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So I have decided I'm going to field a SM army. As for chapters I really like the Ultramarines because I really enjoy the colors. The Blood Angels have a pretty good color too. But that is just paint schemes.

When it comes to tactics though, where can I find the differences between chapter tactics? Does anybody know them? If I like a tactic better than others I just might paint that just for the tactics.

If you want lots of jump packs, Blood Angels.
If you want Termis as troops, Dark Angels.
For everything else, Vanilla marines.

Ofcourse, my advice to you would be to find a color scheme you like and go with that. It's much easier to paint a scheme you like than one you're not and damn the fool who says you can't have an Ultra 1st company army.

Like Flagg pretty much said above. Blood Angels are more of a close combat designed SM chapter with, Vet assualt as troops, over charged rhinos,Death Company etc... One of the drawbacks are there hero's are a little outdated now but, none the less, can stll be effective. The other is they are a tad bit more expensive point wise than codex marines and, in the new SM codex codex marines have accsess to all heros not so for BA. There has been tons of threads about BA and how they need love etc.....

I say pick a paint scheme you like that is more important like Flagg said. Nothing says you can't play your BA as red vanilla marines if you want accsess to SM codex. Really in the end just have fun =)


Good Luck

Real men play Black Templar.

Vanilla marines probably have the best options these days, or rather the Dark Angels and Black Templar books could probably use a v2.0.

Please, don't weigh down the bandwagon even more and settle with an Ultramarines army... They're so... Generic... But you get good characters (i.e. a truckload) and fluff's pretty straightforward. I'm just a bitter Dark Angels player, waiting for GW to remember some of their chapters. Don't mind me. Move along.

Rico, sobbing into a pillow.

There is nothing wrong with the Ultramarines.The paint scheme is petty straight forward though.My advice is to come up with your own colors and create your own Chapter.Do not let anyone discourage you from playing Ultramarines just because they are "Vaniila".

Ultrasmurfs are usually an all-round chapter to work with. You can specialise the force depending on the game and the tactics you employ. For example with regular marines you can pretty much play the BA style(close combat). What most people are saying here is that the normies, as me and my mates at my FLGS call them, can play only as a rounded force. But this is not the case. My pal plays vannillas as BA loading up his fast-attack with assult marines. The deal is that ultrasmurfs can be specialised to any task which is why many people favour them.

Yeah... what about Salamanders style of play? What you all know about that?

As I said before the SM armylist can be tailored to any chapter style. Salamanders play as a well rounded force as I mentioned. They usually play on the defensive side with heavy support bombing the hell out of the target so the marines can move up and destroy the already weakened unit. You can represent this by deploying second with vindictors bombing andvancing targets while SMs slowly advance bringing the fight to the enemy.

In the Space Marine codex there are a bunch of special characters that fit with multiple chapters. They give your army rules that correspond well with their respective chapter (Crimson Fists get stubborn and scoring Sternguard, Imperial Fists get stubborn and fortification, White Scars get outflanking and bikes as troops, etc.)

If you really want to play a chapter, start with the basic marine codex. Alternately, wait until this fall to get some Space Wolves. I love my Wolves, and can't wait to see what they get.