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

===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]]


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