All Infantry viable?

[Charlo]

Not sure that it should count but a Shadowsword provides some unique advantages that infantry can't get. It's not a BA unit but as far as vehicles go it's an amazing deal. 404 pts for something that is favored to oneshot a land raider.

That is because it is FULLY broken and horrifically undercosted :p

[Aothaine]

 

Alternatively you can look into structures like bunkers to help reduce alpha strike issues. It is something I don't see a lot of people do but the bunkers are quite nice for msu squads.

 

https://www.games-workshop.com/en-NZ/Wall-of-Martyrs-Imperial-Bunker

Can Primaris Marines fit in them? I'm not sure of this is covered or not.

 

I believe primaris infantry is the future. The lists I've been tinkering with give a lot of durability, which is what we seem to be trading off. More defense at the cost of offense.

 

 

According to the index entry it holds infantry. It does not specify that it cannot hold primaris. But I guess you could lean towards the no answer specifying that it does not allow primaris. But you could also lean yes as it does not specify that primaris cannot be in the bunkers. :/

[Pendent]

I would say that you can put Primaris in a bunker- there is absolutely nothing that says you can't.

[Lord_Caerolion]

If it says Infantry, with no restrictions, then it can fit Primaris, as they are Infantry. Apparently the bunkers are roomier than our transports.

 

In practical terms though, if they restricted Primaris, they'd have to go through all the other restrictions for all other armies and units. "It cannot hold Primaris, Terminators take two slots, Wraithguard take two, Wraithblades take two, Ogryns take three, Bullgryns take three, Grotesques take two, it cannot hold Battlesuit units..."

[tychobi]

All infantry does provide a target poor environment for your enemies anti multiwound model weapons but it suffers from quick attrition.  Infantry suffer a reduction in effectiveness with every wound suffered.  This is especially true of elite armies and space marines do not have a horde option without allies.  This puts an all infantry space marine army in an odd position as it looses effectiveness quickly with losses and do not have the sheer numbers of wounds to loose in the first place.  It kinda gives the enemy heavy weapons something to shoot at being cased in marine armor.  Primaris marines really make this an issue with 2 wounds apiece.  

 

My other gripe with all infantry armies is time.  Not just to paint it takes a long time to play with or against infantry armies.  Lots of models to move and roll for and just enough variation between units to keep you counting dice and checking lists/rules really stretch out games and that can mean not finishing important tournament games.  Tournament infantry spammers really have to practice pro active speedy dice and know their lists/rules backwards and forwards if they want to finish every game. 

 

There are multiple aspects of list efficiency that steer me away from all infantry 40k armies.  They are very effective.  Green Tide is real and brutally hard to beat.  Conscript and mortar spam is hilariously dangerous. Tzeentch daemons burn down nearly anything. Bobby G ringed in random smurfs!  Not for me thanks!

[Arkaniss]

All but one of my 8th Edition games have been with pure infantry lists, and the assumption that removing any vehicles from your army outfoxes your opponent and they fall to their knees shouting "Noooo! They have no vehicles! My battle plan is ruined!" is a nice thought but in my experience it never pans out

 

The AT weapons just target your infantry and make some of them very dead, instead of just dead. In particular expensive models such as Terminators or Sanguinary Guard. As mentioned several times alpha strike can be brutal and again, as mentioned things tend to die quicker in 8th, especially infantry. Of course a lot depends on your meta and so on and perhaps the fact that I'm still using an index whereas my opponents all have new codices is a factor too. My points don't go as far.

 

Anyway, my last hurrah for the index has some vehicles in it so I'll see how that goes. Then it's back to square 1 learning the new codex

[Are Verlo]

All but one of my 8th Edition games have been with pure infantry lists, and the assumption that removing any vehicles from your army outfoxes your opponent and they fall to their knees shouting "Noooo! They have no vehicles! My battle plan is ruined!" is a nice thought but in my experience it never pans out

 

The AT weapons just target your infantry and make some of them very dead, instead of just dead. In particular expensive models such as Terminators or Sanguinary Guard. As mentioned several times alpha strike can be brutal and again, as mentioned things tend to die quicker in 8th, especially infantry. Of course a lot depends on your meta and so on and perhaps the fact that I'm still using an index whereas my opponents all have new codices is a factor too. My points don't go as far.

 

Anyway, my last hurrah for the index has some vehicles in it so I'll see how that goes. Then it's back to square 1 learning the new codex

 

I think all infantry armies* work very well for proper hordes. In my view proper hordes include both lots of small units (16 squads, each with 10 models, or even 32 squads with 5 men could work just fine) oandarmies with large units such as orks or nids. Armies with large units need a reliable way of getting around morale. Both synapse and the mob rule does this well. If you bring 8 lascannons and some melta vs a pure green tide, with only 1 W models (save some characters) you have a small handicap. 8 lascannons cost, 200 pts for marines, and you would get a better return for 15 tacticals with bolters in this instance.

 

*In my view it is not a matter of infantry vs vehicles/monsters, it is more about having an army with lots of cheap expendible bodies. Terminators and SG are cool models, I like their rules, I think SG are really potent with the BA codex, but they are not cheap and expendible. As you mention SG are perfect targets for lascannons. 

 

My 1st company army could be all inf, but 8 lascannons would give the termies and veterans a hard day. A nid swarm with tonnes of small buggers would laugh at the same lascannons, as they drown us in bodies. Both are examples of all inf armies, with vastly different bodycount and playstyle.

 

BUT I guess we discuss all inf armies for a BA/space marine perspective?

 

A marine army with only tacticals, scouts, devs and assault marines could perhaps be efficient...? then gain it would probably be really boring to play in the long run :-)