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Hi Everyone,

Brand new to Warhammer 40k, never played anything similar. I have started collecting Ultramarines and I have been reading over their 6th edition codex (friend had one, I know it's outdated). The first two things I purchased were a Razorback and a tactical squad as they seemed to be popular choices. I have just opened my Tactical Squad box and began putting them together, can someone please explain one thing for me though. In the codex it says a typical 10 man squad have the standard bolters, 1 unit with a special weapon and 1 unit with a heavy weapon. Does this mean I can't upgrade the other 8 space marines? I found a page where it outlines weapon choices with point values (ie. Plasma Pistol = 15 points etc). So am I able to take my 10 man squad (140 points basic) and then add to as I please. Additionally, are the standard bolters given to the tactical squad out of the box good or?

You might want to buy a second hands 7th Space marine codex, rules for who you can upgrade with what are all in there. Or alternativly you could use battle scribe to get an idea how to build an army. Note you will need a codex for it contains a lot of rules that are not in battle scribe.

Dakka isn't intended to be an alternative your the codexes and rulebooks.

I have the 6th edition in front of me, I was told there were not enormous differences between 6th and 7th. I am just having troubles understanding what is inside.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
I will get 7th eventually, just trying to get a feel for things.

There are significant differences in the 6th and 7th SM codex. You are better off building your army with the new codex in hand.

This is how you find what you are looking for. Look at the unit entry for tactical marines. Now there is written what you can upgrade with what. if goes something like, for every x models you can buy a y or one model in this squad can buy a z etc.

Its not that hard really. just follow the text that is in there.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Note that the core rulebook is a different book from codex space marines. both need to be the 7th edition version. But both will be likely invalidated 5 months from now so if you buy them do not buy them new.

I don't not know if you're being a douche on purpose oldzoggy but the guy just wants an answer to his simple question. Not a lecture about taking the hobby seriously. You may not have meant to lecture him so in that case, I apologise.

Noxious, I've recently started the hobby and chose Ultramarines. I made the mistake of just giving my marines whatever weapons looked coolest then decided to play not just paint and bought a codex to find I would have to buy more tac squads and integrate the extra upgrades into them.

Rules for your first tac squad as I understand it:

7 marines minimum must have bolters.
1 marine max may be a sergeant and upgrade to a plasma pistol and power fist.
1 marine max may have a heavy weapon; missile launcher is probably the only one in your kit.
1 marine max may upgrade to a special weapon: use google to identify each weapon and ask on here which weapon is best for the armies you'll likely face.

I'm a novice myself so others will undoubtedly know infinitely more but I'll happily answer any questions you have.

Also just built my first razorback. I didn't glue the turret in place so I have the option of using different weapons later in the development of my army.

Noxious wrote:
Hi Everyone,

Brand new to Warhammer 40k, never played anything similar. I have started collecting Ultramarines and I have been reading over their 6th edition codex (friend had one, I know it's outdated). The first two things I purchased were a Razorback and a tactical squad as they seemed to be popular choices. I have just opened my Tactical Squad box and began putting them together, can someone please explain one thing for me though. In the codex it says a typical 10 man squad have the standard bolters, 1 unit with a special weapon and 1 unit with a heavy weapon. Does this mean I can't upgrade the other 8 space marines? I found a page where it outlines weapon choices with point values (ie. Plasma Pistol = 15 points etc). So am I able to take my 10 man squad (140 points basic) and then add to as I please. Additionally, are the standard bolters given to the tactical squad out of the box good or?

Lol, I didn't understand this when I started either. Here is what you need to know: For each tac squad, you only get 2 Heavy/Special weapons. One for the base squad (4 regular models and a sergeant) and, when you pay for the 5 other guys, one more. So 7 of your models will have the same basic loadout with the boltgun, one will be your veteran with all of his snowflake stuff, and two models will be modeled with a heavy or special weapon. I recommend magnets.

http://i.imgur.com/JeqmejK.png - for refernce.

Other posters are right, you need the most recent codex. Definitely get one off of ebay or whatever, because the rumor mill says it will be trash in the next 8 months.

Dakka isn't intended to be an alternative your the codexes and rulebooks.

Dude, it's a question about Tac marines. And a good question. Not everyone can/wants blow 300 dollars off the bat to get into a hobby they may or may not like.

Now, if he was straight up asking for a copy of the rulebook, then I can get behind your soap opera.

Only certain guys are allowed to pull from the gear lists. And there are restrictions to which ones they can choose from. For example. some lists are just for HQs. Each entry will tell you where you can buy toys from.

Your stock 10 man tactical squad is mostly composed of bolter brothers.

7 bolters
1 special weapon (meltagun, plasmagun, flamer, gravgun)
1 heavy weapon (Missile launcher, Multimelta, Gravcannon, etc)
1 sergeant, who has a ton of options due to the charts he has access to. But probably naked or with a combi weapon.

From a how-to-build option, what to give your squad depends a lot on what gaps you need filled in your list. But some stock advice to give your sarge a combi weapon that matches the squad’s special, and a heavy that works with them (Or just save points and leave the heavy at home)

And don’t glue the top hatch to the razor. Easy switch to a rhino if you need it foe a list.

Thank you for the help everyone. I know I need the most recent codex, but I just got my paints etc and wanted to get started. I didn't want to make the tac squad unplayable by gluing on the wrong weapons though. I did get magnets as someone suggested so I can swap out weapons for the three units that don't use bolters. Thanks again, this has been plaguing my mind since I got these box sets

Don't worry about "gluing on the wrong gun". Just do the rule of cool what looks good to you, and then if you find out you don't like the rules just use "counts as" for the rules you want.

Right now you are starting small. So just do what is cool to you and most fun. Once you start understanding and make your force bigger then you might want to do What You See is What You Get. So for now, don't worry about WYSIWYG just have fun modeling and making a nice army.

Doing WYSIWYG you can do later once your force is getting bigger and you have a feel for what you actually want once you have a few games under your belt. You might change your mind again on what you think you want how your army, so for now I say, make your army look cool and then start on from there.