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

==Tactics and Strategy==

===Army Building===
====Army Composition====
Balance cool minis and Your Dudes with an answer to "how do I kill Russes, termies and gaunts?". Especially, how do you plan on killing those dudes wielding marine-killing D2/D1d3 weapons. Answer these questions first, ''then'' you can begin thinking about what you want to bring to the table.

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 (Marines have non-heavy infantry?). 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!

The T5 family is all bikes (Scout bikes, Attack Bikes, Outriders, Invaders, standard bikes), and Gravis units (Heavy Intercessors, Eradicators, 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).

Finally, think about your own play styles and how you prefer to command an army. It is important to determine before hand how you intend to play the game and generate an army fittingly. Marines have by far the most expansive and complex codex which means we have units for every situation. Once you master yourself you must master the codex, as again, Marines have an incredibly diverse and complex ruleset, and you need to understand each action you can take in each stage of the game. After you have done these two steps, you can finally chose a Chapter Tactic. Marines can march right into close combat, kite enemies in mid range gunfights, and hold firm at range with powerful heavy weaponry all equally well.

=====Picking your chapter=====
	
As there as so main chapters there is a section going over which ones are better at what things. Many chapters can do similar things and get the same buffs on a single unit but the true difference is which chapter abilities are individual, Auras, or army-wide.
 	
*'''Ultramarines:''' Lends itself as a Jack-of-trades army, being decent both shooting and fighting. Pure Ultramarines does lend itself more to a moving gunline list, ignoring penalties for moving and falling back, and some improved shooting stratagems,  along with some Heroic intervention, mass Overwatch, and CQC characters and abilities. Think of it as a T'au/Kroot list that wouldn't fall apart if they got into melee as we are dealing with marines bodies instead of those pansy Blueberries. They have slightly better control over combat doctrines with a preference for the Tactical doctrine, with heavy weapons also benefiting along with Eradicators, and several Forge world tanks gaining extra shots despite moving. A single detachment of Ultramarines or one of their successors can support many builds with a mix of different units.	
**'''Silver Templars:''' They take all the melee tools the Ultramarines have and double down on it. They also have a propensity for taking big power weapon on sergeants as they had the per nerfed Salamander rerolls for melee attacks. Being Ultramarines successors, they want to make a melee-focused army but they also still get all the Shooting tricks from your parent chapter, so no reason not to also have big weapons. 
**'''Emperor's Spears:''' These guys blend the tactical decisions of Ultramarines with the melee potential of the Blood Angels. Power weapons on your sergeants are a must. Similar to the Silver Templar in that they get the shooting tricks of the Ultramarines but are definitely a melee focused army. They are better at closing the gap than Silver Templars, however, and with Redden the Earth stratagem the wound a lot easier.
*'''Iron Hands:''' Has an affinity with Vehicles, durability, and some bonus to attack roll in melee and shooting. Iron Hands are the chapter that keeps their vehicles operating at max capacity for a long time, even giving back the shooting bonus that was enjoyed before the 9th codex. In addition, Iron Hands are well suited for protecting their characters, Dreadnoughts, and come with some extra Deny the Witches. Whether it's from vehicles or infantry attacking stratagems for improved firing and chainsword lines.
*'''Imperial Fists:''' You're a Siege tactics army, Wanting to sit back behind a fortified position and drawn the enemy in bolter rounds while destroying all Building, Vehicles, and Cover they could hide behind. Fists are about taking a lot of bolter welding units like Heavy bolters and hurricane bolters on vehicles. 	
**'''Crimson Fists:''' Similar in many ways to their yellow brothers, the Crimson Fists shine when facing overwhelming hordes and have various options for rock hard characters. 
*'''Raven Guard:''' Smooth operators, the Raven guard are a shooty army that possesses complex maneuverability for vicious one-two punch tactics. These guys also take advantage of the Tactical doctrine and have a habit of "incapacitating" characters/HQs. Not a novice chapter like the Ultras. While they gain bonuses at range, they have potent assault options as well that can advance and charge. 
*'''Salamanders:''' The Salamanders utilize tough infantry and higher quality ranged weapons. Being masters of flamers and meltaguns, they favor short ranged gunfights and take advantage of powerful, single shot guns as well. The Salamanders also have some pretty heavy duty HQs and don't mind some buffed vehicles as well. 
*'''Deathwatch:''' Being Inquisitorial based, Xenos slaying special forces Marines, this is a highly tailor fit army. Naturally they can really bring the hurt on anything without CHAOS or IMPERIUM keywords, though these guys require some patience and practice. Their Infantry units offer potent short ranged dakka and are highly customizable, though you will find they can become quite expensive. Deathwatch armies are all about positioning the right unit in the right spot, as its best to focus each unit on a specific task, rather than making bigger multi-purpose squads. Vehicle wise they are fairly vanilla, while they have the most diverse troops section in the game.
*'''White Scars:''' has a need for speed, with most of their ability focusing on movement, ignoring the downsides of advancing, getting into combat quickly. White Scars are about covering as much ground as you can and then start cycle charging. Although there is an emphasis on bikes, it also works with jump packs and transports. Most Bike units should be able to reach enemies by at least turn 2, but after that, all melee weapons can have 2 damage which works out for when engaging Vehicles and MEU. 
*'''Blood Angels:''' The bloody golden Marines, Blood Angels are a melee first army. Sporting very swift and very high output Characters alongside elite Infantry; they are a fast paced army, hard hitting army. They are offer a lot on the offense, though they can be countered rather easily and don't always absorb as much damage as they deal. Blood Angels players need to balance carving your opponent into little pieces with actually playing the mission and securing objectives. Take advantage of the fact that your opponent expects Death Company and Sanguinary Guard to rampage all over the board, though they will probably ignore your mid/back field campers... Or go full tilt and max out on Death Company and Sanguinary Guard, It will be awesome win or loose. 
*'''Dark Angels:''' Can be used to easily crush enemies any which way with your 3 doctrines for the different wings. Their “main” doctrine loves heavy weapons and plasma especially, having doctrines to pulverize opponents into fine meal. The Ravenwing and Deathwing both open up extremely durable tools to complete any job you want, and a Ravenwing Chief Apothecary is nearly mandatory if you bring some of the best bikes in the game. Units can get expensive, but there is little Deathwing Knights cant smash or Ravenwing Knights cant chase down. 
*'''Space Wolves:''' Similar to the Blood Angels, the Space Wolves prefer to destroy their enemies in brutal hand to hand combat. Perhaps the most codex divergent of all Space Marine Chapters; the Space Wolves have powerful characters and some impressive melee units, while their ranged game and vehicles are typically no better or worse than others. Space Wolves armies can be found with either a small number of high output units including upgraded dreadnoughts, or running larger numbers of infantry. Space Wolves can also be fast when needed, something to note when slaying your foe. 
*'''Black Templars:''' The Black Templars are a very thematic army that doesn't really diverge too much from the main Astartes codex. They don't have any librarians, yet they resist mortal wounds on a 5+ and they can re-roll charges. They usually find themselves taking advantage of aggressively deployed and/or vehicle borne infantry fighting at close range followed by a righteous melee (AKA ruthless slaughter).

====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. Adding this to not only the CP cost of taking an allied detachment but also the sheer variety of options you have as the posterboys, there's almost no reason to bring anything other than an inquisitor (with their risk-free, no downside but costly 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.
* Gravis Bombs (all types). Can be done with any chapter really, even Forge World offshoots and codex deviants like BA, DA, SW, and DW. Take 6-10 Gravis models of any variety along with an apothecary and an ancient. Find some way of providing a FNP or Invulnerable save and plant them in cover. Makes for an extremely durable T5, 18-30 wound unit that can shoot/fight whenever it loses models and can regain slain models. Finally, it creates a roughly 3' ''dead zone'' on the board, as enemy units that get near it will be zapped with anywhere from 20-36 S4 or S5 bolter shots, potentially even double plasma or flamers. Finally, you can take another two squads for another 36-60 T5 wounds. Finally all of the Aggressors come with 3 attacks base and powerfists... 
** Three squads of Heavy Intercessors for god damn 90 T5 wounds can be done for 840 points. That's tougher than like ~30 Dark Eldar little fighter planes and packing 90 Attacks on the charge and up to 90 S5 shots, or 30 S5 AP-2 D2 shots, all with obsec.

====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. Make him Chief and give chief's warlord trait, and you'll get auto-reviving machine, who is also heals twice and supplies FnP on 6's. Best with heavy cessors, aggressors, bladeguard vets and other elite infantry.
*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 points) 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 20-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 5 points. 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 9e than they were in 8e. 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. 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.
*'''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 (tactics Page, so yes please do), 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 (which is cheating, but whatever)(How?)(You must start the game with at least half your points deployed), suffering something like 6 models as casualties. Yes, 6 MODELS, not units. Whilst this is ridiculous and broken, it does limit you to non-bulky infantry. You will lack termies, redemptor dreads, or any large vehicles, so play with caution. Of course, you could just bring some cheap backfill units, like artillery (Whirlwind anyone?) (Lol) 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.
**Don't forget, Drop Pods ''don't'' let you put more than half your points in reserve, they just let you put more than half your ''units'' in reserve.  You can't (legally) put your whole force in them.

===Command Points and You===
Contrary to Last edition, The problem is now less about Gaining CP as much as it is filling enough Gubbinz into a single detachment. Per the new CP rules, Tactical Squads are now worth Taking just because they are cheap, and have somewhat more variability than Primary Sues. Battalions are also useful because these give us more Characters to use than patrols, Vanguards, or Outrider detachments.

===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 <s>Aspect Warrior</s> 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. 
*Eradicators are essentially Fire Dragons with a Primaris's stats. You might not have a Wave Serpent to get them deployed cheaply, but they're much more likely to survive footslogging anyway. With the extra shot they get from focusing on one target, they're most effective against lone vehicles and superheavies. 
*Outriders and Invader ATVs are your Bikers and Assault Bikes. Use them in the same way you would use their Firstborn equivalents, though kitting them out for melee might be wise given that Primaris have no other fast choppy units.
*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. The two new Intercessor variants give them added roles as your main melee unit and a source of long range anti-infantry firepower which doubles as a counter to light vehicles, respectively. 
*Bladeguard Veterans are the closest thing you have to Assault Terminators. On the one hand, without Thunder Hammers they aren't as effective against anything tougher than a MEQ and their invuln is only a 4++, but on the other hand they have a 2+ armor save (unlike the majority of Primaris infantry) and can still shoot things. It also helps that they don't have the reduced mobility of a (non-Tartaros) Terminator and work well with an Impulsor transport. 
*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 Gravis-armoured units like Aggressors, 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. 
*The Gladiator is your answer to the Predator, with three different modes to use depending on what you need it to do: generalist/long range anti-vehicle, short range anti-vehicle, and anti-infantry. Same goes for the Storm Speeder, which also fills your anti-aircraft role in its Thunderstrike configuration. 

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

===Using Tactical Marines===

Tactical marines are now 2W 1A, meaning their Primaris counter parts will outdo them in melee. Tactical marines however posses a wide range of tactical flexibility by being able to take up to two specialized weapons in a squad of 5. They are often used MSU with a single heavy or special weapon selected for a single purpose. The Sarge will less often be seen taking a close combat weapon to aid in melee, or combi-weapon to directly supplement the squads heavy/special weapon(s). They are also now our cheapest troop choice and the only troop choice able to take dedicated ranged anti-tank weaponry. Common loadouts and play styles: 
* Pocket Lascannons: 5 with a lascannon to hold objectives, damage vehicles, and remain stationary in the backfield, ideally in cover. 
* Rhino Rush: 2x5 units with a combi-melta and a flamer or multimelta. Used to move directly towards the enemy and engage tanks or infantry with a hardy 20 wound unit, plus the effectively disposable Rhino.
* Razorback Rush: Usually a plasma gun or grav-cannon and combi-plasma setup with 5 marines. Next the Razorback will probably use Twin Lascannons or Assault Cannons, and the two units will hunt units in tandem. This option allows an accompanying Captain to aid the ranged weaponry and protect against plasma overheating. 

In the end, the humble tactical squad should not be the linchpin of your army on its own. It should, however, perform a specific task that affords your primary units the ability to maneuver into position and deal crippling damage. Tactical squads can also be used to supplement, not supplant, another more specialized unit in your army where the situation deems necessary or act as an emergency replacement if said specialist unit is unexpectedly taken out. Finally, they are our cheapest source of troops for contesting objectives.

===Imperial Fear bomb===
with so many ld modifiers you can stack penalty from different detachments to stacking up to like '''-15Ld'''. Obviously ''you don't need that'' much spooky (but of course can be hilarious when used correctly), especially not against things like Orks, but already '''-4Ld renders Plague Marines as cowardly as Conscripts''', and models that flee don't proc FnP-equivalents. Best used by a '''Fearsome Aspect''' chapter so you don't have to commit like 5 units to a single enemy. Of almost no use against the bunch of Eldar morale immunities out there...but ironically among imperial, only the DA, some successor chapter tactic nobody will use, the Valhallan relic, a single IG psychic power, and [[Warhammer 40,000/Tactics/Imperial Guard(8E)#Universal|that IG trait nobody uses, because it's not Master of Command,]] can offer the morale protection needed to survive an Ld bomb. ''Night Lords, eat your hearts out''.
*with 9th changes, Fear bombs are less effective. No longer a unit is destined to die during the moral phase after only a portion is killed. Fear bombs only need to stack enough penalty for the moral test to proc as a means of killing additional models instead of a guaranteed wipe.  
*Here's a list of the {{W40Kkeyword|Imperial}} units that stack with Fear Made Manifest:
*{{W40Kkeyword|Adeptus Astartes (-5Ld)}}: Besides the '''Fearsome Aspect''' chapter trait (-1Ld), Fear Made Manifest Warlord trait (-1Ld), {{W40Kkeyword|Reivers}} (-2Ld) and can deepstrike. Being Phobos, they also work alongside a Hallucination {{W40Kkeyword|Phobos Librarian}} (-1Ld), who can infiltrate. Master of Sancatry's The Emperor's Judgment (roll 2d6 for moral). ''These sources of debuffs can quickly arrive wherever you need them''. 
**{{W40Kkeyword|Black Templars}} '''(-2Ld)''': Chaplain '''Vow of Retribution'''.
**{{W40Kkeyword|White Scars}} '''(-2Ld)''': '''Spirits of Chogoris''', '''Headtaker's trophies''' relic.
**{{W40Kkeyword|Raven Guard}} '''(-2Ld)''': '''Decapitating Blow''', '''The Abyss'''.
**{{W40Kkeyword|Salamander}} '''(-3Ld)''': '''Helm of Drakos''', '''Draconic Aspect'''.
*These other Imperial allies also give Ld debuffs but prevent the SM detachment from using Doctrines. Pass, unless they are your main detachment and SM, are the allies.
**{{W40Kkeyword|Dark Angels (-3Ld)}}: '''Interrogator Chaplains''' have a natural -1Ld aura, they have the '''Eye of the Unseen''' relic for further -1Ld, and Interromancy's '''Mind Wipe''' inflicts -1Ld (and will proc more often with your help), along with other Ld powers. ''That's -3Ld from two characters with Jump Packs''.
**{{W40Kkeyword|Blood Angels (-1Ld)}}: The '''Sanguinor''' has a natural -1Ld aura, as does anyone wearing a Sanguinary Mask.
**{{W40Kkeyword|Inquisition (-1Ld)}}: Psykers '''Terrify''' inflict -1Ld from 18" away, and disable overwatch. 
**{{W40Kkeyword|Astra Militarum (-3Ld)}}: Psykana's '''Terrifying Visions''' inflict -2Ld from a safe 18" away. {{W40Kkeyword|Armageddon Officers}} can also bring the '''Skull Mask of Acheron''' to spook nearby enemies. Bringing them in a Spearhead detachment grants you access to Russes with '''Objective Secured''' and Basilisks. ''Versatile, powerful and easy to use at range. Complements your close-and-personal units''.
**{{W40Kkeyword|Adeptus Mechanicus (-2Ld)}}: '''Sicaran Infiltrators''' are the Mechanicum's ''faster'' Reivers, and {{W40Kkeyword|Metallica}} has a -1Ld Stratagem.
**{{W40Kkeyword|Questoris Knights (-2Ld)}}: The '''Fearsome Reputation''' trait inflicts -1Ld in a huge 12" aura around the Knight warlord's huge base (which can be an extra warlord using a stragatem), and a total of -2Ld to enemies within 6" of it. And bringing a Knight as an ally isn't something unheard of.

===March of the Dreadnoughts===
With the introduction of {{W40Kkeyword|Core}} keyword, a lot of vehicles parking lot list are now dead, but there is one {{W40Kkeyword|vehicle}} that has {{W40Kkeyword|Core}}, Dreadnoughts. With the improved Techmarines and able to still interact with all the buff heroes, in additional to duty eternal being built-in, Dreadnoughts look to be a powerful attack platform at close and long ranges.

There are a couple ways to give them Objective secured, albeit only counting as one model and not the multiple models some other monsters get.

#The Chapter Ancient's '''Steadfast Example''', The Generic '''Rites of War''' and The Crimson Fist's '''Stoic Defender''' warlord traits which all which basically all gives objective secured to units within 6 inches.
#The Salamander Warlord trait '''Never give up''' and the Deathwatch Warlord trait '''The Ties That Bind''' Only let you pick one unit within 6 inches. 
#Icon of Crusade relic if your playing crusade.
#Black Templar stratagem, '''Strength of Conviction''' and Castellans of the Rift Stratagem '''This is Our ground!'''.
#Captain Sicarius has an ability to give a core unit within 6 Objective secured until the end of the round.

So your most reliable way to get objective secured for as many dreadnought as possible is a Crimson Fist detachment with Rite of war warlord trait,  use the hero of the chapter to give an Ancient Steadfast example and the Crimson fist unique trait for three objective secured six inch bubbles. Use a pair of forge world Chaplin Venerable dreadnoughts to hold the non-ancient trait's and you can now field a darn near all dreadnought army capable of muscling objectives away from troops, and generally being able to butcher troop's because you have a shit ton of angry dreadnoughts.

At 2,000 points you can throw down 15 dreadnoughts before you spend points on upgrades. Is this a good army? Probably not but it is a hilarious one.

===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====
*'''Blood Angels:''' Blood Angels are very hit or miss. If you're playing a melee Marine faction, skirmish with them. White Scars in particular can practically instantly kill any Blood Angels unit with a squad of Vanguard Veterans on the charge. If you're playing more long range shooty, mow them down, might be difficult with the jump packs, but try anyway. If you're playing a bit of both, like Salamanders, feel free to just take the midpoints. Salamanders and Inner Circle Dark Angels in particular are incredibly strong against Blood Angels when it comes to contesting the mid points.
*'''Dark Angels:''' You beat these guys by playing the objectives. If you want to take potshots at them, do it. If you want to rush them with Vanguard Vets, have fun, but at the end of the day, they're slow and you're fast, or they're fast but have very little else going for them (in the case of Ravenwing). Just claim the objectives and stay calm.
*'''Space Wolves:''' These guys can intervene and are just, in general, incredibly strong. Very strong counter assault in particular. If you're playing melee, this is where you need to bring out some guns. Inceptors in particular are good at dealing with Space Wolves. Remember to Deny your opponents spells.
*'''Deathwatch:''' 
*'''Grey Knights:''' These guys have strong shooting and eternal deepstrike. Screen well, and use your higher efficiency units to deal with them.
*'''Imperial Guard:''' These guys have big guns and bad infantry. Kill the infantry with your infantry. Remember your marines have melee. Then use your amazing anti tank to finish off their no-invuln vehicles.
*'''Adeptus Mechanicus:''' Stay out of sight and grab objectives when you can. If you have more firepower or some consistent way to kill them, do that. Games with the Adeptus Mechanicus quickly devolve into murder.
*'''Adeptus Ministorum:'''
*'''Adeptus Custodes:''' Take the objectives and out efficiency the infantry. Shoot the vehicles with everything you have.
*'''Imperial Knights:''' Anti-tank them out. If you can deal with one knight, you can deal with the rest.

====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:''' These guys have seen better days. In general, you won't have much difficulty killing their infantry; a universal T3 with an average 4+ save at best won't protect them from even your most basic weaponry. This is further compounded by their subpar weapon ranges which, despite their infantry's slightly faster movement speed, will struggle to even get within retaliatory range before you've already gunned down half (or more) of the enemy squad. Priority Aspect Warriors to watch out for are Shining Spears, Dark Reapers and Shadow Spectres. Shining Spears are a blisteringly fast biker unit that can reliably one-shot non-Gravis marines on the charge and can be surprisingly durable due to their 4++ save against ranged assaults. Dark Reapers and Shadow Spectres are the only ranged infantry in the entire Craftworld codex that can actually trade fire at similar ranges to your own units and are fully capable of killing even Gravis Marines and Terminators with a single shot from their guns. Additionally, they're actually moderately durable (for GEQ) due to their standard 3+ saves. Having said that, they're still T3 elves and what they have in ranged firepower, they lack in physical prowess. Lastly, any Farseers and Warlocks you happen to see on the field should be at the top of your kill list; many Craftworld lists extensively rely on psyker support to truly shine and tend to fall apart quite quickly if they're removed.
*'''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 T4 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 will 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. Terrain largely means nothing to them, as they ignore it and intervening models entirely when they move. Avoid placing your units too deep within terrain lest they corner you by phasing through the wall. Only the tightest cluster of screens will keep Troupes from just leaping over your marines to assassinate your characters. Good news is even though they all have a 4++ or better, they're still T3; 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 stratagems 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:''' You need to get on the objectives as soon as possible. If you fail to get on the objectives, the tyranid player will not and you will lose on points.
*'''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:''' 
*'''Orks:''' Get on those objectives. If you don't, the Ork player will happily beat you on points. Same rules when facing any other horde army. Trust in Bolt Rifles and the Tactical Doctrine!

====How To Kill Space Marines====
Space Marines can be a challenging army to fight. Their basic statlines are quite 'ard, they have a deep and varied roster which allows them to play a variety of styles effectively, and access to both classic and Primaris marines means they can field flexible units with plenty of redundancy or specialist units which are very effective in their niche. Together, these make list-building difficult because it's difficult to predict what you'll be fighting; many a player has wept at the sight of an armoured column rolling up in front of their anti-infantry gunlines, or brought specialised lists to negate Primaris specialisations only to be confronted with a varied and well-rounded force.

Nonetheless, there ARE certain things you can predict about the Marines, and certain decisions you can make which are ''generally'' reliable.

The first is that you're probably going to be facing a lot of Elites. Marines are already quite elite by the standard of most factions, but their Elite choices are particularly strong. This means you're going to need a way to deal with small groups of heavy and super-heavy infantry; the two most common statlines here are T4 2W and T5 3W. Armies like the Necrons or Tau who have strong basic guns won't care so much, but if the bulk of your firepower is S3 without AP you're going to run into difficulty, especially once the Marines get into cover.

So - crack open the special weapons. Most armies have access to something in the S5 D2 range, so you'll want to stock up on these, as they tend to be a very point-efficient way of dealing with marines. Heavy flamers and heavy bolters are easily available to a lot of factions, but be wary of going for Plasma; you'll need to overcharge these to outright kill a Marine with one shot and it's particularly risky in 9th Edition.

Dealing with T5 3W is much harder. These two stats are in a real sweet-spot where most anti-chaff is going to bounce off altogether, and even your dedicated elite-killers are usually D2 or Dd3, meaning twice the shots to bring them down. For these, your best options are looking for anything with high rate-of-fire in the S6 1D range, or just committing outright to anti-vehicle. Neither of these are particularly appealing choices, but now that Gravis armour is available in every slot, you need a way to take care of it. Don't skimp here; Heavy Intercessors aren't very efficient killers, but they're absolutely fantastic objective holders, and you don't want to get ground down on victory points, to say nothing of the damage things like Aggressors can do. If you can, consider going for high-strength D3 melee weapons (don't fuck about with Dd3 as this WILL cost you); if your opponent doesn't bring Gravis, they can still be put to work on vehicles or characters.

Speaking of characters; Marine characters are strong, but limited in numbers, especially given 9th Edition's restrictions on captains and lieutenants. Use this to your advantage; Marines generally like to build a castle of overlapping auras for their heavy guns like Devastators and Eliminators, so try and break line-of-sight. Just making those guns move has a much higher effect than you'd expect on their efficiency with re-rolls. Fast units and transports are particularly great here, being able to flit between areas where the Marines can't see to capture objectives, and can force the castle to play inefficiently or even split up altogether to try and shoot you off multiple objectives.

Melee is generally a good choice against the Marines. Marine infantry is decent in melee, but not points-efficient; even if you can't kill them, you can usually tie them up for a few turns to take advantage of their low unit numbers and attacks. Marines also tend to pour a lot of points into their guns, as they have great options there, so just swarming them with expendable fodder can tie up those guns for a turn or two and give you the advantage; that said, the dedicated melee units are very dangerous and several chapters have melee specializations that can make this strategy backfire. Blobs also tend to be very effective in general; Marines have plenty of options for deep-striking, so filling the board with trash can cut off their options and force them to land in their own territory, giving you more room to safely capture objectives in your own backfield.

Finally, Marine vehicles are strong, but tend to be surprisingly frail. S8 is your friend here; put down enemy vehicles as quickly as you can, and then turn those guns on their Elites. Because Marines tend to have low multi-wound models, powerful single-shot weapons like lascannons aren't too inefficient here, and are particularly good against Primaris as you can quickly pick off dangerous specialists as they get into their effective ranges.

[[Category: Warhammer 40,000]]

[[Category: Warhammer 40,000 9E]]

[[Category: Warhammer 40000 Tactics (9E)]]

[[Category: Imperial]]

[[Category: Space Marines]]

{{Warhammer_40k_Tactics}}