Best HQ choice for a 500 point space marine army?

[Sons of Erebor]

Hey guys, me and a friend are starting to get into 40k, and we're starting with 500 point forces before we go in and spend a billion dollars, so I was wondering, what makes the best choice for a HQ for an army this small and why?

[jesselowe]

Either a jump pack chaplain bolstering a 5-man assault squad, or a bare-bones librarian - and of the two, i'd go with the librarian. At 500 points, the libby's going take up a fifth of your army. (If your opponent's okay with it, I would try going without an HQ choice until you hit 750.) As for why:

 

The librarian gives some very useful abilities. The chaplain + assault squad will hit like a truck at that low a point level.

[pueriexdeus]

I would personally go with the JP Chaplin. At such a low point starter games the Chaplin will be a better learning experience. As was mentioned the Librarian could also bee an option, but in the beginning I don't think introducing the Psychic options would be a good move.

 

As you start, the need to learn how to use your forces is more important that any uber killiness that the librarian can bring. And the Chaplin will fill that role with an Assault Sqd.

[Koremu]

Chaplain. He's the only one who comes by default with a Power Weapon and an Invulnerable Save.

[Sons of Erebor]

Edited the point costs for you- GM

 

Alright, I think the chaplain sounds smarter, but how could i get one HQ, 2 troop choices, and the assult squad in a 500 point list? I'm buying the battlebox to start off, so just wondering, would it look something like this:

 

497/500

 

HQ:

-Space Marine Chaplain - 115

-Jump Pack -

 

Troops:

-Tactical Squad 1 (7/10) - 142

-Sargeant

-Chainsword -

-Plasma Pistol -

-Melta Bombs -

-Tactical Squad 2 (5/10) - 95

-Sargeant

-Chainsword -

-Bolt Pistol -

-Melta Bombs -

 

Fast Attack:

-Assault Squad (5/10) - 145

-Flamer -

-Sargeant

-Storm Shield -

-Thunder Hammer -

-Melta Bombs -

[Grey Mage]

Hi, welcome to the B+C. Just so you know, its against forum rules to put individual point costs into your posts- unit totals, or unit total and transport total, is fine.

 

That being said, to get a JPing chappy in your list Id probly go:

 

Chaplain- Jump Pack- 115pts.

10 Tacticals- Plasma Gun, Missile Launcher, Rhino- 215pts.

5 Scouts- Sniper Rifles- 75pts.

5 Assault Marines- Meltabombs- 95pts.

 

Keeping it sweet and simple.

 

Of course, you could drop the Rhino, getting a powerfist for your assault marines and a missile launcher for your snipers, putting the rhino in at 750pts.

[Sons of Erebor]

Thanks for correcting the stuff, sorry about that XD.

 

Would the scouts with sniper rifles be for ranged? Seeing as the list looks to me like it's mighty close combat oriented?

[swooshfinn]

Was in a 6 game 500 pt tournament over the weekend... decided against going with my marines, as I thought that most marine lists would be really similiar, so I took a break from my marines and tried out my Tau. If I was taking marines into a 500 pt game, I'd probably run something like this:

 

Librarian

10 man Tact squad with flamer, heavy bolter, and Rhino with storm bolter

5 man Scout squad with 1 heavy bolter, bolt pistols with combat blades, or shotguns

5 man Scout squad with 1 rocket launcher and sniper rifles

 

500 points on the nose...

 

This list is definitely anti-infanty, if you know your opponent is playing with monstrous creature or a transport with higher armor rating, you might change the heavy bolter in the tact squad to a rocket launcher or melta.

 

Or try this:

 

Librarian

2 Tact squads running as 4 combat squads ( demi-squads)

which would leave you 60 pts for a Razor, Speeder, Drop Pod, Rhino and any extras for them.

[Grey Mage]

Thanks for correcting the stuff, sorry about that XD.

 

Would the scouts with sniper rifles be for ranged? Seeing as the list looks to me like it's mighty close combat oriented?

Yeah, snipers for a little bit of LR shooting, the tacticals provide scoring/cover fire/anti-tank and the assault marines finish off enemy squads.

 

Atleast, thats the hope ;).

 

My own 500pt list doesnt include anything in the battleforce sadly-

 

Captain- Relic Blade, Bike- 165pts.

 

5 Scouts- Powerfist- 100pts.

4 Bikes- Attack Bike, Multimelta, Meltagun- 175pts.

 

Landspeeder Storm- Heavy Flamer- 60pts.

 

A fast moving patrol force with a good CC punch, its a little pricey to build however, even with buying a ravenwing battleforce.

[Sons of Erebor]

Yeah, I mean, with my limited knowledge it looks good, but I'll get my battlebox, get all painted and stuff, then move on from there.

 

Thanks for the help ;)

[Grey Mage]

No problem... out of curiosity, whats your paint scheme? Any fluff for the sons of erebor yet?

[Hellios]

Yeah, I mean, with my limited knowledge it looks good, but I'll get my battlebox, get all painted and stuff, then move on from there.

 

Thanks for the help :rolleyes:

 

If you can find them the combat patrol/ 40k in mins rule set might be worth playing at low points. Basically it restricts what units you can take and so on... so you don't need to worry about someone bringing a Land Raider like my friend used to do... Land raider... 2 x bare bones 5 man CSM squad and a chaos Lt with a power weapon I think... or once he dumped the land raider and took a blood thirster and maybe changed the CSM for berzerkers (would that be over 500pts can't remember)... I was ok... I played Eldar... I had lance weapons up the wazoo.

[mowglie]

I'll chime in with the thread.

 

If you want to take a 5-man JP assault squad, take a 115-pt JP chaplain.

 

Otherwise, take a 100-pt unupgraded Librarian.

 

100 - Librarian

245 - Tactical Squad (10 models, Power Fist, Combi-flamer, Flamer, Missile Launcher, Razorback)

100 - Scout Squad (5 models, Power Fist, BP&CCW)

050 - Land Speeder Storm

= 495 Points total

[Sons of Erebor]

Yeah Grey Mage, I've got stuff, I also, since I made this profile changed their name to Swords of Erebor, but meh, theres a link in my sig :D

[Jackelope King]

500 pts is a very, very different game from "regular" 40k from 1500-2000 points. So usual advice doesn't quite work.

 

All armies start out half-crippled: you can't put enough boots on the table to do much of anything.

 

Assuming limited models, you have a tough choice on your hand. You're going to be putting Tacticals and maybe Scouts on the table. I think a big Bike squad with a limitedly-kitted Bike Captain might actually be the way to go, but that's really pricey (in real cash, not points ;)) for a starting army that doesn't start getting good again until almost 1750 points.

 

Captain could be in, but he's expensive to kit. I wouldn't pick him.

 

Chapter Master is right out. Even pricier, worse mobility, low target-density.

 

Librarian is my usual go-to, but psychic powers are rare at 500 points, so the psychic defenses are less valuable. And Rock units are very rare, so Null Zone loses value. Free power weapon at 500 points is nice, and WS5 is stand-out at this level, but let's look at other options first.

 

I normally loathe the Chaplain. Fearless is a freaking suicide pact for the squad that gets it, and rerolling to hit with S4 non-power weapon attacks stinks. That does change at 500 points, but not too much. He's worth consideration.

 

And the Master of the Forge, my other usual go-to, actually looks attractive to me at this level. The servo-harness means two extra power fist attacks (unfortunately only at WS4), a flamer and a twin-linked plasma pistol that he can fire before the charge (if they still need it). Pretty nasty at 500 points. And for 120 points, you can switch up to a pretty shooty Conversion Beamer. Bolster Defenses will protect your Marines. This would probably be my first choice at 500 points, but the rest of your army matters a lot, obviously.

[Fatuous]

Form the original post it sounds as u'll inly be playing ur mate, so you can fiddle the ruiles till you get more than 500 points worth if need be (altho this is heretical to some).

 

If your going 500 points, I'd prob just play combat patrol rules set, even if you bump u the points limit and decrease some of the options, but it really does depend on who you are likely to be playing.

 

a combat patrol list that would be fun.

 

10 man tact squad, flamer and missile launcher.

5 scouts

5 stern guard

 

Leaves you with 30 points to play with for sarge upgrades, etc.. You can add a librarian to this list to top it up to 500 and it is 100% legit.

 

TBH, a marine force at this point limit can be quite restrictive, and my guard lists usually do better in small point games, stil being ble to take a lot of different units and unit tpyes for next to no points.....