What's New with the Space Marines?

Posted by Ranillon on 14. November 2008 23:59

The new SM codex has been out for a while now and I’ve been musing over the new units found within.  Here are my basic impressions:

Chapter Master:  He’s really just a regular captain with orbital fire support.  That’s cool, but he can’t take a command squad nor let bikes be troops.  Choosing him over a regular captain is really a matter of taste rather than effectiveness.

Honor Guard:  Cool concept, but lacking somewhat in application.  Their biggest drawback is that they can’t take bikes or jump packs, yet the Chapter Master can.  What, is there more “honor” in watching the guy you are supposed to protect zoom off without you?  They are also pricey.  I see these as more an Apocalypse selection than for regular battles, but then again maybe the idea of a group of power weapon wielding marines turns you on.

Master of the Forge:  I like the conversion beamer.  If you make sure to setup your MotF correctly and shoot at target sufficiently far away he makes for a powerful vehicle killer.  With his beamer at AP1 that’s strength 10 and +1 to any damage roll, a combo guaranteed to make any machine spirit compute in fear.  Be sure to give him a bodyguard of Servitors – who are basically Imperial Guardsmen with S8 power fists and 4+ armor – and have him hang out near some other piece of marine artillery like a Predator.  The end result is a great vehicle killer that is hard to kill and is nasty in close combat which can even fix your own vehicles!

Sternguard Veterans:  The special ammo of these guys is just glorious, giving them a bullet for every occasion.  This makes them quite versatile, especially if you give them combi-weapons.  This allows them to step up and blow away pretty much anything.  No need to rush them into close combat except for a coup de grace.

Ironclad Dreadnought:  This is a unit to use when you have a particular application in mind such as giving him a drop pod and landing him is your opponent’s shorts.  Otherwise, he’s sort of like a close combat carnifex – nasty, but can you get him into hand-to-hand soon enough to be worth it?

Legion of the Damned:  Killer concept and fluff, but not really all that effective for the points.  You basically pay twice normal cost for marines that have 3+ invulnerable saves and can deep strike, but which are slow and purposeful and – most importantly – don’t come with any greater firepower than regular marines.  They fill the same tactical niche as terminators (including the same disadvantages) without adding anything new.  Personally, I’d rather have two groups of tactical marines than one group of these damned fellows.

Land Speeder Storm:  Another unit that needs a specific application (e.g. you take it because it compliments your force, not just to be cool).  Only problem is I can’t think of a really compelling application that would apply in general.  The jamming beacon could be quite nice against some armies, but useless against others.  Besides, it might get in the way of your own deep striking reinforcements.  Likewise, with the ability to only hold five scouts you aren’t really looking at a fierce close combat threat.  I suppose you can use it to capture remote objectives, but when scouts can already scout and infiltrate do they really need their own hovercraft as well?

Thunderfire Cannon:  For some reason I really like the model.  It’s effectiveness in combat is more iffy.  The ability to fire different types of shells for different missions guarantees that it will always have some suitable target.  I especially like the subterranean shells as they can interfere with your enemy’s ability to charge or capture objectives.  The great weakness of the cannon is that it is fragile.  Artillery seems to melt in the rain and the poor techmarine only has one wound.  Thus, you can easily have 100 points go up in smoke with just one well placed lascannon or plasma cannon shot.  It is therefore essential to have the cannon away from the enemy as much as you can and let its 60’ range protect it from counter fire.

Land Raider Redeemer:  An improvement over the LR Crusader for the simple reason it does what its older cousin does, only better.  You’ll want to always use it in combination with an assault unit.  With just the one ranged weapon you can zoom forward 12’ and still blast away thanks to the machine spirit.  Once you are close the Redeemer’s dual AP3 flamers will stagger most any unit thereby giving your own assaulters the advantage.  After that you just go down your opponent’s line shocking his squads before barbequing them.