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How do you equip your Sternguard these days? I'm fairly new to Marines after a long hiatus (from back when my Templars had their own Codex), so I'm not overly familiar with them, but I thought I'd try a podful of Sternguard to deal with Wraithknights and Riptides. So, is it combi all the way (grav in this case), or do you add the occasional special or heavy weapon? Combi is cheaper, and you get to keep the fancy bolter, how about proper grav guns, grav cannons meltaguns and (heavy) flamers?

I generally recommand stock Sternguard, or just one or two HF, or probably a few combi plasma if facing GK or similar where there will be lots 2+ saves. If you want lots special droppod melta, droppod plasma or droppod grav, take command squads or Devastators in Skyhammer formation.

Generally, the most valuable thing of droppod sternguards are their special ammo, especially the 2+ poison one, not many target with a toughness value can be dealt. While the ignore cover one is ok in helping to shoot down the Venomthrope.



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In my last game 8 men stock sternguard slain the Bloodthirster of Insensate Rage in just one shooting phase. Right after it landed and waiting to assualt.....

Running them with no upgrades works well. Special Ammunition is powerful, and you pay for it anyways. Two Special weapons in a five man squad is a lot of extra firepower, though I would stay away from Heavy Weapons altogether (Sternguards should be a mobile squad). Beyond that, it depends on what Chapter Tactics you're using.

Imperial Fists: no upgrades, as you get re-rolls to hit with the new codex rules.

Salamanders: 2x heavy flamers, and/or combi-meltas if you're using Vulkan.

White Scars: buy a Rhino or Razorback to take advantage of the scout move that Khan grants you.

If you're using a Gladius Strike Force, then Command Squads with Plasma/Grav/Melta fill the same role as Sternguards, and I would use those instead.


One thing that's worth pointing out: the poisoned ammo used to be really good against Wraithknights, but since the unit type changed to Gargantuan Creature the poisoned ammo is no longer a reliable way of putting wounds on them. The poisoned ammo is also mediocre against Riptides, as it doesn't punch through their 2+ armor (Ditto for Dreadknights and Tyrannofexes). Poisoned ammo still works pretty well against MCs with 3+ saves, but it's still unreliable against some of the most common ones you'll face. Here is where a command squad decked out with Plasma Guns can really work miracles compared to Sternguard.

Black Templars, so no shooting bonuses and likely no Gladius, unless I suddenly get the urge to remodel all my Initiates.

Using the Command Squad instead makes sense though, seeing as you pay four points for special ammo you're not using anyway. Still, then it's back to the original question: How to equip them. Special weapons only, combi weapons only, or a mix?

For command squads special weps all day.

My favorite load out is no upgrades atm.

With Tiggy warload trait handing out rending on the ignore cover round - you have a reliable way to kill almost anything in the game!

High invo saves? use 2+ to wound.
Hiding in cover? ignore cover + rending
standing out in the open? 2+ to wound + rending!

I play salamanders so it's 8 combi-meltas & 2 meltas in a drop pod. Then somewhere I have he'stan

I do 10 with 6 combi-meltas for my Crimson Fists. They are even better now that Filter Drill affects Special Ammo.