Warhammer Space Marines
Warhammer Space Marines are also very easy and fun to paint, at least in my opinion. I have a Space Marine army, but unfortunately were painted horrifically and I am too embarrassed to actually play with them. Thank god for Simple Green! ;) Warhammer Space Marines are tactically forgiving, being able to switch tactics on the fly. They can shoot until they are in range of assault, slaughtering units in close combat with close combat specialists such as Chaplains, Assault Squads, Terminators, and the mighty Dreadnaught. Tactics: The first thing to take into account is the Warhammer Space Marines special characters. The majority of them have an ability that replaces “Combat Tactics”. You should take into account the type of army you are going to play, as certain armies would benefit immensely if you use a certain character. For example, if you are being flamer heavy, or melta heavy, or both, Vulkan would be your choice, as he allows you to re-roll all failed to-hits with any heat based weapon! (To wound with flamers) This is particularly devastating, as the Space Marines have a good ballistic skill. This means that if they fail to hit the first time, a re-roll practically ensures a hit. If your army is more of a rapid assault army, or bike army, look into the White Scars special character. (I can’t remember his name off the top of my head). He allows essentially your entire army to outflank. This coupled with him being mounted on a bike (it’s an upgrade) allows your entire army to be in combat without a scratch. Just look at all the Special Character entries. If one of them suites your taste, try to make it fit in your list. Just don’t try to fit in Marneus Calgar and his Honor Guard in 1500 points… Now there are certain cases where it is more beneficial to not take a special character; if you are trying to manspam or do anything more exotic, sticking with the basic heroes is totally valid as well. Moving along to the elite, the Warhammer Space Marines have some excellent options here. They can take Sternguard, and extremely versatile unit capable of accomplishing nearly any task thrown at them, due to their varied bolter shells. Terminators are also extremely durable, surviving mass fire from nearly anything. Equip them with the free storm shield, and you got yourself a fire magnet that can actually do its job well. It can take damage as much as they can receive it. Just keep in mind that you would want to avoid taking Terminators in anything less then 1750, as they eat a minimum of 200 of your points, limiting your other choices. Now this is where the marines truly shine: Their troops. The basic Warhammer Space Marines , as you all know, is very elite, for a reasonable point cost. Sure it’s not a gaunt, but at the same time, the stat-line more than makes up for the extra ten points. With an Armor Save of 3+, they are one of the most durable troop choices, second to the Chaos troop choices. (Don’t even think of mentioning your Plaugemarines or Thousand Sons… you cheese monkeys…) The bread and butter of your Warhammer Space Marines army is no doubt the Tactical Squads. In games of 1500 points, a good way to start is to grab 40 marines, give them your various upgrades, and build from there. All tournament level gamers field as many troop slots as possible. The scout squad sure can be useful, but I don’t find them worth it. Why not just take more marines! It’s a no brainer! The fast attack section is nothing to snuff at either. With their bike squads, and attack bike squads, we have a terrific way of taking the fight to the enemy, actually surviving the fight, and then going right through the fight, only to turn around and dive right back where we came from. In other words, bikes get there, and get there fast. They deal the pain equally as fast. Remember, if you take a Captain on a bike, a bike squadron of at least 5 bikers counts as troops. This makes all-bike armies possible. This is also exceptionally useful for last turn objective grabbing or contesting. Nothing is more of a bummer then to see your “safe” objective in your deployment zone being taken last turn in one movement phase. Vanguard Veterans are also quite snazzy, due to the fact that the whole squad can take special weapons, although they take their toll on your points. As in the case with Terminators, these guys are generally best left alone until the higher point games. Now the big guns. This is where the Warhammer Space Marines show their options. You can take anything from troop based heavy weapons, to massive Land Raiders, to the extremely powerful demolisher, to the more versatile Thunderfire cannon. The Predator is the main battle tank for the Warhammer Space Marines , and is very cheap while at it. However once you add the Lascannons, they start to add up. Predators are very versatile, capable of being configured to burn through tanks with 3 lascannons, or shread through infantry with their twin heavy bolters and autocannon. It is generally best for the Predator to be configured to one task, as if it is designed to take on multiple roles, it will only ever take on one at a time, and be wasting its other capabilities. In otherwords, if you want anti tank, give it lascannons! If you want to shread through infantry, make it do so with heavy bolters and autocannons! The Thunderfire is more than capable of throwing down a torrent of barrage fire, due to its 4 multiple barrage shots. They are versatile, being able to either slow things down, ignore cover saves, or just shooting a solid shot. If you bring them in pairs, they are guaranteed to put a hole in your enemies front line. The Vindicator is the line breaker of the Warhammer Space Marines , and for good reason. It packs a massive demolisher cannon, that while extremely devastating, it is only viable at short range. So keep this in mind, and take a Vindicator only if you know you will put it to good use. And trust me, it never lets you down. The Whirlwind is an artillery unit, and is useful if you know you would be playing either: Swarm armies such as Orks or Tyranids, or dug in shooty armies like Tau or Imperial Guard. However it only truly shows its worth in those type of situations, and is much less useful against other marines or the like. However due to the fact that it’s cheap, (80 points), you can take one without putting a hole in your army. Lastly; the dreaded Land Raider. The first thing you should notice about a Land Raider (or its variants) is its whooping 250 point cost. So you should only ever consider taking a Land Raider in, at the BARE minimum, 1500 points. It is more ideal, however, in 1750. Now the Land Raider packs 14 armor all around, making it nigh indestructible except to any of those pesky weapons with special rules. Weapons to avoid include the Bright/Darklance, Meltaguns, and Monstrous Creatures. If a Carnifex manages to get up to the vehicle, it will literally kick if half way across the map. And as for those Meltaguns, it shouldn’t be too hard to avoid them, as they are extremely short ranged to be effective. Against those bright lances, there is not much you can do except to take them down early on. The guns on the Land Raider depend on the Variant. As such, each variant is specialized in certain roles. The Vanilla Land Raider is armed with two “godhammer” twin-linked lascannons and a twin-linked heavy bolter. This makes it more useful against tanks. Also, keep in mind that if you move between 6”-12”, you will only be firing two weapons. So it’s generally best against tank heavy armies. The Crusader is the infantry shredder, and it does its job very well. With 2 Hurricane bolters, a twin linked assault cannon, and a potential multi-melta, it pours an alarming rate of fire. Since the Hurricane bolters are only strength 4, this means that they can be fired as defensive weapons. Because of this, the Crusader is the only variant that can fire all of its weapons if you move from 6”-12”. This makes it incredibly useful as an assault tank. And the final variant is the Redeemer. This is more of a siege tank sort of thing, as it packs two special flamers, which are a strength of 6, and an AP of 3! This makes them ideal for marine burning. However there is a draw back to this, as they do not count as defensive weapons, you can only fire two weapons, as with the vanilla Land Raider. Getting Started With Warhammer Space Marines : While this looks rather expensive, buy each box separately. Buy AoBR first, with paints, glue, etc. If you are new to Warhammer, it gives you the rules, as well as templates. Another option is, if you find someone who also is starting out with AoBR, but is playing with Orks, you can trade your Orks for double the Marines. If not, you always got a secondary army to play against, or to start off with! And do not forget your Space Marine codex; many people tend to ignore it, but it is essential, and should be on your first “To buy” list. After you get those two things, it’s time to understand your play style. The ultimate uber mega unbeatable tournament list is nothing if it’s not in your playing style. If you love combat and rushing there as fast as possible, consider Space Wolves or Blood Angles. If you love bikes and mobility, grab yourself a White Scars army. (These are all Space Marine chapters, if you are unfamiliar with the term. They are separate armies of the Warhammer Space Marines . Refer to the Space Marine Codex for more detail.) Develop your army list, play it out, modify it, until you get one that’s just right. Getting It All Together: Be patient, and it will all come together!
Home
|
