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Hey everyone, I've been looking to get back into 40k after not playing since early 4th edition. Most of my experience was back in 3rd, but a bunch of my old wargaming buddies have been getting back into it with the advent of 6th edition, and I'd like to, as well.

Anyway, my true love is Orks, but the rumor mill holds that they'll be getting an updated codex this summer, so I'd rather hold off on beginning an Ork army until I know which units are going to be worth purchasing. In the meantime, I really want to get started with collecting, painting, and playing, so I decided to create my own Space Marines chapter, being the least expensive army to collect until the Orks are re-released.

I haven't settled on a name or the hashed out all the fluff for the chapter just yet, however the basic concept is that the chapter is focused on achieving a sort of "oneness" with the Emperor through the rigorous, disciplined development of psychic abilities. Think the inner peace and serenity of a zen buddhist monk combined with the combat prowess of space marines. Their geneseed has a minor mutation, granting them an innate proclivity for psychic abilities. Every marine in the chapter possesses at least some low-level psychic ability. I was thinking of using the Iron Hands chapter tactics to represent this, however I can't pass up Tigurius as the perfect model to represent my Chapter Master, so I ended up going with Ultramarines chapter tactics so I can use him, and the 3 army-wide abilities that come with it should be sufficient to represent the basic troopers using their low-level psychic abilities.

Here's the color scheme for the basic troopers: http://i.imgur.com/21VBMDk.jpg

Tacticals will have copper helmets, specialists like the bikers and any devastators or assault marines I end up including will have silver helmets, veterans have gold helmets.


-----

Space Marines - 1847 points

Chapter Tactics: Ultramarines


HQ

Chief Librarian Tigurius - 165

Librarian - 90
Mastery Level 2

TROOPS

Tactical Squad - 210
Veteran Sergeant w/ combi-flamer
Flamer
Heavy Bolter
Rhino

Tactical Squad - 210
Veteran Sergeant w/ combi-flamer
Flamer
Heavy Bolter
Rhino

Tactical Squad - 210
Veteran Sergeant w/ combi-flamer
Flamer
Heavy Bolter
Rhino

ELITES

Sternguard Veteran Squad - 303
8 Marines w/ 5 combi-meltas
Sergeant w/ combi-melta
Drop Pod

Sternguard Veteran Squad - 303
8 Marines w/ 5 combi-meltas
Sergeant w/ combi-melta
Drop Pod

FAST ATTACK

Bike Squad - 181
5 Bikers w/ 2 grav guns
Veteran Sergeant w/ combi-grav

HEAVY SUPPORT

Stalker - 75

Thunderfire Cannon - 100 (I will be converting this heavily to be a Psychic Projection Array manned by a Librarian rather than a Tech-marine)

-----

The Tacticals will usually start in their rhinos, using their boltguns and flamers to clear out enemy infantry and take/hold objectives. I may combat squad them and leave the Heavy Bolter on a homefield objective, depending on how many objectives are on the table/what army I'm facing.

Tigurius and the Librarian go into the drop pods with the Sternguard, using their support and witchfire abilities to make the their companions even nastier than they already are.

Bike Squad scoots around blasting MCs and TEQs with their grav weapons

Stalker does its thing, shooting at Flyers and/or transports as needed

Thunderfire Cannon hangs out with the Stalker in my deployment zone, providing supporting fire to the rest of the army.

Let me know if you think this is a strong, competitive list to collect, as well as any changes you would make. Tigurius is the only non-negotiable model in the list. Hack it apart, guys, I really am not sure if this is a decent army in the modern 6th ed meta at all.

Thanks in advance

-Grim

Looks solid, but just a couple of worries:

With 2 pods, only 1 will arrive on turn one, which will blow up a tank and then get focused down by the entire enemy army, and then again in turn 2 with the second pod (which includes your Warlord). I'd suggest swapping one Tac rhino for a drop pod you can bring in both sternies first turn for more target saturation.

With psykers in pods, you are unable to cast blessings or maledictions on the turn you arrive, and any Witchfires will be targeted at tanks due to having to shoot the sternie's target. So I'd suggest changing one squad to 10 with 10 combi's (you can combat squad them when they arrive) and one squad of 8 with the 2 HQ's.

My 2c.

Looks solid, but just a couple of worries:

With 2 pods, only 1 will arrive on turn one, which will blow up a tank and then get focused down by the entire enemy army, and then again in turn 2 with the second pod (which includes your Warlord). I'd suggest swapping one Tac rhino for a drop pod you can bring in both sternies first turn for more target saturation.

With psykers in pods, you are unable to cast blessings or maledictions on the turn you arrive, and any Witchfires will be targeted at tanks due to having to shoot the sternie's target. So I'd suggest changing one squad to 10 with 10 combi's (you can combat squad them when they arrive) and one squad of 8 with the 2 HQ's.

My 2c.

Ah, I did not know that about psykers. In light of this info and some research I've been doing about various Space Marine units, I've modified the original list heavily. What do you think of this setup?

-----

Chapter Tactics: Ultramarines

1 Chief Librarian Tigurius (HQ) @ 165 Pts
Warlord

9 Tactical Squad (Troops) @ 205 Pts
Missile Launcher, Flamer
Sergeant w/ Combi-Flamer
Rhino

9 Tactical Squad (Troops) @ 205 Pts
Missile Launcher, Flamer
Sergeant w/ Combi-Flamer
Rhino

9 Tactical Squad (Troops) @ 205 Pts
Missile Launcher, Flamer
Sergeant w/ Combi-Flamer
Rhino

9 Sternguard Veteran Squad (Elites) @ 330 Pts
Combi-Meltas (9x)
Veteran Sergeant w/ Combi-Melta

1 Dreadnought (Elites) @ 120 Pts
Heavy Flamer, Multi-Melta

4 Centurion Devastator Squad (Heavy Support) @ 420 Pts
Hurricane Bolter (x4), Grav-cannon & Grav-amp (x4)
1 Centurion Sergeant w/ Omniscope, Hurricane Bolter, Grav-cannon & Grav-amp

1 Stormraven Gunship (Heavy Support) @ 200 Pts
Stormstrike Missiles (x4), TL Assault Cannon, TL Multi-Melta

Models in Army: 51

Total Army Cost: 1850

-----

In this army, I'll be relying on the Stormraven for anti-air, instead of a Stalker. Tigurius goes with the Centurions on the ground, making them amazing with his divination buffs, as well as any nearby combat squads. The Sternguard and Dreadnought will be hopping out of the Stormraven together, set up such that they can either annihilate a horde or blast the crap out of tank or two. Tacticals do their thing, most likely combat squadding so as to get the most benefit out of both their missiles and their flamers.

Maybe I'm just used to Ork lists, but I can't help feeling like there aren't enough reliable AT or AA units in this list. I'm not sure. What does DakkaDakka think?

The trouble with loading up the Raven is that you've got 650points that might not turn up until turn 4 with bad rolling! Tiggy improves this but still... I can't help but feel both the sterns and dread would be better in pods.

Tiggy + Centurions is pretty brutal. Prescience twin-links the guns, Forewarning for a 4+ inv save, Gate to Infinity negates their slow movement etc.

Just a quick check on numbers - when you've got "9" tacticals including sarge, you mean 10 models total right?

Grimdakka wrote:
Hey everyone, I've been looking to get back into 40k after not playing since early 4th edition. Most of my experience was back in 3rd, but a bunch of my old wargaming buddies have been getting back into it with the advent of 6th edition, and I'd like to, as well.

Anyway, my true love is Orks, but the rumor mill holds that they'll be getting an updated codex this summer, so I'd rather hold off on beginning an Ork army until I know which units are going to be worth purchasing. In the meantime, I really want to get started with collecting, painting, and playing, so I decided to create my own Space Marines chapter, being the least expensive army to collect until the Orks are re-released.

I haven't settled on a name or the hashed out all the fluff for the chapter just yet, however the basic concept is that the chapter is focused on achieving a sort of "oneness" with the Emperor through the rigorous, disciplined development of psychic abilities. Think the inner peace and serenity of a zen buddhist monk combined with the combat prowess of space marines. Their geneseed has a minor mutation, granting them an innate proclivity for psychic abilities. Every marine in the chapter possesses at least some low-level psychic ability. I was thinking of using the Iron Hands chapter tactics to represent this, however I can't pass up Tigurius as the perfect model to represent my Chapter Master, so I ended up going with Ultramarines chapter tactics so I can use him, and the 3 army-wide abilities that come with it should be sufficient to represent the basic troopers using their low-level psychic abilities.

Here's the color scheme for the basic troopers: http://i.imgur.com/21VBMDk.jpg

Tacticals will have copper helmets, specialists like the bikers and any devastators or assault marines I end up including will have silver helmets, veterans have gold helmets.


-----

Space Marines - 1847 points

Chapter Tactics: Ultramarines


HQ

Chief Librarian Tigurius - 165

Librarian - 90
Mastery Level 2

TROOPS

Tactical Squad - 210
Veteran Sergeant w/ combi-flamer
Flamer
Heavy Bolter
Rhino

Tactical Squad - 210
Veteran Sergeant w/ combi-flamer
Flamer
Heavy Bolter
Rhino

Tactical Squad - 210
Veteran Sergeant w/ combi-flamer
Flamer
Heavy Bolter
Rhino

ELITES

Sternguard Veteran Squad - 303
8 Marines w/ 5 combi-meltas
Sergeant w/ combi-melta
Drop Pod

Sternguard Veteran Squad - 303
8 Marines w/ 5 combi-meltas
Sergeant w/ combi-melta
Drop Pod

FAST ATTACK

Bike Squad - 181
5 Bikers w/ 2 grav guns
Veteran Sergeant w/ combi-grav

HEAVY SUPPORT

Stalker - 75

Thunderfire Cannon - 100 (I will be converting this heavily to be a Psychic Projection Array manned by a Librarian rather than a Tech-marine)

-----

The Tacticals will usually start in their rhinos, using their boltguns and flamers to clear out enemy infantry and take/hold objectives. I may combat squad them and leave the Heavy Bolter on a homefield objective, depending on how many objectives are on the table/what army I'm facing.

Tigurius and the Librarian go into the drop pods with the Sternguard, using their support and witchfire abilities to make the their companions even nastier than they already are.

Bike Squad scoots around blasting MCs and TEQs with their grav weapons

Stalker does its thing, shooting at Flyers and/or transports as needed

Thunderfire Cannon hangs out with the Stalker in my deployment zone, providing supporting fire to the rest of the army.

Let me know if you think this is a strong, competitive list to collect, as well as any changes you would make. Tigurius is the only non-negotiable model in the list. Hack it apart, guys, I really am not sure if this is a decent army in the modern 6th ed meta at all.

Thanks in advance

-Grim

It's not really the "Advent" of sixth... It's been around for almost 2 years. lol.

It's not really the "Advent" of sixth... It's been around for almost 2 years. lol.

K

The trouble with loading up the Raven is that you've got 650points that might not turn up until turn 4 with bad rolling! Tiggy improves this but still... I can't help but feel both the sterns and dread would be better in pods.

Tiggy + Centurions is pretty brutal. Prescience twin-links the guns, Forewarning for a 4+ inv save, Gate to Infinity negates their slow movement etc.

Just a quick check on numbers - when you've got "9" tacticals including sarge, you mean 10 models total right?

Yes, you're correct about this, which is why I've revised the list further, excluding the Stormraven and Dreadnought entirely. And yes, that's 10 marines total, sorry I didn't make that more obvious, Army Builder's text summary laid it out like that. Anyway, here's the newest list:

-----

HQ

Tigurius - 165

Terminator Captain w/ Combi-Melta and Storm Shield - 131

TROOPS

10x Tactical Marines w/ Flamer, Combi-Flamer, Missile Launcher, Rhino - 205

10x Tactical Marines w/ Flamer, Combi-Flamer, Missile Launcher, Rhino - 205

10x Tactical Marines w/ Flamer, Combi-Flamer, Missile Launcher, Rhino - 205

ELITES

9x Sternguard Veterans w/ 9 Combi-Meltas, Melta Bomb, Drop Pod - 338

HEAVY SUPPORT

5x Centurion Devastators - Grav-Cannons, Grav-Amps, Hurricane Bolters, Omniscope - 420

Thunderfire Cannon - 100

Stalker w/ Dozer Blade - 80

-----

Tigurius hangs out with the Devastators, using Divination powers and his Warlord trait to buff them up, as well as the Thunderfire and/or Stalker depending on the needs of the situation. Maybe it's just the ork player in me, but I'm thinking the dual-fire ability of the Stalker coupled with twin-linking from Tigurius will prove useful, and I have a feeling the Stalker will be a relatively low-priority target compared to the Centurions and the Sternguard.

Tacticals do what tacticals do, going for objectives and using their flamer and boltguns to shoot up hordes.

Terminator Captain goes into the Drop Pod with the Sternguard, deploying in front in order to tank return fire. Sternguard blast a tank or two, or shoot up infantry like they do, depending on the situation.

Another thought I had was to split up the Sternguard into two smaller squads in drop pods, maybe swapping one of the Tactical rhinos out for a drop pod so they can both come in on turn 1, and drop the Terminator Captain entirely in order to make up the points.

Thoughts?

Terminator armour is Bulky, so you'd have to drop another Stern (down to 8) in order to fit him in the Pod.

I'm not sure he's necessary, generally Sterns in pods won't survive long, just drop down, combat squad and take out two high-value targets.

Also, I'd not seen anyone suggest the Prescience + Stalker dual-fire thingy before, that's nasty

I was under the impression that Terminators cannot be in pods but I may be wrong. If I were you, I'd go with every single thing in pods, or all rhinos.

 Feasible wrote:
I was under the impression that Terminators cannot be in pods but I may be wrong. If I were you, I'd go with every single thing in pods, or all rhinos.

Terminator IC's can absolutely join a squad in a pod on deployment into reserves. They take up 2 spots in the pod however.

In this case I'd give the Captain artificer armour instead. Similar points cost and you can keep the sternguard at 9 strong.
I'd also find a way to transport those Grav centurions upfield because if they're walking it's going to be difficult to get them where they need to be.

 Quanar wrote:
Terminator armour is Bulky, so you'd have to drop another Stern (down to 8) in order to fit him in the Pod.

I'm not sure he's necessary, generally Sterns in pods won't survive long, just drop down, combat squad and take out two high-value targets.

Also, I'd not seen anyone suggest the Prescience + Stalker dual-fire thingy before, that's nasty

Yeah, I think I'm going to drop the Terminator Captain entirely. I actually did not realize that the Sternguard could combat squad AFTER leaving the drop pod, that alleviates a lot of my fears regarding their flexibility.

So, after dropping him and the dozer blade off the stalker, I was able to bump up the Sternguard to a full 10 guys with 10 combi-meltas and a melta bomb, as well as picking up a single stock Stormtalon. I think I'm feeling pretty satisfied with the list at this point.

I was under the impression that Terminators cannot be in pods but I may be wrong. If I were you, I'd go with every single thing in pods, or all rhinos.

Why is that, out of curiosity? I feel like having just the Sternguard in a drop pod for a turn one attack is pretty good, then the tacticals can move around to wherever they're needed in their rhinos, not to mention draw some fire away from the Stalker, Centurions, and Thunderfire.

I'd also find a way to transport those Grav centurions upfield because if they're walking it's going to be difficult to get them where they need to be.

That's a good point, they do only have a 30" threat range... I'm having a really difficult time finding something I'd be comfortable dropping in favor of a Stormraven or a Landraider, however. Plus, Tigurius won't be able to buff them right away as I'd like for him to if they're all dismounting from a LR or SR. Unless there's a better solution I'm missing, I think I may just have to walk them upfield. Most of the things I'd want them shooting at are things that will be approaching me anyway.

Grimdakka wrote:
I actually did not realize that the Sternguard could combat squad AFTER leaving the drop pod,

Well, I think technically you declare the Combat Squad before the game, but they're still allowed to start the game in the same transport due to part of the combat squad rule.

As for Centurion mobility, I think Tiggy has access to Telekinesis, in which case Gate of Infinity can give a threat range of approx 48".

@Rorschach - I'd forgotten about Artificer Armour, it's a good solution since you don't need the 5+ from termi armour if you're taking the Shield anyway.