Back in February when I attended GenghisCon I stumbled across an awesome vanilla Space Marine army painted up in the Relictor colors. I had never seen the paint scheme in person before (let alone done this well) and I was simply blown away. I had an immediate new appreciation for vanilla Marines, and since then I have paid more attention to the core Codex: Space Marine army.
I've been watching people run all kinds lists from one-trick ponies to well thought-out and balanced ones, and it inspired me to come up with my own list.
2,000 pts - Space Marines
HQ
Captain Darnath Lysander
ELITE
5x Assault Terminators (2x Lightning Claws, 3x Thunder Hammers & Storm Shields, Land Raider Redeemer with Extra Armor and Multi-Melta)
TROOPS
10x Tactical Marines (Meltagun, Missile Launcher, Power Fist, Rhino)
10x Tactical Marines (Meltagun, Missile Launcher, Power Fist, Rhino)
5x Scouts (2x Combat Blades, 2x Shotguns, Power Fist)
5x Scouts (2x Combat Blades, 2x Shotguns, Power Fist)
FAST
Land Speeder Storm (Multi-Melta)
Land Speeder Storm (Multi-Melta)
2x Land Speeder Typhoons (Heavy Flamers)
HEAVY
Predator (Dozer Blades, Autocannon, Lascannon Sponsons)
Predator (Dozer Blades, Autocannon, Lascannon Sponsons)
Thunderfire Cannon
1,995 pts, 46 models, 4-6 scoring units, 16-18 kill points
So this entire army is Stubborn (one of the best USR's in the game in my opinion), and it has quite a nasty surprise if it gets to go first via the Power Fist-toting Scout Sergeants. The Techmarine with the Thunderfire Cannon can bolster a ruin along with Lysander (yes, two separate ruins), and the Land Speeder Storms not only deter deep-strikers and icon-wielders, but they also reduce the Leadership of the unit assaulted by the Scouts inside by two, which could be enough to win combat by a substantial amount where they would have only won by one before.
The Scouts can be used as alpha-strikers, using the Storm's ability to scout move and then positioning in the first turn for an assault on vehicles that haven't moved yet. Additionally, the Storms can use their Multi-Meltas to great effect since (again, if they go first) they would likely be in a fantastic position to get rear-armor shots on Land Raiders and/or transports while the Thunderfire Cannon bombards the contents that spill out when they're wrecked. (Having the Storm in the rear of the Land Raider does nothing but protect it from the Thunderfire Cannon's shots, FYI).
Lysander and his Terminator escort can quickly deal with other Death Stars, and you can use the Redeemer's Flamestorm Cannons in conjunction with the Thunderfire Cannon to ignore cover saves where necessary (and even ignore a vehicle's smoke, a skimmer's flat-out save, a bike's turbo-boost save, and Orks' Kustom Force Field save).
Now I'm not sure I'll be running vanilla Marines any time soon, but I thought it was a fun list and I decided to just go ahead and share it. What do you guys think?
I like the Thunderfire Cannon- lots of good utility to be had by one for sure!
ReplyDeleteI'm not the hugest fan of the LC/AC Preds, since it makes the tank static, or if you move it, you're spending way too many points for a single las cannon. If you're going for static fire, I prefer Devs, as overcosted as they are. At least you get reliable S8 every turn.
Overall looks like a fun list, that if you played enough, you could cause some major issues for players. Vanilla Marines can still be played well, despite what others have been saying :-p
I should also note that getting rear armor shots on Land Raiders is the same as getting front armor shots :)
Well Xaereth, I guess that's what I get for writing the post at 2am. I am fully aware that the armor value on a Land Raider is 14 regardless of which side I'm firing at, and that there are no "added" benefits for just firing in the rear arc. I guess I should edit my post to get the points across I was trying to make.
ReplyDeleteAs for the Auto/Las preds vs a Devastator Squad, I was actually trying to go for target saturation vehicle-wise, but I too completely agree with you on their reliability (and in my opinion durability) over a single tank. I run Dev squads quite often in fact, and not always in the 4x ML formation.
Sorry if I seem crabby too, I'm going through some shit right now.
Heh, sorry if you thought it sounded mocking or condescending, or anything. It wasn't meant like that at all. Just trying to help, is all. I always assume that people know AV14 on Land Raiders, so poke fun when they misspeak. That's all :-p
ReplyDeleteHaha no worries. I'm still hoping someone at my LGS wants to try the list. I got a couple of people who think it's devastating but they don't have the models to give it a go.
ReplyDeleteI know I'm late to find this, but I'll test it out. Runs very similar to lists I already use. Might make a few minor adjustments to suit my style, but this looks like a blast to test out. Had my attention drawn to the LR Redeemer recently so this looks like a fun way to test it out. :)
ReplyDelete@ Son of Dorn - Oh no worries, you'll still be the first one to actually attempt to run this as far as I know. So what changes would you make? Without sounding to conceited or biased, I think this is a solid list though without playtesting I guess I'll never know. What do you plan on doing?
ReplyDeleteAnd yes, I think this seems like it would be a heck of a lot of fun to run. :)
Well, I'd probably combat squad the tacticals and put them in razorbacks with half squads holding lascannons in reinforced ruins. I'd also drop the sponsons off the preds or change them to HB sponsons in favor of surpression. I'd use the extra points to beef out the terminators to 7 + Lysander. The core of it is pretty solid though. Plus, I've always wondered about the scouts using CCW or shotguns... the math for it is very close but perhaps some testing is also in order. :)
ReplyDeleteYeah, for the scouts I just went 2 Shotguns 2 BP/CCW just for variety as you're right, they do put out roughly the same numbers. And that's a solid change for the Tacticals and Termies. As for the Preds, I just didn't feel there was enough AT in the list. You can never have enough, especially in this day and age.
ReplyDeleteThat's true, but it's been my experience that people will use the terrain to deny shots from the predators most turns. The tacticals with lascannons and the typhoons, combined with the storms using MM should probably be enough punch. If it's not, then the 125 spent on the predators could probably be put to better use on 2 dakka dreads. Their ability to move and shoot combined with the TL AC would probably have them throwing a lot more damage down. I have to test it all out and see, though. :)
ReplyDeleteYup, good point. I do like the cheap and effective Dakka Pred, so maybe it will work. Let me know what you find, and if you can, take pictures of your games! I'd love to see it in action! :D
ReplyDeleteWent over it a couple times with a friend. I'll get a modified version up on my blog in short time with my tweaks to it. Once I've processed any feedback, I'll test it out. :)
ReplyDeleteHere's that link :)
ReplyDeletehttp://perturbatory.blogspot.com/2012/01/battle-report_10.html
Thanks! As I said on FrontlineGaming.org, I wish your buddy didn't have to call it quits so early. I would have loved to see more. Also, I think Vulkan will be a nice force-multiplier, but I think Lysander adding Stubborn is HUGE. Again, it's one of my favorite USR's in the game, at least under 5th Edition.
ReplyDeleteAlrighty. :) Sorry I missed you on Frontline. Been trying to comment back on here, but Blogger keeps blanking this article when I click on it. Google's solution? Download Chrome. :P However, I'm on a different terminal now, and it seems to work.
ReplyDeleteStubborn is pretty handy and Lysander is a squad of Terminators in his own right... hmmmm... I suppose I'll have to test it out both ways and see what works best. :D
I gotta say though, it's a VERY solid list that I think could take any opponent fairly well. Not too bad for something you made on some observations at a tournament. :)
I probably won't test it again until late February, or the beginning of March as there are a couple of big local events I'm getting in gear for, but I'll put up reports for both HQ's in the list once I play them out.