Allying IG with Marines?

[Joasht]

Greetings all!

I'm curious; what IG (or AM, depending on how picky you are on the terminology ) models are you using, if any, as allies to your Marine lists? And if so, what role would they fill?

I'm thinking of:

1) 5-man Scions command and 5-man Scions (using the Tempestus Militarium codex) both with 2x Melta, to serve as two deep-striking Melta suicide units for my fast-moving Marine lists.

2) Alternatively, a unit of Veterans in a Chimera/Taurox and a Vendetta loaded with Scions, to bring some Melta love.

3) 2x Wyverns and 3x Armored Sentinels with Plasmacannons for my gunline Marine lists.

Thoughts?

Thanks!

[hendrik]

I'm liking option c the most,although the wyvern is superiorto the armoured sentinel, so I'd go 3xwyvern,2 x armoured sentinels. It also could use a hq choice and troops choice to make it battleforged( a leman russ commander and veteran squad maybe?)

[WarriorFish]

The trick with allying armies is to take complementing ones - you gain more when filling gaps in your army. Marines and Guard work well not only as a fluff thing but also strategically - Marines are elite and Guard are horde so they complement each other well (same with Sisters). As such the best units to pick are ones that epitomise the army theme and work with your intended build best.

 

For Marines this almost always means taking Guard Platoons and armour. The Guardsmen can throw out quite a bit of fire power and hold home objects while your Marines close in for the kill and to secure objectives. The armour needs no explanation - everyone knows what that can do ;) Just be careful what you take as you don't want AP3 pie plates hitting your Marines.

 

Don't take Guard for elite units or access to melta as your Marines do this better, Veterans are good in the Guard codex but not particularly useful outside. So I'd say option 3 would be the better one.

[Frater Cornelius]

Greetings all!

I'm curious; what IG (or AM, depending on how picky you are on the terminology ) models are you using, if any, as allies to your Marine lists? And if so, what role would they fill?

I'm thinking of:

1) 5-man Scions command and 5-man Scions (using the Tempestus Militarium codex) both with 2x Melta, to serve as two deep-striking Melta suicide units for my fast-moving Marine lists.

2) Alternatively, a unit of Veterans in a Chimera/Taurox and a Vendetta loaded with Scions, to bring some Melta love.

3) 2x Wyverns and 3x Armored Sentinels with Plasmacannons for my gunline Marine lists.

Thoughts?

Thanks!

Aight, 1) is mostly pointless because you have better melta deployment in form of drop pods. And by better I mean efficient. A suicide melta squad ain't worth as much as a melta squad that draws some fire and has a chance of surviving and thus super-scoring. Remember, drop pods are also super-scoring because they were bought with a troops choice.

2) Mech Platoon or Foot platoon. SM do a better job in the midfield than Vets. Platoon has strength in number as opposed to SM, who are rather elite. You want bullet sponges for your expensive dudes and dudettes.

3) I like this, Wyvern is the best horde suppression and by extension anti infantry tank for it's cost (and one of the best anti infantry tank in the game). You can bring some AA with your SM slots. Plasma Sentinels are legit. 150 points for 3 ap2 blasts is okay. Inferior to the Plasmacutioner but you don't have any HS slots.

Here's the plan. Get a Mech platoon with Melta and AC in Taurox transports for that ever so potent S7 spam and cheap scoring bodies so your SM can focus on the important stuff. Alterntively a big blob hanging back scoring backfield stuff, depending on your play style. I favour the Mech approach.

Get Wyverns into that. As HQ I would suggest Tank Commander with guns that you lack if you have space (Pask Punisher or Vanquisher is best but expensive), otherwise take a Lord Commissar (or Yarrik while you are at it). CCS is not worth it seeing as your units are not potent enough for orders to be a big force multiplier Besides, you have the PCS. Some Primaris for Divination. Take 2 lvl1 to have 2 prescience platforms, the other charges can be gained from you SM psyker. If you don't have any consider 1lvl2 or 2lvl2. This is already a huge amount of firepower, skip the Sentinels altogether.

While all of that is expensive, you can mix it up. It should not get above 500-600 points at its cheapest with minimal platoon in Tauroxes, 2 Wyvern, Lord Com and 1lvl2 Psyker and around 900 with the max upgrades and Pask. Should leave you with enough SM units to pick.

[march10k]

If I took guard as allies for marines, I would be looking for a few things:

 

1) Tank Commander.  Essentially gives me a second heavy slot without taking a stupidly squishy HQ choice.  Probably Pask.  Because I can.

 

2)  Hydras.  Wyverns are nice, but marines don't have access to decent air defense.  (N.B. I play DA, I don't even get the C:UM air defense tanks, but even those suck)

 

3) 3x Priests.  Better than a chaplain for 25 points!

 

Since I'd have to take a troops choice, I guess it'd be a veteran squad with an autocannon.  Marines have elite special weapons, but they struggle to find ways to bring in the best all-round heavy weapon in the game.

[Frater Cornelius]

...

 

Since I'd have to take a troops choice, I guess it'd be a veteran squad with an autocannon.  Marines have elite special weapons, but they struggle to find ways to bring in the best all-round heavy weapon in the game.

 

One more reason why Platoon would help more. The mininal Platoon mounted in Tauroxes can potentially bring you 3 foot AC and 3 mounted TLAC with the option to deploy as a big squad and let the Tauroxes do their things. That is not bad for 350-400 points. Beats veterans in this setup.

[march10k]

Costs  more...If I want to spend big points, I'll make it my primary detachment, not my ally.  Autocannons don't qualify as a reason to take IG allies, they only qualify as the best way  to make the tax of fielding a required troops choice less terrible.  With an HQ tank squadron, two hydras, and three priests, I'm already around 500 points, throw in an entire taurox-mounted autocannon platoon, and that's over half of my points!

 

Now...I will spend over half of my points allying in the C:MT air cav detachment, but in my mind, the detachment is the real army, I just want to support it with a better warlord and more than one heavy support choice, lol.

[Frater Cornelius]

AC do not, but scoring troops do. SM troops are too valuable to be left camping objectives. They have better stuff to do while IG troops can camp stuff.