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

===Lords of War===
=====Warhammer Legends=====
*'''Land Raider Terminus Ultra:''' Not sure why exactly this was moved to Lords of War since its statline is still no different from the other Land Raiders, but it will do a spectacular job of wrecking vehicles thanks to its 8 (!) lascannon shots per turn. 3 to hit rolls of 1 in one turn will cause you to take 6 mortal wounds, but the chances of that are so small that it's unlikely to be an issue. Even if it does happen, it won't be enough to decrease your base stats until you drop to 8 wounds or below, and with the toughness and armour save that comes with being a Land Raider variant that's probably not going to be an issue. Just be sure to watch out for massed infantry- for this reason you should probably take a storm bolter over the multi-melta since any vehicle close enough to be in melta range is going to become a smoldering wreck either way.
** As of Warhammer Legends, the terminus is now available to all chapters.

====Forge World====
Forgeworld FAQ[https://17890-presscdn-0-51-pagely.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/40K_8th_ed_Update_Imperial_Armour_Index_Forces_of_the_Adeptus_Astartes_ver_1.0..pdf] updates the relic rule for LoW, effectively you can get one with no pre-requisites but further ones will still require the 'non-relic' tax. On the other hand, [[That Guy|who would even need to bring 4 Lords of War into anything short of the biggest Apocalypse games?]]. Beware as they are all overpriced, [[Rage|thank daddy GW for that]] and should never be taken outside of fun games

*'''Relic [[Spartan Assault Tank]]:''' The Spartan has always been a bigger nastier Land Raider at heart, and this edition just makes it even meaner. A relic from the Legion days, it boasts an impressive BS3+, S8, T8, W20, a 2+ Save, and PoTMS so it can move and shoot with no penalty. The Steel Behemoth rule allows it to shoot or charge after falling back, and fire its guns even if enemies are within 1" of it. Further, it only benefits from cover saves when at least half the model is obscured. It comes stock with hull-mounted Twin heavy bolters (which can be replaced with Twin heavy flamers), 2 sponson-mounted Quad lascannons (that's a total of 8(!) lascannons), and anything trying to attack it in melee will have to deal with its Crushing tracks, which are S8 AP-2 DD3. And with a WS5+ and 8 attacks, it has a better chance than most tanks of actually hitting with them. If 8 lascannons don't do the trick, they can be swapped for Laser Destroyers to give it the role of blowing superheavies to pieces; its basic profile of S12 AP-4 DD6 is nasty enough as it is, but any time it inflicts damage, you roll a d6. On a 3-5, its damage rises to 2d6, and on a 6 it becomes a staggering 3d6 damage! If you crave even more dakka you can add a pintle-mounted Heavy bolter, Storm Bolter, Heavy flamer, or Multi-melta. Finally, the Spartan has an enormous 25 transport capacity, including Terminators, Jump Pack Infantry, and Centurions (but not Primaris). If it explodes after losing its last wound (on a roll of 6), it deals D6 Mortal Wounds to units with 2D6" inches. 

*'''Relic [[Typhon Heavy Siege Tank]]:''' The Vindicator's big brother on steroids is a fierce siege engine, boasting BS3+, S8, T9(!), W22, and a 2+ Save. The Dreadhammer siege cannon taking up the entirety of the vehicle drops Heavy 2D6 S10 AP-5 3D shots at 24" or 48" if it holds still. Losing the enormous blast template from the previous edition, the Dreadhammer can now put serious hurt on vehicles and monsters with it's 2D6 high strength high AP shots. In addition to the main gun, it can grab 2 sponson-mounted Lascannons or Heavy bolters, and can also take a pintle-mounted Heavy Bolter, Heavy flamer, Multi-melta, or Storm bolter for extra dakka. The Steel Behemoth rule allows it to shoot or charge after falling back, and fire its guns even if enemies are within 1" of it (except for it's Dreadhammer siege cannon, which must target other units). Further, it only benefits from cover saves when at least half the model is obscured. It has PoTMS so it can move and shoot with no penalty, and it makes a respectable 8 attacks with it's Crushing tracks (decreasing to 6, and then D3 as it takes damage) at WS5+ S8 AP-2 DD3 in melee. If it explodes after losing its last wound (on a roll of 6), it deals D6 Mortal Wounds to units with 2D6" inches.

*'''Relic [[Cerberus Heavy Tank Destroyer]]:''' An insane Titan-class laser weapon mounted on a Spartan chassis,  boasting BS3+, S8, T9, W22, and a 2+ Save. The Heavy neutron pulse array kicks out Heavy 3 S14 AP-4 3+D6D shots at 72", and causes a -1 to-hit penalty to the shooting attacks of vehicles wounded by this weapon. In addition to the main gun it can grab 2 sponson-mounted Lascannons or Heavy bolters, and can also take a pintle-mounted Heavy Bolter, Heavy flamer, Multi-melta, or Storm bolter for extra dakka. The Steel Behemoth rule allows it to shoot or charge after falling back, and fire its guns even if enemies are within 1" of it (except for it's Heavy neutron pulse array which must target other units). Further, it only benefits from cover saves when at least half the model is obscured. It has PoTMS so it can move and shoot with no penalty, and it makes a respectable 8 attacks with it's Crushing tracks (decreasing to 6, and then D3 as it takes damage) at WS5+ S8 AP-2 DD3 in melee. If it explodes after losing its last wound (on a roll of 5+ thanks to its Unstable Reactor), it deals D6 Mortal Wounds to units with 2D6" inches.

*'''Relic [[Fellblade]] Superheavy Tank:''' The Baneblade's exponentially meaner cousin, and the king of the battlefield. If you get first turn with a Fellblade in your army, and your positioning is good, you WILL win. Absolutely bristling with guns, it has a massively impressive statline of BS3+, S9, T9, W26, a 2+ Save, and PoTMS so it can move and shoot with no penalty. It's enormous and versatile Fellblade accelerator cannon sports two shell types: HE shells are Heavy 2D6 S8 AP-3 2D shots and allow rerolls for the number of shots when targeting a unit with more than 5 models. AE shells are Heavy 2 S14 AP-4 6D shots that work wonders on tanks. It comes stock with a hull-mounted Twin heavy bolter (which can be replaced with a Twin heavy flamer) and 2 sponson-mounted Quad lascannons (which can be swapped for the really not that good Laser destroyers like the Spartan). Like the Baneblade it also has a hull-mounted Demolisher cannon. If you crave even more dakka you can add a pintle-mounted Heavy bolter, Storm Bolter, Heavy flamer, or Multi-melta. Finally, anything trying to attack it in melee will have to deal with 9 WS5+ attacks from its Crushing tracks, which are S9 AP-2 DD3. If it explodes after losing its last wound (on a roll of 6), it deals D6 Mortal Wounds to units with 2D6" inches.  The Steel Behemoth rule allows it to shoot or charge after falling back, and fire its guns even if enemies are within 1" of it. Further, it only benefits from cover saves when at least half the model is obscured. Its only real weakness is a lack on an invulnerable save, as dedicated anti-titanic guns like the Knight Castellan's volcano lance will completely delete it thanks to AP-5 and rerolling failed wounds against {{W40kKeyword|Titantic}} units. However, with T9 and a 2+ armour save, it's still pretty durable against most reasonable weapons, and most of the time you can outrange the insane anti-armour guns as the FAC has 100" range. Consider bringing the Fire Angels’ special character, Captain Tarnus Vale, to give it a 6++ (the other is to bring a Dorito Dreadnought with Atomantic Pavaise to give the Fellblade a 5++; this is more expensive than taking Vale but chances are you’re not worried about points (or money) if you’re taking a Fellblade) and casting Might of Heroes on it for T10 shenanigans. Despite its cool look and ''amazing'' firepower, [[Rage|it can no longer compare against the regular Baneblade thanks to its default loadout costing 917 points!]] Consider bringing techmarines or allying in Cawl to keep it alive as long as possible.
**Highly amusingly, in another proof of Forge World being inept at copy-pasting their own units' rules between their indices, the chaos fellblade costs 20 points less and their HE shells only do 1 damage instead of the 2 yours do.

*'''Relic Falchion Superheavy Tank Destroyer:''' A Fellblade variant which shares the same statline and special rules but mounts the unbelievably deadly Twin volcano cannon in place of the Fellblade cannon and Demolisher cannon. The Twin volcano cannon can annihilate targets 120" away with Heavy 2D6 S16 AP-5 D2D6 (re-rolling wounds against Titanic units). Just like the Fellblade it comes stock with two Quad lascannon sponsons which can be replaced with Laser destroyers. Given its ability to take the laser destroyers, and that its Volcano cannon spits out double the shots, it's objectively better at destroying superheavies than a single Shadowsword counterpart in practically every way. Which is good, because at almost triple the points you'd expect it to be. It also sports a hull-mounted Twin heavy bolter which can be replaced with Twin heavy flamers, despite the fact the guns don't actually exist on the model. As per an email from forge world, "it's a copy and pastes error from the Fellblade that hasn't been fixed in an official errata"... yet. Just stick them on with bluetac or something as you're paying the points for them. You can add a pintle-mounted Heavy bolter, Storm Bolter, Heavy flamer, or Multi-melta if you crave even more dakka. Just like the Fellblade it got a massive points increase which led its point efficiency to drop through the floor. You can bring two Shadowswords at double the wounds to out-scale the T9/2+, the better version of the VC, and regiment rules for two hundred points less. 

*'''Relic [[Mastodon]] Super-heavy Siege Transport:''' Have you ever wanted to transport 40 Marines at once while trashing flyers and generally being nigh-indestructible? Then the Mastodon is the LoW for you! With 30 wounds and a 5+ void shield, the Mastodon is a fucking tough nut to crack, made even more so if it somehow gets into the 6" range for its siege melta array's reroll to kick in. 

*'''[[Thunderhawk]] Assault Gunship:''' The standard air support and transportation workhouse of the Space Marines. This monstrous flyer will cost you an arm and a leg (in both points and real $) but has some seriously impressive rules. It has a big 20-50" move in Supersonic mode and can hover. Its has BS2+, S10, T9, 30W, a 3+ Save and PoTMS so it can shoot on the move. Its Void-hardened Hull grants it a 5++ save for extra durability. The Thunderhawk Assault Gunship is armed with a Thunderhawk heavy cannon - 48" Heavy 2D6 S8 AP-2 D6D, which can be swapped for the monstrously powerful Turbo-laser destructor - 96" Heavy D3 S16 AP-4 2D6D (6's to wound inflict an additional D3 Mortal Wounds). For secondary weapons it sports 4 Twin heavy bolters and 2 Lascannons at various points on the hull, as well as a choice of Thunderhawk Cluster Bombs or a Hellstrike missile battery. The Cluster bombs can drop once per game on a single unit you flew over, rolling up to 12D6 times (3D6 for every VEHICLE or MONSTER and 1D6 for other models). Each 5+ result deals a Mortal Wound to the unit, though units consisting only of characters cannot be targeted. The Hellstrike battery is 72" Heavy 4 S8 AP-3 D3. It's Colossal Flyer rule forces -1 from shooting attacks against the Thunderhawk, but also forces opponents to measure from where its hull would be if it were at ground level and then add 12" to that measurement (which is an attempt to account for the custom flying bases you need to hold this heavy-ass brick of resin up). It also means that a lot of guns flat-out cannot shoot at it while it's Supersonic. Finally, the Thunderhawk has an impressive transport capacity of 30, including TERMINATORS, JUMP PACK models, CENTURIONS, and BIKES. It is also one of the only vehicles that can transport PRIMARIS models, with each counting for 2 spaces, although you cannot mix them with non-PRIMARIS units. In terms of loadout, 8th edition favors a high volume of shots. <s>As such, the heavy cannon is likely a better option than the turbo laser, as 2D6 (avg. 7) hitting on a 2+ and wounding a Land Raider on a 4+ is better than D3 shots hitting on 2+ and wounding the same target on a 2+, even with the difference in armour save thanks to AP.</s> Command point rerolls benefit the heavy cannon more, due to the increase in variance between rerolling a D6 vs a D3. Additionally, due to the low chance of the Cluster Bombs actually doing what you want them to do, as well as being one-use only, the Hellstrike Missiles are likely a better option. 
**'''Mathhammer:''' The above, struck through statement is not actually correct, and a command point spent on the number of attacks won't change it. Given, the cannon is obviously better against squads (2.43 unsaved wounds on non-shield terminators with D6 damage beats anything two attacks could do without a large number of mortal wounds, and the laser only inflicts .33 MWs per shot), but against a Land Raider? 1.45 unsaved wounding hits at d6 damage vs 1.15 unsaved wounding hits at 2d6 damage, +.55 mortal wounds. ~5 wounds vs ~8.6 and a command point only buys the cannon, on average, +.75 wounds. Worse armour and lower toughness change this, but until you hit some ork level T7, 4+ save madness that turbo laser will out perform the cannon vs vehicles/MCs. The canon is better for utility though, hurting vehicles and munching squads.
**Chapter Approved more than doubled the points cost of the hull of the Thunderhawk, meaning that taking one with Hellstrike Missiles brings this thing up to 1450 points, after buying its secondary weapons. It can absolutely earn its points back, but more as a result of tanking a tremendous amount of enemy gunfire between T9, 30W, decent armour, Hard to Hit, and adding 12" to enemy ranges. It can destroy an enemy Fellblade in one salvo (saw it happen), and it's a hell of a distraction.
   
*'''Thunderhawk Transporter:''' A Thunderhawk variant designed for airlifting tanks, this unusual vehicle shares the statline of the Thunderhawk (with the exception of 26W - 4 fewer than the Gunship). In addition to 15 models including TERMINATORS, JUMP PACK models, CENTURIONS, and BIKES, it can hoist vehicles into battle in one of the following configurations: 
**1 model with the LAND RAIDER or SPARTAN ASSAULT TANK keyword.
**Up to 2 of the following: RHINO, RAZORBACK, INFERNUM RAZORBACK, PREDATOR, DEIMOS PREDATOR, WHIRLWIND, WHIRLWIND HYPERIOS, HUNTER, STALKER, DAMOCLES, VINDICATOR, VINDICATOR DESTROYER, WHIRLWIND SCORPIUS.
***These vehicles act exactly like other passengers and are subject to the usual restrictions for embarking and disembarking, meaning they can detach while in Supersonic mode at the end of the movement phase. Transported vehicles can carry units at no additional transport cost to the Thunderhawk, so feel free to deep strike 25 dudes in a Spartan PLUS 15 dudes in the Thunderhawk itself. The cost of this unusual ability is the loss of ranged firepower - the Thunderhawk Transporter is armed with 'only' 4 Twin heavy bolters and a Hellstrike missile battery. It's much cheaper than the Thunderhawk Gunship, but its usefulness is somewhat questionable, cool as it may be. 

*'''Sokar Pattern [[Stormbird]]:''' Pretty much the largest flyer/transport/model Forge World offers next to titans. Damn expensive in points (2,271 after wargear) and tangible money alike, it can ferry entire demi companies onto the battlefield. Has like 8 lascannons, a host of various missiles and bombs, void shields, and a few heavy bolters here and there for flavor. The void shields can extend and overlap nearby troops 8" away that jumped out if it has hovered. Has 40 wounds, T9, a 5++ after the void shields.
**Hilariously enough this is the only vehicle in the entire space marine range that lets both primaris and old marines onboard at the same time. In addition, it along with the Thunderhawk are the only transports in the game that can transport Inceptors and Suppressors.

*'''[[Astraeus Super-Heavy Tank]]:''' This beast of a tank now has its rules released... and it's frankly nastier than anyone gave it credit for. 24 wounds, Toughness 8, 2+ Armour, Power of the Machine Spirit and Steel Behemoth are already bad enough, but then you look at its gear. Firstly, the Void Shield. Just like the Titans, it's a degenerating shield that can block off any wound, mortal or not, and does not care about AP value. However, it cannot protect you from overheating Plasma Eradicators or melee attacks, so watch out for Knight Gallants and other heavy-hitting melee units that somehow get by the Enhanced Repulsor Fields. Said Enhanced Repulsor Fields not only reduce enemy charge rolls by 3", but are also its form of '''''close combat attack'''''. Considering the fields give -2 AP and deals D3 damage per wound, this is surprisingly vicious, especially considering the 8 Strength 9 attacks the tank gets (albeit only at WS 5+, although it still benefits from auras like Litanies of Hate and Rites of Battle). Obviously, however, you're here for the guns and... oh boy. Its twin macro-accelerator cannon is a vicious Heavy 12, S8, AP-2, Damage 3 that ignores all abilities that impose negative hit modifiers when targeting anything with the FLY keyword. Its other default weapons don't seem that threatening at first, however. The two las-rippers are slightly weaker las-talons with a new name, the twin heavy bolter is somewhat useful against infantry, and the storm bolter and ironhail heavy stubber can be augmented with another ironhail heavy stubber. However, the twin heavy bolter can be replaced by a twin Lascannon, and the las-rippers can be replaced by the new Plasma Eradicator, a +1 Strength, AP-4 Plasma Cannon that uniquely only causes one mortal wound per 1 to hit on Supercharge. 90% of the time the Eradicators are the better choice. Not only are they cheaper than Las-Rippers, but they have more range. Being within 24" will put the Astraeus in danger of being chopped up by enemy Knights and makes it a prime target for most Plasma weapons. The lone Storm Bolter won't be doing much of anything regardless. 
**Compared to the Fellblade, its main gun is <s>lacking in terms of pure power</s> almost strictly better under mathhammer due to the high number of S8 shots. Against a Knight the Fellblade's AE mode barely does 6 damage, with a fair chance of doing 0, vs the Astraeus' more consistent 6-9 damage. The TMAC is also a better version of the Fellblade's HE mode; guaranteed 12 shots vs 2d6 at one less AP and one more damage. Very effective against light to medium vehicles (especially flyers), as well as 3-wound infantry such as Tyranid Warriors, Grey Knight Paladins, and Custodes. The secondary armament is only inferior with the eight Lascannons and Demolisher Cannon of the Fellblade outgunning the Accelerator Cannon itself when combined. In melee it is a mixed picture, the Enhanced Repulsor Fields make the Astraeus harder to engage and hit but it lacks the option to mount any flamer for point defense; the Fellblade can mount up to 3 heavy flamers which will inflict significant overwatch casualties on attacking infantry. The Void Shield gives it an important defensive tool that the Fellblade and most superheavy tanks lack, albeit on a more fragile (T8 not 9), less durable (2 wounds less at 24W) chassis but the VS can be used against mortal wounds; so it ends up out-living the Fellchassis in the long run by effectively having ~29 wounds. Most importantly, it's much cheaper than the Fellblade, and since it's not a Relic you can use it as a "non-Relic" tax in the unlikely chance you really want a full Super-Heavy Detachment as a Space Marine army.
***New Chapter Tactics addendum: Iron Hands and "Scions of the Forge" successor chapter tactics mean your tank keeps it's 5 up void shield until there's only 5 wounds left, so long as they're taken in Supreme Command detachments. Enjoy that while you can, because I expect an FAQ.
***CA2019 dropped the base cost of the Astraeus by 100 points, meaning that it is now one of the most viable Super-Heavy picks for SM right now (not that it's really that big of an achievement).