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Im in the early stages of building a SM army, and from my previous SM army I have a left over 5 man assault squad still in the box. After reading through the forum, CC marines arent exactly a favorite of many.

So my question, what the heck should I do with them? effective loadouts? make them a completely different unit?

Depends on how competitive you want to be. If you are looking to play/build a highly competitive army then your best bet is to leave assault marines on the shelf. There are simply better choices for FA like attack bikes and land speeders for vanilla marines.

That said, I like to break out my assault marines into my vanilla marines sometimes. I run them with 2x flamers and a thunder hammer. These paired with Vulkan make a pretty cool combo. The flamers are twin linked and the hammer is master-crafted. I usually just have them jump behind my vehicles for cover and then when the moment comes jump out, flame, and assault. To be honest they are not bad when it comes to mopping up units and are pretty good at handling hordes with that loadout too. If jump packs aren't your thing they can take a rhino for free.

If you like the idea of lots of jump infantry, I would suggest you take a look at the BA codex. I have a DOA list and it is actually my most fun army to play with!

Sell them to a BA player and pick up something you need?

funkyh wrote:Sell them to a BA player and pick up something you need?

^Straight to the point. I love it!

They are great for BA, but vanilla marine players don't use them. They can't compete with the speeders in the FA department of the vanilla codex.

You could convert them, throw them in the bitz box to use later, or sell them on Ebay.

I'll trade you some Tac marines for them

Yeah, either sell them or use them as normal Marines with back packs. They have a dynamic pose making them better looking than bolter Marines.

What people have said is correct if you use them you want 2 flames and a hammer or fist for the sargent. But even like this they aren't really competitive.

It is a shame that assault marines got neutered in 5th edition because in 4th they were some of the best choices in the marine codex. However I wouldn't be surprised if they got a buff in 6th edition because GW does make a box for them and would probably like to see them and vanguard vets fielded more. Maybe they will make heroic intervention part of the assault troop base rules and make vanguard vets cheaper, or give assault marines fnp or 1 extra attack.

Just give vanilla assault marines the option to take meltas, and im sure they would se a good deal more use.

Pony_law wrote:What people have said is correct if you use them you want 2 flames and a hammer or fist for the sargent. But even like this they aren't really competitive.

It is a shame that assault marines got neutered in 5th edition because in 4th they were some of the best choices in the marine codex. However I wouldn't be surprised if they got a buff in 6th edition because GW does make a box for them and would probably like to see them and vanguard vets fielded more. Maybe they will make heroic intervention part of the assault troop base rules and make vanguard vets cheaper, or give assault marines fnp or 1 extra attack.

That would make them way OP! Imagine a BA army without the need for vets or priests!

Horst wrote:Just give vanilla assault marines the option to take meltas, and im sure they would se a good deal more use.

This seems more reasonable

Well you don't need to give the same buffs to BA. BA already have the buff of taking them as a troops choice. In the context of the current wargear options and codexes out there adding heroic intervention or fnp would not make assault marines OP.

Melta options would make them more used in the current meta but it would make them a suicide anti tank unit, ie deep strike in, fire the melta at threatening tank, and then hope to do some damage as you are shot/hacked to death. Assault marines are supposed to be cc orientated not tank hunters

Pony_law wrote:Well you don't need to give the same buffs to BA. BA already have the buff of taking them as a troops choice. In the context of the current wargear options and codexes out there adding heroic intervention or fnp would not make assault marines OP.

I cast my vote on the OP side of things in this one. At any rate, I hope this BA special rule is not given to the Vanillas. Let the BAs be BAs and the Vanillas be vanilla.

I play them on occasion just for the heck of it. They can be fun to you and annoying to your opponent

I really like Assault Marines, maybe not so much MEQ armies but against more numerous lightly armoured forces can be reasonably effective getting quickly and hitting with flamers the getting into combat.
I wouldn't turn my nose up at the free krak grenades and melta bombs/thunder hammer on the sergeant for at least giving armour something to think about

I like them for a lot of reasons. fluff, models, all good in my book.

I think they shine against gunline armies, and Tau, for all their vaunted mobility, usually can't get out of the way of a properly run assault squad before they're done in.

I also love running them in cities, especially with flamers.

"No, you don't get a cover save from that. Oh, don't worry, I'll be there in a sec to finish whatever's left."