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I have Tor Goradon, 10 Phobos infiltrators, one lieutenant, three eliminators, and 3 suppressors in one detachment. I will be running these guys as Imperial fists for that nice cover rule.

For my Astra Militarum I have the start collecting box, which consists of 1 officio prefectus commissar, 10 Cadian shock troopers, one Leman Russ, and one heavy weapons team.

My friends have one Necron start collecting box. and one tyranid start collecting along with a box of gargoyles.

I would like to know how to build this list and how to use them against my friends necrons and tyranids.

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks, Roman

Well, if you're just getting started I wouldn't worry too much about optimizing your army, but for starters if you combine the Space Marines and Guard into one army, the Space Marines lose some of their bonus rules. Beyond that it doesn't seem like you can make a Battalion out of either faction. That would be my first goal as you move forward to getting some Command Points.

All that said, I wouldnt sweat all that stuff if you just want to get some games in. Since your friend has both Necrons and Tyranids, which are incompatible factions and can't normally combine forces, you might try playing games with just part of your collection against part of his. (Guard vs. Nids, for example) and get used to the faction rules and basic Stratagems.

Thank you, I'll ask him about that later.

How would I make my army a full detachment? Also, are their any important future purchases that I would need to make my list viable? Im going to get some games in but also want to eventually be able to take my army into some real games.

I also misworded my first post, one has necrons and one has the nids.


Thanks, Roman

^Ahh, gotcha.

Well right off the bat you have two Space Marine HQs and ten troopers, the Infiltrators. You can field the Infiltrators as two squads of five, in which case you just need one more Troops unit to make a minimum Battalion detatchment. These days Intercessors are mighty popular, and for good reason. Just five of those guys would give you your last Troops choice, and you'll start the game with those extra 5 CP for 8 total.

Edit: I play only classic Space Marines so don't have any real opinion about what more to buy. I know Intercessors are good, people seem to like Aggressors and the Executioner too.

Thank you, that was very helpful.

A quick question though. Do you know how I could expand my Guard units and would it be a good idea to field them. I always thought a united imperium list was cool






Thanks Roman

 Stromm wrote:
Thank you, that was very helpful.

A quick question though. Do you know how I could expand my Guard units and would it be a good idea to field them. I always thought a united imperium list was cool






Thanks Roman

Guard? Oh that's easy. More basic troopers to fill your Troops requirement, and then more Leman Russ tanks. Take the tanks as Command Tanks and juice them up with guns. Do the same as the Marines and aim for a Battalion. So it looks like you want one more HQ for them, too. Actually, a Command Leman Russ might be an HQ. I'd check for that.

If you want to be really annoying, Basilisks are good.

That's really the extent of my knowledge for Guard though, you'll want to check out the Tactics thread. But more basic infantry and more Leman Russes will put you on solid footing, imo.

Guardsmen are still probably the best overall troop in the game. By a fair margin.

So for your guard, if you want a battalion, you need one more HQ and two more troops. The bonus here is that using a battalion gets you +5 Command Points, just like the Space marine battalion above.

You could use both of those detachments in the same army, but as mentioned above, Space Marines do get extra powers when used on their own.

Now two troops choices plus an HQ may be too tall an order for you so soon out of the gate; the good news is there are other detachment types. The bad news is most of those only give you one CP.

Your Russ is Heavy Support; the heavy weapons team is kinda heavy, but you need 3 to make minimum squad size, This means you'd need to buy two heavies to make a Spearhead Detachment for +1 CP.

And again, you could field your marine Battalion and your Guard Spearhead in the same army, but the marines would lose their doctrines.

One you've got a few games as each force individually and a few combined, you'll be able to figure out whether the trade off of Marine doctrines is worth the versatility and rule of cool for the combined force.

If you do decide to grow just one force, by then you'll know which one is a better fit for you.

Wow, so many responses, thank you all for helping.


looks like battalions are the way to go!