Space Marines in 6th edition

[Terrified Templar]

Well as it became apparent to me that I am currently stuck in a 5th edition mindset and I am having no luck in brainstorming any ideas of what to field in 6th edition (ok I know 6th has been out for awhile but I haven't been able to do any gaming in the past few months and the only battle of 6th I fought were when everyone in my group was still coming to grips with the 6th edition). Two of our honored brothers have given me some food for thought but I would like to hear what else we can do. So if you have any ideas and/or tactics that work in 6th I would love to hear about them.

 

Sincerely a battle brother in need of guidance

[Giga]

Every unit that sucked before still sucks. Mid-to-long range shooting is still your best bet, since our biggest advantage is that we can field lots of cheap shooting units like predators, vindicators, rifleman dreads, typhoon speeders, multimelta attack bikes, conversion beamer master of the forge etc. Our assault capabilities are still crap and assault terminators are worse than before but you still want them because they're the only cost-efficient unit in our dex that can deal with the nasty cc units (and even troop choices) other armies have. Tactical squads now are considerably better due to changes to combat squads (two combat squads can ride in the same rhino now) + rhinos are now overall better because of increased speed and snap shots. Imperial Guard allies work really well with us.

 

Now, it would really help if you could give us an example of the sort of list you like to run, so we can give you suggestions.

[Terrified Templar]

I am so sorry it has taken me so long to reply, I wasn't able to get much sleep the past few days and I crashed earlier today but I am all good now.

 

I am aiming for an army that can perform long to mid range shooting with a few units that can go at close range via shooting or close combat if the need arises.

[SupremeVeteran]

If you want a good long range unit that is rather hardy, get devastators as the can destroy hordes with ML or you can get scouts to infiltrate into a building to get a cover save (+1 cover for camo cloaks) and they can pick off CC nasties with a good use of both ML and Sniper Rifle.

[DarkGuard]

Sounds a little similar to my army. In that case use preds, rifleman dreads and typhoons with Devs for long range, and Sternguard, Tactical Squads and plasma Command squads for up close, using Rhinos to make it there. Make sure to include some anti-air of some kind.

[Giga]

@ Terrified Templar

 

Hehe, that's exactly the sort of list I'm running these days. This is an optimization of the one I'm taking to a local tournament on saturday:

 

Librarian - terminator armor, null zone, vortex of doom

Tactical Squad - flamer, combiflamer, plasma cannon, rhino

Tactical Squad - flamer, combiflamer, plasma cannon, rhino

Tactical Squad - flamer, combiflamer, plasma cannon, rhino

Assault terminators - hammers & shields

Dreadnought - 2x twinlinked autocannon

Attack Bike Squadron - 3x multimelta

Vindicator

Vindicator

Land Raider Godhammer - multimelta

Aegis Defense Line - quad gun

TOTAL: 1850

 

Combat squad the tacticals to give plasma cannons good firing lanes and camp objectives. Turbo boost rhinos or maybe even attack bikes to give vindicators & land raider cover at end of every shooting phase. Destroy transports with quad gun, rifleman, land raider, and attack bikes, then vaporize the passengers with vindicators, plasma cannons, and vortex. Against hordes just shoot the crap out of them and then when they come close roast them with flamers. Flamer/combiflamer combat squads go for objectives in the middle/enemy deployment zone/linebreaker. The entire list shoots from 48-30" range. The terminators are a situational thing, they're there to kill or tie down something big & scary and to serve as a deterrent for your opponent who wants to come close, so you'll want to position that land raider more or less in the middle of your army so terminators can get wherever they're needed in one turn - keep in mind though, 9 times out of 10 they'll be wiped out or near so by the end of the game, it's just the way it is for them. Vortex of doom is just something I'm testing ATM so it's not necessary if you don't like it, you can do just fine with The Avenger instead (in which case you don't truly need terminator armor either, just take good care of your libby since he's your warlord). Depending on metagame & preference you can also give some tacticals meltagun/combimelta and replace attack bikes with combipred or another rifleman dreadnought.

 

 

 

@ SupremeVeteran

 

I wouldn't recommend devastators because, frankly, they're overpriced, predators do a better job for less, and in this age of flamers & screamers of tzeench, expensive infantry units outside of vehicles is a big NO NO imho.

[DarkGuard]

Devs aren't that bad, although Preds did get a boost as they're harder to stun. But I still think that 5 Devs with 3 MLs for 135pts isn't bad. It isn't great, but they can be put in places that Preds can't, and they can't be stunned (although that is less likely).

[Terrified Templar]

@SupremeVeteran

 

I have used a dev squad with mixed success but to be fair my last few games have been where my gaming group and myself still were trying to adjust to 6th so I don't know how they will hold up now. I also have a scout sniper squad that hasn't been in battle yet but that will change very soon. Thanks for the advice

 

 

@DarkGuard

 

I need to get my hands on some preds at some point, what setup would you recommend? The rifleman dread setup it something I would like to try. Thanks for the advice.

 

 

@Giga

 

That list looks pretty great, good luck to you at the tournament. The Aegis Defense Line is something I need to get, hopefully before the Chaos Space Marine player in my group gets his hands on some Heldrakes *shudder*. Thanks for the advice

[Muctar]

The Combi-Pred is a very popular choice. Autocannon turret with lascannon sponsons. It's an extremely effective choice against targets with an AV of 12 and below, with decreasing returns as the AV of the target increases. In the absence of vehicles to shoot at it can support other units at taking out monstrous creatures or anything with high T and good armour save. For an equal amount of points anywhere else in the codex it's hard to outperform.

[Giga]

@ Terrified Templar

 

Sadly, I don't have the aegis defense line or the 3rd attack bike yet, hence why I said it was an optimized version of my tournament list. In my tournament version of the list, I have a combipred instead of the aegis defense line, 2 attack bikes in the squadron, dozer blades on vindicators, and storm shield on libby.

 

However, I am still wondering if maybe getting a bastion would be a better idea. A bastion with a quad gun costs only 25 pts more than an aegis defense line with a quad gun, but I'm not sure if it's really worth it since I can use the defense line to hide my tanks behind it. :S

[DarkGuard]

For Preds, either the dakka pred (autocannon and heavy bolters) or the combi pred (autocannon and lascannons). TL-LC is too expensive, and if you take one gun you might as well take a Razorback.

[Puhnupetteri]

Atleast i have noticed that almost every army you will face is scared AP1 str 10 plate that vindicator offers. I would recommend this addition to any army that follow emperors!

 

It comes cheaper than combi pred too !

[Axagoras]

Atleast i have noticed that almost every army you will face is scared AP1 str 10 plate that vindicator offers. I would recommend this addition to any army that follow emperors!

 

It comes cheaper than combi pred too !

Its ap 2 but close enough.

[Muctar]

There aren't many problems that a demolisher cannon can't solve.

[maturin]

...except for multiwound Monstrous Creatures. The demolisher only takes one wound off....and then they wreck your Vindi. :(

[Terrified Templar]

I agree that demolisher cannons can solve just about any problem out there (well except for flyers and MCs) the only thing I don't like is that it is 24" range but other then that it's great, I'll try and run a vindi or two next time my group gets to together.

[Muctar]

...except for multiwound Monstrous Creatures. The demolisher only takes one wound off....and then they wreck your Vindi.

Yes. That's why I didn't say all problems

I agree that demolisher cannons can solve just about any problem out there (well except for flyers and MCs) the only thing I don't like is that it is 24" range but other then that it's great, I'll try and run a vindi or two next time my group gets to together.

I say if you're going to run them, take two. A lone vindi usually gets blown up right away, but two are much more difficult to deal with as an opponent.

[PaganLinuxGeek]

...except for multiwound Monstrous Creatures. The demolisher only takes one wound off....and then they wreck your Vindi.

Yes. That's why I didn't say all problems

I agree that demolisher cannons can solve just about any problem out there (well except for flyers and MCs) the only thing I don't like is that it is 24" range but other then that it's great, I'll try and run a vindi or two next time my group gets to together.

I say if you're going to run them, take two. A lone vindi usually gets blown up right away, but two are much more difficult to deal with as an opponent.

This has been my experience as well. a pair of vindicators works MUCH better. Likewise with Stormtalons btw.

[DarkGuard]

A lone Vindy isn't bad, it's just a bullet magnet. When I used to run a lone Vindy I did just fine. I would never expect it to do damage, but I'd expect it to draw firepower and let my other units do the damage. Worked a treat.

[Dam13n]

I regularly ran a lone possessed vindicator in my Iron Warriors throughout 5th ed. While it rarely lived upto

it's potential damage-wise, it was a massive bullet magnet, and denying all shaken and stunned was

hilarious (for me anyway, I suspect my shouting "ignored!" every time someone shook or stunned it

was probably more annoying for my opponent than anything else). It even used to survive most games

(albeit immobilised with no gun).

 

Saying that the new vehicle rules meant a change in tactic, no possession, and hiding behind an Aegis line

for that lovely 4+ cover, to provide a 24" 'no go area' for my opponent is also useful. You just need to make

sure that nobody gets a good look at the sides/rear or it's probably going to die.

 

Saying all this I've never been a fan of spam, I usually find a mix of units/vehicles provides me with better

flexibility when taking on different enemies. (I hate tailoring with a passion, and much prefer a pre-written

flexible list, then rely on tactics to win, rather than just spam tailored cheese, dammit now I'm feeling hungry)

 

Laterz...

[DarkGuard]

I agree with you there Dam13n. Tailoring is not the way to go, no sense of satisfaction if you win that way. Meanwhile, spamming is just an easy way to get consistency and redundancy across the army. However, if you can replicate that with differently armed units you encourage diversity as well, which gives your army an edge against spam lists.