Editing Warhammer 40,000/9th Edition Tactics/Weapons (section)

===Imperium===

====Space Marines====
The Emperor's Space Marines are a jack of all trades army, since they have BY FAR the biggest amount of unit choice in the game. Seriously, you could add together the units from the three smallest armies in the game and marines would still have more stuff altogether. As such, variety is the name of the game with them. However, their standard units will be the regular/primaris marines, T4 S3+ W2. They are the outliner for the MEQ stats, and as such, every army will have dozens of ways to prepare against them in one way or another, and the same for the marine terminators and the TEQs (T5 S2+/5++ W3). They can always use cheaper and weaker units by using scouts (less viable in 9th since [[wat|they are Elites for some reason]]), servitors ('''hah!''') or allying with other imperial factions. Thus, you won't have to deal with hordes against them, though their regular infantry is strong enough to get entire lists made out of them and still pose a threat. Plasma weaponry is usually recommended against them, alongside anything that makes D2 damage. 

In the offensive, their standard weapons are mostly bolter based, with either the bolter (Rapid Fire 1, S4 AP0 D1) or the bolt rifle (Rapid Fire 1, S4 AP-1 D1) being the most common out there. Outside of that, fuck, they have access to so much. Just look at their [[Warhammer_40,000/Tactics/Space_Marines_(9E)|tactics]] page for that.

It's also important to take into account the SM's variety doesn't just come from their units, but also from the amount of chapters and their abilities, some with their own codexes and unique units. Some of the most frequently used chapters are:

*'''Ultramarines:''' The boys in blue are the posterboys of the faction, and are the essential jack of all trades on an army that's already a jack of all trades. They might not excel at any given strategy, but they can adapt to virtually any given situation so countering them outright is easier said than done. Also they can use Guilliman, so take into account all the buffs the Primarch gives them.
*'''Blood Angels:''' The sons of Sanguinius, they are one of the most powerful melee armies in the game as of right now. Expect to suffer charges with melee-centric marine units like vanguard veterans, assault intercessors and their fucking dreadnoughts. You counter them by either shooting at them from afar (something very difficult now that secondary objectives are so important) or by having tough as nails units that survive and fight back.
*'''Space Wolves:''' They are also a melee centric faction, similar to the above, but with a couple of exclusive units to worry about.
*'''Dark Angels:''' They have very scary gunlines since they have a lot of bonuses while static, not to mention a lot of cool option with terminators and bikes.
*'''White Scars:''' Use and abuse of bikers and fast moving units like vanguard veterans. They will have a lot of mobility and will take ground fast.
*'''Deathwatch:''' ''La crème de la crème'' from the Adeptus Astartes, chosen from all chapters to fight the aliens. Highly customizable veterans and kill team formation means they will have a lot of strength and defense (storm shield spam is frequent), thus will make for very tough infantry that can be combined with terminators and other units to create special effects. This comes at the cost of being slightly more expensive than regular marines.
*'''Grey Knights:''' Daemon killers extraordinaire, they are specialized in the fight against Chaos. Also, most of their units are psykers in one way or another, so they'll have a lot of buffs and access to easy mortal wounds. Storm Bolters and multi-damage Power Weapons are very common. Great against smaller, more elite armies, but very weak against hordes that can easily take mortal wounds and keep going.


'''Popular units''':
{|class="wikitable"
!Unit
!Good for
!Countered with
|-
|Tactical Marine/Intercessor
|flexible all-rounded units, hard to take down
|high volume shooting, multi-wound attacks
|-
|Space Marine Terminators
|powerful melee/shooting, deep strike, very hard to take down
|high volume shooting, multi-wound attacks, mortal wounds, charge nullifiers
|-
|Vanguard Marines
|High movement, powerful melee, deep strike
|multi-wound shooting, mortal wounds, charge nullifiers
|-
|Space Marine Bikes
|High movement, high-rate of fire
|multi-wound attacks
|-
|Space Marine Dreadnought
|powerful melee/shooting, very hard to take down, distraction carnifex
|multi-wound attacks, horde charges, mortal wounds
|-
|}

====Sisters of Battle====
SISTERS ARE DOING IT FOR THEMSELVES. The Bolter Babes are here to give glory to the Emperor and destroy the abominations of the heretic, the alien and the mutant. The Sisters are a halfway house between the Marines and the Imperial Guard - Bolter-equivalent guns are standard, hit like trucks in close combat with the right buffs, decent armour saves and widespread access to invul saves of at least 6++, sometimes up to 4++. Now, having the benefits of both armies means you also have the weaknesses of being basic humans (T3) and fewer numbers than most other armies (like Marines). Unlike Marines however you lack Bolter Discipline so you'll actually put out fewer shots than the Astartes most of the time. They also lack sources for mortal wounds. Really, shooting is there to help your ladies out, but it's not your main killing power.

'''Popular Units:'''
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Units !! Good for !! Countered with
|-
| Battle Sister Squad || Taking and holding objectives and supporting other squads || High volume shooting, mortal wounds
|-
| Celestian Squad || Flexible all-rounder squad, decent in melee or range || High volume melee, mortal wounds
|-
| Repentia Squad || Vicious close combat infantry, high volume of melee attacks, 5++ FNP negates mortal wounds || High volume shooting, blast weapons
|-
| Immolator|| Transport armed with flamers. Frequent with repentia squads or retributor squads for an up close one-two punch, good at moving units and offering close support || Anti-vehicle units, multi-wound attacks
|-
| Exorcist || Main artillery of the Sisters of Battle, with a level of firepower capable of one-shot small titans, great against heavy units and vehicles|| Anti-vehicle units, multi-wound attacks
|}

====Imperial Guard====
THE WALL OF GUNS. The hammer of the Imperium. The Astra Militarum. The IG is the regular army compared to the ultra-elite marines. They are the posterboy for GEQs, with the regular guardsmen having T3 5+ W1. Easy to take off the map, but easily spammable, you could also take a big variety of infantry choices, from even more spammable units (conscripts), more elite units (stormtroopers) or very specialized units (ogryns for melee). Also, no IG list will be complete without tanks. The IG uses all kinds of tanks to compensate for the lack of firepower of their infantry, and since most of their units are quite cheap, they'll be able to have a ton of them in a single list. They can also abuse artillery to high degrees of success. 

They are a very adaptable army, but usually can be dealt with by using units that can get up close and personal against them to deny the lasgun abuse and take advantage of their poor defenses, or with a lot of anti-horde firepower. Their tanks alone can't really hold objectives, and while they can shoot in melee now, keeping them bogged down in there against units that can take the losses (ork boys, genestealers, chaos cultists...) is a good way to suppress their firepower.

'''Popular units''':
{|class="wikitable"
!Unit
!Good for
!Countered with
|-
|Imperial Guardsmen
|flexible all-rounded units, high number of models, high rate of fire, good table control
|high volume shooting, melee attacks, morale modifiers
|-
|Conscript
|very high number of models, very high rate of fire, great table control
|high volume shooting, melee attacks, morale modifiers
|-
|Ogryn
|powerful melee, hard to take down
|multi-wound shooting, mortal wounds, charge nullifiers
|-
|Tempestus Scion/Kasrkin
|flexible all-rounded units
|high volume shooting, high volume melee attacks
|-
|Leman Russ Battle Tank
|cheap tank, heavy shooting, flexible loadout
|multi-wound attacks, horde charges, mortal wounds
|-
|Basilisk Artillery Gun
|long range, powerful shooting, blast
|attacks in close range, horde charges, deep strike
|-
|}

====Adeptus Mechanicus====
The machine worshipers are quite a flexible army, especially since 9th edition gave them the units they required to increase their mobility, something they lacked in previous editions. The Mechanicus are a very balanced army, but with a tendency to be very relient on powerful gunlines that combine both high volume shooting and heavier guns with high damage output per shot. The fact many admech characters have an invulnerable save and can heal vehicles and other units is great to increase their staying power, and the addition of fast and cheap units can make very competitive lists. The drawback of all this is the fact their units are very specialized: they are either slow heavy units with powerful and long shooting or fast light units that won't be able to resist melee. Focusing on shooting will make admech lists become static within their deployment zone, and more dinamic lists can be quite badly mauled if pittied against hard-hitting melee or defensive lists. Combining this two styles can be a problem, but the admech has enough unit variery to make up for that.

'''Popular units''':
{|class="wikitable"
!Unit
!Good for
!Countered with
|-
|Skitarii Rangers/Vanguards
|cheap GEQ with decent rate of fire, access to the transuranic arquebus
|high volume shooting, melee attacks, morale modifiers
|-
|Kataphron Battle Servitors
|heavy infantry with high rate of fire, great plasma spam, multiple wounds
|high volume shooting, multi-wound attacks, melee attacks, morale modifiers
|-
|Fulgurite Electropriests
|very good combination of invulnerable save and FNP, can convert its attacks into mortal wounds
|range attacks, high volume shooting, morale modifiers
|-
|Skitarii Seberys
|fast cavalry
|multi-wound shooting, mortal wounds, charge nullifiers
|-
|Sydonian Dragoons
|melee walkers, difficult to shoot at
|high volume shooting, multi-wound shooting
|-
|Castellan Robots
|incredible rate of fire, invulnerable saves against ranged attacks
|multi-wound attacks, deep strike melee,
|-
|Skorpious Disintegrator
|fast moving artillery, access to a lot of firepower
|attacks in close range, horde charges, multi-wound shooting
|-
|}

====Imperial Knights====
The Imperium's big walkers (or the smaller version of titans dependind of your point or view) will usually have a very small army model-wise, but oh boy what models. They are all heavy vehicles with 10+ wounds, 2/3+ saves with different degrees of invulnerable saves, T7+ or higher, and a lot of customizable firepower (both ranged and in melee, their units are so big that even shooty units will be really strong in mele). Also due to their small body count most of them will have the "objective secured" rule, otherwise they would be pointless capturing objecties. 

Their strength is obvious, being able to fight almost everything and come out on top, and being resilient enough to resist the entire match without dying, even if the enemy focuses fire on one. However, that's also their biggest weakness: their smaller body count means that they will be outmanouvered by pretty much every faction (even Custodes will have more bodies than a purely Knight list), so they need to either tread lightly or get some allies. Also, due to ther insane point costs, the enemy could dedicate a couple of their heavy hitter units and kamikaze them against the knights and still be cost-effective. The loss of a big knight can cost the game.

====Custodes and Sisters of Silence====
The God Emperor's caretakers are the most elite army in the game, for better or worse. All of their infantry is between TEQ or higher (T5 2+/5++ 3W as the bare fucking minimum), which means you'll need massive amounts of spam or a lot of stopping power to deal with them. However, this means they will be a relatively small army, since everything they have is incredibly expensive, and they are not particularly fast either (thus golden bike spam is their most common strategy). Also, their ranged fire power is not that impressive, at least not compared to their melee prowess. This is a melee army, so expect to fight them up close and personal.

As for the Sisters of Silence, they make up in one of two areas two Custodes badly lack: Psychic defenses (the other being "cheap" manpower).

====Imperial Minor Factions====
*'''Officio Assassinorum:''' The most popular of the minor factions, the assassinorum has access to only four character units thus far, but oh what units they are. 
**''Vindicare:'' The most popular by far. A long range sniper that can pretty much take down a character per turn, due to its high accuracy, strong weaponry and its ability to nullify invulnerable saves.
**Eversor:
**''Culexus:''
**''Callidus:''
*I'''nquisition:'''
*'''Astra Telephatica'''