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In the other thread it was pretty decided which Space Marine Tactic were the best
https://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/733193.page

Since the Top 2 Chapters were fairly close. It seems pretty obvious which would be voted for if it was still an option.




So, let's remove them from the options to free up 80% of the votes. What does everyone feel is the 3rd best Space Marine Tactic?

White Scars IMHO if just looking at the tactics. The Iron Hands Stratagem is nice but burning CP on that instead of crucial re-rolls seems wasteful to me.

White scars here too.

White Scars definitely seem like they would be one of the most entertaining to play

Rerolling charges is great for getting first turn assaults.

Blood Angels hehe, but for the way I like to play (lots of basic Marines) the Ultramarines one seems best for me. I don't use bikes or really any of the expensive Elites option... just tons of Marines.

I'm using a Scouts and Terminators force. For me, either RG to keep my scouts alive, or black templars to let my terminators have a better chance of successfully doing a first turn charge out of teleport, would be best.

I'm pretty bitter about the Crimson Fists (even if I am glad we get all the Imperial Fist goodies + ouor own special snowflake stuff). Ignoring Cover is OK (speeds the game up too; see a model, shoot the unit no penalty).

It basically makes me want to dump as much cover/ terrain on the board as I can pre game, seeing as we can benefit from it now, but our opponents cant. From there you simply drop your objective markers in the cover. Thanks to the new OBSEC rule for marines, as long as just 1 marine is on that objective we control it.

Meaning that we will actually be getting those tasty cover +1 save bonuses a lot (so 2+ on a Marine), and our enemy will have a hard time digging us out of cover in return (just one marine needs to survive to claim the objective).

Pedro Kantor now gets +1 A (his own aura) and another +1d3 A when surrounded by 10+models.

Charging a gunline of (Kantor + Lt with the Fist of Vengance and a banner) could get nasty. Re-rolling all attack rolls, and all rolls of 1's to W. Kantor grants +1 A for everyone, and models slain get a free attack.

I'm thinking of picking up 6 x Centurion Devestators (Heavy bolters/ hurricane bolters) to make the most out of Bolter Drill. 6 Heavy bolter shots each, plus 12 bolter shots each at 12".

36 x Heavy bolter and 72 x bolter shots. Ignoring cover. Every roll of 6 generates a second shot. Re-rolling misses thanks to Kantor. Re-rolling 1's to wound thanks to the LT.

Dang expensive though.

I almost feel like it will be the Stratagems that make or break the rest of the SM chapters.
Unfortunately, not enough is known on all of them.
The IH one will either be absolutely awesome making up for their bad CT or it will be a total waste of a CP to even use 90% of the time.
It all depends on how the actual rules for it are written.

Overall, I feel UM is in the 3rd spot. Though not purely because of CT. They have several very powerful HQs, have support in spades from GW, and their CT is solid, if not the most powerful.

Really? Salamanders 2nd? I'd say bottom tier. Ultramarines 2nd.

Talking CTs alone I still think it's Iron Hands, followed by Fists and Scars.

 lord_blackfang wrote:
Really? Salamanders 2nd? I'd say bottom tier. Ultramarines 2nd.

Sallies are effectively getting to spend two CP on the unit's best attack that whiffs every time they shoot or fight. That is STOUT, and incidentally leaves you with a lot of spare CP to spend elsewhere.

I would call the third ranked ct iron hands if we're working off the assumption of the other two being set in their rank. I actually think it is stronger than the RG trait once you math it out and figure in that it is not bypassable as opposed to the RG trait. For instance, both smite spam and melee/close range armies don't care about the RG trait.

This is specifically going off the ct though. If you factor in all the unique benefits and characters to the chapters, ultras go significantly up. Their unique stratagem is good, their unique warlord trait is probably the best of the uniques, and their relic is among the best. Also having a bazillion characters helps.

I actually think Iron Hands and Templars have the best tactics. Pretty powerful re-rolls and simple enough to never forget.

 lord_blackfang wrote:
Really? Salamanders 2nd? I'd say bottom tier.

People who say this are bad at math. The tactic is extremely potent.