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Im starting up a SM army and looking for suggestions as what to aquire first!

Tac squads! Lots and lots of tac squads!

That being said. You want to get an HQ and 2 troops ASAP.

So pick a character, commander, librarian etc, whichever your interested in. Grab 2 tactical squads and you've got the basics.

I would add a third tac squad, then work on what you might want for Elites/Heavy support, Transports etc.

I personally like Sternguard, Assault Terminators, Dreadnaughts, and I still have a fond place in my heart for bike squads.

Its hard to recommend what units to start with other than, I don't think you can go wrong with 3x Tac Squad + 3x Rhino.

The rest is more subjective and sort of a sprinke on units to taste.

If you're okay with static models, find someone to split the Assault On Black Reach starter set with. If you pay for the marine half and you find an experienced player to go in on the ork half, you get rulebooks, dice, templates, a marine captain, a tactical squad with flamer and missile launcher, 5 terminators and a dreadnought. It's a good buy if you don't mind all of your models being in very static positions.

However, if you wanna go the do-it-yourself route, I'd say pick your favorite HQ, buy it (Captain is most versatile), then get two Tactical Marine boxes and a Devestator box. While the Devestators are not the favored Heavy Support choice these days, you get a host of heavy weapon options for your Tactical squads that your Tactical boxes don't include. That's how I got started, the old Battle for Macragge starter set (1 tac squad), a 2nd tac squad, and a dev box. Lots of options... it's a good thing

Okay, first of all the AOBR is a great point to start with, then grab a Battleforce, depending on what you want to make. If you want an infantry force, then get another Assault squad and a Devestator squad. Take a combat squad to go with the Devestators, and you're set.

go for the Space Marine Battleforce, its 90USD, and gives yous, 15 tac Marines, 5 Scouts and 5 Assault Marines and a Rhino, then buy some Heavy Weapin Bits and turn that 5 man squad into a five man squad, and give something other than a Missiles Launcher to your tac squad(though the ML is effective and cheap points wise) they I would advise Assault Terms and a Crusader, this will be the most expensive part of your army, so might as well get it out of the way, and jump your points by over 400pts, then buy an HQ you like, what ever you prefer.

This is.

If you are a new player, go with what the others have said about AoBR in order to get the rulebook and some basic marines, and then bolster that with tac squads or even a battleforce.

If you already know the rules/metagame or even have another army, HBMC's recommendation of the megaforce certainly can't be ignored. The only reason this would be a bad idea is if you lost interest after buying.

AoBR, then SM Battalion give the best bang for the buck, so start there.

But why try to save money when you could just get "The Spear of Sicarius" for the low low price of $1,277.50 (CAD).

I mean sure, it is missing alot of stuff most players would want, but with a giant savings of $0 over buying the items individually, how can you pass it up?

The new SM megaforce looks pretty sweet.

I also agree, if your new to the game and need rules etc. AoBR is a must.

Yep AoBR is a great set to start. The megaforce looks like a good direction to go afterwords. From there it will depend entirely on what your want in your army. Even before getting those, it would be a good idea to get the codex and look at the type of force you are interested in before getting anything other than AoBR.

Instead, wait for the end of next month and grab a Megaforce, then get a space marine commander. The magaforce has 2 tac squads, 1 assault squad, 1 scout squad, 1 Dreadnought, 1 predator, and 1 Rhino. Its like the Battle force on ROIDS!!!

Agreed with all the statements, so it really comes down to 2 things:
1) How serious you are about starting a SM force
2) How much money you have to spend

If you are serious and have the money, get the mega-force from GW available at the end of the month. Or the AoBR route if funds are short.

If you are just wanting to experiment, then go with the AoBR set. That way you get 2 (albeit small) forces for $75. Who knows, you may like Orks better and want to start that!

Hope this helps,
Cheers