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every once in a while I'll see photos of what appear to be assault marine squads (bolt pistols and chainswords), but with regular backpacks instead of jump packs. is this just a case of using spare tac marine bits to make cheap counts-as assault marines or am I missing something?

You seem to be missing the fact that not all flavours of "assault marines" are required to use Jump Packs.

It's normally someone who magnetized their backpacks and jetpacks on assault marines, though you can just get chainsword bits and toss them on tacticals.

Steelmage99 wrote:You seem to be missing the fact that not all flavours of "assault marines" are required to use Jump Packs.

granted, but is there some advantage to using tacticals in an assault role like this vs. taking actual assault marines? does the lower points cost make up for the loss of mobility?

@juralgamer: I thought about that, but wouldn't you want different weapons to convert assault to tac and vice versa or does the wysiwyg rule just not matter in that regard?

The regular backpacks come straight out of the Assault Marines box over here in the UK.

same here in the US, I've just never understood why. I mean, extra bits are great and all... but assault marines without jump packs? seems like crazy talk... hence my question

varl wrote:same here in the US, I've just never understood why. I mean, extra bits are great and all... but assault marines without jump packs? seems like crazy talk... hence my question

Because you might want to run them in a transport, and they're the unit that makes BA Razor spam viable.

varl wrote:

Steelmage99 wrote:You seem to be missing the fact that not all flavours of "assault marines" are required to use Jump Packs.

granted, but is there some advantage to using tacticals in an assault role like this vs. taking actual assault marines? does the lower points cost make up for the loss of mobility?

As you address points costs and rules, I assume you are talking about the actual units; Assault Marines and Tactical Marines, and not simply their models.

Their use in game is very different. This difference in use is mostly motivated by their different starting gear and their different weapon-options.

Also may be Black Templars. Their crusader squads may habe bolt pistol/chainswords as an option.

Yeah, or Blood Angels Assault Marines that can exchange their Jump Packs for a (sometimes) free transport.

varl wrote:

Steelmage99 wrote:You seem to be missing the fact that not all flavours of "assault marines" are required to use Jump Packs.

granted, but is there some advantage to using tacticals in an assault role like this vs. taking actual assault marines? does the lower points cost make up for the loss of mobility?

@juralgamer: I thought about that, but wouldn't you want different weapons to convert assault to tac and vice versa or does the wysiwyg rule just not matter in that regard?

Varl, you seem to have a number of mis-understandings.

Assault squad box comes with jump packs and regular backpacks.
Assault squads have the option to ditch their jump packs and get a transport for (nearly) free.
If you're building an assault squad without jump packs then there's no WYSIWYG implication to using tactical marines with spare chainswords and pistols - the models are power armour marines with CCW+pistol either way.

Main reason to run assault squads without jump packs is because you want them to ride a vehicle. If you've got an otherwise fully mech force with a couple of jump pack squads then all of the enemies anti-infantry fire is going to be poured into those jump packers.

Scott-S6 wrote:Assault squads have the option to ditch their jump packs and get a transport for (nearly) free.

ah ha! this was the important part I was missing. I didn't realize they had to get rid of their jump packs to get the transport. makes much more sense now

cheers

I didn't know this either varl, thanks for asking.