L Lascannon on it, if thats what you wish. This way you can keep moving 6" a turn and still firing all your weapons.