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I recently got my army minced by a Plague Marines Player. He mounts all of them Rhinos, preferring the tactical flexibility and speed they provide. As I can only provide one squad of vets with a Chimera, I'm wondering what would be the best way to deal with these.

IG can have massed plasma weapons like no other. Not to mention extremely cheap lascannons. And the manticore.

You don't have reliable power weapons, but you do make up for it with shooting ability.

Is the issue specifically tied with how many vehicles you have?

What does your army look like and models you have on hand?

Question: Do you have enough weapons that can deal with light tanks?

Pop rhinos first and force them to walk, this shouldn't be that hard. If you must, pop a rhino in front to force his units to go around it or the squad inside, never open up movement lanes for your opponent.

Going into melee isn't going to help you vs plague. Focus on plasma and missiles in your squads, and just keep shooting.

Forgive me for going a bit off topic here...cause i know he is talking about something else!

the title states "How to best beat Mecanized Plaque Marines?" to which I am inclined to reply Colgate my friend Colgate...

EDIT: to add DISCOLOR!! WEAKEN!! DECAY!!

While it is hard to say what to do without knowing your list or his list (for example, does he bring 6 squads in rhinos, or just 2? these things matter), i think there are some basic anti-Plague Marine tips:

1. All they are good at is not dying. They are basically regular marines that are slightly harder to kill. Any real close combat unit (TWC, TH/SS temires, whatever) will kill them without much trouble. I realize that guard dont have many CC units, but the same goes for shooting them: plasma and meltas drop them like flies.

2. Rhinos need to die, plain and simple. You are guard, and should have an abundance of auto cannons, melta weapons, and other high S shots. If you don't have these things, you may want to rethink your list a bit.

3. Try ignoring/tying them up for a few turns. Since Plague Marines are not really that dangerous (except that they are hard to kill with regular weapons), it can sometimes be possible to ignore them and focus on the other, more dangerous elements of the chaos player's list (demons, tanks, walkers, w/e). If you can leave the chaos player with nothing but plague marines, then you should be able to focus fire them with meltas, plasmas, templates and everything else.

If that is not possible, then try to tie them up for a while so you can focus on other things. A squad of 20-30 guardsmen with a commissar can handle 10 P Marines for a few turns while the rest of your army shoots other things. They might even win the combat.

Holy crap why is no one mentioned the bloody lemon russ

I run plague marines and i hate it! Basilisks too. If you pop a rhino, he has to deploy in the footprint. One good basilisk shell will eat a squad. A leman russ shell hurts too, wounds on 2+, denies FNP, and denies EVERYTHING if they are out in the open. AC's/ML's will sort you for the Rhino's.

^ I will 2nd that.. A battle cannon shot really really ruins a squad of plague marines night out on the town. They are t5 but its a modified t5 so anything str 8 and up insta kills them..And the battle cannon knocks out there armor so no armor save and instant kill so no FNP either.

The best way to deal with them is special weapons.. They can shrug off lasgun fire all day long.

My experience (as a Plague Marine using player) runs true to the advice given - pop the rhinos.

PM's are terrible in close combat - it just happens that IG also tends to be worse at it (I've heard tell of power blobs and hidden fists, but can't say I've ever seen one in action). If his strategy is just getting into your face and hitting you, I think he's probably playing more to your army's weakness rather than his army's strength (Berzerkers are much, much better at the "I punched him in the face" role).

Thing is, PM's also aren't superb with their shooting. Best loadout I've been able to find is a couple of plasma guns that I use to pick off things at range - not exactly awe-inspiring for the point cost.

Then again, everybody and their brother in my meta is swinging power weapons or meltas (with the rare plasma gun for flavor), so I guess I have trouble identifying with the Plague's mythical level of toughness. It seems that if they bring to bear fire-power appropriate to popping the rhino, it's already in place and in range for popping the Plagues that came out...

The guard army if full of things what can beat plauge marines quite easily.

Missile launchers
Lascannons
Maticore
Demolishers
Punishers
Standard lemun russ
Basilisk
Melta-spam
Plasma-spam

Theres more than likely a few others but you get the idea.
Thers a hell of a lot of things that can take out a plauge marine squad easily, luckily most of these things are also quite good at taking out rhinos!
Theres not much of a reason plauge marines should be troubling a guard player unless that guardsman is missing almost everything in the above list.

Jihallah wrote:Holy crap why is no one mentioned the bloody lemon russ

I run plague marines and i hate it! Basilisks too. If you pop a rhino, he has to deploy in the footprint. One good basilisk shell will eat a squad. A leman russ shell hurts too, wounds on 2+, denies FNP, and denies EVERYTHING if they are out in the open. AC's/ML's will sort you for the Rhino's.

Wait a minute, aren't battle cannon shots S 8 AP 3; and aren't plague marines T 5? If that is true, why are they denied FNP?


Automatically Appended Next Post:

Neconilis wrote:

Jihallah wrote:Holy crap why is no one mentioned the bloody lemon russ

I run plague marines and i hate it! Basilisks too. If you pop a rhino, he has to deploy in the footprint. One good basilisk shell will eat a squad. A leman russ shell hurts too, wounds on 2+, denies FNP, and denies EVERYTHING if they are out in the open. AC's/ML's will sort you for the Rhino's.

Wait a minute, aren't battle cannon shots S 8 AP 3; and aren't plague marines T 5? If that is true, why are they denied FNP?

Okay, someone else said it's T 4(5), makes sense now.

The LR Executioner with 5 plasma cannons is an answer to your question.
As said, pop the transports first, say with teams w/ autocannons.

Well Feel No Pain doesn't work against Power Weapons and Instant Death. So a combination of Meltaguns, Plasmaguns, and Power Weapons. Missile Launchers are also a great weapon for destroying Plague Marines and Vehicles.