Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

Hello.
is there a list that you wouldn't include Marbo in? even in an all mech list?
i haven't had a list since the new 'dex came out that hasn't included him.
i personally find him worth it. what about the other IG players? is it the best
65 points you can spend? or are there better items you can spend the points on?

While Marbo is good, many players pushing for a particular build find his 65 points dont support the theme of their list. AKA, mech spam could always use that extra chimera, footslogging could use 65 points for 10 more models, tank company can use the 65 to round out their 6-9 russes.

Also, many armies would only use marbo for the s8 ap2 blast, but for 95 more you can get d3 s10 blasts with 4 shots in the manticore. Most prefer to front load their damage starting on turn 1 with the ability to alpha strike demovets in vendettas, who also get the demo charge, but also get meltas and 8 more wounds, and score.

I use Marbo mainly because my army is a Catachan army, but apart from that, I really like his "He's behind you!" ability. In my opinion, this gives you incredible tactical flexibility. Your opponent can and probably will find some way to reduce damage from your units if he knows where they are, how they work, what their range is, etc. pp. - but Marbo just pops up SOMEWHERE. Your opponent can not really have that included in his plan, and if he includes this is his plan he probably makes him vulnerable to your more conservative methods of killing stuff.

There's one situation I don't really enjoy him and that's kill point missions. One two-wound model that has to get close to the enemy to do anything and is only T3 5+...if you don't want him standing around uselessly the whole game to protect his one killpoint, you need to have quite a good plan how to use him and quite a bit of luck, I think - if you don't want him to die.

thanks for the replies!
@DevianID
good points. i usually have spent everything and find that odd 68 - 72 points are filled nicely by him.

@Witzkatz
that's probably the reason i like him the most, your opponent has noway of knowing where he's coming in at. even if he isn't going to win the
game for you, he can cause your opponent to be off his game a little, make mistakes. and then when he does show up, he gives you at least
one good bang before he's done.

Marbos 65 points means that even if he does not fit your theme or strategy he's actually still a ridiculously good buy.

However, in building my Steel Legion list I still just didn't want to include him, because of the aforementioned clash with my theme.

I think marbo is a sort of one man stormtrooper squad in the sense that he can just show up anywhere.

Very few units in the guard army have that 'sense of surprise' you get from Deepstriking units or a special unit like Marbo.

When an opponent faces a gunline guard list or a mech list or any characteristic army usually field by the guard he KNOWS what the guard army is going to do. Keep him at arms length and blast him to hell.

With Marbo and stormtroopers, as with sanctioned psykers, the guard get a little Ace up their sleeve. These units are unpredictable and in that lies their extreme use to a guard player. They should never form the backbone of your force but they give your gunline or your tank formation a little unpredictable spice.

That's my take on Marbo =]

-Lasfire

I was in a 1000 point random 2v2 tourney last week and played a hybrid mech guard army and decided not to take him. In retrospect I felt he would have had more impact in most of the games than what I had sidelined him for.

Cheers
~Volkan

I took Marbo for the first time in a 1500 pt. game last night. I was running full mechanized infantry with a couple of russes. Popped up behind a full squad of Horrors, demo'd them, and then killed the survivor in assault. He then hopped into cover to avoid a melta shot from a rhino, then charged into assault the next turn to assist a Callidus in killing a DP of Tzneetch.

Long story short, I'm bringing that little bugger whenever I can.

The only time I don't like him is in annihilation games, but Jesus, odds are at worst the guy is going to break even, getting you a KP and giving up a KP. If that's the case, you can't really complain, as whatever Marbo killed was probably a whole hell of a lot more important than your 65 point elite choice.

RogueFox wrote:
I took Marbo for the first time in a 1000 pt. game last night. Popped up behind a full squad of Horrors, demo'd them, and then killed the survivor in assault. He then hopped into cover to avoid a melta shot from a rhino, then charged into assault the next turn to assist a Callidus in killing a DP of Tzneetch.

I'm assuming the remaining Horror charged Marbo in this case as Marbo cannot move or assault the turn he shows up.

Cheers,
~Volkan

Volkan wrote:

RogueFox wrote:
I took Marbo for the first time in a 1000 pt. game last night. Popped up behind a full squad of Horrors, demo'd them, and then killed the survivor in assault. He then hopped into cover to avoid a melta shot from a rhino, then charged into assault the next turn to assist a Callidus in killing a DP of Tzneetch.

I'm assuming the remaining Horror charged Marbo in this case as Marbo cannot move or assault the turn he shows up.

Cheers,
~Volkan

The assault was the following turn. That would be some shenanigans, wouldn't it?

Hehe, indeed. Its just so darn easy to miss that line. However Marbo is really fun in close combat. I've had him win 2 rounds against a Slanesh Sorcerer before. Needless to say it frustrated him. His Hit and Run is also just a boat load of fun.

Cheers,
~Volkan

He's a 65 point demo pack. And he's very, very fun. And if it lands, he gets his points back almost instantly.

There is no reason to exclude Marbo because of the "Theme" of your army. With a little creativity a person can make a conversion for a Cadian or Steel legion version of Marbo. It could turn out to be a fun conversion.

That being said there are 2 good reasons not to include Marbo.

#1: The list ran out of elites choices.

#2: Marbo gives away an entire victory point for 65 points.

Agreed, I run a 'marbo' but he's made entirely out of Cadian bits. I admit it's harder for the metal models, but for the most of us playing as Cadians, making your own version of Marbo is as easy as using the Autocannon extra ammo container thing as the demo charge, and the command sprue head with the cigar.

You just need to say that Marbo was assigned to assist cadian forces. Bingo. He's one of the best IG commandos, why should he only support catachans?

To the model: Great buy for 65 points. Easy to kill if he's outside cover (harder if he's inside) but otherwise he's so overequipped with cool gak, including a Demo charge which can show up EVERYWHERE on the table without the risk of scatter or mishap, you really need to buy him.

schadenfreude wrote:That being said there are 2 good reasons not to include Marbo.

#1: The list ran out of elites choices.

That's not a good reason not to include Marbo.

IG Elites are, by and large, complete garbage. Psyker Battle Squads are nice, but Storm Troopers, Ogryns and Ratlings are nothing to write home about.

here's my "Cadian" version of Marbo:

MinMax wrote:

schadenfreude wrote:That being said there are 2 good reasons not to include Marbo.

#1: The list ran out of elites choices.

That's not a good reason not to include Marbo.

IG Elites are, by and large, complete garbage. Psyker Battle Squads are nice, but Storm Troopers, Ogryns and Ratlings are nothing to write home about.

I'm not fond of stormtoopers and ogryns.

Ratlings are dirt cheap BS4 sniper rifles with a 3+ cover save.

Psyker Battle Squads are devastating against any target that isn't fearless. Inflict 25% casualties, lower their leadership to 2, and charge them with another unit after they fail their moral check. If they don't make a last ditch morale test on snake eyes the unit is destroyed.

Marbo is always the first pick from Elites for my IG lists. PSB gets included if points permit and opponent is something non-fearless. Kill Point mission are the only minor drawback for him, since the enemy usually nukes him until the ground glows in the dark . But by that time he most likely has already claimed a Kill Point form some juice target anyway, so it is a draw at worst. Trading a 65 point one model unit to, say, a squad of Terminators or a tank is a bargain.

Marbo is a very powerful model. He worries me and he is very likely to hurt something important of mine. He draws an disproportionate amount of my attention (measured in both shooting and thinking). I spread my marines out to minimize damage from his blast, and thus end up in stupid positions. He IDs whole units of scoring 3W tyranid warriors and force me to sidetrack one unit to deal with him, breaking up my carefully planned advance. I hate facing him!

Yea, I find Marbo to be fantastically useful, even when he fails to do anything offensive himself. Even when he gets silly scatter on his demo charge his threat usually results in the entire enemy army firing everything they have at him next turn, saving the rest from a lot of grief. When things do go right he can pop up on an objective, nuke those holding it then contest it for a bit or die trying while your opponant brings things over to deal.

I would take 3 if I was allowed, and in a high point game I would be tempted to take him and a Callidus, though I think she is a little over priced these days.