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Ok...

I haven't been playing 40K for a while and from all the talk I've heard about 5th Ed is that Melta Weapons are now the way to go over Plasma Weapons.

Well I'm starting a new Space Marine army and I wanted to know if all the noise I've heard about Melta Weapons is true.

Does an army need a lot of Melta Weapons and should I take Vulkan He'stan?

I'm planning to go to the 40K GT in 2010 and seeing as though the last GT I played in was 2002-2003, I wanted to know if that was the way to go.

Thanks

RH

Yes melta weapons are the bees knees. I forget the distance.... 6 inches? Anyway, you get 2 d6 on armor penetration which is always nice. And a super low AP means no armor saves for anything save a cover.
And why not take Vulkan hes a badasss. Really tho it depends on what army your building/fighting

The big reason that melta weapons are really good is the aforementioned 2d6 penetration at half range, but in combination with the fact that AP1 gets a bonus on the vehicle damage table, which was adjusted in favor of vehicle survivability with 5th edition.

Space marines do melta really well because they get access to large amounts of cheap, fast multi-meltas, which are the real king of anti-vehicle weaponry in 5th ed.

Vulcan lists with assault termies in redeemers, with flamer/multi-melta on tacs (or melta/multi-melta if you're melta-crazy) are pretty much the way competitive SM players go now.

A lot of armies are going mechanised, with transport vehicles, Battle Tanks and such.
In response, fast/deepstrikers with Meltas are becoming popular. Often cheaper/more numerous than lascannon, they are also a lot more reliable, so you can dive in, Melta 'em and die in the knowledge of a job well done

Obviously your lists/tactics will be affected by the local foes, but its always worth bringing a few melta

Well for me it's a toss up between a Salamanders list led by Vulkan or a Crimson Fists list led by Pedro (which my Wife bought for me).

I'm not sure what to use as I can't get a balanced list for either commander.

Dont forget str8 instant kills stuff

Hell yeah!

if ya can get em, get meltas! I still run plasma guns in my Chaos SM, but solely because against other Chaos and most HQ's or bigger things (fex's, hive tyrants, avatars) the 2 str 7 ap 2 shots CAN be a god send. But yeah, typically, meltas ftw!

You need meltas to kill tanks. They're great against infantry, that is until you take into acount the fact they get 1 shot and they have terrible range.

Basically, don't expect melta weapons to be your end all, be all heavy and special weapons. Plasma is still god for killin MEQs and MCs. Las cannons are still amazing against light and medium tanks... etc

Ya gotta go with what your wife bought you! Paint it well and be proud of it. Few wives / girlfriends will buy a man 40k stuff. Show her how well you painted it. She might buy you more! Becides it is no longer Space Marines, everyone has Vulkan marines. Be different. Just saying. And yes have a good amount of melta if ya can get it.

Meltaguns also instagib SM/CSM characters that dont have eternal warrior! Rare situation, but making 5+ saves or instant death is not fun for people who like their prized converted commander

I have 8 of them in my 2k CSM list. CSM means theyre on infantry by the way.

I have 10 and 5 combis in my CSM, just on troops

I usually run around 10 multimeltas in a 1850-2000 point list. IMO building a list around Vulkan is very different then building a list around Pedro.

Pedro gives you orbital bombardment, +1 attack buble, and scoring sternguard. So you might want to load up on things like sternguard, lightning claw terminators, and land speeders with missile launchers & heavy bolters if you are going with Pedro. (Sternguard can do lots with different combi weapons, lightning claw terminators with 5 attacks on the charge can really put some hurt on plus still be supported by TH/SS terminators, and the land speeders can just murder light vehicles or infantry from 36+ inches away)

Vulkan gives you twin linked meltas and flamers, a very effective close combat model when used against a a non assault unit (Vulkan), and master crafted thunderhammers. Multi meltas are much better then melta guns and can be very mobile when placed on land speeders & attack bikes, plus you just went from hitting 66% of the time to hitting nearly 88% of the time with them. Heavy flamers on land speeders help with thinning hords. TT/SS terminators can be very difficult to deal with once they pop out of their land raider with a charge range of 20 inches that turn (land raider moves 12, 2 inches from door, 6 inch charge) along with 3+ invu saves.