Codex Space Marines 101 - planning

[DarkGuard]

A short time ago, Shadowstalker Grim compiled a fantastic article detailing the basics of all armies in 40k, their strengths and weaknesses, deadly units to keep an eye out etc. I believe this to be a fantastic piece of work that drew from a large amount of the community giving their informed opinions and experiences about certain armies.

 

Now, inspired by Grim's work, I hope to compile a 101 on Codex Space Marines, in much the same spirit of Enemies 101. Shadowstalker Grim has already agreed to help me with this compilation, and we've discussed what we would like to see this guide include. It should most definitely outline the individual strengths and weaknesses possessed by units in the Space Marine Codex, as well as including enemies that these units are normally geared towards, and in the case of diverse units, the more optimal configurations that have been used.

 

I intend this guide to be an easy to use resource for new and veteran players to use, either to learn more about the army as a whole, or to suggest tips on using units that have never been used before. Therefore, I'd like each unit to be given a fair chance, and for there to be no cross-comparison with other units. People should be able to gain an opinion on which unit they'd prefer to use based on those unit's individual entries, rather than 'unit x is good but unit y is better'.

 

I am under no delusions, and know that this will be a massive project to undertake. I realise that there are some tacticas in the Librarium, but most appear to be in depth or outdated, with none seemingly focussing on the individual units in the 5th edition Codex. I am, however, more than confident with the fact that this will be done, with great insights by many from the community.

 

As for the beginning, Shadowstalker Grim and I have determined that it would be best to start with individual units from the force organization chart. I would like to break trend though, and start with getting the troops established first before moving on to the more specialized units and HQ. To me troops are the core of an army, and should therefore be focussed on first. Also, I think it may be best to attempt special characters later on, and focus on the basics first where HQs are concerned.

 

I am really hopeful that this will become a helpful guide to the basics of each individual unit in the codex, as well as some of the more basic army wide rules. I'll start on tactical squads tomorrow, but of course let me know your own opinions on their strengths and weakness, and thank you in advance to all :lol:.

 

EDIT: this guide is meant for C:SM, my apologies for all C:BA, C:SW, C:DA and C:CSM players out there.

 

EDIT 2: all units completed.

[LardO'Blood]

Not tactical squads, but I feel I have enough experience with terminators to add this:

Tactical Terminators:

I will present three points, ranged firepower / close combat ability, maneuverability and miscellaneous.

 

Tactical terminators are not close combat specialists! If you think they are, frankly, your either extremely short sighted or a moron. They have storm bolters, why would they give a close combat specialist storm bolters? Wait, they didn't! Tactical terminators are the ultimate space marine, they do everything well. They can easily bust a land raider with either power fists or chain fists. They can mow down hordes (not the best use though) with storm bolters, heavy flamers and assault cannons. They can run down and kill more or less any depleted unit with relentless, assault weapons and powerfists. They can dispatch elite shooty infantry like sternguard in close combat. A 5 man squad has 12 power fists and 3 power weapon attacks. Well you might say that they strike at I1? Their 2+ armor means they can shrug off a couple of attacks back, this reinforces the idea of them beating up the depleted units. The math hammer says that a 5 man tactical terminator squad receives 0.83 wounds from an upgraded, 10 man sternguard squad in close combat and they deal 7.42 casualties, this will probably result in the sternguard failing their leadership check and escaping, only to be shot up the next round or assaulted. Equally they can kick carnifexes around with a krak missile or two to soften it up and a few fists to finish it. Another thing that suggests they are for beating up the depleted units is their lack of ability to make a sweeping advance, this makes them best against units they kill in one combat phase.

 

As for maneuverability, what other unit in C:SM has a standard shooting range of 24" and can move 6" consistently each turn? None bar dreadnoughts. LotD could do this but they are just not extremely practical and their movement isn't consistent. Sternguard come close with bolts firing 30" at AP4. A ten man tactical squad with a rhino costs 205 points minimum, and only has an effective range of 26". Plus in rapid fire range the sternguard or tactical squad will be assaulted by the majority of armies, and in my experience, they will lose. This is another advantage terminators have, they can walk around 23.9" away and bolt the pants off of a unit that can't assault them. If they manage to run up against an obstacle or get pinned or are stopped for some reason they can counter charge while firing their storm bolters (so they have the same ranged attack standard as the 205 point tactical squad firing bolt pistols and charging) Even in close combat they exceed the tactical squad or dreadnought. A dreadnought only has two attacks base, a standard tactical terminator squad has ten, eight of which are power fists and the other two are power weapons. A tactical squad has eleven or twelve depending on how your sergeant is armed. They have the ability to screw over an enemies plans with deep-striking too! Once again, compared to a tactical squad they are 200 points vs a tactical squad of ten with a drop pod that costs 205. Drop pods have inertial guidance, but can't use teleport homers.

 

As for miscellaneous they can add a land raider to your force without costing a heavy support slot. Terminators can block LoS to pretty much any unit in the space marine codex except for vehicles. A newer opponent may be fazed by them and try to avoid them the whole game, if they are ignored they will pop vehicles or kill something important. They can be counter charge for your tactical squads while not sitting idly if the squads aren't threatened because they can shoot to.

 

All in all I think tactical terminators are THE BEST choice in a space marine army (but this is completely stylistic), bar maybe landspeeders, bike squads and certain HQ. They are certainly the best slogging marines and what makes them really shine is that they do everything well.(Im trying not to sound like a broken record right now) I encourage anybody who does not own tactical terminators to buy a kit, even if you don't like them in the game they look pretty and will probably sell on Ebay for a nice sum if you paint them up a bit past table top quality. I can't think of any unit that does what they do better for a reasonable sum (doing everything that is) and I highly advocate trying them out. They are one of the most fun units to master (I haven't mastered them yet) and are certainly not point-click. All this agrees that yes, they should be in an army that doesn't need specialists like dreadnoughts, sternguard or assault terminators but like all delicacies they should be used in small quantities, not overflowing and replacing the regulars (But that doesn't mean I wont do it ). The main problem I see is that they are Uber tacticals, its hard to base an army around them if you aren't deathwing or loganwing because the required troop choices are just downgraded versions. I think (not entirely sure) that you can get away with this in C:BA or C:SW with assaulty and shooty troop choices though.

[Shadowstalker Grim]

Codex Space Marines have 2 troop units:Tactical Marines and Scouts

 

Tactical Squads

 

 

Wargear: A variety of wargear for the sergeant, choice of a special weapon and a heavy weapon if squad is 10 strong, can take a transport

 

Purpose: A scoring unit, forms part of the 2 core troop choices, can be kitted for a variety of roles in battle

 

 

The tactical squad is the mainstay of the space marine chapter, they usually appear in their 10 man form and almost always have the heavy weapon and special weapons. They are perhaps the hardest unit in the codex to explain as their roles can vary so greatly. Often their roles will be based on the combination of wargear they get given. Some people prefer to use tiny 5 man squads and ignore the 10 man squad, they do this to fit the unit into a smaller transport or to save points so that they still have their scoring unit and mandatory 2 troops, leaving room for more things elsewhere. The sarge of the squad is usually armed as preferred or to compliment the squads role, the transport for the squad often varies.

 

There are many weapons we can take which are free, or near enough and often the free weapons are an effective choice. Tactical squads are good because they can fill a variety of roles cheaply. Loading them up with costly gear doesn't matter so much with tacticals because their free weapons are often excellent choices and only 3 models are getting upgrades rather than the whole unit.

 

Sergeants are best taking combi-weapons to compliment the special weapons or cover a gap, going barebones or taking a powerfist. Powerfists are an expensive upgrade though and offer some ups and downs, think of them as some extra anti-vehicle and CC power, but don't think of it as a mandatory upgrade. If you want to take one, do it. If not, leave it.

 

A few well known builds:

 

Flamer, Missile Launcher - Perhaps the 'default' build, it works well in both anti-infantry and against light armour, easily combat squadded.

Meltagun, Multi-Melta - Works primarily to use the meltas for anti-tank duties

Plasmagun, Plasmacannon - This unit is more of a sit back and shoot unit, its weapons help knock out medium-heavy infantry nicely

Flamer, Heavy Bolter - The anti-infantry loadout, packs a lot of punch against ground troops, but seldom required as anti infantry is easily found army wide

(Any special), Lascannon - This is usually taken for the lascannon, often the squad is combat squadded, the lascannon's range is long and by combat squadding the special weapon has a chance to get up close, the lascannon is used for anti-vehicle duties over a great range

Plasmagun, Multi-Melta - A midfield squad, really the MM here threatens a lot of vehicles and the plasmagun is a nasty threat to any infantry coming close

Flamer, Multi-Melta - Again a midfield squad, this time the squad covers anti-infantry and anti-tank in one package!

 

Strengths:

 

A tactical squad is a very versatile squad with access to a wide range of wargear to threaten a wide range of targets. They operate best at close range firefights (so shooting NOT fighting) but they are versatile enough to be able to melee or shoot opponents at varying ranges if the situation calls for it or opportunity requires it. Perhaps the most important things the tacticals have is their 3+ save which is something that helps keep them alive.

 

Weaknesses:

The cost of the squad is probably a big part in their downfall, they will usually form a large section of any army and removes the options for taking more powerful units. Tactical squads are not one of our most powerful units, more of a supporting unit to other things. Also being troops they are required to take objectives and thus we pay a lot of points for a squad that needs to be kept out of danger in order to score.

 

The squad is somewhat limited by the fact it can only take 1 special weapon and 1 heavy weapon which can make it hard to excel at a particular role however.

[DarkGuard]

Thanks for the quick replies guys, certainly off the mark faster than I am. Shadowstalker Grim, that seems a fair analysis of Tactical squads, although perhaps a brief mention of only being able to take one special weapons limits their close range effectiveness, although the combi-weapons do compensate for that somewhat. Also, perhaps mention transport being a vital part, although that may also be covered later.

 

LardO'Blood, good insight there to Tactical Terminators. I like them too, but never find a place in my lists for them. A lot of good points about them, though there are weaknesses to every unit, and I think it is safe to say that their weakness is that they are a unit that's jack of all trades, master of none? So they can be out-assaulted by more dedicated assault units, or out shot by dedicated shooty units.

 

Some excellent ideas here, I think I'll take a crack at scouts, at least until GC08 turns up.

 

Scouts:

The other troop unit without force org customization, the scout unit is often overlooked due to their greater frailty and less combat prowess when compared to tactical squad units. That being said, they tend to be cheaper, not only in base cost, but also due to lack of need of a transport most of the time. They offer a huge variety of different tactics to tactical squads, and serve the similar purpose of securing and holding objectives.

 

Wargear:

Scouts can be armed with a host of different wargear, from bolters, to bolt pistols to close combat weapons, all the way through shotguns to sniper rifles. This enables them to perform a variety of roles, from emulating tactical squads, to acting as dedicated CC units or as support units. Other wargear can improve their survivability, either through giving them an increased cover save (camo cloak), or by increasing ranged potential. Unfortunately, heavy options are limited to a heavy bolter (though with different firing mode) and missile launcher, and no specials can be taken. However, the sergeant has the same range of options as a tactical sergeant does, in addition to normal scout equipment, and can be used to cover short falls in the unit or complement them.

 

Strengths:

Scouts first and foremost are cheaper than tactical squads, while still being scoring units. Their equipment options allow them to deal damage up close through bolters or shotguns, in combat with two combat weapons, or from range with sniper rifles. In particular their camo cloaks and sniper rifles allow them to stay at a range and deal damage when a tactical squad wouldn't be able to do so, and stay alive.

 

Other special rules are also valuable, such as being able to infiltrate, move through cover, and having the scouts special rule. These allow scouts to be more effective in cover, where they are also more survivable, and also gives them greater flexibility in deployment. This can lead them to deploying close enough to the enemy, thereby not needing transport, deploying in good fire areas after seeing where the enemy is, or coming on from the side of the board, catching the opponent by surprise.

 

Weaknesses:

Scouts, though fickle, are still fragile. While boasting a toughness of 4, they only have a 4+ armour saves, meaning that weapons such as heavy bolters and autocannons, which normally bounce of power armour will scythe through their scout armour. Heavy flamers in particular will destroy their armour while ignoring any increased cover save they benefit from through camo cloaks. Also, they will fail more saves than power armour against weapons with poor AP or no AP, although they will die just as readily against plasma weapons and melta weapons.

 

Also, while scouts can be equipped for assault and shooting, they pale in these aspects in comparison to regular marines, due to their decreased weapon and ballistic skill of 3. This means that half the time their shooting attacks will miss, while a lot of common enemies will hit them on 3s in combat.

 

Lack of transports also make these warriors more vulnerable towards anti-infantry firepower than mech armies are.

 

Common builds:

Sniper rifles, camo cloaks, heavy weapon: easily run in 5 or 10 man squads, this unit is primarily used as a home objective camper and fire support.

 

Shotguns, CC weapons: used as a close support and close combat unit.

 

Meltabombs/ power fists, combi-melta, 5 men: commonly placed in a LSS with multi-melta, this unit acts as an alpha strike against big tanks such as Land Raiders, often before they have a chance to act.

 

Telion: to be completed later

 

Also may I mention including units with bolster ruins, which, combined with camo cloaks can let your scouts receive a 2+ cover save in certain terrain pieces without going to ground.

 

 

I think that's all I can say at the moment on scout squads. I think it's fair to say the next big one is bike squads, as they can also be troops, before branching out to the other choices in the codex.

[Shadowstalker Grim]

Perhaps we should establish a certain frame for people to apply information to?

 

I've got down on tacticals:

 

Wargear

 

Purpose

 

A brief bit about the unit

 

Loadouts

 

Strengths

 

Weaknesses

 

 

What does everyone think? I think it lets us hear the best and most important information whilst keeping it relatively simple i guess.

 

Also I suppose we should strike off units as they appear so people know whats been covered.

 

HQs:

 

Chapter Master

Honour Guard

Captain

Command Squad

Librarian

Chaplain

Master of the Forge

 

Elites:

 

Sternguard Veterans

Dreadnoughts

Techmarines

Servitors

Terminators***

Assault Terminators

Ironclad Dreadnought

Venerable Dreadnought

Legion of the Damned

 

Troops:

 

Tactical Squad***

Scout Squad***

 

Dedicated Transports:

 

Rhino

Razorback

Drop Pod

 

 

Fast Attack:

 

Land Speeder

Assault Squad

Vanguard Veteran Squad

Land Speeder Storm

Space Marine Bikes

Attack Bikes

Scout Bikers

 

 

Heavy Support:

 

Thunderfire Cannon

Predator***

Vindicator***

Land Raider

Land Raider Crusader

Land Raider Redeemer

Devastator Squad

Whirlwind

 

I think thats all of them...

[DarkGuard]

Yeah, I like that framework Grim, should work well, and a good idea to put that list on, though I may put it in the original post if that's fine by you. Also, we can't do this alone, and I am hoping others will be able to give valuable input on units that I haven't used or aren't too experience with. :).

 

Anyway, with the two troops choices covered (though still critique and let us know what we missed out), I'm going to start on a favourite of mine, the Vindicator.

 

Vindicator: one the most powerful weapons in the Space Marine arsenal, but also one of the, surprisingly, harder ones to use, the Vindicator is very hit and miss, but when it hits it tends to make a big mess.

 

Wargear: comes equipped with a mighty demolisher cannon and storm bolter, in addition to the standard searchlight and smoke launchers. Further upgrades can improve its ability to move through terrain, to keep moving in general, or to increase damage output.

 

Purpose: described in the codex as a siege tank, the Vindicator really excels in the role of anti-everything, due to the strength of its gun. With its high front armour value as well, many people see its purpose of something as a bullet magnet, taking fire away from valuable units such those in Rhinos, or firebase units.

 

Strengths: the demolisher cannon on the Vindicator is its main strength. With it being a S10 AP2 large blast weapon, the Vindicator can lay waste to conceivably any squad in a single shot, either wiping it out entirely or seriously bringing the squad down to size. It is also an excellent weapon to crack open any tank, due in large part to its high strength as well as the ordnance armour penetration rules, while it can engage vehicle squadrons to some effect as well. The Vindicator also boasts the ability to move and fire this powerful gun, while also having a hefty front armour of 13. Couple this to a points cost that allows you to take two Vindicators to every one Land Raider, and you have a pretty good tank on your hands.

 

Weaknesses: the demolisher cannon is also the Vindicators main weakness. It only has one shot a turn, and if that shot misses, your tank has just done nothing. Also with this being the only gun worth talking about, once the Vindicator gets s weapon destroyed result it becomes nothing more but a glorified battering ram. Furthermore, this is not too hard to achieve, with all the melta weapons around, the fact that its side armour is still AV11. Therefore players have to be extremely careful about positioning, which is made harder still by the weapon only have a 24" ranged, meaning that driving forward is likely expose that side army. It is therefore safe to say that while the Vindicator is powerful, that makes it a desired target and one will normally die quickly.

 

Common builds: most people will take a Vindicator at bare bones, with no weapon upgrades as you only want to fire the demolisher cannon. Of course, most people will take either the dozer blade or the siege shield, the dozer blade making it very unlikely that the Vindicator will immobilize itself in cover, while the siege shield prevents it from doing so. Extra armour may also be used, allowing the Vindicator to get out of harms way if it suffers a stunned result.

 

Due to it being so dangerous, many people will focus on getting rid of the Vindicator, and so they are useful in mech builds, as they are able to take away firepower aimed at important units mounted in Rhinos.

 

 

I think that's nailed it, although if anyone has seen something I haven't mentioned, or if I've been too kind or critical please call me out on it! :)

[Shadowstalker Grim]

Feel free to put the list in the first post, probably better there since its where people will first look!

 

I'm going to do the predator now, because i've been wanting to that!

 

Predator

 

Wargear: Autocannon OR Twin-Linked Lascannon Turret, Heavy Bolter Sponsons OR Lascannon Sponsons OR no Sponsons

 

Purpose: The predator is a firebase unit for the C:SM and depending on the loadout it can be tasked with anti-infantry and anti-vehicle duties

 

 

 

The predator is a very useful tank that sits back and opens fire, depending on its loadout it'll excel at taking out infantry formations or light vehicles with a chance at taking on heavy vehicles with lascannons. It doesn't tend to move much because it loses the options of firing all the weapons it has if it does, although its range means it probably won't have to move much. Essentially this tank is one of our firebases that we can utilise to sit back and shoot

 

Loadouts:

 

Dakka Predator - Autocannon, Twin Linked Heavy Bolter sponsons: Useful for taking out infantry formations and light vehicles

Tri-Las - Twin-Linked Lascannon, Lascannon sponsons: A perfect tin opener that can take out light-heavy vehicles but is expensive points wise

Combi-Pred - Autocannon, Lascannon sponsons: A powerful variant that excels at taking out light vehicles and hurting monstrous creatures

Alter-Pred - Twin-Linked Lascannon, Heavy Bolters: An odd load out, but can take out infantry formations and tanks

 

 

Strengths:

The Predator can be armed to take out all sorts of different enemies and does well at the role. Its weaponry is long range and can have a strong effect in battle with a good field of vision. It also has strong front armour (AV 13) and decent side armour (AV 11) so by pointing it at threats can help nullify the danger to the tank.

 

Weaknesses:

The main problem is that it cannot move around much as it loses the firepower very quickly if it does, so it needs to be careful and remain stationary most of the time. It's weaker side and even weaker rear armour (AV 10) means that it can be prone to being outflanked and hit in the more vulnerable spots

[Bartali]

In any guide to C:SM i'd like to see in capital letters - SPACE MARINES ARE A SHOOTY BASED GENERALIST ARMY. Or words to that effect.

Most people generally don't realise this when they come to the codex for the first time. I know I didn't, for one.

[Shadowstalker Grim]

I'll add some stuff in near that effect I guess (It needs looking through and checking!), its just a bit about how marines play and what not, with some special characters:

 

The low down

An army of any kind uses several things:

 

HQ: Usually your toughest close combat fighter and best leader in your army, it’ll usually be accompanied by the armies’ best and be a real threat to anything on the field. The HQ will pack a range of gear to use in a variety of different situations and armies.

 

Elites:

The best your army can offer, whether it be better shooters or better close combat fighters. This unit will pack the ability to really kill of enemy troops fast and will likely be dangerous to the rank and file units.

 

Troops:

Your rank and file, generally you’ll task them with something at the start of the match, they pack anti infantry weapons with their guns and can in some cases fight effectively in close combat. These guys are your scoring units and so need some protection, but will also be most likely your most numerous bodies. Guard them, but don’t be shy to use them for their offensive abilities.

 

Fast Attack:

It’s all in the name. These units move faster than regular troops and fill a variety of roles but you can bet these units will be best used to sneak around and move fast through enemy lines and can be a real problem due to the fact they can rapidly respond across the battlefield against your opponents.

 

Heavy Support:

Again fairly obvious. These units will be your big guns, generally blowing things apart with large guns from a range they offer support in a more static way. They spend their time shooting and not moving, helping your advance with heavy fire and quite often being a tough vehicle. These units can be a real problem for the enemy if used right.

 

The marine

 

Ok so let’s look at the basic marine:

WS 4 BS 4 S 4 T 4 W 1 I 4 A 1 Ld 8 Sv 3+

 

Now at an Ork Boy:

WS 4 BS 2 S 3 T 4 W 1 I 2 A2 Ld 7 Sv 6+

 

And a Tau Shas’la:

WS 2 BS 3 S 3 T 3 W 1 I 2 A1 Ld 7 Sv 4+

 

Now why have I compared these? Well the Ork is a numerically superior close combat army, wheras the tau is a decent shooting army. The marine tends to have a better profile than either of these armies, a better shooter and a reasonable fighter, but most of all that 3+ save which is something that commands respect in the world of 40k. Marines pay for this by being numerically inferior in many battles, fielding very small numbers of units overall, but generally each one is a capable warrior whose armour makes them much more survivable.

 

The weaknesses of the marine

 

So where do our capable marines fall down? Ok so they have a good basic troop profile, so what? Generally they are fielded in far smaller numbers than any other army. So the enemy will almost always have two or more troops for every single one you field, which immediately stacks the odds against you. The next problem, marines are generalists, we do a lot well but nothing great, if we focussed on one thing another army would do it better. Then most other armies have a strong focus, Orks will fight you in close combat most of the time and though they pack a terrible shooting skill and poor armour save, they have numbers, both in attack and in number of models whereas Tau would out shoot you with better guns and more numbers.

Trying to fight in close combat against numerically superior close combat focussed armies is suicide, trying to outshoot a better shooting army is suicide. We also have some of the most costly troops around to field. So yes that about sums it up, we can’t compete against an army with a prebuilt ideal as we’re already generalists and don’t have the numbers to spare, but in that lies one of our strengths too.

 

 

 

The strengths of a marine

 

An army isn’t made of up 1 focus, so what is it that marines can rely on overall? Marines have a good overall profile and a very respectable set of armour on all their basic troopers. This makes them a reliable unit on the battlefield and easily able to do what the situation requires, whether it be stand and shoot or fight in close combat. The general tactical squad is a decent squad and can pack lots of gear for lots of scenarios and has special rules which make it very reliable. After all most marines in your army will have a similar profile, what separates most of them is their wargear and position in the force organisation slot.

 

We have a good range of units too, some of which aren’t generalists either. For instance an assault marine is a better close combat fighter and devastators are more static shooting marines. We can use different tools for different jobs which make marines highly useful, though we can use the same unit for different jobs too making marines highly flexible.

 

Generally the basic tactical squad means you can’t go far wrong, the sergeant has 1 more attack and better leadership, making him better in assault than regular troops and improving the overall squad, it also packs a flamer which is good anti infantry and a missile launcher for anti tank (but can also blow apart squads). Overall a good mix, but you won’t want every squad being generalist, you want to diversify a little so that other squads can do other things. After all each squad packs 8 regular boltguns which can wither enemy infantry how much do you need? A plasmagun can work well against tougher troops, a meltagun can work well on enemy tanks, a Heavy Bolter is good anti infantry and a multi melta is even better against tanks, the sergeant can be given more effective combat gear too.

 

 

Tactics

 

Marines have innumerable tactics, simply put. We have a huge number of units do different things. So I’ll break this down into something more simplistic, Rock, Paper, Scissors. I break that into, anti infantry, anti tank and anti elite. Marines can do anything, we can specialise in something (using many CC units or shooting units) and against armies that are weak to it may mean a strong capitalisation, but it will suffer heavily against units which are tough against it (assaulting an army that specialises in assault as a focus for example). Marines overall are designed to work together and do a bit of everything. A very useful rule I heard was ‘shoot the choppy ones and chop the shooty ones’ effectively meaning whatever the enemy does best, do the opposite. Fighting scary CC fighters? Shoot them. Fighting volleys of tough fire? Fight them in CC. Generally a marines profile will help it do the opposite against the enemy.

The best thing to know is build your army round a solid core of troops, then tool them up how you like but keep in mind they won’t do as well as other sections in your army, then fill the rest with units that complement each other. For instance your basic troops are decent, but you may want a tougher unit such as terminators to inflict some better CC than your rank and file troops, or you may want something like a Predator to aid your advance with its big guns.

 

Redundancy is also a big issue, if you have 1 good anti tank unit and it gets wiped out, what are you going to do against enemy tanks? Taking 2 or 3 anti tank units is better and also helps target saturation (the art of giving the enemy so much to shoot at the end up doing nothing useful). Also keep units working together, sending an assault squad off into enemy territory alone and unsupported is risky and likely to leave it shot down to a weak number and unable to do much at all, using a tactical squad to support said assault squad means that you can provide steady fire support and give the enemy more to shoot at giving the assault squad a better run at the enemy.

 

Your game or mine?

 

Whatever enemy you face, they are likely to have a strategy for fighting you. If it is a close combat oriented enemy you can expect them to run up to chop you, if you fight a shooty army you can expect them to shoot at you a lot. You aren’t going to win many battles getting into CC with enemy CC armies nor are you going to win protracted shoot outs against shooty armies, then that would be playing their game. To win you have to deny enemies their strengths. For instance, Tau can be shooting my army and I could shoot back, but I’ll speed to their front lines and since my marines fight better in combat than those pansies I can simply assault them and very likely I can win. Balanced enemies are harder and you’ll need to identify key points in their armies to bring them down. Think about this when building your army, does it depend on certain units too much?

 

Making the most of mobility

 

Whatever units you field, you need them to be mobile. Every element of your army needs to move at more or less the same speed to keep coherency. For instance if you use assault troops that move faster than your support troops you can quickly find the assault troops cut off and in trouble and your support won’t be of much use. Therefore it is vital that squads can be mobilised efficiently (vehicles move at their own speed so you cannot do much about that). Yes marines can run but this generally isn’t something you want to be doing unless you have to, a better solution is to give every unit something to make them move faster. This means giving units a transport or giving them jetpacks if they have the option, or making use of rules that deploy them further in the field. The options we have are simple: Rhino, Razorback, Drop Pod, Land Raider. These 4 units are what your units will use to move around the field of battle. The rhino is pretty good, a decent armoured box that can speed your units into place and has room for your 10 man teams whatever they may be. The razorback has only 6 spaces (making it poor to transport full squads) but for small units such as combat squads or command squads it is ideal, adding a large gun to the field. The drop pod lands your unit in right where it needs to be, but it is going to be walking after that, the drop pod therefore is not good for squads that need to relocate but it can help with many aspects of good deployment and even help out in the battle. The land raider is a terrifying thing, firstly it has the best all round armour you can get on a vehicle which makes the thing pretty darn safe from most weapons. Next it packs a fierce armoury and is a dangerous tank in its own right, which helps the fact that it can be used for more than just transporting. On top of all that it can transport terminators who cannot ride in any other vehicle and allows troops to assault out of it which makes it great for taking in your tough CC troops such as Assault terminators and getting them right where they need to be. The only problem with this mobile fort is the points. A rhino is 35 and a land raider is 250.

Generally your troops will be safe in rhinos, but do not rely on the rhino to survive. A reasonable anti tank weapon or concentrated fire will most likely bring down your unit, a land raider is better for those units that absolutely must survive because it gives it the best chance.

 

How much is too much?

 

Every single thing you field in the game can be destroyed. From the lowliest scout to the mighty land raider, it can all be killed off. Not nice to hear, but bear it in mind when making army lists. I say that because it is easy to look at a unit and think ‘Wow all those options can make a super killing unit of doom!’ such as the Vanguard Veterans: 10 men with jump packs, plasma pistols, a relic blade, a thunder hammer and power swords for the rest adds up to 655 points. This unit will probably kill anything it assaults. However if anyone where to shoot and kill said marines you would quickly find that each marine is a huge loss of around 60 points a marine! 3 marines is then 1 whole 10 man tactical squad! But if you were to tone down that squad with less men and less gear it would be a whole lot cheaper and still a threat to enemies. Equally that land raider you spent 250 on with extra weapons and armour may still die, wasting 250+ points, be considerate when spending.

The best trick I use is look at a unit and try to make it effective in reflection to other units. For instance Assault Terminators are 200 points for 5 men (and these are probably our toughest CC troops when given thunder hammers and storm shields) and my basic 10 man tactical squad troops are 170. Even a geared up tactical only comes to just over 200 points. Therefore 200 points is a good benchmark, try and keep troops below this marker if possible and especially if it’s less than 10 men. This way if the unit dies or underperforms, it is only a small section of your army that doesn’t do so well. Eg Command squad: Give it a small amount of gear and keep them cheap, they’ll do quite well in assault or at shooting and although they can’t face down tougher squads, you can whittle those down with your own support elements.

That said a unit such as 10 terminators with 2 cyclone missile launchers on foot can really make its impact felt and will draw a lot of fire at 470 points for the unit. But it threatens everything on the field and can be quite hard to shift perhaps allowing the rest of your army to go unhindered.

 

 

Army Job-list

 

Your army will need to split up each unit into being able to do different things. For instance an assault squad will be tasked with assaulting enemy infantry and a rhino will be tasked with transporting. The jobs should look something like this roughly:

 

Anti Infantry

Anti Tank

Anti Elite

Transports

Scoring Units

 

Units can do multiples, for instance a tactical squad with their bolters are already anti infantry, with a multi melta and a powerfist they can become anti tank too. Generally your whole army should be able to hit all catergories and with more than 1 unit. This will help you see if you have a key weakness, for instance if you had only one anti tank unit you may want to rethink how to deal with enemy tanks and add more choices in. You can also pick this apart some more, for instance: Heavy anti tank, Medium Anti tank and Light anti tank. Then give units a way of dealing with big weapons and make sure that smaller ones aim for lighter armour, for instance shooting a missile launcher at a land raider won’t get you far, but shooting it at a rhino might well kill it off, equally that multi melta attack bike will probably destroy that rhino, but that vindicator is much more of a threat.

 

Target Priority

 

Probably the most difficult thing in the whole game, especially if you don’t know much about enemy units. The enemy will most likely have units that do more or less the same as you no matter the army. For instance you can expect that every army will have a way to deal with your own tanks and their own form of transportation, even if it is a little different. The question is what to shoot at?

 

Generally your units should have a task at hand and applying them to that task is the best thing to do straight off the bat. Identifying key units in the enemy army is essential, that way you can see how best to take them apart. The enemy may have key weak points such as small scoring units, which means if you remove them you make life much easier for your own scoring troops and if the enemy is relying heavily on a certain anti tank unit to get rid of your vehicles removing it gives your vehicles an easier time. One of the best things to do is remove mobility from armies you can, so shoot apart their transports (particularly if it’s an assault unit, so you can shoot it to bits before it reaches you!) If your own troops can use transports and the enemy is walking you’ll have much stronger control of the battlefield. This is effectively an extension of the above section, try to deny the enemy their most effective units by killing them and make sure yours don’t fall into the path of something that will outright butcher them (marines get slaughtered by power weapons for instance).

 

Special Characters

 

This really deserves its own section because special characters can change the whole of an army with what they bring to the table, heck that’s why you bring some of them to the table in the first place! Special characters tend to be HQs (though not all of them are) and so are around 170+ points. This isn’t a cheap price tag, but your own HQ will probably cost a fair bit normally anyway so it’s not so bad.

 

Marneus Calgar: 265 points – A walking titan, as far as stuff goes Calgar is packing a fearsome set of gear which he can rip opponents apart with in close quarters with and afar, is tough to kill, packs honour guard and orbital bombardment. But it is his special rule to allow squads to fail saves or win them that is so powerful, as it means troops can escape nasty combats and run far enough to whittle down enemies with their guns or remain in fights they are winning. He costs as much as a land raider because he’ll be very hard to put down without real effort and with just a tactical squad supporting him he’ll probably dominate whatever side of the battle he’s in.

 

Tigurius: 230 points – A very costly character, especially since he only has 2 wounds, you can find this chap dying in battle quickly. His usefulness comes from his vast array of powers and used well can utterly devastate things on the battlefield, however this requires a little more finesse. He is very fragile as a leader for such a price tag and if used, should be used carefully.

 

Lysander: 200 points – For 65 points less than Calgar and almost as tough in a fight, Lysander is a nasty HQ for any enemy to face. He doesn’t bring great special rules to the table, but he is so survivable that he’ll probably flatten anything he walks into at least eventually without much damage in return. He brings bolter drill which is good if hes with units that use a bolter of some kind and makes your army stubborn. He’s not a bad HQ for 200 points and is certainly very tough, he does lose you combat tactics though. He also adds Bolster Defences to improve some homeground territory and has the Stubborn special rule that helps out in a fight.

 

Sicarius: 200 points – Sicarius makes tactical squads all the better because they are all leadership 10 with him! He also allows 1 tactical squad to get a special rule from a variety and allows you to reroll to seize the initiative. Combined with artificier armour that allows feel no pain, a plasma pistol and his power weapon he’s no slouch in combat and can even attempt a special 1 hit kill with his sword.

 

Kayvaan Shrike: 195 points – Equipped with twin master crafted lightning claws that have rending, shrike will make mincemeat out of most infantry units and with his jetpack does it speedily. He’s best used to plug in with other jet pack units such as assault marines and vanguard but brings to the table some good special rules, shrike and his squad gain from infiltrating, plus allows the rest of the army to move with the fleet special rule at the cost of combat tactics, so marines can now move faster on foot!

 

Forgefather Vulkan He’stan: 190 points – A decent close combat assailant, this character is best for his special rule. It twin links all melta and flamer weaponry and master crafts thunder hammers. This means that all your standard flamers and meltas become twice as useful! This alone means that such weapons in number will slaughter infantry and tanks alike making it a very powerful combination. Add a unit of Thunder Hammer terminators and you’ll smash apart even hardened enemy units. He’s an impressive character and whilst not as formidable as say Lysander, what he brings is definitely worth it.

 

Pedro Cantor: 175 points – Another character used more for his special chapter rules than his combat profile. Cantor lets you take sternguard as scoring units. Sternguard themselves are an expensive unit and a very strong unit on the field, with good close combat and an excellent bolter they become even better with cantor and can take over from tactical squads so you could field small scout units instead as mandatory troops and leave the sternguard to cover the objectives! Cantor himself packs a powerfist (so hes a bit slow in close combat himself) and a unique storm bolter. But he also has an attack aura that adds +1 attack to units nearby which means that he can really help units become even more dangerous in CC. He also packs Orbital bombardment and honour guard options because he’s a chapter master, not too shabby at all!

 

Kor’Sarro Khan: 160 points – On the cheaper end of Special characters, Khan is nonetheless pretty dangerous, though he can take his faithful bike moondraken at a further 45 points. This means that he can either ride around by bike and take a bike army or go it on foot like a regular captain. His bike means he gains fleet and his special sword moonfang is a power weapon that causes instant death on a roll of a 6! He’s a nice character since he also grants you outflank for the army at the loss of combat tactics.

 

Chaplain Cassius: 125 points – An absolute steal at 125 points, Cassius is a chaplain that packs great shooting with his hellfire rounds and a flamer which can help CC where chaplains belong. He also has feel no pain making him tougher to kill. His only downside is that he moves on foot which means he can’t join jump infantry, oh well, he’s still amazing.

 

Brother Sergeant Chronus: 70 points – He’ll deal some real damage if he crews any tank, but the more dangerous the tank to start the more likely he’ll get targeted for it. Put him in a cheap tank and combine it with other tanks and with more upgrades and he’ll soon show his worth, he is a tad pricey though.

 

Sergeant Telion: 50 points – More of an upgrade for sniper scouts than a single character, Telion can make the scouts quite deadly and pick off troublesome units and make that little bit more dangerous. A good investment if you can afford it.

 

 

Much of this information is the culmination of opinions and information on the B&C I consider it be a piece of work as part of the community as a whole, though I'll say again it probably needs to be checked over thoroughly for incorrect or misleading information!

[DarkGuard]

Some good stuff Grim, that's the stuff I wasn't particularly looking forward to doing. Also, thanks for doing the Pred, I don't use them so I just know the theory. The only thing I can see wrong with it is that Preds are I believe side armour 11, but that weakness is mitigated compared to the Vindicator by not having to move forward much, so except for outflanking units it doesn't have to worry about it as much.

[chaplain belisarius]

interesting stuff...maybe the mods could sticky this so any noobs to the forum can read it? :P

[Shadowstalker Grim]

Preds are I believe side armour 11, but that weakness is mitigated compared to the Vindicator by not having to move forward much, so except for outflanking units it doesn't have to worry about it as much.

 

Yup it is, must of had a mad moment! Thanks for pointing that out! I'll correct it now :P

[DarkGuard]

interesting stuff...maybe the mods could sticky this so any noobs to the forum can read it? :P

 

Thanks for the props, though it's a long way from being done. If you see something you like feel free to cover it B)

[chaplain belisarius]

im not really that much of a tactics guy...but thanks for the offer! :P

 

Ultimately though-marines are a jack of all trades army that leans heavily towards shooting but can do assault if it is tactically prudent to do so (like against guard or tau..)

 

thats pretty much it really...hope it helped!

[Shadowstalker Grim]

I'll tackle another lengthy one with Dreadnoughts:

 

Dreadnoughts

 

Wargear - A variety of different guns and a Close Combat arm with build in weapon OR a missile launcher OR a twin linked autocannon, with extra armour option being of worthy note.

 

Purpose - As an elite choice it picks a weapon from its slot and gets shooting, often works as a mobile weapons platform

 

The dreadnought is a tough beast and one of our best units, with an excellent array of weaponry and immune to small arms fire it makes for a fearsome foe in battle. Not to mention that all of this comes in a tidy and relatively cheap costing package. As one of our precious elite slots it faces some serious competition in why to take it, but there are many good reasons to. The dread can take heavy weapons and maintain a good speed, getting them in range effectively and avoiding drawbacks that can usually be associated with them. It's main job comes as either a firebase or as a mobile advance element.

 

Loadouts:

 

Rifleman - Twin Linked Autocannon, Twin Linked Autocannon: A favoured loadout for many, this equipment lets the dreadnought shoot from a fearsome range at light armour targets. The power of this unit comes from the mass of shots, despite their lower strength and makes it excellent at opening up transports and putting wounds into Monstrous Creatures. Weaker in close combat however

 

Assault Cannon, Dreadnought Close Combat Weapon (DCCW), Heavy Flamer: An excellent advance unit, this unit is great for mobilising with transports and can open fire with its shorter range assault cannon (which stands a good chance of killing both infantry and vehicles) whilst the heavy flamer and DCCW give it a punch in close quarter fighting.

 

Twin-Linked Lascannon, Missile Launcher: A more expensive rifleman, it stands a better chance of killing stronger vehicles, but has less output. However its combination makes it a fierce opponent. It can put less hurt out, but a better quality of it, the missile launcher gives it a reasonable ability at infantry

 

Multi-Melta, DCCW, Heavy Flamer: A tough unit that can target infantry and vehicles of all kinds and is quite cheap. The shorter range of the MM means that it benefits from a drop pod to get it closer, but it is by no means a neccessity and can work well without them. The AOBR box set dreadnought is almost the same as this, but loses the heavy flamer which does nullify the anti-infantry output somewhat.

 

Plasmacannon, DCCW, Heavy Flamer: Another useful mobile support element, it can drop a painful template on infantry (even mid-heavy) and vehicles and ignores the risks of plasma quite happily making this a generally useful home for it.

 

These are to name a few loadouts.

 

 

Strengths

 

The strengths of the dreadnought are obvious, a mobile heavy support platform that can bring us big guns that are more than capable of ripping to pieces a range of target quite happily and for rather a bargin price. The unit works best alongside other units to support them in their job and can make tacticals a bit more punchy. The fierce loadouts that can be given to the dreadnought mean that it happily kill of a wide number of targets easily.

 

Weaknesses

 

The weaknesses of the dreadnought are more subtle, but painful. The first problem is that it is only a single unit. This doesn't seem so bad, but the fact it is AV 12 for the most part means that actually the armour isn't particularly difficult to get rid of with proper anti-tank weaponry. It also means that to avoid the thing becoming a sitting duck it is almost a neccessity to take extra armour. Its singularity means that it is rather an obvious target and it draws that anti-tank fire. It is also suceptible to being hurt by hidden power fists and such weaponry which can tear it down in Close Combat, not only this but the ability to fight in close combat isn't great and indeed it can get stuck in combat with enemies who know they can't hurt it, purely because by the time it fights its way out it'll have done almost nothing toward the games result which will have nearly ended.

[Iron Father Ferrum]

This fit the framework you posted, but I figured I'd drop it in. This is my Thunderfire Cannon article from the most recent thread about said weapon. If you guys think it needs paring down, by all means let me know.

 

 

RAINING DEATH

Thunderfire Cannon

 

W

hile field artillery does not mesh well with Astartes combat doctrine, the Thunderfire Cannon's long range, compact size, and multi-use ammunition make is an indispensible tool for bombardments and defensive operations. It is limited, however, by its lack of mobility, fragile nature, and competition for other Heavy Support slots.

 

Basic Statistics

 

The Thunderfire Cannon is a powerful but fragile artillery piece that is, in my opinion, under-utilized by most Space Marine players. It's one-man crew has all of the rules and stock wargear of a Techmarine with a servo-harness. The cannon itself counts as a vehicle with AV10 all around that is destroyed by any glancing or penetrating hit. It can fire in three different weapon profiles, detailed below.

 

 

Special Rules

 

Independent Character: The Techmarine gains this if the Cannon is destroyed.

 

Blessing of the Omnissiah: The Techmarine gains this if the Cannon is destroyed.

 

Bolster Defenses: Yes, he gets Bolster Defenses, which means that a Master of the Forge and a Thunderfire Cannon in the same army list will allow you to reinforce the cover saves of two different ruins. One will make for a decent firing spot for the cannon itself; a good use for the other would be Camo Cloaked Scouts with sniper rifles to hold an objective, but that's neither here nor there.

 

 

Wargear Options

 

The Techmarine crewman, sadly, can take no extra wargear; but he doesn't truly need any, either. With a full servo-harness, he comes with artificer armor, two servo-arms, a flamer, and a twinlinked plasma pistol in addition to his standard bolt pistol (bear in mind that he can only fire two of his three weapons in the Shooting Phase). However, the cannon has three different types of ammunition it can fire at the enemy. All Cannon rounds fire at 60" and spit out four small blast templates. Remember that this weapon is straight Heavy 4, not a barrage weapon -- so you roll for scatter for all four shots separately, not doing the little scatter-flip thing like for barrage weapons. One of the biggest benefits of the multiple blasts is that it is easily able to generate enough hits to overcome that pesky wound allocation thing, which helps when you're desperate to take that meltagun/flamer/powerfist out of a squad. They also may excellent weapons to use against swarm bases, which suffer from vulnerability to blasts. I brought my TFC to a tournament once against a Necron player who ran lots of scarab swarms. . . none of which survived past turn three. They're rare to see, I know, but the point stands.

 

 

Tactical Recommendations

 

Surface Detonation: Surface rounds slaughter Imperial Guard, Orks, Tyranid Swarms, and Eldar Guardians, and with four templates, can put enough hits that wound on 2+ on a MEQ squad to overwhelm most player's ability to roll 3+ armor saves. It is even useful to knock around light vehicles such as Rhinos and Chimaeras (if you can get a side-armor shot), although this is far from ideal. I find that this is the preferred ammo type to use in general engagement situations, as its strength value and four blasts makes it effective against 80% of potential targets (barring only AV13+ vehicles). Aside from the obvious horde targets, Surface rounds get the best mileage when fired at units that forced to clump up, like troops piling out of an APC or newly-arrived deep strikers. Light vehicle squadrons like Land Speeders, War Walkers, and Vypers can be successfully engaged, but rely on good scatter to get the central hole over their hulls, which can be an iffy proposition depending on how the unit is spread out.

 

Airburst: Airburst rounds are designed to completely nerf units that rely on cover saves, such as Eldar Guardians, Rangers/Pathfinders, Guardsmen, and Gretchin squads. They still wound on a 2+ against GEQs (Guard Equivalent) and just like a flamer are not stopped by cover saves. This makes them eminently useful for pushing units like Rangers and Gretchin off of home deployment zone objectives. It also simplifies shooting through your own units, since the enemy cannot pull cover saves for it. This is an oft-overlooked benefit of the Airburst round, and I've seen at least two players deploy their TFCs on hilltops or roofs to present a "clearer field of fire." And while negating cover saves my appear to have limited benefits, consider the mathhammer difference in shooting at, say, Camo Cloaked Scouts or Rangers, both of which improve a standard 4+ cover save to a 3+ -- that's the difference between a Space Marine and a Stormtrooper.

 

Subterranean Detonation: Subterranean rounds are the most situational of the three ammo types available. This type of round is at its best when fired at Jump Infantry and Bike squads because it forces those units to take Difficult and Dangerous Terrain tests. I used this to good effect during the 2009 'Ard Boyz Tournament at my LGS when I was able to roll decently and put wounds on a Nob Biker squad. In the subsequent movement phase, the Ork player took several more wounds which resulted in the deaths of a couple bikers and opened the door for the Nobz to get pummelled by my Dreadnoughts on the next turn. Eldar -- and, I imagine, the new Dark Eldar -- come to despise the TFC since jetbikes and jump infantry really don't like those Dangerous Terrain tests. And since Sub-T rounds don't require damage to generate the tests -- just hits -- and effect the entire squad even if only one model is hit by a template, they are excellent for use against vehicles and vehicle squadrons. Bang some Sub-T rounds against a squadron of three Leman Russes and if they move, one is likely to fail and be Immobilized. . . and Immobilized vehicles in a Squadron are automatically destroyed. Pretty damn good for a Strength 4 shot, don't you think? Another good use of these is for slowing down assault units (Thunder Hammer/Storm Shield Terminators, here's looking at you) once they have been pulled from their transports by your fast melta/lascannons/etc. Units trying to enjoy the benefits of cover while advancing also roll one less die on Difficult Terrain tests when clipped by Sub-T rounds, so units with Slow and Purposeful become much slower and less purposeful.

 

 

Major Drawbacks

 

The Cannon is fragile, counting as an AV10 vehicle that is destroyed by ANY hit. The crewman may have a 2+ save, but he is also only a single wound. Like Elites, Heavy Support choices also tend to be at a premium, so the Cannon probably needs to be an integral part of an army list from the beginning or it will lose out to its bigger, better-armored brothers. Keeping it alive appears to be a challenge at first glance -- one of its biggest drawbacks according to its sometimes vociferous detractors -- so here are some tips to help out.

 

Cover Saves Are Your Friend. The Techmarine crewing the gun gets his Bolster Defences rule for a reason; use it. Placed wisely in the sort of blown-out, broken-down building that is ubiquitous on most 40K tables, it is easy to pull a 3+ cover save for the gun which is otherwise too easy to be destroyed (even by most non-Guard small arms!).

 

The Difference Between Cover and Concealment. Cover Saves are nice, but concealment is better. During deployment, if at all possible, place the Cannon out of line of sight of enemy weapons that able to range it, like lascannons, missile launchers, and rail guns. If your opponent brought a Whirlwind, see above.

 

Threat Meter Tends to Run Low. One of the psychological benefits of the Thunderfire is its rarity; when you first bring it out of the bag/box/case/whathaveyou, you're likely to encounter raised eyebrows and confused looks. Unfamiliarity is good, since people will underestimate it and not make any concerted attempt to kill it. This attitude is likely to change after a couple of games, though. The next step here is that you need to present bigger, more important targets. Players experienced in being subjected to TFC barrages tend to try to kill it fast, but its hard to worry about a two-model artillery piece when there is a Land Raider full of Hammernators or a quartet of Rhinos plowing towards their lines at full speed.

 

 

Closing Thoughts

 

Simply put, you either love the Thunderfire Cannon or hate it. Unlike units like Assault Squads and Razorbacks, no one includes Thunderfires just because they are all around decent units. They work best in static gunline armies, which have become rare amongst 5th Edition Space Marine players due to our inability to compete in gunnery duels with the Tau and Imperial Guard. However, they do remain one of the cheapest Heavy Support options in the entire Codex and make for decent filler if you find yourself with 100 free points and nothing left to do with them.

 

Also remember that even when the Cannon is destroyed, the Techmarine is capable of independent movement and can even join squads and conduct repairs.

 

 

Take It or Leave It: Take it if you have space. They tend to be ignored, since your opponent is likely to be shooting at your bigger, more expensive models like tanks, APCs, and Dreadnoughts.

 

 

Addendum

 

I just wanted to add a quick section about drop pods here at the end. Now while I have toyed with the idea of including a TFC or two in an all-pod army, I've never actually done it, so this is all just conjecture. You've been warned.

 

The reason I thought of this is that it is one of only two Heavy Support units that can deploy via drop pod; the other being Devastators, whose weapons tend to be quite expensive and thus rarely see use. The TFC, on the other hand, is a cheap 100 points (135 with a bare pod). By comparison, a minimum Devastator Squad with comparable killing power (say, 4x missile launchers) in a pod is 185. This relatively cheap point cost gives you an option for that all-important odd number of pods. As a move-or-fire weapon, you certainly must be aware of the fact that you won't be shooting the turn you come down, so if you want the most out of your podded TFC, bring it down with the first turn wave (preferrably behind some semblance of cover to improve survivability). A benefit to this sort of deployment is that the TFC will -- not should, will, you hear me? -- be coming down in your backfield while your forward elements are dropping in at close quarters with the enemy. His attention will most likely be on the units that are front and center, so you should be able to get the necessary one turn grace period to actually start shooting it.

 

Oh, and one other thing to remember. The artillery rules are unforgiving to the weapons themselves, but the Techmarine is fairly survivable here. Only a third of incoming shots will hit him, and he does have that 2+ save to protect him. If the gun is destroyed, never forget that the Gunner is now an Independent Character with all the benefits of a servo-harness.

[DarkGuard]

I remember that tactica Deus Ex Ferrum, excellent work there. As much as it pains me to say it but I would prefer all the entries to be along the same framework. Fortunately, you seem to have most of it covered, just under different sub-headings. If you want to change it to the framework yourself feel free, or I'll do so when I get the time, but it is an excellent tactica.

 

So that's Dreads and TFCs covered, and I think I'll crack on with Sternguard when I get the time, probably tomorrow. Thanks again to everyone who has contributed.

[LardO'Blood]

I feel this deserves a separate section (I don't have a huge amount of experience here but this is what I've garnered):

Venerable Dreadnoughts

 

This is a lean, mean killing machine. Like most lean, mean killing machines, you need to base your army around it, you can't throw it in at the last minute like a regular dreadnought, its just to expensive (About 64% more expensive). These guys should lumber up the front lines with an assault cannon and heavy flamer to use the extra BS on the assault cannon and the extra WS in close combat. You want to avoid units like TH/SS terminators that can kill it with all the high S attacks and that won't die to a DCCW. Your primary targets are MEQ, tactical terminators, lone carnifexes that are slightly weakened and elite power weapon units that lack S6+ close combat weapons like honor guard. I like attacking harlequins and tyranid warriors because of a smallish model count, lack of reliable invulnerable saves and you can make up your points quickly because often times people end up giving them expensive wargear (I love this because even if they get a lucky glance you can ignore it with the venerable rule). You want to avoid: anything that can melta you before you can assault, anything that will screw you in close combat like a MC or TH/SS terminators. Miscellaneous tips? Build your army around them and always take at least 2 if you are going to field them. Consider a MotF for up to 6.

 

It's brief but I think it sums it up well. I'll take a crack at land raiders tomorrow.

[DarkGuard]

Thanks for taking the time to write about the Venerable Dreadnought LardO'Blood, it's certainly a unit that I have no experience with. Just one point after reading it, and that would be to highlight that the Venerable does make it harder to destroy, and it is better in combat than a normal Dread due to higher WS, but still has the Dread's weakness of 2 attacks. I'm also not sure about how dangerous S6 weapons are. Sure they are better than krak grenades, requiring a 4 or possibly 3 to hit rather than a 6, but you are still hitting front armour and so can only hope to glance. Well worth mentioning though :).

 

Also, slightly related to what Deus Ex Ferrum has already asked, are people ok with allowing me and Shadowstalker Grim to edit their unit 101s when it comes to the final article, so that they conform to the unit guide layouts?

 

And on a different note, time to talk about Sternguard:

 

Sternguard Veterans

This unit is the pinnacle of Space Marine shootiness. Veterans of the 1st Company who specialise in engaging the enemy with boltgun rather than blade and pistol, the Sternguard are able to engage the enemy at all ranges, and engage a variety of enemies. Easily customizable, this is perhaps the most flexible unit in the Space Marine Codex, with the ability to be equipped to deal with all sorts of enemies and problems.

 

Wargear:

Sternguard are armed identically to tactical marines except in one respect, special ammunition. This special piece of equipment allows them to use different profiles while firing their bolters, and they can choose a different ammo each turn depending on the situation. In short, there are four different ammo types: Dragonfire, which is a normal bolter that ignores cover saves; Hellfire, which is a poisoned 2+ bolter; Kraken, which is a bolter with 30" range and AP4; and Vengeance, which has the shorter, 18" range and Gets Hot! but an AP of 3.

 

To complement this shooting two Sternguard models can choose from a range of special or heavy weaponary, including everything the tactical squad can take, in addition to heavy flamers, but unlike the tactical squad, they can take two special, or two heavy weapons, making them easier to tailor. Every model not upgraded in this way can take a combi-weapon for a cheap points cost. The sergeant has the same wargear options of a tactical squad with the notable addition of being able to choose a lightning claw.

 

It is also worth mentioning that each Sternguard Veteran has a veteran profile, meaning that each model has an extra attack and point of leadership over other Marines.

 

Strengths:

The main strength of the Sternguard squad is shooting. With their range of special ammunition Sternguard can reliably threaten every model in the game with the exception of tanks. Their dragonfire rounds take out units that rely on cover, their kraken rounds can lead to them outshooting Tau firewarriors, punching through their saves. Their vengeance rounds make them a viable threat against regular marines, while their hellfire rounds can kill nearly anything by virtue of causing a lot of wounds. Furthermore, they can pick up two specials, causing more wounds at close range, while their bolters can also stay nearly in range of some heavy weapons. Sternguard can also take weapon upgrades even if they number less than 10 men, making 5/6 man squads more viable.

 

Sternguard are also acceptable in combat, more so than tactical marines. With two attacks each, and the ability for their sergeant to take a special combat weapon they can hold their own in combat against a variety of enemies, save dedicated assault units and MCs. They also have the Marine stat line, and so their armour save and toughness is superior to many other races.

 

But one of the things that make Sternguard really dangerous are combi-weapons. With access to cheap combi-weapons, which do not override their special ammo, Sternguard can become an either better threat. Combi-flamers help complement their anti-infantry element, while combi-plasmas make them even more reliable against MEQ and allow them to threaten Terminators and MCs a lot more than they used too. Combi-meltas also allow them to threaten the one thing they normally cannot, tanks. All in all, the flexibility of Sternguard can make them a dangerous unit to use.

 

It is also worth mentioning that Pedro Kantor can make Sternguard units scoring, further increasing their worth to the Space Marine army.

 

Weaknesses:

One of the Sternguard's main weakness is surprisingly, their Marine stat line. They die just as easily as regular Marines, and with them being such a threat opponent's are sure to divert some attention towards them. Furthermore, they are best up close, leading them to being vulnerable to assault. While they aren't terrible in assault, dedicated units such as Genestealers, Howling Banshees and even Terminators will destroy them. Also, each turn they spend in assault is a turn that they cannot use their special ammo and special weapons against the enemy. Mobility can also be an issue, and they tend to require transport of some kind to enable them to get within maximum shooting range.

 

A basic squad will also struggle against tanks and walkers, needing to be in assault to even stand a chance of damaging them.

 

Common builds:

It is hard to say too much about common builds, the Sternguard being so flexible. Furthermore, opinion on combi-weapons is varied and some people take different amounts. Therefore, for each common build I shall only state the special or heavy weapons taken, and mention the combi-weapon/s that go well with it.

 

Dual heavy flamer: sometimes taken with combi-flamers and/or combi-meltas, this unit can put serious hurt on infantry units, decimating them through making them take loads of saves. Vulkan can make this build particularly devastating by twin-linking their main weapons.

 

Dual meltagun: often taken with a couple of combi-meltas for added effect, some people take combi-flamers as well. This unit doesn't compromise much of it's anti-infantry killing potential while making it more devastating and more of a constant threat against tanks, MCs and Terminators.

 

Dual plasma cannon: normally taken on small 5/6 man squads, this unit is a cheap Devastator variant, using cheap plasma cannons to form a firebase unit. Sometimes taken with Pedro to allow this unit to camp on objectives.

 

Dual lascannon: a variant of the plasma cannon squad, but utilises cheap lascannons to sniper tanks from long-range.

 

Standard but with combis: Many people only use combis, preferring to keep their entire squad with special ammo, perhaps the best rule they have access too. This compromises the killing power of some of the more specialized squads while still being a threat to everything on the board.

 

Many people also take power fists on their sergeants as they are a prime target for combat. In squads being run alongside Pedro or Lysander, lightning claws are better due to the inclusion of a power fist/ thunder hammer already.

 

 

 

I hope that's about it for Sternguard, and that I haven't been too biased. They are perhaps my favourite unit in the Codex. I'll think of something else to do next, possibly Libbys.

[Shadowstalker Grim]

Ok i'm going to try my hand at LotD, though actually I know very little about them and have never used them!

 

 

Legion of the Damned

 

Wargear: Various heavy and special weapons options, 1 heavy and 1 special allowed per squad

 

Purpose: Drawing fire and taking enemies off/holding vital points

 

 

The Legion of the Damned are somewhat of an enigma by story standards and indeed by game standards. They start off in reserve and deep strike (reasonably reliably) every game. They can be armed in a similar fashion to a tactical squad but are comparatively more in cost, though they can take their heavy and special slots in a 5 man squad AND fire them on the go as they are slow and purposeful. They are a tough unit and will take fairly considerable fire to remove them from the field as they have an invulnerable save similar to that of a storm shield (3++)

 

Loadouts: This tends to be similar to a tactical squad, though usually any combination is reasonable thanks to slow and purposeful, firing on the go!

 

Strengths:

Deep striking in where they are most needed this unit is able to start smashing faces the moment it lands and with slow and purposeful it can move around and open fire with its heavy weapons. This leaves the unit able to really cause some threats. The unit having a strong invulnerable save means that they can soak up a good amount of fire and still keep trucking without too much trouble.

 

Weaknesses:

The major weakness of the LotD is that they are VERY costly for what they do. In effect they are a glorified, stronger tactical squad, that is unable to score. The price sadly makes them hard to utilise effectively as their damage output it smaller than some of the other elite choices, though they do have some decent survivability in trade off! Slow and Purposeful is a double edged sword and will cause the squad to count as if moving through difficult terrain however, which slows the squad dramatically. Forcing them to deep strike also means that they are being used as later game support and they are locked into this role as they cannot deploy convetionally.

[Shadowstalker Grim]

I'll also do another one I quite like:

 

 

Assault Squads

 

Wargear: Sergeant has regular options, every 5 marines the squad can take either a flamer or plasma pistol, can take jump packs OR a rhino

 

Purpose: An assault oriented sweeper squad, great as a close combat support unit or taking enemies off of objectives

 

 

Assault squads aren't melee specialists as the name suggests and are more akin to a tactical squad really. They are more like a fighting tactical squad and use their speed and special weapons to kill enemies off. With plasma pistols they can take out light vehicles nicely, whilst with flamers they excel at killing hordes. Their modest melee capability means that they can easily finish off weakened squads and against weaker enemies they can just tear to pieces whole squads.

 

Loadouts:

 

2 x Flamers - Excelling at killing off larger squads and blowing enemies off of objectives it can hurt hordes and the two templates will probably even hurt medium infantry too

 

2 x Plasma pistols - Useful for taking out light vehicles or gunning medium and heavy infantry, though at a risk to the users. The sergeant has the option of the plasma pistol which increases the effectiveness of the plasma in the squad!

 

 

Strengths

 

The assault squad combines all the excellent qualities of a marine with a more mobile fighting capacity. Their jump packs mean that they can easily support other squads and react to the changing battlefield. They can swap their packs for a rhino or drop for free to give them better protection and maintain mobility. The loadout options they have allow them to take on a range of foes, although flamers compliment them excellently. With a powerfist in combination they have even more punching power and threaten vehicles. The squad can also deep strike and are very likely to kill off weaker squads and take objectives. The captain also has the rarer option of a thunder hammer or a pair of lightning claws which are harder to find pieces for but are very powerful, the hammer against tough foes and vehicles, the claws against rank and file infantry and both compliment the squad well!

 

 

Weaknesses

 

The weakness of the squad is that it isn't as melee based as it could be, it can't take specialist weaponry and if thrown against other melee specialists they will probably shatter. Even heavy infantry will probably prove too tough for this unit. Also it lacks any form of proper shooting so is forced to take enemies on in the close quarters.

[DarkGuard]

Cheers for doing them Grim, the LotD are of course a tricky one to 101. I've got to rush unfortunately, but a couple of things you may have missed out on Assault squads is that the sergeant can take a thunder hammer, which is kind of better than the power fist, and with the dual plasma load out I think it's more common to see it as tri plasma, with a pistol on the sergeant, though that is risky. Also, I'm pretty sure they can choose any dedicated transport, its just that Rhinos are preferred so you can take 10 men. Other than that it looks good.

[Shadowstalker Grim]

Nicely caught DarkGuard, changes made! I was in a rush there too! Assault squads only get a rhino or drop pod for free though, everything else is more pricey :D

 

I'll convert this into a useful post:

 

 

Rhino:

 

Wargear - Standard vehicle equipment, storm bolters, extra armour and hunter killer missile are notable options

 

Purpose - Transporting foot soldiers reliably accross the battlefield with a capacity for 10 men

 

 

The Rhino is our iconic transport unit, capable of mobilising our most important units and giving them a safe haven to shield from enemy fire. Obviously it is target for the juicy contents rather than the actual unit itself, but it is quite handily a very cheap unit so if it does happen to explode it won't have cost you much. Of course this also means there isn't much reason not to take them!

 

 

Loadout: Storm Bolter, any additional choices (Generally not needed)

 

Strengths:

 

Able to carry up to 10 men this will accomodate the vast majority of squads quite easily. Its reasonable armour isn't going to keep it alive forever, but saves the squad from small arms fire and can deploy them rather rapidly. It's biggest strength is that it is a cheap and all round reliable transport which can be taken as a dedicated transport for many of our units

 

Weaknesses:

 

The rhino isn't particularly durable and can collapse quite easily to firepower that can take out armour. It also is unable to be taken for some units. Of course the other thing about this vehicle is that it can only take 10 men, which means if we want a special character in addition to the squad, it cannot run at full strength or in the tacticals case (which can run up to 12 men) it cannot take the full squad!

[Validar]

As a blood raven player I get around the libbys a lot, so I think I'll give these a go. Feel free to correct me if I am wrong, though :P

 

Librarians

 

Wargear: Psychic hood, force weapon

 

Purpose: support, ranged and melee

 

It is difficult to define the Librarian as such, since he fulfills quite a few roles and his main strength isn't anywhere specific, but can be defined through choice of powers.

 

Loadouts:

 

Psychic powers:

 

For the most useful there is:

The Avenger - AP 3 template goodness takes out anything but elite infantry. You'll basically find yourself roasting your way through even power armor, no cover saves allowed. An excellent power.

 

Null Zone - one of the best support powers, if not the very best. Rerolling invul. saves can be vital when taking out enemy deathstar units. Needless to say, this power needs to be combined with something that ignores regular armor saves, usually a CC unit loaded with power weapons. Remember that this power can be used from within a vehicle and doesn't require any form of LoS.

 

Curse of the Machine Spirit - a simple point 'n' shoot power that lets you shackle vehicles. Great potential against armor 13-14 if you need to stop that Land Raider's advance or keep that vindicator from burning your terminators. Downside is that the squad the Librarian is working with will have to shoot at the vehicle aswell, no matter how slight their odds of damaging it is.

 

The Gate of Infinity - another support spell, this time for movement. Rapid redeploy can be very effective, both for bringing units in and out of combat [though you can argue if Gate can teleport you out of CC, discuss this with your opponent], and it benifits from locator beacons, which makes the travel much safer. Deep striking is not without its downsides and the risk of scatter needs to be taken into calculations when employing this power.

 

Wargear:

You really don't want to buy a gun for your Librarian. The shooting powers in the codex are simply too good to be ignored.

The Librarian performs a close range shooting role fairly well through his powers alone. He also prevails in close combat with his force weapon (essentially a powerweapon 80% of the time) with the power to instagib multiwound characters/units!

 

Terminator armor: A great choice for the librarian, giving him a thing he lacks a lot otherwise: An invul. save! This can be even further enhanced by giving him a Stormshield aswell which turns him from a very fragile choice to a very resilient one. Getting into terminator armor also gives you relentless, which opens up for the possibility of using Vortex of Doom - a very powerful (albeit somewhat risky) power, remember that you run the risk of scatter as always and placing the blast marker on top of yourself.

Terminator comes at a price however. With the loss of power armor goes the ability to deploy in rhinos/razors which limits the units that the librarian will be joining up with. The only way of getting your librarian across the field (where his abilities will be put to best use) is in a Land Raider, which is expensive in itself.

 

Jump Pack: Gets your librarian where he needs to be - close up and personal. The problem is that he needs to join a unit with jump packs to be effective. Since you'll be likely to put your vanguards in reserve to use their heroic intervention or in a transport to keep them from getting shot to slagger, the assault marines seems like an obvious choice. This also limits the units your libby will be joining a lot.

 

Bike: Same problem as above, you'll need a biker unit to join. Relentless opens up for Vortex again.

 

Epistolary: Both your psychic powers each turn. If there is a great combo between your powers, you can go for this, but generally it doesn't seem like an optimal choice. You usually only get to use one power each turn (even when considering the use of the force weapon), and the upgrade is by no means cheap.

 

 

Strengths

 

Price. The Librarian is a very cheap HQ because he performs so well without any wargear at all. His psychic powers in themself make him a force to be reckoned with and makes up for the lack of an invul. save by far.

 

Utility. in adition to his powers, the psychic hood provides an effective defence against enemy psykers. Just about half of the time your enemy's powers will simply be disrupted.

 

Multi-purpose. Your librarian works great when shooting (ideally roughly within rapid fire range, like most marines), great in assaults (with his force weapon) and gives you utility abilities on top of it all

 

Weaknesses

 

Invul. save. lacking this means a simple missile launcher sends you off the field.

[Validar]

As a blood raven player I get around the libbys a lot, so I think I'll give these a go. Feel free to correct me if I am wrong, though :P

 

Librarians

 

Wargear: Psychic hood, force weapon

 

Purpose: support, ranged and melee

 

It is difficult to define the Librarian as such, since he fulfills quite a few roles and his main strength isn't anywhere specific, but can be defined through choice of powers.

 

Loadouts:

 

Psychic powers:

 

For the most useful there is:

The Avenger - AP 3 template goodness takes out anything but elite infantry. You'll basically find yourself roasting your way through even power armor, no cover saves allowed. An excellent power.

 

Null Zone - one of the best support powers, if not the very best. Rerolling invul. saves can be vital when taking out enemy deathstar units. Needless to say, this power needs to be combined with something that ignores regular armor saves, usually a CC unit loaded with power weapons. Remember that this power can be used from within a vehicle and doesn't require any form of LoS.

 

Curse of the Machine Spirit - a simple point 'n' shoot power that lets you shackle vehicles. Great potential against armor 13-14 if you need to stop that Land Raider's advance or keep that vindicator from burning your terminators. Downside is that the squad the Librarian is working with will have to shoot at the vehicle aswell, no matter how slight their odds of damaging it is.

 

The Gate of Infinity - another support spell, this time for movement. Rapid redeploy can be very effective, both for bringing units in and out of combat [though you can argue if Gate can teleport you out of CC, discuss this with your opponent], and it benifits from locator beacons, which makes the travel much safer. Deep striking is not without its downsides and the risk of scatter needs to be taken into calculations when employing this power.

 

Wargear:

You really don't want to buy a gun for your Librarian. The shooting powers in the codex are simply too good to be ignored.

The Librarian performs a close range shooting role fairly well through his powers alone. He also prevails in close combat with his force weapon (essentially a powerweapon 80% of the time) with the power to instagib multiwound characters/units!

 

Terminator armor: A great choice for the librarian, giving him a thing he lacks a lot otherwise: An invul. save! This can be even further enhanced by giving him a Stormshield aswell which turns him from a very fragile choice to a very resilient one. Getting into terminator armor also gives you relentless, which opens up for the possibility of using Vortex of Doom - a very powerful (albeit somewhat risky) power, remember that you run the risk of scatter as always and placing the blast marker on top of yourself.

Terminator comes at a price however. With the loss of power armor goes the ability to deploy in rhinos/razors which limits the units that the librarian will be joining up with. The only way of getting your librarian across the field (where his abilities will be put to best use) is in a Land Raider, which is expensive in itself.

 

Jump Pack: Gets your librarian where he needs to be - close up and personal. The problem is that he needs to join a unit with jump packs to be effective. Since you'll be likely to put your vanguards in reserve to use their heroic intervention or in a transport to keep them from getting shot to slagger, the assault marines seems like an obvious choice. This also limits the units your libby will be joining a lot.

 

Bike: Same problem as above, you'll need a biker unit to join. Relentless opens up for Vortex again.

 

Epistolary: Both your psychic powers each turn. If there is a great combo between your powers, you can go for this, but generally it doesn't seem like an optimal choice. You usually only get to use one power each turn (even when considering the use of the force weapon), and the upgrade is by no means cheap.

 

 

Strengths

 

Price. The Librarian is a very cheap HQ because he performs so well without any wargear at all. His psychic powers in themself make him a force to be reckoned with and makes up for the lack of an invul. save by far.

 

Utility. in adition to his powers, the psychic hood provides an effective defence against enemy psykers. Just about half of the time your enemy's powers will simply be disrupted.

 

Multi-purpose. Your librarian works great when shooting (ideally roughly within rapid fire range, like most marines), great in assaults (with his force weapon) and gives you utility abilities on top of it all

 

Weaknesses

 

Invul. save. lacking this means a simple missile launcher sends you off the field.