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HQ:
Chaplain
-jump pack
115 pts

Librarian
-terminator armor
gate of infinity
125

Troops:
10 man tactical sq
flamer/missile
rhino
205pts

10 man tactical sq
multi-melta / melta gun
drop pod
215pts

5 man Scouts
snipers
cloaks
90pts

Fast Attack:
5 man Vanguard
-jump packs
-4 vets w/ dual LC
-sgt relic blade
310pts

Elites:
5man Sternguard
Drop pod w. locator
170

Drednought
multi
drop pod
140

Heavy:
Predator
dual las
bolters
130

With this army the sterns and librarian will drop along with the drednought in an alpha strike. Hopefully they can pop some stuff on turn one. The jump chap will be with the Vanguard. The 3rd pod with the tactical squad will land in the rear and clean up on a later turn. The Tactical Van and Predator will start at the front and dive in. The Pred will anchor long range heavy support.

Any ideas?
How should I position the rhino, pred and vanguard? I have some ideas, but am open to suggestions.
What other power should I give the librarian?

If you want Lightning claws take 200 pt assault term squad not 310 pt vanguard veteran squad!

No offense, but this army smacks of you being a new player. It has a lot of "I'll take 1 of everything, that should make a balanced list!" feeling to it.

HQ:
Chaplain
-jump pack
115 pts

Terrible. Chaplains are awful in a vanilla space marine army because they dont bring enough buffs to any squad that can actually deal damage in combat. Also, he cannot go with the Vanguard and do the deepstrike/charge ability that they have, so unless you intend on starting the vanguards on the board, you are basically wasting them.

Librarian
-terminator armor
gate of infinity
125

Spend the 15 points and get a storm shield.

Troops:
10 man tactical sq
flamer/missile
rhino
205pts

Pay for the melta-gun here...just do it.

5 man Scouts
snipers
cloaks
90pts

Worthless. Drop.

Fast Attack:
5 man Vanguard
-jump packs
-4 vets w/ dual LC
-sgt relic blade
310pts

Basically, Vanguard pretty much the worst unit in the Vanilla space marine codex. They are going to drop, and about 50% of the time, charge. Butcher some squad then be left in the open and shot to pieces, and that's best case scenario. They could arrive turn 5 and you'd have 20% of your army do nothing, they could scatter off target and not make combat. 5 guys in power armor are sitting ducks, and paying 310 points for them is insanity. A better option for this type of unit would be 8 assault terminators and deepstrike them. Sure they have to stand in the open 1 turn before they charge but you get 8 wounds instead of 5, and a 2+/3++ save instead of 3+ normal. Plus their thunder hammers wreck face.

Elites:
5man Sternguard
Drop pod w. locator
170

Just...silly. Needs upgrades at the least, more bodies wouldn't hurt either. If they are meant to alpha strike give the squad 5 combi-meltas and blow something up when they hit the table at least.

Drednought
multi
drop pod
140

Fine

Heavy:
Predator
dual las
bolters
130

Lascannon turrent and heavy bolter sponsons is the worst combo of weapons. If you want to blow up tanks go with autocannon turret and lascannon sponsons. If you wanna blow up infantry, so with a different vehicle.

Your overall plan isn't very solid either. You have 2 drop pods trying to alpha strike, but it's just 1 dread and 6 infantry. You have 5 vanguard trying to heroic intervention...but it's only 5 guys. You have a tact squad and a predator back field....but it's only 2 vehicles and maybe some scouts. You are trying to accomplish 3 different tactics here and not doing any one of them very well.

If you want to play space marines you need to focus on one aspect and build outwards from there with units that will support one another.

What's the librarian supposed to be doing? Hanging out in the backfiled with the scouts? I'm seeing a lot of synergy here. Somthings it back, some have Transports, some deepstrike. Try have a unified theme.

MisterMoon wrote:With this army the sterns and librarian will drop along with the drednought in an alpha strike. Hopefully they can pop some stuff on turn one. The jump chap will be with the Vanguard. The 3rd pod with the tactical squad will land in the rear and clean up on a later turn. The Tactical Van and Predator will start at the front and dive in. The Pred will anchor long range heavy support.

Any ideas?
How should I position the rhino, pred and vanguard? I have some ideas, but am open to suggestions.
What other power should I give the librarian?

Are you looking for a drop pod army?

If so, there are some very decent drop pod marine builds.

I just want to make sure you know that if you're trying to get mileage out of your locator beacons by using ate of infinity, you should expect people to argue with you that GoI is not a deepstrike attempt, and therefore cannot use locator beacons. If they do, point them to line 7 in the GoI rule, and explain that, in fact, the rule only says that it "uses the deep strike rules" for deployment, but on line 7 GoI is refered to as a deep strike attempt. This will probably get you mileage against other players but will likely do you no good in a more competitive setting such as tourneys.

If you're going to drop the scouts (don't see why you would... 100 points for a mediocre shooter that scores is still pretty good), then you need a backfield scoring unit. tbh, scouts are great at this, so I wouldn't drop them.

You really need to decide if you're going with a mech or deepstrike army. It is VERY hard to make a list that maximizes the qualities of both, and this list hasn't reached that lofty goal.

Personally, I believe that mech armies are easier to use. They're more predictable for the user, and a lot more forgiving so long as you give them cover. Drop pods require that you know what you're going to do ahead of time, which is something that a lot of people think they're good at but realistically aren't. In addition you never quite know when the second half of your pod are going to come down... which can be extremely aggravating.

on to the real advice:
Neither of your HQ choices do anything for you. A good hq either gives you a decent army wide buff, a great localized buff, or can kill everything it comes into contact with. Neither of your HQs do this.

It really does seem like you're going for a Drop pod army however... I don't really know how to do these lists so I'll bow to the advice of more experienced players but 10 man sternguard squads with lots of combi-melta that combat squad are something you need at least one of in your list.

your fast attack should also have speeders with heavy flammer MM, they're a lot more durable than they seem on paper (at least against anything not hydra ) and they have two really good guns.

If you want to keep your locator beacons, then use them! Hammernators could give this list a lot of oompf

Aside from that:
Vanguard are okay, and can be good with shrike and locator beacons
the best pread is auto turret with twin las sponsons, accept no substitute but if you have a drop pod army.. you might not need it
if you want lots and lots of melta and flamer goodness, then just go with vulkan.