Editing Warhammer 40,000/6th Edition Tactics/Space Marines (section)

====Units====
*With Deathwind Launchers seeing a drop in points cost, they become a little more viable to purchase if you got points lying around.  For the cost of a Sniper Scout squad or a Landspeeder with a multi-melta you can arm four drop pods with a S5 AP- pie plate that can do a respectable amount of damage should an enemy infantry unit or even a light vehicle come too close.  People gripe about the 12" range but you should really see it as locking down a 12" radius all around the drop pod.  It's best to buy them for your first-turn pods, since those will become threats from turn 2 onwards and increasing the number of potential threats for your opponent from the get-go.  If you kill a MEQ you will have basically paid off the cost of the launcher.  
*If you take long-range arty in your Heavy Support slots (Thunderfire Cannons, Whirlwind, allied IG arty, etc.) and have them on the table on turn 1, you can support your 1st wave drop pods straight from turn 1 and not have to have them completely without support.  The best way to do this is load up on all anti-armor special weapons such as meltas, crack open transports, and then let the artillery fly on the exposed troops
*Ironclads are tough, intimidating, and provide a good AV13 distraction for squishier units in a first wave.  With Iron Hands these become a lot harder to kill other than outright blowing them up.  Other Dreadnoughts can be krak'd to death but are cheaper if you're on a budget.   
*Sternguard are one of the best but also most expensive units to put in your drop pods.  Most of the time I drop them down next to something mean (often high toughness units) and pump it full of the wound on a 2+ ammo. They will also remove units from cover, or mess up MEQ. They really do everything. The one problem is that they die just like other marines. So either choose a safe target that’s not going to shoot back once you unload on it, or kill something worth more then you. Dropping next to greater demons first turn and killing them before they get buffs running is worth the sacrifice. 
*Assault squads with x2 flamers is small, cheap, and pretty burny
*Tactical squads should be normally taken as a full 10man unit since they can split up from the drop pod to deal with different targets.  If you're packing a multi-melta with Vulkan, you have a decent chance of hitting something with it as well.  However multiple 5man Tactical squads allows you to bring more pods and waste less points on heavy weapons.
*Salamanders: You can either take Vet sergeants with master-crafted power weapons for the inevitable charge and be relatively choppy in CC, or slim down with regular sergeants and take a master-crafted combi-weapon instead.  
*Legion of the Damned don't benefit from Chapter Tactics as per '''Aid Unlooked For''' rule, and take up an Elites choice that could be filled with Sternguards or Ironclads instead. And besides, Sternguard have ammunition that ignores cover anyway. Vulkan may [[RAW]] have strong synergy, Slow & Purposeful, master-crafted, multi-melta (which again ignores cover) and take a beating that would leave Ironclads/Sternguard blasted off of the table (typical AP2/3 weapons).  
*Honor Guard- a small cheap unit of these along with an IC to soak wounds and they provide hard-hitting power weapon attacks on the charge.  Solid choice in a drop pod if you take a Chapter master and intend to drop him.