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Hi all.

So, I'm getting back into the hobby after many years and am looking at the Imperial Fist with the Sternhammer formation as my new army.
The idea is to have a mobile and durable firebase with the Tactical marines, Razorback and Centurions while the Skyhammer drop in where they are needed. They will play more as a mobile support unit with their heavy bolters and not the glass cannon role with Grav Cannons they normally do. This also means that they are a lot more survivable due to higher numbers and cheaper.

That is only my theory so how do you guys think this would work?

Demi-Company

Captain: Power Axe 105.p (Crimson fists warlord traits)

10x Tactical Marines: Heavy Bolter, Grav Gun, Melta Bombs 170.p
Rhino 35.p

5x Tactical Marines: Razorback, Twin Lascannon 145.p

5x Tactical Marines: Razorback, Twin Lascannon 145.p

4x Bikes: 2x Grav Guns, 1x Combi Grav, Melta Bombs 129.p

3x Devastator Centurion: Lascannons 210.p

Auxilary

Skyhammer

10x Devestator: 4x Heavy Bolters 180.p
Drop Pod 35.p

10x Devestator: 4x Heavy Bolters 180.p
Drop Pod 35.p

5x Assault Marines: 2x Flamers, Melta Bombs 100.p

5x Assault Marines: 2x Flamers, Melta Bombs 100.p

1499.p

My personal taste: Imperial Fist lists that focus on bolt weapons. They usually aren't competitive in 40k (though they wreck 30k) but they're just cool.

Well you have a lot of Lascannons to take care of tanks etc. you've got a good set of tacticals to capture objectives. Bikes are standard fare grav buggers. And then you have heavy bolters to just dakka MC's and such off the table through volume of fire.

The major flaw I see in this is the captain, he's cheap, but then he's not really effective at what I believe captains should do. I see captains as anti-character units that specialise in taking on big bad single models and winning, but with just a Power Axe he'll get squashed by most other characters. I'd drop the Melta Bombs on the Assault Sergeants and give him a Relic Blade, then he'll be able to kill a lot more and honestly win back more points then those Melta Bombs probably would have done on such an anti-infantry specialised unit.

 TheManWithNoPlan wrote:
My personal taste: Imperial Fist lists that focus on bolt weapons. They usually aren't competitive in 40k (though they wreck 30k) but they're just cool.

Well you have a lot of Lascannons to take care of tanks etc. you've got a good set of tacticals to capture objectives. Bikes are standard fare grav buggers. And then you have heavy bolters to just dakka MC's and such off the table through volume of fire.

The major flaw I see in this is the captain, he's cheap, but then he's not really effective at what I believe captains should do. I see captains as anti-character units that specialise in taking on big bad single models and winning, but with just a Power Axe he'll get squashed by most other characters. I'd drop the Melta Bombs on the Assault Sergeants and give him a Relic Blade, then he'll be able to kill a lot more and honestly win back more points then those Melta Bombs probably would have done on such an anti-infantry specialised unit.

Thanks for the input. Yes,I know the Imperial Fists are not the strongest of chapters but hopefully with the new rules of "twin linked" bolter weapons, they will be a lot stronger by putting out more quality fire and be a lot more deadly against units they overwatch and against flyers.

*Updated list*

Demi-Company

Captain: Relic Blade 115.p (Crimson fists warlord traits)

10x Tactical Marines: Heavy Bolter, Grav Gun, Melta Bombs 170.p
Rhino 35.p

5x Tactical Marines: Razorback, Twin Lascannon 145.p

5x Tactical Marines: Razorback, Twin Lascannon 145.p

4x Bikes: 2x Grav Guns, 1x Combi Grav, Melta Bombs 129.p

3x Devastator Centurion: Lascannons 210.p

Auxilary

Skyhammer

10x Devestator: 4x Heavy Bolters 180.p
Drop Pod 35.p

10x Devestator: 4x Heavy Bolters 180.p
Drop Pod 35.p

5x Assault Marines: 2x Flamers, Melta Bombs 95.p

5x Assault Marines: 2x Flamers, Melta Bombs 95.p

1499.p

Another thought. Would it be better to drop the Razorbacks in favour of a Grav Cannon on the tactical marines? It would hamper my long range anti tank but bring more Grav Weapons. Another option would be to equip the centurions with Grav weapons and put them in a drop pod. It would most likely lead to one less bike and fewer tactical marines in the big unit.
Another possibility is to give the Captain a jump pack and put them in a unit of assault marines kitted out for combat. Would I be able to charge on the turn they arrive due to skyhammer?