Index Raziel: a basic Space Marine Tactica for new and old players alike!

[Grand Master Raziel]

Howdy folks, Grand Master Raziel here. The Tactica page of 40KTerra seems like a good place for my old chestnut, Index Raziel. Those of you who came over from the now-defunct Games Workshop forums may have seen this before. However, Index Raziel is a living document. I update it as my experience grows and my opinions change. Before posting it here, I've gone through and given it a major overhaul - it was due. Some of the entries are entirely rewritten, there's a fair bit of completely new material, and I've also reorganized it so it more closely follows the organization of Codex: Space Marines. So, if you've seen it before, have a fresh gander. If you haven't, take a look. My hope is that every Space Marine player will find it helpful, and that it will generate some good discussion. Anyhow, without further ado...actually, it's up to 19 pages of material now, so I'm going to have take several posts to get it all in.

[Grand Master Raziel]

Space Marine HQs

The Space Marine HQ choices are probably one of the sexiest parts of the army. You’ve got steely-eyed Commanders, fiery-hearted Chaplains, and mysterious Librarians to choose from, and a pretty large selection of weapons and wargear with which to equip them. The sheer appeal of these Independent Characters (ICs for short) tends to lead to one of the classic newbie mistakes: slapping every piece of gear onto your IC in an effort to make him as bad-ass as possible. This doesn’t really work. SM ICs are cool, but no matter what you give them, they are never going to be as badass as the ICs from many other armies (I’m thinking Chaos in particular here). Also, saddling your ICs with all that stuff can make them cost upwards of 200 points, as much as a full squad of 10 Tactical Marines with a lascannon, plasma gun, and Veteran Sergeant. Having ICs that are that expensive is something to avoid. Fortunately, you can keep the price down without compromising too much on effectiveness if you’re smart about what you buy for your ICs. First, however, let’s talk about the ICs themselves.

First, there’s the Commander (2 wound Company Captain or 3 wound Master). There are three reasons to buy this guy. The first is his stat line: higher WS, I, and more Wounds than a standard Space Marine. However, the other types of ICs get this as well, so the real draws are his Rites of Battle ability and the fact that since he doesn’t come with any weapons or gear as part of his base price, you are free to give him whatever you want. Both Chaplains and Librarians come with weapons as part of their base cost, which you can replace if you want to, but you’re still paying for them. So, if you’ve got a particular weapon combo that you’re dying to trick an IC out with, the Commander is your man. Also, the Rites of Battle ability gives you and army-wide Leadership boost, which is generally better than a kick in the pants. As to what you should give him, I’m going to go over that when I discuss the Armory.

Second, there’s the Chaplain (2 wound Reclusiarch or 3 wound Master of Sanctity). In addition to the stat line, you buy chaplains because you get a package deal that includes a power weapon and invulnerable save for a fairly cheap price, plus you get the Litanies of Hate ability. Litanies of Hate let any squad the Chaplain is attached to or leading reroll all their failed To-Hit rolls on the turn they charged – you can see how that might come in handy. Also, since the Chaplain already comes with the basic gear to be battle ready, he’s a good candidate to give a jump pack or bike to, in case you want an Assault or Bike squad to be accompanied by an IC.

The third IC available to SM armies is the Librarian (2 wound Codicier or 3 wound Epistolary). The Librarian is sort of the Space Marine equivalent of a wizard, but a wizard in the Gandalf sense (wise, neat powers, but also badass in a fight) as opposed to the D&D sense (horrendous eldritch powers, inept with swords). The Librarian gets the superior stat-line, of course. He also has a psychic power, and comes with a force weapon and a psychic hood. If you don’t like the default psychic power, you have a number of other ones you can select from. An Epistolary can choose a second psychic power, but you want to be careful there. Taking a second power can rapidly inflate the Epistolary’s price to an unwieldly height. Also, the Librarian can only make one psychic test per turn, which would prevent him from using the special ability of his force weapon if he uses a power that turn. For my money, the force weapon is the sexiest thing about a Librarian. Properly kitted out, a Librarian is the best choice in the SM list for hunting enemy ICs, because he can use his force weapon to kill them with a single wound. If you want an IC to go headhunting for your opponent’s army’s honchos, the Librarian is your man.

Whatever you choose for your ICs, you should lend some serious thought to buying a Command Squad for them. Your ICs’ best protection against ranged attacks is to be part of a squad. Plus, the squad will help in close combat by helping dish out some damage, and giving opposing squads something besides your ICs to hit. They may operate as sort of mini-units in melee, but there's no sense in letting your opponent surround and swamp them. Plus, the Command Squads have attractive options in their own right. You’ve got two types available: the standard power armored squads and terminator command squads.

Standard Command Squads have a lot of options. For starters, there are veteran skills. Vet skills are well worth the points, especially considering the fact that you can also buy the skill for attached characters. There are three options: Furious Charge, Infiltrate, and Tank Hunters. I’ve never tried using Tank Hunters with my Command Squads, so I can’t comment from personal experience on that option. However, I will say that Command Squads with their attached ICs make one of your best assault units (if not the best), and that would seem to run counter to using them to bust tanks. Furious Charge is a very nice ability for the squad to have, especially when your ICs get it as well! Remember that headhunting Librarian that I’ve discussed? Give him Furious Charge, and you’ve got a S5, I7 force weapon when he charges! Infiltrate is another option for your Command Squad, and it’s better than a kick in the pants, too. It lets you get your squad closer to your opponent’s forces for cheaper than most of the transport options available to you. There are also the four upgrades available: veteran sergeant, apothecary, standard bearer, and company champion. I wouldn’t recommend tagging all of these guys onto one command squad, but you’ll usually want a vet sergeant with power fist, at least. I don’t usually use a standard bearer, but it looks to me like he doesn’t suck, as long as you stick with the Company Banner. I have, however, used both the company champion and the apothecary (though not usually both at once), and I can tell you that there’s nothing wrong with either of those guys, if used properly.

If you happen to have given Terminator Armor to your ICs, you can’t use the standard Command Squad, but you can use a Terminator Command Squad. I use these quite frequently, as terminator armor is my favorite bit of wargear. These guys have all the inherent strengths and weaknesses of regular terminator squads, so if you like termies, you’ll like termie command squads. If you don’t, you won’t. They do have one significant advantage over standard Terminator Squads, and that’s the attached ICs. The main weakness to standard Terminator Squads in assault is that in close combat all those power fists go last. Well, they still go last in a Termie Command Squad, however, you’ve also got 1-3 Initiative 5 ICs with a minimum of 4 attacks each. Therefore, a Terminator Command Squad isn’t quite as vulnerable to being slammed into by a high-initiative assault force as a standard Terminator Squad is. Plus, the Termie Command Squad is a nice vehicle for giving Veteran Skills to your Termie-armored ICs. You have Furious Charge and Tank Hunters to pick from, but you’re only going to need Furious Charge. Another of my favorite ICs is a Master in Terminator Armor with a pair of lightening claws and Furious Charge. I did a nice conversion to make this figure before the plastic terminators came out. If I ever get my digital camera back, I’ll post a picture of him.

[Grand Master Raziel]

Now, let’s talk about the Armory. This is where the fun of kitting out your ICs comes from, but this is also where you want to be careful. It’s easy to get carried away and wind up with ridiculously expensive characters – sergeants with Terminator Honours get access to the armory, too. I once played against a kid who had 90+ point sergeants. I’ll do my best to steer you to what you should take and around the pitfalls.

Single-Handed Weapons
Power Weapon: this is the absolute minimum weapon you want to your ICs to have. The main reason to take any IC is his superior capability in close combat, and in order to capitalize on this, you want him to have a weapon that ignores Armor Saves, hence the power weapon. Chaplains and Librarians come with a power weapon equivalent as part of their base price, so you don’t have to worry about buying them another one.

Power Fist/Chainfist/Thunder Hammer: I grouped these together because they all do the same basic things: ignore armor saves, double the basic strength of the user, and make the user go last in close combat. Now, the conventional wisdom is “Thou shalt not waste an IC’s superior Initiative by giving him a power fist”. You can give power fists to Veteran Sergeants (sergeants with Terminator Honours), who can’t be singled out in close combat the way ICs can, and get a break on the price of the fist to boot. That said, it can be effective to give an IC one of these weapons, but you have to choose his other gear with some care. You either want to maximize his survivability (which makes the Adamantine Mantle practically mandatory – more on that later), or you want him to also have a power weapon to use at his Initiative – or you want to do both. My ICs have killed many a power fist-swinging IC before they ever got to land a blow. On the other hand, Veteran Sergeants with power fists are star performers. If you’re going to upgrade a sergeant with Terminator Honours, then you should always give him a power fist.

Lightening Claws: If you want your Commander to have the most effective weapon possible, L-claws are the way to go. They ignore armor saves and allow the user to reroll all failed to-wound rolls. The only real downside to them is that you can only get a bonus attack with a second L-claw, as opposed to other weapons, where you can get a bonus attack with a pistol. All things considered, however, I don’t consider that to be much of a disadvantage.

Bolt Pistol: This is the most likely companion weapon to the power weapon (or power fist for a Veteran Sergeant). It’s not sexy, but it’s cheap and gives you the bonus attack in close combat. Those are the important considerations.

Plasma Pistol: These things are generally to be avoided. They’re powerful, but expensive and have a nasty tendency to kill their own bearer. If you absolutely must give one to one of your characters, make sure he’s got an Apothecary near him at all times, to protect him from being fried by his own weapon.

Storm Shield: technically, this isn’t really a weapon, but it’s listed as one because it takes up one of your character’s two weapon slots. The storm shield is a protective device, granting the user a good invulnerable save in close combat, which is where you really need it. It’s also less than half the cost of the Iron Halo, which makes the storm shield one of the good items to buy for getting an effective IC at a bargain price.

Two-handed weapons
Storm Bolter: I listed this first because it’s the only two-handed weapon that’s worth a damn. It’s a decent gun for a cheap price, and it’s an assault weapon, so the bearer can charge after firing it. If you must give a bigger gun than a bolt pistol to one of your characters, this is what they should get.

Bolter: Cheap, but you can’t charge after firing the thing, so it’s a bad choice. Your army should have plenty of guys with bolters, anyway.

Combi-Weapons: These are bolters with an optional single-use additional weapon. I grouped them together because they’re not worth taking. They’re too expensive for that single use of the other weapon, and if a character fires the bolter part, he can’t charge that turn.

[Grand Master Raziel]

Wargear

Terminator Honours: I started with Termie Honours because they are one of the must-haves for any SM IC. We buy ICs for their close combat abilities, and Termie Honours gives them an additional attack. Your ICs should never leave home without them.

Articifer Armor: Arty armor is an expensive, ineffective points-sink. The Majority Armor rules neuter it, and anything your opponent is likely to throw at your ICs in close combat is likely to ignore armor saves anyway. To be avoided.

Auspex: worth taking if you’ve got a few extra points to spend.

Bionics: This is another useless waste of points. Bionics sorta gives your character an extra save, but not against anything you’d really need it against. Avoid.

Combat Shield: An invulnerable save is one of the most important things you can give to an IC. A combat shield gives a decent invulnerable save, is fairly cheap, and doesn’t take up one of your weapon slots the way a storm shield does – the save isn’t quite as good as a storm shield, however. You can also give these to Veteran Sergeants, and while he won’t get to use it until he’s the sole survivor from his squad, it’s cheap enough to be worth giving anyway. For ICs, the combat shield is better than nothing – consider it to be the bare minimum invulnerable save to buy.

Familiar: Only Librarians can take these, but boy do they make Librarians worth taking! They boost the Librarian up to I6, so he’ll get to make his attacks in CC before most anything else in the game. Combining that with the force weapon is what makes Librarians so effective at IC-killing.

Frag Grenades: Any IC you plan on sending into assault should have these – so all your ICs should get them.

Jump Pack: If you want to send an IC to accompany an Assault Squad, then you should give him a Jump Pack. Otherwise, don’t bother. A chaplain with a jump pack does go with an Assault Squd the way peanut butter goes with jelly, however.

Krak Grenades/Meltabombs: I grouped these together because they serve the same purpose – vehicle killing. In general, you can afford to leave these alone, as your characters shouldn’t be screwing around with trying to kill vehicles. The Codex has much more effective options for that at your disposal.

Master-crafted Weapon: Generally too expensive to be worthwhile. The only thing I consider worth the expense of master-crafting is a Librarian’s force weapon, and even then it’s an iffy expenditure.

Purity Seals: cheap, and might make the difference between getting away and staying stuck in an untenable situation.

Space Marine Bike: Expensive, but might be worth using if you’re using Bike Squads. A Bike does boost an IC’s toughness and comes with a twin-linked bolter, so you don’t need to buy him a gun. Also, the rules do not state that a character with a bike needs to use one of his hands to control the bike. So, you can get the bonus attack for having two weapons (if applicable).

Teleport Homer: If you’re using Terminators, it’s worth sprinkling these throughout your army. Infiltrators and fast-movers are especially good units to carry these.

Terminator Armor: Terminator Armor is the major bargain item of the SM armory. It gives an extra attack, and improved armor save, a good invulnerable save, and the ability to Deep Strike, all for only 25 points! If you tried to get all the benefits of Termie Armor with other gear from the armory, you’d wind spending at least 65 points to get it all. So, you can definitely do worse than give Termie Armor to your ICs. As for sergeants, in the previous codex, Termie Armor had an ICs-only notation. The current dex doesn’t, however it does state that 1) no model may take the same item more than once, 2) Termie Armor gives Terminator Honours at no extra cost (the extra attack) and 3) in order to get access to the armory, a sergeant must first be given Terminator Honours.

Relics & Artifacts
Iron Halo: The Iron Halo is the most commonly used relic, as it gives a good invulnerable save against both shooting and close combat attacks, and an invulnerable save is a necessary item for any IC. There are cheaper options, but the Halo is the most effective (not necessarily the most cost-effective, however).

Adamantine Mantle: This pricey item protects your ICs from being insta-killed by S8+ attacks, which can be handy. However, since you can only take one relic, it often gets overlooked in favor of the Iron Halo. That means in order to use this, you need to get your invulnerable save from another source - such as a storm shield or Terminator Armor. If you’re going to equip one of your ICs with a power fist, then that’s exactly what you need to do.

Holy Relic/Chapter Banner/Sacred Standard: I don’t generally use these items because I don’t generally use a Standard Bearer, they’re expensive, and I’m usually either using an Iron Halo or an Adamantine Mantle. That said, I’d say that the Holy Relic doesn’t suck, but that the Chapter Banner and the Sacred Standard do – or, at least, they’re not worth what you pay for them.

This seems like as good a place as any to discuss Vehicle Upgrades. The Space Marine army doesn’t have any really sexy vehicle upgrades, but it’s got a few utility ones that should be on all vehicles, and a couple that are conditionally useful. The upgrades that should be on every vehicle (except Speeders, which can’t take them) are Extra Armor and Smoke Launchers. It’s a mere 8 points for the pair, and their protective value is not to be denied. Even Dreadnoughts and gun tanks should be given these upgrades. The conditionally useful vehicle upgrades are the Pintle-Mounted Storm Bolter and Power of the Machine Spirit. In general, I don’t consider it worth the points to put the extra storm bolter on most of my vehicles, but I do have one on my Predator Destructor. Power of the Machine Spirit, for its part, is too expensive to put on anything other than the Vindicator, and the only reason it’s worth putting on the Vindicator is because the Vindy doesn’t need to roll to hit with its Demolisher Cannon, thus negating the downside to firing at BS2. I’ve never used Dozer Blades, but I suppose they could be handy on a table with a lot of terrain, like a City Fight board. The Hunter-Killer Missile is a waste of points. Night fighting conditions don’t crop up with much frequency, but Searchlights are cheap enough to slap on all your vehicles just in case.

[Grand Master Raziel]

Space Marine Elites


Veteran Squads are best used as an assault unit. With the ability to have pistol-ccw armament, transport options, Veteran Skills, and to take close combat weapons such as power weapons and power fists as squad upgrades, there aren’t really very many harder-hitting assault units in the Codex. That said, I personally don’t use Veteran Squads very much. There’s considerable overlap between the capabilities of a Veteran Squad and those of a Command Squad, and since one has to take a HQ choice, I go ahead and assign a Command Squad to mine. Still, if you want to play an assaulty army, you should take a look at Veteran Squads.

This is not to say that you have to use Vet Squads this way. If you like Tactical Squads, then you can use Vet Squads like Tac Squads, just with that little extra je ne sais quois. Actually, je can sais quois that little something extra is: Veteran Skills. You could basically use a Veteran Squad as an Infiltrating Tactical Squad, for instance, and while Vet Squads don’t really have the weapon options to really take advantage of Tank Hunters, that skill does make bolters a threat to AV11 vehicles, to say nothing of what it does for the squad’s heavy and assault weapons. The available squad options suggest that the Pete Haines and Graham McNiell had a more assault-oriented role in mind for Veteran Squads, but there’s no reason why you shouldn’t put them to a more generalist use.

Terminator Squads are one of the sexiest units in the Codex. You’ve got these big guys with the best armor save in the game, power fists, storm bolters, Veteran Skills, and Deep Strike capability. The background material makes it sound like a squad of Terminators should be able to take on a whole army all by themselves. This leads many a new player to conclude that Termies will win the game for them. So, they acquire a unit of them, proudly plop them on the table, then they get annihilated on their opponent’s next turn. This can be a bit of a letdown when it happens to you, so let’s try and avoid that. There are a few important things to keep in mind when you’re using Termies:

1: Most weapons that are good for busting 3+ saves are good for busting 2+ saves as well. This matters because the majority of players play armies with 3+ saves (although Tau and Eldar are growing in popularity), therefore there is a tendency to tool up armies to defeat MEQ (Marine EQuivalent) armies. This leads to armies having a lot of AP2 weapons at their disposal.

2: If you Deep Strike your Terminators, you don’t get to charge the turn they arrive. That means that if you’re not careful, your Termies will be exposed to incoming fire for at least a whole turn before you can get them stuck in.

3: Termies hit like a sledgehammer when they get to strike in close combat, but remember that power fists always go last. That means that higher-initiative assault units are quite a threat to Terminators.

What all of this means is that you can’t just plop a unit of Termies in the middle of your opponent’s formation and expect it to do much besides draw fire for a turn – although many players do swear by this as a use for Termies. If you really want your Termies to perform for you, you need to support them with other units - more on that later. Used properly, Terminators can make quite an impact for you. They have some pretty interesting heavy weapons available to them. First, there’s the assault cannon. Conventional wisdom states that the AC is “teh r0xx0r!" I use the leet-speak to show my disdain of the conventional wisdom in this case. This is not to say that the AC is a bad weapon – far from it. However, it’s not the wonder weapon that will automatically win you games that the Internet hysteria would have you believe it is. It has a lot of shots at a good strength with AP4, and the odd chance that you might score a Rend with it. Having Rending means that the AC could threaten anything on the table. However, Rending is too random to rely on. You’ll do better if you task ACs to targets that its profile makes it well suited to dealing with and having it occasionally overperform than you will if you try to rely on it to take on targets that the AC could not otherwise harm and have it let you down. So, the AC is your all-arounder weapon. If you’re expecting heavy armor, go with the Cyclone Missile Launchers. With Tank Hunters, those things are like lascannons that you can move and fire with. Then, there’s the much-underestimated heavy flamer. Players forget to respect the flame template weapons, and you can really make them pay for that with heavy flamers. S5 AP4 means it’s going to wound most opponents on a 3+, plus it negates both cover saves and armor saves up to 4+. Heavy flamers can actually exceed the damage that assault cannons can do on the turn that your Termies hit the table if you’re willing to be bold with where you place them. As far as assault goes, you want to pick your targets carefully. As a general rule, assault vehicles. All those power fists will make a wreck out of virtually anything with an Armor Value instead of an armor save. Termies can also be good against Mostrous Creatures, but expect to lose at least a few of them when you assault such a foe.




Terminator Assault Squads have long been one of my favorite units. There isn’t an opponent in the game that won’t cringe when he sees a unit full of termies with lightening claws and thunder hammers hit his lines – and with good reason. There are very few units that Assault Termies won’t go through like a buzz saw when they assault. The two weapon options available for Assault Termies are a pair of lightening claws, or a Thunder Hammer and storm shield. The L-claws are what you want against most foes, but it’s a good idea to keep a couple T-hammers in the squad in case it finds itself in combat with a Monstrous Creature or a Dreadnought. I like a 2-1 ratio of L-claw Termies to T-hammer termies. Furious Charge is the obvious Veteran Skill to give these guys. On the charge, the L-claw terminators will go at the same time as most Independent Characters, which is not to be underestimated. You have to use them a little more carefully than standard Termies, though, because they have no firepower at all. One potential good use is Land Raider payload. However, I prefer to Deep Strike them. This does make them vulnerable for a turn, but there are tactics to counter that problem, which I’ve detailed below.

A note on terminator tactics: Terminators are potentially very potent, so when your opponent sees them hit the table, he will bend a lot of effort toward making them go away before you can do anything with them. Mind you, this in and of itself can be beneficial, as it draws fire away from the rest of your army. However, it’s not very satisfying to put the termies on the table, only to have them get vaporized by the massed firepower of your opponent. Therefore, you want to support them with other units. Scouts make a good unit to support termies with. You can give teleport homers to your Scout sergeants and infiltrate your Scouts into the positions you want your termies to Deep Strike to. This allows you to Deep Strike your termies (or any other teleporting unit, such as Grey Knight Teleport Attack Squads) near your Scouts without rolling for scatter. Once the termies are on the table, the scouts can provide additional support by assaulting nearby units. This pins them in place for the turn the termies need to get to them, and also protects the termies from enemy fire by blocking Line Of Sight with the close combat. When Infiltrate is available, Scouts are ideal for termie support, but any fast-moving squad can be used as well, such as bike squads, assault squads, and even Rhino-mounted Tactical squads.



Dreadnoughts are probably the best first Elite choice for the new Space Marine collector. You can never go too far wrong in putting a Dreadnought in your army list. Dreads pack some pretty good long-range firepower and are also pretty hand in close-combat. You don’t want to send them off by themselves, but they’re excellent for supplementary firepower and for supporting your tactical squads. They do count as vehicles, so they’re a bit more fragile than squads of troops, but they’re small enough that you can usually keep them Concealed, which mitigates this problem a little. Also, you can set them up where your opponent can’t possibly shoot at them the first turn, and have them walk from behind cover and open fire with everything they have. They’re good to keep near your dedicated fire-support squads because you can use them for counter-assault if the squads get assaulted. Also, every so often you’ll see on the table some kind of absolutely uber-hoss assault character that can’t do a blessed thing to a Dreadnought in close combat (examples: Mephiston, Callidus Assassin). Furthermore, the Dreadnought close combat weapon is one of the few weapons that will instant-kill a Toughness 5 model. Your weapon options are an assault cannon or a twin-linked lascannon on one arm, and the dread CCW or a missile launcher on the other arm. The dread CCW also comes with a built-in storm bolter, upgradeable to a heavy flamer. The lascannon-dread CCW combo used to be my favorite, because it packs a combination of long-range firepower and good counter-assault potential. Now, I favor the assault cannon-CCW with flamer upgrade in a drop pod, because it's fun to plop those things into the middle of enemy formations and lay waste. Plus, it tends to make your opponent have units stop and deal with the dreads, which throws most off their game plan something awful. Finally, the lascannon-missile launcher combo would be ideal for a Venerable Dread with the Tank Hunters skill.

[Grand Master Raziel]

Space Marine Troop Choices



Tactical Squads are the bread-and-butter unit of virtually any Space Marine army. They can be configured to be used in one of three roles. The first is long-range fire support, the second is the short-ranged firefight, and the third is assault. When you are buying upgrades for a tac squad, you want to decide what you want the tac squad to do, and buy upgrades to suit that role.

To outfit a squad for fire support, you want to buy it a heavy weapon, and a plasma gun is a good addition. Such squads usually don't need a transport, so you don't need to buy one for them. Ideally, what you do with such squads is place them in a good position during setup, and then sit and shoot with them, never moving them. Occasionally, you may want to move them into firing positions, but generally that’s not necessary. The sergeant does not need to be upgraded in these squads. Also, you don’t want to tie up a lot of marines in these squads. Some players prefer a few extra marines to use as meatshields, but my opinion is that those marines are better used elsewhere, so I advocate using no more than 6 marines in your fire-support Tac squads. As far as weapon selection goes, I prefer to kit up my fire-support Tac squads with lascannons and plasma cannons, and save my missile launchers and heavy bolters for my Devestator squads. It’s slightly more cost-effective in points to do it that way, and I like to observe the effect of each lascannon or plasma cannon shot before I task the next one, whereas missile launchers and heavy bolters benefit more from massed fire.

The short-firefight squad is a squad intended to get in close enough to light into opposing infantry with rapid-fire bolters. To outfit a squad for the short-range firefight, you want a 10-man squad. The squad upgrades you’ll want are an assault weapon and a kitted up veteran sergeant. Which assault weapon to use can be a tricky decision. Odds are, you’ll face an army with a 3+ save, so the plasma gun’s ability to rapid fire with high-strength, armor-beating shots makes it very attractive. However, there’s also the increased risk of it killing the firer. The meltagun has only one shot, but it won’t kill the firer by accident, and it’s better for busting heavy tanks. The flamer is best against large amounts of less resilient infantry. However, I think you can do worse than defaulting to the flamer. Everything counts in large numbers, and if you get close enough with the flamer, you can tag a lot of figures, and even troops with the good armor saves will blow some if you force your opponent to make enough of them. The veteran sergeant is another important upgrade for such squads. The intent may not be to assault with this squad, but if it’s close enough to the enemy to rapid-fire at them, then it’s close enough to be assaulted, or do a little opportunistic assaulting itself. Therefore, you want the veteran sergeant armed with at least a power weapon, and I find that vet sergeants with power fists are star performers in a Space Marine army. For the same reason, don’t forget to equip your squads with frags. Finally, the squad needs a transport. With a 10-strong squad, your choices are either the Rhino or the drop pod. With the Rhino, you can get the squad into position to fire on the first turn in most games, but with the drop pod you can place it more precisely, and it won’t get shot at until after the squad is in position and shooting.

The assault Tactical squad is a Tac squad you’re going to use as an assault force (duh). In composition, it is identical to the short-firefight Tac squad, with only one exception: you want to make sure you give the squad frag grenades. It’s rather embarrassing and annoying to assault a unit in cover and have to go last because you forgot the frags.

Transports: This seems like as good a place as any to talk about transports. You have three options: Rhinos, Razorbacks, and Drop Pods. Land Raiders get discussed later with the Heavy Support. The most conventional transport option you can pick is the Rhino. Recently, the Rhino has come under a bit of a pall. It’s no longer possible to assault out of a Rhino that moved in the current turn’s movement phase, the vehicle damage tables are harsher than they were in 3rd edition, and there are the added annoyances of forced disembarkation, pinning tests, and entanglement. So, the Rhino is not quite as attractive an option as it used to be. They’re not quite useless, however. The added mobility of the Rhino can still be helpful. Furthermore, the Rhino has a handy secondary use as mobile terrain. Having those nice big models block your opponent’s Line of Sight and hamper his advance can make the difference between victory and defeat (or between a marginal victory and a Victorious Slaughter).

The second transport option open to the SM player is the Razorback. The ‘back is a bit of a bastard child. One way or the other, it’s got a good gun, but it doesn’t have the firepower of a real battle tank, nor does it really have the armor to fake it. Also, if you want to use the Razorback’s gun, you have to limit it to no more than 6” of movement that turn, negating its value as a transport. Its value in that regard is marginal anyway, because it can only carry a 6-man demi-squad (to use the term given in Imperial Armor II). In close range fighting, a 6-man squad does not have the numbers to dish out sufficient damage nor the bodies to absorb casualties and still come back swinging. Finally, the ‘back is expensive for what it does – up to 90 points for a lascannon-equipped model. So, I don’t consider the Razorback to be a very good transport choice. The only good use for the ‘back that I can think of is as the personal ride of a Techmarine and his retinue, since that unit can’t exceed the transport capacity of the ‘back anyway.

The third transport option available to SM players is the drop pod. At first blush, the drop pod would appear to be the best of the three options. There is one significant hitch, though – GW doesn’t make a model for the pod. That leaves the SM player having to either pay through the nose for the Forge World model, or scratch-build. There’s also a not-insignificant tactical disadvantage – your army doesn’t start appearing on the tabletop till the second turn, and it is very unlikely that it will all come in at once. In fact, there’s a slight (but real) chance that some of your units might not come in at all. The drop pod also isn’t quite as useful as the Rhino is at being do-it-yourself terrain – they do block LOS, but you can’t move them around once they hit table. On the plus side, drop pods are cheaper than Rhinos, you can put them virtually anywhere on the table, and you can deliver Dreadnoughts with them. Dropping a couple of Dreads with assault cannons and heavy flamers in the middle of your opponent’s formations that way is huge fun, BTW. So, I would rate pods as about as effective as Rhinos. If your playing style depends on specific combos of units, you’re probably better off with Rhinos. If you tend to field redundant units so you can task any particular unit to any particular task, then drop pods will work well for you.

Scout Squads: Scout squads, while not as overall useful as Tac squads, are still quite handy. There are many roles a scout squad can fill: assault, short-firefight, long-firefight, and tank killing. With scouts, the lines between the roles aren’t as clear as they are with Tactical squads, but there are some tendencies that they tend to follow.

The first style of scout squad is the assault scout squad. These are the scouts armed with pistol-ccw. Generally speaking, such scouts are actually better in close combat than Tac marines because they get the extra attack in close combat. In fact, they’re almost as good in close combat as Assault Squads, and are considerably cheaper to boot. The only upgrade you’ll really want to give an assault oriented scout squad is a veteran sergeant with a power-thingy of some sort. Such squads also work well as support for deep-striking terminators. Also, assault-scouts are good to take in large numbers if you’re going up against orks. Ork players will try and assault you, so let them assault scout squads. Their choppas confer no benefit against scouts, and scouts have more attacks in close combat.

The short-firefight scout squad is similar to the short-firefight Tac squad: a squad of marines armed with bolters. The main difference is that instead of getting the squad close by means of a transport vehicle, you’ll be getting it close by means of infiltration. Also, there is no really good assault weapon to give the squad. The only assault weapon available to scouts is the shotgun, and that weapon is not really worth taking.

The long-firefight scout squad is a configuration unique to scout squads. It is a squad in which most or all of the scouts are armed with sniper rifles. Sniper rifles are good for pinning opposing squads, and for killing monstrous creatures, and have quite a respectable range. I also advocate putting a heavy bolter in such squads. When the squad’s fire is directed at enemy infantry, the heavy bolter complements the sniper rifles quite well.

Finally, there’s tank-busting. Scouts may not seem like the obvious choice for this, but they can take a missile launcher, which is a competent anti-tank weapon, especially when combined with the scouts’ ability to infiltrate. This virtually ensures that they should be able to get shots on the vulnerable side armor of enemy tanks.

[Grand Master Raziel]

Space Marine Fast Attack





Land Speeders are my favorite Space Marine fast attack choice. They are the most firepower-oriented Space Marine fast attack choice. They’re relatively cheap, and have good weapon options. Personally, I think the best use you can put a speeder to is tank hunting. A squadron of three land speeders with 2-3 multi-meltas costs about as much as a lot of other armies’ big nasty vehicles, and stands an excellent chance of destroying at least one, if it’s used intelligently. Besides the basic speeder, there are some variants. There’s the Tornado, which, in addition to the usual weaponry, can be armed with either a heavy flamer or an assault cannon. Either of these weapons is useful, but I lean toward the heavy flamer myself. The other codex variant is they Typhoon, which is armed with a missile launcher in addition to the usual weapon. The Typhoon I don’t like as much. Its missiles are not significantly more powerful than a standard frag missile, and it can’t fire krak missiles. I had one sitting in my box for a long time, never getting used. I finally broke the missile launchers off it so I could use it as a regular speeder, which I use all the time. Currently, I favor squadrons of Tornados with multi-meltas and heavy flamers. As I stated previously, I think the best use for speeders is tank hunting, but I also think it’s worth the extra points per unit to give each a heavy flamer, which gives them a pretty competent anti-infantry weapon in the even that they survive past killing all the available tanks, or in case an opponent isn’t fielding any. You can Deep Strike your Land Speeders, but some idiot ruled that they count as having moved more than 12” when they land – this means they can’t shoot the turn they land. So, you’ll generally be better off deploying the things and using their inherent speed to get them on target.



Bike Squadrons are the Fast Attack you want to take if you want a compromise between firepower and assault ability. They are not as shooty as land speeders, and not as good in assault as Assault squads, but they are fairly competent at both. They also have the unique advantage of the Turbo Boost rule, which really lets them get across the table in a hurry. This makes them useful for all kinds of applications. It’s good for sweeping flank attacks, or closing in on a vehicle you want to destroy in a hurry. Bike squads are also good to use as deep-striking terminator delivery systems, if you upgrade the sergeant and give him a teleport homer. I like to field two configurations of weapons in my squads. One is an attack bike with a multi-melta and two squaddies with flamers, the other is an attack bike with heavy bolter and two squaddies with meltaguns. Both configurations are versatile, which is why I like them.

I’ve rarely used Attack Bike Squadrons, so I don’t have much personal experience with them. It seems to me that they fill much the same niche as land speeder squadrons, but with more resilience. You might also think of them as highly mobile Devestator Squads. Like Bike Squadrons, you can Turbo Boost Attack Bikes to where you need them. You want to be careful with them, though, because unlike speeders, Attack Bikes can be Locked in close combat, and once Locked, they won’t last long.

The only unit in the whole of Codex: Space Marines that I’ve never, ever used is a Scout Bike Squadron. At first glance, they don’t seem to be as worthwhile as Bike Squadrons. They don’t have the weapon upgrades available to Bike Squadrons, and you can’t attach an Attack Bike to them either. However, I’ve been taking a hard look at Scout Bikes lately. They have the Scouts Universal Special Rule, so they always start on the table, and they get a free move before the first turn. With a 12” movement, that’s huge. Plus, Scout Bikes are considerably cheaper than Bike Squadrons – not much more than an Assault Marine, in fact. All of that is making me put some serious thought into finally obtaining a couple squadrons of Scout Bikes.


Assault Squads are, as the name suggests, the most close-combat oriented Space Marine Fast Attack option. Assault squads can be very handy. They can deep strike and vault over terrain instead of having to slog through it, plus they’re good close-combatants. They’re not the best shooting unit, but they have some handy upgrades. Assault squads are the only place where I recommend using plasma pistols with any regularity, and you can also give them flamers, which is not to be underestimated. Even a shooty army can benefit from having some assault squads. They make a good maneuver element, and are ideal for counterassault purposes.

[Grand Master Raziel]

Space Marine Heavy Support



Without a doubt, the single best Heavy Support option available to a Space Marines army is the Devestator Squad. Devestator Squads pack more firepower than any of the tanks available, they have more weapons options, they can take better advantage of cover, and they are harder to destroy.

When you’re building a Devestator squad, you want to pick one kind of weapon for the squad and buy four of that weapon. Never, ever mix weapons in a Devestator squad. This dilutes their effectiveness, because each weapon is effective against a different kind of target. Massing one kind of weapon, on the other hand, multiplies the effectiveness of the weapons in the squad in a way that you have to try in order to believe.

The best all-around choice for Dev squads is 4 missile launchers. There are not many targets in the game that such a squad cannot wreak havoc with. A really good anti-personell option is 4 heavy bolters. That squad will scythe through hordes of troops. Personally, I rarely field a squad with 4 lascannons. You usually only need 1 or 2 lascannon shots to do in most vehicles, so I put them in my Tac squads. However, if I’m playing against Tyranids, I’ll at least consider the 4 lascannon squad for popping monstrous creatures. Plasma cannons are good against a multitude of targets, but would be best against heavily armored infantry like SMs, CSMs, SoBs, and Cybermen…uh, I mean Necrons (gratuitious Dr. Who reference). I never use multi-meltas in Dev squads. The whole point of the Dev squad is long-range firepower, and you have to be within a foot of your target to get maximum effectiveness out of a multi-melta.

Some options to consider when using a Dev squad include transport options and vet sergeant upgrades. Usually, they don’t need either, but sometimes they are advantageous. You may want a Rhino to carry your Dev Squads to good firing positions on large tables, particularly if they’re armed with heavy bolters or plasma cannons, which have a shorter range than missile launchers or lascannons. In missions with Infiltrate, I’ve started using vet sergeants for my Dev Squads so I can put an auspex in the squad. Dev squads offer the most return on that investment. When I do that, I’ll also give the sergeant a storm bolter, just for that extra bit of firepower. I’ve also fielded Dev squads with fully kitted out Veteran Sergeant with a power fist. That’s something most players wouldn’t advocate. I only did it because I was using an uber-fluffy list. However, it did come in handy a few times.



The Land Raider is an impressive looking model, but does not pay for itself just in terms of the weapons that it mounts. The Land Raider is all about delivering some kind of nasty close combat squad into the heart of your enemy’s infantry. In order to really get your points worth from the Land Raider, you need to use it in this fashion.


Note that I don't advocate putting terminators in a Land Raider. While doing so is better than having the terminators walk to their objective, I prefer to Deep Strike with termies. Plus, if you lose the LR and squad to an unlucky (for you) shot, it won't sting quite as much.

The downside to the Land Raider is that it perpetrates many of the flaws of the Razorback (albeit with better armor) at a much more expensive points-cost. The juxtaposition of firepower and transport capacity does not work well in a normal-speed platform. The Land Raider can’t even fire all its guns to full effect unless it remains completely stationary, which is at odds with delivering its payload as fast as it can. Also, it’s a frightfully expensive tank that can be popped by one lucky (for your opponent) shot. As a result, most experienced players are leaving their Land Raiders on the shelf until such time as Games Workshop undertakes a major overhaul of the vehicle rules.

If you’re a fan of the big tanks, don’t despair entirely, because the Land Raider has a younger, sexier brother: the Land Raider Crusader. The LRC has a number of advantages over the standard Land Raider. First of all, it has a greater carrying capacity: 15 Marines/8 Terminators as opposed to 10 Marines/5 Terminators. Second, it’s got armament better suited to infantry-mowing (and therefore better suited to moving and firing under the current vehicle rules). Finally, most of its weapons have an optimal range of 12” or less – that might not seem like an advantage, but the upshot of it is that there is considerably less conflict between transportation and firepower with the LRC. You want to get it as close as you can either way.


The Whirlwind is nice because it’s cheap, it’s ordnance, and you don’t need line of sight. However, it’s got short range and it’s not particularly powerful. It’s good against horde armies like Orks or Tyranids, but I wouldn’t field it against either armies with heavily armored infantry or against armies that have better, longer ranged ordnance. Eldar players hate these things with a passion, too, so it can be handy to have one just for the psyche-out value.



The Vindicator is tricky to use. The Demolisher Cannon is the most powerful ordnance weapon in the game. However, it’s a short range weapon, and the Vindicator has weak armor. With this in mind, there are four ways to use the Vindicator. If you actually want to try and fire the Demolisher Cannon at something, you have to field a number of other vehicles in order to screen the Vindicator from hostile fire until you’ve got the thing in firing position. To do this, you need at least one Land Raider or three Rhinos. You move the Vindicator up, protected by the armored wedge, till you’re in position to fire, then move the front vehicle to unmask the Vindicator so you can open up with the Demolisher cannon. At this point, it helps to keep vehicles to either side to screen its vulnerable side armor from antitank fire. That goes a long way toward ensure that you’ll be able to fire with the D-cannon on subsequent turns.

The second way to use the Vindicator is as a counter-punch. You keep it behind terrain screening it from enemy fire until your opponent gets a squad close to your lines, then pop it out 6’ and annihilate said squad with the demolisher cannon.

The third way to use the Vindicator is as a fire magnet. You put it on the table so your opponent shoots at the Vindicator instead of at your other stuff.

The fourth way to use the Vindicator is to force your opponent to commit his good anti-tank stuff to a less-than-ideal position. This would require carefully examining the tabletop terrain before putting it down, though. You'd want to place it where it can't be shot at before you move it out of cover, but also in a spot where there's an obvious route for it to go, preferably up one of the flanks. Furthermore, on your opponent's side of the table, there must also be terrain that would make it difficult to cover that lane and the rest of the table at the same time. However, if the terrain is set up in such a way to permit this tactic, then the Vindicator can fulfil its role just by sitting in place and tying up that opposing unit. If your opponent catches on to your game and moves that unit, then you move the Vindicator out and have it advance up that lane, forcing him to move back, which will be especially irritating if the opposing unit can't move and fire heavy weapons. The beauty here is that the Vindy can be effective without ever firing its Demolisher Cannon.



Lastly, we’ll discuss the Predator. If the Space Marines have a Main Battle Tank, it’s the Predator. Fluff would dictate that it’s supposed to be the Land Raider, but the Predator is much more useful in that role. It’s cheaper than the LR, and it’s not saddled with a transport role to boot. What the Predator does is provide the SM player with a nice, mobile heavy weapons platform that has decent armor. There are four possible weapon configurations for the Predator that are worth mentioning. The first is the Destructor variant sporting a turret-mounted autocannon, with heavy bolter sponsons. This model is best used for mowing down infantry and engaging light vehicles, as you get a lot of shots at decent strength and AP. However, it’s not going to do too much damage to infantry with 3+ or better saves, and it’ll be completely helpless against a vehicle with AV14, and not much good against anything with AV 12 or better. The time to field this tank is when you know you’re facing horde-infantry and/or an army with a lot of light vehicles, such as Orks or Dark Eldar.

The second variant I’m going to discuss is the Destructor with lascannon sponsons. This is really only worth mentioning as an example of what not to do. This variant has to stay stationary to fire to full effect, which pretty much negates the main strength of the Predator. If you really want the lascannon sponsons, you’re better off mounting them on an Annihilator. The Predator Annihilator mounts a turret-mounted twin-linked lascannon. Again, with lascannon sponsons, you have to keep the vehicle stationary to fire all its weapons. It’s a relatively cheap way to get three lascannons for your army. However, remember that you get what you pay for. The Predator’s armor is merely decent, not wonderful, and any vehicle in the game can be brought down by one fluky shot.

Probably the best all-around Predator is the Annihilator with heavy bolter sponsons. It’s almost as good for horde-mowing as the Destructor with heavy bolters, but it has a superior anti-tank capability. In general, you’d put this tank to the same use as the Destructor, but you can also use it to engage heavy tanks if you have to.

[Icarus Athrasuriel]

Nice stuff you have their Raziel. Do you mind if I copy it and show it to some of my friends? (Attributing it to you, of course)

[Grand Master Raziel]

Be my guest, Icarus. Anyone who wants to should feel free to copy and use this as they see fit. It's not the most earthshaking stuff in the world. Just basic guidelines. I hope to do a more advanced tactica at some point, but it's going to be a while before I can get to that.

[Inquisitor Ralei]

Nice in-depth list there.
I avoid Dreadnaughts like the plague, I've had nothing but trouble with them, they're just too fragile and get blown apart by the enemy before they even do anything.
Although, my regular opponents are Eldar and Tau.

[Inquisitor Rosenadel]

What about Techmarines? I'm guessing that you do not advocate their use since they're not here.

[Grand Master Raziel]

Originally Posted by Inquisitor Rosenadel

What about Techmarines? I'm guessing that you do not advocate their use since they're not here.

Doh! To be honest with you, I forgot them. I'd say use them if you use a lot of vehicles, but don't forget what you've got them there for. Don't use them for fire support or for an assault unit, because you have a codex full of much better options for that kind of thing. Use them for what they're intended for - to fix damaged vehicles. So, stick to tech servitors for his retinue.

[rintinglen]

What a great post! I personally approve of most of what you say, and generally concur, but there are two areas where I disagree, or rather, one where I disagree and one other that I think you over look.
the 1st is in the area of Dreadnoughts.
I find that they are too costly, too slow and too swift to die. Especially since all the Tau Players out there field hordes of strength 7 or higher weapons, the Dreadnought lasts about as long as a f--t in a hurricane. They are in essence a one shot weapon, You pop out, you shoot, and you are destroyed. Or else, you spend the game cowering behind cover, shooting nothing and maybe claiming a table quarter. In either case, I think you can do better for your points.
I like Razorbacks.
I despise Rhinos. Strength 11 armor, no gun worthy the name, and of no value in claiming table quarters, the rhino is sometimes viewed as a cheap bus for a useful squad, but since you can't assault out of it, and since it dies to heavy bolter fire (not to mention Fire Warror Squads) I have little use for it. Why in the name of the HOly Emperor Space Marines cling to the rhino when the much better Chimera is available, I can not surmise.
For the same 50 points you can get a Land Speeder (Thank you, Arkham).
On the other hand, The Razorback gives up 4 marines in carrying capacity but gains a useful twin-linked weapon. I like to use three of them with three small infantry squads equipped as either with Lascannon and Plasma gun for tank hunting, or for a small assault squad with two flamers. I use the Las cannon model to tool about my tankhunters and the twin linked Heavy bolter for my assault units (Assault squads that don't take jump packs cost only 15 points per model and come with free frags).
Charging up to a group of eldar cowering in cover as your twin linked heavy bolter blazes away and then giving them a hot foot--ah, the little things in life that make it so worthwhile.
Mentioning tank hunters makes me remember one other useful tactic for SM addicts.
A 5 man Veteran Squad with tank hunter, a las cannon and a plasma gun costs 115 points, add a razorback and you have a very high probability of knocking out any non-eldar tank for a manageable 195 points. The effect of tank hunter is to add one to your penetration roll, making your penetration die in effect 2-7 rather than 1-6. That means you can't fail to at least glance armour 11 with a lascannon, and even a Land Raider is at hazard from the Plasma gun.
After the tanks are dead, I have had good luck using them as snipers shooting at terminators and other high value infantry models.

[Icarus Athrasuriel]

Well, the Chimera fits 10 normal humans in it. You wouldn't be able to fit a third of that in Space Marine form.