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I'm looking to get into 40k and I was wondering how this looked for a starter army:

Reclusiarch: 85

Jump pack: 20
Plasma pistol: 15
Bionics: 5
Melta bombs: 5

Total: 130

Tac Squad (x6): 90

Missile Launcher: 10
Terminator Honors (Veteran Sergeant): 15

Total: 115

Tac Squad (x6): 90

Missile Launcher: 10
Terminator Honors (Veteran Sergeant): 15

Total: 115

Assault Squad (x5): 110

Veteran Sergeant: 15
Power fist: 25

Total: 140

Total point value: 500

Seems like it would be a well rounded force capable of dealing with most threats I would see. Attaching the chappy to the assault squad would also make a nasty CC unit.

I like the list as a starter list.  Here's what I would change:

Chaplain - Drop the bionics and plasma pistol - give him a bolt pistol and frag grenades.  Plasma pistols overheating on characters is very frustrating, and the bionics don't usually do much - gain 18 pts

Tac Squad 1 - I'd drop the naked vet sgt, and add a meltagun or plasmagun to the squad - gain 5 points

Tac squad 2 - change the missile launcher out for a Lascannon, and drop the naked vet sgt - gain 10 points

Assault Squad - First, the power fist only costs 15 pts for a vet sgt...  gain 10 pts

with the leftover points you can get another assault marine plus some goodies (like a flamer in a tac squad, plasma pistols in the Assault squad), or a couple of tactical marines

With marines you have a lot of options.  Happy hunting!

Thanks for the tips.  I got here and now I'm stuck.

Reclusiarch: 85

Jump Pack: 20
Frag Grenades: 1
Bolt Pistol: 1
Melta Bombs: 5

Total: 112

Tactical Squad (x7): 105

Missile Launcher: 10

Total: 115

Tactical Squad (x6): 90

Lascannon: 15

Total: 105

Assault Squad (x6): 132

Veteran Sergeant: 15
Power Fist: 15

Total: 168

Total Points: 494

I can't decide what to do with the remaining 6 points.  A flamer on the tac squads wouldn't be a terrible use, but seeing as the range on the lascannon is huge, I'm debating how much the flamer would get used.  I was leaning towards a plasma pistol for one of the Assault Squad and frag grenades on the Sergeant.  Thoughts?

Use those last 6 points to put a flamer in the Assault squad, not in a tac squad.  You'll have the mobillity to use it in the Assault squad, and at 500 points you should be seeing a lot more troops and not so many vehicles.

You might want to switch the squad sizes on the tac squads, but that's pretty minor all things considered (I'd rather have the extra body protecting the more expensive weapon ).

(additional minor point - the entire Assault squad comes with frags, including the Vet: see the weapons section under the Assault squad entry of the 'dex.  The frags on a power fist equipped model won't do you much good, he'll still strike last no matter what unless you choose not to use the fist)

I agree, the flamer on the assault squad is a really good combo, and you only lose one attack in HtH, but if he kills even one model before the assault, you got a return on the investment.

Either that, or upgrade the missle launcher to another lascannon.

and like Kwade said, put the extra marine on the las cannon squad.

But it is a good starter list for sure, better than my first list =)

Welcome to the game, it is a blast.

Thanks for the tips guys. I'm going to head out to talk to a friend who plays and he's agreed to let me proxy this army for a test game to see if I want to make the investment. It won't look nearly as cool as the real thing, but it'll give me a good handle on how the game actually plays.