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Ok, so last time I played was multiple editions ago. However, having gotten a roommate into the hobby, I've cracked out a new 5e list. The thing is, in ages past as a young man I pretty much always played against the same people, so I ended up learning a bad habit: custom crafting army lists to fight just those opponents.

I'm now trying to get out of that as sometimes my roommate and I make the 45 minute drive to the FLGS to play. Therefore, the following is my first real crack at a truly "generic" or "all-purpose" army list, though I did spend a lot of point to fit in my Chapter Master and Honor Guard, who'll be the first to go if needs be.

Normally I split the troops into combat squads, and even though they have to hoof it, 6 scoring units is flexible. I am finding missile launcher blast spam to work very well so far.

HQ:
[150] Chapter Master w/Combi-melta & Power sword accompanied by
[210] Honour Guard (4) with Chapter Champion (1) and Chapter Banner mounted in
[40] Razorback

Troops:
[170] Space Marines (10) w/Missile launcher and flamer, sergeant w/boltgun & meltabombs
[170] Space Marines (10) w/Missile launcher and flamer, sergeant w/boltgun & meltabombs
[185] Space Marines (10) w/Lascannon and Meltagun, sergeant with CCW/Bolt Pistol & meltabombs

Elites:
[230] Terminators (5) w/Cyclone Missile launcher
[105] Dreadnaught w/multi-melta and DCCW w/storm bolter

Fast Attack:
[100] Landspeeder Typhoon w/multi-melta upgrade

Heavy support:
[120] Devastator Marines (5) w/2x Missile launcher, sergeant w/boltgun, signum, & meltabombs



Positive critique encouraged. Thanks.

i'd give the dread a drop pod or give him a las cannon, multi meltas are only better in less than 12 inches and without a pod it can take awhile to get there.

that's the only thing i notice but then again i'm a tau player and just started to form a dark angels force

Hmm. Fair enough, should I drop to a less-costly HQ to free up those points?

Getting rid of the Honor Guard will free up a lot of points. You might be able squeeze in another Dread with a Drop Pod just by getting rid of that.

gojira316 wrote:Getting rid of the Honor Guard will free up a lot of points. You might be able squeeze in another Dread with a Drop Pod just by getting rid of that.

Alright, so is it then worth keeping the Chapter Master, or should I switch off to something else entirely?

You could go with a Captain with same setup for 120 plus a Command Squad w/ Champion and 3x Power Swords for 175. It's a 65 point savings. Perfect for a drop pod with Deathwind launcher and locator beacon for the termies and land speeder to deepstrike.
[edit] I just noticed that you didn't pay for the melta bombs on your tac and devastator squads.
I would suggest dropping the melta bombs on the devastator squad since they shouldn't be moving a lot as well as the tac squad with the lascannon and meltagun since those weapons work similarly to the melta bombs and they shouldn't be moving much either. If you dropped the locator beacon from the above, you're are even points.

DFK! wrote:
HQ:
[150] Chapter Master w/Combi-melta & Power sword accompanied by
[210] Honour Guard (4) with Chapter Champion (1) and Chapter Banner mounted in
[40] Razorback

The only reason to take a chapter master over a captain is if you're doing a static list (he has to be stationary a turn to use the orbital strike). Otherwise he is exactly identical in every respect to the captain for more points.
Drop the honour guard. They're cool on paper, but in practice they're fragile without their invul, and take up points that would be better used on a vast number of other things in your army, such as in my next point.

Troops:
[170] Space Marines (10) w/Missile launcher and flamer, sergeant w/boltgun & meltabombs
[170] Space Marines (10) w/Missile launcher and flamer, sergeant w/boltgun & meltabombs
[185] Space Marines (10) w/Lascannon and Meltagun, sergeant with CCW/Bolt Pistol & meltabombs

The first thing any experienced marine player will tell you is never take tactical squads without a delivery mechanism. 3+ armour saves make them tough, but no amount of tough is going to get them across the battlefield in one piece. Drop that honour guard in favour of some rhinos for these boys, or maybe even some drop pods

Elites:
[230] Terminators (5) w/Cyclone Missile launcher

Terminators are cool, and their 2+ saves are sweet, but what exactly are you going to do with these guys? You have no locators to reliably drop them on, and they don't really jive with the rest of your army. Should you stick all those tactical squads in drop pods with locator beacons, the termies could drop in to support whomever may need it most. As it stands though, they really aren't accomplishing any goal in this list

[105] Dreadnaught w/multi-melta and DCCW w/storm bolter

I love my MM dreads, however like the tacticals they're useless without a delivery method. You should either get this badboy a lascannon, or for the same number of points stick him in a drop pod. If you go with the latter, give him a heavy flamer to put some hurt onto horde/guard

Fast Attack:
[100] Landspeeder Typhoon w/multi-melta upgrade

Another cool unit that will get shredded being left unsupported. He's only armour 10, you need to provide the opponent with enough other threats to draw the anti-armour away from him. Right now you have a dread that won't be a real threat until turn 3 or 4, leaving only this guy to absorb ALL of the opponents anti-tank fire.

Heavy support:
[120] Devastator Marines (5) w/2x Missile launcher, sergeant w/boltgun, signum, & meltabombs

I'm worried that you don't really have enough anti-tank at 1500 points. Maybe these guys would be better off holding the lascannon you currently have on a tac squad? Another cool trick is that a 5 man sternguard unit with two lascannons is cheaper than a dev squad with two lascannons by I think 10 points. They don't get the BS 5 from the signum, but they do have an extra CC attack and alot more kick with their bolters.

Positive critique encouraged. Thanks.

I hope I kept that fairly positive. The main thrust of my critiques are to get you to focus on synergy with your units. Don't just think "ok this unit is good at doing this" or "that unit is good at doing that." Really try to figure out how your units are going to jive, how they can support each other in their tasks should you roll miserably with your devs, or have a unit get into CC when you didn't want it to. You also have to remember that 2/3 missions are going to be won based on your ability to clear an objective and stick a troops squad on it. For this to work your troops must FIRST survive and SECOND make it to the other objective. Your army is going to have some difficulty there, but some rhinos would help that perfectly. By dropping the honour guard, and downgrading the master to a captain you'll have more than enough points for that.

edit: relic blades are also great weapons for your captains. S 6 AND lets him still strike at initiative!

PirateRobotNinjaofDeath wrote:

DFK! wrote:
HQ:
[150] Chapter Master w/Combi-melta & Power sword accompanied by
[210] Honour Guard (4) with Chapter Champion (1) and Chapter Banner mounted in
[40] Razorback

The only reason to take a chapter master over a captain is if you're doing a static list (he has to be stationary a turn to use the orbital strike). Otherwise he is exactly identical in every respect to the captain for more points.
Drop the honour guard. They're cool on paper, but in practice they're fragile without their invul, and take up points that would be better used on a vast number of other things in your army, such as in my next point.

Troops:
[170] Space Marines (10) w/Missile launcher and flamer, sergeant w/boltgun & meltabombs
[170] Space Marines (10) w/Missile launcher and flamer, sergeant w/boltgun & meltabombs
[185] Space Marines (10) w/Lascannon and Meltagun, sergeant with CCW/Bolt Pistol & meltabombs

The first thing any experienced marine player will tell you is never take tactical squads without a delivery mechanism. 3+ armour saves make them tough, but no amount of tough is going to get them across the battlefield in one piece. Drop that honour guard in favour of some rhinos for these boys, or maybe even some drop pods

Elites:
[230] Terminators (5) w/Cyclone Missile launcher

Terminators are cool, and their 2+ saves are sweet, but what exactly are you going to do with these guys? You have no locators to reliably drop them on, and they don't really jive with the rest of your army. Should you stick all those tactical squads in drop pods with locator beacons, the termies could drop in to support whomever may need it most. As it stands though, they really aren't accomplishing any goal in this list

[105] Dreadnaught w/multi-melta and DCCW w/storm bolter

I love my MM dreads, however like the tacticals they're useless without a delivery method. You should either get this badboy a lascannon, or for the same number of points stick him in a drop pod. If you go with the latter, give him a heavy flamer to put some hurt onto horde/guard

Fast Attack:
[100] Landspeeder Typhoon w/multi-melta upgrade

Another cool unit that will get shredded being left unsupported. He's only armour 10, you need to provide the opponent with enough other threats to draw the anti-armour away from him. Right now you have a dread that won't be a real threat until turn 3 or 4, leaving only this guy to absorb ALL of the opponents anti-tank fire.

Heavy support:
[120] Devastator Marines (5) w/2x Missile launcher, sergeant w/boltgun, signum, & meltabombs

I'm worried that you don't really have enough anti-tank at 1500 points. Maybe these guys would be better off holding the lascannon you currently have on a tac squad? Another cool trick is that a 5 man sternguard unit with two lascannons is cheaper than a dev squad with two lascannons by I think 10 points. They don't get the BS 5 from the signum, but they do have an extra CC attack and alot more kick with their bolters.

Positive critique encouraged. Thanks.

I hope I kept that fairly positive. The main thrust of my critiques are to get you to focus on synergy with your units. Don't just think "ok this unit is good at doing this" or "that unit is good at doing that." Really try to figure out how your units are going to jive, how they can support each other in their tasks should you roll miserably with your devs, or have a unit get into CC when you didn't want it to. You also have to remember that 2/3 missions are going to be won based on your ability to clear an objective and stick a troops squad on it. For this to work your troops must FIRST survive and SECOND make it to the other objective. Your army is going to have some difficulty there, but some rhinos would help that perfectly. By dropping the honour guard, and downgrading the master to a captain you'll have more than enough points for that.

edit: relic blades are also great weapons for your captains. S 6 AND lets him still strike at initiative!

Excellent critique.

I think I'd like to follow up with some reasoning.

1) Lascannon is in Tac. Squad because doing so is 25 points cheaper than in a Devastator squad.
2) 48" range keeps the Typhoon in the rear, the MM on it is basically just for some versatility, and I've considered dropping that. This is a long-range blast spammer with point contention capabilities.
3) My dice curse me for all Deep Strikes. Seriously, I almost never have anything enter prior to turn 5, and even then they always, always scatter. Thus, terminators march. The cyclone still gets 2 blasts a turn. It's a superstition thing I guess, mainly.
4) Low drop pods are being fixed for Tac. squads as we speak, I've got an order in from Guerilla Tactics for 2 of them.
5) Dreadnaught is a good point... not sure how to fix though without ripping his arm off....


I'm really having luck so far with the blast spamming overall, which means all those launchers have to be in play from turn 1. However, I'm very much beginning to see your point with regards to anti-vehicle, as my primary opponent gets more and more of his mech. models assembled to use against me.