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I've been collecting a small force of oldscale Space Marines (decidedly Middlehammer flavoured) of my homegrown chapter, the Death Crusaders, with the intention of running them for 4th edition. To that end I've mostly been collecting, printing, building and (very slowly) painting models I think are cool, but I thought I'd sit myself down and actually formulate a 1000 point list. It's not meant to be ultra-competitive or indeed anything beyond a bit of a laugh and a means to put models on the table, but I'd like a cursory analysis from anyone familiar with 4E as to how it would perform in a friendly/casual environment...which, to be real, is likely the only environment that would be running 4E anyway.

HQ:

Captain Victor Decimus- Captain with power sword, plasma pistol, bionics and adamantine mantle: 130 points.

Elites:

Ancient Borrdt- Venerable Dreadnought with multi-melta, missile launcher, extra armour and Tank Hunter: 160 points.

Brother Drunn- Techmarine with power fist, 2 technical servitors and 1 gun servitor with plasma cannon: 145 points.

Troops:

Tactical Squad Medron- 7 Tactical Marines with missile launcher and plasma gun, sergeant Medron has Terminator Honours, bolt pistol and power weapon: 150 points.

Tactical Squad Rastenn- 7 Tactical Marines with missile launcher and meltagun, sergeant Rastenn has Terminator Honours, plasma pistol and close combat weapon: 150 points.

Scout Squad Hodrick- 5 Scouts with krak grenades, 3 boltguns and 1 missile launcher, Sergeant Hodrick has Terminator Honours, purity seals, auspex and combi-melta: 115 points.

Heavy Support:

Foe Smiter- Predator Destructor with lascannon sponsons, dozer blade, extra armour and hunter-killer missile: 150 points.

Again, it's very much a "rule of cool" list, with the Scouts in particular being an excuse to convert these OOP plastic Scouts I got for cheap into some cool space commandos (with new heads of course) but regardless, thoughts are welcome!

It’s been a while since 4th.

What chapter tactics/mods? IIRC 4th was the build your own chapter edition. So you can gain some bonuses by giving up stuff you are not going to use.

Vet sarges with gear were a lot of points for something that you didn’t get a lot of return from. Unfortunately if you wanted toys from the armory, you needed to buy the upgrade. I think, again, it’s been a while. For a tac squad that’s going to be shooting most of the time, not worth it IMHO. Full Disclosure: I’ve classically belonged to the “boys before toys” school of thought, where you were better served with more bodies on the table then fewer upgraded ones. Give guys the tools to do their job, but nothing more. I know that goes against your “building with the rule of cool” idea, but you did ask for feedback.

You might be a little heavy on troops? IIRC one pick per 500 points was “normal” and you’ve got the scout squad as well.


Captains were nice with their army wide Ld. Not a bad HQ.

Not sure how much milage you will get from the tech? He may be able to patch up the tank/dread, but for his points you could just get another one.

MM/ML seems like an odd combo for a dread. If you are getting close to melta stuff, you probably want the fist. If you are doing backfield support with the ML, you probably want something with better range. IIRC assault cannons were nice in 4th, as the rend was better. I’d have to hit the books to check.

Tac squads are fine-ish. Too many upgrades on the sarges, and MLs are generalists in a game of specialist. Traditional though. I know 4th was generally a bad time to be in a transport, but I still like rhinos for getting around and keeping the small arms off. Footslogging works though.

Scouts are over-equiped. Remember no split fire in 4th, so if the sarge uses his one shot with the melta, the rest of the squad is not going to be doing much of use.

Never cared for dozer blades on preds. You don’t spend a lot of time rolling around, and it’s a one-in-6 change of being immobilized. I just put my faith in the Emperor and shaved the points.

You have a good mix of firepower, plenty of troops for holding objectives, and should do OK with this. Little light on mobility. Building a list is a very personal thing, so the choices you made would be different from mine. I’d probably drop a bunch of upgrades, maybe half a tac squad and the tech, and add some assault marines (or bikes or speeder) Some of that is the Ultramarine in me that likes to see something from every FOC slot in a list.

Thanks!

All very salient points; I might drop one Tactical squad; the upgrades on the sergeants, I will be perfectly honest, were mostly an excuse to use some of those lovely metal Veterans as the squad sarges. Definitely agree re: the Dread's rather weird loadout, will probably swap out weapons. Scout sarge will be losing his combi-melta I think, it seemed like a fun idea for a surprise tankbuster but honestly I'm not sure anti-tank should be an issue anyway. Techmarine was again a choice mostly as an excuse to use a metal sculpt I'm fond of so he could probably go. Dozer blade on the Predator was mostly a "I have the points left over" choice so will almost certainly go.
An assault squad would be a good choice, I think.

Anyway, thanks again for the feedback!

4th ed is best ed, Imo

My quick adjustments would be Assault Cannon and Powerfist on the Dreadnought. The Assault Cannon was great in 4th, and pounding stuff in CC was good too, because Dreadnoughts counted as a lot of models for purposes of outnumbering an opponent and breaking morale.

I would definitely take Lascannons on the Tacs instead of the MLs, and then find a way to stick a Flamer or two into the list. Flamers work much better than Frag Missiles against hordes, (and you can assault after firing them), and the Lascannons work much better than Krak Missiles.

I always preferred a Powerfist on my Captains, because you just do more damage with them. I know the Power Weapon is tempting to take advantage of the Initiative of 5, but I usually put my Captain in a squad to protect him more in CC, and then bring the pain with the Fist.