Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

So, I've nearly finished my half of the Ultramarines 2nd Company, accurate to how it's described in Codex: Space Marines, and I was thinking of starting up a new Chapter, so my question is: What to equip my new SM? I will leave my Chapter Trait blank and changeable between games, but I lean towards UM, IF, BT traits. I don't tend to take Tactical Marines in Drop Pods, I leave that to Sternguard. Any help?

For Imperial Fists, I tend to favour plasma guns (combi-plasma on the sergeant) and a heavy bolter as I like IF gunlines. Don't know much about Ultramarines as I don't particularly care for them. For Black Templars, I give my crusader squads a las/plas combo if I feel like I'm gonna have to do a lot of shooting, but if I don't I slap a flamer and a power weapon in there and add a Sword Brother with the same; a handful of neophytes with shotguns is always good.

If I use BT doctrine, I won't be using the Crusader Squads, I just love the Emperor's Champion and the Rending! But I'm a little bit curious about the plas/HB build, surely this splits the squad's role when it's better to be based around a certain goal? I would be keeping the squad stationary, for the record.

i roll with Fists, i personally roll them bare, 10 bolter Marines in a drop pod. With Bolter Drill thats 15 hits a turn.

I tend not to use my Tacts in that way, I save them for my objective scoring needs. I mainly just want a weapon loadout that works for fairly stationary objective camping Tacts. I've seen about plasma or grav, but would a cheaper weapon like a flamer or melta be in order? Also, heavy weapon-wise, what do I field? Missiles, HBs, MMs or lascannons? I'm really not sure!

I wouldn't say the HB/Plasma build splits the squad's role anymore than having a plasma gun and 9 bolters. That's still a light armor/heavy infantry weapon paired with what is primarily light infantry fire. Personally, I float between the ML and the HB as my heavy weapon for my tactical squads.

Seeing as you don't see yourself deploying them all that aggressively, perhaps moving towards 5 man squads with only the heavy weapon make the most sense all else equal. This would allow each backfield objective sitter to contribute from long range.

The other question that you might want to ask is "what does my army lack that these tactical squads can bring, special weapon wise?"

With 6th ed heavy weapon pricing, I've largely given up on heavy weapons in tactical squads. Having a single heavy in a squad of rapid fire lures people into standing still too much.

I run a few different versions:

1st tac squad melta and MM
2nd tac squad flamer and missile launcher

Mine generally run two ways as Salamanders:

The mobile squad, which is a 9-10 man squad (to leave room for the HQ in some cases), where the Sergeant has a Combi-Flamer and the squad has a Flamer, loaded up in a Rhino.

And the static squad, where it's a 5 man unit equipped with a heavy weapon (Multi-Melta normally, though I'm experimenting now with a Plasma Cannon), and occasionally a combi-weapon on the Sergeant, assigned a Razorback.

plasma gun plasma cannon for combat squadding and sitting cannon somewhere, otherwise if I feel i might be moving ill use heavy bolter so I can snapfire.

I play BA, not SM, but I think tactical squad tactics still apply here.

After just playing a game against orks, with flamers in my army, I've actually decided that flamers on anything that's not in a drop pod just doesn't get the job done. And your assault marines are perfect for that. Double flamer drop pods are $$. Flamer tacts, even in a rhino or Razor, just don't get the job done. Pretty much ever. So I'm going to go ahead and pay the money down to run my tacticals with plasma guns. Plasma guns and bolters actually run together pretty well with their matching ranges, and you can easily match pretty much any heavy weapon. The only heavy weapon I really couldn't see working is if you're shooting a LC at a heavy tank and none of the other weapons in the squad being able to touch it.

MLs are so useless. Never put them on tac squads.

Martel732 wrote:
MLs are so useless. Never put them on tac squads.

The SM players at my FLGS (myself included) find them quite useful with the builds we run.

Missile Launchers are the best thing ever. They're even better than internet hyperbole!

If you're going to camp an objective, then Plasma Gun + Missile Launcher doesn't hurt. I like to give the sergeant a combi-weapon that matches the special weapon in the squad. When I can take 3 tactical squads:

1. Rhinos for all 3
2. Squad A: Meltagun, combi-melta, multi-melta. Race towards a tank or something! Usually dies. Or it survives and scores! Like a male Preying Mantis!
3. Squad B: Plasma Gun, Combi-Plasma, pick a heavy weapon (Heavy Bolter or Plasma Cannon). The point of the squad is to take down or at least threaten monstrous creatures and/or terminators. This won't go further than mid-field, usually camps.
4. Squad C: Melta Bomb sergeant, plasma gun, lascannon or Missile launcher. Campers. Stays in the Winnebago as long as possible.

As I said, I've stopped putting heavy weapons on tac squads with 6th edition pricing. And even when they were free, MLs were terrible. They are just more terrible now that they are 15 pts.

This is not a thread about MLs, but much of what makes MLs poor makes tactical squads poor. Load outs don't change this.