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Hi guys trying to get back into 40k after some time away, need some help, is there any way to make Plague Marines competitive? I have 3x squads of 7 troops (2 plasma guns per squad) but dont mind running less, I have rhinos for them too and also Nurgle Bikers with meltas. I have a bunch of other stuff also and don't mind buying new units just really want to make my PMs work - reason I haven't played in a while is lack of opponents and my morale, keep getting smashed by my friends Necron/Tyranid/SM armies :(

I have tinkered with Zombies a bit but don't know whether to run less PMs and bring these or even cultists to bolster my troop choices (I have 40x of these I could use as either) or not bother with more troops?

Any help would be appreciated
Many thanks
Ash

Plague Marines are about as competitive as CSMs get... :(

What Crispy said. CSM as a whole isn't going to be super competitive, but Nurgle is your best bet for casual competitive. PM in particular do very well as objective campers if you have the Nurgle lord to make them troop choices (so ObSec). T5 and FNP makes them a challenge to dislodge.

That said if your friends are playing Necrons or SM with an optimized list you will have a rough road. CSM codex is just not on the same level with those.

Play to the objectives. Plague Marines are pretty damn good at holding objectives, especially with defensive grenades. Other than that, switch to maybe Flamers or Meltas? I love Plasma, but I have a knack for rolling 1's and blowing myself up

The problem is if the enemy appears with gravs.
And there are a lot of marine players.
And marine playes can put in game a ridiculous number of gravs weapons that will melt the plague marines as if they were butterxD

Nurgle bikers and PMs are the way to go honestly. Get some dinobots for support and bullet magnets and maybe try the sorcerer formation from black legion, to use those GMCs against your opponent and it can work out. Play to the points and use cover.

Franarok wrote:
The problem is if the enemy appears with gravs.
And there are a lot of marine players.
And marine playes can put in game a ridiculous number of gravs weapons that will melt the plague marines as if they were butterxD

Plague marines in cover are pretty resilient against grav guns. Grav cannons generate a lot more wounds, though.

I've only done Nurgle Spawn now instead of Bikers. If I want Bikers, I'm only taking Gorepack nowadays.

Thanks for your responses guys, do you reckon 5 man squads or 6-7 maybe? Was thinking of running 2 squads in rhinos and supplementing with another cheaper troop choice (zombies/cultists) or going for 3 squads, not really sure what would be most effective and what to even run with them.

I run 2 - 5 man squads, each with 2 plasma guns and a powerfist on the champ. Champ is I3, so gonna hit last most of the time anyways, nice to have that fist. I put them in a Rhino w/dirge caster and have a Nurgle lord on bike to make them OB-sec. Will run him with Nurgle bikers unless I know I'm going against lots of grav- then I run Nurgle spawn.
A Nurgle Daemon Prince with wings and the Black Mace is pretty nasty and can do a lot of damage.. He's tough to kill due to 2+ cover but armies with a lot of ignores cover will eat him alive (Tau). I like giving him a spell familiar and some mastery levels to buff him up. (Biomancy is best bet)

Plague marines are probably your most competitive troops in the CSM codex. We're in a real tough spot right now and have what is arguably the worst codex in the game. You can still win in friendly games or mildly competitive environments.... But against an optimized list? Almost every army will wipe the floor with you.. You have a decent chance against Orks, Guard and all but the most optimal Tyranid lists.
I'm able to get friendly games in where my opponents agree not to use "Decurion-style" detachments, because CSM doesn't have any, and pull out a win here and there.

We should get a bonus when we use sacred number

Add a Nurgle Daemon prince. Shrouded and Jink go a long way and fly around summoning some plaguebearers to take the heat of the plague marines!

Thanks all, tell me about it Khornecobb its a tough ride being Chaos but I still don't regret collecting them - still the coolest looking army IMO!
Cool well I have a squad of Nurgle bikers and a lord on a bike, the PMs with rhinos for troops, do you use any other troop choices in your army? I just don't know what else to take, I need a base of 1500 pts to build on and so far I'm thinking:

Nurgle biker lord (making troops Ob Sec) + nurgle melta biker squad

2-3 squads of PMs in Rhinos

2x Heldrakes


Just don't know what else to add?

I tried out groups of 5 and found them too squishy. With groups of 7 often a special weapon guy and the champion survive some rounds of shooting and annoy the enemy (probably because they are blessed by Nurgle then ). However, Plague marines are not the ones' to do the damage, you'll need other stuff for that. Lord, Oblits, Vindi, Brutes and so on.

 Ashley_Chaos wrote:
Thanks all, tell me about it Khornecobb its a tough ride being Chaos but I still don't regret collecting them - still the coolest looking army IMO!
Cool well I have a squad of Nurgle bikers and a lord on a bike, the PMs with rhinos for troops, do you use any other troop choices in your army? I just don't know what else to take, I need a base of 1500 pts to build on and so far I'm thinking:

Nurgle biker lord (making troops Ob Sec) + nurgle melta biker squad

2-3 squads of PMs in Rhinos

2x Heldrakes


Just don't know what else to add?

Chaos Spawn are your friends, especially Nurgle ones that become T6.

You could try out the new Cyclopia Cabal from the "updated" Black Legion supplement... Their super power can be super effective against anyone fielding the more obnoxious MC's/GMC's and similar firepower units, plus there's always innate access to Psy Shriek.
You can even get more millage now out of Shriek by allying in a small Nurgle Daemon band and give the Herald the Doomsday Bell. -1Ld to every enemy on the table works well in a Psy Shriek spam list.
Add in a Soul Grinder of Nurgle as well while you're at it - they're fantastic, and can provide either a mobile template, or else sit back in cover with a Battle cannon type shot and be a complete PitA to remove.

Maulerfiends aren't the killiest things by any means, but they're fast and in numbers can be hard to deal with.

Cultists are more for Objective camping than anything else... If you go Zombies, then you really need to go big with them and take 25-30'ish.

MoN Oblits are still okay'ish, but you'll cry the second you see how awful they are compared to the Loyalists version with their GravCents...

For Plague Marines, I'd run them in MSU squads of 5 with 2 special weapons each and in a Rhino. This gives them decent mobility and enough firepower to threaten anything you point them at. Just remember you're throwing a lot of points into essentailly 5 wounds.

I don't recommend bigger squads because the extra numbers of Detachments you can run nowadays kinda makes it moot for getting more bodies on the table (and PMs are so expensive I doubt you'll even hit that). Min-Squad is useful because PMs are one of the few units that don't have restrictions on how many special weapons they can take, and you WILL want all the special weapons you can get on them. For cover holding, just have them disembark behind the rhino and use the rhino as an impromptu wall.

MoN Obliterators are pretty decent- if there is more than 1 in a unit, this is one of the few times that VoTLW is worth the points. Sucks to have that expensive unit run away after 1 dies. I usually deepstrike single Oblits or start them on the board spread out with a commanding view of the battlefield.
Maulerfiends can be surprisingly good but the problem is you need at least 2. 1 will get focus fired down before it can earn its points back, and unfortunately they take up the same slot as Oblits.

I rarely field forgefiends but was thinking of fielding a daemon engine pack formation with a CAD. Warpsmith can grant that forgefiend BS4 so it might actually hit something and I can get 1 Maulerfiend with it to free up a HS slot. That will leave me with 2 slots for oblits and still having 2 maulerfiends on board.
I would toss a cheap cultist unit with the warpsmith as ablative wounds so that he doesn't get focused out. With the Warpsmith repairing the forgefiend and making it so he can actually hit something, he will be a target.

I honestly stopped using Obliterators outside the occasional retinue for a Warpsmith. They're too expensive to be having to switch weapons every bloody turn. Saturating with Maulerfiends is a lot better.