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I think this is my first (formal ish) army list. Some stuff is still a little up in the air, and needs to be decided. I am a little confused about my codex. Please clear this up for me. When it says 14 pts/model, does it mean 14 points for each Space Marine in the unit?
Troops:
Tactical Squad 1(105 pts)

Tactical Squads 2,3(70+ pts each)

FA
2 Assault Squads (170+ pts each)


My plan for this army is to send both my assault squads forward down the center of the board. The 1st tactical squad will follow them and capture points. Tactical squads 2 and 3 will go on the left and right edges of the board and capture/hold points.
How does this sound?

Depends on how current your Codex is, but for example a space marine tactical squad will have a points cost, and tell you how many models the starting composition contains (normally one sergeant and four normal marines), and then give an option to add additional members for X pts/model meaning each additional marine (not including the starting composition) costs X points.

In order to take both a special weapon (such as a plasma gun) and a heavy weapon (such as a missile launcher) the squad needs to be ten men. You and take either a special or a heavy if less than ten men.

If you want to make a Bound army, you'll need a HQ choice. If your group is happy with Unbound armies, then no issues.

If the plan is for a unit to move forward, try and avoid giving them a heavy weapon - you're wasting points on a weapon you're not getting full use out of.

The sergeant in one of the assault squads would make better use of the power weapon and the meltabombs.

I currently only have the 1st tactical squad. This is just a plan for my christmas money
Would Sicarius be a good HQ choice?
Also, I'm unsure what to put on my 2 Tactical squads and my 2 assault squads.

Sicarius is a reasonable HQ, though he's a lot of points for what he does - although of course for smaller games you can easily just use the model as an ordinary Captain. His ability to buff a tactical squad could be well used in you list (I'm not sure if it would work on both halves of a Combat Squad though). An alternative would be a Chaplain or generic Captain with jump packs so they could join your assault squads.

You'll want some way to crack transports, so that the assault marines can get at the squishy innards, so I'd suggest the two small tacticals get a lascannon each and sit on back-field objectives. The assault squads could benefit from a power weapon and veteran upgrade on the sergeants. Flamers would be an option against hordes, but you risk causing your target to run away leaving the assault squad to get shot.

 Quanar wrote:
Sicarius is a reasonable HQ, though he's a lot of points for what he does - although of course for smaller games you can easily just use the model as an ordinary Captain. His ability to buff a tactical squad could be well used in you list (I'm not sure if it would work on both halves of a Combat Squad though). An alternative would be a Chaplain or generic Captain with jump packs so they could join your assault squads.

You'll want some way to crack transports, so that the assault marines can get at the squishy innards, so I'd suggest the two small tacticals get a lascannon each and sit on back-field objectives. The assault squads could benefit from a power weapon and veteran upgrade on the sergeants. Flamers would be an option against hordes, but you risk causing your target to run away leaving the assault squad to get shot.

If I split my tac squad 1 with the plasma and missile with 5 men each, would that work to take out tanks? Should I just get a bunch of chainswords on my generic Assault marines, and a power sword on my assault veteran sergeant?

Depends how big a game you're playing; you might be ok, but my first target would be those two combat squads that can threaten tanks, because then my tanks can just clean out everything else.

Playing marines (which I do), you want target saturation (lots of squads designed to work together to take out a target), or a focussed squad which you protect (devastator squad). Ultramarines tactics give you buffs to a wide range of units for a turn each, so planning is important. Sitting two combat squads at the back of the field with missiles/lascannons is a good start-make sure they're not right next to one another, or they're just a juicy target.

I'd probably give at least one of your assault marine squads a flamer, as it can help with killing off weak squads-marines are tough, but they can get bogged down by large numbers of weak units.

I agree with Quanar-power weapon is handy on the assault squad, your choice with the sword/lance/maul/axe argument. A plas or grav pistol can also be a good choice, depending on how many points you want to sink into the squad; I'm not a fan of too much plas, so I'd be leaning towards grav, but to each their own.

I also agree that given your plan, you probably want a captain/chaplain with a jetpack as your HQ-captain will hit harder, but Chaplain makes assault squads more dangerous. Not sure about Sicarius because I've never used him, but the named heroes are all usually pretty good, just depends on your playing style.

Consider investing in a rhino/razorback to help move at least one of your tac squads a bit faster in (relative) safety; alternatively use a drop pod to drop one of your tac squads in turn one right next to a forward objective, then use the locator beacon on the pod to safely deepstrike in a unit of assault marines right next to it. That will pull attention away from the rest of your force, as well as give you a decent forward foothold to start fighting from.

skolirvarden wrote:
Depends how big a game you're playing; you might be ok, but my first target would be those two combat squads that can threaten tanks, because then my tanks can just clean out everything else.

Playing marines (which I do), you want target saturation (lots of squads designed to work together to take out a target), or a focussed squad which you protect (devastator squad). Ultramarines tactics give you buffs to a wide range of units for a turn each, so planning is important. Sitting two combat squads at the back of the field with missiles/lascannons is a good start-make sure they're not right next to one another, or they're just a juicy target.

I'd probably give at least one of your assault marine squads a flamer, as it can help with killing off weak squads-marines are tough, but they can get bogged down by large numbers of weak units.

I agree with Quanar-power weapon is handy on the assault squad, your choice with the sword/lance/maul/axe argument. A plas or grav pistol can also be a good choice, depending on how many points you want to sink into the squad; I'm not a fan of too much plas, so I'd be leaning towards grav, but to each their own.

I also agree that given your plan, you probably want a captain/chaplain with a jetpack as your HQ-captain will hit harder, but Chaplain makes assault squads more dangerous. Not sure about Sicarius because I've never used him, but the named heroes are all usually pretty good, just depends on your playing style.

Consider investing in a rhino/razorback to help move at least one of your tac squads a bit faster in (relative) safety; alternatively use a drop pod to drop one of your tac squads in turn one right next to a forward objective, then use the locator beacon on the pod to safely deepstrike in a unit of assault marines right next to it. That will pull attention away from the rest of your force, as well as give you a decent forward foothold to start fighting from.

So If I load up both tactical squads 2 and 3 with lascannons, toss some PWs on my assault sergeants, and pop tactical squad 1 in a Rhino or a Drop Pod, I could have a viable-ish army? I could also bolster 2 and 3 with some more tactical squads.

I have surveyed a portion of my Christmas Money. I have around 90ish $$$ to spend. should I burn it on 2 more tacs and sicarius. OR 1 tac 1 assault, and sicarius?

Think about putting something into the elite slot of your force-Sternguard vets are a good choice, or terminators. Vanguard vets might also be worth it, given your proposed tactics.

I'd probably hold off on Sicarius for the time being; you can use a fancy looking tac marine as a 'count as' Sicarius until you're convinced he's going to work well with your force, then buy him.

I might use some of the free minis I got from GW as various HQs. I will probably get Vanguard Vets. Their models are pretty cool, but I'll hold off for the time being. Correct me if i'm wrong, but if I have 2 tac squads and a vanguard vet, and an HQ, would that be an ok bound army?

You should get the app battlescribe for your phone or iPod, it shows how much points models are and tells you whether or not your army is legal.

Fonsio wrote:
You should get the app battlescribe for your phone or iPod, it shows how much points models are and tells you whether or not your army is legal.

Unfortunately, my phone's incompatible. Time to get the PC version.


I inputted my army into BattleScribe after much cursing and failing. Thanks for the advice. My total expense comes out to around 660 pts with Cato Sicarius, and 2 flamers on a single assault squad, and 2 10 man tacs.

Ok, I'll throw this out there as what I would do if I were creating a new Space Marine Army (namely Ultramarines since that's the Chapter Tactics you want to use), keeping in mind the same point level and dollar amount you're looking to spend... I made the mistake of acquiring box after box when I began and ended up with TONS of stuff I didn't use... so I hope this helps you avoid that.


HQ - chances are you'll want to scale-up in points as you play longer and longer, so I'd take a look at an HQ that you will use later in the game. I don't think Sicarius is a great choice, but I do think Marneus Calgar is. You can build your own out of some Terminator bits or a Terminator Captain maybe (just find some power fists?) or maybe even ebay him in terminator armor. Another good choice might be a standard Chapter Master with a shield (can count as a storm shield or the Shield Eternal) and a power fist or thunder hammer. If bikes interest you, you could also convert him up on a bike. But, he also works in terminator or artificer armor.

Troops - You can easily buy one box of Tactical Marines and split it up into two squads (one with a heavy weapon to sit back and one to ride in a transport moving forward, or just two squads to move forward). I would equip them with a special weapon (melta or plasma) and a matching combi on the sgt. Ultramarines make good use of shooting at mid-range, so I'd try to also pick up a rhino or drop pod for each. At first it may not be possible to get transports for each, but I'd consider at least one to start.

I would avoid Assault Squads; they are not very good at much, and they most certainly will disappoint you if you're looking for a really strong close combat unit. If cc is what you want, I'd invest in some Assault Terminators with thunder hammers and storm shields, and eventually a Land Raider Crusader/Redeemer for them.

You may also want to pick up a Devastator Squad for some heavy weapons. You could put together a nice set of lascannon or plasma cannon devastators from that box, and/or with a little bits shopping on ebay.

All that considered, and without getting into more expenseive units and vehicles, you should be able to put together a small, fun, versatile, battle-forged army from something like this:


That comes to around 565 points and you would have to buy:

1 Tactical Squad box (makes both tactical squads) $40
1 Devastator Squad box (comes with the lascannon for the tac squad and two plasma cannons) $35
1 Drop pod $37
* That should cost you about $112 without an HQ... and you could probably pick up some bits to build one/or a Calgar in terminator armour for anouther $25 or so. Also, many local gaming stores (and online retailers) will provide a big discount over buying directly from GW (some around 20%) so I strongly advise that to provide additional savings. All of these units you will most likely use in the future too.

Enjoy!


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Oh, also to note, how I'd play this list:

I'd put Calgar with the 5-man Tactical Squad in the drop pod and drop down and target a Monstrous Creature or vehicle with the melta weapons and his orbital bombardment; they'll be twin-linked if you use your Tactical Doctrine turn 1!

Calgar is awesome and allows the Tactical Marines to be used... well... tactically haha and also he can get a boost if charging next turn with the Assault Doctrine.

The heavy weapon wielding Tactical Squad can camp an objective and provide support, and the Devastator Squad can do the same; they can also benefit from the Devastator Doctrine to re-position.