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.

suppose you can consider some of the below:

Sternguard squads in rhinos for racingup a flank with another rhino with tact squad in it. getting out and rapid firing an enemy squad holding an objective. if you have Kator then both sternguard and the tactical squad are now scoring for you.

If you like drop pods taking 5 for your army so two dreadnaughts and a sternguard squad can drop down causing havoc could work.

All biker lists deployed on a flank and race up taking out a portion of th enemy befor ehis entire army can come to bear.

tank heavy army so small arms fire cannot hurt tactical squads i the transports

infantry heavy army so the anti tank weapons are technically wasted

vulkan builds with speeders/bikes/termies/ tacts with MM and flamers, dreads with mm etc either using rhinos for the squads or drop pods for close range flaming.

Same with Kantor using sternguard in rhinos or drop pods and keeping them within 12 inches for his +1 attack

taking rhinos and a dedicated landraider for assault termies and khan and outflanking them all.

there are pleanty of tactics to use, just mess about and see what you come up with or what sounds appealing.

There seems to olnly be two types of the normal Dreadnought. Multimelta in a Drop Pod is for tanks. Assault Cannon and Heavy Flamer is for taking out infantry, it can also be put in a Drop Pod. But, it seems to always be a good idea to put the normal one in a Drop Pod; it can kill a LR first turn. Ironclad seems good for CC with either one. The Venerable seems good as well, but it's basically a more accurate version of the normal one with the ability to make the opponent re-roll the damage result. I have seen this change an Imbolized result to an Explodes result in a CC with a CC fex though

Space marines?


Be orkz.

Useful post there, c4t

Actually dreads are quite useful in several configurations. My favorites:
Stock MM/SB- Cheap and versatile- can shoot a range of targets (from 30 inches and extra pene from 18 thanks to walker rules for move and fire). A HF swapout gives more anti-horde utility at a low cost. Stick this in a DP for extra lulz.

PC Dread- Walking death to MEQs and TEQs without having to worry about overheat

2xTL AC- As mentioned, a transport/light vehicle murderer. Not so hot against high AS/AV, though, and sacrifices HtH

The ven option gives better shooting, and more resilience but is pretty pricey. The IC is very nice and reasonable priced for what you get, but is a dedicated short range fighter.

I've tried the 2 twin linked autocannon one, it's disappointing.

n0t_u wrote:I've tried the 2 twin linked autocannon one, it's disappointing.

The trick with the TL ACs is your almost eliminating one step of damaging a tank out of the equation. With the venerable you hit on 2+ with a reroll, so chances are you will hit with all 4 shots.

Then you just need to roll a 5 or preferably a 6 on one of those dice 4 dice to be rolling on the damage table for an AV12. So again the chances are with you to do "Something" to any av 12 you shoot at even if it is just shaking it.

It all sounds awsome!

some anti-ork tips!


if the enemy ork player has a huge scary mob of nobz, charge it with thunder hammer terminators AND a tactical squad.

try to get your hammers in base to base with his powerclaw nobz / independent characters, and get your tac marines in base to base with his regular nobz.

the tacticals will eat big choppa hits, and you may loose 3-4 of them. but when powerfists start to swing, he will have to swing his claws on your thunder hammer guys because they are in base to base with terminators only. so instead of having to make like 12 armor saves with terminators before they even swing, all your hammers get to swing now. odds are you'll kill a good 5 or so nobz with this, at least. he will swing back, and probably put a good 2-3 terminators 2 feet under. but... each wound you did counts as 2.... so he will loose by like 5. then, when he fails his morale, your tacticals can run him down, making up for the weakness of the terminators!


also, when playing an ork horde, throw your rhino wall directly in front of it, without tank shocking it. sure, they can destroy the rhinos easy, but thats not the point. they can kill them in close combat with power klaws, but the orks won't be moving up that turn, it will have been wasted staying in the same spot dealing with the rhinos blocking their path. so while they were busy putzing around, you can pour your fire into another mob of boyz.

hmmm... I don't have any Terminators with thunder hammers but they sound great! thanks so much for the tips there really helpful!

Put your marines on hte table and know how to play them and dont get out played and you'll probly come out with a W

Take two dready's one with a tled lascannon the other, a Plasma or Assaultcannon/Autocannon

Stike from the Skies, Brothers! Drop pods, MM's and dreads. with drop pods your army always gets the element of surprise and drop pods don't have deep strike mishaps land on the objective blast whatever it is off it then hold it

Sit in backfield with tac squad of 5 in Razorback with twin lascannons to hold your own objective with a vindicator hiding in cover and in range then send the rest forward in the name of the Emperor!

i use fast attacks like bikes and land speeders to go for their sides and react to that while you deep strike CQC Termies and put a predetor, tactical squads and Land Raiders straight into them, oh,before all that weaken any dangerous things with whirlwind.

The only real path to victory is practice. Only in the crucible of war are men of iron forged!

Seriously, though, Space Marines suffer from one real problem. TOO MANY GOOD TOYS.

Narrowing your choices is sometimes the hardest thing of all. My suggestion to any new player is to be patient, learn as much as you can from every game, and try a lot of different things. I think the most successful lists come from having a plan and a focus to the list. Don't just throw in the random units you think are shiny. Think about synergy between your elements, think about how you will overcome losses (which is inevitable) and still win, and how you will hunt the center of the enemy's strength and how you plan to deal with it. SM's can accomplish all these things so many ways, there's whole FORUMS dedicated to discussing it.

Take your time developing your ideas of how you want to play, and then do it. Having a cohesive plan and committing to it is more important than pleasing the Internet list crunchers.

Learn to master combat tactics.

Its not just used in assaults to get out of a fight.

your marines are taking heavy fire from ap3 weapons. go to ground in or out of cover get that 3+ or 6+ save. when you lose models choose to fail and auto regroup. (of course make sure not to do this near the table edge or if it will put you within 6 of any enemy unit)

avoid assaults by chooseing to fail. that uber CC unit is read to pounce your marines into oblivion but he made the mistake of firing on the same unit to widdle them down a bit for a good pouncing. remind him that your a marine. choose to fail...fall back and in the next turn give him a face full of lead for his efforts.

got 2 units in combat with 1 enemy and you lost combat. choose to fail with one but not with the other. hopefully you hold with the other and he cant chase you down. sometimes it pays to break off your IC joined to a unit just before combat if it looks like it will last more than 1 round. if you fail to win the following round you can break off with captain to recharge the unit/another unit. or maybe its close to the end of hte game...you can choose to hold with captain and break off with your troops to grab the objective.

these tactics are very situational but it gives you options that most people don't think of using. combat tactics is very powerfull and I wouldnt even trade it for vulkans ability. honestly if more people used it properly people would realize that marines are are pretty decent army without all the special characters.

@mrdabba:
It really depends on what points level you are running...
The higher the points, the more crowded the board is, the easier the opponent can get stuff that arrives via outflank/deepstrike behind your lines.

It essentially means that a higher point games, combat tactics is almost not an option as things start to die in squads and falling back is just plain bad.

I like combat tactics as well, but I don't mind if I have combat tactics or chapter tactics, they are all good really.

My 7 Cents.

mrdabba has a point about Combat Tactics.

Something that I've been doing recently is using a Dreadnought to escort a Tactical Squad up the board, with the Tactical squad making a U around the rear of the Dreadnought's base. This gives them cover, and if you put your Sergeant and Special Weapon Marine on the 'horns' of the U, then you don't have to worry about your cover obstructing your own main firepower. You also get the mobile firepower of the Dreadnought supporting your advance.

Aside from giving a cover save, this means that when the enemy crashes into you, they have to also engage the Dreadnought, or even engage it first. You then take your lumps, and if you don't win, then the Tactical squad withdraws using Combat Tactics. The Dreadnought remains locked to the enemy and prevents them from catching the Tactical squad in a Sweeping Advance. The bonus being that Walkers don't suffer from No Retreat!

The Dreadnought then pins the enemy in place long enough to hurl an Assault squad or similar 'fireman' unit in there to mop them up.

Sideways, it's kind of like:

O)

You can do something similar with a Rhino or a Razorback, and what they sacrifice in terms of being able to lock units in close combat is made up for in being able to tank-shock units into position for blast and template weapons.

That's quite interesting Nurglitch. I'm gonna have to try that next time I play.

Deny flank is amazing (make them set up first then set up vs. half of their army *the weaker side or the side that is must vulnerable*)

Tank shock is your friend when it comes to getting things closer to you and getting people into "please flamer me!" formation. Speeders can be good at this!

Don't combat squad and spam War Condoms (drop pods) in KP missions.

if you want to get close to someone, deploy your tanks with side armor facing your opponent at the very edge of your deployment zone then when you move the tanks pivot them facing forward and measure from the edge which will be another 1 1/2 to 2 inches at least depending on the vehicle. This works AMAZINGLY for LR's.

Remember to put down the assault ramp for LR's when termies want to assault. They can be 2" off of the edge of the assault ramp so use that!

Null-Zone vs. Daemons = YUM!

Unless you want to mass-bolter someone (and you know that your tac squad will be safe) don't deploy them out of their rhinos! The rhino has 2 top hatches use this to your advantage!

Mech up or don't play competitively.

Have mobile meltaguns! HF/MM speeders and MM AB are amazing.

Thanks again everyone! And nurglitch thats a really great idea! I was thinking as i read that i could get another dread and another tac squad and do this x2!

EzeKK wrote: if you want to get close to someone, deploy your tanks with side armor facing your opponent at the very edge of your deployment zone then when you move the tanks pivot them facing forward and measure from the edge which will be another 1 1/2 to 2 inches at least depending on the vehicle. This works AMAZINGLY for LR's.

The first tactic listed here is invalid, although you pivot based on the center point of a model, no part of the model may move farther than 12" from its starting point, to claim that you pivot then measure the distance you are moving is fine, but to move it so it goes farther than 12" from your starting position in any way is cheating.

EzeKK wrote:Remember to put down the assault ramp for LR's when termies want to assault. They can be 2" off of the edge of the assault ramp so use that!

This tactic is also invalid, the doors on the Land Raider, although may be considered the "hull" for disembarking/embarking, do not give you extra range by folding them down, to play it that way is considered by many to also be cheating, (this is akin to using the doors of a drop pod for disembarking)

EzeKK wrote: Mech up or don't play competitively.

this is not a hard rule, I have seen some very competitive non-mech SM builds that have won local tourneys.

Demogerg.

Pivoting on the spot then moving 12 inches you are not cheating. you are moving exactly 12 inches from your starting point. What he described just gives you 2 or 3 inch extra distance from the 12inch deployment zone then if he had setup with the front of the vehicle 12 inches from the deployment zone.

this is not cheating and a valid tactic...frankly though those 2 or 3 inches dont really make a difference in the long run.

if I take a chapter master I allways use my orbital bombardment at the start of the game in the centre of the largest group.....can't tell you how many times this thing has scattered and done nothing later on in the game.

i take a command squad with Relic blades(+2 STR), plasma pistols and one power fist. no extra attack but it doesnt really matter when you strike at normal inititive. (R blades are great for killing terminators, lookout for eldar)

Assault squads are great against low toughness or low-leadership armies like T'au, IG, Sisters where you can win the combat and sweeping advance. and if you don't win you can combat tactics away 3D6 inches rally and charge again next turn. alot cheaper then Termies too.

Chapter master is great for killing hordes.

@Grey Templar:

Relic Blades on the command squad?
Maybe you want to check that again?

Assault squads:
They are good against Tau and IG in combat, but they will most likely win, kill and then get shot in the face.

Sisters are a mixed bag in my experience.

If you lose you Combat Tactics 3D6 away, but if it's a against Tau, IG, or sisters, they have skimmers, chimeras, rhino's that can move within 6" of the assault marines and make them fall back more/unable to regroup......simply escorting them off the table.

Assault marines are cheaper than termies, but just can't perform some of the same sort of things Termies do.
Compared to Tactical termies, Ass Marines can't shoot far and can't hurt high toughness things.
Vs. Ass Termies, Ass marines can't take the same ap3/2/1 punishment.

They are different, and comparing costs really adds nothing here.

Chapter master is meh against hordes, and if you mean the orbital bombardment at that, it scatters and easily absorbed by cover and just simple spacing out.

My 7 Cents.

The Warp wrote:I'm looking for some great Space Marine tactics to use anything is apreciated thanks!

Sure.

The best way to win is to play some other army.

Sanctjud wrote:@Grey Templar:

Relic Blades on the command squad?
Maybe you want to check that again?

Assault squads:
They are good against Tau and IG in combat, but they will most likely win, kill and then get shot in the face.

Sisters are a mixed bag in my experience.

If you lose you Combat Tactics 3D6 away, but if it's a against Tau, IG, or sisters, they have skimmers, chimeras, rhino's that can move within 6" of the assault marines and make them fall back more/unable to regroup......simply escorting them off the table.

Assault marines are cheaper than termies, but just can't perform some of the same sort of things Termies do.
Compared to Tactical termies, Ass Marines can't shoot far and can't hurt high toughness things.
Vs. Ass Termies, Ass marines can't take the same ap3/2/1 punishment.

They are different, and comparing costs really adds nothing here.

Chapter master is meh against hordes, and if you mean the orbital bombardment at that, it scatters and easily absorbed by cover and just simple spacing out.

My 7 Cents.

Did i say Command squad I really meant Honor guard.

they are expensive but well worth it over the command squad if you take the relic blades. and i always take one with the chapter master.

i really miss Termie command squads

mrdabba wrote:Learn to master combat tactics.

Its not just used in assaults to get out of a fight.

your marines are taking heavy fire from ap3 weapons. go to ground in or out of cover get that 3+ or 6+ save. when you lose models choose to fail and auto regroup. (of course make sure not to do this near the table edge or if it will put you within 6 of any enemy unit)

avoid assaults by chooseing to fail. that uber CC unit is read to pounce your marines into oblivion but he made the mistake of firing on the same unit to widdle them down a bit for a good pouncing. remind him that your a marine. choose to fail...fall back and in the next turn give him a face full of lead for his efforts.

got 2 units in combat with 1 enemy and you lost combat. choose to fail with one but not with the other. hopefully you hold with the other and he cant chase you down. sometimes it pays to break off your IC joined to a unit just before combat if it looks like it will last more than 1 round. if you fail to win the following round you can break off with captain to recharge the unit/another unit. or maybe its close to the end of hte game...you can choose to hold with captain and break off with your troops to grab the objective.

these tactics are very situational but it gives you options that most people don't think of using. combat tactics is very powerfull and I wouldnt even trade it for vulkans ability. honestly if more people used it properly people would realize that marines are are pretty decent army without all the special characters.

This might be a stupid question but I have a friend I play with and he thinks this is not legal... Is it or no .. ??

Cato:

Which "this" are you referring to in the quoted post?