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I scored a great deal on the models from that box, but I don't know much about the units. A rough summary of how it plays, what its lacking, and about how many points it runs would be much appreciated. I know they're "sneaky Marines" with some unique rules, but not much beyond that. Thanks in advance!

Pretty well rounded. Needs legit anti tank threat

Good as Ravenguard where you can pretty much use all units

Approx 650pts total

buy an Invictus war suit and an Impulsor & you've got the beginnings of a cool force

I'll echo the sentiment that it's a good force. it's not perfect by any means but it's not a bad building block.

The captain and Lt. have some fun deployment options and tricks, but are hampered with kinda crappy gear. But most of their job is their auras, so still work fine.
Librarian not only looks awesome, but has access to a new list of powers with some shenanigans.
Eliminators have a bunch of special ammo and make for some nice snipers. Park in cover somewhere and plink away at what needs to die.
Suppressors are solid mid-weight fire with a good range. They deepstrike, fly, and move quick. Most of which you won’t need to use, but are nice to have. Better with some CTs. (Ultra, IH)
Infiltrators are a great screening unit. Deploy anywhere, and deny DS in a 12” bubble. Hard counter for some lists. However they do pay a premium for these abilities, and their firepower is just OK for their points.

Overall I think they are collectively overpriced a bit, but not egregiously so. Part of that is they are hyper specialized, and pay for a lot of rules that might not be relevant in a particular game. But for fun and fluffy lists at the local store, everything is certainly playable. Unless you are spamming them hard, the handful of points you are “wasting” will probably not override the impact our fickle little 6-sided friends have on the outcome of the game.

It’s a fun list. Not competitive but it’s cool and fun.

 MacPhail wrote:
I scored a great deal on the models from that box, but I don't know much about the units. A rough summary of how it plays, what its lacking, and about how many points it runs would be much appreciated. I know they're "sneaky Marines" with some unique rules, but not much beyond that. Thanks in advance!

My experience from playing it as a group in my Space Wolves has been "not good".

My Eliminators total lifetime accomplishments have been 1 wound dealt in melee to a Chaos Sorcerer, and 1 would to a Chaos Cultist behind a building in a different game. They, however, have a long list of failures where I needed them to like kill like 1 Guardsman to win the game but they still failed. And of course, they don't penetrate Invulnerable saves. That said, while mine have done very poorly, I have seen my friends' do consistently well, so it seems to be just mine that have the curse of rolling 2's.
Suppressors are weird, and in my opinion I'm very unimpressed by them. They've technically achieved more than my Eliminators which I persist in liking, getting periodic damage in against things. However, they have a lot of traits and rules that are pulling in different directions, and aren't really good enough to be successful at any of the things they can do.
Phobos Captain [Wolf Lord] is the sniper who's been successful in my army. His loadout is underwhelming and loses most of his potential, but he's still a Captain with a Captain's aura and he infiltrates to hang out with units that are starting the game forward.
Phobos Lieutenant I'm unimpressed with. He would be better if he could infiltrate like the rest of his Phobos brethren. He is still a lieutenant, but while the captain infiltrates to be with forward deploying units, he doesn't offer anything over a regular lieutenant.
Phobos Librarians is definitely cool. I use him to get yet another -1 to hit power to stack on things, though Vanilla marines can use him to deliver Null Zone very efficiently. Outside of mono, he also works well if paired with the IG psyker to give -2 to LD to the unit you're going to hit with Hallucinations to make it actually go off.
Infiltrators are fairly decent. They haven't had an exciting performance, but they have scored points and been consistently adequate performers.

Thanks for the detailed responses, I really appreciate it. I think I can manage to pick up the whole set for $75 so I'm going to go for it. Any idea which chapter tactics would help me maximize these rules? Thanks!

 Inquisitor Lord Katherine wrote:
My experience from playing it as a group in my Space Wolves has been "not good".

Well there is your problem right there.

Space Wolves aren't just "First Wave" bad, they are genuinely just awful. Their "Tactic" and stratagems do not help any of the new Mary Sue Brigade units and their OldMarine units are woefully overcosted and underpowered.

The Shadowspear box is ok with the Space Marine 2.OP codex+supplements.

 MacPhail wrote:
Thanks for the detailed responses, I really appreciate it. I think I can manage to pick up the whole set for $75 so I'm going to go for it. Any idea which chapter tactics would help me maximize these rules? Thanks!

IH are good for the fly boys and eliminators. RG are good for the scout primaris and eliminators. librarians are good for every faction. Ton of utility options.

 MacPhail wrote:
Thanks for the detailed responses, I really appreciate it. I think I can manage to pick up the whole set for $75 so I'm going to go for it. Any idea which chapter tactics would help me maximize these rules? Thanks!

RG in particular do well with the Phobos characters.

Their special Boltgun ammo grants an extra 6" range and Indirect Fire and doesn't stop the Marksman's Honors warlord trait from working, that comes out to a 36" Assault 1 S4 Ap2 D4 weapon with the Sniper rules and Indirect Fire. And on Tactical Doctrine it's Ap3 with +1 to hit and wound on any target you care about.

That combo leaves the Ex Tenebris relic for the Phobos Lieutenant, which is a huge upgrade over his normal gun. (Granted it's an even better value on a regular Primaris Lieutenant, but that's not relevant to a discussion of how to best use the Shadowspear Marines).

I've made at least one person who didn't know what to expect out of RG concede on turn two after I killed all of his buffing characters on turn one with just my character snipers.

Similarly the Eliminators get a lot better at their job under the RG super Tactical Doctrine.