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I like my tactical space marines a lot but I don't know how to run them as ten guys and still have the special weapon and heavy weapon be useful at the same time.

How do you run your tactical squads in squads of 10?

 ivangterrace wrote:
I like my tactical space marines a lot but I don't know how to run them as ten guys and still have the special weapon and heavy weapon be useful at the same time.

How do you run your tactical squads in squads of 10?

Well the problem lies in that spamming bolters isn't a great tactic, and putting a heavy weapon in a drop pod or rhino squad is pointless.

Back in 5th I once ran a Razorback list with 10 man squads that combat squadded at game start, one with Lascannon and one with Plasma Gun. The former walked and the latter went in the vehicle. I had some moderate success with it but I expect it would struggle against some competitive lists in the current meta.

Alternatively, there's another tactic I thought up recently which is doing essentially the same thing but using Rhinos and abusing Chapter Tactics : Raven Guard or Khan Scars. Using the maximum movement and scout the close range squad in a rhino and a combi-weapon Sarge deliver the pain up close first turn (deploy,scout, move,disembark,fire) while the long rangers set on the home objective and provide supporting fire, as well as defending against things in your table half you can't otherwise deal with. I wouldn't use them en-mass though, I'd definitely support them with something like bikers or a SWDS unit.

Run them as crusaders for a 5 man las/plas squad?

-Matt

You can simply opt not to take one of the special or heavy weapons to focus the squad's use.
A couple of other ideas - you can easily get away with moving one turn or two just to get into position, which doesn't really make the heavy weapon entirely pointless. Taking a heavy bolter still allows a few snap shots on the move, though while not all that useful, it does complement the unit's existing bolters nicely. And a flamer is still useful for objective holders thanks to Wall of Death.

HawaiiMatt wrote:Well the problem lies in that spamming bolters isn't a great tactic

...unless running with Ultramarines or Imperial Fists Chapter Tactics, or using the Dark Angels Banner of Devastation.
Of course you need *some* heavier weaponry, but it's easy enough to leave this to other units and spam bolters in your Troops units to make the most of whichever buff you've plumped for. Let's not forget that enough bolter shots will down 2+ units, in fact they'll down anything but vehicles and the toughest MCs (in either case - hello krak grenades).

 HawaiiMatt wrote:
Run them as crusaders for a 5 man las/plas squad?

-Matt

The good old 5 men las/plas units are back. This is actually good news. Take 6 of these units and fill the rest with Bikers and air defense.

As previously said, you can choose not to take a heavy weapon and get away with it, especially if you have the heavier lifting covered by the likes of devastators or LC-preds and vindis.


That said, even if you only fire once or twice with something like a LC , the chances are if you pick the right targets it will likely do enough damage to be worth it. Remember, SM are a shooty army, so there will come a point where you don't want to advance, and then the HW will be useful.

Also, against many armies, such as necrons and CSM, the bulk of their firepower, especially in troop choices, is limited to 24", so any damage you can do before they reach that distance is worthwhile, as your bolters aren't firing anyway, so you might as well hit them with a PC or LC early on.

The real question here is why wouldn't you split the squad? Having two squads of five with the heavy/special split is pretty much always better than one squad of ten.

 Peregrine wrote:
The real question here is why wouldn't you split the squad? Having two squads of five with the heavy/special split is pretty much always better than one squad of ten.

Arguably, kill points. Or when playing against that rare opponent who's aggressive enough to put his objectives near your deployment zone too, which allows you to sit back for most of the game.

When fighting horde, mass bolters and take Calgar... those ork and nid players who like it when their opponent says 'I don't have enough guns', wont like that!