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Ok so to my surprise, assault squads do not seem to be a very popular unit in the new space marine codex, not counting cheese armies packed with ironclads and sterngaurd.

I fin this surprising for 2 reasons:
First, with jump packs, flamers and access to a powerfist, this unit is one of the best counter charge units in the space marine arsenal.

Second, when having a Chaplain attached, this unit simply becomes rediculously good. In one battle I had against Nob Bikers, a fully kitted out assault squad I had, charged and killed an entire full Nob Biker squad (thats 10 nobs, one being painboy, with a warboss with powerklaw, 3 more powerklaws, 3 big choppas, and the rest choppa shoota mixes) First round of close combat with the Chappy's SP ability, I dealt 6 powerfist wounds(chappy and seargent with fist) and 3 regular, versus his 7 total he dealt to me( granted he did get some bad rules but so did I with the rest of myguys) I won combat, Swept by 1, all dead.

Now, if a unit that is nearly 1/3 the cost of a full nob biker unit can kill nob bikers, why is this unit so underused? for further protection, you could even drop their jump packs, give them a Rhino, and save a considerable amount of points for nearly the same assault range yet more survivability.

Comments?

I think part of the reason why is because the HQs themselves just are not as good anymore. No three wounds, no terminator honours, no master-crafted, no Artificer Armour. Heck they are even down a base attack. So without the uber-Chappies in HQ there is less reason to take the Assault Squads. As you mentioned, Tac, Sternguard and Termie squads are your core troops and Assault squads fill a support role.

But yes, a full squad with a Fist and a Chaplain attached remains a solid unit. And do not forget that tac squads are Troop and can grab objectives.

I also happen to like assault squads but I agree with game and watch's reasons why they aren't played as much. Personally I feel that in order to be truly useful you need to build a themed army around them, AKA a shrike list or blood angels. Of these two Blood angel assault marines are significantly overprices. where as Shrike armies are one trick ponies. So its hard to make them effective. I wish you could give them meltaguns, because that would help them in an anti tank/heavy infantry role. Good luck though hopefully in 2037 when the new blood angel codex comes out scoring assault marines correctly priced won't be a problem anymore,

Hahahaha, yeah I agree, pure support roles seems to what they have been demoted to Tacobake. I still dont understand why HQs got nerfed so much considering that regardless of how good they were, they were always T4 and therefore fairly easily inst killed. I will continue to use mine, as I have custom painted them to theme my army and I enjoy using them. Diversity is fun, and as good as certain units can be, you will never see me run more than one sterngaurd. Anyways, thanks for the input.

I'm with ya on this. Assault Squad x 10, PFist, Flamer x 2 w/ Chaplain w/ JP, Digital Weapons is my favorite load out for these guys. I don't use them all the time, but enough that they rarely get unpacked from my case.

I call this unit my Make-Every-Tau-Gun-Fire-This-Way button. I've even had them annihilated to a man by 2nd turn without ever hitting CC, and still call them worth the points in distraction.

Well, Assault squads are mediocre in cc.
When Space Marine armies had traits, you could have given them furious charge. This made them really a neat choice. But now, I don't consider them.

I used a 10 man unit for a while, but just found that too many times they either got shot up before reaching combat or were rather lackluster when they did make it into H2H. They're great against light infantry, but as things have shifted towards more mechanized, I think they have lost their niche. Maybe they'll see a resurgance with the new IG Codex, but I doubt it.

I use a 5man squad w/ a PF and run it up behind my Rhinos. Works well for hitting certain units and supporting my tacticals.

Many armies have units that simply can not hold up to even a small assault squad, and for a small investment, you can take advantage of that. However, I have been liking their results so much that I am considering bumping them up to a 10man squad w/ 2 flamers.

One other thing is with true line of sight, it's harder to hide them. In 3rd and 4th where they could realistically jump from cover to cover and make it mostly intact, they were worthwhile since they were hard to line up for shots. Now they are fast marines with a cover save but can get shot up on the way in without much effort.

Being a BA player i allways use them
just working on a full assault squad list.
however, perks of a BA army is taking them as a troop choice, if they werent then i wouldnt use them as often.

But they generally can do well depending on who your facing.
against elite armies like other marines, chaos, sisters they do very well.
Against horde armies (nids, orks) they are gak.
they are not so much a dedicated assault unit since they have nothing overly special about them, when facing horde orks i dont dare charge into a mob until ive managed to thin it out alot.
however, thats what the death company are for

best unit in the game.
FNP, rending, 4 attacks on the charge, fearless, can have jump packs, and are pretty much free. (just need a chappy with em)


on that note, chaplains are great for bolstering assault units due to thier rules, also, it means you can either get in that 2nd fist model, or a few power weapon attacks each turn.

1 reason why i dont like assault marines (despite being a BA player and having 3 squads of them) is they just get shot to shreds. sure if your counter charging a unit or going first they will make it into combate but a 5 man assault squad against say a 10 man squad of fire warriors if you go first great, are you in assalt range if not that 150 points down the drain. any mass fire and they've got the same chance of surviving as a grot against termies. Without an invnerable they're dead, however you look at it. you need a distraction, I find a 5 man DC to work! but seriously if your going to get them get them as big as possible. Make sure your squads are nice and padded with cc weps and bolt pistols so your power fist sergeant suvives to mash that tank.

Or as an alternative get 2 melta guns and a sergeant with melta bombs. keep 'em safe until the times right then go and mash a random tank.

with horde armys like orcs i reccomend you keeep them back in cover. wait until enemy squads are weak from fire then go in and trash them!!!!!

Assault squads are still great, better now that they are so much cheaper.

Combine them with Shrike and you have an ultra fast army. I have had very good results with them vs a wide variety of armies.

lol i had Dante sweep a cannoness with her squad. also my death company are disgusting in cc with tons-o-rending and the ability 2 shrug of most non power wounds cuz of FNP whats not to like? (other than most of the rest of the codex is ridiculously priced even though i realize that they have to get a pts boost to pay for Death Company. i wouldn't mind a moderate increase but what the pts are now hamstrings them hardcore) o yea, death company with jump packs and Lemartes, honestly just take the other unit off the board to save time lol

Reecius wrote:Assault squads are still great, better now that they are so much cheaper.

Combine them with Shrike and you have an ultra fast army. I have had very good results with them vs a wide variety of armies.

I agree. Shrike makes Assault Marines a very viable threat.

They're great against "basic" troop types ; generally fail against MEQs; I use one every once and a while as they just fit the role of counterassault perfectly.

It seems like the Mechs rule the day more often then not!

Well, Assault squads are mediocre in cc.

Why do you say so? These guys were 25 points two Codices ago, 22 in the next, now they're down to 18 each. That's really ridiculously cheap, when you consider a Tac Marine is 16 points.

I'm not saying they're crazy tuned up, but at 18 points each, with Jump Packs? They're better than a lot of other assault units (Striking Scorps for example), point for point.

Assault Marines x10, x2 Flamers, P Fist and a fully packed Chappy, I never leave home without it.
(Annoying when buying groceries...)

But then again I mostly play against IG, against witch Assaulties are devastating.
But I find that no matter who or what you play against they are a great diversion.

*DING* Hundred Posts!

//Edge