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.

My 8-year old son has been dabbling in 40k with Daddy for quite awhile, and has basically inherited all the SM models that Daddy doesn't want.

He's very fond of the Ultramarines (Blue's his favorite color...shrug), and has been playing at 1000 points quite a bit, and getting his painting going.

I'm trying to get together a 'target' 2k list to work up, adding something new to his collection as he finished painting (which is far more discipline that I have for myself!)

So, trying to keep things simple (no allies), and aiming for effective (which, IMO, means a lot of ranged firepower nowadays), I've come up with this:

Chaplain (Jump Pack, Meltabomb)

Dreadnought (2 TL-AC)
Dreadnought (2 TL-AC)
Dreadnought (2 TL-AC)

10 Tactical Marines (Missile Launcher, Flamer, Meltabomb)
Rhino
10 Tactical Marines (Missile Launcher, Flamer, Meltabomb)
Rhino
10 Tactical Marines (Missile Launcher, Flamer, Meltabomb)
Rhino

10 Assault Marines (2 Flamers, Meltabomb)
Stormtalon (TL-AssCan, Skyhammer Missiles)
Stormtalon (TL-AssCan, Skyhammer Missiles)

Thunderfire Cannon
Thunderfire Cannon
Thunderfire Cannon

Aegis Defensive Line

He's really fond of the Jump Pack guys, and they're not horrible...particularly with the Chaplain. I'd like to have some Psych Defense, but nothing really good without Allies, and I don't want to melt his brain with too many Army Books.

The Dreadnoughts should do good work opening enemy Transports, and keep Flyers honest. The Stormtalons are primarily for anti-flyer, but are effective vs. pretty much anything. Thunderfires are primarily for infantry killing, but S6 blasts in mass quantities will threaten AV11, and even 12 with massive number of shots. The Assault Guys are a reasonable counter-force threat, and there's a fair amount of scoring with Rhinos for a bit of maneuverability. The Aegis is too solid to not include, and give the option to drop some Assault marines for a Quadgun if needed.

Any feedback appreciated! Keep in mind this is for an 8-year old!

ok a few things i noticed.... NOW i am no space marine player, however i do math hammer, and also have tinkered around with them and had my large nid army go up against MANY marine armies.

space marines with missile launchers... i hear good and bad... but in my experience against them... its bad... sort of... depends on how used...
the issue is in the troop split... you have a heavy weapon... which can only fire a snap shot if moved... and a flamer if close enough... NO MATTER what you do each turn one of those weapons is useless I prefer no heavy weapons in marine squads for the fact of..... cant move and shoot and full balistic. ... i would drop either the flamer in each squad or the missile in each squad because regardless one of those each turn is 100% useless, i would drop the missile because how often are your marines really going to sit there not moving? If your holding a cap point.. good... stand still rain death... but if it takes a turn or 2 to even get to a cap point... then you gotta fight for it.... then defend it... half the game of just trying to get the cap point is over... he wont shine until turn 3-4 IF hes still alive.

if you want marines with anti vehicle.. its in the melta category. if you want anti troop/swarm its in flamer/bolter category.

Dreadnaughts
your weapon load out needs... work

Multi melta is a good anti vehicle,
auto cannons are not ..amazing...
best way to load them out is keep the multi melta for anti tank and give him missile launcher.
IF you ditch multi melta.... only weapon worth its points is the assault cannon, 4 str 6 rending proves to be a universal tool, good vs troops and good vs vehicles. the auto cannon cannot glance a land raider the assault cannon can penetrate it.

dreads are great anti infantry, and... mediocre anti tank. if you need them as infantry, take the flamer, assault cannon load, if you need tank take a multi melta mille launcher load OR keep hit dread ccw for the str 10 attacks.

also a chaplain ONLY in space marines are chaplains not an amazing idea, sure a cheap sometimes useful HQ, more so when ran with an assault squad like he is... however i feel a custom chapter master would be a much better choice for a few reasons.

1.This is a game, its about fun, whats more fun than creating a chapter master and creating him how you want, and naming a chapter after yourself? Your boy is 8? what 8 year old doesnt want a chapter master in their likeness commanding a squad of doom?

2. orbital strike in 6th edition... its a free upgrade that comes standard and is usable once a turn.... SURE it can whiff and do nothing but its free... and when it doesnt do nothing... it does a lot of something..... and since blast templates are no longer full str under only the hole in regards to vehicles.. if it clips a vehicle that vehicle is likely toast.

3. CUSTOMIZATION, have your son play a few games and see where his weakness in the army may be. then customize a chapter master to help fix that... he can be a shooty beast, a combat war god, slap him into artificer armor or termy armor hes a walking tank. mix and match of all of that and much more. hes not cheap, some upgrades are very costly.... but those upgrades can be WELL worth it.

a few things I love about this list... BODIES.... lots of them... sorry... 40 space marines is a bit of a tough kill for anything... not tyranids.. marines are just plain tough.. bu a small squad is very weak... if you are dramatically out numbered as marines... casualties can be huge....

thunderfire cannon looks pretty epic for anti swarm/troops maybe too good? maybe dropping one might give points for more anti tank/monstrous creature or more aegis def lines, using those right can mess up the assault charge for many units and WHEN it becomes useful helps to stop big bullets from vaping marines, MAYBE get an icharus lascannon for some anti air support or ground anti vehicle support.

Shadowmyth515 wrote:ok a few things i noticed.... NOW i am no space marine player, however i do math hammer, and also have tinkered around with them and had my large nid army go up against MANY marine armies.

space marines with missile launchers... i hear good and bad... but in my experience against them... its bad... sort of... depends on how used...
the issue is in the troop split... you have a heavy weapon... which can only fire a snap shot if moved... and a flamer if close enough... NO MATTER what you do each turn one of those weapons is useless I prefer no heavy weapons in marine squads for the fact of..... cant move and shoot and full balistic. ... i would drop either the flamer in each squad or the missile in each squad because regardless one of those each turn is 100% useless, i would drop the missile because how often are your marines really going to sit there not moving? If your holding a cap point.. good... stand still rain death... but if it takes a turn or 2 to even get to a cap point... then you gotta fight for it.... then defend it... half the game of just trying to get the cap point is over... he wont shine until turn 3-4 IF hes still alive.

if you want marines with anti vehicle.. its in the melta category. if you want anti troop/swarm its in flamer/bolter category.

Dreadnaughts
your weapon load out needs... work

Multi melta is a good anti vehicle,
auto cannons are not ..amazing...
best way to load them out is keep the multi melta for anti tank and give him missile launcher.
IF you ditch multi melta.... only weapon worth its points is the assault cannon, 4 str 6 rending proves to be a universal tool, good vs troops and good vs vehicles. the auto cannon cannot glance a land raider the assault cannon can penetrate it.

dreads are great anti infantry, and... mediocre anti tank. if you need them as infantry, take the flamer, assault cannon load, if you need tank take a multi melta mille launcher load OR keep hit dread ccw for the str 10 attacks.

also a chaplain ONLY in space marines are chaplains not an amazing idea, sure a cheap sometimes useful HQ, more so when ran with an assault squad like he is... however i feel a custom chapter master would be a much better choice for a few reasons.

1.This is a game, its about fun, whats more fun than creating a chapter master and creating him how you want, and naming a chapter after yourself? Your boy is 8? what 8 year old doesnt want a chapter master in their likeness commanding a squad of doom?

2. orbital strike in 6th edition... its a free upgrade that comes standard and is usable once a turn.... SURE it can whiff and do nothing but its free... and when it doesnt do nothing... it does a lot of something..... and since blast templates are no longer full str under only the hole in regards to vehicles.. if it clips a vehicle that vehicle is likely toast.

3. CUSTOMIZATION, have your son play a few games and see where his weakness in the army may be. then customize a chapter master to help fix that... he can be a shooty beast, a combat war god, slap him into artificer armor or termy armor hes a walking tank. mix and match of all of that and much more. hes not cheap, some upgrades are very costly.... but those upgrades can be WELL worth it.

a few things I love about this list... BODIES.... lots of them... sorry... 40 space marines is a bit of a tough kill for anything... not tyranids.. marines are just plain tough.. bu a small squad is very weak... if you are dramatically out numbered as marines... casualties can be huge....

thunderfire cannon looks pretty epic for anti swarm/troops maybe too good? maybe dropping one might give points for more anti tank/monstrous creature or more aegis def lines, using those right can mess up the assault charge for many units and WHEN it becomes useful helps to stop big bullets from vaping marines, MAYBE get an icharus lascannon for some anti air support or ground anti vehicle support.

Missile launchers come free on tac squad's. If anything a ML is the heavy weapon to go for if you feel it may be wasted by moving troops. Due to the combat squads rule, you can drive your rhino to an objective, drop your ML and 4 marines on an objective and take the other 5 to go do elsewhere. I think ML's id definitely the way to go for a younger marine player as it allow's for a lot of versatility rather then being specialized (so he can do whatever he pretty much wants with it)

The auto cannon has an advantage compared to the assault cannon, and the multi melta, and that is being twin linked and having double the range. Even though str 7 does not kill a land raider very well, it works fine on popping transport's and flyers. Normally i would say the dread's are equipped up fine, but having the storm talons with sky ray already gives you tons of str 7. Your army has a lot of anti light vehicles and infantry, but not a lot of weapons to deal with armour 12, 13 and 14 vehicles (or ap 2 for armour 2+).

I do have to agree drooping one or two of the thunder fire cannons for maybe something like a predator would make a more interesting list for your kid, as well as add more high str weapon's.

Also I agree with Shadowmyth515 about the chaplain, (unless of coarse your son really likes him in which case go for it). They do tend to be a little underpowered for there point cost.

The Rifleman dread is awesome; keep that.
Chaplains are also very effective on assault squads, and I see no reason to get rid of him. Very cheap HQ choice as well.
Missile launchers do come free, but I'd suggest a Heavy bolter instead; your dreads have mid-strength shooting locked down, and the HB will perform much better in the squad, allowing your son to focus its role more.

Something else you might want to consider.

When I was eight my attention span was a little short. I mean no disrespect but when i was 8 i got bored of making painting lots of identical models fast.

You might want to consider putting some cool stuff in there like a command squad (who doesn't love heroic characters) or a bike squadron.

Might be cool to make the dreds have different set ups so they are useful in different situations

Just suggestions though as i'm guessing its not meant to be a competitive list

I would say a replace a Thunderfire Cannon with a Vindcator there great area Denial units and S10 AP 2 in nothing to laugh at

I would drop assault marines, they are not amazing, unless you like the look of them.
That means dropping the chaplain.

A librarian is a fun character and pretty good HQ.

I would go three razorbacks, they are a cheap way to get more guns, then you can combat squad the missile launchers behind the ADL.

The quadgun for the ADL is pretty nice gun.

Telion and sniper scouts with camo cloaks is pretty mean squad, especially hiding behind the ADL, or bolstered ruins. Telion on a quadgun seems to be loved right now.

Maybe a third stormtalon if you have spare points.