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Hey guys,

Just about done collecting my Guard army and was thinking of starting to collect something else while painting my Tallarn. What I want to know though, is how effective do people think that running a full Battle Company could be in 8th edition based of of what we have seen so far? What would it struggle against and what would it's strengths be if this is the rough makeup of what I would plan to field.

-Captain
-Command Squad
-Razorback
-Chaplain w/ Jump Pack

6x 10 man Tactical Squads (potentially thinking of all the squads being missile launcher and plasma gun)
4x Rhino
2x Assault Squads
2x Devastators (4x Missile Launcher in each for versatility)
2x Dreadnought

Plan on making it a Sons of Orar company, how would you equip the squads to make an all comers list? I don't plan on buying any flyers, so hoping that Flakk Missiles are still a thing.

I'd say it's too soon to be sure...but it Looks like Devistators will bw a good unit, so you may be on solid ground.

I think devastators are still going to be very much s glass cannon, but they won't be as immobile.

I think Lascannons will still be better on Devs than Missile Launchers, but since we haven't had the rules (or point costs) for MLs I'm not sure yet. I know that having seen the profile for Lascannons I'm glad I've got 4 guys with them! My other guys have grav, which is still up in the air what it'll even do in 8th.

Yeah, that's the only issue I see with trying to figure it out right now is just the pure lack of information. I was thinking of missiles though just to have a decent amount of long range anti horde with the frag missile. But, without seeing the profile who knows. If I was to make this I would probably go with Lascannon/fist on the Dreads though.

Devastators got two buffs, one from heavy weapons generally being better and the other from cover saves stacking with armor. Devs in cover have a 2+ save, and they'll get a save against anything short of like rend 5. So at the very least they're better then before. How much so? Can't tell yet- that will honestly depend on costs. Costs of the devs and the cost of the vehicles they'll be shooting at.

If you have a full battle company, you should do fine.

Mostly because you will have 2-3 times the number of guys you need for an average game and can pick and choose the good bits.

Being able to slap down a full company is probably also going to let you field some of the chunkier detachment/force org chats/whatever they call them now. So should net you a lot of command points.

I suspect that we’ll still want to grab some chapter level support, but you should be able to do OKish with a company. Marines, especially a TAC little bit of everything list, is the benchmark of the game. If you can’t play it in at least a friendly game, GW has dropped the ball hard.

With everything able to split fire, I think it might be time to revisit the weapon loads of the company. I still think themeing squads is going to be effective.

las cannons are the same cost as missile launchers now, so seems like they're a better option if you're fielding a bunch of heavy weapons. maybe a mix of las cannons, heavy bolters & plasma cannons would be best if you have a bunch of devastators?
if you have just a couple, missile launchers are more versatile.

So, I have started buying my Battle Company, and I like the idea of having pairs of Tactical Squads armed the same but having three different load outs between the six squads. That got me thinking though, how on earth am I going to arm the whole company?! Would really like some assistance coming up with a load out for everything, I don't really want to use Grav weapons though. I just don't care for them, or the way they look. Oh, and I got a great deal on some Blood Angels, so it won't be Sons of Orar anymore. Here is what I have so far:

-Captain: Plasma Pistol and Power Sword
-Chaplain: Plasma Pistol and Jump Pack
-Command Squad: Basic Champion Loadout, Standard, Apothecary, 2x Plasma Guns

Tactical Squads #1&2
-Sergeant: Power Fist and Plasma Pistol
-Meltagun
-Heavy Flamer

Tactical Squads #3&4
-Sergeant: Power Sword and Bolt Pistol/Combat Shield if possible
-Plasma Gun
-Heavy Bolter

Tactical Squads #5&6
-Sergeant: Chain Sword and Storm Bolter
-Plasma Gun
-Missile Launcher

Assault Squad #1
-Sergeant: Power Fist and Bolt Pistol/Combat Shield
-Flamers

Assault Squad #2
-Sergeant: Power Sword and Plasma Pistol
-Plasma Pistols

Devastator Squad #1
-Sergeant: Chain Sword and Bolt Pistol
-Plasma Cannons

Devastator Squad #2
-Sergeant: Chain Sword and Storm Bolter
-Missile Launchers

Dreadnought #1&2
-TL Lascannon and Powerfist

Rhino #1,2,3&4
-Second Storm Bolter

Razorback
-TL Lascannon

Let me know what you would change and why. I love Missile Launchers and would rather use them over Lascannons on the infantry.

Owning a Battle Company myself I absolutely cannot see how it could be any viable in 8th edition...

Tactical Squads are probably one of the worst units in the game right now and Rhinos/Drop Pods are far to expensive for what they offer

In 7th you could easily fit a full Battle Company and some Aux choice in 1750/1850pts
In 8th the same models are about 3000pts and you lose what was the main strength of the BC (and Troop choices in general): Objective Secured

Battle Company in 8th is lots of expensive bodies (which arent nearly as durable as before thanks to -AP) without any offensive punch



Powerfull Space Marines list will be what it was before 7th Edition:
Minimal Scouts for Troops (or no Troops at all "thanks" to the according detachments) filled up with flavor of the month elite-cheese, which is usually the latest models GW released aka Primaris.

highwind01 wrote:
Owning a Battle Company myself I absolutely cannot see how it could be any viable in 8th edition...

Tactical Squads are probably one of the worst units in the game right now and Rhinos/Drop Pods are far to expensive for what they offer

In 7th you could easily fit a full Battle Company and some Aux choice in 1750/1850pts
In 8th the same models are about 3000pts and you lose what was the main strength of the BC (and Troop choices in general): Objective Secured

Battle Company in 8th is lots of expensive bodies (which arent nearly as durable as before thanks to -AP) without any offensive punch



Powerfull Space Marines list will be what it was before 7th Edition:
Minimal Scouts for Troops (or no Troops at all "thanks" to the according detachments) filled up with flavor of the month elite-cheese, which is usually the latest models GW released aka Primaris.

Primaris aren't that good. So far you have a boring tactical equivalent, a plasma gun squad, which, uh, well Sternguard can fit in more, and a small drop in heavy bolter squad that are mega glass cannons. The grav armor cap is... not good. The lieutenants are fine, and the Primaris rhino that can't transport primeris is bad.

So far the Inceptor squad SEEMS the best bet, but not as the basis of an army, they are way too small and fragile. They are a drop it, shoot lots, and then probably die kind of squad. The hellblasters are, eh, devs seem better at long range, sternguard better at short.

stratigo wrote:

highwind01 wrote:
Owning a Battle Company myself I absolutely cannot see how it could be any viable in 8th edition...

Tactical Squads are probably one of the worst units in the game right now and Rhinos/Drop Pods are far to expensive for what they offer

In 7th you could easily fit a full Battle Company and some Aux choice in 1750/1850pts
In 8th the same models are about 3000pts and you lose what was the main strength of the BC (and Troop choices in general): Objective Secured

Battle Company in 8th is lots of expensive bodies (which arent nearly as durable as before thanks to -AP) without any offensive punch



Powerfull Space Marines list will be what it was before 7th Edition:
Minimal Scouts for Troops (or no Troops at all "thanks" to the according detachments) filled up with flavor of the month elite-cheese, which is usually the latest models GW released aka Primaris.

Primaris aren't that good. So far you have a boring tactical equivalent, a plasma gun squad, which, uh, well Sternguard can fit in more, and a small drop in heavy bolter squad that are mega glass cannons. The grav armor cap is... not good. The lieutenants are fine, and the Primaris rhino that can't transport primeris is bad.

So far the Inceptor squad SEEMS the best bet, but not as the basis of an army, they are way too small and fragile. They are a drop it, shoot lots, and then probably die kind of squad. The hellblasters are, eh, devs seem better at long range, sternguard better at short.

You know that rhino has nothing to do with primaris marines right? That it's like 2 years old?


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 NH Gunsmith wrote:
So, I have started buying my Battle Company, and I like the idea of having pairs of Tactical Squads armed the same but having three different load outs between the six squads. That got me thinking though, how on earth am I going to arm the whole company?! Would really like some assistance coming up with a load out for everything, I don't really want to use Grav weapons though. I just don't care for them, or the way they look. Oh, and I got a great deal on some Blood Angels, so it won't be Sons of Orar anymore. Here is what I have so far:

Just so you know, in 8th that list is like 4500 points.

As others have said, the 7th edition idea of running a battle company in normal 40k games is gone in 8th edition.

Not only are your vehicles not free, they cost twice as much, don't have fire points, and are generally completey different than they were in 7th.

Rhinos are now mostly only good for getting assault units closer to the enemy. Razorbacks are good fire platforms, but you can't spam them like you used to (i don't imagine you'd want to bring more than 4), they don't love moving forward since heavy weapons get -1 to hit if they move, and if half your army is inside of them, they aren't doing much and make the Razorbacks more of a target.

All that being said, if you wanted to collect and paint a Space Marine battle company, you would have a good sized collection and the ability to run pretty much any space Marine army you want.

I would also have to recommend magnetizing all or most of the Marines and vehicles so you have more options when it comes to squad load out etc.

I would also recommend painting them as your own custom chapter so you can play them as SW/BA/SM/Chaos whatever else, but i realize that isn't for everyone.

All that being said i would say you could safely collect the following:

30-40 tac marines
10 scouts
4 Razorbacks (which can also be rhinos)
3-6 centurions
15 devastators (missile launchers are amazing, but again magnets are your friend)
9 bikes
2 predators (which can also be rhinos)
2 dreads (OMG magnets)
10 terminators
1 Librarian
2 captains
10-20 assault marines
1 land raider

Plus anything else that catches your eye as most units are pretty good now.

stratigo wrote:

Primaris aren't that good. So far you have a boring tactical equivalent, a plasma gun squad, which, uh, well Sternguard can fit in more, and a small drop in heavy bolter squad that are mega glass cannons. The grav armor cap is... not good. The lieutenants are fine, and the Primaris rhino that can't transport primeris is bad.

So far the Inceptor squad SEEMS the best bet, but not as the basis of an army, they are way too small and fragile. They are a drop it, shoot lots, and then probably die kind of squad. The hellblasters are, eh, devs seem better at long range, sternguard better at short.

The "Primaris Rhino" is neither "new" nor "Primaris"

5 Hellblasters with 5 Incinerators and 7 Sternguard with 6 Plasmaguns is both exactly 190 points - set them both up on a table, >30" away from each other and let them fight till one side has no models left... even if you give the Sternguard the first turn each and every time, the Hellblasters will always win on average rolls, because a total of 3 more wounds and 6" more total range / 3" more rapid fire range is worth much more than one additional plasma gun.
The Sternguard might come out ahead if range wouldnt be an issue... but with Drop Pods being ~100pts, range will always be an issue with these units!


The Inceptor squad is probably the best overall unit in the current Co(In-)dex... just stop thinking in 7th edition dimensions when it comes to deep striking:
You can set them exactly where you want them at any turn you want them!
You can set them up in cover for a 2+ without the risk of losing anything!
You can set them up partially los-blocked to avoid large amounts of return fire!
Last but not least half of you army could be Inceptors all coming down together!

jcd386 wrote:

All that being said, if you wanted to collect and paint a Space Marine battle company, you would have a good sized collection and the ability to run pretty much any space Marine army you want.

Sadly,. thats just not true... If you had or intend to collect a (7th ED) Battle Company, the thing you have by far the most are tactical Marines - which is currently one of the worst unit choices in the whole game and just superflous as you dont even need any troop choice at all with those new detachments.

Rather wait for a real codex before investing in any new models... it wont be too long anyways, Space Marines is usually one of the firsts when a new ED hits.

Wow, thanks for the great replies guys!

Surprisingly I was able to fit the list for my Company after some tweaking into a 3,000 point list and am very happy with it. I had a feeling that Tactical Squads might be in bit of a rough spot right now after looking at the index leaks, but, this is mainly just for me since I have wanted for years to own a full company.

I anybody is interested, I can share what it is I came up with for critique.

highwind01 wrote:

stratigo wrote:

Primaris aren't that good. So far you have a boring tactical equivalent, a plasma gun squad, which, uh, well Sternguard can fit in more, and a small drop in heavy bolter squad that are mega glass cannons. The grav armor cap is... not good. The lieutenants are fine, and the Primaris rhino that can't transport primeris is bad.

So far the Inceptor squad SEEMS the best bet, but not as the basis of an army, they are way too small and fragile. They are a drop it, shoot lots, and then probably die kind of squad. The hellblasters are, eh, devs seem better at long range, sternguard better at short.

The "Primaris Rhino" is neither "new" nor "Primaris"

5 Hellblasters with 5 Incinerators and 7 Sternguard with 6 Plasmaguns is both exactly 190 points - set them both up on a table, >30" away from each other and let them fight till one side has no models left... even if you give the Sternguard the first turn each and every time, the Hellblasters will always win on average rolls, because a total of 3 more wounds and 6" more total range / 3" more rapid fire range is worth much more than one additional plasma gun.
The Sternguard might come out ahead if range wouldnt be an issue... but with Drop Pods being ~100pts, range will always be an issue with these units!


The Inceptor squad is probably the best overall unit in the current Co(In-)dex... just stop thinking in 7th edition dimensions when it comes to deep striking:
You can set them exactly where you want them at any turn you want them!
You can set them up in cover for a 2+ without the risk of losing anything!
You can set them up partially los-blocked to avoid large amounts of return fire!
Last but not least half of you army could be Inceptors all coming down together!

jcd386 wrote:

All that being said, if you wanted to collect and paint a Space Marine battle company, you would have a good sized collection and the ability to run pretty much any space Marine army you want.

Sadly,. thats just not true... If you had or intend to collect a (7th ED) Battle Company, the thing you have by far the most are tactical Marines - which is currently one of the worst unit choices in the whole game and just superflous as you dont even need any troop choice at all with those new detachments.

Rather wait for a real codex before investing in any new models... it wont be too long anyways, Space Marines is usually one of the firsts when a new ED hits.

You put your sternguard into a rhino. Which is why they are better. Hellblasters would be (will be?) fine with a transport option. But you REALLY want your plasma in rapid fire range.

Inceptors don't do enough damage against their ideal targets in a turn and then die. They are 225 points. The drop in, kill less than 100 points, and then die. Most of the units you want them to shoot at will kill them all in return for FAR less damage taken. If a drop pod assault army was still an option, they might have still worked out as the enemy couldn't kill all your units in their face, but since drops are actually limited now, it will be extremely difficult to keep inceptors around long enough to pay themselves off.

Razorbacks with twin linked asscans.

10W T7 3+ move 12" with 12 S6 AP-1 shots.

*100pts*.

They are insanely efficient, IMHO. And you can spam them easily.