Space Marine Chapter Advice?

[undertow92182]

Hey all,

I know this might not be the right area to post this, but I couldn't think on anywhere else.

I have recently come into possession of 2.5 sets of Space Marines from Assault on Black Reach starter sets. They are all bare gray plastic and ready for me to make into whatever chapter I want. I also have the current Space Marines, Blood Angels, and the new Dark Angels army books.

I'll admit I am completely ignorant of the Space Marines and it's chapters as per how they perform on the field. I am a competitive player and don't want to sink hours of painting into an army I'll later regret. So, given what I have, what chapter would you play? Why?

[infornography]

Hmm. So the AoBR space marine contingent is a bunch of bolter space marines, a flamer guy, a rocket launcher guy, a captain, a dreadnaught and a bunch of tactical termies if I remember right.

Based on that, I might go with Dark Angels just for the salvo bolter cheese.

Alternatively you could pick up Pedro Kantor and run Codex:Space Marines with lots of Sternguard.

Is this something where you are going to want to build up significantly more or are you wanting to just see what you can do with I'm guessing around 30 tac marines, 2 captains and dreadnaughts, and 10 tac terminators. (guessing at what you have based on what you said)

Overall, tactical terminators aren't great. They are a bit pricey in both codex space marines and dark angels for what you get out of them but they are cheaper in codex: Space Marines at the cost of the Split fire and Vengeful Strike special rules which don't make that big a difference for them unless you strap a missile rack to one of them which makes them even pricier. They are better now than they were in 5th edition, but I think that the melee focused terminators are significantly better for the price.

Multimelta dreads are pretty nice, but somewhat fragile. I would suggest investing in drop pods for them if you intend to run them and if your local club will allow it (or you are up for the conversion work) giving them a heavy flamer instead of the storm bolter is very nice, opening up their tactical options considerably.

Space Marine Captains are overpriced (please do not swear) for the most part, but you can always use the rules for one of the named HQs. Vulkan Hestan is a common pick, but you can't use both his and Pedro Kantor's special abilities at the same time so you will have to choose between awesome flamers and meltas, or Sternguard as troops.

[daveclark890]

You can paint them as any chapter you like. You can always proxy them as a different specific chapter.

The only thing you need to look into is if you want to build a specific specialist unit for a chapter that has its own codex. I have space wolves and I use them as both wolves and BA and if I wanted they would also fit into a vanilla codex army too.

You have 2 complete sets of marines from AOBR so you have 2 full tac squads (vanilla/ba) and 10 termies (if you can convert then you could make claws for 1 squad) These are pretty standard in all marine codexes. You have 2 x Commander, a little work would give you a libby and a commander both of which are generic for all marine codexes too.

I would suggest that you find a colour scheme you like and then build a standard list from the vanilla book unless the back ground of 1 specific chapter really grips you.

[undertow92182]

First, and foremost, thank you both for your help/advice.

Yeah, I'd give a more accurate count of what I have but I'm at work at the moment. I made a trade with a friend who lost interest in Space Marines, he hates making terrain so I made some terrain pieces and he gave me the models he had left that weren't destroyed by his dogs. I forgot to mention he also had a small unit of 5 scouts (all sniper rifles), a chaplain, and a librarian.. both in power armor.

I keep looking at the Dark Angels since they are brand spanking new and that usually means they have the most balanced rules. Sadly, that AGL/Salvo bolter combo is pure cheese and I'd rather not piss off my friends quite that badly, lol. I think I may go with DA, though I refuse to put my marines in dresses.. I swear, yellow robes on green power armor looks like a nurgle army, not space marines.

[Bukimimaru]

I used my starter marines from Black Reach and the marines from the Dark Vengeance kit and build quite a Hefty Hawk Lords army.
I chose the Hawk Lords because I've always liked Purple and Gold together as a colour scheme.
I run them on a Blood Angels codex and threw a few squads of assault troops and a death company to take advantage of the bonuses the BA codex has to offer. (Infernus pistols! )
Now I can use the rules for Mephiston without having to use such an ugly-ass model, plus Chaplains as elites? Yes please!

I've only really played with the Blood Angels Codex, so naturally I'm biased to promoting them, but the new Dark Angels Codex is looking rather smart.
I find the best thing to would be to fine a codex with perks that you really like, then find a colour scheme that you enjoy painting and merge the two together.

[undertow92182]

So, I used my meager model collection to face off against my Dark Elder friend in a 500 point game. I rolled my marines as Dark Angels and proxied in two plasma cannon marines.

I ran the following list

~HQ~
Librarian - Level 2 Mastery (I had some extra points and nothing to really spend it on)

~Troops~

6 Man Tactical Squad: 1 Plasma Cannon, Rhino
6 Man Tactical Squad: 1 Plasma Cannon, Rhino

~Elites~

Dreadnought: Assault Cannon and Powerfist/Stormbolter.

Total: 496


I gotta say, the main big appeal of Dark Angels is the Plasma Cannons... and I don't think I like them. It is the exact middle ground between the two shots a regular old missile launcher can fire... except the missile launcher can be upgrade to take flakk shots for fighting fliers. The Dreadnought did a great job going toe to toe with a Ravager, the 12 armor on the front making it tough for his S8 Dark Lance to punch through.

I ultimately won, but don't think I'll be taking Plasma cannons much in the future.

[infornography]

Plasma cannons are not great. I prefer Plasma guns and the really big plasma weapons. Plasma cannons don't have a big enough splash to get more than 2 terminators generally at which point I might as well be shooting the much cheaper and more flexible rapid fire gun.

Also plasma is mostly good for it's AP2 and ability to instant death T3 multiwound. If you are not facing much 2+ saves or T3 multiwounds, then it doesn't have much advantage over other options. Against terminators though, it is GREAT!

I would recommend taking plasma guns instead of cannons and trying those out for a bit.

Also the multimelta dread is much better than the assault cannon and gives you some extra anti vehicle punch plus the ability to instant death T4 multiwound.

[barenone]

I think you should just turn them into a fluff chapter and play them basic until you get a feel for how you want to play them. Hell if it was me I would make them into legion of the damned. Then again I am obsessed with them for some reason.

[andersschm]

Imperial fists are the way to go. Choose the codex that appeals most.

[andy089]

there are a few things I like especially:

1) Thunderfire cannons. It deals with pretty much everything - kills hordes, hurts things in cover and slows elite units.
2) Sternguard. With special Ammo and Combi-weapons I got to like them. a lot.
3) Bikes. T5 is great and going places fast is fun. HoW also helps a good bit!

Since Thunderfire cannons are only available for vanilla SM that's what I would go for, even though a BA librarian can give Sternguard Prescience (primaris power so you definitely get it), meaning re-rolls to hit - together with special ammo it's worth considering in my opnion...

[paxmiles]

Feb 7, 2013 14:36:44 GMT undertow92182 said:

Hey all,

I know this might not be the right area to post this, but I couldn't think on anywhere else.

I have recently come into possession of 2.5 sets of Space Marines from Assault on Black Reach starter sets. They are all bare gray plastic and ready for me to make into whatever chapter I want. I also have the current Space Marines, Blood Angels, and the new Dark Angels army books.

I'll admit I am completely ignorant of the Space Marines and it's chapters as per how they perform on the field. I am a competitive player and don't want to sink hours of painting into an army I'll later regret. So, given what I have, what chapter would you play? Why?

First, welcome to Marines.

For basic SM info, our armies feature the most forgiving force in 40k. Our basic marine can handle almost any opposition with some chance of success. We also have far better support from GW in both model ranges and rules.

In terms of notable SM list creation features, you will notice the unusually small forces which are fielded. Although each small force is well prepared for any encounter, it does mean that we suffer losses more noticeably.

And as for chapters and rulebooks, this boils down to play style. C:SM is good for ranged SM armies. BA seems to excel at alpha strike lists. BT tends to be slower than BA, but is otherwise of similar play style. SW are nice, though they don't have a particular area of excellence. GK are a strong mid-range and heavy psychic.

In terms of chapters, lexicanium (.com or .org) has a good database of the existing chapters. I suggest finding one you like to paint, or one who's fluff really speaks to you.

For me, I run Exorcists Space Marines. Technically, these should use C:SM rules, but at the moment I'm fielding a SM/BA hybrid.

The Exorcists Space Marines are charged with the guardianship of Bane, the HQ of Ordo Malleus of the inquisition.

Color wise, red Marines with black trim and bone Aquila.

Dunno if this helps, but I think it answers the question.
-Pax