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I have been looking around and seeing many lists without the assault squads. Are they Viable or worth their costs? is it that there are better options that Fit black templars more?

Crusader Squads are generally better because you can use one of your Neophytes as a meatshield to make benefit of their Chapter Tactic.

Assault Squads are as viable for Templars as for just about any other Space Marine army. They can take on fights that aren't worth an Ob-sec Crusader Squad's attention, Deep Strike into your opponent's backfield and bring special weapons not available elsewhere.

In terms of loadout, you have several good options. In an army using Grimaldus, a ten-man squad with a Chaplain can operate Fearlessly outside of Grimmy's bubble. Alternatively, an expendable 5-man squad can deep strike into an unexpected position with two flamers, or charge out of a Storm Raven to deliver Power Fist and Eviscerator attacks to an unsuspecting vehicle.

Crucially, you must remember to paint the Pauldron Trims red on any Assault Squads, Bike Squadrons or Land Speeders you take. No, really, it's important.

 Spineyguy wrote:
Crucially, you must remember to paint the Pauldron Trims red on any Assault Squads, Bike Squadrons or Land Speeders you take. No, really, it's important.

Its because they go faster, right?

Two Eviscerators are expensive but really good, and make an assault squad a threat to a wide range of targets. It's often a good idea to stick a chaplain with them too, for the re-rolls. My squad is the MVP of my games more often than not.

Not entirely sure why you'd ever choose assault squads over bikes.

 Griddlelol wrote:
Not entirely sure why you'd ever choose assault squads over bikes.

Because the Skyhammer formation requires Assault Marines.

That's about the only reason I can find.

 AlmightyWalrus wrote:

 Griddlelol wrote:
Not entirely sure why you'd ever choose assault squads over bikes.

Because the Skyhammer formation requires Assault Marines.

That's about the only reason I can find.

Because, in real terms, outside of internet 'competitive' nonsense, Assault Squads are as viable a choice as any other unit in the codex and can be very potent indeed in the right hands.

Eviscerators and close combat weapons make them much better in assault.

Deep Strike can be useful on occasion.

 Saber wrote:
Eviscerators and close combat weapons make them much better in assault.

Deep Strike can be useful on occasion.

But bikes are better at shooting. Like, a lot better. Whilst assault marines are only slightly better in assault. Once you get to the second round of assault, you'll have lost more assault marines than bikers.

X

 Griddlelol wrote:

 Saber wrote:
Eviscerators and close combat weapons make them much better in assault.

Deep Strike can be useful on occasion.

But bikes are better at shooting. Like, a lot better. Whilst assault marines are only slightly better in assault. Once you get to the second round of assault, you'll have lost more assault marines than bikers.

I'm not saying that bikes aren't better, over all, than assault marines. I'm saying that there are some things that assault marines are better at than bikers. Sometimes you need to assault something as part of your strategy or board control and assault marines are better at that. My squad with two eviscerators and a veteran sergeant with a power fist has done good work for me, especially when accompanied by a chaplain. They're not the greatest unit in the world but they form a useful part of my army.

Assault Marines are also better if you have lots of terrain but that's unlikely to be a major issue.

Really? Bikes can make use of LOS blocking terrain. They can also bring plasma, grav and multi-meltas, which are way more of a threat than eviscerators.

Bikes can still assault. They aren't significantly worse in assault than assault marines when you take into account the shooting phase prior to the assault, and that more of them will survive overwatch and more will survive the assault phase.

Let's also not forget that they can be troops.

Jump can be nice if your table is criss-crossed with rivers of lava that bikes can’t cross.

But with the exception of a few corner cases like that, bikes are just better in almost every way.

That does not make assault marines useless though. In a less competitive meta, where you don’t need to squeeze every drop of efficiency out of your list, the can do just fine.

They are a bully unit. Find someone weaker then they are, and rough them up. And while they might not be as choppy as other dedicated assault units, they work fine vs. backfield campers, dev squads, etc.

You don’t see them talked about for a lot of reasons.

1 - CC is widely regarded as dead. While this may be an exaggeration, the game does favor shooting these days.
2 - Bikes are better. Mechanically it’s hard to argue with the numbers. Bikes CC almost as good as AMs, but shoot much better.
3 - When asking for advice on the internet, the answer is rarely going to be “Take the fluffy, sub par, pick” When people ask for advice for making their list better, the go-to fast attack pick is going to be bikes. Bikes are just that good these days.

I love assault marines. They are part of the classic triumvirate that makes up the armies of the Space Marines. I field them as often as I can work them into a list. But it’s normally a token 5 man squad (2xflamers, vet sarge with a power weapon). I encourage other people to take them, but don’t recommend them. It’s a subtle distinction. I love to see them in lists and on the table, but if someone is trying to tighten up their list, they should be one of the first things on the chopping block.

I'm not saying they're terrible, they're just not as good as bikes. It's a real shame because as a 10 year old, the models with jump packs are what got me to buy my first box of Space Marines.
I think assault squads are super cool, they just aren't great at anything, especially when there are better choices out there.

I'm not even sure assault squads are the fluffy choice for BT. Black tide is what I've always considered fluffy BT.