Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

Hi folks!

In my slow quest towards getting back into 40K, my gaze is shifting from the Space Wolves to the Imperial Fists. I've always liked the looks of them and I've always fancied a full drop pod list, which they seem to mesh with pretty well (lots of bolters and devestators in short range). I put together the following list for your consideration and I'm looking forward to your feedback!
++ Space Marines: Codex (2015) (Combined Arms Detachment) (678pts) ++

+ (No Category) +

Chapter Tactics [Imperial Fists]

+ HQ (125pts) +

Captain (125pts)
····Captain
········Artificer Armour [Bolt Pistol, Power Sword]

+ Troops (268pts) +

Tactical Squad (134pts) [Plasma Gun, 5x Space Marines]
····Drop Pod [Storm Bolter]
····Space Marine Sergeant [Bolt Pistol, Chainsword]

Tactical Squad (134pts) [Plasma Gun, 5x Space Marines]
····Drop Pod [Storm Bolter]
····Space Marine Sergeant [Bolt Pistol, Chainsword]

+ Fast Attack (35pts) +

Drop Pod (35pts) [Storm Bolter] (this is for the Centurions)

+ Heavy Support (250pts) +

Centurion Devastator Squad (250pts)
····Centurion [Grav-cannon and Grav-amp, Hurricane Bolter]
····Centurion [Grav-cannon and Grav-amp, Hurricane Bolter]
····Centurion Sergeant [Grav-cannon and Grav-amp, Hurricane Bolter, Omniscope]

++ Space Marines: Codex (2015) (Formation Detachment) (820pts) ++

+ (No Category) +

Chapter Tactics [Imperial Fists]

+ Formation (820pts) +

'Skyhammer Annihilation Force (820pts)
····Assault Squad [Flamer, Jump Packs, 9x Space Marines]
········Space Marine Sergeant [Bolt Pistol, Melta Bombs, Power Sword]

····Assault Squad [Flamer, Jump Packs, 9x Space Marines]
········Space Marine Sergeant [Bolt Pistol, Melta Bombs, Power Sword]

····Devastator Squad [2x Heavy Bolter, 2x Multi-melta, 9x Space Marines]
········Drop Pod [Storm Bolter]
········Space Marine Sergeant [Bolt Pistol, Boltgun]

····Devastator Squad [2x Heavy Bolter, 2x Multi-melta, 9x Space Marines]
········Drop Pod [Storm Bolter]
········Space Marine Sergeant [Bolt Pistol, Boltgun]



Rationale

The Captain will squad up with the Centurions to soak up some wounds and help out if melee should ensue. The Skyhammer units all combat squad, so that's four units shooting and four units assaulting on the turn the hammer falls. I went for meltas and heavy bolters to create a nice "pop transport, pepper contents" synergy. I did not go for grav cannons as those are already provided by the Centurions, at a far less atrocious points cost.

Obvious weaknesses include flyers (which shouldn't be too much a problem at this point level I think?) and other null-deploy armies that force me to go first.

What are your thoughts?

I don't know anything about the Skyhammer force so will not comment on that...

Welcome back to Space Marines!

IMO instead of Plasma Gun on the Tac Squads in the Drop Pods go for Grav Gun instead. Same points and AP2 but you get Salvo AND ability to take down vehicles more easily plus doesn't Get Hot.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
NOt sure why you want your Centurions coming in a drop pod. they should stay torwards the back of the field and pound away with their grav cannons..

Your Captain is tooled towards CC so maybe give him a jump pack and attach him to your assault squad

Ill pick up the Sky hammer side, first of all change the chapter tactics to UM drop in and declare Devastator doctrine, the way I have found the best to use the devs is with grav cannons, agreed not usefull against the low save armies but that's what the assault marines will specialise in but your setup will work fine when you combat them.

I usually take 1 eveicrator on my assault squads to give 2 chances (with melta bomb) at making a tank go bye bye and place him in the squad that doesn't have the Sargent (also the damage it does in combat makes people squeal) I also drop the ablative wounds on my devs (I know its not normal but there for pure alpha strike) the only idea I had with that is that you could combat squad 5 of the normal guys out doubling the chances of the special rule part of the formation but again splitting the 2 different weapons will work well too.

with regard the Captain, the above poster is correct(ish) however you cannot put him into the Assault squad and benefit from there rules. however you can get a dirt cheap Libby and add him to the cents as a support unit, add a auspex to him and would turn your devs into a formidable shooting force.

Don't take it the wrong way as the list you have there would do very nicely as is (with exception that the captain will be barely used) there's more than enough AT and with the assault marines and there ability to DS and charge turn 1 you could deal with a lot of MSU lists.

Thanks for the replies!

@Corennus: The Centurions are podding because everyone is podding This list will deploy zero models, everything either deep strikes or drop pods. With any luck I'll be able to make my opponent go first and waste his entire turn on an empty table!


@kezwick: great points, thanks! I'd love to find the points to slap eviscerators on my assault squads. I do find them rather pricey though.

The Captain really needs some work I think. Having a Librarian lead a strike force feels wrong... I don't know. But an auspex is just too good to pass up so that's definitely going in.

I think the bigger question is Ultramarines or Imperial Fists? With UM Devestator Doctrine on the turn the pods come down, the alpha strike gets a pretty solid boost. Then again, the IF gives Tank Hunters to all Devestators, including the Centurions, and increases the effectiveness of bolters for the entire game. This makes the heavy bolters and the fair number of regular bolter-armed marines a good deal more dangerous. Plus I just like the Imperial Fists better than the Ultramarines

Choices, choices, lots to think about. Swapping the Captain for a Librarian saves a lot of points and the Ultramarines might have the better chapter tactics.

I'd keep the Plasma over the Grav, the longer range is really nice matching up with the Bolters and it'll help against a wider range of targets. Bolters won't do much against most of the things Grav is really good against. Chances of losing a marine with T4 and a 3+ save vs. Plasma is pretty low.

Centurions don't have much range with the Grav Cannons; though they can fire a full 5 shots at 24" while moving, that's still not a long ways from your deployment zone, and the things they want to shoot may be more mobile than them and/or intentionally kept away from their threat range. Drop pod makes sense for them I think.

I definitely agree with Kezwick that Dev Doctrine and Grav-Cannons is the usual competitive loadout for Skyhammer Devs but as you said you have Centurions for that. I think he does have a point though that you are really only running 18 Bolters and 18 Bolt Pistols total, plus the 4 Heavy Bolters (though those would be affected by Devastator Doctrine too.)

If you want to use Imperial Fists, I would take Sternguard and pad out your Tactical Squads to make sure you are getting full value out of Bolter Drill, and I'd take it a step further and say you should run a Sternhammer so you can really make full use of the Improved Drill.

I wouldn't buy an Eviscerator as I think it's a ton of points for only getting 1-2 attacks maximum for it on the charge. Between Melta Bombs, Multi-Meltas and Grav, almost all your squads already have anti-tank stuff, and I think those points are better spent padding out the number of marines in your army.

If you take Ultramarine tactics you can run Tigurius as your HQ which is an amazing option. You get to re-roll reserves for any drop pods that don't make it in turn 1, he also has guaranteed Storm of Fire so you can give your Grav Cents or Heavy Bolters Rending, he gets to re-roll selecting his powers giving you a higher chance of netting something crazy good (Invisibility!) and he's also a level 3 psyker, so he gets a ton of dice. Not exactly a cheaper option but another big benefit of playing the boys in blue. No reason you couldn't run them as Imperial Fists and just use him as a counts-as, makes sense to me that Imperial Fists could use Ultramarine tactics and play by-the-book if they decided it was important.

Storm of fire will really only work on the hurricane bolters (if you pick the grav cents) as the grav is already AP 2 and wont benefit from the +D3 to armour pen. that being said he is still very valuable as you almost get to pick his powers and the reroll reserves is very nice for a pod list. I don't like the Smurf brigade Fluffwise (much prefer Salamanders or blood ravens) but there's no denying there chapter tactics are pretty good, don't forget there is also assault doctrine and Tac doctrine, so you have 3 turns of some sort of reroll.

Alcyon is correct that eviscerators are expensive and I put them in my list because of the large amount of tanks in my meta but as usual what's good for one can seldom be good for another.

with regards the warlord traits, (the storm of fire got me thinking) id try for the strategic trait that forces 3(ithink) enemy units to take pinning tests, could help with the turn 1 charge of the marines if you choose to shoot something different with the devs.

all in all the only real change that is needed is that captain haha either tiggy (if UM) or a basic libby don't even need termi armour just plonk him in the centre and keep him safe! the auspex is the most damaging thing that he will have (unless you luckily get invis then good luck trying to remove the cents! haah)

Group the heavy bolters/multi meltas in homogeneous units. In the event you don't combat squad due to kill points, you'll not waste half the shots of each unit.

Whoa, Tigurius really fits with this list! Ultramarines it is then, that's just too good to pass up. I can scrape the points together by dropping a Tactical Marine from each squad and getting rid of an upgrade or special weapon somewhere. Another option I now consider is to get rid of the tactical squads altogether and replace them with scouts in land speeder storms. That would free up some additional points and add some mobility to the list. The land speeders ought to make great late-game objective grabbers if they can survive that long. Tigurius' rerolls should ensure they come out of reserve pretty quickly.

Johnny, interesting point about the combat squads. Something to think about

Im with you on the Scouts I take 2x scouts with snipers and LSS with multimelta - however you have enough AT so HB or HF will be fine. leave them off the table and drop them on either side objectives or rear objectives then zoom the speeders off for a fast Objsec unit.

Also that means that turn 1 the entire army (minus speeders) will turn up and drop pod in meaning an alpha strike that would put Tau to shame!

General Helstrom wrote:


@Corennus: The Centurions are podding because everyone is podding This list will deploy zero models, everything either deep strikes or drop pods. With any luck I'll be able to make my opponent go first and waste his entire turn on an empty table!

Hopefully you play some good opponents then because RAW, if you go 2nd, and have no models on the table at the end of turn 1, you have no models on the table and therefore auto-lose.


I've seen a number of lists that put a Thunderfire cannon down, as it's a fairly cheap unit (unless you use upgrades) that you can park inside a building that your opponent can't possible see (unless of course they are also deep striking around)

It's game turn, not player turn. You can safely have null deployment.