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I'm leaning towards the creation of a Vulkan/MOTF Deadnought Drop Pod army, but I want to invest some time looking into the possibility of a different type of army revolving around Pedro Kantor, Sternguards, and lots of Dakka.

What I am thinking of as a list:

HQ: Pedro (175 points)
Troops: Min. Scouts w/ Missile Launcher (85 points with ML)
Elites: Min. Sternguard Veteran Squad w/ 2 ML or Lascannon. (135 points each with ML)
Fast Attack: solo Land Speeders with MM/HF loadout. (70 points each)
Heavy: AC/HB Predators (85 points each)

Filling in each slot would make this army around 1555. In an 1850 list, I could also add in Las/Plas Razorbacks for the Sterns and mess around with additional options, but I want to see what others think of such a list. I fear that SW and other SM army variants could outdo this type of list.

Not sure about the heavy weapons on the veterans, their main bonus is the special-issue ammunition that makes them so versatile. You might as well have tactical marines with the weapons for less points? Or devastators for more weapons? I tend to use sternguard on the offensive, and put them in a drop pod.

If you wish to read a tactica about Gunlines i have a couple of articles in the article section.

http://www.dakkadakka.com/wiki/en/Category:Space_Marines_Tactica

You can stick a couple of really scary heavy support, like vindicators or land raiders, and then make one of the slots a nice 'ol thunderfire cannon. The thunderfire will probably get ignored due to the other scary units, and will be able to unleash plenty of hell before being noticed and eradicated.

Sledgio wrote:Not sure about the heavy weapons on the veterans, their main bonus is the special-issue ammunition that makes them so versatile. You might as well have tactical marines with the weapons for less points? Or devastators for more weapons? I tend to use sternguard on the offensive, and put them in a drop pod.

The Vets have got the cheapest heavy weapons in the codex, plus you dont need to buy 10 to get that heavy weapon like in tacs. Compared to Devastators, they are a very good choice if you want soem heavy weapons and a squad that can do soemthing. They can be made scoring and the combi weapons/ special ammo help a lot. I run 2x HBolter for Extra Trash enemies with a dedicated razorback and I usually fire the 30 Inch bolts to compliment that HB range.

A Sternguard build that would work well in a Vulkan list would be a double HF unit. give the squad Combi-flamers or Meltas to taste and have 2 HFs.

give out some nice toasty love and assault any scraps with your 2 base attacks.

the problem with a static gunline in 5th is that every other army out there has the ability to outrun you and pick your gunline apart. dark eldar, BA, ork, eldar, tau, etc all have great speed options available. since most missions will be objectives, the static line fails. (unless you play for a draw, and that only works in 1/3 of the missions).

in kill points, your enemy can use speed to keep away from your fire, and pick off your outer units, and win that way. if your going to use SM in a gunline consider:

1. minimizing hev weapons and maxing on specials. this means no devs, and lots of elite choices. tac squads can also work well here. sterngaurd are a good choice, since they get special issue ammo for free. combi weapons can up thier abilites. for hev weapons i would suggest dreads. they come with free multimeltas for tank busting and can upgrade furthar. however i would leave them as anti tank.

2. drop pods. dreads and foot marines can drop pod in. with tac squads loaded with the free melta, or cheap plasma, a basic srg, and maybe the free missle, you can have alot of cheap and effective units. 4-5 of these can put ALOT of bolter fire out, and the plasma / melta can help vrs tanks or tough targets like termies. the missle wont shoot when you arrive, but it can later, and works well as support against any target.

3.keep your HQ low cost. i like to use "captain disposable" - a basic capt with a bolter and power sword. hes dirt cheap, and can help if you get attacked in CC. although with the amount of firepower your putting out, and the dreads nearby you hopefully shouldnt need to worry about CC.

4. finally, in case 3 fails, i suggest a unit of vangaurd or some other assault unit that can pod or deepstike in. their main job is a counter. keep them back unless you get charged, or if you need to charge something else off an objective. the dreads can also serve this role.

i run this kind of list on my blood angels, sometimes using stormravens, but the core is the pods. it works quite well, since most people expect the classic jump inf DOA BA attack. my drop pod mobile gunline often catches by surprise, and in the turn or so it takes to recover, the damage is done. my meta is diffrent then yours though, as will your play style and preference, so take the above with a grain of salt and realise its not the be all and end all of tactic. just what ive used with some sucsess.

I'm apparently mistaken, but I always thought a gunline was more like a lot of basic troops, using basic weapons, set up in a supportive fire role to one another. What's with all the talk of heavy weapons?

the gunline in my view anyway is simply a lot of boots with alot of guns. the idea is to overwhelm your enemy with firepower and destroy them before they can retaliate. hev weapons do that, but in my suggestion drop pods get your troops where needed. the list i run is usually 4 tac squads, a sterngaurd unit or 2, and as many dreads as will fit. if ive got points i add more tac / stern or vangaurd units.

the concept is that with the pods, you can not only arrive when you need em (no waiting for turn 4) but you can also get pretty much where you need. objectives, etc. the tac squads are kept cheap, simply becasue they are going to take alot of fire, and the idea is to have more wounds then your enemy can kill. sterngaurd and dreads are your hitters, with tac squads acting as sort of a fire support base. the main weakness of the army is a fast moving dedicated CC force that can reach you before they get shot up, so i keep the dreads with at least 1 CCW to act as a reply to that threat if needed. (plus they work well for charging and smashing tanks)

and when i say cheap tac squad i mean like - 10 marines, free missle, plasma 10 points in drop pod. (no srg power wep/fist or anything other then MAYBE a plasma pistol if youve got points to throw away) - reason being this units job is to shoot and claim/contest objectives. if they get charged by a normal unit they should do ok as is. if they end up fighting a dedicated CC unit, they will probally get wiped anyway so why waste 40+ points on upgrading a srg that really wont do much anyway? across 4 squads those 40 points buys you another full tac squad. or another dread, or upgrades like combi weps to your sterngaurd. if you end up not in combat, then again those points are waste. tac marines are imho there to SHOOT crap up, and not really worry about cover *too* much.

sorry for rant... its early and im wired on caffiene. speaking of....i need more coffee.

Gunline can mean many different things.


the only viable marine gunline in my opinion is a mobile gunline.


10 man Tacsquads in Rhinos/Razorbacks. Razorback squads split so one half can ride. Heavy weapon should usually be the missile launcher. if you have points, the Tac lascannons are the cheapest in the army.

the Sergeant should have combi-weapon matching the squad. PFs and PWs are optional. PF for a Combi-melta, PW for combi-flamer.

Rifleman Dreds and Typhoon speeders prvide the bulk of your firepower.

Sniper(Lascannon/missile) Dreds are good too.

Tactical terminators with Clyclone missile launchers are good firebases too.

best landraider varity is the Phobos(Godhammer) pattern.


the MOTF is a good HQ. unlocking the ability to run more Dreadnoughts/use Elites for other things and still take Dreds. He's pretty good at fixing things although it doesn't always come up. also, Conversion beamer