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Hi all, I have just returned to the game after getting out mid 5th edition. Boy has the game changed! Long story short I bought the Indomitus box and a Command box set. Working with the Marines from those boxes and playing as UltraMarines what is the best way to fill out my force and field a decent army? Looking to build out to ~2000 points and have a good, fun army but not necessarily competitive or meta.
Thanks,
- Dorantana

Maybe some tanks? Like a Gladius, Repulsor or Predator.

No, you do not buy tanks for marines.

Multi Melta are good weapons now. So having them on fast moving stuff like attack bikes is a good thing to have. The game is a lot about taking objectives and not giving up secondaries, so fast moving hard hitting stuff, which is resilient and cheap is very good. Stuff like units of blade guard ore venguard vetarans are very good for this edition. Troop wise, the infiltrators are good, because they are cheap enough, give board presence turn 1 and in general are helpful. And unlike scouts they have 2W and a +3sv.

Character wise upgraded Apothecaries are good, for bringing back stuff like blade guard. Chaplains are actually useful, specially the mounted or jet pack ones. Lt with jumppacks and two chain swords, one upgraded to teeth of terra are often used. Buff bot captins are used from time to time too. Smash chapter masters are no longer obligatory, comparing to 8th at least. But some people still use them from time to time, in armies like White Scars.

I don't see librarians used as often as in prior edition, but they are not an inherently bad HQ option.

In general the sm armies are flexible and there are very few really bad options. And those are easy to avoid. Don't use tanks, bunkers, the tech priest on a tripod or scouts, and you are more or less good.

Karol wrote:
No, you do not buy tanks for marines.

No you buy whatever you want. Models you like. Models you think are cool. Models that perform well.

Don't meta-chase. It's dull.

 H.B.M.C. wrote:

Karol wrote:
No, you do not buy tanks for marines.

No you buy whatever you want. Models you like. Models you think are cool. Models that perform well.

Don't meta-chase. It's dull.

Most people also find it's not fun to play with complete trash like a predator.

There's plenty of room in Marines to play with interesting stuff while avoiding salty, bad advice.

 H.B.M.C. wrote:

Karol wrote:
No, you do not buy tanks for marines.

No you buy whatever you want. Models you like. Models you think are cool. Models that perform well.

Don't meta-chase. It's dull.

^ this. especially as by time you buy, assmble and paint your model chances are a new FAQ will be released that has shifted the meta anyway.


that said, looking at what he has for a moment..

Indomatus includes 1 Captain, 1 Leuitenant, 1 Chaplain, (3 HQs) 10 Assault Intercessors (1-2 squads of troops depending on how you build them) 1 Squad of Blade Guard 1 Judicator, 1 Bladeguard Ancient, (3 units of elites) 1 Outriders Bike Squad (1 fast attack) and 1 unit of Eradicators (1 heavy support unit) ... jesus thats a lotta stuff I forgot how awesome this box was.

All told this is approx 1000 points out of the box. Assuming what you bought was the Marine Company Command box, that nets you an additional captain (that can work as a Leuitenant and Leuitenants are a "2 for 1 FOC slot deal") Another ancient (guys with banners are called ancients in case we're unclear )an apocathary a company champion and 2 company veterns.
this BTW clocks in at just under 1300 points. so to expand up to 2000 points you need another ~700 points. worth noting. although you've got 7 elites and can only take 6 so proably best to leave the veterns at home (they're about 60 points total for the 2 of em assuming you go with a plasma gun and combi-plas) not really worth it eaither if you ask me)
So now that we know what you have and how many points to add, where to next? well let's start on filling the basic requirements.
to run a basic battalion you need 3 troop chocies minimium and you're only going to have 2 Max. so I'd start by picking up a box of your favorite troops. the great news for a space marine player is we're SPOILED for troop choice, with a grand total of 6 troop choices. So you can find whatever you fancy and grab a pack of em. I like basic intercessors, they do a fantastic job. Ohh word of warning in case you've not noticed, SCOUTS ARE NO LONGER TROOPS.
Now, once you fill in your troops. what's next well.. to taste really. codex space marine is a solid codex and all of our units are mostly good. (conventional wisdom holds that tanks over all aren't in the best of places right now but if you really wanted a Predator or something you're not de facto throwing the game by using one)


you've got your fill of elites so that'll take additional elites off the board so terminators aren't worth looking at, nor are dreadnoughts (dreadnoughts BTW are the exception to the "tanks are kinda bleh" trend and are actually great this edition. sadly they're elites. still might be worth ditching one of your ancients for a dreadnought later on)

I'd actually suggest making your next step the blood angels combat patrol. It's not "just for blood angels" and is a solid deal. that'll give you a Primaris Librarian (even if you don't plan to use a libby having one is a good option) a 5 man intercessor squad, a 5 man infiltrator or incursor squad, a squad of agressors, and a impulsor, solid over all box IMHO

 dorantana wrote:
Hi all, I have just returned to the game after getting out mid 5th edition. Boy has the game changed! Long story short I bought the Indomitus box and a Command box set. Working with the Marines from those boxes and playing as UltraMarines what is the best way to fill out my force and field a decent army? Looking to build out to ~2000 points and have a good, fun army but not necessarily competitive or meta.
Thanks,
- Dorantana

Please have in mind that we're not in 5th edition anymore when armies' archetypes last a few years. Now meta is constantly shaken. My advise is that if you want to play 2000 points games at decent levels you'd need a 2500-3000 points collection of models.

SM in general are easy to build as pretty much everything is reasonably competitive or flat out OP, they're extremely easy to assemble, paint and play (you just need to remember all the rules) and even cheaper than most armies. Don't make skew list, just get a bit of everything and focus on learning the game mechanics and how to score or prevent the opponent from scoring.

Lammia wrote:

 H.B.M.C. wrote:

Karol wrote:
No, you do not buy tanks for marines.

No you buy whatever you want. Models you like. Models you think are cool. Models that perform well.

Don't meta-chase. It's dull.

Most people also find it's not fun to play with complete trash like a predator.

There's plenty of room in Marines to play with interesting stuff while avoiding salty, bad advice.

You are both kind of right. IMO you should avoid both chasing the me(l)ta and buying units that fail to perform the primary role.

Compared to 5th the game is balanced well enough so that you can play interesting games without having to resort to cookie-cutter builds.

The gladius, repulsor or storm speeder all can contribute to your army in a meaningful way, and they are a point adjustment away from being decent. The predator has deeper lying issues, so I'd actually avoid getting one for your initial army. Once you've build a solid foundation, you are free to add whatever you want.

On the flip side, multi-meltas are definitely causing problems right now, so it's likely that any money invested in MM bikes, devs or eradicators might be wasted soon.

Well with those two boxes things are looking pretty melee-heavy in your army atm what with the 10 assault ints as your troops, your bladeguards and your commanders.

I think the first thing I'd go ahead and add to that would be a Redemptor Dreadnought. Fits in to the style of getting in and getting punchy but brings some extra antitank firepower to offset you only having raelly one antitank piece (obviously assuming you go for the big plasma cannon).

 the_scotsman wrote:
Well with those two boxes things are looking pretty melee-heavy in your army atm what with the 10 assault ints as your troops, your bladeguards and your commanders.

I think the first thing I'd go ahead and add to that would be a Redemptor Dreadnought. Fits in to the style of getting in and getting punchy but brings some extra antitank firepower to offset you only having raelly one antitank piece (obviously assuming you go for the big plasma cannon).

This is some great advice from The Scotsman.

By my math, you are sitting on about 1,250 points in a big battalion. A Redemptor Dreadnought would bring you close to 1500 points. I might then add a squad of Intercessors to give you some mid-range firepower and back-field objective holders. I like Inceptors with Plasma, but as a Dark Angels they do a little more work for me but they are great at clearing out power-armour opponents. If you like how the Outriders play you could then add an Outrider Chaplain to give you a truly hard-hitting mobile element. You'd need to split them off into an Outrider (perhaps with the Inceptors), but they would fun.

Anyhoo - I second the motion to get a Redemptor as your next acquisition. It will also be a change of pace in terms of modeling and painting!

Welcome back,

T2B