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'Sup guys and Gal's I have a problem. I have this Catachan Imperial Guard army I've been working on and I can make roughly 1000 points of it, considering getting Guardsman Sly Marbo because he's just plain badass but heres the problem...
He cannot assault on the turn he infiltrates onto the board and can only shoot so if I infiltrate him near enemy lines he'll be Swiss cheese before my next turn because my opponent will know how much of a threat he is, same problem if I deploy him far away from the firing line in cover, plus he'll be make pretty redudant as he's best in close combat, I know his gun kicks arse but its still only one shot. Does anyone know an effective way to use him so he doesen't get immediatly blasted away? My main enemy is a very fluffy Iyaden Eldar army if that helps.

Stick him in cover, ideally a ruin. He has stealth so he'll get +1 to his save, and therefore a better chance to survive the incoming fire. That said, don't forgo a good opportunity with Marbo in favour of keeping him alive - if he dies, he dies.

His entire purpose is getting off his demo charge. Anything you get out of him after that is bonus. More often than not he makes his points back and then some. Other times he does absolutely nothing.

I usually keep him in reserves and when he comes on he can be placed anywhere! I usually try to stick him in cover if possible but the key is to take out a unit that he will do max damage too, find a squad bunched up and get that demo charge right on them. I believe his bs is 5 so if you scatter you have to roll pretty high to really miss. After that he hopefully should have made his points back so then just have him hunt tanks(hes got melta bombs) and GEQ type troops have him attack, hes not that bad in CC, although he does only have a 5+save which hurts him a bit.

Only took three days this month? it's like every month is a new game.

Marbo placement is "kill stuff first, consider surviving second".

He also makes a cheap linebreaker unit if there is some nice cover in your enemy's deployment zone. Stick him in there and try to keep him out of the LOS of enemy shooters. That will force your enemy to come in after him (and he can use his demo charge).

He can also be a fun unit to use the enemy's Quad Gun if they have one with their Aegis Defense Line. Just remember that he has to remain at least 1" away from the enemy unit using the Quad Gun and that he has to be in base contact with the gun in order to fire it.

EDIT: Deleted the advice to go to ground since Marbo cannot do that. Thanks Blaggard!

Marbo is fearless so he can't go to ground.

 Blaggard wrote:
Marbo is fearless so he can't go to ground.

Good catch. Just hide him out of line of sight and remember his Stealth.

Marbo is a "Disposable Hero". One thing he's good at after the demo charge is done is just skulking and staying alive to contest. He's kinda inconsequential after the initial bomb goes off. He can fight, but poor defense. But there's been a few times when I just have stowed him out of sight and waited til the ened to do anything with him because he can still deny and get LineBreaker.

Just demo charge 60+ points of your opponents army. His psychological impact and deepstrike threat should put your opponent on his toes. Perfectly acceptable if he kills himself in the process.

Dropping the demo charge and letting marbo die is totally valid but so is dropping him in a corner out of LoS and getting an easy line breaker point.

If you can clear a quadd gun behind a ADL or on a bastion he is awesome to drop into base contact and shoot your opponents flyers in the rear. The look on their face is priceless but it can be hard to clear the quadd gun without killing it.

Just be careful to not drop him somewhere where an interceptor weapon can fire on him.

Quad gun has interceptor no?

Also, the Quad gun has more than 1 wound, so a single demo charge will not kill it.

Did I say clear the quad gun with marbo? No you clear it first turn (with artillery usually) and drop marbo on the cleared gun turn 2-3. It can and has happened but it is not the easiest thing to do. SW have a bad habit of putting 2-3 long fang squads on the gun and not leaving anything else with ~6" to claim the gun when you blast it clear with barrages (keep in mind I play DKoK artillery fairly consistently). That same army allies in with guard pretty often with a minimal vet-primaris-vendetta to get vendettas in the list. So this 1, 2 punch can work fairly often. Though they learn eventually.

Also if you clear the gun with artillery it is not hard to kill the gun as well as the squad(s) on it.

The whole point of marbo is that he drops in and drops his demo charge, so if you have an enemy unit that you need gun, just drop him and his demo charge in. A tactic that i find useful is that if you come in within 6'' of the enemy, get a floor above him some how, so marbo doesn't kill himself.

Marbo is actually pretty okay in a challenge as well. He's no slacker when he chargs and takes out a sergeant, PLUS ties the unit up doing it. A lot of pople overlook this little nugget of gold about him, but he's no slouch in close combat.

...except when I'm rolling...

outlyers notwithstanding. Lol.

 Jancoran wrote:
Marbo is actually pretty okay in a challenge as well. He's no slacker when he chargs and takes out a sergeant, PLUS ties the unit up doing it. A lot of pople overlook this little nugget of gold about him, but he's no slouch in close combat.

I agree whole heartedly. Lack of a power weapon isn't an issue when you get 5 attacks on the charge than wound on 2+, also at I5.

Just be aware of over-watch. I've lost him to Krak missiles hitting on 6s a few times.

Marbo on krak...mmmmm

yeah Overwatch does him in sometimes. Best to attack from a hard corner (tactical nugget) so only one or two can fire down on him.

I have yet to see Marbo turn up and not claim roughly double if not more than his points.

I have seen him wreck an entire ordnance Battery with his charge. pop Ahriman + 4 TSs at once. The list goes on...