Assault Marine Configuration

[KrMaH]

I am, in two days, going to buy 10 assault marines. And to make them a bit killy i want to throw in some armour ignoring weapons and some hard hitting stuff.

For the sarge I am seriously considering spending 30 pts on a plasma pistol and a PW or LC. Now. I have done my research, and accepted the fact that the LC is going to perform better against high toughness units while the PW is better against lower. Personally i like the LC's, but considering im likely to be playing alot of dark eldar, guardsmen and orks the PW seems like the best choice. The reason why i dont like the power fist is that i dont like to hit at initiative 1. what do you guys think?

And then comes the regular ass marines: I want them to be as hard hitting as possible (ive considered getting some magnets, but this is impossible in my country if im not to buy them off ebay and then i'm getting them quite too late) and somehow want two plasma rifles (five armour ignoring wounding on 2s seems awesomesauce!), but this wouldnt let me charge, even though most 10 man units would not like being hit by 5 plasma shots and 7 bolt pistol shots. Then comes the melta's... this would make my marines awesome tank hunters, and ignore all armour plus wound most things on a 2 and let me charge (letting me use that LC or PW for the sarge as well). this wouldnt be as devestating, but the charge would kill a few dudes as well. and then comes the flamer... perfect against swarms, and would generally inflict lots of wounds, but not autokill anything, and not neglect armour saves... but still let me charge... ignores cover saves though, which is nice against guardsmen and other stuff hiding in cover...

 

but what do you guys think?

[RebG]

To be honest dude it depends what you want them to do. For me, if you want them assaulty then leave the plasma behind. Either with their jump packs or in a cheap transport you generally want the charge and need to keep moving - standing 10guys still to rapid fire the plasma is gonna leave you plenty vulnerable as sitting ducks. Youre better off getting a priest near by, taking the other special weapons and getting the powerful charge after shots.

 

If you REALLY want to run plasma then i guess you could combat squad those two together for a more suppirting half but them your assault power is diminished which kinda defeats the point again.

 

I'd keep the squad free of the plasma guns. I run melta, flamer fist and melta, flamer 2x claw and like the versatility of the two running together. I love plasma too though so I do have it in the army but it's carried by the dev's.

 

If you really want the plasma squad with some assault ability I'd go with an honour guard and run them in support of 10 RAS.

 

What ever you choose, have fun.

[Res Ipsa Loquitur]

I don't like PF on RAS Sergeants. Too expensive and my RAS don't get into a position where they'd need a PF anyway, unless I mess something up. I take the PW and I think, given that two of your most likely enemies are T3, you'll be better off with the extra A over re-rolling failed wounds. I also don't like plasma pistols because they always, always kill my sarge instead of the guy he's aiming at.

 

I seem to be in a minority for the guns; I take two Infernus pistols per RAS squad. I happen to think they're great but I don't play against hyper-optimised lists so your experiences may vary.

[Volcatus]

I'm solidly in the Fist/Meltagun/Meltagun camp. The meltaguns are great all-purpose guns, which RAS really need. They get their anti-horde from pistol shots and charging. Plasmaguns don't allow you to charge after firing, wasting the strength of the rest of the unit. Meltaguns, on the other hand, provide fewer low-AP shots than plasma, but they can also Instant Death T4 (Paladins). They also provide the obvious: proper anti-tank, which plasmaguns lack.

 

The Fist is a no-brainer in a 10 man RAS, as far as I'm concerned. With it, you can fight almost anything with varying margins of success. Without it, they auto-lose against Dreadnoughts and such. Also, they provide those Instant Death hits that can be important in some match-ups.

[Sokhar]

Volcatus made almost every point I was intending to post, so +1 to his post.

 

The one thing I'd add is that striking at initiative 1 with the power fist (or at least different from the rest of the squad) are that the armor-ignoring wounds don't get allocated away. While a power weapon/claw can guarantee a kill by ignoring armor, it will almost never kill more than 1 (or at most 2) models in a single round because the number of hits the rest of the squad generates will allow your opponent to allocate them away, stacking all the powered wounds on a sergeant or special weapon-carrying member of the squad. Striking by himself at I1 becomes an advantage where every successful hit and wound will kill a model unless they have an invul save.

 

And just skip plasma pistols. They cost too much to be effective, and you run the risk of killing your expensive sergeant with an overheat.

[Drunken Angel]

Volcatus made almost every point I was intending to post, so +1 to his post.

 

The one thing I'd add is that striking at initiative 1 with the power fist (or at least different from the rest of the squad) are that the armor-ignoring wounds don't get allocated away. While a power weapon/claw can guarantee a kill by ignoring armor, it will almost never kill more than 1 (or at most 2) models in a single round because the number of hits the rest of the squad generates will allow your opponent to allocate them away, stacking all the powered wounds on a sergeant or special weapon-carrying member of the squad. Striking by himself at I1 becomes an advantage where every successful hit and wound will kill a model unless they have an invul save.

 

And just skip plasma pistols. They cost too much to be effective, and you run the risk of killing your expensive sergeant with an overheat.

 

What these 2 have said. A RAS sgt with a power fist is a 10 ablative wound model, initiative one doesnt matter against models that strike against the RAS first anyway. Meltaguns all they way and an infernus pistol on your Sgt if you have spare points.

If you want your RAS to be hard hitting after taking a power fist or hammer and 2 meltaguns make sure you have priests nearby.

 

I like to take a power fist storm shield Sgt with 2 meltaguns they can handle almost everything a RAS may be tasked with

[Demoulius]

i generally use dual MG+fist squads....and add either a priest or liby, or both to that squad....no problem hitting hard at all B) since i only have 1 such squad in my army its a huge bullet magnet so the characters are needed to keep thhe squad somewhat alive. dont underresitmate hitting at I5 and S5 however. it can be reall killer to numerous things. can mess up T6 monstrous creatures as well! (and since most new MC's are that....)

 

but basicly what im saying is.... the dual melta+PF squad can take care off anything. while for example a dual flamer + PW/LC squad could only take care of GEQ very well. if they would be faced with lets say... a walker they would be in a world of hurt...

 

so uh...+1 to whats already been said :D

 

though id like to add that ive tried out a 10 man assault squad packless in a rhino with 2 plasmaguns for the rapid fire goodness and it er....wasent exactly what i was hoping for....not even in the slightest :) hardly ever will the 4 plasmashots be worth your unit not charging... and flamers? unless your opponent is very unlucky with armour rolls from them they generally arent worth it. if your opponent has a 5+ or 6+ save you generally wont need the extra kills the flamer gives either as they will die insanely hard in combat as well :)

[The Yncarne]

I have to agree with the arguments from Volcatus and Demoulius. The PF/MG/MG configuration is the best all-round option in my experience. I almost always runs at least two squads with that configuration. In some circumstances, the PW/FL/FL combo is best. But in general, those scenarios rarely come up so that unit comes out only in Apocalypse games. If we played City Fight or with more bunkers, then the flamers might come out more often.

 

I believe the OP should also consider the rest of his army and how he expects it to work with his assault squad. I build my army around my assault squads so my HQ units and Priests' role is to wring everything out of my assault squads. You may play them differently.

[undeadfilth]

2 Meltaguns and a power fist. comes in at 235 i think? but you have a fast moving squad that can neutralize any threat presented to it. won many a tourney just running several squads like this with a jp pw priest.

[pararanger]

I've had a lot of luck running with 2 Plasma pistols and giving the Sergeant a Power Weapon and (as much as I get laughed at for it) a Combat Shield. The invuln. save has actually pulled my butt from the jaws of defeat enough times to justify the choice.

[Blitzkrieg861]

You can't play wound allocation shenanigans vs power fists, the attacks are at a lower initiative so 3 wounds means 3 dead guys. Power weapons, lightning claws, etc you can play games against because it's all the same intiative as your other non power weapon attacks.

[Volcatus]

I've had a lot of luck running with 2 Plasma pistols and giving the Sergeant a Power Weapon and (as much as I get laughed at for it) a Combat Shield. The invuln. save has actually pulled my butt from the jaws of defeat enough times to justify the choice.

 

Crazy but true, proving that anything can happen in 40k. :tu:

[pararanger]

I've had a lot of luck running with 2 Plasma pistols and giving the Sergeant a Power Weapon and (as much as I get laughed at for it) a Combat Shield. The invuln. save has actually pulled my butt from the jaws of defeat enough times to justify the choice.

 

Crazy but true, proving that anything can happen in 40k. ;)

 

Thankfully, Crazy seems to favor me in most matches.

[Morticon]

The 235 squad for the win. That is my standard.

Where I have spare points, Ill make it a thunderhammer instead and if im playing big games, or games with Dante, I may even throw in an Infernus on the Sarge- but thats a rarity.

[JamesI]

The 235 squad for the win. That is my standard.

Where I have spare points, Ill make it a thunderhammer instead and if im playing big games, or games with Dante, I may even throw in an Infernus on the Sarge- but thats a rarity.

This.

 

Normal assault squads are fist, melta, melta. Dante's assault squad is hammer, melta, melta and sometimes infernus.

 

I have another assault squad that is fist, hand flamer, flamer, flamer but I find I rarely use it preferring the melta squads.

[DextrousWombat]

I run a rhino mounted unit with Fist, Hand Flamer, Meltagun at 9 men with a power weapon priest. Does a lot of damage and hides in their metal box quite effectively as well.

 

My Jump pack squad is generally Power Weapon, Melta Bombs, Infernus, Infernus, Hand Flamer and that isnt too shabby either; granted its close range but its great just before a charge. Not being able to assault depends on what you do to set them up for it, personally I try and position them about 2 inches away from multiple models of an enemy unit.

[Bartali]

I am, in two days, going to buy 10 assault marines.....

 

Just in case these are your first boxes of assault marines, they don't come with many of the options. Each box contains Power Weaponx2, Power Fist, Combat Shield, Plasma Pistolx2, Bolt Pistolx5, Chainswordx5.

 

As others have said Meltagunx2, Power Weapon/Fist (depening on your list) is the best configuration.

[Warbringer]

I love the 2MG / PF assault squads but i do feel its a shame that it is the best load out by far. everything else I've tried just isn't as useful

[librisrouge]

I've had a bit of success trying flamers on Assault Marines. Lets them do mean, brutal things to hordes before they charge on in.

[OhKillerRabbit]

How would you guys run a squad of Assault Marines thats just supposed to capture flags? the classic melta/melta/fist?

[Demoulius]

How would you guys run a squad of Assault Marines thats just supposed to capture flags? the classic melta/melta/fist?

eh....capture flags? :)

[t4play]

I am, in two days, going to buy 10 assault marines.....

 

Just in case these are your first boxes of assault marines, they don't come with many of the options. Each box contains Power Weaponx2, Power Fist, Combat Shield, Plasma Pistolx2, Bolt Pistolx5, Chainswordx5.

 

As others have said Meltagunx2, Power Weapon/Fist (depening on your list) is the best configuration.

Where do you source these from?

[SGK]

You can buy them from the Gee Dub online store, order them in to your FLGS from GW or just save them up from Tac squad boxes. Forge world also make some in a special weapons pack, theres also Ebay or swapping with other players in your area but the pack of five from GW is handy

[t4play]

You can buy them from the Gee Dub online store, order them in to your FLGS from GW or just save them up from Tac squad boxes. Forge world also make some in a special weapons pack, theres also Ebay or swapping with other players in your area but the pack of five from GW is handy

Cheers . .

[SGK]

Glad I could help, enjoy melta ey goodness