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I have decided to do an army for entirely competitive reasons. I usually like to build fluff armies, or armies consisting of the models I really like, but now I want to try something else. I want an army that wins - and I don't want it to be Eldar because I already play them enough.

So, to my Space Marine playing friends, I ask; what are the best models/formations/combinations/loadouts in the Codex from an entirely competitive standpoint?

Well, first off, are you collecting SM army or you are fighting against one?

If you are Marine player, the best marine unit is no doubt the Grav centurion, especially supported by powerful psykers like Tigirius in Librarian Conclave (I tried the librarian conclave multiple times, it is really great force multipliers, and being versatile since you can decide to roll on which psychic table depend on what your enemy have). The second best units is White Scar Bikers, highly mobile and deadly shooters.
Formation wise, the best one is the full battle company in Gladius Strike Force, spam Assault Cannon Razorback, that high RoF S6 range weaponry is what Marine armies lacked, and being rending is even more powerful. Second best is the Skyhammer formation, deadly alpha strikers but it is more or less like suicide units, so you need other units to maximize the advantage of their havocs wreak upon the enemy.

If you are playing against marines, remember to get either high RoF high strength fire power or lots of attacks in combat or AP 2/3 weapons, every lose of a marine model is a pain due to their relatively low model count army nature. Meanwhile, hide your high value units in cover, Marines major flaw is lack of proper weapons to flush out enemy units out of cover short of a few sets of Flamer / Heavy Flamer. Their Lascannons / plasma weapons / meltas / Grav weapons are powerless when Carnifexes have a toe in ruin while a venomthrope is just 6 inches away.

Battle company MSU spam in objective heavy environments like ITC. Mix razors and pods.

Battle company with grav and khan scout trait for a more damaging/a little less MSU style. Mostly rhinos so grav can fire from fire points.

Libby conclave plus dudes to make a deathstar. This can be centurions, Thunderwolf allies, ravenwing allies etc.

Drop pod spam. Kinda 2nd tier-ish but still good.

Grav bikers convention.

I haven't read kauyon but I hear the ravenguard formations are pretty boss, and sound like they could also perform.

The full battle company is very tough in many game missions. It also happens to be very fun to play.

White Scars Gladius:
-Khan
-Chappie w/ Auspex & The Hunter's Eye
-6 x Tacs w/ plasmaguns (or gravcannons if you have the points) in AssBacks/Plasmabacks
-2 x Assault squads w/ 2 flamers in AssBacks
-2 x Gravastators/Plasmatators in AssBacks
-Supression Force (MM/AssCan Speeder (or two) and 3-strong Whirly squadron)
-If you have the points, a Grav Bike Command Squad or two.

I run a less optimised version of this for competitive events and I've been doing awesome. If I were able to run the above, I think I'd be able to win nearly any game.

 Homeskillet wrote:
The full battle company is very tough in many game missions. It also happens to be very fun to play.

Yeah it's probably the most fun "competitive" list I've ever played with.

If you want to have a real helluva game, do battle company mirror match. It is intense.

For Raven Guard, one of the new formations in Kauyon allows Vanguard Veterans to charge after deep strike with reduced or even no scatter. This is perfect for alpha strikes considering Talon Strike Force allows for first turn reinforcements.

 niv-mizzet wrote:

 Homeskillet wrote:
The full battle company is very tough in many game missions. It also happens to be very fun to play.

Yeah it's probably the most fun "competitive" list I've ever played with.

If you want to have a real helluva game, do battle company mirror match. It is intense.

So many Spess Muhreens!