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.

I've heard many things said about how the tanks of the Imperial Guard do not go well with the Space Marines, but what about the Basilisk and the Manticore, they are great Artillery, but they don't hinder the Space Marines in any way, they could just bomb where the Marines were going, then when the bombardment stops, the SM move in for the kill. So I don't see why they could be of a hindrance to the Marines, they could just back them up.

Kravox wrote:I've heard many things said about how the tanks of the Imperial Guard do not go well with the Space Marines, but what about the Basilisk and the Manticore, they are great Artillery, but they don't hinder the Space Marines in any way, they could just bomb where the Marines were going, then when the bombardment stops, the SM move in for the kill. So I don't see why they could be of a hindrance to the Marines, they could just back them up.

Artillery is slow and needs to be used in large numbers for a real effect. Marines rely on suprise and overwhelming concentration of force ( unless they wish to be destroyed by overwhelming firepower and numbers ), which in turn requires speed. Even saturation bombing cannot be done with a few pieces of artillery ( they have battlebarges and strikecruisers for this task ) so no, i do not think that spacemarines have any use for artillery ( or most of the time even tanks ).

Okay. thanks for the response

They use Whirlwinds as fast artillery. The major thing is that they have to retain their mobility - Basilisks are too slow and vulnerable to be used in Space Marine fashion. Leman Russ' feasibly could, but I think in the background they are, overall, inferior to Predators.

Space Marines of 40k lore do not translate properly to the war game. You get more of a feel for what SM are susposed to actually be in say Space Hulk or Deathwatch.

Kravox wrote:I've heard many things said about how the tanks of the Imperial Guard do not go well with the Space Marines, but what about the Basilisk and the Manticore, they are great Artillery, but they don't hinder the Space Marines in any way, they could just bomb where the Marines were going, then when the bombardment stops, the SM move in for the kill. So I don't see why they could be of a hindrance to the Marines, they could just back them up.

Several reasons. They still need someone who can fit in the driver's compartment first of all. Second, they share few, if any, components with other marine vehicles, so they would have to maintain an entirely separate logistics train for these vehicles for parts/weapons/ammunition/etc and possibly even different landing vehicles if they cannot be transported via thunderhawk with clamps designed for rhinos and land raider and not chimera chassis vehicles with huge dorsal weapons. that's a huge deal, especially for a rapid strike force army. Also, at least in terms of fluff, these vehicles are slower than SM tanks, so going from battle to battle would take longer.

Also, SM's don't fight battles where they are going to need such artillery generally. If they have to stand off at long range and pound an enemy with heavy artillery, they can use Thunderhawks and orbital bombardments, and if they don't have those available, then they're probably not in a position where victory is likely anyway. They have Vindicators for assault fire support and Whirlwinds for infantry suppression, and that's about all they (should) need.