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

===Fast Attack===
*'''Assault Squad''' - Melee troop that can work both for deep striking or flying across the map. Not too expensive for what they do, and with a special character and a decently equipped sergeant they can handle most situations. They might not fare so well against super-melee squads, but their mobility helps them pick and chose, and dual-flamers even the odds against foes that would normally be far too numerous for them to consider taking on. Also if you can, give 'em melta bombs and see them ravage through enemy armor columns. Upgrade the Sergeant to give em' at least one guy with a power weapon. 
*'''Vanguard Veterans''' - Too expensive and unreliable; regular assault squads are more cost-effective. Their main ability is to charge after they deep strike, but it's both dangerous, and they need to land very close to the enemy, making them prone for mishaps (especially since it only works if they strike with their own jump packs and not drop pods). Additionally, they can't take any characters along for the ride. Simply not worth it. For what a decently-equipped squad of 8-10 Vanguard cost, you could easily get 10 Assault Terminators. Or 5 and Most of a Land Raider. Which would you rather have? 
**If you deep strike them anyway, a locator beacon is the best bet: first, drop pod an Ironclad dreadnought directly on top of an powerful enemy tank, and the drop pod will scatter to right next to it (Scout bikes work too, but less reliably). Then while the dread ties up the tank, use the pod's locator beacon to swoop in 5 Vanguard vets with melta bombs, then charge them straight into the tank and melt it into little pieces. With 5 vets all with melta bombs, this will work on anything from warbuggies to BANEBLADES!!! Once that's done, your vets and the Ironclad can go hunting.
*'''Land Speeders''' - One of the most awesome and rage-inducing in the right hands units in the Codex. These little buggers are very fragile, but also very underrated. They come very cheap with a multi-melta, and can bring a heavy flamer for infantry hunting. Deep striking, they are excellent tank or infantry hunters. Only problem is that they may not last very long after they get their shots off, but if they do, they can deal some real damage to the enemy. Can also work with the Typhoon Missile Launcher and keep far out of harms reach, raining missiles at shit. When tackling enemy armour with multi-melta's, use the land speeder's maneuverability to your advantage, put the target between the speeder and the rest of his army, and pray you destroy the vehicle in one salvo, WITHOUT blowing it up, with any luck, the burning wreck will keep your flimsy aluminium speeder out of the kill zone. Obviously, this means you take on flank vehicles, charging this into the center of his army is useless...UNLESS, it's to kill a Leman Russ or something (an enemy's primary tank/threat) in a turn 1 suicide. Do remember to BLOCK enemy transports and tanks, since they can't move through the Speeder (and only AV14 tanks have the tiniest hope to ram him off). Great for delaying that big fat Land Raider from reaching your lines, for a 70 pts sacrifice (and a decent chance to kill said Raider with your underslung multi-melta).
** Vulkan He'Stan makes the land speeder into an overpowered vehicle unit that will always get some hurt in, spamming 9 of them with Vulkan is like Turkey Slapping your opponent.
*'''Stormtalon Gunship (White Dwarf)''' - Bastard son of Thunder Hawk and Land Speeder, this fast flyer comes with AV 11 round, aerial assault, supersonic and TL assault cannons and bolters, and can exchange HB's for lascannons, typhoon ML, or skystrike ML (which is basically 3-shot autocannon). While being more expensive than Land Speeder, this little fucker is a lot more survivable, and have some interesting rules.
*'''Bike Squad''' - Bad as a Fast Attack choice, but a Biker Captain turns them into good Troops. Field squads of ten, get a flamer/combi-melta/multimelta or a variation thereof and hunt vehicles and light infantry. Try not to be bogged down in CC, remember to use Combat Squads and Combat Tactics, and that Bikes are a shooting unit with Relentless, and you'll be golden. Again, DO NOT take them as Fast Attack; putting them in a Troops slot lets you bring more Attack Bikes/Speeders instead.
*'''Attack Bike''' - The Yang to Land Speeders' Yin, this is the Marines' other great FA unit. The debate on merits of the Speeder and the Bike is endless. Great for their two wounds, and heavy weapons. Can fit a variety of roles, from tank hunting to infantry harassing, but their low number of attacks, and inability to take a powerfist means they should be kept out of all but the most token of melee situations.
*'''Scout Bike Squad''' - Pretty decent anti-infantry shooting unit, with Infiltrate, Scout and 6 Frag blasts, means they can quite hurt light infantry from a safe distance (24") right on turn 1, but they're a glass cannon (T5 helps, though). Krak grenades can glance or penetrate a bawks, too, so use them. 
** Locator Beacons. They're one of two units that can take them, and the only unit that can both start on the board, and be mobile. 
** Infiltrate + Scout move. They can turbo-boost up within 12" of the enemy before the game actually starts. This, combined with a Locator Beacon, allows for tactical insertion of your drop pods and, if you should so fancy, a scout-missile.
*'''Land Speeder Storm''' - Pretty bad. The famous Scout Missile (see the Troops section) is easily countered by deploying a bubble-wrap unit around your tanks (so Scouts won't reach them due to 1" rule), and the Storm isn't good for anything else as it's VERY fragile, costs the same as a regular Speeder, and takes up a FA slot. Stay clear from this one.
*'''Caestus Assault Ram (Forge World)''' - Craziest vehicle in the game, designed to ram things (hence the name), and accomplishes this by having a 5+ inv. save against attacks on the front (inc. rams, either from the enemy ramming you or you ramming them), re-rolls the armour penetration dice when ramming, and +1 to the vehicle damage roll, and fairly-impressive-for-a-skimmer armour of 13 13 11. Contains a twin-linked MAGNA-MELTA (WTF?), which is: range:18" str:8 AP:1 type:Heavy 1, large blast, melta. Sound fun, eh? Holds ten men, ideal for punching a hole in the enemy battle lines and disgorging troops, AND it's an assault vehicle, so straight into close combat (and no restriction against terminators, in fact, they only count as one man inside this, not two!). Now this means that the Caestus has to be fast, and it is! Its type is: fast, skimmer, and when going 'flat out', it moves 36"(!) instead of 24". Comes stock with extra armour, and Ceramite shielding (immunity to 'melta' rule). Options are: Firefury missile battery (range: 36" str:6 AP:4 type:Heavy 4, blast, twin-linked, one-use), Teleport homer, and Frag assault launchers. One should use the Caestus to ram straight through the strongest point in your enemies force, in most battles you'll be there on turn one, thanks to the 36" afterburner. Ram a tank with this (Generally given the colossal afterburner you'll give them a S10 hit) and then deploy the men inside (preferably dedicated H2H troops), and charge straight in against the nearest infantry, or if you feel like it, shove a grenade up a nearby tank's tailpipe.
*'''Storm Eagle (Forge World)''' - Heavy flyer (Skimmer, Fast). Occupies the middle-ground between the [[Stormraven]] and the [[Thunderhawk]]. Transport capacity of 20, with terminators and jump infantry counting as 2 models each. Impressive arsenal of weaponry, standard armament: Hull-mounted twin-linked Heavy Bolter, Hull-mounted Vengeance Launcher (Range:48"|Str:5|AP:4|Heavy 2, Large Blast). Optional armament includes: Switching Heavy bolters for Multi-meltas or a Typhoon missile launcher, and adding 4 Hellstrike Missiles or 2 Twin-linked Lascannon under the wings. Also get ceramite shielding, and the 'Power of the Machine Spirit' special rule, along with 12|12|12 armour. Can also deep strike, and disembarking infantry can assault in the same turn.
*'''Lucius Pattern Drop Pod (Forge World)''' - big dreadnought drop pod, which allow your dread to [[Cheese|assault the same turn it deep strikes]] (with 1/6 chance of immobilize). Absolutely trollastic way to use your ironclads, especially, when your opponent have a lot of meltas. Though, it’s a bit expensive, have no weapon, no options (like teleport beacon) and take your Fast Attack slot.