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

===Heavy Support===
*'''Predator''' - A unit that has, for the most part, fallen by the wayside. They serve two real purposes, Infantry killing, or Tank Hunting.
**Infantry killing predators should be equipped with the default auto-cannon, and Heavy Bolter sponsors. It's dirt cheap (85pts) and can dakka pretty well. Upgrades are usually not necessary: Extra Armor is not critical, as you will in 99% cases be out of reach of any units with CC anti-tank, and 24" Storm Bolters won't get to shoot much after the 36" guns are done. The only thing worth considering is the Hunter-Killer missile, but even then, it's only efficient in numbers (like, 7-8 HKMs).
**Tank hunting Predators are a bit over-priced for the fire power they deliver. The "cheap" configuration is auto-cannon turret with Lascannons in the sides. Optionally, you can upgrade the turret to Twin-Linked lascannons, but that starts getting pretty expensive (165 pts ''minimum'', plus extra armor). Because it needs to sit largely stationary to fire, and because lascannons ain't what they used to be, most people have abandoned the las-pred in favor of melta-based tactics. If you really need some anti-vehicular firepower, the Land-Raider Terminus Ultra will do the job far more cost effectively by virtue of having twice as many lascannons and a lot more armor, all at a manageable price increase and less risk of going kaboom.  
*'''Devastator Squad''' - These are your tactical marines. Except they don't score. And their heavy weapons cost more. Some special weapons costs so much as to be totally impractical (lascannon most notably, but also the plasma cannon thanks to Gets Hot, and the template doesn't really hold up compared to cheaper, rapid-firing plasma guns). And the short range (and zero mobility) of the multi-melta will get ignored by all non-Salamander lists, unless for some insane reason your enemy's vehicles all have ridiculously short range (or a monstrous creature gets in your face, whereupon the AP1 will really do its magic). The most commonly used weapons here are Missile Launchers and Heavy Bolters. The first is somewhat versatile, able to threaten infantry and tanks both, and really shines in <1500 point games, while the second is much better against troops (but neigh-upon worthless against tanks; prioritize your targets). 
** Don't forget the Sergeant! He can take combi-weapons for one turn of extra punch. Or can be given a Power Fist for when someone charges your poor, vulnerable shooting squad. He also comes, stock, with a Signum. No one ever remembers to use it, which is a shame because +1BS to a single model in the squad can come in handy...
*'''[[Vindicator]]''' - This guy has a big, scary gun. Hampered by its short range, this S10 AP2 pie-plate causes most people (especially other marine players) nightmares. It's bound to draw fire, ''lots and lots'' of fire. This is good because it keeps guns trained away from the rest of your army, but bad because it's easily shot down from the side (especially if your opponent deploys his anti-tank in opposite corners) and easily neutralized (seriously, EVERY damage result either makes it useless for at least a turn, if not permanently). If you're going to take one, take two, then you *might* actually get a chance to shoot it. Three of you're feeling gutsy.
** Extra armour is a must. People go to great lengths to kill this guy, and keeping him alive and mobile is important. AV13 in the front is great for tank-shocking when your gun gets blown off.
*** Have a few mechanized units behind the Vindicator line, Las/Plas Razorbacks are the best, and hit the enemy lines fast and hard. Don't try to hold back or play finesse tactics, just use the Vindicators to make a hole and then pile as much stuff into the gap in one turn. Alternatively, play prudent and always reserve it. Then it can demolish something within 30" of your table edge easily, acting like a counter-charge of sorts. In the long run, neither of these ideas are particularly great, meaning your Vindi will have real trouble in "serious" games.
*'''[[Land Raider]]''' - The biggest metal box of all. Can carry termies, and lets them assault after disembarking. Comes in eight flavors:
** '''Classic''' (or '''Godhammer''') pattern Land Raider - 2 sets of twin-linked lascannons and a twin-linked heavy bolter. Carries 12. You'd think its good for tank hunting. You'd be wrong. It's just too expensive for that. Land Raiders need to be transporting stuff, and running forward at great speeds. This Land Raider is a confused beast, best left alone. If you want a little bit more reasoning for why the classic Land Raider is comparatively useless, here's a bit more explanation: for the cost of having it on the table, this Land Raider needs to be able to do both of its roles effectively at the same time, but since transporting soldiers doesn't work well with standing up front and shooting too, there's no real way to make this one as effective as it needs to be. It's not ''completely'' useless thanks to Power of the Machine Spirit which allows an additional weapon to be fired at a different target (even while shaken/stunned), theoretically allowing you to move 6" and destroy two enemy tanks (if you're lucky). This tactic works quite well with Antaro Chronus as his BS 5 makes this more likely.
** '''Crusader''' - 2 sets of "Hurricane Bolters" (3 regular bolters, all twin-linked, counts as defensive) and 1 twin-linked Assault cannon. Carries 16(!) This was, and sometimes still is, the old standby transport for terminators. Often with a multi-melta added (for popping shots at tanks). This carries up to 8 Terminators up close to the foe where they do their work. The Crusader WANTS to be up close, where its short-ranged, anti-infantry guns work wonders to support the squad it was escorting. Give it Extra Armor, nothing sucks more than a stunned Land Raider. This used to be the ultimate in Terminator delivery, but recently a challenger has appeared...
** '''Redeemer''' - Keeps the twin-linked Assault Cannon of the Crusader, but replaces the side-mounted Hurricane Bolters with a pair of Flamestorm Cannons, nasty S6 AP3 flamers. Carries 12. The only other Land Raider you should even consider, even if it doesn't fit as many Terminators. Far Nastier against infantry than the crusader, but needs to be up closer... which means melta-range. Whoops. Also needs extra armor at all times. Multi-Melta optional, but nice. And the cherry on top: 10 points cheaper than the other two Land Raider varieties.
** '''Terminus Ultra (Apocalypse)''' - Leman Russes and Baneblades got you down? Are Hammerhead gunships making you throw fits? Tyrannofexes slaughtering your tanks? Titans kicking your ass when you have none of your own? Do Predator Annihilators simply fail to cut it for you? Are your desperate, suicidal charges against a Monolith with only two tactical marines, two Predator Destructors, and three Land Speeders proving to be totally ineffective? Then the Terminus Ultra is a tank for you!!! Coming equipped with three(!) twin-linked lascannons and two single lascannons, it's only a measly 50 points more expensive than the standard Land Raider and has no troop carrying capacity. It is extremely effective against enemy armour, the Land raiders special rule allows the Terminus Ultra to easily take out 2 light vehicles in a single shooting phase or completely annihilate one heavy vehicle, I once managed to destroy a Warhound Titan with this thing. But some unlucky rolls can lead to the tank blowing up, through overheating of the lascannon batteries. Best used at long range, picking off the enemy vehicles one by one, or two by two. Pretty much, it causes enemy vehicles to suffer critical existence failure to an even greater degree than the Redeemer causes enemy infantry to spontaneously combust (probably because the Redeemer doesn't have an additional two weapon mounts.) If you could stick on a multi-melta or an additional Las-Cannon, all your anti-vehicle problems could be fixed but not even Matt Ward is willing to go that far. Antaro Chronus turns this into pretty much the final word in Imperial tank destroyers.  
** '''Achilles (Forgeworld)''' - Oh hell yes. For the same price as the Terminus Ultra, this beast sports a Thunderfire Cannon and twin-linked multi-melta sponsons, has immunity to the Melta and Lance special rules, puts a -1 penalty on most other attacks, can carry six models, and doesn't go 'splodey. Put a scout squad and a techmarine in it, plonk it down on an objective, and watch your opponent throw a shit fit.
** '''Ares (Apocalypse)''' - This is for when a Vindicator just won't cut it.  Comes standard with a Demolisher cannon, twin linked Assault cannons, twin-linked heavy flamer sponsons, and a siege shield, can take extra armour for +15pts, and always do have extra armour on it, the whole point of this tank is to get to the enemy lines as quickly as possible, therefore as soon as it's stunned, it's losing an entire turn of blowing the enemy apart as you'll reach them a turn later. When it was released there were those who questioned the point of the Demolisher cannon (By 'those', I mean Idiots, who wouldn't want a demolisher cannon...), as it's an ordnance weapon, no other weapons can be fired. HOWEVER, with the new 'Power of he machine spirit' rule, just make sure the Demolisher is the extra weapon you fire with POTMS, and you can still unleash all your weapons when stationary. Costs as much as two-and-a-half Vindicators, but a hell of a lot more survivable, and has more close-combat attack options into the bargain. This tank is the absolute final word in terminal close quarters battle, the demolisher cannon will annihilate half a unit, many more will be mown down by the Assault cannon, then move in to mop up with twin-linked heavy flamers (re-roll to wound), so...it's pretty good its armour can stand up to the punishment it will no doubt sustain on it's way to the enemy front lines.
***Irritatingly, there is no way to buy a kit for this vehicle, Forgeworld or otherwise, so you have to build it from scratch.
** '''Helios (Forgeworld)''' - A Whirlwind on steroids, which comes stock with twin-linked lascannon sponsons.  More survivable and versatile than the Whirlwind, but is not worth the points cost. Also carries six models for some insane reason. If you ask us, it'd probably be better off not being able to transport infantry in exchange for two more gun mounts, probably autocannons. ''Mais c'est la vie''.  
** '''Prometheus (Forgeworld)''' - Absolute and complete garbage. Don't even think about taking this; there is ''always'' a better way to spend your points. One would imagine something named Prometheus would be pretty legit like an uber Redeemer or something.  
*'''Antaro Chronus''' -  Not really a character so much as he is an upgrade to a tank. An expensive upgrade to a tank. He makes it BS 5, and ignores shaken and stunned results. Great, for a shooty tank... but you don't really have many shooty tanks expensive enough to merit this upgrade, except the Land Raider Terminus Ultra, conversely you could put him in an Achilles and make it even MORE resilient, resulting in absolutely 3PIC RAGE by your opponent as ridiculous amounts of firepower are literally thrown at the Achilles and nothing happens. Plus, you have a 2/3 chance of making the tank worth 2 kill points, as the 1W mook who pops out won't do much but die horribly.
*'''Whirlwind''' - An often forgotten option, the cheap whirlwind tank is actually an excellent troop hunter. Especially against the "swarm" armies (Nids, Orks, Guard). It comes stock with a choice of two shots, one with a better strength and AP for hunting troops in the open, and another, weaker shot that ignores cover saves (quite useful). The Whirlwind's real boon is it's ability to fire indirectly, and only having one gun means you can shuffle around every turn without compromising your fire power, on top of this, the 'barrage' type of its weapon means approaching units that have poor leadership(guardsmen, gaunts etc.) can be easily pinned and stay there while you pound them. While it lacks the sheer range and firepower of the Imperial Guard's Basilisk, it is pretty damned good for an artillery unit. But, unfortunately, in MechHammer 40k it's useless as it can't deal with vehicles whatsoever. 
*'''Thunderfire Cannon''' - Another often forgotten option. This one's almost never worth remembering though. In case you care, while it is cheap, and does put out an impressive amount of firepower "on paper", it's Artillery, and therefore extremely fragile. Like, worse-than-land-speeder fragile. And completely stationary. Works fine in small (sub 750pt) games where you'll be facing relatively little firepower, but in larger games it will die right off the bat. Most forget that it even exists in Apocalypse games where you'll have access to units with even more firepower and the sheer amount of dakka that will be tossed around will cause this gun to spontaneously explode. The Thunderfire Cannon ''does'' have one saving grace, however: it comes with a free Techmarine with a servo-harness. If you plan on taking Techmarines anyway and have the slots open, you might as well get one cannon round out of it for 25 points. Against armies that are heavily mechanized and must bunch up all their transports, 1-2 Thunderfire Cannons can cockblock the entire army with the earthquake shells, provided you actually have something else in the list for breaking those transports. Also the Earthquake shells can really fuck vehicle squadrons by making them waste movement to go around the templates (but again, if you're using this as a big tactic, you sure as fuck ''need'' something else to break those vehicles!!)
** TFCs ''can'' be Awesome in Apocalypse if you use them right, especially against horde armies you can just spam the Subterranean shells at. The key here is the Subterranean Shell's Tremor rule; opponents really don't like it when you're constantly putting down Blast templates of difficult/dangerous terrain in their way, even if the shell doesn't hurt anything. Do this every turn you're not firing on infantry, and many start trying to spread out and attempt a pincer rather than risk terrain tests.
*'''Deathstorm Drop Pod (Forgeworld)''' - Expecting the drop pod that just landed to contain troops or a heavy weapons platform you don't have to worry about until next turn? SURPRISE! Whirlwind missiles!  For you! In the face! When this modified drop pod lands, it immediately attacks every unit (friend or foe) in 12" and in line of sight d3 times, then attacks normally every subsequent term. It can also be upgraded to assault cannons for an extra 20 points, but this should only be done if you expect it to survive more than one turn (and you really shouldn't). ''Very'' situational, but if your opponent fields lots of small units relatively close together, dropping this in the middle of them is almost guaranteed to ruin his day. Can't take a locator beacon, though.
*'''Contemptor Mortis (Forgeworld):''' Probably the best Contemptor variant, this guy trades in fleet for BS5 and AA shots if it stands still and can mount a big gun in each arm PLUS a cyclone missile launcher. Here's your loadout: ignore everything and take 2 Kheres pattern assault cannons and a cyclone missile launcher. There! You're done. If you find yourself not in range of the assault cannons, move forward and throw down with a couple of BS5 missiles. If you DO have something in assault cannon range, hold still and let the rape flow - your dread will loose a total of 12 S6 AP4 rending shots at 24" on a hapless unit and if you stood still, you can drop 2 more missiles on the poor fuckers ALL OF IT HITTING ON 2'S!