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

=====Elites=====

*'''Sanguinary Ancient:''' A single Sanguinary Guard character holding a perfectly standard Chapter Banner (but he ''isn't'' a Chapter Ancient, in terms of keywords).  Costs 125 points compared to a Chapter Ancient's 95, not that you can take a Blood Angels Chapter Ancient.  The extra points buy you a ''lot''; the most important is the jump pack, spiking him to M12 with {{W40kKeyword|fly}}, but you also get +1Ld to 9, which is useless, +1Sv (making him 2+), which is pretty great, and the standard issue Sanguinary Guard abilities of -1 to be hit in melee and +1 to hit while within 6" of a {{W40kKeyword|Blood Angels Warlord}}, both of which are quite nice due to his wargear: he loses access to most of a Chapter Ancient's guns, only able to choose between an inferno pistol, a plasma pistol, and an 18" Assault 2 AP-1 bolter, but the bolter's very points efficient for his primary role of supporting your army, and critically, his melee weapons access, while sharply curtailed as well, happens ''in addition to'' his gun, unlike with a normal Ancient: you can take a master-crafted power sword or power axe, or a power fist, as normal for Sanguinary Guard dudes.  While he can't apply his banner to himself, his power fist is currently the same cost as his other weapons choices, so especially if you can count on his +1 to hit happening (e.g. if he's your warlord), it can be a very good choice.
*'''Sanguinary Guard (CORE):''' The latest iteration of Sanguinary Guard are 32 points in their cheapest form, which amounts to 128 points stock. They possess W2, A3, Sv2+, and -1 to be hit in melee, and jump packs along with free Angelus Boltguns (18" Assault 2 AP-1 bolters that can be swapped for inferno or plasma pistols for the usual cost, so the bolters are usually better) and access to power fists (which cost 5 points) and master-crafted power swords and axes (which means the fist amounts to paying points to take the sword from WS3+ S5 to WS4+ S8, although their +1 to hit reverse aura can help make the fist a better choice, even though your chapter tactics mean S5 and S8 are closer than they seem). That reverse aura lets them get +1 to hit while within 6" of a {{W40kKeyword|Blood Angels Warlord}}.  Thanks to +1A relative to DC, they have the same practical melee output in isolation, with different durability (Sang Guard are Sv2+ -1 to be hit in melee, not Sv3+/6+++); due to the costs involved, they're better than Jump DC if you wanted any of a power sword, a power axe, or a power fist, in any legal combination DC can take with a bolt pistol, inferno pistol, or plasma pistol.  Since there's no reason to field bolter DC in the first place, and power mauls are laughably bad on them, the only DC builds with the potential to outperform Sang Guard are Chainsword and Bolt Pistol or Hand Flamer, which can generate more raw attacks per point than Sang Guard can muster, or Thunder Hammer DC, since Sang Guard don't have access to D3 weaponry. Sang Guard can also be fielded in units of size 4 (max 10), which is smaller than most units can be fielded, including DC.
**Heirs of Azkaellon is the real the game-changer for these guys - +1 to hit while near your Warlord makes them very accurate - combining with Captains and Lieutenants will mean they'll have a near-enough perfect hit and wound rating in melee. 
***If you have the patience to buff them ''after'' the drop, because they're core, both a Sanguinary Ancient's +1 to hit in melee and a Chapter Master's full re-roll to hit will work on them (they won't usefully stack, though - 2+ to hit responds to a Captain and a Chapter Master ''identically'').  
**The bolters are often their best ranged choice, because they're free and have better range and rate of fire than the pistol options - as always, Inferno Pistols suffer from needing to be within 6" to shoot (and you can't advance and shoot them), while these models are too expensive for overcharged Plasma, and the safe single shot at S7 AP-3 D1 isn't often much better than ''two'' shots at S4 AP-1 D1.  Obviously, if you're going to let yourself be stuck in melee, inferno pistols are the way to go, every time.
*'''Death Company (CORE):''' Now blessed with W2, Death Companies function as your high output melee assaulters. 22 (25 w/jump pack) points gets you 4 attacks on the charge and a 6+++ FNP along with the Black Rage keyword, though with LD 7 and now only squads of 5-10.  Of their loadout choices, bolter DCs aren't using their Black Rage, Power Sword/Axe/Fist DCs are basically Sang Guard but worse (assuming they take Jump Packs, which they always should - otherwise we have to start comparing them to Company Vets, and that's not a comparison they can win), and Power Mauls are hilariously inefficient with your chapter tactics.  That leaves chainsword and bolt pistol or chainsword and hand flamer for spamming more attacks period than Sang Guard can, per point, or Thunder Hammer spam (Sang Guard ''can't'' take D3 weapons).  The Thunder Hammer and Chainsword builds are in competition with Vanguard Vets; the tl;dr on the Chainsword is that you'll never be as points efficient as Vanguard Vets with Lightning Claws (you'll have better durability, since you have a free Apothecary, but if that's an issue the VV can both pick up a Storm Shield and stand next to a Sanguinary Priest).  That leaves the Thunder Hammer, where for 40 points you simply out-swing any VV except for the Sergeant.  Because Company Vets can't take Jump Packs, this is your niche: jumping into melee with a hammer and rage.  Skip all the other builds; they're traps for the unwary.
*'''Death Company Intercessors:''' Apparently, Primaris Marines ''can'' fall to the Black Rage. Thanks a lot, ''Cawl''.  This is a squad of Veteran Intercessors with no sergeant and at -1 Ld (i.e. 7).  The rules for your equipment are basically an awkward re-wording of that for Veteran Intercessors, since you have no actual sergeant, so instead you can pick one schmuck for sergeant equipment, but several things got lost in translation; your options are listed below.  The short version is that you can ''either'' take chainswords on everyone ''or'' a power fist or thunder hammer on one guy, but not both, so weirdly, DC Intercessors are still pretty committed to their guns.
**The most obvious choice is heavy bolt pistols and chainswords for everyone, and then up to 2 dudes can swap their heavy bolt pistol for a hand flamer or plasma pistol.  However, that's as far as this build goes.
**You can leave everyone carrying any of the three Intercessor guns (same for the whole unit), with the standard ability to take 1 grenade launcher every 5 dudes (so 2 max).  This opens up other possibilities, all on one model.
***One model can now simply take a chainsword, power sword, power fist, or thunder hammer.
****Or, it can still take the chainsword or power sword, but give up its rifle for literally no reason, as the rifles are free.
***It can swap its rifle for a hand flamer or plasma pistol, which is the only way to combine those two pistols with a rifle unit.  This can be combined with the melee options as you like, by choosing what order to take the wargear bullet points in carefully.
*'''Furioso Dreadnought:''' This is a completely stock Dreadnought chassis, the basic kind, but with new loadout choices, and for some reason, ''not'' core, making it incredibly hard to buff.  For starters, you can drop the Smokescreen keyword for a magna-grapple, which means when a Vehicle tries to Fall Back from you, you can roll 2d6, and if you meet or beat its S, it can't Fall Back and must Remain Stationary.  Highly entertaining, and recommended.  Also, your base loadout is still a DCW with storm bolter or heavy flamer, but your other default arm is a frag cannon, which is a very nerfed Predator Autocannon: 18" Heavy 2d3 S7 AP-1 D2, Blast.  Instead of being able to swap it for another gun, all you can do initially is swap it for a second DCW and a meltagun, which gives you +1A, up to A5.  The meltagun can turn into a storm bolter or heavy flamer, to match the other arm, but you can't have two meltaguns.  If you want to keep committing, you can now swap both DCWs for Blood Talons, which means you drop from AP-3 to AP-2 and from S12 to S10 on your punches, but now you re-roll wounds.  Since you generally wound everything on 2+ in melee to begin with, this amounts to losing a point of AP for being 7/6 again as good at wounding (i.e. re-rolling 1s to wound), so the decision is target specific, as you might imagine.  This means you're now in direct competition with an Ironclad, who has 1 more T than you do, and if he's committing to melee, re-rolls 1s to hit, which is just as good as re-rolling 1s to wound.  That's where the comparison stops working out for you; A5, 6 with SA, 7 during your Doctrine, at ''worse'' AP than the Ironclad's, times your damage is 15-18-21, while the Ironclad's worse A4-5-6 with better AP and Damage comes out to 16-20-24, even more against Vehicles.  Give this one a miss.
*'''Death Company Dreadnought:''' Your normal Furioso but ''angry''. Already dropped his frag cannon, so 2 fists/talons and black rage on a very durable frame.  The 6+++ from Black Rage immediately means you're actually ''more'' durable than an Ironclad, and the bonus A means your new A*D is 18-21-24, so thanks to your inferior AP, you're better in melee than the Ironclad ''except'' during the Assault Doctrine.  However, this isn't Core either, so it's harder to buff than it needs to be, and you may well find it easier to just field an Ironclad so you can buff it properly.