New Space Mahreen

[mttpiek]

I'm just starting to get into 40k and I was told on r/warhammer40k that I could get some help here with choosing a Space Marine chapter army to start. From what I understand, you can choose any chapter, but its the leaders of the chapters that give your army special abilities (I know Imperial Fists get some sort of Bolter advantage). Anyway, I don't really know much about all the chapters but I know I want a "shooting" army (primarily using ranged weapons as opposed to claws and powerswords) with a decent ability to attack. Any advice on which chapter may be right for me?

[Olis]

Hail and welcome to B&C, brother. It's good to know you're pointed the way here by some helpful redditors - they clearly have good sense.

So, you mention the Imperial Fists. The 6th edition space marine codex (which is the most up to date codex for the moment - there is no 7th ed codex yet) gives them a 'chapter tactic' (called 'Bolter Drill') which allows you to reroll ANY ones that are rolled when you shoot with a bolter type weapon (Bolt Pistol, Bolter, Heavy Bolter, the Boltgun part of a Combi-Bolter, Hurricane Bolters). It increases the effectiveness of your standard weaponry by a reasonable amount (especially if you're a cursed dice-roller like me) and - to top it all off - we are not finished with the chapter tactics, oh no.

The second part of the Imperial Fists chapter tactic ('Siege Masters') gives them the 'tank hunters' special rule, which in seventh edition allows you to reroll failed penetration rolls (as opposed to adding +1 to the roll on the penetrating hits table from the 6th edition version of the tank hunters rule), and can add plus one to the results on the building damage table.

So, basically, it's going to be your standard bolt weaponry and your high-strength weapons that benefit the most from the Imperial Fists Chapter tactics. The mid-tier stuff (like plasma weapons) are going to be largely unaffected by this (mainly because Bolter Drill doesn't affect them, obviously, and not many plasma shots end up going towards vehicles, usually).

In my opinion, although the Ultramarines chapter tactic doctrines are more versatile, the Imperial Fists chapter tactics represent the best bang for your buck in a shooty army. They are army-wide and last the entire game. They also have reduced my fear of rolling ones considerably, and now I only dread the 'two' result.