Warhammer 40,000/9th Edition Tactics/Space Marines

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WE ARE THE SPEHSS MAHREENS! WE ARE THE EMPRA'S FUREH!

This is the current 9th Edition's Space Marine tactics. 8th Edition Tactics are here.

Why Play Space Marines

The Emperor’s finest; the Space Marines; the Angels of Death; the warriors of the Adeptus Astartes go by many names, and all spell annihilation to the enemies of Mankind. Possessing terrifying speed, strength, and resilience, the Space Marines are genetically engineered super-soldiers whose humanity has been sacrificed so that they may unflinchingly stand against those who would see the Imperium fall. They go to war clad in nigh-impenetrable armour. They wield devastating weapons such as the bolt rifle, the chainsword and the lascannon. They can speed into battle in armoured tanks and gunships, drop from the skies on grav-chutes and jump packs, or even teleport directly into their enemies’ midst. Coupled with their unshakeable resolve, the strike forces of Adeptus Astartes are the most powerful and tactically flexible in the Imperium.

Pros

• Easy for beginners to play, the army is highly customizable with generally acceptable grades of viability.
• Your basic units are pretty well rounded and durable with strength 4, toughness 4, 3+ armor saves, and 2 wounds base.
• Space Marines are the iconic poster boy army of 40k, you're always going to be the first out of the gate with a new book and some new models every edition.
• You have a variety of useful psychic powers, many of which are flat-out buffs of other armies' powers.
• Loads of powerful characters to choose from, many of which have potent buffs to surrounding units.
• Units can do something of everything, with an answer to every situation.
• 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.

Cons

• Space Marines have the largest pool of units in the game, it can feel overwhelming when deciding what to take and many units seem redundant.
• 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.
• GW releases new units with overpowered statlines at breakneck pace, which results in massive drain on both your time and your wallet. In the long term, this can cause hobby fatigue and/or feelings of resentment.
• The Elites slot is overcrowded.
• You will almost always be outnumbered, though some Chapter tactics make use of low model counts, and codex has some answers to this.
• Marines vs. Marines is grating and monotonous, which sucks since it's the most popular faction in the game.
• On that note: as the most popular army everyone makes sure to include anti-marine tech into any list they make, and as the most popular army odds are your opponent has piloted a marine force themselves and so knows your weaknesses and strengths better then you might a non marine army.
• Eradicators are stupidly overpowered and unquestionably cheese. Bring a squad or two at most - any more than that is firmly in That Guy territory.
• They are losing the versatility each unity had for more Eldarish specialized roles which is chipping away at their beginner friendliness.

TL;DR

• Space Marines sit at the middle of the spectrum between ranged and melee armies. They're fundamentally a shooty army, but on the spectrum of shooty troops they are the least fucked in melee. They don't have a lot of attacks, so the longer they stay in melee with melee specialists the worse it's going for them. Their durability comes at a points premium per unit, which underlines the Astartes' greatest nemesis: Hordes. Astartes aren't Custodes; their points premium doesn't make them so tough that they can shrug off an entire squad worth of knives and flashlights. The fluff may say an Astartes is worth a hundred men, but in their respective roles, guardsmen and boyz are more points economical. Playing Space Marines is not about playing to strengths... it's about playing to the enemy's weaknesses.

Special Rules

• Troops gain Objective Secured.
  • As of the Q1 2023 Dataslate, they gain an additional ability where objectives they control at the end of your Command Phase remain under your control unless your opponent controls it at the end of any subsequent phase, regardless of whether or not you leave something in range to control it (e.g. if you're just out of range and the enemy charges you to put themselves in range, but you murder them during the Fight Phase so at the end of the phase nothing is in range again, it remains under your control). This means if your dudes start your turn camping a marker and are shot off it, it remains under your control - the enemy has to come control it to stop you - but simply taking control of a marker on your turn won't cut it (taking control on the enemy turn, e.g. via melee murder, will generally cut it).
• Company Command: Maximum 1 non-chapter master Captain and/or 2 Lieutenants per Detachment. Aka fuck you to homebrew chapters that have a non-Codex organisation... or even canon ones like the Space Wolves and Black Templars that have more than 2 "Lieutenants" per "Captain".
  • Inexplicably, this rule doesn't apply to Company Champions or Company Ancients, even though Codex compliance demands exactly 1 per Company.
• Chapter Command: Most non-named Characters (i.e. all except Lieutenants and Judiciars) can have a Chapter Command upgrade for PL and points. Your army can only have one of each <Chapter> Command model and some named Characters already have the relevant keyword. Crusade forces cannot start with a non-named Chapter Command model.
  • Using Ultramarines as an example, your army cannot have Marneus Calgar and an Ultramarines Captain upgraded to a Chapter Master in the same army. However, you can have an Ultramarines Chapter Master and a Salamanders Chapter Master in the same army.
  • Much like the Company Command rule, this is a big "fuck you" to chapters that don't work this way: the Salamanders have three Masters of the Forge, while the Iron Hands Master of the Forge is also their Master of Sanctity. Meanwhile, the Space Wolves are even fuckier: Arjac Rockfist, for example, is both a Lieutenant-equivalent and a Chapter Champion-equivalent at the same time.
• Combat Squads: Can split a single full-sized unit into two smaller units before deployment. Works just like it always has, but more unit types can do it (e.g. Centurions). While MSU is better, it does give Space Marines a unique way to circumvent the Rule of Three or Detachment Limits. Now they just need to have spammable units worth Combat Squadding, like Eradicators.
  • With the introduction of Shock Assault (see below), it is worth considering the use of some of the older tactics, back when a Tactical Marine was worth more than just a bolter. One such tactic was to put your guns in one squad and your melee in another, using the ranged weapons to soften up a target, then the melee (basically a sergeant with either a power weapon or fist) to finish it off, or better yet, to tie up the target unit and finish it off (hopefully) during the opponent's turn, denying them a turn at shooting and forcing them to basically waste their melee on chaff. You can also put the sergeant in the ranged unit with a combi-weapon for a total of three bolters and two special weapons in one squad and a heavy weapon in the other for a makeshift Devastator Squad.
• Angels of Death: A rule owned by every Space Marines chapter whatever its colour, subdivided into four. Because GW likes to keep it simple.
  • And They Shall Know No Fear: When taking Combat Attrition tests, ignore all modifiers, meaning you don't care about being at half strength.
    • Don't take this as an excuse to let your Sergeant die first - failing Morale in the first place is much worse than being better at resisting Combat Attrition until you reach casualty rates your units generally won't be large enough to suffer to begin with.
  • Bolter Discipline: Models using a rapid fire bolt weapon can double their number of shots (i.e. rapid-fire) if at least one of the following conditions is met. They don't stack, so no triple or quadruple shots if you meet more than one condition. The conditions are:
    • The target is within the weapon's half range (normal rapid fire rules).
    • The model is Infantry (excluding Centurions) and every model of its unit remained stationary during the previous Movement Phase. If a Devastator's Heavy Weapon Marine moves, the sergeant cannot use Bolter Discipline on his boltgun.
      • This gives your Marines the option to commit to those objectives instead of having to get close to the enemy. Factions like Tau may have long-ranged small arms, but Space Marines can rapid fire from full range away.
    • The firing model is a Terminator or Biker.
      • This right here is the good shit. Footslogging Terminators now have a significantly improved threat capacity and Bikers are somehow even more deadly fast than they already were. Be aware it does not apply to Dreads or any other vehicle.
  • Shock Assault: If a unit with this rule charges, gets charged, or performs a Heroic Intervention, models in the unit gain +1A until the end of the turn (stacks with fighting twice, like with a stratagem, for +2A total).
    • Gives the generally lackluster melee of most Primaris infantry and chainsword Assault Marines a little bit of a boost. Killer on units with power weapons, like Terminators. Also means foes have to be a bit more careful about charging at Tacticals and such to tie them up, and that they can assist in melee in a pinch.
    • Remember that this ability is not Infantry exclusive; Dreadnoughts really appreciate the extra attack, and even your Transports can hit a little harder in the first round of combat (Space Marines bring a whole new meaning to road rage).
  • Combat Doctrines: Feels like it's 7th edition all over again. Each of the three Combat Doctrines gives an AP-1 buff to different weapon types in your armies (non-cumulative with buffs from other sources). You have to use each Doctrine in order, starting with the Devastator Doctrine, and then can (it says must in the codex, but the Q1 2023 Dataslate made it optional) move through each Doctrine in order. Once you switch there's no going back, so pay attention to the rhythm of the game. Your army gains this if all units in it (aside from Agents of the Imperium) have this rule, meaning taking a Guardsman Battalion would prevent the Marine detachment from getting this rule, but allied Marine detachments are okay, even if they're from a different Chapter.
    • Specialist Doctrines, from supplemental Chapter Codexes, stack with this. Bringing Chapters with different Specialist Doctrines prevents either Chapter from getting theirs, which encourages you to have a one-Chapter army.
    • When the codex dropped, the doctrines were hard-locked to only triggering on certain turns. However, the Q1 2023 Dataslate made the transitions optional, meaning you can go back to spamming shit with the Devastator Doctrine.
    1. On turn 1, your army will always start with the Devastator Doctrine turned on, giving all your heavy and grenade weapons the extra -1 AP so that you can soften entrenched Infantry and cripple enemy Vehicles and monsters from afar in preparation for your advance (the benefit to grenades generally won't come up unless you went second and got Alpha Struck). Remember the first points of AP are the most important ones: AP-2 heavy bolters and assault cannons are more noticeable than AP-4 lascannons. Do keep in mind that the plethora of sniper rifles and heavy flamers (incendium/inferno/flamestorm cannons) are heavy weapons.
    2. If you spend the previous turn in Devastator Doctrine, you can switch to the Tactical Doctrine (meaning this is available from Turn 2 onward), shifting the boost to your rapid fire and assault weapons. Be it to close the distance to the enemy or because your vehicles are about to give their last, this mostly passes the ranged baton to your Infantry, and amusingly, your Rhinos and Drop Pods. Storm bolters and auto bolt rifles work wonders here.
    3. If you spend the previous turn in Tactical Doctrine, you can switch to the Assault Doctrine (meaning this is available from Turn 3 onward) giving the extra AP to your pistol and melee attacks. Do remember to fire those pistols right before charging and during melee.
• Death From Above/Teleport Strike: Deep Strike by another name, most common on Jump Pack and Terminator models. Set them aside during deployment and set them up 9" from enemy models during the Reinforcement Step. The fact that they have different names actually does come up for Deathwatch, because you can get both into the same unit (which causes neither to work).
• Concealed Positions: Infiltrate by another name, most common on Scout and Phobos models. Set them up anywhere on the field 9" from enemy deployment zone or models during deployment.
• Outflank: Like Deep Strike, but must be wholly within 6" of a board edge and 9" from enemy models during the Reinforcement Step.
• Martial Legacy^FW: Relic unit rules for certain Forge World models. If your army is battle-forged, each unit with this rule increases the cost of a detachment that includes it by 1CP. Essentially, you pay 1CP per Martial Legacy unit in your army.

Chapter Tactics

Chapter Tactics are special rules based on the <Chapter> keyword that will affect every unit in a detachment except for servitors and Beast. To benefit from Chapter Tactics, your army must be battle-forged, and all units in the detachment must be drawn from the same chapter. Super-Heavy Auxiliary Detachments also don't benefit from this, so if you want your Raven Guard Thunderhawks to get free cover, you need to take three. A reminder that <chapter> Ultramarines is not the same faction as <regiment> Ultramarines, even if both faction keywords are "Ultramarines".

They are explored in greater detail in their respective section at the bottom of this page, but as a quick reminder of the GW and FW tactics and recommendations:

• Blood Angels - Red Thirst: Gains +1 to wound rolls when Shock Assault is active, gains +1 to advance and charge rolls.
  • Flesh Tearers - Fury Within: Gains +1 to wound rolls when Shock Assault is active, unmodified wound rolls of 6 gain -1AP that is cumulative with the Assault Doctrine.
  • Blood Angels have the successor tactic Hungry for Battle, and an ability not available as a Successor Tactic. Neither of the Flesh Tearers abilities are available as Successor Tactics.
• Dark Angels - Grim Resolve: Gains +1 to hit rolls unless this unit has moved (except pile-in or consolidation), automatically passes Combat Attrition Tests. The Jink and Inner Circle rules depend on this tactic to function, so they are:
  • Jink (typically found on bikes and land speeders): Models in this unit have a 5++ invulnerable save against ranged attacks, which is lost if it Remains Stationary, until the following Movement phase; increases to 4++ if it Advances.
  • Inner Circle (typically found on terminators, sometimes found on bikes, land speeders, and dreadnoughts):
    • Each time a Morale test is taken for this unit, it is automatically passed.
    • While this unit is within Engagement Range of any enemy FALLEN units, unless this unit has the VEHICLE keyword, this unit cannot be selected to Fall Back