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

Special Rules

Chapter Tactics

Dark Angels: Grim Resolve

• Each time a model with this tactic makes an attack, unless that model has moved this turn (excluding pile in and consolidations) you can add 1 to the attacking model's hit roll.
• Each time a Combat Attrition roll is made for a unit with this tactic, it is automatically passed.

White Scars: Lightning Assault

• Units with this tactic are eligible to declare a charge with in a turn in which they Advanced or Fell Back.
• Models with this tactic do not suffer the penalty incurred for their hit rolls for firing Assault weapons in the same turn they Advanced.

Space Wolves: Hunters Unleashed

• Each time a model with this tactic makes a melee attack, if that model's unit made a charge move, was charged or performed a Heroic Intervention this turn, add 1 to that attack's hit roll.
• Units with this tactic are eligible to perform Heroic Interventions as if they were Characters.

Imperial Fists: Siege Masters

• Each time a model with this tactic makes a ranged attack, the target does not receive the benefits of Light Cover against the attacks.
• Each time a model with this tactic makes a ranged attack with a bolt weapon, an unmodified hit roll of 6 causes 1 additional hit.

Blood Angels: Red Thirst

• Add 1 to the Advance roll and charge roll made for units with this tactic
• Each time a model with this tactic makes a melee attack, if that model's unit made a charge move, was charged or performed a Heroic Intervention this turn, add 1 to that attack's wound roll.

Iron Hands: The Flesh is Weak

• Each time a model with this tactic would lose a wound, roll a D6. On a 6 that wound is not lost.
• Models with this tactic whose characteristics can change as they take damage, are considered to have double the number of wounds remaining for the purposes of determining those characteristics.

Ultramarines: Codex Discipline

• Add 1 to the Leadership characteristic of models with this tactic.
• Units with this tactic are eligible to shoot in a turn in which they Fell Back. But if they do, then until the end of their turn, each time a model in that unit makes a ranged attack, subtract 1 from that attack's hit roll.

Salamanders: Forged in Battle

• Each time a unit with this tactic is selected to shoot or fight, you can re-roll one wound roll when resolving that unit's attacks.
• Each time an attack with an Armour Penetration characteristic of 1 is allocated to a model with this tactic, that attack has an Armour Penetration characteristic of 0 instead.

Raven Guard: Shadow Masters

• Each time a ranged attack is made against a unit with this tactic, if that attack was made at over 18" away, then the unit with this tactic is treated as having the benefits of Light Cover against the attack.
• Each time a ranged attack is made against an INFANTRY unit with this tactic that is entirely on or within a terrain feature, if that attack was made at over 12" away, then the unit with this tactic is treated as having the benefits of Dense Cover against the attack.

Deathwatch: Xenos Hunters

• Each time a model with this tactic makes an attack against a TYRANID, AELDARI, ORK, NECRON or T'AU EMPIRE unit, re-roll a hit roll of 1.
• After both sides have finished deploying their armies, select a Battlefield Role. Until the end of the battle each time a model with this tactic makes an attack against an enemy unit with that Battlefield Role, re-roll a wound roll of 1.

Successor Tactics

Crimson Fists: No Matter the Odds

• Each time a model with this tactic makes a ranged attack against a unit that contains at least 5 more models than the attacker's unit, when it was attacked, add 1 to the attack's hit rolls. For the purpose of this tactic VEHICLES always count as 5 models.
• Each time a model with this tactic makes a ranged attack with a bolt weapon, an unmodified hit roll of 6 causes 1 additional hit.

Black Templar: Righteous Fury

• You can re-roll Advance and Charge rolls made for units with this Tactic
• Each time a model with this tactic would lose a wound as a result of a mortal wound, roll one D6 on a 5+ that wound is not lost.

Flesh Tearers: Fury Within

• Each time a model with this tactic makes a melee attack, if that model's unit made a charge move, was charged or performed a Heroic Intervention this turn, add 1 to that attack's wound roll.
• Each time a model with this tactic makes a melee attack, on an unmodified wound roll of 6, increase the Armour Penetration characteristic of the attack by 1. This is cumulative with the bonus from the Assault Doctrine if it is active for your army.

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.

Special Rules

Lost Libraries: Psykers can never be fielded from the Black Templars Chapter. Templars don't allow use of witchcraft and hate anyone that does.

Chapter Tactic: Righteous Zeal

Choose to reroll one or both dice when making a charge, 5+ feel no pain vs mortal wounds.

Templars can make more reliable charges, also negate psychic attacks and explosions by just being angry. These guys aren't messing around.

Super Doctrine: Knights of Sigismund

In the assault doctrine and on the charge/intervention, unmodified 6s to hit automatically wound non vehicles.

Easily the weakest super doctrine marines have, makes it less of a loss to ally in other chapters for access to psykers.

Stratagems

Devout Push

This strat allows an infantry or biker to pile into engagement range at the start of the fight phase. No overwatch and the unit can target anyone they want since they didn't declare a charge against any specific unit. At end of the phase the unit can consolidate up to 6" instead of just 3. This can be used even on an opponents turn for a pseudo heroic intervention. This is easily the best Templar stratagem.

Units

Crusader Squads

Litanies

Relics

Warlord Traits

Tactics and Strategy

Army Building

Matchups and Counterplay

Heavy Support