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

==== {{anchor|Fast Attack Forge World}} Forge World ====
Can you really blame the makers of superheavy choices for submitting fast attack choices that are mostly static guns? These units are dakka that is here so they won't overpopulate the Heavy section.
*'''Deathstorm Drop Pod:''' A Drop Pod full of automated guns; it can choose either an 18" 2-shot gun with S8 AP-2 D3 D or a 12" 6-shot S6 AP-1 1 D gun. In either case, it must make 1 full shooting attack against anything in range (except for CHARACTERS, who still can only be shot at if they're the closest unit in range).
** This is really good against a wide range of armies, especially MSU (the more times this thing gets to shoot the better) and gun-lines where an entire army is packed closely together. Granted, you're hitting like an Ork (BS5+ from the movement penalty) the turn you arrive...but you're also ''shooting'' [[Dakka|like an Ork.]]
*'''Land Speeder Tempest:''' A tiny drop in movement (well, sort of; see below) from the vanilla type, but has better T and Ld (not that the latter usually matters). Each one is equipped with an Assault Cannon and two Tempest Salvo Launchers (36" Heavy 1d3 S6 AP-3 D2; at only 10 points each, ''drastically'' better as a pair than a Typhoon Missile Launcher against anything at all, but the Tempest itself is a good deal more expensive than a vanilla). When Advancing, they must move between 20" and 35"; they also impose a -1 to hit against them in the next Shooting phase and prevents units without the FLY keyword from charging (or being charged by) them. Since they are neither Flyer nor Aircraft, they can still claim objectives and Breakthrough, despite having considerable reach and all upsides of being a Flyer.
**Relative movement:  These guys don't have Anti-grav Upwash, so a unit of 3 of them is 5" slower than a unit of 3 vanillas, rather than 1", when not Advancing.  When Advancing, they are ''much'' faster, regardless of unit size, since they can go their choice of 20-35" (no need to roll), instead of 16-21 for a small unit or 21-26 for a large unit of vanillas.  Unfortunately, there's no option to take Assault weapons on them of any stripe. 
**Dropped down 50p to 87p in Chapter Approved 2019, now these make more sense. Possible buffs: Skilled Rider strat (3++ when advancing, -1 to hit, immune to non-Fly charges), See, But Remain Unseen (for -2 to hit when advancing) or Big Guns Never Tire (all weapons are heavy, ignoring the movement penalty for a full unit might make sense).
*'''[[Tarantula]] Air Defense Battery:''' As below, but stuck with S8 AP-2 D3 D anti-air missiles that get +1 to hit against flyers and -1 against everything else. MUST target the nearest enemy flyer, and otherwise the nearest enemy non-flyer, but you were probably already planning to do that when you took this unit. 
*'''Tarantula Sentry Guns:''' Whoooo boy, these suckers got a huge buff in 8th edition. They ended up gaining a whopping +1 BS, along with Toughness 5 and 4 wounds, which makes them fairly sturdy for a 20 point/PL3 model. They are hit automatically in CC, but still shoot while an enemy is within 1", and that enemy can still be shot at by everyone else. The only really significant downside is that they can't move ([[Fail|and yet are somehow still fast attack]]) and can't deep strike, so they'll sit in your deployment zone the entire game. Tarantulas can be equipped with the following loadouts:
**Twin Heavy Bolters: These are the default weapons. Good against infantry, but comes with the caveat that it MUST target the nearest INFANTRY model, or else the nearest non-INFANTRY.  A steal at 17 points, but restrictive. Due to the large model footprint, relatively high resilience and low cost, it is useful to deny deep strike in a larger area while always contributing shots into the midfield. Also fairly useful as a speedbump - it is easy to block larger areas for non-Fly units, and anyone in CC with them is still a valid target for everyone, including the tarantula itself.
**Twin Assault Cannons: Hands down the best option. Tarantulas with dual assault cannons lose their targeting restrictions entirely, and gain a whopping 12 shots each. These can be a goddamn steal for what they do, and can be considered practically mandatory.  Like the THB option, cheaper than two of the base gun at only 35 points.
***Mathhammer:  It costs 37 points to field 6 shots at S5 AP-1 D1 restricted and 55 points to field 12 shots at S6 AP-1 D1 unrestricted, which means the latter would be the better choice even if you didn't also gain the benefit of lifting the restriction.  This is so good you even beat the AM version of these things, which cost 34 points for the THB variant. That being said, keep in mind these boys can't move and range will be important, meaning the heavy bolter can still have a place in your plans.
**Twin Lascannons: The other default, good against tanks. Also comes with a restriction that it MUST target the nearest enemy non-INFANTRY, or else the nearest INFANTRY.  Notably ''not'' a steal, since you pay the same cost two lascannons would cost (50 points), but still good.
**Multi-melta: Same deal as the lascannons, but mathematically worse (carrying two guns is better than carrying one). However, it does unlock your targeting restrictions, so a multi-melta equipped tarantula can fire at anything you want. Very expensive at 37 points for the total loadout (relatively so, you're still getting a multi-melta on a very durable platform for the price of one and a half intercessors).
***Mathhammer:  The Twin Lascannons have twice the rate of fire and twice the range as the Multimelta, at 60 points rather than 37, with similar performance against the same targets for the rest of the statline, but the targeting restrictions on them can be quite aggravating, since they will happily target things like BEASTS or SWARMS that you don't care about.  As for the Multi-Melta, 47 points is two points ''more'' than the Assault Cannon variant and you generally won't get into Melta range since you'd have to rely on the enemy to do it for you, so it's only better against medium and heavy vehicles, who are generally fast and/or well-armed enough to deal with turrets handily, which is why neither heavy option is remotely as compelling as the twin assault cannons.