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I am still new to 5th edition, so I am looking for some other suggestions on how best to utilize my 5-man assault squad in my 2000 point army. I currently play Dark Angels and have a 5-man assault squad equipped with 2 plasma pistols, sgt with power weapon and jump packs. I've tried going all-out with them kamakaze style and that works to usually wipe out the first squad they encounter (against tyranids, CSM with some luck too). I've also gone the route of holding them back until later in the game to try and contest a last minute objective.

How are some other ways that others have tried using them with success? I also am curious to know the squad size most run with assault marines? Perhaps only having 5 marines in the squad is too low a number and I should work on adding more bodies to the unit. LMK.

Thanks in advance.

I don't mean to sound facetious, but the absolute best place for assault marines is as a planetstrike attacker. In competitive 40k, there are too many other more efficient choices for a dark angel army to take.

Were you hell-bent on taking them, I would run 10, and i would follow behind a rhino to guarantee a cover save. I would also definitely upgrade the power weapon to a power fist so that you don't get stuck in place by being charged by a walker.

I am not "hell-bent", but I purchased a box of them when I was just painting mini's again and now I'm fielding them because of limited choice in my 2000 point army. I do like your idea of having them follow behind a rhino for a cover save, that would help me get them across the board without taking too many casualties.

Thanks.

Can the DA ones take flamers? Vanilla codex lets you have two in a 10-man squad. Yeah they lose an attack, but JUMP FLAMERS! That flame template will do more damage to just about anything than the one WS4 S4 attack you lose from not having two CC weapons, and no risk of a plasma gun blowing up a guy.

I haven't mathhammered it but I think a melta bomb might be a better hedge against the walker charge than a PF. You get only one attack but it's at str 8+2d6 instead of 1d6, which is a big deal, especially if you get tied up with something AV13 like an ironclad. At only 5 pts for the melta bomb just take it AND the PF, that's what I do :p

ItsTheSneak wrote:Can the DA ones take flamers? Vanilla codex lets you have two in a 10-man squad. Yeah they lose an attack, but JUMP FLAMERS! That flame template will do more damage to just about anything than the one WS4 S4 attack you lose from not having two CC weapons, and no risk of a plasma gun blowing up a guy.

I haven't mathhammered it but I think a melta bomb might be a better hedge against the walker charge than a PF. You get only one attack but it's at str 8+2d6 instead of 1d6, which is a big deal, especially if you get tied up with something AV13 like an ironclad. At only 5 pts for the melta bomb just take it AND the PF, that's what I do :p

Nope we dont get fire
I have 2 10 Man Squads that I usualy put with my Deathwing and I deep Strike them.
They may come late to the party, but if you get them early on it does a lot of damage.
I am also thinking of geting a Damoclise Rhino to help with that.

MEQ assault marines are pretty gakky.

I can't suggest much, but, maybe running them as vanguard would be better (give them terminator honours tonnes of purity seals and such.) they're much better then assault marines.

and costs a crap load more. While assault mariens are somewhat cost inefficient Vanguard are totally extremly overcosted. Simply put, if you want a competitive list, NEVER EVER include Vanguard

what about sternguard?

What about them? I was under the impression that the OP wanted tips on Jump Infantry...

Yeah, they're not enormously good, in a Dark Angels army.

I have had some success using them to with an otherwise predominantly Ravenwing army:

* The bikes can easily give cover to the assault marines -- this is worthwhile because the bikes have a higher Toughness, usually an apothecary, and often a 3+ cover save for turboboosting, so are more generally more resilient against shooting than the assault marines.

* If you follow your plasma gun / apothecary bike squad closely with your assault marines, the plasma pistol assault marines are in range of the apothecary, for help against Gets Hot!

* The assault marines help enormously with Ravenwing's usual weakness -- close combat.

6 bikers (2 plasma guns, power sword, apothecary) and 10 jump marines (3 plasma pistols, power sword) is an expensive combo -- but it will hurt almost anything in the game, with 4 twin-linked rapid-firing bolters, 7 plasma shots, and 7 bolt pistols to soften them up, then 37 regular close combat attacks plus 8 power weapon attacks. And you can pick your close combats, since you have the range to stay away if need be. 7 plasma shots against vehicle side or rear armour, then assault the contents, can work pretty well too.

I can't say it's points-efficient -- so it's not a hugely competitive choice... but it's the least ineffective use for DA jump marines that I've found. And, as long as you can be concentrating all or most of your hundreds of points' worth of forces on a small section of the opposing army, with the rest of your army enjoying their 3+ turboboost cover save, it's not such a bad thing to have lots of points tied up in a couple of units.

I have aslo sarted taking an Assualt Squad [10 man], with 2 Plasma Pistols, Give the Sarge a Plasma Pistol & Power Fist, and throw in a Chappy with a Plasma Pistol. Everyone that can gets Metla-Bombs and then doop strike. They chew up Heavy suport unis real quick, Infantry or Vehicle eitherway

Assault squads are best used as Shock troops. get them stuck in with something they can kill or tiedown a key enemy unit.

A power fist and plasma pistols make them good at dealing with artillary, long range heavy support, and tanks that are sitting on the back board edge. and because of their movement they can get there fast. Remember to use cover though.

Switch the fist for a power weapon and they become MEQ hunters. In a 10 man squad you can get 3 pistols(2 squad 1 sarg)People don't like pistols blowing up and killing their guys, but really, the chances of that are actually really REALLY low.

Power weapon and flamers are good against hordes for obvious reasons.


Assault squads are better in Objective missions(yes, that sounds wierd,but i'll explain) they can because of their mobility be used as either, a counter assault unit to intercept units attempting to contest your objectives OR contest enemy objectives and wipe troops holding those objectives out.

KP missions are not as great for assault squads, but they have uses. Because of mobility they can pick and choose their fights. have them only fight units they can beat easily and get a KP for you.

I would always put chaplains on assault squads. fearless makes a big difference in my experience.

Yes, a Jump Chaplain turns this bowl of nutritious cereal into a healthy, well balanced breakfast.

I agree with basically everything said above. I would consider them a counterstrike unit and not anything to go at an opponent alone. Position them centrally and scoot over to any CC that looks like it is going poorly for you.

Five men is far too few for Assault Marines, IMO, especially when you start adding special weapons. Deepstriking them is risky, and you end up sitting in a nice, round formation for blast templates for a turn.

Aim for 8-10 of these guys, take at last a power weapon on the sergeant, and a meltabomb. Jump them around out of LOS, or have them trail a tank formation until they can get to grips with the enemy.

They can work quite nicely following behind a Land Raider with Terminators inside. Hit the target with both the Terminators and the Assault Marines in one go, and you've got a steamroller on your hands.

Another suggestion i have is don't DS them.

They have a very large movement range and don't need to DS. Its too risky as TheRhino has said

As for as Deep Striking them, When I do it usaly when I team my Deathwing, so every one Deep Strikes

I will probalby not Deep Strike my Skyclaws though

I find that most of the time the best use for Assault marines is cleverly decorating my dusty shelf where less useful minis go to await a new codex. If I were to use them it would be in a counter-attack or Objective contesting role. They can be used to reasonable effect against non-MEQ armies to harrass enemy advance units, taking out transports with PPs and assaulting the squishy bits, but those opportunities are usually rare. Otherwise they are an expensive and easily killed unit that draws fire, and rarely get their points back.