Editing Warhammer 40,000/8th Edition Tactics/Space Marines (section)

==Tactics and Strategy==

===Army Building===
====Army Composition====
Deciding on what units to take generally comes down to what you want your force to accomplish on the tabletop. One school of thought is to avoid having too many various “types” of marines in one force, instead focusing on using lots of similar profiles in order to force opponents to attack units using suboptimal weapons. Using very little vehicles and lots of Infantry “wastes” your opponents anti-tank shots, for example. Or by having lots of heavy infantry and armour means that the small arms fire directed at you will be less effective. Other schools emphasize the modular nature of Space Marines and prioritize the taking of multiple styles of Marine units in order to more effectively deal with various threats. These two schools are extremes, and good list building most likely lands somewhere in the middle.
*The goal of making an army themed around a specific profile type is to reduce the effectiveness of your opponents shooting- an all-infantry army being more effective against anti-tank weapons is an obvious example, but similar principles apply to things like multi-wound attacks being overkill against single-wound units. However, this idea has one catastrophic flaw which should always be kept in mind: when the opponent is able to counter your chosen style and you don't have any units not of that style, they will counter you '''''hard'''''. Try to figure out what your enemy will be likely to use ahead of time so you don't pay for putting all your eggs in one basket!
**All scouts is one type. Or all Power Armour-traditional. Go all Primaris or all-regular Marine, do not mix. You want to either be all 2 wound models or all 1 wound models. The 1 wound models would all suck were it not for the awesome veterans: Sternguard kill things; Vanguard with 2 chainswords (4 attacks) that's a lot of attacks that does add up well; Company Champions can carry 1 stormbolter and 1 chainsword for 18 points and intercept wounds meant for the characters. Even Tacticals have the advantage of being a cheap source of heavy+special weapons, if nothing else. 
*The T5 family is all bikes, Inceptors and Aggressors. They'll be able to take a beating and things like Pedro Kantor+Aggressors are a powerful combo, but Bikes and Gravis-armoured Primaris Marines don't synergize very well with each other and you might end up leaving half your army behind if you don't pay extra for Repulsors (and it has to be Repulsors, Impulsors don't carry Gravis-armoured units).

====Bringing Allies====
In general, you use allies to cover your weaknesses, such as the marine's usual lack of hordes or particularly heavy vehicles by bringing in guard, skitarii, or knights, but be aware that you will sacrifice the HUGE benefits of Combat Doctrines unless the other detachments are also drawn from Codex: Space Marines- and even if they are, you'll lose your Chapter-specific Combat Doctrine boost if its Chapter Tactics are different. Before Codex 2.0 and Faith and Fury, allies were something to consider, but with the new doctrine rules and massive influx of ways to fit in FnPs, psychic protection, and point cuts, there's almost no reason to bring anything other than an inquisitor (with their risk-free, no downside but cost ways of being brought) in your marine list.

=====Specific Mixes=====
Specific combinations are mainly dependent on your chapter trait but there are some combo's that are great for any army some examples are shown below:

*Grav-Bomb, stick some grav-cannon devastators or grav-centurions in a razorback, stormraven or rhino with a captain. Yeet it up the board ideally keeping out of LOS or at least partially obscured, then drop off your devastators or centurions in cover somewhere just in range of a nasty enemy unit ideally a centrepiece unit with a high armour save (at least 3+). Then drop the 1cp  stratagem to re-roll all wounds and damage rolls for the unit and if your using devastators use the armorium cherub too. That's 4 shots each at strength 5 AP -3, hitting on 3+ rerolling 1's and re-rolling all wounds and damage rolls. Usually this is enough to make targeting your devastators a priority for your opponent and in all likelihood they're going to take heavy casualties but the unit will have easily made back its points by then and seriously disrupted your opponents army.
**If you're Iron hands or a successor then you can move these guys without any penalty to hit and re-roll 1's without a captain so that's something to consider, only works in the devastator doctrine though.
**Effective against hordes as well so this combo is still good against swarm lists and those army's will have a hard time dislodging your guy's from a ruin. 
*Captain and hellblasters, pretty self explanatory stick a bare bones captain near a 10 man squad of hellblasters and fire on overcharged with only a 1 in 36 chance of dying each time you fire, generally works best if you use a impulsor as this allows you to move a fair distance BEFORE DISEMBARKING to shoot with no penalty to hit, if you're within 15" then that's 20 shots at s8 AP-4 which is enough to cripple or kill almost anything without an invulnerable save.
**Although this unit is a serious threat to your opponent it's unlikely to be killed off early, an impulsor's fairly tough anyway if you give it the shield dome equipment and hide it behind a wall it becomes incredibly difficult to remove turn 1. Not to mention that if you have the right threat saturation in your army then your opponent is unlikely to shoot this thing anyway.
*Aggressor auspex scan, when playing against an opponent like daemons, orks or tyranids it's pretty common to have a swarm of infantry pop up to charge you out of deepstrike, ordinarily this can be a real problem as many of the units available to these armies have ways of getting a very easy charge. This trick's for just such a situation. When you deploy your units leave a nice gap behind your lines where an enemy infantry unit could deepstrike just in range of your agressors ideally a unit of six that hasn't moved, when your opponent tries to deepstrike his infantry play the 1CP stratagem to shoot all your aggressors at his guys TWICE at a -1 penalty, (you should have a chapter master in range anyway so that's not too big a deal) even with a 5 man aggressor unit you should annihilate any light infantry that tries to deepstrike for just 1 cp.
**With iron hands chapter tactic then you can pretty much get the same effect on normal overwatch, for 1CP you overwatch on a 4+, 75% accuracy near a chapter master.

====Character Buffing====
For those of us that want a pure marine army it is important to double up on your force multipliers at every opportunity. The Troop Tax is no more; it is replaced with the HQ tax. Use your HQs to their maximum. And while HQs and the Lord of War Guilliman improve your hitting and wounding, units inside the elite slot have created a new dynamic for Marines. The Marine Formula -- a Unit and it's accompanying support Unit, goes for all the non-character models. 
*Ancients are must-takes in infantry-heavy Space Marine armies. Ancients enable out of turn shooting from models you'd otherwise be removing from play, even on your opponent's turn and help reduce the toll of Alpha Strikes: getting shot off the board Turn 1 is a thing, and Ancients help you recoup some of your losses by returning fire as models die.
*Apothecaries are best described as a trap, unless you're looking to fill out slots for detachments. the inability to revive heroes, the bad odds at returning lost models, and the loss of the once cool 5+ FnP in earlier editions is down right heartbreaking. maybe with the Chief Apothecary upgrade they could have a use, but in general avoid them. 
*Build around your Warlord! HQs like Kantor, Shrike, Vulkan, and Khan can drastically change your army's peak efficiency. Using Vulkan around loads of Melta toting marines is more efficient than Kantor around the same loadout. Conversely, Kantor with dedicated heavy assault troops (Assault Centurions, Assault Terminators with Thunder Hammers, Vanguard Veterans with Thunder Hammers, etc.) can take out a Knight in one turn of CC. Without Kantor, they only accomplish 50% of the damage. 
*Another popular combination is a Captain (ideally upgraded to Chapter Master if you can spare the CP) and Lieutenant; the Captain allows hit re-rolls of 1 while the Lieutenant allows wound re-rolls of 1. Hellblasters and Devastators in particular really benefit from being inside these auras. Chapter Masters and Lieutenants are essential for getting accurate firepower; other armies lack accuracy but make up for it with volume of fire. Marines will usually have a low model count and so need each shot to work.

====Sergeant Equipment====
Most of your regular Infantry and Bikers have a Sergeant that takes items from the Sergeant Equipment List.  This includes your Tactical/Scout/Assault/Devastator Squads, your Company/Vanguard/Sternguard Veterans, and your Bike Squads and Company Veterans on Bikes.  If you don't have specific wargear in mind, '''ALWAYS''' take a Storm Bolter and Chainsword instead of leaving them with their default options.  This 2-point upgrade adds the same amount of dakka as an entire 13-point Tactical Marine/11-point Scout.
*Veteran Sergeants all have 3 attacks, so investing in a nice melee weapon is often worth the points, even if you don't intend to use them in assaults.  A 16-point Thunder Hammer presents a very serious threat to pretty much any multi-wound model, be it Infantry, Monster, or Vehicle.  Taking a Thunder Hammer in this instance is as much about limiting your opponent's options as it is about directly inflicting losses, though landing even a single blow will more than make your points back if you pick the right target (putting it on an Intercessor Sarge helps here since they get one more attack than the other types).
**Saying that, remember that most power weapons are only 4 points in 8th. So when low on points left, consider a Power Sword or something like that to cut through armour if you find yourself in combat.

====Transport Tips====
*'''Razor Rush:''' Razorbacks hauling troops are way better in 8e than they were in 7e, and in 7e they were free. The unit inside the razorback should do something complementary to the razorback, while maintaining a similar weapons range. If inside a laserback, consider a plasma tactical squad. A razorback with heavy flamers would benefit from a melta/combi-melta tactical squad, or even an assault squad to offer a bit of melee counterpunch. In this MSU approach, it is better to diversify your squads. So while one can bring devastators with 4 multi-meltas inside a razorback (5 if you're using FW's infernus razorback to take another multi-melta), that razorback is going to [[Distraction Carnifex|draw too much attention]] and those devs are likely to be stranded.
**Non-Ultramarines watch out. While spammable, Razorbacks aren't disposable. It can be infuriating to not be able to use a twin assault cannon because an enemy managed to touch the transport. Protect your boxes!
*'''STEEL REHN Revisited''': The ability to deep strike on the first turn in Matched Play using Drop Pods is a significant boost to the Space Marines' offensive ability. We shouldn't need to go into detail about what this means for you<sup>''please do, this is a tactics page''</sup>, but needless to say it lets you take the fight to the enemy much sooner than most armies can. Seriously though, this can get a bit stupid, this writer has killed entire 2500 point armies in two turns by stuffing the entire army in drop pods, suffering something like 6 models as casualties<sup>''How?''</sup>. Yes, 6 MODELS, not units. Whilst this is ridiculous and broken, it does limit you to non-bulky infantry. You will lack termies, Dreads, or any large vehicles, so play with caution. Of course you could just bring some cheap backfill units, like artillery (Whirlwind anyone?<sup>''lmao''</sup>) to counter this issue. Advised only to be done when you really, really need to win or teach someone a lesson. You will lose friends, you have been warned.

====Command Points and You====
If you are gonna go for an all-marine army with CPs, it's gonna be hard to balance multi purpose, jack-of-all-whatchamacallsits with specialized elites, HS, Fast attack and HQs in brigades and battalions. Dodging the Troop Tax is viable with the Outrider, Spearhead and Vanguard detachments, but doesn't give as many command points, and CPs are like Psykers, they may do a little, or they may wreck your shit, and it's good to have a few just in case.
*You can build a Space Marine Army around 6 troop choices and burning Command Points. You'd likely need to go cheap on Fast Attack units. In this approach every turn you should use Hellfire Shells, Flakk Missiles and Expert Marksmen. If your model dies, but gets one last shot off with an Ancient, use the Flakk Missile and Hellfire stratagem for Mortal Wounds in your opponent's turn. Use Scouts to control how your enemy deep strikes, and use Tacticals to zone off your Deployment Zone. With a large pool of Devastators in your Deployment zone rerolling because of Lieutenants and Captains, when the onrushing hordes reach your army use characters to defend them, and use Honor The Chapter for a game winning Counter Charge by your heroic character. Use the Standard of Emperor Ascendant to maximize this shooting.  Because this build takes up  a lot of points and few/no vehicles consider using Assault Weapons on your Tactical Marines so they can Advance every turn. If you prefer this playstyle you should really consider allying with some Imperial Guard/Admech since they provide CPs and infantry screens for far cheaper.
**As hinted at above, allying with Guard/Admech for CPs is significantly less viable than it once was, with marines losing many of their faction specific rules if they soup another faction in. Also, with all the buff they've received, marines can make a low CP list work much more easily than they once could, to the point where its just not worth it to lose combat doctrines to get allies and CPs. 

**If you're struggling with CP and you would (obviously) rather stay with a pure Marine army, consider trying Ultramarines; two of their best characters grant free CP just by being the Warlord, and one of their unique WTs offers them a way to recycle CPs.


====On Primaris Marines====
As these are the primary new toys given to Space Marines, a bit of caution should be taken when using them, especially when considering making an [[Ultima Founding]] Chapter, or using [[Crimson Fists|chapters]] [[Scythes of the Emperor|who]] [[Black Consuls|have]] been heavily supplemented by these new Chadmarines. The first and absolutely most important thing is that these guys are specialized to an extent that is jarring in comparison to other units in the codex. Almost every Primaris unit is a one trick pony, being very good at one role and struggling to do anything else: 
*For the most part, the characters take their roles deathly seriously, having no options that deviate from their purpose (if they even ''get'' options, that is- many of them don't even have that). They also have far fewer ways of accessing a 2+ save, so they have to be more careful around weapons whose AP is -2 or better. On the other hand, their profiles are a flat upgrade over an identically equipped normal character and they can be very nasty in close combat. 
*Aggressors are short-ranged shooting DISTRACTION CARNIFEXES that particularly rip apart light to medium infantry from short to mid-range and hit hard in melee, but their guns have to rely on the sheer quantity of the shots they put out against anything with a Toughness score greater than 5 and are sluggish enough to be at risk of getting blasted away before they get into the 18" range that most of their weaponry uses.
*Reivers are ranged or melee harassers with a powerful grenade capable of disrupting enemy units, some powerful deployment methods, and the potential to cause the worst problems for morale, but fare poorly against anything with morale boosts (or morale immunity, either inherently or due to small unit sizes) or armour saves above a 5+.
*Inceptors rely on their ability to deep strike and gun down their preferred prey (light infantry for Assault Bolters, everything else for Plasma Exterminators) but also suffer from range issues on top of poor melee ability, Suppressors combine the Inceptor's mobility with a long-range weapon whose secondary ability is ideal for softening up a unit you want to charge, but their autocannons aren't so hot against vehicles and they have subpar melee as well. 
*Infiltrators and Incursors are expensive and not that good against heavily armoured foes, but they are superb for quickly taking and holding objectives. Both can infiltrated and use smoke grenades to be hard to hit. The Infiltrators can bring in a mini-apothecary or count as being in range of a Phobos Captain/Lt.'s aura even if the Captain providing it is on the opposite side of the board, all while having a decent chance to wound even high-toughness units. The Incursors, on the other hand, are slightly better in melee, ignore cover with their guns, and ignore debuffs to hit in the shooting phase while also providing a source of mortal wounds from their haywire mines. 
*Eliminators can serve one of two functions. They can either pick off high-value infantry and characters even without a clear line of sight, or they can blast vehicles from afar with what's basically a shorter-ranged but more reliable lascannon. Either way, they can infiltrated to move into optimal positions and are a bitch to hurt with shooting when in cover. While they too are weak in melee the sergeant's optional instigator bolt carbine can act as a panic button if they're ever charged. 
*Hellblasters and Intercessors are the exceptions that prove the rule, with the former acting as a solid MEQ/TEQ-killer that can also double as improvised anti-vehicle if needed and the latter being a more expensive but resilient Troops choice that's great at holding down backfield objectives.
*Though the Repulsor does somewhat open them up to versatility, it pays significantly for multi-tasking and is often best for clearing out hordes; the Repulsor Executioner is its vehicle-killing cousin that shares the double-shooting trick of the IG's Leman Russ tanks. The Impulsor, on the other hand, has less transport capacity and can't carry Aggressors or Gravis-armoured characters, but it's much cheaper and can be equipped for either greater resilience or for extra firepower. The Assault Vehicle option also opens up potential for some techniques that don't work with other transports. 

These guys are truly Aspect Marines and should be treated as such, even in a full army of the true scaled bastards.

====Tactical Marines====
The introduction of Primaris Marines all but stopped the popular use of Old Marines, it was hard to argue why you would wouldn't take the Nu-boys, twice the wounds, an extra attack, an extra -1 ap and 6" on their weapon range all for a few extra points. However the new Codex Space Marines (8E) 2.0 gave the humble Tactical Marine a new lease on life. They can gain the benefit of all Doctrines, Devastator for heavy weapons and grenades, Tactical for bolters and special weapons and assault for their melee attacks. "MELEE?!!" You say, "Why would you trade the obviously superior shooting of their bolters?" and I say "Fools!!!, you know nothing of the glory days of yore, when the Metal Bawks had the personality of a steam roller, clearing an inexorable path across the field of battle, when the holy Bolter was but a device to smear butter on any unfortunate newbs who happened to risk the wrath of the OG' to snatch an extra round of shooting at something more important."
*But enough of the nostalgia and theatrics. 2.0 gave marines a lot of what they had back in 2-7ED, +1A on charge, strike first if they charge (back then there was an Initiative stat (I) and charging granted +1I making marines I5 and against most armies except the Eldar and 'stealers this meant they got first strike), the new doctrines are an effective reintroduction of special rules you could purchase to allow you to flavour your marines to whatever chapters you had in mind. But now the glory days of Tactical Marine have returned, 2 shots with their bolter then another 2 in Melee, that makes for up to 41 S4 attacks per turn with a 10 man squad and 4.6 dead enemy MEQs before they can even react, with a base 10 man marine squad for only 120pts, with doctrines (either tactical or assault) and you get another dead enemy marine. Then the support options are all gravy. Consider using the Rhino rush strategy to deny the enemy ground, deliver your marines in safety and use them to soak up overwatch, you should muse over use of the trusty; Stay in combat and clean up during your opponents assault phase tactic to protect your units from shooting.
*Do you want to know what what they get now that they didn't get back in pre 8ED 2.0? 2. Damage. Melee. Attacks. The White scars take Tactical marines melee to a whole new stratosphere even if you only take generic Chapter Tactics. If you manage to preserve a 10 man Tactical squad until turn 3 they will of earned 21 S4 ap-1 2D melee attacks, that's 3.5 dead primaris, 2.3 dead TH/SS terminators, 4.6 wounds against a character with T4 2+ and ... wait for it ... 3.1 wounds against a T5 2+ Character (Abbadon springs to mind). Bear in mind this is a Full tactical squad with no weapon upgrades OR support of any other kind and in addition to any added bolter fire.
*A Captain/lieutenant adds about 10% damage to both melee and range, Chapter Master (-2CP) adds about 20% to both in melee and range, Chaplain w/litanies of hate (66% of the time) adds about 20% in melee only and a WS Master of Sanctity (-1CP) with both litanies of hate and strike off the head (88% of the time for 1 and 44% for both) adds about 40% damage boost in melee. You want to go all melee? Master of Sanctity. Want reliable? Go Chapter Master and want cheap but effective support? Go lieutenant.

===Matchups and Counterplay===

This is where matchups and counter-play is discussed. Feel free to add what tactics and strategies have worked against specific armies in your own personal experience. For simplicity's sake, let's assume that these are mono-lists and are not relying on allies (AKA Soup).

====Imperium====
*'''Space Marines:''' You already know what's good since it's been discussed at length in the articles above. Make sure you account for their Chapter Tactics, as they may cause them to follow a very different playstyle than your own army despite having the exact same units available to them. 
*'''Blood Angels:''' The following 5 armies (lovingly referred to as other flavors of power armour) are mostly just your units mixed with some unique units and different chapter tactics. For Blood Angels, avoid melee if possible because they essentially get +1 to wound in the first round of combat. They often field lots of jump-pack infantry. Best known for their smash-captains, who rain terror down on battlefields everywhere- bring weapons that gain bonuses against things with the {{W40kKeyword|Fly}} keyword. 
*'''Dark Angels:''' They're the shooty emo catholic marines who are <s>secretly traitors hunting down loyal Dark Angels that they refer to as the Fallen</s> THE MOST LOYAL SERVANTS OF THE EMPEROR. Their Chapter Tactic makes them almost immune to morale, plus they re-roll 1s to hit if they stand still. They are less reliant on generic characters such as Chaplains and their Masters (the equivalent of Captains), but they do gravitate toward named characters a lot more. Their Chapter Master Azrael gives a 4+ Invulnerable save to all non-vehicle units within 6" of him, making him particularly annoying against weapons that rely on high AP in order to do damage. Their specialty is in Plasma, Biker Squads, and Terminator squads. Their most famous stratagem, "Weapons of the Dark Age", boosts the damage of all Plasma weaponry a chosen unit fields by 1. It is frequently paired with their Chapter Master Azrael leading a maxed-out squad of Hellblasters toting the Heavy Plasma Incinerators for devastating effect. Their Ravenwing units have a stratagem that lets them advance and still shoot and charge normally, letting them have a 4+ Invulnerable save against ranged attacks, and allow them to bring their assault Plasma Talons to bear. Deathwing Terminators are fearless, and can drop 2cps to shoot the moment they arrive from reserves in order to clear a screen and allow other deep-striking units to close in on you. The Darkshroud, another commonly seen unit, gives an aura of -1 to hit and can advance in order to get the 4+ Jink save like other Ravenwing units. Counter the Azrael-Darkshroud-Hellblaster-WotDA castle with Transhuman physiology to protect against the plasma, and bypass the Darkshroud's 4+ Invuln with the Flakk Missile and Hellfire Shells stratagem to whittle it down and drop it.
*'''Space Wolves:''' Like Blood Angels they are also a melee-centric army, with +1 to hit instead of +1 to wound. They focus more on running instead of jump-packing. This addition they gravitate towards weapons like power fists with a -1 to hit. Units of wolves and Thunderwolf cavalry are common to see. They are still Space marines and have a range of Shooting vehicles, flying landraiders and better devastators to fill in range. Their units of wolves provide nice chaff units. Outside of Thunderwolf and Wulfen spam, there's not a lot to see here. 
*'''Deathwatch:''' They're more elite Space Marines, who essentially have Sternguard Veterans as a troop choice and can gain bonuses against everything in a specific FOC slot. More importantly, they kept the Special Issue Ammunition that your veterans lost, which applies to all Bolter weaponry (minus Heavy Bolters and the Incinerator Heavy Bolters (Infernus Heavy Bolters)) fielded by their infantry and bike models.. They can mix Terminators, Assault Marines, and Bikers into said squads too, which is a funny gimmick. Their Watch Masters act like Chapter Masters, so be wary of an Intercessor blob with 5 hidden heavy hellblasters spitting out Hellfire rounds and S9 overcharged shots. They can deep-strike their entire army like Grey Knights, so a good screen and the Auspex Scan on a key unit of your choice should do well. Their Veterans like to hide Storm Shields in their squads to tank the odd Plasma gun or high-AP weapon shot, but with the new combat doctrines forcing a shit-ton of Bolter saves will hurt them, just as much as it does to your own units with Storm Shields. The Corvus is an overcosted flier just like your Storm Raven, a few Lascannons and multi-meltas will do you well. Again, using Transhuman Physiology against a unit's hellfire rounds will do you good, mitigating the 2+ to wound non-vehicle units.
*'''Grey Knights:''' Oh look, it's one of two armies that you can actually realistically outnumber (Knights are a third army you can outnumber, but they're tonka-tough). Let's be real: Grey Knights are long past the glory days of 5th Edition. Their equivalent units are either overcosted compared to yours or just flat-out suck, maybe with a few exceptions. Grand Masters in Dreadknights are one example, and the Chapter Master equivalent Kaldor Draigo is another one for the obvious reason. They can pull off decent alpha-strikes, but use Scout Squads and Infiltrators to zone out their deep strike bubbles and/or Auspex scan a unit of your choice. If you have access to Vanguard Primaris units, a couple combat squads of Infiltrators can not only block a Strike Squad out of Rapid Fire range, but also lock his entire army out of charge range. After that, it should be easy pickings as Grey Knights lack cost efficient means of mobility. Their interceptors are way too expensive for what they do and Stormravens are a major point sink that a few good lascannon and/or meltagun shots can swiftly take care of, so if you can hold onto the skies you should be in good shape. 
** I won't say too much here, cause I haven't read it in full yet, but Ritual of the Damned buffed these guys like crazy. Not saying they're game breakingly good now, but they're no slouches anymore. assume the above on Grey Knights isn't true, will update this when/if I get the book, or someone who knows more can update it. 
*'''Imperial Guard:''' Don't let their weak statlines fool you. Guard are VERY tough to deal with this edition. Between dirt-cheap infantry, extremely weapon-dense deep striking units like scion command squads, and absurdly good for their cost tanks, Guard can take an enormous beating and deal one out in turn. We'll point out the linchpin - ''Officers!'' Snipe out those low-wound characters to neuter the enemy chain of command and his infantry will suddenly be a LOT less impressive. Take a squad or two of Sniper Scouts or Eliminators. Vehicles to beware include the Leman Russ if it has the Conqueror Battle Cannon and the Executioner Plasma Cannon, Hellhounds, and any artillery vehicle. Now with the new codex and supplements (and the power creep that follows), we have LOTS of potential ways to counter the Guard's shenanigans, turnabout is fair play from their horrific index cheese. The Devastator Doctrine makes a mockery of guard tanks on turn 1, moreso if you're using Imperial Fists. The Tactical Doctrine will help you shred guard squads a bit easier (the guard player can't issue orders if there's nobody TO issue an order to), and the Assault Doctrine should be considered as a mop-up action. Consider taking Raven Guard Eliminators, and on turn 2 pop the tactical doctrine so you can snipe officers on 2+ (stick a Phobos Captain next to them to re-roll those pesky 1s), and deal mortal wounds on 5+. If you decide to wall-bang them with the Executioner Rounds you'll at least wound them on a 2+ and force saves. Thunderfire Cannons can shoot twice with the Suppressing Fire stratagem, enabling it to mulch 2 guard units in a turn (preferably any fragile Heavy Weapon Squad). A squad of 5 Reivers with combat knives and taking advantage of Shock Assault will throw out 21 attacks while lowering the Guard’s already weak Ld, wiping out entire 10-model squads in a single combat + morale.
*'''Adeptus Mechanicus:''' The weird middle-child between you and the Imperial Guard, Adeptus Mechanicus' can elect to run modestly cheap Skitarii-focused armies or eschew the tin men for the Cult Mechanicus tank-like Kataphrons. Either way, most AdMech players will likely be running their squads MSU style to get around their poor leadership. Weapons like Heavy Bolters strike a nice medium for ripping through most of their infantry, though you'll definitely want to pack a few Lascannons to handle any Dunecrawlers or Kastelan Robots. Other than the knights, not a single admech unit has t8, they also practically have no rapid fire weaponry and awful but universal invuls, making meltas a more or less perfect way to deal with most if not all their units. Don't underestimate the basic Skitarii though, their Arquebus sniper rifles and Plasma Calivers can easily chew through your marines if they get the chance, but thankfully they fall quickly if given any attention, which could be worth it anyway, considering that and their weapons cost a small fortune compared to other GEQ like units. Be aware that most admech armies have more than enough s6+ weaponry to chew through your marines, cover or not, if they don't have a better target, so bring vehicles to distract and counter the heavier elements while you play for objectives. Also, be careful when deploying and go for the second turn, they can and will happily kill or strand your marines and lighter vehicles if you are the first to break cover.
*'''Adeptus Ministorum:''' If you see someone using sisters at a tournament, be VERY afraid - sisters are one of, if not the, weakest armies in the current meta, so if you see someone using them in competitive play, they’re either insane or a tactical genius to rival Creed. This may change <s>when</s> if the new codex comes out, but for now if you face sisters take Centurions and any other mass-bolter fire unit.
*'''Adeptus Custodes:'''You will outnumber these golden boys, big time, but they are tough as nails and hit like a sock with a halfbrick. Best known for their jetbikes, which have hilarious amounts of firepower and are lethal in melee for good measure. Do not engage in combat if you can help it and bring as many sources of Mortal Wounds as you can. 
**At least until they get to bring Sisters of Silence along with them.
*'''Imperial Knights:''' Remember, Imperial Knights seem intimidating and are armed to the teeth, but they lack board control. If you have the second player turn, pop the Prepared Positions stratagem and watch as all your vehicles and infantry have 4+ saves against the Knights' Battlecannons! It's better than a 5 or 6+ save, after all. Lascannon spam, deep striking squads full of Meltaguns, or Chainfist Terminators can deal with Imperial Knights fairly well. As a general rule, Imperial Knights prefer their titanic feet attacks in melee compared to their arm weapons, aside from the Gallant variants. Best advice: play to the mission! Your best bet is to win on objective points, as most armies don't have the firepower to take down an army of knights. You can, however, wear them down enough to make them much less of a threat. 
**The basic Knight Paladin is armed with a Rapid Fire Battlecannon and the Reaper Chainsword, with two Stubbers. It's versatile, but a simple 2d6 Battlecannon shots is not quite as devastating as you think compared to its cost. The Imperial guard get 2d6 battlecannon shots on one battle tank that stands still, for 1/3 the cost of a Knight Paladin!
**The Knight Errant trades its RFBC for a Thermal Cannon that is half the range, but absolute cancer to vehicles and multi-wound models.
**The Knight Warden has a Thunderstrike Gauntlet and a RFBC base that can be exchanged for the Avenger Gatling Cannon, a 12 shot beast capable of reliably deleting your infantry units. 
**The Knight Crusader is the dakka knight, it has a Thermal Cannon (that can be swapped for a RFBC) and the Gatling Cannon.
**The addition of Armiger Knights makes things a bit more challenging as they can offer a bit more board control for the Knights at the expense of durability.  The Armiger Helverins are superior to Autocannon Predators every day of the week, and Armiger Warglaives that get too close will wreck vehicles and heavy infantry in short order. 
**The Dominus Knight variants are perhaps the biggest challenge. Both variants have weaker Battle cannons, and Shieldbreaker Missiles that can target characters, even out of LoS, for 2CPs. The infamous Dominus Castellan has a mini Volcano Cannon and a Plasma Decimator, it is capable of one-shotting two Land Raider equivalent vehicles per turn. Apologies Knight Crusader, THIS is the Dakka knight. The Dominus Valiant has a fuck-huge Harpoon that does a ''flat 10 damage'' and an additional d3 mortal wounds to a model that somehow survived the initial shot (Full strength Land Raider or Storm Raven). It also has a gigantic flamethrower for crowd control. The problem with the Valiant is that its weapons aside from the Shield Breaker missiles are so short ranged that you'll have a fairly easy time throwing enough meltagun shots and drowning it in mass bolter fire at it to destroy it. The same cannot be said for the long ranged Castellan who will try and play the keep away game.

====Chaos====
*'''Chaos Space Marines:''' Some matchups will play out like a mirror match depending on the Legion traits, but Chaos Space marines have a better combination of USRs, as Death to the False Emperor will come into effect more often than ATSKNF. Like you, they have the shock assault and Bolter Discipline rules, making World Eaters armies horrifying on the charge. 
*'''Chaos Daemons:''' They often come in four flavors. Khorne Daemons hit like freight trains on the charge with all of their characters granting re-rolls on failed charges, and by paying command points to get Banners of Blood, they will often make their charges out of deep strike. Their shooting is a joke and basic Bloodletters are surprisingly fragile at T3, but a Khorne player worth their salt will make sure to lock you down to prevent you from capitalizing on it. Nurgle is obscenely tough to kill with the Disgustingly Resilient rule but like the Death Guard it's fucking slow. Slaanesh is fragile, but they are very fast and you will likely be staring turn 1 charges in the face if you don't back your shit up as far back as possible. Tzeentch is arguably the easiest to deal with as they are only good at range, and your ranged abilities will exceed theirs. Just remember to take librarians to deny some of their smites. Thunderfire Cannons and anything with an Assault Cannon will do well to hack up their infantry, and good lord deal with any greater daemons before they get close otherwise you're fucked, no other way to put it. Iron Hands and Ultramarine Chapter Tactics will do you well here, overwatching on a 5+ combined with a 6+ shrug will let you weather the storm, and Guilliman's aura will make a Daemon player ([[Cheese|or any opponent, really]])cry.
*'''Death Guard:''' Mortal Wound spam out the ass, lots of rerollable wounds, and Disgustingly Resilient making their units extra-hardy. Fun times abound! They have the stronger Chaos Primarch, Mortarion. Morty is also known as [[that guy]] who absorbs all your fire even when he doesn't have any buffs to support him before ramming his rusted, STD-infested scythe up your army's gaping sphincter. Good thing they're slow as shit. Use that to your advantage. 
*'''Thousand Sons:''' They have the weaker Chaos Primarch, Magnus the Red. Magnus is also known as the guy who dies in 1 turn of shooting even if he receives all of the defensive buffs first. However, "weaker" should still not be misinterpreted as being the same as "weak", because he can still rip and tear with the best of them. Thousand Sons are an army that relies on their psychic phase more than anyone aside from Daemons and Grey Knights, and they've got access to way more powers than either of those. Their Tzaangors can create a nasty suicide unit by either moving forward with Warp Time, or deep striking in front of you and then charging. 
*'''Renegade Knights''': See Imperial Knights above. They share a lot of traits with them, but favor melee to a greater extent and can mix and match weapon types to a degree. 
*'''Renegades and Heretics (FW):''' This will play out much like a Guard match, but the difference is they still have access to morale-immunity on their hordes of renegades. Take Scout Snipers and assassinate their Enforcers like you would a Company Commander/Commissar!

====Xenos====
*'''Tau:''' Tau vs. Marine matchups exist in a weird space as Tau are both devastating at range, and a pain in the ass to charge with their bonuses to overwatch. At the same time, space marine armies (regardless of composition) are strongly middle-range armies. Part of surviving tau is closing in with the enemy with multiple units to force the split of overwatch. Youre not going to outshoot them, and while you should beat them in close combat, you're not a close combat army either. While they have indirect fire options, a huge part of their mechanics rely on line of sight, so cover becomes remarkably important. Tau guns are strong but are usually wielded as BS4+, so anything with minuses to-hit (like Raven Guard units) will fare well against Tau. Ensure to remove supporting drones with bolters before shooting your lascannons at the battlesuits, or your shots will likely be wasted. Sniping buffing characters like Fireblades and Ethereals will make your life easier. Most importantly, Tau often castle up to make the most of their synergies. If they do, don't try take them head-on, instead just play the mission and win on victory points!
*'''Craftworld Eldar:'''  Classic Eldar are known for two things: psychic powers and hyper-specialized units. Use a few snipers or psykers of your own to shut down or prevent Farseers/Warlocks from supporting their units or debuffing/smiting yours. This will cripple the Craftworlders significantly, as many of their units will begin to struggle against MEQ without their buffs helping them work around their otherwise garbage GEQ statlines. As for units like their aspect warriors, simply take advantage of their weaknesses; Howling Banshees, Striking Scorpions and Fire Dragons are practically helpless at range, while units like Dark Reapers, Swooping Hawks and Shadow Spectres are considerably easier in melee. Wraith units might have devastating firepower and can still easily throw down in a fist fight, but all variants are generally slow and have very limited ranges on their weapons. If you lack heavier firepower to simply punch through their armour and toughness, you can still kite them with relative ease and whittle them down.
*'''Dark Eldar:''' This faction is a bit special in that their codex more or less divides itself into three armies so here's an entry for each.
**'''Kabals:''' Death of a thousand cuts. Most of their units will whittle you down with splinter fire since your T 4 doesn't mean a thing to them, and they have a startling lack of multi damage weapons outside of Dark Lances and the like making Primaris units quite useful as short of disintegrators they don't have any cost effective solution to bringing them down. Moreover their infantry fold under bolt fire like guardsmen and are quite afraid of it; luckily Venoms also crumple easily under massed bolter fire, Raiders and Ravagers are slightly tougher but will quickly fall apart under heavier firepower however. That being said, do not underestimate the speed or cost-effective anti-tank their vehicles can bring. 
**'''Wych Cults:''' One of the two combat heavy sides to the DE with terrific invuln saves in combat, avoid melee if you can even with your own dedicated CQC units as they will get bogged down pretty quickly and your more ranged units will either be killed or mauled quite badly. However, the good news is outside of combat they're essentially useless and like the one above massed bolt fire will work wonders, even against their transports, and Assault Cannons are just their worst nightmare. Be prepared to fall back as often as you'll be able to open up their units to your fire, but hey, you're the Imperium: when is Guns O' Clock not the solution?
**'''Covens:''' The other combat heavy side that relies on being obscenely tough. Everyone gets an invulnerable save, be it close combat or at range. Quick, but not as fast as the Wyches, so finishing them off with well placed charges can be effective. They can also bring a fair amount of beefy monsters and can harm your Primaris marines a fair bit more reliably. The best way to beat their invuln saves is by swamping them in Bolter fire which doesn't care about armor. 
*'''Harlequins:''' Death of a thousand honks . . . wait. In all seriousness though these lot are FAST, like insanely fast, like genestealer fast! Okay maybe not that fast, but still they well be in your lines turn 2 at the latest. Unfortunately for you they can and will shred Marines faster than you can blink so avoid melee like the plague. Good news is even though they all have a 4++ or better they're still T 3 so massed bolters will wipe out whole units at a time. Bad news is they'll make sure they have transports, which have 4++ and a -1 to hit so taking them down quick will be a challenge, mortal wounds will bypass those well enough or a well positioned librarian with Nullzone can lead to you wiping out most of their army in one go.
*'''Ynnari:'''  This particular faction of space elves can be a bit tricky to plan for, but invariably the weakest of the them all. The bad news is they are already tailormade to fuck you up as MSU is their preferred targets, the good news is they're a semi decent close combat army at best so the usual tactics apply. To really shut them down however it's best to bring some psychic denial to stop the new hotness for them Unbind Souls their version of Doom that'll only apply in combat, which means librarians or Black Templars. Next to worry about is their few key strategems which can make any of their characters get back up on a 4+, or the two separate ones they have to give reroll to wound against your units. Be warned you'll probably be facing dual battalions which means lots of elves, hope you brought your bolters.
*'''Tyranids:''' Almost an automatic win for you if you have a competent list. Kill off synapse and any significant firepower they may bring. Rub salt in the wound with your plethora of sniper weapons. You truly do not need help here.
*'''Genestealer Cults:''' Imperial Guard with Tyranid flavor, or Tyranid with Imperial Guard flavor? In all seriousness, deepstriking Genestealers with armoured support to back it up sounds like a very daunting prospect. As with Nids, avoid melee with anything that has a Rending Claw, Rock cutters/saws, or power hammers if possible. Remember to zone out ambushing units with Scouts. If you're planning on mixing in the new Primaris Vanguard units, remember that Infiltrators and the Phobos Captain can deny deep strikes within 12", making them and scouts your best friends against GSC by pushing them out of charge range. Ultramarines or Imperial Fists work well because the smurfs can fall back and still shoot, and the Fists can ignore cover (which a GSC player worth their salt would spring for). Unfortunately if you're reliant on offensive Librarians for damage, a single Magus will make you cry by giving all GSC units within 6" of it a free Deny the Witch. If that wasn't enough, Jackal Alphuses and Sanctuses will then proceed to heap the pain on characters with their Silencer sniper rifles (AP-1, d3 damage and forces perils on psykers that lose a wound to the shot). Kelermorphs are also bonkers since even if they don't have the relic pistol Oppressor's Bane they will snipe a non-screened Librarian, Chaplain, or Lieutenant with ease.
*'''Necrons:''' You shouldn't really need any help killing Necrons, but just in case: play for keeps and don't leave half-eaten units around. If you fail to wipe a unit, Reanimation Protocol will see a bunch of their slain models return (funnily enough, losses to morale do not count). Necron Wraiths and Lychguard with sword and board have especially good invulnerable saves, but a speedy Librarian build (Terminator, Index Bike, Jump Pack) with the Null Zone psychic power will make a mockery of them. The really solid unit Necrons have are Destroyers. Wraiths will constantly absorb firepower, while warrior blobs will harm your units badly if they can waddle into rapid fire range. 
*'''Orks:''' You shouldn't really need any help killing Orks, but just in case: the most important thing is target prioritizing. Take a lot of infantry mulching guns and unload into the massive units of Ork Boyz your opponent brought, and focus your anti-armour guns on popping their transport open. If you have any dedicated melee units of your own, don't rush into combat; that's playing right into the Ork players hand. Hold them back and let your guns soften the enemy up before intercepting them when they get too close. Also, keep in mind that''' 'ere We Go!''' allows orks to pull off charges from a surprising distance, so don't let that catch you off guard. Finally, if you must go toe-to-toe with a Warboss, make sure your character has a Storm Shield: Warbosses hit like a freight train and the Ork player can use the stratagem '''Orks is never defeated''' to guarantee that the boss gets a chance to fight. Orks are a volume army (both in T4 wounds and S4 attacks)... snipers picking off key buffing characters and the Warboss can cripple them.

[[Category:Warhammer 40000 Tactics(8E)]]
[[Category: Space Marines]]


{{Warhammer_40k_Tactics}}