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Hi All,

I have recently got back into 40k and have started my own space marine chapter.

I have the marines etc from the Assault on black reach box set plus an additional 5 man vanguard veteran squad.

im thinking of getting a few more squads etc like a storm talon, terminator chaplain and a terminator assault squad.

Im really looking for a bit of advice on what i can but to strengthen my army in the right places.

Any and all help and advice is massively appreciated!

Tristo

Tactical Terminators are always a good start and very usefull in 6th edition.
Do you know if you're gonna stay with the regular SM codex?
Or are you gonna switch to a specific chapter?
What kind of army would you like? Lots of firepower? Or "in your face" sort of armies?
Let us know what your intentions are and we can give you more specific feedback.

Its my own chapter, so ill be sticking with the SM codex.

I'd really be after something to be able to take on a horde army so im assuming a lot of firepower would do the trick on that one.

I'd also want to be able to switch a few things around and be able to hold my own against an tougher army like necrons etc.

Not too sure if any of this helps, im a complete novice right now.

Tristo

Ok... anti-hoard ability to stand against tougher armies...

Plasma is key... it can take out hoards and the tough stuff too. Heavy bolters and missile launchers are good too.

3 Tacticals - Pllasma, Missile Launchers 540
2 Dakka Preds - 210
1 Devastator w Plasma Cannon 270
1020
4 Rhinos 140
1160

you wanted a stormtalon... 150 1310

Now you have the elites, HQ and 2 fast attacks left and 540 ooints... If you want to go firepower - pure - I would add two sternguard and a librarian probably forgoing some sternguard to get them in rhinos. If you want a bit of a mix, 2 regular termies with AC or CML and at least 1 chainfist... 470 and again I would like a libarian with terminator armor... Now to get the points I would lose some bolter boys from the devastators... I think combat squading the devs is superior but I would not want to put the libby out there without termie armor.

Now with it being 6th, you could save a lot of money and some points and just go on foot losing all the rhinos... then you could lose the two predators also... That leaves you 350 additional points... now you could go attack bikes or landspeeders... gives you some speed and a big increase in firepower...

Perfect!

Ill be working on adding all that to my army for the time being.

Is thre anything i should avoid? Ive had a few battles and ive found that assault squads with jump packs aren't all that great.

Cheers

Tristo

Assault marines are harassment units. Sadly, on the scale of close combat experts they are near the bottom of the list. If you try to go toe-to-toe with most other CC units, you are going to die. But you can clean the clock of dev squads, scouts, gimpy little units just camping the backfield, etc. And plant krack grenades and melta bombs on tanks. They are bully units. Find something weaker then you and go take their lunch money. A chaplain and well geared sarge can make them a lot more scary.

Vanguard vets are a little odd. They can be equipped to be really mean, but get very expensive for just guys in power armor. Finding the balance between effectiveness and cost is not easy.

There are very few bad choices in the vanilla codex. Everything can be made to work in the right list. If I had to pick my top 3 favorite units, they would probably be sternguard, land speeders (typhoon/HB), and auto/las predators. Having a lot of fun with them lately.

If you are going to get assault terminators lead by a chaplain, I'd get them a LR to ride to battle in. While a chunk of points, it's a big, tough box-o-death. I run the squad with 2xLCs, 3 TH/SS in a basic LR (no extras)

Drop pods can be a lot of fun. Put your AoBR dread in one, land it next to a big tank, and melta it to death first turn. If you use a lot of them, you get a very aggressive list. Very high risk, high reward.

One of the problems with recommending things for new codex marine players is that the army can be played so many ways. See what parts you like. Don't be afraid to proxy stuff to try it out.

I would agree. Assault marines only get scary when you attach a chaplain. Now another thought is a captain on a bike. That qualifies you for bike squads as troops. I like this over assault marines... It is a troop choice and while no more scarier in HTH, they are T5 so except against TEQ, it is not something for an enemy to deal with. Another thought is to get a command squad on bikes... much like vanguard vets tough they quickly become very pricey.

Another thought is a chapter master... he gets you the one orbital strike and qualifies you for honor guard... 35 points per for 2+ artificer armor and a power weapon. They are not bad as a small counter attack force and the equal to anything but terminators. Plus 60they can be transported in a non-cadillac (Landraider) making them a lot more points efficient. Now if you get them big enough and add the chapter banner you are good to go. One other thing is Pedro Cantor... he makes your sternguard scoring, he is a chapter master and qualifies you for honor guard AND he counts as a banner....

So do a comparison:

Chaptermaster in Termie Armor 165
7 Assault Termies 280
LRC w MM 260\
605

Pedro 175
9 Honorguard (TH + 5Relic Blades) 380
Rhino 35

590

So compare...

4 S4 I4 attacks + 21 S8 I1 attacks

versus
10 S8 I1 WS 5+ + 20 S6 I4 attacks and 15 S4 I4 attacks...

Basically the same cost but the Pedro/Honor Guard will clean the clock of all but the terminators and on a lucky day, they will defeat them.

Now I went overboard on relic blades but you could save 75 points on the relic blades.

That results in 10 S8 I1 attacks and 40 S4 I4 attacks... Not as automatic wounding but that should average 10 dead marines!!! Not bad.

I really appreciate all this advice!

ive just inherited a razorback amongst a whole load of new stuff which generally means bigger tactical squads etc.

so in general i really need characters etc to support what i already have then?

and obviously a few heavy hitting units?