Warhammer 40,000/Tactics/Space Marines(9E)

Why Play Space Marines

Pros

• 9th seems to be shafting hordes and infantry - This means your elite dudes can hammer down on lesser units easier than before.
• Dreadnoughts can stomp around the battlefield blasting the big guns!
• A lot of different units.
• Seems everybody got upgraded machine spirits, Astartes vehicles are better than ever, though more expensive.
• Easy for beginners to play, yet rewarding for experts. Can be customized to focus on many specific elements (e.g. Terminators, mass jump pack assaults, etc.) with varying grades of viability.
• Command points have been remodeled, helping some Marine lists.
• Units can do something of everything, with an answer to every situation.
• A common trend with Imperial armies, your Troop choices aren't tax, being actually good.
• You're GW's favorites, so you'll always be the first to get anything new.
• Loads of powerful characters to choose from, many of which have potent buffs to surrounding units.
• You'll almost always have an armour save.
• Many of your models are simple to paint with their solid colors and easily identified highlight areas---This makes painting your army very beginner friendly.
• Now packing bigger and better infantry weapons than other Imperial armies.
• Primaris fleshed out more with assault variants.
• Savvy players using cover well can preserve MSU squads more than before.

Cons

• 9th Edition seems to favor reducing the size of armies for quicker battles. This results in increased points costs for Marines while magnifying issues with being outnumbered.
• Other choppy armies can still swing with the best any day, do be careful.
• A lot of SM infantry are multiwound, meaning D2 and D3 weapons are especially deadly
• Troops section is getting genuinely complicated.
• Overwatch gimmicks are largely null and void, with only a few exceptions.
• So many different units that it can be difficult to determine which ones are best in a given situation.
• Points costs are changing and increasing.
• As the most popular army by a long shot, most people build their armies with at least a few options for killing Space Marines present.
• All the characters that used to be part of other units (e.g. Apothecary, Champion) moved to the Elites slot, which was already rather crowded. *Consider bringing in an extra Vanguard detachment or two.
• You will almost always be outnumbered and will struggle at times to claim objectives, though some Chapter tactics make use of low model counts.
• Being the "alpha army" for so long tends to reap powerful counters elsewhere.
• Primaris are still beefy and expensive and can still get swamped in cheap, high volume, low AP hits

Warlord Traits

Universal

Vanguard Space Marines

Master of Sanctity

Master of the Forge

Chief Librarian

Chief Apothecary

Chapter Ancient

Company Champion: Chapter Champion

Chapters

Black Templars

The stubborn, angry, holy bois from 3rd edition are still angry, still holy, and are still holding onto their special characters.

Formed by Sigismund, the first captain of the Imperial Fists with the division of the chapters. These guys are as no-nonsense, xeno-hating and as "my-way or no-way" as space marines can get.

Favoring chaining their weapons to their arms like lunatics and going balls out against the enemies of the Imperium in macho close combat. These guys are the closest thing to loyalist khorne berzerkers, only beat out by the Death Company. Their intense faith in the emperor as a God is disturbing to some space marine chapters.

They also use the codex astartes as a door stopper, and tell Robert G-money to shove it, as they patrol around the galaxy in anywhere between 5-7 thousand marines at any given time.

Only their Chapter Master: High Marshall Helbrecht really knows how many Templars there are.

Tactics and Strategy

Army Building

Matchups and Counterplay

Heavy Support