The book that this revolution most affected is everyone's favorite, the rock upon which all other codexes are built, the driving force of GW's corporate machine, the good old Space Marines. In this new age, the "standard" fighting block for the boys in blue is now 10 man Tactical plus rhino paired with small Devastator plus rhino. I can see the benefit. You gain toughness and mobility for your scoring by splitting them into 2 rhinos and the Devs bring 4 heavies that can't be shut down with 1 shot as easily as a tank. The most common loadout seems to be combat squad with melta/combi-melta in 1 rhino, combat squad with ML or MM in the other rhino and 5 Devs with 4 ML. Despire my deep seeded hatred of codex Devs, I kinda like it. I'm not sure it's better than the old standby of 10 Tacs with MM, flamer or melta and combi-melta in a rhino supported by a dakka pred, but hybrid is the new black so we evolve.
Which brings us to Vulkan. Obviously Vulkan had been competitive since day 1 of the SM Codex, but he never fully fit into the old paradigm IMO. Sure, you could go double Raider/TH termies, but that's more of a rock army than a real mech army. The old mech model of Tacs in rhinos with preds, dreads and speeder support didn't make best use of Vulkan since A) Vulkan doesn't help Preds and B) if all your rhinos have 10 guys, there's no good place for Vulkan. With a slight tweak, the new hybrid model fixes both these problems. Replacing the Dev ML with MM gives a nasty HS option that Vulkan helps a lot. By splitting the Tacs into 2 rhinos, Vulkan has a ready-made ride. I also think the new model offsets the big drawback to Vulkan, the loss of combat tactics. 5 man squads are less likely to have the manpower after surviving an assault to really affect the battle, so just sticking in an tying up an enemy for another round or 2 might be a better option.
Let's build the list. We'll start with Vulkan and our required troops, plus the Dev support
190 - Forgefather Vulkan He'stan
220 - 10 Tactical marines - meltagun, multi-melta, combi-melta, rhino
220 - 10 Tactical marines - meltagun, multi-melta, combi-melta, rhino
185 - 5 Devastator marines - multi-melta x4, rhino
185 - 5 Devastator marines - multi-melta x4, rhino
Oddly enough, that's exactly 1000 points. If you ever play at 1000, bring this and wreck house :) Now we'll move onto the tailor-made Vulkan unit, which, oddly enough, is one unit the Salamanders are known to not use heavily in the fluff :) Squadrons of 2 make getting cover easiest, so let's bring 3 squadrons
140 - 2 Landspeeders - multi-melta x2, heavy flamer x2
140 - 2 Landspeeders - multi-melta x2, heavy flamer x2
140 - 2 Landspeeders - multi-melta x2, heavy flamer x2
Now onto elites. I see 3 Vulkan favorable elite choices. First is the old standard Dread. More armor saturation, twin-linked MM, CC support and cheap. Ironclad brings better CC, still get a melta shot and add some range with their HK. Finally, Sternguard. Fully Vulkanized Sterns bring a HF and 4 combi-meltas in their Rhino. To start, let's go with the obvious choice and bring the regular Dreads.
105 - Dreadnought - MM
105 - Dreadnought - MM
105 - Dreadnought - MM
That's 1735 and is a rock-hard 1750 list. (Bringing only 2 squads of speeders and 2 dreads makes a 1500 list). Assuming we're playing 2000 points (and if you aren't, why not? :) ) We have 265 points which really isn't a lot. It's not enough for a 3rd Tac/Dev unit, which would be ideal. You could drop a LS squadrons to fit it (exactly even), but those speeders are your best "ranged" firepower. You don't have any psychic support, so adding a Librarian seems like an obvious choice. You could drop a Dread for some TH/SS Termies. They add to your foot component , which is minimal to start, screen the Devs and be a menace walking up field behind your Rhinos. You could "upgrade" the Dreads to Ironclads or Sterns. You could add some more speeders, but squads of 3 can get unwieldy. I'm not sure what the best option is. I think I'll end the post here and see what the Pink Army thinks is best. Hopefully, I'll follow this with a finished list and a bat-rep soon.
