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I was bought 2 space marine battleforces as a gift. So that gives me 2 full tac squads and 2 combat squads. I'm assuming I can combind them to make another tac squad but it seems I'm a little short on the upgrades to do that in the box. I woulld like to put together an all comers list if possible but since I'm only familiar with orks I'd like to know how to outfit the squads to do that that.

I suppose that depends on which dex you're going to use. If using C:SM then are you going to use any special characters? That will influence your list building and thus what weapons to take. For example I run vanilla Sm (no characters) or Vulkan (lots of flamers/meltas). Your local meta may impact what you equip them with as well. Lots of horde armies? Maybe 2 units of flamers. Lots of tanks still running in 6th ed? Then melta for tank popping fun.

Also I should ask what direction are you taking this army? Are you going to use the scouts/assault marines or just play lower point games using just the tacticals?

Let me back up, you should have something like 30 marines, 10 scouts, 10 ASM, and 2 rhinos. You currently don't have an HQ so maybe play the ASM as a jump capt and command squad? Might be neat but I haven't heard anyone do that for vanilla marines. Which leads me to ask are you going with C:SM or another dex like SW,BA,DA,etc.

How will you expand on this force (horde foot troops, mech, tank heavy)? I mean you are just starting with marines so you probably won't go amiss with a unit with flamer/ML and a unit with melta/multi melta. In this case they can both get rhinos, combat split and the heavy weapons can deny areas/hold a back objective while the special weapons take the fight to the enemy/block lanes of fire.

And on a last note I would recommend getting a librarian for a starting HQ. They bring so much to the table with crazy powers or at the least a power weapon. Also see if you can get razroback turrets so the rhino can change to bring more punch. I will bring one for a squad for the libby to join and get to the front lines.

honestly, I dont know. I'm a primarily ork player but the marines were bought for me as a gift. I had thought about buy another tac box and a devestor box for the weapons in it. this way I have 4 full tac squads with a bit of leeway on kitting them out. I was just wondering what the best way to kit out the 4 squads for an even all around list would be. I'm planing on using codex space marines to start out since i have that one. Was thinking about making a custom chapter so that if the mood struck me I could use any model or combination of models from the different space marine chapters later on if i wanted. I was just looking for a starting point to begin. I didnt want to be that guy that brings all the same weapons thats just gunna hose some poor dude at the shop.

I would agree about the librarian. Hard to argue with that kind of utility.

So its better to buy the librarian than the plastic kit captain?

 wowsmash wrote:
So its better to buy the librarian than the plastic kit captain?

The Captain isn't a bad choice, and the kit itself gives you a pretty good looking model. However, general wisdom shows that the Librarian is a cheap, cost effective HQ that can really help buff a squad or two and provides more overall utility to the army. Most people use Nullzone and the Avenger for his powers (though only cast one per turn standard) as one is for debuffing, and the other for a good shooting attack.

It can't hurt to have both HQs eventually, but to start, I'd also go with the Librarian. Plus the Librarian model with the book and staff is a pretty sweet looking model.

Dosnt he need to be cut up to kit him out though or does he come wiht options

A jump chaplain will turn your assault marines from a light harassment unit into a hammer. I'm a big fan of them. Librarians are a good all around HQ, so it's hard to go wrong with them. My only problem is that you don't have a really good place to stick him in your army. I think Librarians mesh well with elite picks, either terminators or sternguard.

After a HQ, I'd grab a devastator box. This will give you access to more then just missile launchers. Save some of the spare guys from the tac boxes, as the dev box has more weapons then bodies.

This will let you run something like this:

Jump chaplain

10 man Tac, HB/F in a rhino
10 man Tac, MM/M in a rhino
5 man scout

5 man assault, flamer, power weapon

10 man dev 3xML, 1xLC

My rough guess math puts that at around 1,000 points. While not tournament competitive, it should give you a good TAC starting point. Once you get a few games as a marine player, you can see what tickles your fancy and go from there. But there are as many ways to build a vanilla marine list as there are players, so figure out what you want.

How should you build the sargents in 6th. Should I leave him with his bolt pistal and boltgun or give him close combat stuff and which kind

Opinions vary. If you are not using a special character that replaces combat tactics, you can just try to fall back from any ugly CC and shoot whoever was bothering you. This means you don't need to invest in power weapons. A frequent recommendation is a combi weapon that matches the special weapon in the squad. Or just run BP/CCW or bolter and save the points for elsewhere.

There is no wrong answer, so much depends on the list overall.

On my Tacs i go standard with 1 flamer and 1 missle launcher, it does all around for me.

Overall I would agree with Nevelon and the other posters above.

The list of things I'd suggest for your next purchase would be

1) Librarian: hit ebay or trade for the Librarian out of Dark Vengance, sweet model, plastic, and you can get him for less than $10 these days

2) Devestator Box: Plenty of Special Weapons for you're initial run of marines. Like Nevelon said save some of you're tac bodies for the extra weapons in the dev box to give yourself more flexibility

3) Some sort of Heavy Support. Pick up a cheap Dreadnought, a TFC, or a Heavy Rhino Variant (Predator, Vindicator) to play around with. Again, pick up a cheap used one or just proxy a rhino while you try things out.

4) An ADL, you'd be surprised how useful they are and it will help with basic AA.

As for the setup for you're army, you might want to try out the following:

@ 1000pt range

Librarian

5 Man Sternguard Squad
4x Combi-weps (your choice), Rhino, Sgt w/ combi-weapon and chain-sword

10 Man Tac Squad
Meltagun, Lascannon, Sgt w/ combi-melta and Melta Bombs, Rhino

10 Man Tac Squad
Flamer, Lascannon, Sgt w/ combi-flamer, Rhino

5 man scout Squad
3x Sniper, HB, Camo-cloaks, Sgt Telion

ADL w/ Quadgun

This army comes in at 992pts, so you have enough to throw on a melta bomb or upgrade a rhino to a razorback.

This would let you use the models you have with minimal upgrades / purchases. Picking up a Libby (or just kit bash one), a devastator box, another rhino (proxy a check box or some such), and an ADL should do you. You will probably have to convert or proxy the combi-weps, but as a new marine player most opponents will have no problem with this.

Stick the Libby in with the Sternguard. Combat Squad the Tacticals and put the assault weapons in the Rhino's with the Sgts. Put the Lascannon squads in the rear in cover or Behind the ADL. Put Telion (proxy you're scout sgt) behind the ADL on the Quadgun.

Charge the Rhino's forward hugging cover and use the backfield to pin / thin-out the enemy. Use the Quadgun to snip out special weapons / characters in opposing squads, or for AA (at 1k air units are unlikely). Use the two lascannon squads to pop armour (probably wont see more than AR13 at this point lvl).

This force should be mobile, forgiving, and easy to learn. It is also fairly flexible and will give you alot of Power Armored bodies at 1k. You will have some issues with small units getting killed off, but it will give you the chance to start learning the army with minimal additional purchases. Once you learn what you don't like about it, or what kind of things you are missing, you can simply swap units out to try different things.

I'd suggest cranking out multiple short games at this point level using what you have to get a feel for things. 500 pt or 1k games play in under an hour, and will allow you to build your experience and familiarity with the army quickly and relatively painlessly. It will also help you learn how your opponents armies react and choose priority with this army ,as opposed to your orks.

Hope that helps

if You want more dakka with vanilla marines, maybe you can try the new dark angels dex? The banner of Devastation is a nice buff to the squads, along with a divination librarian.

That is most helpful. At what points level should I be looking into getting a landraider and termi's

If I were you and you were willing to wait a bit before buying more units, I would buy only the Devastator box and hold off on the rest.
You can make a pretty good force with just what you have, and play that until you know for certain what you want in your army

As others have mentioned, the Devastator box is a must for the heavy weapon options, and a solid investment for any Marine player for any chapter.

If you are an ork player then I am going to assume you know about kitbashing. Kitbash yourself a simple PA Librarian and a 5 man Sterguard unit, both are easy to do and can look pretty awesome if you are creative (PM me for ideas if you want them).

Put the Librarian w/ the Sternguard and then take the Tac Marines, Scouts, and Devs in different configurations until you know which direction you want to take your army in.

This is what I did when I started into 40k and it save me from buying units that I probably wouldn't be using now.

Edit Add - I'd only build five of your ten possible Assault Marines as actual ASM too, unless you are going to run a Jump Chaplain, their legs/torso's will probably be put to better use as Tacs/Devs/Stern

 wowsmash wrote:
That is most helpful. At what points level should I be looking into getting a landraider and termi's

A 5 man tactical terminator squad can be added at any time.

5 Assault terminators in a LR is going to run 450+ points. I might add them to a 1,500 point army to bring it up to 2k, but you need to be careful. They are a lot of point in one basket. Granted, they are a rolling AV14 box of pain and death, but all it takes is a little melta followed up by a brush of plasma, and you have a very expensive pile of slag. They make a nice centerpiece to your army, but you need to support them. And you need to make sure you have all of your bases covered before taking them, so I recommend only using them in larger games.

2-3 Tactical Squads is all you really need. I like the muti-melta and flamer set up for some versatility and low cost. Swapping for a meltagun and giving the Sergeant a combi weapon is a good option. Combat squad up and ride around in your Rhino to hold midfield and support your army. Tacticals really aren't that great, so you want to spend as little as possible to get scoring and some special weapons. Efficiency is the name of the game.

Beyond that, Thunder Hammer/Storm Shield Terminators, Thunderfire Cannons and Attack Bike Squadrons are your go-to units. Sternguard, Dreads, Storm Talons and Scouts are other solid options. For your boss man, Librarians, Vulkan, Pedro or Lysander are the most useful.

I would again second Nevelon, hold the Landraiders till you approach 2k, they are far too expensive below 1500pts. A 5 man unit of either type of Terminators are good, though I have a preference for the TH/SS variety. Pick up some cheap used ones and play around with them.

Also, remember that any model in Terminator armor can deep-strike in,allowing you to forgo the cost of a transport. For the 450+ points for 5 termies in a land raider, just get 2 6 man squads or one big 10 man of TH/SS and deep strike them. You'll probably wind up getting more guys to you're objective in the end and it will in all likelihood panic your opponent.

Chumbalaya's suggestions on good units are solid, though I'd tend to avoid Storm Talons myself.

In terms of HQ, I'm a Crimson Fists player, so Deep Striking Sternguard is my bread and butter, and Pedro is great for this. In a big unit of shootie Terminators, Lysander can really help with bolter drill, and will serve as a rock solid anchor when they hit CC. Vulkan is also good, and Libbys are you're go to for generic character models. If you have access to FW books look up some of the named librarians for some fun options.

Hope that helps