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Hello! So I've been collecting space marines for a while along with my other armies. I have a decent amount of models and I'm trying to build the most optimized list out of what I already own and would appreciate any help or advice. I will first list the models I own, and then the list I am thinking of fielding. I only really play with a group of friends (and we collectively own a series of armies that we have mutually invested in and we take turns alternatively playing as different armies). I face a tau gunline with battlesuits and plenty of railheads, a quick moving dark eldar/eldar force with jet bikes, venoms and wraithguard, a ork army with lots of boyz and some battlewagons, and a mixed mech/gunline imp guard army with lots of heavy weapons, chimeras, some tanks and artillery.

So the space marines I/we have are:
26 marines with bolters
10 jump pack marines (2 with flamers)
2 missile launcher marines
1 heavy bolter marine
5 flamer marines
10 scouts with sniper rifles
1 scout with heavy bolter
5 scouts with cc and pistol
10 sterngaurd, 4 with combi meltas
dread with 2 twinlinked autocannons
ironclad dread with seismic hammer and 2 heavy flamers
assault terminators (3 th/ss, 2 lightning claws)
captain w/ storm bolter and power sword
termie captpain w/ storm bolter and power sword (he is wearing a hood, so i can also run him as termie librarian)
2 landpeeders with double multi melta
2 rhinos (one of which i have a turret with heavy bolters on the side, so i can run it as a razorback)
whirlwind
predator exterminator (the one with the 3 shot plasma cannon)
triple lascannon predator
2 drop pods

Here is the list, at 1999 points
Meant for casual play, not super competitive, but I'm trying to make it be the best I can with what I've got, and be able to be equally viable against the armies I face

HQ
terminator captain w/ storm bolter and pwr sword 90

Troops
Tac squad,(10 marines), flamer, heavy bolter, rhino, and teleport homer and dozer blade 200
Tac squad (10 marines), plasma gun, missile launcher, rhino w/ dozer blade 210

Scouts, 4 sniper, 1 hvy bolter and hellfire shells, 5 cqc and landspeeder storm and teleport homer (combat squaded) 172

Elites

Assault Termies, 3 th/ss, 2 lightning claws
Ironclad dread w/ dual heavy flamers and seismic hammer in drop pod 180
Sterngauard x10, w/ 4 combi meltas in drop pod (combat squad upon landing) 285

Fast Attack
2x double multi melta land speeders 140 (ran separate, not as squadron)
10 Jumpack marines w/ 2 flamers 180

Heavy Support

Triple Lascannon Predator 140
Whirlwind 65
Predator Exterminator 125

General Strategy: Looking for a balanced list that can do ok against all my regular opponents. The Tac squads ride forward in the rhinos, with the assault marines keeping pace. The assault marines are there to counter assault orcs and dark eldar beastpacks and kill imp guard vets who get knocked out of their chimeras. Scout speeder keeps pace as well, but sticks behind LOS blocking terrain and then pops out later to sit on an objective or clear out a weak squad. Melta speeders deepstrike to pop tanks. Sternguard drop in the pod near the frontline to pop a tank or transport and then do anti infantry duty. Ironclad drops in pod near enemy back field to flame defenders and punch a tank. Assault termies (and captain) use a teleport homer to join the midfield fray. Lascannon pred and whirlwind sit backfield with the sniper scouts. Plasma pred moves midfield and shoots heavy infantry/battlesuits or infantry blobs.
I'm hoping the 30 marines + 10 sterngaurd + plasma pred give enough staying power midfeild, with the cqc scouts and assault terminators supporting them. Ironclad and DS landspeeders are meant to do big damage upon landing in the enemy backfield and then draw shooting. Meanwhile the whirlwind and Las pred provide support from the rear.
Does this sound at all viable? Any advice/criticism is welcome.
Thanks!

Looks like a decent list and plan.

Looking at your collection, you are almost all-in at 2k. So not a lot of things to swap in to adjust things. I don’t see any formations that would be easy reaches, so you are probably stuck with the CAD.

If your TDA captain can double as a librarian, he probably should. The captain only really bring a little extra chop to an otherwise choppy unit, the librarian and bring a whole lot more.

I might try to work the rifleman dread in. More firepower is good firepower. Where to get the points is a little rougher. Both the scouts and the assault marines could be cut in half. Or you might be able to drop one of the MM speeders. Depends a lot on what you are worried about.

You're right, librarian termie would be preferable.
I could probably figure out some way to free up some points for the rifle dread, but the problem is I don't have another elites slot for him.

rooster92 wrote:
You're right, librarian termie would be preferable.
I could probably figure out some way to free up some points for the rifle dread, but the problem is I don't have another elites slot for him.

Oops, true.

A couple of suggestions, just see what you think:

Locator Beacons on the drop pods instead of Teleport Homers would allow you to not have to roll scatter with the double-melta speeders. However, this would cost twice as much.

My other suggestion would be to find the points for another Drop Pod (admittedly, this would mean buying one, but bear with me) - odd numbers are the magic numbers with drop pods, allowing you more on the first turn. You could put the terminators in it, though that would mean the captain is stuck on his own - maybe get the points for the pod by dropping two Sternies and then he can ride with them, but then you can't combat squad them... You could also just run the pod empty, guaranteeing both other (full) pods arriving on the first turn.

But really, your list looks fine, and you're on the nose with points, so try it out in a few games first would be my suggestion.

{Edit} Oh, and what Chapter Tactics are you running?

Locator Beacons is an idea I've thought about and may test out at some point.
The thing with the drop pods is I actually don't want my sternguard to come in turn one. My plan for them is to drop in midfield, hopefully around the time the rest of the ground troops have made there way there. That way, when they drop, they will have support and not get isolated. And the opponents troops will already be more committed to where they are headed, allowing the sterngaurd to act as disrupters.
I was thinking of running the one that gives FNP and It will not die (Iron hands I think?). That seemed to me to be the most ubiquitous one. Are there other chapter tactics that you think would serve this list better?

Not every first turn drop with sternguard is a suicide drop. I personally prefer a safer flank drop. It helps is you drop more then one pod, so you can cleanse the area around them. If everything nearby is dead, there is less worries about return fire. And then you start rolling up the flank.

But dropping first has some major advantages. You kill things before they get to do their thing. You want to remove that vindi before it takes a pie-plate out of your army, or the demon gets his psychic buffs on. One of the perks of pods is you get to make that choice on the fly.

Iron Hands is not a bad generic CT. You list is very general, so it doesn’t look like any specific one would be best. Ultramarines is another decent all-around one. You might get some use out of the Imperial Fists. Pro/Cons to each.

Could you not run a first company task force by splitting the sternguards to 2 5 man squads, then the assault termies should make the formation and free up space for your rifle dread. (recommend dropping half the scouts/whirlwind). Hope that helps.

Interesting idea shield brother, I wouldn't have thought of that! I guess some of my sternguard would have to hoof it then though.
I definitely think dropping some scouts and some other points would be worth a rifle dread though. I'm hesitant to drop my whirlwind though, because a couple of my regular opponents have tightly packed gunlines and I like having the whirlwind to drop the hurt on them.