"I am an as-yet rather unsuccessful Marine player, but after reading some of the articles on your site, I wrote up some new lists and have been pondering tactics for them. I was wondering if, perhaps, I could get your feedback on them? That would be fantastic, as most of the feedback on them, comes from people who are idiots and forums (mostly made up of idiots).
Here they are (general tactical ideas at the end):
750:
Librarian, Nullzone, Avenger
Tactical Squad, Multi-Melta, Melta, Rhino
Tactical Squad, Multi-Melta, Melta, Rhino
Sternguard Squad (7 marines), 2 Heavy Flamers"
Sternguard should have a Rhino really so I'd drop the squad size down to grab that. Otherwise I don't really want to comment at 750. It's a great base on which to build up to higher points but at that level you've got more than half your points in Troops which aren't hyper point efficient. I'd also prefer to see heavy weapons such as Missile Launchers or Lascannons on the Sternguard.
"1000:
Librarian, Nullzone, Avenger
Tactical Squad, Multi-Melta, Flamer, Rhino
Tactical Squad, Multi-Melta, Flamer, Rhino
Sternguard Squad, 2 Heavy Flamers, Power Fist, Combi-Melta, Rhino
Dreadnought, 2 twin-linked Autocannons
Landspeeder, Heavy Flamer, Multi-Melta
Predator, Heavy Bolters"
Looking better though same thing with the Sternguard as before. NO power fist is needed and those points can go into combi-meltas. Rather than splitting your points across Dread, Speeders and Preds I'd focus on one or two of those. So perhaps drop the Pred at this points level for a Speeder but again, same as 750 since you're basically building your army up.
"1500:
Master of the Forge, Thunderhammer, Combi-Melta
Librarian, Nullzone, Avenger
Tactical Squad, Multi-Melta, Melta, Rhino
Tactical Squad, Multi-Melta, Melta, Rhino
Sternguard Squad, 2 Heavy Flamers, Rhino
Sternguard Squad, Heavy Flamers, Power Fist, Rhino ( Libby goes with this one)
Landspeeder, Heavy Flamer, Multi-Melta
Landspeeder, Heavy Flamer, Multi-Melta
Dreadnought, 2 twin-linked Autocannons
Dreadnought, 2 twin-linked Autocannons
Predator, Heavy Bolters"
Not sure the MotF is really worth it at this points level. I'd probably drop him (and thus a Dreadnought) and go from there. You obviously want the Sternguard to be close-up units but they are not great in combat. With 2A each they can be annoying but nothing too flash. I'm happy with you running them with Heavy Flamers but give them all combi-meltas as well and then get more fire support. Change the Speeders to Typhoons since you've got mobile flamers and meltas from the Sternguard and double up the Predator. Any spare points should get your more speeders if possible though you are going to have some scoring issues with only 20 tacs at 1500. A small scout squad with cloaks + missile launcher might not go amiss either.
"So, the Tacs stay in their Rhinos near objectives, shooting from the hatches, killing weak inf., and disembarking to claim or contest near the end of the game.
The Sternguard torch infantry with ride-bys, disembarking for firefights, etc...
The Speeders DS and blast tanks and small infantry units.
The Dreads shoot light armour.
The Dakka Pred blasts infantry.
So, whaddaya think?
Thanks a lot!
Sam"
You do not need to disembark the Tacticals for them to score. Otherwise it looks fine with some tweaking (discussed above). I think at 1500 two HQs is too much even though it allows you to grab more ranged dakka with the Dreads. Instead I'd rather see you use Typhoons (you can run three with the above changes or two if you get a scout squad + the 2 Preds and Dread) as your fire support instead of multiple Dreads and use the Sternguard as aggressive Marines w/bling.
