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I play Codex Marines (Crimson Fists to be exact but whatever) and I was thinking of adding in a group of 10 assault marines to my list.

I don't have much for close combat, and while I understand that an assault group won't win every time, I was wondering how they did now in 6th edition with harassing gun lines, contesting objectives or intercepting cappers late game. Thoughts? Tactics?

I'm playing around with something similiar myself. I'm adding BA allies to my shooty codex marines to give me access to divination and for the Troop slot I'm putting in 10 Assault Marines. I'm not a fan of reserving the assault marines. The inability to move on and assault and the relatively weak firepower they pack makes the turn they arrive from reserves less than overwhelming. I'm leaning towards starting them on the board and supporting them with either my bike squad (6x SM w/ 2x PG, PF) or a Rhino Tac Squad (10x SM, Flamer, PF/Combi-Flamer, and MM). Two AB squads (3x HB, 3x MM) round out the spear head. This gives them good shooting units that can support them and the Rhino helps provide a screen as they move up. The assault marines are then used to clean up enemy units weakened by the shooting and to exploit any opportunities created by the MM bikes. The HB bikes and the Tac squad and/or bike squad can attrite the intended target enough to make it a successful assault.

I'd have to agree with Panzer - take BA allies and get a libby with Div. You have better things to be doing with your FA anyways.

Unless you really can't spare the points for a second HQ and you have a burning need to take Assault Marines, it's silly not to add them by taking Blood Angels allies. Blood Angels Assault Marines are superior in every way except for Combat Tactics. In return, you get Assault Marines that score and can take Meltaguns. In addition, you can buff them by taking Sanguinary Priests, and the Blood Angels Librarian you'll inevitably take as their HQ can take Divination, which you don't get and is probably the best of the new disciplines.

Blood Angel allies would be a better choice, but let's say for example you already have other allies. If you want to run them in an interrupting role, you can get away with less in the squad against the right opponent. If the units you're interrupting are going to be some way away from the rest of the opponent's army (for instance, Long Fangs) you only need 6 or 7 assuming that you'll lose a couple to fire when arriving from Deep Strike. Then the squad can charge and its job is fulfilled.

As a proper assault unit, vanilla Assault Marines only become truly viable at 10 men with an IC in tow - usually a Chaplain for the rerolls. Use this to try and break/run down units on the charge with the extra attacks, rather than trying to win a protracted, drawn out fight. Against the likes of a massive Ork mob they'll eventually crumble.

If Deep Striking, pick your drop zone wisely - not too close, not too far away - and run on your arrival to close the gap. If you can get close enough to your target you can make the best of your jump packs with Hammer of Wrath attacks.

Assault Marines are a good idea to harass gun lines etc. They add much needed speed and flexibility to the standard Marine codex. Vanguard were also slightly buffed by 6th 'Ed, mishaps aren't quite as bad as they were, and they have a larger average charge range. Decent of Angels from Blood Angels make this even better.

I agree that Blood Angel allies are a much better choice, I personally would take a Reclusiarch however. Fearless is now much better and they benefit really well from the re-roll to hit. Reclusiarch's are surprisingly good in challenges as well despite only AP4 with 5 attacks + Hammer of Wrath on the charge.

Librarian's are still good, but the normal BA powers shouldn't be overlooked. Giving Assault Marines Preferred Enemy is still very good.


You could extend the Blood Angels allies further. Death Company with Jump Packs and a Reclusiarch are even more of a beat stick than Assault Marines.

Or even think about Sanguinary Priests to give the Assault Marines FNP so they can get to combat in one piece.

Thanks for all of the replies.

I'm a bit of a noob, so forgive me for asking, but how does death company differ from normal assault marines or even vanguard for that matter (I don't have a BA codex sadly...)

scrabblez wrote:Thanks for all of the replies.

I'm a bit of a noob, so forgive me for asking, but how does death company differ from normal assault marines or even vanguard for that matter (I don't have a BA codex sadly...)

They get FNP, Furious Charge, Relentless, Fearless, Rage

Same profile as a marine but are WS5 and have 2 basic Attacks

You get a choice of Bolter or Bolt Pistol/ Chainsword

20pts standard: +15 for a Jump Pack, +15 for Power Weapon usual Power Fist and Thunderhammer options. They can all take one should they wish.

Minimum squad of 3, can take upto 30. +150pts for Chaplain Lemartes

They can't capture objectives and you can only have 1 squad per army unless you have Astorath.

Another key difference - ALL Blood Angel units with Jump Packs scatter D6" less than usual (in other words, they scatter 1-6"). In turn this makes their Vanguard MUCH more effective than vanilla because they're much more likely to get that charge on the turn they drop in.

I favor 5 man squads over 10. A 10 man squad has a huge footprint on the table. This makes it risky to deep strike, and hard to get the whole unit behind cover. On an open table, with little terrain, you will need the extra men to suck wounds while you close with your enemy. But in most cases I find a small squad gets the job done about the same as the large, but is cheeper.

Be they assault terminator or jump pack marines, if there is an assault element in my army, it is accompanied by a chaplain. He doesn't need extra fancy gear, just what it takes to match the squad.

The sergeant should have some power weapon; for you a power fist. I like a flamer for the special weapon on the squad. You have the maneuverability to get the template just where you need it.

Just because other armies do it better does not mean that codex marines can't get the job done. If you want allies for thematic reasons, or to squeeze more competative power out of your list, that's fine. I dislike having the default answer to questions like this "use another army". You are Crimson Fists. You don't need no fancy-boy vampires helping you. The only red you need is the crimson on your fists, and the blood splatters of your foes!

That doesn't make the pro-ally people wrong (because they aren't) just that I'm not fond of outsourcing jobs to other chapters.

phantommaster wrote:Assault Marines are a good idea to harass gun lines etc. They add much needed speed and flexibility to the standard Marine codex. Vanguard were also slightly buffed by 6th 'Ed, mishaps aren't quite as bad as they were, and they have a larger average charge range. Decent of Angels from Blood Angels make this even better.

I agree that Blood Angel allies are a much better choice, I personally would take a Reclusiarch however. Fearless is now much better and they benefit really well from the re-roll to hit. Reclusiarch's are surprisingly good in challenges as well despite only AP4 with 5 attacks + Hammer of Wrath on the charge.

Librarian's are still good, but the normal BA powers shouldn't be overlooked. Giving Assault Marines Preferred Enemy is still very good.


You could extend the Blood Angels allies further. Death Company with Jump Packs and a Reclusiarch are even more of a beat stick than Assault Marines.

Or even think about Sanguinary Priests to give the Assault Marines FNP so they can get to combat in one piece.

The BA HQ choice depends on the rest of your core army. A Reculsiarch is better inside an assault squad. A libby with diviniation who can buff his battle brother allies is better for the army as a whole. A Thunderfire with prescience on it is awesome when it rerolls bad scatters. The ability to cast misfortune on your opponents keystone unit prior to unloading a vindicator on it is also great. Giving a unit the ability to shoot overwatch at BS4? Money. Most divination powers are also only 1 warp charge to cast, making the epistolary a great buff piece and awesomely cheap at 150 points.

If you just want to stay pure crimson fists, and you want to run an assault marine unit, you could definitely do some nasty things by stacking characters in the unit.

Take a librarian and a captain with artificer armor, give them both jump packs, and have the captain lead from the front.

The captain should keep the wounds that would allow him a save, and ship all of the lascannons and meltas back to a "guy".

If you get challenged, take it with the captain if the challenger doesn't have an ap2 weapon, otherwise let the sargeant eat it while the captain goes nuts on the rest of the unit.

I'd take null zone and force dome for my librarian powers.

The unit should be maneuverable enough through 12" moves and arriving by deep strike to avoid fights that it won't win, and will just clean up charging just about anything else.

Non-troop assault marines without character support lack hitting power to the point that I would call them casual only.

Also If you just have the points its worth taking a 5 man Assault Squad a Chaplin with Assault pack in a Storm Raven.
Fly in on around turn 2 Skys of Blood and assault the turn they get on the Table (not you can also do this with DC and I think its better with DS but there more Points)
and I have found that to work quite well in my games but YMMV

Skies of Blood says explicitly that you cannot assault the turn you get on the table.

But hovering then just disembarking still works for allowing assault.