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I'm looking to start up a Space marine 500pt army in a few months. Haven't gotten the codex yet, holidays really drained me, but I was wondering what are some of the tactics that they employ. Also, haven't played against any SM players yet, so no first hand experience. Right now I'm running a 500pt Chimera/vet IG army.

Mostly looking to make a custom army, none of the named chapters. Any tactics and advice to help me get a jump start would be nice.

So you don't have the codex, have never played as, or against the army, and would like advice? Go get the codex.

Also, 500 points is a really low amount, and elite armies like space marines do horribly at low points. Seeing as a 10 man unit costs 170 points, and the cheapest HQ is 100 points, you already have 440 points, minimum. That sucks. I would aim a little higher.

My advice, Space Wolves. Much better and with more honour.

500 pts is just to low for an effective list. The minimum I would say to aim for is 750, but anything under 1000 is hard.

 PraetorDave wrote:
So you don't have the codex, have never played as, or against the army, and would like advice? Go get the codex.

Also, 500 points is a really low amount, and elite armies like space marines do horribly at low points. Seeing as a 10 man unit costs 170 points, and the cheapest HQ is 100 points, you already have 440 points, minimum. That sucks. I would aim a little higher.

If you are going with 2 full tac squads you won't have enough points for anything else. You might be able to fit a thunderfire cannon if you replace one tac squad with scouts. I can't check point cost at work so I might be miscalculating.

Also I agree that buying the codex should be the first thing you do.

I would use at least 1 squad of scouts, with 500 points.

For 500 point games I like a bare-bones HQ, (librarians work well here, chaplains as well) one full tac squad, and a 5 man scout sniper unit. Depending on upgrades, this should give you 100-150 points to spare to get another unit. You can pick whatever tickles your fancy. Basic tactic is the scouts camp your objective, the tacs move out to seize another one, and your extra unit blows chunks out of your opponent.

500 points 2 sets of sniper scouts, thunderfire cannon and master of the forge, 2+cover and maybe another scout squad bolsters and heavy bolter if points allow

I was in your position a couple of months ago. I think many of the other respondents have missed the point; 500pts is low, but it's where you startand can move up from there. Furthermore you'll likely be using your existing guardsmen in concert with your new space marine force (at least for a while, and only for larger games).

With that last point in mind, it may be worthwhile to consider what your IG army lacks. My recommendation would be thus:

1. Purchase your favourite space marine leader - generally librarians are considered to be the most versatile.
2. Purchase 10 tactical marines (or 12+ if you want more options on special weapons without magnets)
3. Purchase whatever you need to supplement your IG army (preferably something that works well on its own in your sm army too).

Now you can either field your 2x5 marines, hq and <whatever> as a 500+ point sm army, OR your IG army + librarian, 10 tac marines + <whatever>.

Regarding the scout recommendation, please refer to any of the current scout threads as to their strengths and weaknesses. I think the general consensus is "unreliable".

Sorcererbob wrote:
I was in your position a couple of months ago. I think many of the other respondents have missed the point; 500pts is low, but it's where you startand can move up from there. Furthermore you'll likely be using your existing guardsmen in concert with your new space marine force (at least for a while, and only for larger games).

With that last point in mind, it may be worthwhile to consider what your IG army lacks. My recommendation would be thus:

1. Purchase your favourite space marine leader - generally librarians are considered to be the most versatile.
2. Purchase 10 tactical marines (or 12+ if you want more options on special weapons without magnets)
3. Purchase whatever you need to supplement your IG army (preferably something that works well on its own in your sm army too).

Now you can either field your 2x5 marines, hq and <whatever> as a 500+ point sm army, OR your IG army + librarian, 10 tac marines + <whatever>.

Regarding the scout recommendation, please refer to any of the current scout threads as to their strengths and weaknesses. I think the general consensus is "unreliable".

While I agree with the idea that his SM force should probably be build to complement his IG force, I do have a couple of issues with your advice. Never field 5 man tac squads in a codex list. Other chapters can get away with it, but for vanilla marines it is just a waste of points. Combat squadding a full 10 into a 2x5 is fine, that way you get your free weapons. 5 naked marines are just a target and a kill point. Any time you are thinking of taking a 5 man squad, think instead, of scouts.

Scouts, while weaker then full marines, bring a lot of tricks to the table. If you try to have them stand shoulder to shoulder with tactical squads in the open, they will die quickly. But for holding objectives, they work just fine. They also work MUCH better as a 5 man squad then tactical squads. 100 points will get you 5 scouts with sniper rifles, camo cloaks, and a HB/ML. While it might be "unreliable" in terms of firepower, they can be counted on to sit on an objective and take a disproportionate amount of firepower to kill them. This frees up the rest of your army to go do its thing, even in higher point games. But at low point values, scouts shine.

Couple of possibilites...

HQ 100 pts - librarian or chaplain.

Troop: 5 man Tac w combi-melta 100
Razorback (Las/Plas or assault cannon) 75


Do 2 of those 350 + commander 450 and add 1 landspeeder.

This is a shooty army base. It is rather weak at 500 pts but simply triple that to 1500 points. Spend the 100 pts on the HQ on filling out your tacticals and you have a nasty firepower based army.

HQ: 100
Scouts: 100 5 snipers w ML and camo cloaks
Scouts: 140 10 scouts w bolter
Scouts: 140 10 scouts w bolter
Thunderfire: 100

This has a lot more staying power and as you grow it it can still work quite well for you.

Finally if you have the option of biker captain and 2 bike squads. It can be a good basis whether you want to go pure biker at higher point levels or just have a good speedy 2 troop choices with a tough biker captain.

My recommendation would be to plan on your 1500/1850 final list and then cut it down to your starting 500 point list.
For example if you really like the idea of a drop pod army you may want to go heavy with dreads, ironclaw dreads, and sternguard. Or maybe you want to do an old fashiond 1st/10th company list. Scouts for troop choices but heavy into terminators.

There are so many ways to build out a SM list you really need to have an idea of where you want to go or be ready and willing to spend extra cash on other options.