Space Marines done right!

OK, so I've been gathering a list of Space Marines and I'm looking for some opinions, keep in mind that I am enforcing a VERY strict theme. If something doesn't arrive via drop pod, I don't want it in my list. I'm absolutely in love with drop pods and they're the sole reason I want to make a space marine army, since there's lots of marine players here I was hoping some people had idea's of other things you can do with drop pods.


HQ
Librarian .......................................................... 100pts
Master of the Forge.......................................... 115pts
-Power Weapon
-Servo Harness

ELITE
10 Sternguad..................................................... 285pts
-Drop Pod
Dreadnought..................................................... 150pts
-Assault Cannon
-Drop Pod
Dreadnought..................................................... 150pts
-Assault Cannon
-Drop Pod
Iron Clad............................................................ 170pts
-Melta-gun/Seismic Hammer
-Drop Pod
Iron Clad............................................................ 170pts
-Melta-gun/Seismic Hammer
-Drop Pod

TROOPS
10 Tactical Marines........................................... 225pts
-Sgt with Power Weapon
-Melta Gun
-Multi Melta
10 Tactical Marines........................................... 210pts
-Melta Gun
-Multi Melta
10 Tactical Marines........................................... 210pts
-Melta Gun
-Multi Melta
10 Tactical Marines........................................... 210pts
-Melta Gun
-Multi Melta


TOTAL: 1995pts

So I have 5 points to blow somewhere, I'm also looking to pick up 500 more points of stuff that arrives by drop pod so I can swap stuff in and out. Suggestions? and go.

well, i've never done it but apparently thunderfire cannons can be drop pod'd in. that's only 135pts each one you take, pod included.

also, you should have some good melee fighters in there, so either add some assualt marines without jump packs so they can pod in, or keep the packs and deepstrike them in via a locator beacon on one or more of your existing pods so they dont scatter.

from the looks of your wargear, your going anti-mecha with the option of dropping everything in so they have few targets to fire on first turn if you lose the initiative.

the downside to pod lists though is against any mobile adversaries, this list is mainly useless. Once he gets you to drop somewhere, and with all your weapons, barring the assault cannons and sternguard, being effective at a mere 12/24" range, he can merely move out of your range of fire, and if you have to walk after him, now all your 24" anti tank weapons are a waste of space. and all the gamers here take balanced lists with short/medium/longe range weapons, so they can just move and snipe at you all game and wain you out.

my suggestion is even if you want to go puritan drop pod list, unless your playing a smaller cityfight 4x4 board, your going to want something mobile, like some mixed speeder squadrons to back this list up. it looks great, and i'd love to see it on a board, but play-wise, its not hard for someone to turn it against you and beat you every game once the initial shock of "oh crap! look at all those pods!" settles in.

Combi-meltas on your tac squad sergeants are good.

I really think you need some missile launchers or lascannons on those dreads to help out at long range. As dusktiger mentioned, if you fail to drop all the trasports/vehicles there will be some tough times catching up. Thankfully most people other than matt k. actually like to engage and not just hide until turn 5 so you might fair well with only needing 1 or 2 such long range weapons.

Yeah, I'm thinking some play testing is required because I think if the two assault cannons are at half table they can move 6" and shoot 24" should cover most of the table. The effectiveness of that might be =I=censor=I= tho, have to find out, good thing they're magnetized

I like the idea of a thunder fire cannon in a pod, or I'm also looking at 5 man dev team with missiles in a pod since as a consequence of getting some black reach marines I will have 4 missiles and an extra sgt.

Forgive my typing, this is from my BB with a sleeping baby in mu arms.
I think you need to pick and choose somewhat. Looking at your list I'm guessing sterguard and dread on turn one and tac squads to take obj later. This means you have limited support until the tacs show up.
Also depending on mission I believe you can deploy the drop pods seperatel So dawn of war/c&c you could deploy 2 tac squads on your home obj, drop the nasty part on your opponent and use the remaining drop pods to box in your own obj.
I agree about the locator beacon.
I'd take a t/l a/c on one if not both dreads.
Combi-meltas and a power fist for the sternguard.
I'd trade the MM for ML on either 2 or all four tact squads.prefer the later.

smackman wrote:I'm also looking at 5 man dev team with missiles in a pod since as a consequence of getting some black reach marines I will have 4 missiles and an extra sgt.

cant do that. only full 10 man squads are allowed access to drop pods. they're one-shots and the marines dont squander those on a mere half-strength squad.

i really would suggest some assault marines, prolly in a pod to keep your theme going. there's nothing worse than taking an immobile shooty army and facing off against an assaulty army and realizing some base 2 attack models would be really nice.

oh, another upgrade to consider is if your going to camp your drop pods on objectives, swap the storm bolter for the missile launcher. yes its 12" but its a blast template with a decent stat value. rather than chancing on 2 possible bolter str4 shots, the plate has more damage potential.

Peoples on the internets claim that regular dreadnoughts with two shooty arms are good. I think the idea was 2 twin-linked Auto-cannons (4TL S7 AP4 shots) or the missile launcher & plasma cannon. Both those dudes are 125 pts and can stand back and shoot all game. Then you can put something else in a drop pod, or some dudes in a rhino or drop pod.

@LW: I understand the theory, but the idea of another dread or kan or MC coming up and I'm sitting there locked in combat with Str 6 and my thumb up my @ss.... I can't bring myself to take the second arm just yet.

Yeah mark I'm considering a 2 twin linked autocannon guy or an assault cannon/twin linked autocannon guy

Lore Weaver wrote:Peoples on the internets claim that regular dreadnoughts with two shooty arms are good. I think the idea was 2 twin-linked Auto-cannons (4TL S7 AP4 shots) or the missile launcher & plasma cannon. Both those dudes are 125 pts and can stand back and shoot all game. Then you can put something else in a drop pod, or some dudes in a rhino or drop pod.

i can attest to this. i used a pair of mortis pattern autocannon dreds against mecha space wolves, and they can tear you apart, especially if you pay the extra to make them venerable. a pair of those sending 8 TL BS5 shots at a target is just lethal. even with poor rolls, your guaranteed to do something your opponent wont come back from. unless your roland. then the cubical beings laugh and pee on your head at trying to increase your odds of not rolling 1's

My dice are so bad I rolled 2d6 and got a 0.

What's better?

2000 Pts - Space Marines Roster - DOOM LEGION

HQ (2#, 290 pts)
1 Dr. Doom, 190 pts [Counts as Vulkan, TL melta's for my technologically superior space marines]
1 Master of the Forge, 100 pts

ELITE (11#, 305 pts)
9 Sternguard Veteran Squad, 305 pts (Unit Type: Infantry;Bolt Pistol x9; Bolter x5; Combi-Meltagun x4)
1 Sergeant (Unit Type: Infantry; Bolter; Chainsword x1)
1 Drop Pod

TROOPS (33#, 705 pts)
9 Tactical Squad, 235 pts (Unit Type: Infantry; Bolt Pistol x9; Bolter x7; Meltagun; Multi-Melta)
1 Sergeant (Unit Type: Infantry;Bolter; Power Fist x1)
1 Drop Pod

9 Tactical Squad, 235 pts (Unit Type: Infantry; Bolt Pistol x9; Bolter x7; Meltagun; Multi-Melta)
1 Sergeant (Unit Type: Infantry;Bolter; Power Fist x1)
1 Drop Pod

9 Tactical Squad, 235 pts (Unit Type: Infantry; Bolt Pistol x9; Bolter x7; Meltagun; Multi-Melta)
1 Sergeant (Unit Type: Infantry;Bolter; Power Fist x1)
1 Drop Pod

FIRE SUPPORT (10#, 700 pts)
5 Dreadnought, 140 pts (Unit Type: Vehicle (Walker); Searchlight; Smoke Launchers; Dreadnought CCW; Multi-Melta; Storm Bolter)
5 Drop Pod



Or the exact same list but, drop the 3 power fists, add in 2 Iron Clad Dread's?

i think it looks good, but if you wanna fiddle, can you play with your points a little and change the fists to hammers? least then its a master crafted str8 I1 weapon on those sgt's

Or Change it up completely,

2000 Pts - Space Marines Roster

HQ (2#, 275 pts)
1 Chapter Master Pedro Kantor, 175 pts
1 Master of the Forge, 100 pts


Elite: Sternguard Veteran Squad (33#, 885 pts)
9 Sternguard Veteran Squad, 295 pts (Unit Type: Infantry; Special Issue Ammunition; Bolt Pistol x9; Bolter x7; Combi-Meltagun x2)
1 Sergeant
1 Drop Pod

9 Sternguard Veteran Squad, 295 pts (Unit Type: Infantry; Special Issue Ammunition; Bolt Pistol x9; Bolter x7; Combi-Meltagun x2)
1 Sergeant
1 Drop Pod

9 Sternguard Veteran Squad, 295 pts (Unit Type: Infantry; Special Issue Ammunition; Bolt Pistol x9; Bolter x7; Combi-Meltagun x2)
1 Sergeant
1 Drop Pod

Heavy Support: Dreadnought (6#, 420 pts)
3 Dreadnought, 140 pts
3 Drop Pod

Troops: Tactical Squad (22#, 420 pts)
9 Tactical Squad, 210 pts (Unit Type: Infantry; Bolt Pistol x9; Bolter x7; Meltagun; Multi-Melta; )
1 Sergeant (Unit Type: Infantry; Bolt Pistol; Bolter)
1 Drop Pod

9 Tactical Squad, 210 pts (Unit Type: Infantry; Bolt Pistol x9; Bolter x7; Meltagun; Multi-Melta; )
1 Sergeant (Unit Type: Infantry; Bolt Pistol; Bolter)
1 Drop Pod

Sgt's can't take hammers, they're not carpenters unfortunately.

Also for painting and modelling the stern guard army that I posted there I'd paint them all like the howling griffins scheme except using Mexican flag colors, and then I'd make my own Pedro Kantor, with a superior mustache, and all my Sgt would get sombrero's, and the stern guard would get poncho's, and the dreadnoughts CCW would be a maraca...

Hold on, it gets better!

in the bottom of the drop pods where there's a gap between the floor and the base I'd fit a memory chip and speaker from a greeting card with mariachi music that played when the drop pod doors opened (just like a greeting card, a scary mexican greeting card) And the drop pods would be painted orange... with white squad markings on the doors.

Honestly why does pedro have to make stern guard scoring? couldn't his power have been... makes transports able to hold 30 tactical marines or something? either way I'm more excited about this theoretical fantasy project then anything else really and I think it says alot about me.