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As I said in another thread, I've never played the game. After a few paintjobs, I decided to go with the space marines. I don't want to magnetize the weapons. but as a beginner I can't decide how to equip the tactical squad :( . I mean some weapon stats sound nice on paper, but which are really effective? Need advice

 galford wrote:
As I said in another thread, I've never played the game. After a few paintjobs, I decided to go with the space marines. I don't want to magnetize the weapons. but as a beginner I can't decide how to equip the tactical squad :( . I mean some weapon stats sound nice on paper, but which are really effective? Need advice

It truly depends on what you want a squad to do. If you want them to pretty much stay stationary then heavy weapons are your friend on a tac squad. If you want them moving then things like plasma and flamers are good. People love the grav guns but they are salvo guns with an 18" range. It has its place but not so much for me. My personal preference is plasma. If I add a heavy weapon its a missile launcher or heavy bolter. Combi weapons on sergeants are where I would look to put something like a grav weapon or melta. I almost always put meltabimbs on my sergeants. I have also built the squad completely with all of the special weapons then bits buy the remaining parts you need to build the bolter marines. Allows you to swap things easily and gives you ultimate flexibility.

ok so only the sergeant with a combi weapon. For the other 9 plasma, melter or flamethrower? Should I mix it, or give each squad the same weapons? Like in Squad 1 , 10 meltas; squad 2, 10 plasma; squad 3, 10 flamethrowers?

Salvo weapons are the worst choice for regular infantry, imo. For general purposes, I like plasma guns, because their profile matches up with bolters.

Personal preference

Flamers from drop pods
Melta/plasma from Rhinos
No grav guns points are better on bikes.

Heavies only if i 10 man combat squad and heave the eavy behind in ruins.
Personal favorite being las cannons and plasma cannons.
First for random vehicles and second to detour deep strikes like terminators.

 galford wrote:
ok so only the sergeant with a combi weapon. For the other 9 plasma, melter or flamethrower? Should I mix it, or give each squad the same weapons? Like in Squad 1 , 10 meltas; squad 2, 10 plasma; squad 3, 10 flamethrowers?

There's a limit on how many weapon upgrades you can take. If you didn't already, get a hold of the codex (borrow, buy, etc.) and give it a read. You can have one special (rifle-esque) weapon per squad: the minimum number of bolters you can have at a 10 man tactical squad is 7. Per full tactical squad, you have the options for; one of either flamer, melta-/plasma-/grav-gun, and one of either heavy bolter, multi-melta, missile launcher, plasma cannon, or lascannon. Sergeants are the only ones in this squad that can take combi-weapons, but you don't have to take one. A loadout I like is all plasma; combi-plasma, plasma gun, and plasma cannon. It's very focused, and will be able to reliably hurt anything that isn't in the air or heavy vehicles. Also, it's hard to go wrong with the classic loadout of flamer, missile launcher, and chainsword on the sergeant. Not focused, but diverse, and able to do anything to a reasonable degree.

So you don't build the sargent. With power weapons or pistal anymore?

You can, but Tac Marines are mostly for shooting, so a shooty sergeant is advantageous and generally cheaper.

 wowsmash wrote:
So you don't build the sargent. With power weapons or pistal anymore?

I personally don't use power weapons on tactical squad sergeants, as that isn't the ideal place for them in my view. Bolt pistols are default, so I'm guessing you mean plasma pistol? I don't use them there either because I feel they're expensive for just one or two shots a game, so I use the combi-plasma. Sergeant equipment should try to compliment the squad, I feel. Or, if you feel that the squad will need it, give that extra close combat punch (literally, with a power fist ). I'm not an expert in how to equip units for these more specific situations, but power weapons and pistol upgrades are far from dead.

EDIT: ninja'd

 wowsmash wrote:
So you don't build the sargent. With power weapons or pistal anymore?

That depends. I will sometimes combat squad my tac squads and run 5 in a razorback or rhino and the other 5 to sit with a heavy weapon. If I plan on doing that I may give them some power weapons but I generally reserve power weapons to veteran squads.

For Sergeants, I tend to always make getting the Ld 9 veteran upgrade a priority, but from there on out, I like to try and keep them cheap. I don't mind running a power sword just to give you a chance against armoured targets or in a challenge. Plasma pistols are cool, but probably a bit expensive.

Power fists are not something I'm a fan of, simply because if you're fighting something killy, they'll challenge and kill before you swong, and if you're fighting something weak, they'll challenge and limit you to one wound.

Most of my Tac squads end up something like this :

Vet sarge w/ Meltabombs + Combiplas or melta

Marine w/ Lascannon

Marine w/ Plasmagun

7 Bolter marines

Sometimes i will go Meltagun + Multi-melta,i tend to leave the Plasma Cannons for my Dev squads.

I like to match the Sergeants combi-weapon with the special weapon. So if I have a flamer, the sergeant gets a combi-flamer, and so on. I've pulled back on power weapons in tactical squads.

My squad has a grav gun and a missile launcher, I personally think the missile launcher is best suited for tac squads due to its versatility. But before 6th edition I used flamers a lot II found them quite useful especially if I need them to assault (I only did that when I came up against Tau players do what I could to take a way their ranged ability). From what I read for the rules the grav gun is a good choice to have since you will come across armored troops and I hear they are pretty deadly against vehicles as well, and I know players who are swapping out the missile launcher for the heavy bolter.

Ok, Iv're read the Tactical Squad section in the codex again and I think I'll go with this:
Squad 1: Sergeant Combi-melta, 1 Melta, 8 Bolter
Squad 2: Sergeant Combi-plasma, 1 plasma, 8 Bolter
Squad 3: Sergeant Combi-Flamer, 1 Flamer, 8 Bolter

No heavy weapons?

Missile launchers are cheap, and you can still snap-shot a krak missile if the figure moves.

I'm guessing you want to be mobile, but you'll thank yourself for using that heavy weapon option, usually a missile launcher, instead of that 8th bolter. A heavy weapon is more powerful, and usually longer ranged, and increases the squad's range of valid targets. Your opponent will in all likelyhood have some longer ranged weaponry, so if you can match it a bit, you'll have a lot more options for what to do with the squad once it's on the table.

Shouldn't this go in the tactics forum?

Everyone in the unit gets a bolt pistol, so whatever weapons the unit takes, even the flamer and missile launcher guys (or whatever) get to join in anyway.

Combat Tactics lets you split a 10-man squad, so you can keep the long ranged heavy weapon back, and send in the Serg and special with 3 other guys. It's handy for scoring objectives. Razorbacks can be good here, and the roof-weapon can help the squad when they disembark.
Or, keep them big and survivable. A combi on the Serg, and a matching special, can work well with 8 bolters backing them up. Use a Rhino for this, to get them into range.

And yes, this is a tactic thread.

 Skinnereal wrote:
Everyone in the unit gets a bolt pistol, so whatever weapons the unit takes, even the flamer and missile launcher guys (or whatever) get to join in anyway.

Combat Tactics lets you split a 10-man squad, so you can keep the long ranged heavy weapon back, and send in the Serg and special with 3 other guys. It's handy for scoring objectives. Razorbacks can be good here, and the roof-weapon can help the squad when they disembark.
Or, keep them big and survivable. A combi on the Serg, and a matching special, can work well with 8 bolters backing them up. Use a Rhino for this, to get them into range.

And yes, this is a tactic thread.

Thank you, Sir

I like a plasma gun, combi-weapon and a missile launcher.

Last Question
What do you think of a 10 men squad with combi-flamer, flamer and a rocket launcher?
The codex says, that a marine can equip a special weapon and another one a heavy weapon. so the sergeant can hold another weapon like a combi weapon, right?

Combi flamer sergeant + flamer marine isn't bad at all in a drop pod, combat squad to keep the other 5man unit with the missile launcher in back field is fairly good.

 Desubot wrote:
Combi flamer sergeant + flamer marine isn't bad at all in a drop pod, combat squad to keep the other 5man unit with the missile launcher in back field is fairly good.

but I can't split the squad to 2*5 if I chose the rules for a 10 men squad.

err no i ment two squads of 5.

One with the sergeant who has the combi-flamer
one marine with the flamer
and 3 others

and the other squad consisting of 4 marines and 1 missile launcher.

 Desubot wrote:
err no i ment two squads of 5.

One with the sergeant who has the combi-flamer
one marine with the flamer
and 3 others

and the other squad consisting of 4 marines and 1 missile launcher.

This is a little confusing. The Online Codex doesn't let me choose a missile launcher with a 5 men squad

Thats because you need to be in a full 10 man squad.
its the only way to get a heavy and a special weapon into 1 squad. the combi is only for the sergeant.

Combat Squad which is a special rule for space marines lets them spit squads into two 5 man squads if your at 10man strength. but it only takes 1 force org.

Got it. Thank you

I like Plasma Gun Lascannon. Great damage output and range.

Lucarikx

I agree with Lucarikx. I think these are the two most potent weapons for tactical squads now. However, I'm very tempted to field tac squads with special weapons and combi-sarge only and forego heavy weapons altogether.