Warhammer 40,000/7th Edition Tactics/Space Marines

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

This is the previous Edition's Space Marine tactics. The 8th Edition Tactics are here while the 6th Edition Tactics are here.

Why Play Space Marines

Space Marines are perhaps the best army for beginners. Their units are fairly expensive points-wise, so they usually field less bodies and vehicles than most other armies. While you can't bog down your foes in waves of men, this makes army construction cheaper and painting faster. Additionally, Space Marines are dead'ard; their basic troops have Toughness 4 and a 3+ armour save, giving them great staying power compared to most basic infantry of other armies. They're also solid in whatever role they're put in; Marines are good shots, and they're not half bad in an assault, either. Space Marine tanks, on the other hand, may not be as robust or as powerful as those of the Imperial Guard's, but they are dirt-cheap and reliable. Dreadnoughts, while slower than a tank, are slightly better at shooting than predators, present a smaller target and are far better in close combat (unless your luck with Tank Shock is ridiculous...), and are able to take on heroes, units and other vehicles and come out on top.

Other benefits include:

• Space Marines are the jacks of all trades, able to do pretty much anything reasonably well with no particular weaknesses. Whatever an enemy army’s weakness is, Space Marines have something that can exploit it.
• eBay-ability. Space marines are the most commonly auctioned off army. This makes starting out with them second-hand cheap (by Warhammer standards…).
• Easy to paint. The broad, flat areas (legs, shoulders) and defined ridges make painting straight-forward and simple. Little is easier to paint than a space marine. They even drybrush well for the lazy painter who just wants a force finished on the table ASAP. Conversely, they also provide large amounts of open areas for more advanced painters to go ham with freehand and more detailed painting.
• Quick to build, easy to convert. Space marines have the greatest range of bitz available to any army in any game, and not just from Games Workshop. There are several companies out there that make GW Marine conversion bitz. Almost everyone who plays 40k has some space marine bitz sitting around, and they're almost all plastic, so you can easily make a force that's really "you".
• Easy to play for beginners. Your basic troops can take a bit of abuse, so the army is relatively forgiving of noob mistakes, and you won't be horribly FUBAR because of a single poorly-thought out move. Very little in the codex is dead weight, so almost any unit purchased will be a welcome addition to your growing force.
• Rewarding for experts. Space marines are an army that you can really grow with. Once you learn how to shuffle your metal boxes around, and get the gist of the game, a closer examination of the space marine codex reveals a wealth and depth of available army builds and tactics unrivalled in the current 40k codices.
• Games Workshop has a long history of tilting things in the Marines' favor. The introduction of AP values to melee weapons was largely for the benefit of Marines and especially Terminators, and the grav gun has been introduced so you can kill heavily armoured troops without burning your fingers. Other armies may have weaknesses, but whenever a weakness is found for the Marines, GW just releases something to patch over it. You also have THREE Codex Supplements (Four if you count Kauyon) to ensure that no two armies play exactly alike.
• Thanks to UNBOUND ARMIES and infinite allies, you can mix and match your Space Marine Army with other Faction Marines. Want some serious firepower for your Space Wolves? Centurions shall work wonders. All the pain of the last few years with various Marine armies lacking decent units or updates has been patched up.

However there are a few draw backs to playing space marines that should be considered:

• Space Marines are the jacks of all trades, but the masters of none. Their non-specialization as an army is in itself a weakness, as pretty much every other army does their particular shtick better than Space Marines. If you don't figure out how to play rock-paper-scissors 40k and end up trying to out-shoot tau or out-assault genestealers, you're gonna get your power armored ass handed to you.
• As the most popular army your codex is the most often to be updated, which can be be seen as a good thing, but it does mean that you're going to be buying codices more often then other armies.
• As the most popular army you're the one most likely to be optimised against. An army geared to fight marines will do decent against most of the players in a tournament simply because most of the players will likely be using some variant of Marine. Killing Space Marines is a hobby among internet army list planners and any army list worth its salt will have a plan to deal with marines.
• In terms of armoured tanks your vehicles are maybe not the worst in the game, but they are far from the best. Any Tank that showed up to the Imperial guard motor pool with only an auto cannon (a weapon found in the guards heavy weapon squad) would be laughed right out of the pool and the Rhino, while good, does not compare well to other dedicated transports - its cheapness is why it's considered good.
• As the most popular army, other players will know most of your tricks. A Drop Pod assault can be powerful, but it's also something almost all the marine players have done at some point so when you show up to a game with eight Drop Pods the other player (Who may have done his share of Drop Podding) will have a good idea how to counterplay you.
• As a small elite army, you don't take large losses well such as those AP3 or lower large blast template from a Leman Russ, Riptide, or Imperial Knight. Tyranids can laugh off the loss of a brood and spawn more from a Tervigon, you can't. What counters Space Marines counters them HARD since they tend to be a smaller army.
• Vanilla marines of all flavors are almost laughably bad in close combat and your specialist melee units (with the notable exception of the Assault Terminators) won't win any prizes, either. Consider yourself in the bottom-middle of close combat overall.
• You have almost universally small squad sizes. This means that while your marines don't need as much support as other armies, they don't benefit as much from it, either.

Special Rules

Combat Doctrines

Now made universal, certain units and formations/detachments can now grant uses of the Doctrines, regardless of chapter, instead of only being an Ultras thing. The most common method for non-Ultramarines Chapter Tactics to get uses of Doctrines is by taking a Gladius Strike Force detachment (see Formations section), which grants one use of each of the three Doctrine types. If an army has multiple rules that enable a particular Doctrine, that Doctrine can be enacted that number of times per game (e.g. an Ultramarines Battle Demi-Company with Calgar would be able to use the Tactical Doctrine up to four times per game; one use granted by their Chapter Tactics, one use granted by being part of a Gladius Strike Force, one use granted by being a Battle Demi-Company, and Calgar granting one extra use of any Doctrine). There are three Doctrine types, and when enacted, each of them grants the following benefits to all units in your army with the same Chapter Tactics as the detachment that enacts it, till the start of your next turn:

• Tactical: Re-roll 1s to hit for shooting and assault. Tactical Marines, and any ICs joining them, can re-roll all misses that turn.
• Assault: Re-roll 1s to-hit in the Assault phase (so both Overwatch and close combat). Assault Marines, Bikes, Attack Bikes and AssCenturions, including any ICs joining those squads, can re-roll all misses during that Assault phase.
• Devastator: Re-roll 1s to-hit in the Shooting phase. Devastators and DevCenturions, including any ICs joining those squads, can re-roll all misses during that Shooting phase.

Chapter Tactics

The Chapter Tactics give you one of seven (mostly) army-wide rules - one for each of the First Founding Chapters that don't get their own codex, and the Black Templars. This also applies to their successor Chapters. Note that special characters may not be part of a detachment that does not have the same version of Chapter Tactics as them - i.e. Marneus Calgar can't lead a detachment of Salamanders, however he can be taken if you're Iron Snakes, as you can choose what Chapter they "are" and thus what Tactics they have. Counts-as characters are still a thing, you just have use the Chapter Tactics they're associated with ("it's not actually Tigurius, it's just a Chief Librarian for Chapter X with wargear functionally identical to Tigurius's"). Chapters whose founders are unknown may use whichever set of Chapter Tactics they wish. It should also be noted that if a unit contains models drawn from two different Chapters, it won't benefit from either of its constituents' Chapter Tactics.

• Important Clarification: Only models with the Chapter Tactics special rule will get the special rules described under their Chapter Tactics (specified pretty clearly in the Codex) - this most commonly fails to happen for non-Dreadnought vehicles. So, every time it says that a model has this or that special rule, it refers only to models with Chapter Tactics (i.e. Salamanders' Land Raider Redeemers cannot re-roll To Wound rolls with their Flamestorm Cannons). The exceptions are Astral Claws skimmers and, per the FAQ, all Iron Hands vehicles. Those dicks.
  • The Space Marine FAQ rough draft which is coinciding with the 7th Edition Rulebook FAQ says "If a unit contains models drawn from two different chapters, it counts as being from neither chapter, and thus benefits from neither chapter tactic." This ruling is actually okay since it's reeling in powergamers from spamming multiple CAD of White Scars and biker Iron Hands to make Smashfucker-White Scars Librarius Conclave on Bike Deathstar bullshit, like some guy used at Adepticon. Also, the same thing applies when Independent Characters drawn from Grey Knights/Dark Angels/Space Wolves/Blood Angels onto SM units and vice versa. (Note that this does not apply to Grey Knights/Dark Angels/Space Wolves/Blood Angels, as they do not have chapter tactics and do not lose any rules if joining/joined by SM units).

Codex Marines

Ultramarines

Ultramarines are often the first thing that comes to mind when people think of Space Marines, for better or for worse. They come with a slightly elite twist and rely on Combat Doctrines more than any other army.

• Requirements: Only Marneus Calgar, Captain Sicarius, Cassius, Chronus, Telion, Tigurius, and Roboute Guilliman are the special characters.
• Chapter Tactics: An army that contains any Ultramarine units can use the Assault, Tactical and Devastator Doctrine once each per game. It affects all Ultramarine models in your army.
  • This means that with the Gladius Strike Force you can use each doctrine twice, while the Tactical can be used a third time for your Demi-Company. Add in Calgar, and you might be able to bring that up to FOUR Tactical doctrine uses!

• Relics of Ultramar:
  • Tarentian Cloak: Wearer gets Eternal Warrior and It Will Not Die.
  • Helm of Censure: The first red helmet belonging to the Codex Astartes co-author Aonid Thiel. This gives the Preferred Enemy rule, but if the bearer attacks Chaos Space Marines, they get full Twin-Linked and Shred.
    • This functionally makes the model immune to its own Chapter Tactics, as the Combat Doctrines will no longer improve it.
  • Sanctic Halo: Captains only. Get Adamantium Will and Feel No Pain.
  • Soldier's Blade: An exceptionally sharp sword with no technological enhancement. Is an S User AP 2 melee weapon and that's it.
  • Standard of Macragge Inviolate: Available to Honour Guard standard bearers and any units that can take relics. Grants +1 Ld and +1 Attack to friendly Ultramarines within 12". Also, any Ultramarine infantry model to die within 6" rolls a die; on a 5+ they may immediately take an out of sequence shooting attack if is the Movement, Shooting, or Psychic phase, or a free pile-in + melee attacks at its normal initiative if the Fight sub-phase (so you don't get any attacks if it's past your Initiative step - a good reason to stick to Unwieldy melee weapons - or if it's not the Fight sub-phase or you're not already engaged in a melee but managed to die anyway).
  • Vengeance of Ultramar: A relic storm bolter that modifies normal bolt ammunition into bio-reactive shells. Is S1 AP5, but Assault 4, Poisoned 2+.

• Victrix Strike Force: The Ultramarines specific detachment.
  • Core: Your core choices are the Battle Demi-Company, and Strike Force Ultra.
  • Command: Your Command choices are the Librarius Conclave, the Reclusiam Command Squad, and the Strike Force Command option (which Guilliman may be taken for.
  • Auxiliary: Your normal Auxiliary choices are; the Armored Task Force, 1st Company Task Force, Anti-Air Defence Force, 10th Company Task Force, Storm Wing, Suppression Force, Land Raider Spearhead, and the Centurion Siegebreaker Cohort with an Ultramarine exclusive choice:
    • Victrix Guard: Captain Sicarius leads 1 unit of Honor Guard and 4 units of either Vanguard or Sternguard Veterans in any combination. They all get +1WS/BS and can "Look Out, Sir!" for Roboute Guilliman if he's within 3" as if he were a part of the unit. It's very expensive, but gives Guilliman his desperately needed meat shields.

Imperial Fists

Masters of Siege Warfare, and excellent with Bolter weaponry, these guys will get the job done.

• Requirements: Only special characters allowed are Captain Lysander and Pedro Kantor.
• Benefits: Re-roll ones to hit with all Bolter weapons (Bolt Pistol, Bolt Gun, Heavy Bolter, Storm Bolter) except the twin-linked Hurricane Bolter, their Devastators get Tank Hunter, and roll +1 on the Building Damage table. In addition, Centurion Devastators are an Elite choice, meaning you can have up to 6 squads of these Marine Matryoshka dolls.
• Warlord Traits: Technically these are for the Crimson Fists, but as a named Successor Chapter who uses the IF Chapter Tactics, they'll suffice.
  • Pain is for the Weak: Feel No Pain
  • Die-Hard Defenders: Counter-Attack and Stubborn, which makes these guys a lot tougher to shift, especially when added with Lysander.
  • Veteran of Rynn's World: Hatred and Preferred Enemy (Orks). Yeah, those green walls can't do shit now, if they ever could.
  • Experienced Instructor: If your Warlord doesn't shoot or run in the Shooting phase, he can nominate a friendly model within 12" to use his Ballistic Skill. Pretty much Telion upgraded to be useful on more heavy weapons.
  • Unwilling to Die: Eternal Warrior. NICE. Just hope you didn't buy the Shield Eternal and roll this.
  • Heir of Dorn: Warlord and all friendly Crimson Fists within 12" gain Fearless.

• Relics of the Phalanx

Imperial Fist specific relics they can use in addition to the regular ones.

• • The Eye of Hypnoth: 15 points. Used in place of a shooting attack, it can target a unit or a building - it reduces a unit's cover save by 1, or all of the target building's AVs (i.e. all three sides) by 1, until the end of the phase. Shaky value, especially since it doesn't stack with an Auspex - unless fortifications are a staple of your meta.
    • Note: It DOES stack with a Skitarii/AdMech omnispex.
  • The Angel of Sacrifice: 10 points, Chaplain only. When killed in assault, Chaplain stays around until close combat attacks are resolved, and then a