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Hello fellas,

I have recently got back into the hobby after not playing for a few years, I picked up the Battle for Vedros Starter set and want to expand on the space marines.
I am going to Games Workshop tomorrow to pick up some models I have around £100 to spend give or take.

I need to get the codex included in the budget which is £35!

This leaves me £65!

I currently own:
Space Marine Captain (Black Reach Model)
5 Tactical Marines with a Sarg and Flamer
A Dreadnaught with Multi Melta and Storm Bolter

What should I get next to expand im aiming for 1500pts in the end.

Im thinking the Tactical Squad and Rhino Bundle for £32.50!

Please someone point me in the right direction!!!

You didnt hear it from me but just download the wretched pdf from the internet. Look at the chapters you like the look of and then we can take it from there x

Well I have painted my marines so far as the silver skulls, however I dont believe they have any special rules ect? Maybe alter slighty into Iron Hands? What do you think

Keep them painted how you like. As a non-standard chapter, you can hop around a bit as desired for chapter tactics. Although I think the Silver Skulls are Ultramarine stock. Been a while since I looked at the other chapters.

What kind of list do you want to play? There are about a zillion different ways to build a marine list. What units do you like? What tactics do you enjoy? Any imagery that you find appealing? Think of your goal and work towards it

Your dread wants a drop pod.
You need more troops.
The AoBR captain has kinda crappy gear IIRC (bolter/power sword?) More HQs are probably needed.

My general advice these days is to build towards a battle demi-co. 3 tac squads, a dev squad, and something FA like. All your tacs should have a transport. From there, look at what auxiliary picks appeal to you. Or just grab fun units and run with a CAD.

A dev box will give you more heavy weapons then just MLs. Kinda nice to have.
The sternguard box is a gold mine of bits. You can make cool HQs, blinged out sarges, etc. And some actual sternguard vets; one of the better units in the codex. You can stretch the box out with some spare power armor bodies from tac squads.

If it comes in an actual box, there is probably some savings to be had. It’s an expensive hobby, take those where you can find them. The new mechanized infantry boxes look to be a good way to bulk out an army.

Those Armored Assault boxes that come with Marines and a drop pod are a great buy. You're going to want more than one pod to play around with anyway, and basic Tac Marines are a great place to start when you're starting ... marines. Yeah, anyway. Good place to start

After that, i'd spend some time buying what you think looks cool. If you plan to play in tournaments keep half an eye on what's more competitive rather than less, but I wouldn't recommend cloning a serious competitive list to start. It's not as much fun as it sounds like, for you or the guys you'll be playing.

Hey guys quick update, I bought the codex, 10 Tac marines and Rhino bundle, and a librarian.

Now I have

Librarian,
Captain,
5 Tacs PG CP
5 Tacs Flamer CF
5 Tacs Melta CM
Rhino
Dreadnaught MM SB

I think my next expansion after pay day will be as follows;

10 Marines and Rhino Bundle
4 Lascannon Bits (Ebay)
Drop Pod

From this i will make a second rhino, a 5 man Tac squad with PG CP, and have a pod for my Dread.
The last 5 Tac marines i will use the lascannon bits on to make a 5 man dev squad!

What do you think?

How much can you get the LC bits for on Ebay? While it might be easier to spend for the bits now, in the long run would you be better off with a Dev box? It also includes things like grav cannons which you may desire later. And 5 more power armor bodies. From a budget standpoint, I can only recommend bits sellers if you are building to a specific list and stopping there.

Unless the pricing has changed dramatically since last I looked.

Instead of getting the marines/rhino box and a drop pod, I might suggest a marine/pod box and a razorback. It’s a few more bucks, but you get the option to field the razorback, instead of the rhino. If you want to keep running 5 man squads, or plan on growing into a full company gladius, having the razor parts will be nice. And just by not glueing on the top hatch, you can freely swap between rhinos/razors.

For less then a dollar more then the vanilla (at least on the US store) you can get a deathwatch version, which comes with the DW accessory sprue. But can be built plain.

But your overall plan sounds good.

Well i just ordered the lascannon bits on ebay as they were low stock and ive managed to snap up 4 x lascannons for my dev squad for £8.50, then half the tac squad price of like £10 from the bundle, so I managed to save £10 on buying a dev squad. Plus my dev squads are going to be my main source of heavy weaponry along with tanks in the future.

I really like the idea of getting the drop pod tac squad bundle and buying a razorback seperate as its only £2.50 more and gives me extra fire power options i will magnetize to have access to heavy bolters and lascannons.

My army plan is 5 man tac squads with combi special and corresponding special in razorbacks/rhinos as i think the 5 extra bodies and a heavy weapon isnt worth it for 70+pts when i could take another 5 man squad for the same price and have a sargeant and the option for more special weapons! I like my plasma guns and meltas!

Is the razorback capacity 6? or 5, i cant remember of the top of my head and im at work so i wont be able to look at my codex till later on today.

If its only 5 then the libby/captain will go with a 5 man unit in the barebones rhino. Or maybe use the 5 tac marine bodies from the drop pod bundle to expand one of the squads i have to 9 members to join a libby/captain.

Keep giving me ideas and options it all helps me out greatly!

Thanks

I’m an old-fashined Ultramarine, so like my 10 man squads. I can see the allure of the 5 man MSU build though. Razors hold 6, so good place to stash a HQ.