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What are the best space marine chapters for a small force?

thinking iron hands, dark angels, blood angels, or salamanders.


Thanks, Stromm

What are you looking to get from them? Do you just want a cheap BN to camp objectives for another army? Do you want a compact fleshed out army? Do you want to soup them in to cover a weak spot in your primary army?

My custom chapter the Avenging Eagles.

Seriously, the best chapter is probably going to be a custom one which more easily allows to drift among the rules more fluidly. Barring that, I would go with Codex Compliant chapters (i.e not Blood Angels, Dark Angels and Space Wolves) as the non-compliant chapters are mechanically, for all intents and purposes, are separate factions. Finally, if you force me to nail down to a First Founding chapter I would go with Ultramarines. They don't really have a signature unit except maybe Tacticals or Intercessors and are known to use the all space marine assets equally well. So whatever direction you go isn't out of character for them. Basically, I am going the direction of casting the widest net to give more room to decide what you want from your force.

Ultimately, I would recommend spending some time reading over several of the chapters including the later founded ones. There are tons of successor chapters out there to pick from and one is bound to be your fancy. It can be as easy as deciding on which color scheme you like and looking through all the chapters that match that until you come across one whose lore you like. If not color, maybe general tactics or something. Whatever, you want out of the hobby. I personally wouldn't worry too much about specific rules as they change all the time. And remember not all colors (or armor schemes) are equally as easy to paint, though; that shouldn't discourage you from going with the chapter you like best. Just make sure to consider it before tackling something a little tougher than you might have expected.

I would like a specialized force. I have also narrowed it down to Raven Guard or Salamanders.



Thanks, Stromm

Well, what do you like painting more: Green or Black?

Raven Guard if you like sneaky sneak killy kill.
Salamanders if you like burn melta burn Vulkan LIVES!

basically, if you really like deep strike and infiltrate, RG
if you enjoy thoroughly controlling the midfield and being tough, the 18th (I am totally biased tho when it comes to Salamanders).

Color also has a fair amount to do with it. since they are marines and can make use of the entire panoply of war available to them.

Salamanders and Raven Guard are very well-established and if anyone is into their fluff, you're going to get funny looks if you have a Salamanders force with lots of speeders or a Raven Guard force with lots of termies.

If you're going Primaris, though, anything goes really as the slate was basically wiped clean.

Banville wrote:
Salamanders and Raven Guard are very well-established and if anyone is into their fluff, you're going to get funny looks if you have a Salamanders force with lots of speeders or a Raven Guard force with lots of termies.

If you're going Primaris, though, anything goes really as the slate was basically wiped clean.

Rules-wise I wouldn't go with Salamanders if you're going to use a lot of Primaris. They don't mix all that well, as their super doctrine is almost completely useless for Primaris, and due to the uniform squads Master Artisan isn't that effective either. Vulcan also doesn't do anything for most Primaris units.

Flamer Aggressors are obviously an exception, but they're very hard to get to the front for Salamanders

Choose a custom paint scheme and badge, it's the best of both worlds. You get to paint in the colors that you want, you aren't bound to any particular chapter rules, and can experiment freely/weather the rule changes that inevitably occur.

 Stromm wrote:
I would like a specialized force. I have also narrowed it down to Raven Guard or Salamanders.



Thanks, Stromm

At the risk of throwing you off track, if you would like a small specialized force then perhaps the Ravenwing/Deathwing combo is what you are looking for? Low model count but not your run of the mill power armour force.

 Stromm wrote:
I would like a specialized force. I have also narrowed it down to Raven Guard or Salamanders.



Thanks, Stromm

Raven Guard, easily. Their Super Doctrine doesn't need to be built around but can still be exploited, they have VERY killer Strats, and most of all don't rely on gimmicks to be solid compared to Salamanders. Raven Guard can be built many ways, but Salamanders cannot.

I love my Raven Guard. Though I quit playing them as I was winning too easily against my 2 regular opponents. As Slayer said, they are easy to use without having to use special gimmicks. Though I often spent all of my CP before the game even started, as they do have some fun gimmicks that can be used.


*Edited for spelling*

 Lord Blackscale wrote:
I love my Raven Guard. Though I quit playing them as I was winning too easily against my 2 regular opponents. As Slayer said, they are easy to use without having to use special gimmicks. Though I often spent all of my CP before the game even started, as they do have some fun gimmicks that can be used.


*Edited for spelling*

It definitely depends the build. The one I just posted for my Raptors is in the Tactica, and the usage before the game even begins is pretty darn high, but I'll be damned if it wasn't excellent.

Banville wrote:
Salamanders and Raven Guard are very well-established and if anyone is into their fluff, you're going to get funny looks if you have a Salamanders force with lots of speeders or a Raven Guard force with lots of termies.

If you're going Primaris, though, anything goes really as the slate was basically wiped clean.

Actually, Landspeeders fit perfectly in with the 18th. There is a speeder in the list from the Supplement. I've run 2 before and they really work well supporting units in the midfield. HF & MM kick ass so...esp with flamecraft.

Termies deep-striking for RG work as well. Not everything needs to be grav-cents striking from the shadows.

Black templars! Because they are cool!

Racerguy180 wrote:

Banville wrote:
Salamanders and Raven Guard are very well-established and if anyone is into their fluff, you're going to get funny looks if you have a Salamanders force with lots of speeders or a Raven Guard force with lots of termies.

If you're going Primaris, though, anything goes really as the slate was basically wiped clean.

Actually, Landspeeders fit perfectly in with the 18th. There is a speeder in the list from the Supplement. I've run 2 before and they really work well supporting units in the midfield. HF & MM kick ass so...esp with flamecraft.

Termies deep-striking for RG work as well. Not everything needs to be grav-cents striking from the shadows.

I think Banville was refering to how these units do not fit the Chapters lorewise. Salamanders do not use Land Speeders since they do not work properly on Nocturne, for example.