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

===HQ Units===
*'''Chapter Master''' - Not that great of a HQ, mainly due to being near identical with the Captain. 25 points more for the Orbital Bombardment ability, which all in all is a nice ability, but relatively hard to use on such a unit that needs to stay mobile. Can also get Honour Guards instead of Command Squads. Alternatively, you could take a stock Chapter Master and set him at the edge of the board, raining S10 AP1 large blasts on whoever comes near. If you're worried about your opponent having long-range weaponry, simply get a Rhino or other vehicle and hide him at the corner of the board behind the Rhino. Now you have an (almost) invincible Chapter Master who doesn't need LoS to shoot pie plates at anyone. Pure awesome. 
**'''Honour Guards''' - Not worth it in my opinion, extremely costly. Hard to kill due to artificer armor, but you're probably better off getting assault terminators. Their only real advantage over Assault Terminators is their ability to cram into vehicles Terminators cannot, most notably drop pods. That's not to say they don't totally shred through opponents in close combat; they can do the job just fine. In fact, consider the other H2H units in the Space Marine codex: you have the Assault squad, which can get some good strength attacks into the fray, but are outclassed by most other pure H2H units. Then there are the Close Combat Terminators, which can annihilate squads by the bucketload, but like a sledgehammer, once they lose their momentum they can be hard to get moving again, and thanks to their low initiative they're dangerously vulnerable to fast power-weapon-armed foes. Honour guard squads, however, give phenomenal offensive abilities while maintaining initiative and speed, and good resilience thanks to their artificer armour. If you ever play an apocalypse game, take one of these with Calgar, a chapter banner (+1 attack to every man in squad), and attach Chaplain Cassius. So basically every honour guard strikes at initiative 4, re-rolls to hit, and each get 5 attacks on the charge (6 for the champion), with power weapons. So cram Calgar, Cassius and 10 honour guard into a Crusader, and roll toward the enemy battle lines as quickly as possible. So when they attack they get a grand total of 63 (!!!!!!1111!!!!ONE) re-roll to hit, power weapon attacks, 7 from Calgar, 5 from Cassius, 6 from Chapter Champion, and 5 from each of the nine Honour Guards.
*'''Captain''' - The Captain is a somewhat decent HQ option, especially for someone who is starting to build their army. The main reason to take one is if you wish to field a Biker list. Costing the same as a Chaplain or Librarian while having a better statline, though not offering the same general-purpose utility that the Librarian does (be it through Null Zone, and providing a Psychic Hood), by himself he is a halfway decent character. However, Biker Marines are a very nasty build, so it is worth taking a Captain for allowing Bikers as troops should you want to do so. His variety of wargear options is rather nice, but don't go overboard on upgrades or he could become very expensive very quickly. One of the smallest, most useful upgrades one could take is Artificer armor, as a 2+/4++ unit with 3 wounds is somewhat tough to take down, and he can still fit inside Rhinos, Drop Pods, and Razorbacks. For a cheap Biker Command Squad leader, give him a Relic Blade and a Bike; or, you can load him out for solo work with Relic Blade, Storm Shield, Artificer Armor and minor upgrades (such as Hellfire shells, which work on bike's bolters). Remember, though, that a single Power Fist will ruin his day. Also, never just take a power sword and bolt gun, as you are wasting the full capabilities of this guy. 
**'''Command Squad''' - Pretty nice and versatile squad. Apothecary gives them Feel no Pain, and makes them pretty tough to kill with small-arms fire (they still fold to S8, which is fairly abundant in Krak missiles, GK Psyflemen and power fists), and definitely cheaper than the Honour Guard. Fits excellently in a Razorback or drop pod, and can be equipped with a variety of melee and ranged weaponry. Biker Command Squads, while very costly and vulnerable to S8, provide a beatstick unit to an army in need of it (Bikers are terrible in assault). Tool them out with Storm Shields, Lightning Claws, a Powerfist and two Meltaguns, and they'll beat the hell out of any unit you can't shoot to bits. Remember their vulnerabilities, though, that 3+ invuln WILL fail you from time to time.
*'''Librarian''' - The best generic Space Marine HQ, he goes excellent with ranged focused tactical squads in rhinos, or ranged terminator squads. Unlike the Captain and the Chaplain, he normally has no Invulnerable save, but he can take Terminator Armor, giving a 5+ Invuln, which can be upgraded to 3+ with a Storm Shield. This is extremely useful; Not only are Librarians priority targets, but a 3+ save will be far more likely to save you from Perils of the Warp than a 5+ will (It's still less than 1/2 chance, though), and ups his survivability in case of Vortex miscast. Avenger is good for a Biker Librarian, Vortex of Doom is nasty but very dangerous to use and can only be effectively used by a Terminator librarian. The real "Tactical Gold" from this character comes from his two great support powers, First, "Null Zone", which forces your opponent to re-roll any successful invulnerable saves within 24" of the Librarian. This is excellent against Eldar, Daemon armies (if anyone actually plays those anymore), and pretty much every other beatstick in the game (other THSS, Thunderwolves, Paladins, Nob Bikers, Jetbike Councils etc.). A unit of Thundershield Terminators under Null Zone and maybe Vulkan's Chapter Tactics will beat the hell out of any other elite close-combat unit in the game, period. Second, "The Gate of Infinity", which allows you to pick the Librarian's squad off the table (Even when they're in combat, or inside a transport, read White Dwarf folks) and Deep Strike it back onto the table within 24". Great to abuse with locator beacons, and allows an otherwise slow unit a good deal of unexpected mobility. Use it with shooty units, not assaulty ones, as you still can't assault from Deep Strike. With the recent FAQ, you can even split in combat squads when arriving from the Gate. Other powers (Smite, Curse, Might, Dome, Quickening) are less useful as they don't benefit the army.
*'''Chaplain''' - A wonderful companion for Assault Marines, Vanguard Vets, or Bikers, his melee boosting abilities are quite helpful, and he's pretty awesome himself. Though if you're not putting him on a bike or a jump pack, take Ortan Cassius instead as the cost difference is nil. 
*'''Master of the Forge''' - Most often an oversighted, but pretty decent HQ. While he lacks an invulnerable save, he shouldn't go with anything that can be threatened with CC, and he works best as a shooting HQ. Conversion Beamer is nice for a home scoring unit or a biker unit (bikes being Relentless by default). Ultimately, his usefulness is in his FoC moving ability, which allows you to field Riflemen Dreadnoughts as Heavy Support, which is beyond nice as it frees up your excellent Elites slots. He is good, but you must build your list around him.
*'''Damocles Rhino (Forgeworld)''' Yes, a HQ vehicle! At only 60 points it is the cheapest space marine HQ option (but most expensive in terms of real money). Armed with nothing but a storm bolter and a searchlight for defence, with no transport capacity, it may not seem like an obvious choice. BUT, the Damocles true power lies in it's incredible support abilities, it allows a single Orbital bombardment in the same way as a chapter master, lets all deep striking units re-roll the scatter dice, and allows a single reserve roll to be re-rolled a turn. In a deep strike heavy army (terminators and such-like) the Damocles is one of the best choices you can make for your HQ slot.

Space Marine players also have access to a variety of special characters, most of which change how the whole army works. They're all fairly expensive, and, as such, should be viewed as force multipliers rather than stand-alone units.

*'''Marneus Augustus Calgar''' -  Aka "Big Papa Smurf", is the most expensive character in the codex, and also the most powerful in hand-to-hand. He's a Chapter Master with double power-fists, an ''AP 2'' storm bolter , Eternal Warrior, and the ability to re-roll all failed "to wound" rolls. His main power is "God of War" which lets him, and all units in his army, '''CHOOSE''' to pass or fail '''ANY''' morale check they take. He can also swap-out his power armour for Terminator armor (allowing him to deepstrike) and even gets a free teleport homer if he does so. He also has a power sword, you know, in case you don't want to hit at Initiative 1, but nobody ever uses it. He also has the most useless rule that lets him take 3 Honour Guard units which is pointless outside of Apocalypse games, if only because ''no one'' has that many spare points lying around (and even in Apocalypse, why not simply take more Chapter Masters?) If you've noticed, pretty much his entire arsenal makes a mockery out of armor saves, even his ranged weapons. Still, the Papa is horribly expensive for what he does.

*'''Cato Sicarius''' - A very expensive Captain. He allows one *tactical* squad to take a single skill, gives you a re-roll on the seize the initiative roll, and, most importantly, lets every one of your marines on the table use his impressive LD of 10 as long as he's on the board. Cato is pretty average in hand-to-hand combat. Being a bit tougher than most Space Marine characters (2+ armor, Feel No Pain) and having the option to make a single attack that causes Instant Death. But other than that, he's just got 4 power-weapon attacks. He's got a nice laundry list of utility, great durability, and fair combat prowess, though it comes at a fairly high price. He also has the benefit of being the Captain of the 2nd Company so 99% of Smurf players are already using his Company Heraldry on their models and therefore he should be taken in all Ultramarine armies, unless its one of the 3 Ultramarine armies that isn't 2nd Company. Btw, his loadout is the default loadout for 4th Edition Captains, so he is somewhat nostalgic.

*'''Varro Tigurius''' - Special character Librarian. Very expensive, knows every power, and can use three a turn. Perhaps his greatest strength is that he allows you to re-roll any and all of your reserves rolls, helping you get what you want, when you want it. His greatest weakness is <s>his complete and total lack of an Invulnerable save</s> his need to cast Force Dome every turn, its the reason why he gets to use an extra psychic power a turn, therefore he must absolutely be <s>squadded</s> kept away from anti-psychic units that can block the casting of Force Dome and leave him vulnerable for another unit to finish off. But, the only power you ''really'' need is the Null Zone, and Tigurius is more expensive than two Librarians.

*'''Ortan Cassius''' -  Special character Chaplain. He's pretty much a normal, artificer-armored Chaplain, but at T6 with feel no pain and a master-crafted combi-flamer that always wounds on a 2+. If you're planning on taking a Chaplain in power armor (or even terminator armor), it might as well be this guy, he's only slightly more expensive than a stock Chaplain, and a lot more survivable.

*'''Pedro Kantor''' - One of the most reasonably priced characters in the codex, Pedro Kantor is a Chapter Master, with a Power Fist, 4 shot AP4 Storm Bolter and a few special rules. The first replaces your army's "Chapter Tactics" rule with the Stubborn Universal special rule (a mixed blessing). The second makes all Sternguard Veterans scoring units (not Troops; pretty useless as you should ''contest'' enemy objectives, not ''hold'' them, and you do have your Tacticals for scoring duty). The third gives all friendly units within 12" of Pedro +1 Attack. He's one of the most commonly used special characters, and a total badass to boot. His boost to Sternguard squads has some synergy with Lysander.

*'''Darnath Lysander''' - One of the toughest kids on the block. Lysander is a Space Marine Captain, but has Eternal Warrior, 4 wounds, Terminator armor, a Storm Shield and a S10 Thunder Hammer (that adds +1 to vehicle damage rolls!). He also replaces your army's "Chapter Tactics" with Stubborn. Additionally, any unit Lysander joins gets to re-roll all failed "to hit" rolls when firing any bolt weapons (Boltguns, bolt pistols, storm bolters, heavy bolters). Lysander doesn't commonly find his way into competitive lists due to his high cost, and schizophrenic rules (he amplifies shooting, but is a pure h2h character). However, he's nigh-impossible to kill and brilliant for popping vehicles and monstrous creatures alike, if you can get him within range. Often-used setup is Lysander with 10 Sternguard packing Combi-Meltas/-Flamers and Powerfist on the Sarge in a Drop Pod with a locator beacon. Drop it next to any unit or model in the game and remove it, excluding that stupid Tyranid Apocalypse Blob, Flyers and Titans. Lysander lets you reroll the Vengeance rounds and unless there is a surviving melee monster like the Swarmlord or a blingthirster (which should be dead because you're supposed to kill them first), your opponent will either a) pull everything back and shoot the unit, fail to kill Lysander and the Sarge, force a Morale Check on Ld 10 Space Marines, ignoring the pod that will call down more Deep Striking shit into the center of his deployment zone and ignoring the rest of your army while it advances. Or b) push everything into the unit in vain hopes of killing it before it can shoot again, this normally wipes the Sternguard or tarpits it for the rest of the game, except you have Lysander and a powerfist so whatever assaults it will take some serious wounds. If they kill the assaulting unit or survive the firestom, you have successfully placed Lysander in their deployment zone, setup a forward position to safely Deep Strike shooty Terminators, more Drop Pods of Sternguard and even allows your Vanguard Veterans to actually use their special rule, eliminated 1-2 units, 1 of which is guaranteed to have been important and its still only the first turn. This has lots of synergy with Pedro Kantor.

*'''Kayvaan Shrike''' - A Space Marine Captain with a Jump Pack, and two Master-Crafted Lightning Claws (which also have Rending, so he won't be stuck fighting a Dreadnought). Shrike replaces "Chapter Tactics" with Fleet of Foot (Great for [[Cheese|FLEETING ASSAULT TERMINATORS OH MOTHER OF CHRIST]]) and allows any one squad he joins to infiltrate or outflank. A captain with the same wargear (and artificer armor) costs less, so you must carefully consider how valuable the special rules he lends are.
** <b>NOTE:</b> Shrike has a Jump Pack but a Command Squad cannot take Jump Packs, either put him in an Assault Squad for mediocrity or a Vanguard Squad for Awesome But Impracticality. Or just for shits and giggles, give your command squad bikes in order to keep up. Or just ignore his Jump pack, join him to your Assault Terminators and outflank/infiltrate them.

*'''Vulkan He'Stan''' -  Possibly the most common special character, Vulkan has the same stat-line as a Captain (while not actually *being* a Captain, and, as such, not having access to a Command Squad). Vulkan is tricked out for up-close-and-dirty face-bashing with essentially the best gear possible (Artificer armor, 3+ Invulnerable Save, Master-crafted Relic Blade, and a Heavy Flamer). He replaces the "Chapter Tactics" rule with one that causes ALL your flamers, heavy flamers, and melta-weapons to become twin-linked, and all your Thunder Hammers to become master-crafted. This, obviously, makes a Space Marine army far deadlier at close-range fire-fights, which is why he's so popular. Taking him results in a chain reaction — he is only worth it if you ''really'' focus on all these weapons, which are short-ranged. Being short-ranged, and stripped of Combat Tactics, means your army is open to assault, thus you need combat units (read: Assault Terminators) yourself to defend. So, Vulkan drastically changes the way you approach list building. Do not forget that. Also take note that his rule doesn't apply to the Redeemer's sponson weapons.

*'''Kor'Sarro Khan''' - This crazy Mongol replaces "Chapter Tactics" by giving every '''squad''' and '''dedicated transport''' outflank, allowing them to come in from the side of the table; additionally, the squad he joins gains Furious Charge and Hit and Run, meaning he can make a Bike Command Squad even deadlier than it was beforehand. Other than that, he's an average Captain (who can be upgraded to ride a bike) whose power weapon just so happens to cause Instant Death on a roll of 6. He's a situational character; the loss of Combat Tactics in a Biker Army in exchange for Outflanking is problematic, but the ability to make a Bike Command Squad deadlier than it was beforehand helps provide a hammer that many Bike armies do not have. At higher point-levels, he teams up well with Vulkan for this reason. Outflanking is also a gamble if you take Kor'Sarro Khan in a No Bikes Mech army, screwing up the outflank rolls can put all your scoring units on one side and anti-tank fire will make them all footslog. But goddammit, an outflanking FC/HaR Assault Terminators in a Land Raider? Hell yeah.

*There are also a lot of special characters  from '''Forge World''' '''Badab War''' IA-s:
**'''Anton Narvaez''': Marines Errant captain, with -1 WS, power weapon, bolt pistol, MC plasma gun and 3+ invuln instead of 4+ (with 50% chance to loose it each time it fails). He also can [[Creed|give Scout]] and Move Through Cover USR’s, to one tactical squad (and void hardened armor, which is only useful in boarding missions). And he is cheap for 135 pts. – like vanilla captain + plasma pistol + power weapon  
**'''Corien Sumatris''': <s>Red Corsairs</s> Astral Claws captain, with +1WS, -1BS, MC power weapon, which gives him +1 additional attack on charge, storm shield, and some weird 12’’-range assault bolter. His main ability is to give Furious Charge to his squad (and himself) and +1WS to all your infantry within 12’’ of him. At 165 pts. he is a bit costly, so use his special powers properly (obviously, by putting him in dedicated CC squad).
**'''Elam Courbray''': <s>Legion of the Damned</s> Fire Hawks captain with jump pack and rending power sword. He can make one S8 power-weapon rending attack instead of fighting as normal, give his squad Hit and Run and Counter Attack USR’s, and trade Combat Tactics for making all flamers and heavy flamers TL, and assault marines and vanguard scoring (but not troops). So, if you want jump-pack-heavy army, this guy could be helpful. But if you do so, why don’t you play Blood Angels?
**'''Mordaci Baylock''': Novamarines  terminator-captain with MC chainfist and storm bolter (WTF?). He can make his terminator squad choose to fail or pass any morale and pinning test, make terminators scoring and… that’s all. He cost 30 pts. more then vanilla captain with his wargear, so, take him only if you have a lot of termies.
**'''Tarnus Vale''': Fire Angels captain with… WHAT? Plasma pistol and chainsword? What the fuck? Why 175 points? But then you realize, that he trade combat tactics for tank hunters! Sweet [[Emperor|Jesus]], this would put mech-armies you face in to world of hurt. In fact, he would allow you to glance AV11 and penetrate AV10 with only bolter fire. Even if your opponent doesn't bring Mech, you get free Extra Armour on all of your Razorbacks and Rhinos so every piece of mech you take is 15pts off of his exorbitant cost.
**'''Zhurukhal Androcles''': Star Phantom captain with power fist and combi-melta. Like Vale, Androcles is designed to reduce mech-players to tears: he gives one unit within 12’’ of him +1 bonus for armor penetration, and make Devastator Elites AND Heavy support. Though not being such devastative, as Vale, he is cheaper and actually have some decent wargear.
**'''Silas Alberec''': Exorcists captain with MC thunder hammer (which always wound daemons automatically, if S10 isn’t enough), bolt pistol, teleport homer and FNP. He gave some anti-magic and anti-pinning protection to his squad, and is reasonably priced for his wargear.
**'''Pellas Mir’San''': Salamanders captain with artificer armor, two power weapons and combi-flamer. He has some interesting tricks in close combat, and can do some Calgar-like morale magick with his squad. Unfortunately he suffers the crippling disadvantage of not being Vulkan He’Stan.
**'''Harath Shen''': Salamanders master apothecary with artificer armor, plasma pistol and power weapon. For 135 pts. Shen allow you to put FNP to the squad you need it. Pitiful, he has no invuln, but at least he can sink wounds to his squad in close combat. If you ever want 2+/3++ FNP assault terminators (and who don’t?), this guy deliver.
**'''Lugft Huron''': <s>Red Corsairs</s> Astral Claws chapter master, with terminator armor,  heavy flamer, and lightning claw which force opponent to reroll successful invulns. His orbital bombardment is ordnance 2, his “living legend” rule make all your army Ld10. He can [[Commissar Yarrick| come back from the dead]]... but only once. But he is expensive as hell for 235 pts.
**'''Carab Culln''': Red Scorpions chapter master, with terminator armor, teleport homer, MC relic blade and MC storm bolter. He gains extra attacks for having more WS than opponent, but his main ability is to replace sergeants in tactical squads with apothecaries, so they can camp on objectives, and doesn’t fucking die no matter what. For free. Well not for free, because Carab himself cost 215 pts.
**'''Lias Issodon''': <s>Reasonable Marines</s> Raptors chapter master. He have only power sword and pistol for close combat, and -1WS, compare to standard chapter master, but he armed with some monstrous R30 Heavy4/Assault2 bolter with special ammunition and +1BS, so he is shooty chapter master, which is rare. The main reason you would like to take him is his special abilities: he forces a -1 on enemy reserve rolls, can cripple (or even kill) one enemy’s squad or vehicle, before game even starts, and replace combat tactics with stealth. For some reason he haven’t invulnerable save and orbital bombardment, but he is relatively cheap, so shut up, camp his raptors in 3+ covers (or even 2+, if you take master of the forge) and shoot people to death like [[Reasonable_Marines|reasonable marines]] should do.
**'''Asterion Moloc''': Minotaurs chapter master with terminator armor, storm shield, relic blade (which can shoot once per game), one extra wound, and ethereal warrior. He also gives assault grenades and fearless to his squad, and replace combat tactics with Preferred Enemy: space marines (any non-chaos). While being tough to kill, he still don’t worth his relatively high price.
**'''Tyberos The Red Wake''': Carcharodons chapter master with terminator armor and two weapons, which could cont as lightning claws or chainfists. Tyberos himself is a terrifying murderous machine in close combat, but he also can replace combat tactics with furious charge (and rage after first slaughtered non-vehicle enemy unit), replace any bolter in his army with bolt pistol and chainsword, and allow you to take one claw-terminator unit as troops. With this guy your army would transform into brutal manly variant of Blood Angels, who rips thing to shreds in close combat. And you pay only for his wargear, as he costs as vanilla chapter master with two chainfists.
**'''Sevrin Loth''': Red Scorpions chief librarian. Like Tigurius he have all psychic powers and can use three per turn. Unlike Tigurius he can not reroll reserves. But hey! He have 2+ armor save, which can become 2+ invulnerable, while Tigurius only can have 5+ for Force Dome, his stat-line is also better then Tigurius one (+1BS, +1A), and he is a bit cheaper (though not cheap at 205 pts.)
**'''Azhara Redth''': Mantis Warriors chief librarian. He is not a monster-psyker, like Tigurius or Loth, and only cast 2 powers per turn, but he have in-built 5+ invuln. His special psy-power “Mirage” is fairly useful. He also forces a -1 on enemy reserve rolls and replace combat tactics with Infiltrators USR. On top of this, epistolary librarian cost only 15 pts less than Redth.
**'''Armenneus Valthex''': <s>Red Corsairs</s> Astral Claws master of the forge with conversion beamer and some weird techno-thing called “Indynabula” which counts as two power weapons,  and give him 5+ invuln, counter-strike USR and reroll failed Blessing of Omnissiah. He can make one squad’s bolters poisoned 2+, which is pretty useful. He is also surprisingly cheap, assuming his shiny wargear.
**'''Vaylind Cal''': <s>Iron Hands</s> Sons of Medusa master of the forge with iron halo, thunder hammer, servo-harness, and monstrous creature stat line. He also replaces combat tactics with fearless (not really worth it), and can make your devastators feel no pain for free. While being expensive as hell, he could put a lot of hurt in close combat and extremely hard to kill for his T6.
**'''Thusla Kane''': Executioners high chaplain with artificer armor, plasma pistol and relic blade. With +1WS/BS/W/A, ethereal warrior and big 12” aura of “reroll 1 on to-wound” he also can replace combat tactics for stubborn. The only thing, Kane don’t have, is jump pack to join assault squad.
**'''Ivanus Enkomi''': Minotaurs reclusiarch with standard corrosius, power fist, jump pack and (for some reason) auxiliary grenade launcher. With +1 initiative, +1 attack, and extra +1 attack on charge for him and his squad he costs only 15 pts more then vanilla chaplain with fist and jet pack.
**'''Chaplain-Dreadnought Titus''': he is venerable dreadnought with +1 attack, which can reroll failed to hit roll in CC, and make everyone within 12” fearless. For 15 pts. more then ordinary venerable dreadnought. Fair trade.
**'''Bray’Arth Ashmatle''': Salamanders dreadnought, forged by primarch Vulkan himself! Bray’Arth is a hell of a monster: with his front armor 13, venerable and immune to ALL extra dice roll to armor penetration he is almost impossible to kill him. He is armed with two DCCW’s with inbuilt heavy flamers, which also can count as single multimelta or twin-linked meltagun, an he can forgo one close combat attack to auto hit anything in BtB contact with S5 AP4, so he can fuck up near anything, from tanks and monsters, to the big tarpit blobs. Off cause, he is extremely expensive at both points and pounds, but he totally worth every point. Put him into Lucius pattern drop pod. Drop him in to the middle of enemy formation. Laugh maniacally.