Good Marine Ally Chapter?

[Jochteas]

Greetings everyone,

 

I have question for the board. I used to play about 3 years ago, but due to living issues had to put that on pause. Now I'm back with my own house and I'd like to get started working on my sons of Russ. Unfortunately it's been so long and with a few health issues I feel I gotta start sorta fresh assembling and painting wise and get my groove back sorta speak.

 

So that brings me to my question. Outside of my beloved SW figures that I don't want to work on until I got my confidence back, I have several just regular ole space marines I had gotten cheap from a friend. They are 2 tac squads of 10, 1 sniper scout unit, an assault unit ( I might convert to skyclaws) 1 command unit, and one Lord and a dreadnaught. Certainly enough I think for a detachment, maybe I could get a Razorback for it, anyways I wanted to use them as my guinea pigs. But I have no idea about any Marine stuff besides SW. Ideally while they arnt my first love I'm gonna try my best to make them look great and I'd like to get some use out of them, so I was wondering which ( if any ) Codex marines would make even decent allies with Space Wolves? Best case when I'm done with them I'm not 'done with them'. I know my selection isn't huge but I could be persuaded to get a model or too to fill it out even, but again I'd have no clue who would complement or even place nice with my SWs

 

Anyways thank you for reading my story, I am beyond thrilled to be back doing what I love, and I hope to do the SW real proud.

 

- Jochteas

[Kasper_Hawser]

Hi Joch, not sure if this is the correct place for you to post, but if and before you get shifted to another forum, i'll say what marine chapter suits you depends on what YOUR tactical style.

 

Are you a patient hunter with a rifle and lascannon? Then Raven Guard are the ones for you with penalties to shoot you when they are > 12 inches.

 

Do you love assault and do everything in your power to get into it? I'm quite sure you are since you used to play Space Wolves. Then I believe Black Templars or White Scars will suit you. Black Templars basically reroll assaults and White Scars have a shenanigan which is sort of like Hit and Run, and can also run/advance more faster than regular marines.

 

Imperial Fists and Ultramarines are better at shooting, enuff said. Sadly, with what you have, being a Smurf is your safest bet. Except you'll earn the ire of most of us who aren't fond of the Smurfs.

 

Iron Hands are neutrally strong, getting a save no matter what kind of wound, essentially a 6+ FNP on nearly all their stuff. Supposedly lacklustre compared to others, but I remember in 7th Edition, this was one of the reasons that Iron Hands were considered one of the strongest chapter tactics, not sure why it suddenly lost its popularity. Probably because it no longer affects vehicles I guess.

 

If you're a competitive guy, the undisputed best chapter tactic would be the Salamanders who get to reroll their critical shots and wounds all the time, if only once a unit.

 

Honestly, I ask that you slowly paint your army and wait for the SW Codex which should come out before the year is done. Or play with the Index Imperium 1, which isn't half bad despite SW having no Chapter Tactics currently.

 

Oh and before I forget, welcome back to the Fang. I hope you'll stay here instead of going Codex marines.

Edited August 24, 2017 by Kasper_Hawser

[Jochteas]

Kasper_Hawser,

 

Thank you for your wonderful reply!

 

I promise you, the Sons of Russ are forever where my heart belongs. That's part of the reason I'm gonna work on these codex ones is I just can't bring myself to 'practice' on even my extra SW.

 

As for what you said, I do love the assault style. And I think Black Templars are just very stylis. I guess I was a bit nervous of over doing it with one style. I did think about white Scars but honestly I'm not a fan of the colors and I'm close to traditional about that sorta things. The other ones you listed with the FNP rules sound like an interesting go though. I don't personally hate the smurfs as everyone does. In my 'fluff' opinion, they look good in the vids for the masses, but we know who gets the job done out their. The wolf cries louder than Bolter fire ;)

 

- Jochteas

Edited August 24, 2017 by Jochteas

[Kasper_Hawser]

Kasper_Hawser,

 

Thank you for your wonderful reply!

 

I promise you, the Sons of Russ are forever where my heart belongs. That's part of the reason I'm gonna work on these codex ones is I just can't bring myself to 'practice' on even my extra SW.

 

As for what you said, I do love the assault style. And I think Black Templars are just very stylis. I guess I was a bit nervous of over doing it with one style. I did think about white Scars but honestly I'm not a fan of the colors and I'm close to traditional about that sorta things. The other ones you listed with the FNP rules sound like an interesting go though. I don't personally hate the smurfs as everyone does. In my 'fluff' opinion, they look good in the vids for the masses, but we know who gets the job done out their. The wolf cries louder than Bolter fire

 

- Jochteas

 

Well put it this way. Even as a Black templar, you still have the same guns as codex, except now you can field big black blobs of infantry with more options of bolters and special weapons. 

 

The Iron Hands one I wouldn't really recommend it, but I've had little luck in rolling 6+s so I'm biased. Back in 6/7, the Wolf Priest had an abysmal 6+ feel no pain buff which I never made. Like I said, other Iron Hands players would probably swear by it.

 

Salamanders may be a safer bet as their chapter tactic affects both melee and shooting. Plus they're the undisputed "nice guys" of the Imperium. Just don't make any racist jokes about them and should be fine.

[Schultzhoffen]

Actually, Ultramarines and Space Wolves get along well in the fluff (they were at the forefront of the Scouring and worked together to stabilise the Imperium after the Heresy).

 

Ultramarines (or any codex marines) could be a good match for wolves. You have the aggressive close combat element with a strong fire base. It does, however, depend on your play style i.e. What's the point of the ally? Is there anything they can offer that your main army can't?

 

Wolves can do pretty much everything you need them to, so why ally with another marine army? If you want cheap bodies and firepower perhaps you should ally with Guard? Or even, possibly, Mechanicus?

 

I just don't really see the point of allied marine armies because they can all more or less do the same things and are equally expensive in terms of points.

 

I'd either keep a straight Wolves army or ally with ad mech or guard if it were me. If you're insistent on a marine ally I'd suggest codex marines and go scout heavy, perhaps using Telion.

[Kasper_Hawser]

Actually, Ultramarines and Space Wolves get along well in the fluff (they were at the forefront of the Scouring and worked together to stabilise the Imperium after the Heresy).

 

Ultramarines (or any codex marines) could be a good match for wolves. You have the aggressive close combat element with a strong fire base. It does, however, depend on your play style i.e. What's the point of the ally? Is there anything they can offer that your main army can't?

 

Wolves can do pretty much everything you need them to, so why ally with another marine army? If you want cheap bodies and firepower perhaps you should ally with Guard? Or even, possibly, Mechanicus?

 

I just don't really see the point of allied marine armies because they can all more or less do the same things and are equally expensive in terms of points.

 

I'd either keep a straight Wolves army or ally with ad mech or guard if it were me. If you're insistent on a marine ally I'd suggest codex marines and go scout heavy, perhaps using Telion.

 

He just wants to try a chapter before our own codex hits, not allying together.

[jerrys]

I guess it's an option to just paint them as space wolves? Not every grey hunter has to have pelts and claws and lucky rabbits feet and :cuss all over him. Or you could glue some spare wolfy stuff onto them, if you wanted to.

 

(side note: I think on reason the fnp (particularly 6+ fnp) is worse in 8th is that there're multi-damage weapons. If somebody happens to wound an iron hands dude with a D2 weapon, and you miraculously manage to roll that 6...you still have to roll another 6 for the second damage. So in that case the fnp basically doesn't do anything.)

[Yoyo ninja]

I like the Deathwatch as an ally. Their basic troops can bring some heavy firepower and SS to tank. They are a good anvil to our hammer, pod them in to put the hurt on early while your wolves charge up the field to smash face. Also they look cool I think.

They are good for painting practice too because the base colour is easy and you can paint loads of different chapter shoulder pads to try different colours.

Im sure you could get a load of deathwatch shoulder pads and upgrade sprues from eBay.

[hammer grimblood]

I'm with Yoyo. My Deathwatch is a small force and they work well with my wolves. I did a Dread list with Bjorn, an Axe dread and a Deathwatch Dread with Long Fangs, and Kill teams. Worked out fairly well but was a little slow for my taste. I think the teams need a transport to get around but you can't dent the usefullness of their special issue ammo.

[Jochteas]

Hey quick question before I do something I might regret, how good are skyclaws with space wolves? Then one assault squad I have I'm thinking maybe to keep them for my space Wolves and not sacrifice them to this endeavor but I don't know the current meta well

[Rune Priest Jbickb]

Honestly I've used them in 3 out of 4 games I've played and they have done quite well mopping up infantry. Also I gave mine melta guns and evethough it's a 50 50 they have helped clear up transports as well. I've enjoyed using them.

[Brother Hellion]

I've learned to fear Salamanders when they got vulkan he'stan on the field backing two full squads of devastators running four multi-meltas. Its very effective against the big things or anything with lots of wounds. So I imagine with that combined with some mixed long range fire support of my units would be umm, scary.

 

But you can't ignore the other suggestions mentioned here. Raven guard, white scars, ooh the possibilities.

[Kasper_Hawser]

Hey quick question before I do something I might regret, how good are skyclaws with space wolves? Then one assault squad I have I'm thinking maybe to keep them for my space Wolves and not sacrifice them to this endeavor but I don't know the current meta well

 

Sky Claws are better than vanilla assault squads as they retain the +1 attack on charge and now hit on WS 3+, but their BS is still 4+. This is one case where a Power Fist may be good despite the -1 to hit.

 

Just don't centre a list around them. I suggest you keep a small squad to zip around and capture objectives, or enter combat only after softening up an opponent.

[wilkco]

I finding that I use things like the Inquisition or sisters of battle to boost up any weakness in my wolves list If you prefer some thing more shooty then admech is good as well.  The imperial keyword now allows a lot more variation to your detachments.