Sometimes the Devil Dogs do really much for me but most of the time they don't. I tend to replace them for the Desperados. Still trying to find out which of the Dogs are the best for Vanilla...
Best is very subjective based on mission, opponent and list composition. They all have their uses, just depends on what you need at the time but there's no "bad" choice
I use the Devil Dog with Heavy Shotgun pretty regularly in USARF, can't speak to vanilla, and it almost always does excellent work for me. Typically, I fuel him with a bunch of Orders and get him into the opponent's backline to hunt down cheerleaders and support pieces, trying to do as much damage to the opponent's Order pool as possible. The DD also does pretty well at killing TAGs, or other powerful shooting units, in CC with the help of the K9 in my experience. The Super Jump makes the DD more appealing to me over a Desperado because of how many models on rooftops I encounter but others' metas might be more ground-floor focused. I can totally see why the DD gets passed over for other units, especially at 39pts, but it works great for me. As a side note, an additional advantage the DD has is that it doesn't get fielded a ton so players seem to be caught a little off guard when one goes tearing through the back of their deployment zone.
Devil dogs really should stick with the middle board. Activate first, soak up an ARO and throw smoke to protect the desperado(s), then park somewhere near an objective. They're really good at clearing out camo tokens and threatening the enemy specialists hunting consoles with a chain rifle ARO. This might be a case of over-kill with an expensive model threatening 20pt Zeros but USAriadna is pretty good at trading up in other elements of the game so it meshes well with their playstyle. Beyond that, I've had mixed luck with actually attacking with them. No grenades and only one chain rifle doesn't lend itself to Mcmurragh levels of aggression. I've never tried the heavy shotgun. 2x shots on 16s versus AROs on similar scores (no cover, short range pistols/combis) is terrible odds for a 40pts trooper. Might as well use the hardcase for a third of the price.
I used to run the Chain Rifle version a lot because that was the model I had, but don't use it much if at all anymore now that I have the Shotgun mini. B2 isn't the best thing in the world but the model is fast enough to be able to choose the engagements, which often is a Heavy Shotgun vs a Change Facing ARO which is fine, in my opinion.
All the dogs got a price increase by 2 points. 32 and 41 points DD now. :( On the plus side it looks like we might be immune to stun and immobile now.
The improved TI is nice, but this definitely makes it harder to justify them. Note that glue guns still work against them as they cause a PHY roll.
There is a big buff against all BTS weapons which can now be rolled as Arm if we chose. Except viral obviously Still 41 points.
Yeah, the change to Total Immunity has me wanting to take them out and run them again. Maybe even spring for a second pair.
They already were taking ARM against every 'damaging' BTS ammo except viral. Which was the most important one to gain immunity too.
The devil dog is good at one thing, and that thing is fighting camo units. If you're taking the devil dog it's job is to get a sensor off and then chain rifle a camo guy. If they survive you move into CC, or move your antipode into CC and shoot them with the pistol depending on how they ARO. It's very versatile and as long as it's well hidden it will kill 1 or 2 units with it's 2 wounds, super jump, and g-sync'd sensor cc monster. If they don't have camo it should be running to their deployment zone or link team to try and force a kill on a LT or break the link. They do it worse than other dog options, because other dogs aren't paying for antipode sensor and an extra wound/cc attack, but you can always still leverage it to your advantage because it's weird and good. If you are playing vanilla you should probably take the scottish dogs, because they're better against many types of opponents. But the devil dog isn't bad.
Devil Dogs are 32 or 41 point. Blackjacks are 36 points. I know which one I would prefer for the points. Devil Dogs is nice for camo hunting, but you don't really have to fear camo with all those flamethrowers on everything. Just use intuitive attack. I think USAR is one of the strongest sectorials in the game, but I don't see why should I ever waste points on Devil Dogs. Not to mention how models are messed up, same model for both profiles, just different arms, and they forgot to sculpt the tail... Only thing DD is useful for is to be converted to McMurder :-D
If you read the Fluff of Devildogs, you would know that the cut of their tails on entering the Marine corps.
If I remember correctly Bostria said in one of the seminars that they forgot to sculpt the tails. I might be wrong on this, years have passed since release of HSN3. Am aware of the fluff, bought all books.
