Editing Warhammer 40,000/5th Edition Tactics/Space Marines (section)

==Why Play Space Marines==
Why AREN'T you playing them?

In all seriousness, Space Marines are perhaps the best army for beginners. Their units are fairly expensive points-wise, so they can't field as many units as most other armies. While you can't bog down your foes in waves of men, this makes army construction cheaper and painting faster. Additionally, Space Marines are dead 'ard; their basic troops have Toughness 4 and a 3+ armor save (except for the Scouts), giving them great staying power against most basic infantry of other armies. They're also very forgiving in whatever role they're put in; Marines are good shots, and they're not half bad in an assault, either.

Space Marine tanks, on the other hand, while not as robust or as powerful as those of the Imperial Guard's, are dirt-cheap and reliable. Tanks aside, they have Dreadnoughts; while not quite as good at shooting as a tank, Dreadnoughts are cheaper and a smaller target than a tank and are far better in close combat(unless you are one of those bastards who has cheating good luck with tank shocking...), able to take on heroes, units and other tanks and come out on top.

Other benefits include:
* eBay-ability. Space marines are the most commonly auctioned off army. This makes starting out with them "second hand" cheap (by Warhammer standards...)
* Easy to paint. The broad, flat areas (legs, shoulders) and defined ridges make painting straight-forward and simple. Little is easier to paint than a space marine. They even drybrush well for the "Lazy painter" who just wants a force finished on the table ASAP. 
* Quick to build, easy to convert. Space marines have the greatest range of bitz available to any army in any game. Not just from Games Workshop, there are several companies out there that make GW-Marine conversion bitz. Almost everyone who plays 40k has some space marine bitz sitting around, and they're almost all plastic, so you can easily make a force that's really "you".
* Easy for beginners. Your basic troop can take a bit of abuse, as such, they army is relatively forgiving of "newb" mistakes, and you aren't horribly FUBAR because of a single poorly-thought out move. Very little in the codex is "dead weight" so almost any unit purchased will be a welcome addition to your growing force. 
* Rewarding for experts. Space marines are an army that you can really grow with. Once you learn how to shuffle your metal boxes around, and get the gist of the game, a closer examination of the space marine codex reveals a wealth and depth of available army builds and tactics unrivaled in the current 40k codices.