Kojibear's Space Marines

[kojibear]

Hi guys. Thinking about starting 40K.

Being quite new to the whole power armour, lascannon, frak and krak thingy majigs and plasma do hickeys, I would like to know what you think of my list.

Space Marines seem to be the easiest and cheapest for me as a beginner.

My theme is a Chapter living on a planet predominately water.

I was thinking about buying:

2 Blood Angels Box Set (The blood drops can be painted up as water drops)

I already have 10 marines

This will give me a list like this:

Beach Landings

HQ - Captain (jump pack, power fist, storm bolter)

HQ - Chaplain (jump pack, storm bolter)

Troops

10 Tactical Marines (power fist, meltbombs, meltagun, multi-melta) - Rhino

10 Tactical Marines (powerfist, heavy bolter) - Rhino

10 Tactical Marines (Lascannon, Plasmagun)

Fast Attack

10 Assault Marines (flamer, power fist, melta bombs)

10 Vanguard Veterans (jump packs, plasma pistol, relic sword, melta bombs)

This is about 1500 points I think.

How does it look?

Cheers everyone

[job]

Welcome to 40k: an age of war and darkness....[whoooo....]

Anyway, as for your list. It depends on what kind of input you want. I think starting with space marines is a really good choice. They are very versatile, flexible and a good list to start with. Some of the other factions take a little more finesse.

As for theme: I love your list. I think it is neat and I certainly think collecting the things you like is always great.

As for general tactical principles: I think you really need to have better anti-armor. Have something to deal with Land Raiders (Armor 14 vehicles). I suggest the AT 9/10 weaponry or multmeltas/meltaguns in considerable strength. The units I would think about are Predator Annhilators, Land Speeders with multimeltas, Devastator squads, Vindicators or meltaguns all around.
I would generally err on the side that dedicated anti-armor tends to be most effective, but it is also important to have options for fall backs and so units don't get caught in situations where units can't deal with some common opponents.

Oh, did I mention "powerfists"? "POWERFISTS in EVERYSQUAD" is best to be accepted as a rule rather then principle. Powerfists give you the ability to slay independent characters, attack dreadnaughts effectively, attack vehicles, attack tough monstrous creatures and give your tactical squads some sting in close combat. I highly recommend it as something handed to me as advice when I first started 5th ed.

Otherwise there are units and builds out there that are very, umm, "competitive". But, I don't want to ruin the fun for you. There are lots of debates out there on units and such, but I think everyone has their particular style of play and I think you should suit your lists to what you like.

Have fun! I'll hope to build up my CSM to play you some point, mate.


Edit: Hey, if the theme is "a water-covered planet", then why not have land speeders. It seems to be the perfect vehicle for crossing large areas of ocean.

[Primarch]

HQ - Captain (jump pack, power fist, storm bolter)
HQ - Chaplain (jump pack, storm bolter)
Honestly, I'd drop the storm bolters. The chaplain will gain an extra attack with his power weapon and at 3 points a piece, they dont fit into lists easily as most things in the book are priced in multiples of 5 points. I'd probably switch the power fist for a relic blade instead as you wont strike last and gain an extra attack from the pistol.

Troops

10 Tactical Marines (power fist, meltbombs, meltagun, multi-melta) - Rhino

10 Tactical Marines (powerfist, heavy bolter) - Rhino
Take a flamer, its free, or scrounge up the points for a melta.

10 Tactical Marines (Lascannon, Plasmagun)

Fast Attack

10 Assault Marines (flamer, power fist, melta bombs)

10 Vanguard Veterans (jump packs, plasma pistol, relic sword, melta bombs)
Switch the plasma pistol for a power weapon. These guys should be fighting, not shooting. Maybe drop the relic sword for a power fist or a Thunder Hammer. Because the sergeant can't be singled out, you'll usually get to swing it in combat.

This is about 1500 points I think.

How does it look?

Cheers everyone

Your Vanguard are going to set you back a lot of points, which means you'll have to use them effectively to get your money's worth out of them. Due to their special rule, if you want to deepstrike with them AND assault on the turn they land, you CAN'T add your captain or chaplain to them. This isnt necessarily a bad thing, but something you should bear in mind when deciding how to deploy.
Assuming you buy the Blood Angel kits, you're going to find that you dont have any multi-meltas, heavy bolters or lascannons in the set, so you're going to need to pick up a devastator boxed set as well. You'll also need 2 extra models for your HQ choices, so the Blood Angels Sanguinary Guard set might be a good choice. You get some very fancy jump packs and some awesome looking swords that can be used as relic blades.

Hope that helps

P.

[Admiral-Badruck]

I think your list is fine as it stands as long as you are playing for fun. Some of the cheese lords out there will be more optimized but your army should be your army. Your army as it stands would be a lot of fun to play with I will give you a game with my Tau that will help you gain a bit more confidence and experience. Also if you would like to try out the list be for you pick up all the models you can try out with my models. Contact me when you are up for a game.

[me_in_japan]

My advice when starting a new game system would be:

forget completely about how many points something is. Buy your army based purely on how cool it looks to your eyes.

There's a good reason for this rationale - You are going to spend far more time painting those minis than playing with them. I find fluff helps (and you seem to be quite keen on background, from what Ive read) so I think it's good that you have some good background ideas. With regards to watery planet background, you should try and read "Brothers of the Snake" which is about a space marine chapter from a watery planet. Kinda greek myth inspired.

With regards to building a list, I really would just make sure that you have a cool HQ unit, 2 squads of tac marines (any chapter is fine, but the non-codex ones tend to have quite distinct iconography that you will have to work to disguise or re-interpret to make it your own. Basic tac marines are pretty much insignia-less, so are more customisable) and one or two other "hey this is cool" units as you see fit. It probably won't be 1500 pts, but there is no way you will be able to choose a well balanced 1500pt army that suits you without getting some experience under your belt. Start small, build up in manageable chunks. You dont need to play 40k at 1500pts. I'd say 500pts is a good starter size to learn the ropes.

One huge advantage of playing marines (aesthetically speaking) is that you can pick-n-mix from all space marine and CSM minis, meaning that if you can scrounge up some bitz (Oh, Priiiiiiim), you can customise to your hearts content. You can also buy a variety of boxes and mix n match.

So, I'd say : buy some cool stuff, make sure you have the minimum 1HQ and 2Troops, and wing it from there.

[Primarch]

I think your list is fine as it stands as long as you are playing for fun. Some of the cheese lords out there will be more optimized but your army should be your army.

Optimization of units isnt necessarily a bad thing. Dropping poorer wargear choices before you spend time and money buying/assembling/painting the mini is good. Notice that my changes were all 'within the unit' rather than changing the army build and all of them are relatively minor. However, all the changes are based on my own experiences and other people may (and will) disagree with me.

Your army as it stands would be a lot of fun to play with.

I totally agree. It has a good solid core and a couple of hammer units to throw at the enemy, it's manouverable enough to get to where you want it to be and tough enough to last out the game.

Start small, build up in manageable chunks. You dont need to play 40k at 1500pts. I'd say 500pts is a good starter size to learn the ropes.

One huge advantage of playing marines (aesthetically speaking) is that you can pick-n-mix from all space marine and CSM minis, meaning that if you can scrounge up some bitz (Oh, Priiiiiiim), you can customise to your hearts content. You can also buy a variety of boxes and mix n match.

So, I'd say : buy some cool stuff, make sure you have the minimum 1HQ and 2Troops, and wing it from there.

This is good advice. You can borrow models from myself or Badruck if you want to try different army builds before making any big purchases. If you need bitz (within reason) you just need to ask, though some are like gold-dust (melta guns) and are spoken for already.
As for only buying the cool models though, do make sure that you can field them in a legal army. Whilst 20 terminators and 20 sternguard may look awesome you will be left with at least 1 unit that sits on the shelf week after week gathering dust.

[kojibear]

Thanks for all the advice everyone. Makes me feel all warm inside No seriously, thanks for the support! I do appreciate your help. Also, thank you for the kind offers for practice games.

I think you are all right about starting too big. 500 - 1000 points is quite enough to start with.

@Admiral - Fun is what I would like!
@MiJ - I will try to keep in mind my fluff and cool factor + cheers for the book recommendation
@Job - I will keep in mind that I DO need to worry about big nasty tanks and the like and melt 'em to slag
@Prim - Your are right that I wouldn't want to NOT think about some optimization, as losing all my first ten games would be quite demotivating ...


Well, back to the old drawing board! I'll let you know what I come up with my friends and get some practice games in first.

[job]

I have to agree with Prim. Building what is fun and cool for you is most important, but I think it is best not to set yourself up for a rough game. I think any good list will have plans and elements to deal with any threat. That is something far away from 'cheese-builds', something I wouldn't encourage.

@ Koji. If you build your list to 1k or so, I'll make sure to build an opposing force so you've got at least one other opponent.

[Konrad]

My theme is a Chapter living on a planet predominately water.


2 Blood Angels Box Set (The blood drops can be painted up as water drops)

Beach Landings

HQ - Captain (jump pack, power fist, storm bolter)

HQ - Chaplain (jump pack, storm bolter)


How does it look?

Cheers everyone

Maybe it will look something like this? Don't forget your scuba fins and beach toys.
I'm joking!
But seriously, tactics aside, "Waterworld" Marines could be a pretty cool theme.
Go to DakkaDakka and search "Akwatic Orks", this dude has a whole army of them. Seriously, the vehicles might be inspiring. Landing craft, Deffcoptas with pontoons, a sub.
I know Chimeras can cross water terrain and pretty sure Land Raiders can too. How about Rhinos?

[kojibear]

My theme is a Chapter living on a planet predominately water.


2 Blood Angels Box Set (The blood drops can be painted up as water drops)

Beach Landings

HQ - Captain (jump pack, power fist, storm bolter)

HQ - Chaplain (jump pack, storm bolter)


How does it look?

Cheers everyone

74812_md-Big%20Shoota,%20Boy,%20Diver,%20Goofy,%20Greenstuff,%20Humor,%20Orks,%20Scuba,%20Slugga,%20Warhammer%2040,000.jpg

Maybe it will look something like this? Don't forget your scuba fins and beach toys.
I'm joking!
But seriously, tactics aside, "Waterworld" Marines could be a pretty cool theme.
Go to DakkaDakka and search "Akwatic Orks", this dude has a whole army of them. Seriously, the vehicles might be inspiring. Landing craft, Deffcoptas with pontoons, a sub.
I know Chimeras can cross water terrain and pretty sure Land Raiders can too. How about Rhinos?

Wow, I think that kind eats, drinks and sleeps Scuba!

Cheers for the inspiration Konrad!