1500 vanilla marines

Well, here it is.

Captain - 125 pts
Power Weapon, Combi-Melta

Command Squad - 230
Champion
Standard Bearer - Powerfist
Apothecary
2 Vetrans - Meltaguns
Razorback

Dreadnought - 135
Lascannon

Tactical Squad - 205
Multimelta, Flamer
Seargent - Bolt Pistol, Chainsword
Rhino

Tactical Squad - 205
Multimelta, Flamer
Seargent - Bolt Pistol, Chainsword
Rhino

Tactical Squad - 215
Missile Launcher, Meltagun
Seargent - Bolt Pistol, Chainsword
Razorback

Landspeeder - 90
Typhoon Missile Launcher

Landspeeder - 90
Typhoon Missile Launcher

Predator - 120
Autocannon, Lascannons

Predator - 85
Autocannon, Heavy Bolters

Here are the things im not sure about, not having played before:

Command Squad: not sure if i want to keep this unit or switch it out for sternguard or devastators

Predators: better with same or different loadouts?

3rd Tactical Squad: Rhino? Or combat squad? I guess this one depends on whether i keep the command squad.

A little help optimizing the heavy/spec weapons in tac squads.

How Balanced is it?

Enough Anti-Armour?

I want to keep it fairly similar to what i have above but changing 1 or 2 units would be alright.
I will be playing against tyranids mostly but i want a take all comers force.


 

Kingleir wrote:
Predators: better with same or different loadouts?

i would play them as they are with how you have them, and see which one you like more; in general, the autocannon paired with either sponson type tends to be most people's preference, it's just a matter of what kind of opponent you face the most that determines which you'll favor more. me, i like heavy bolters, but i also see the value of the lascannons when i face off against alot of tanks.

Kingleir wrote:
3rd Tactical Squad: Rhino? Or combat squad? I guess this one depends on whether i keep the command squad.

keeping it as a razorback and combat squading the unit to let your sergeant and the special weapon move up to another objective while the missile and 4 bolter guys camp somewhere is a common tactic; another is if you fitted the razorback with a turret that had a 48" range gun, then it would stay with the missile half of the squad and camp, while the other have moved forward through cover or behind another tank thats moving forward so they gain cover.
A little help optimizing the heavy/spec weapons in tac squads.

Kingleir wrote:
Enough Anti-Armour?

i think your next question answers this; if your facing the bugs mostly, then you'll want to limit how much melta/lascannon spam you field. they usually kill you with too many models on the board to deal with, so taking weapon options that either let you place alot of templates down, or roll alot of dice are going to be your friend. so in light of that, you might grow attached to your predator with heavy bolters.

i wouldn't suggest pairing multi meltas with flamers in your tactical squads; they dont mesh too well. by mesh, i mean you have a big gun clearly meant for hunting tanks, with a template weapon clearly meant for infantry/bugs/orks. people shy away from them because of the gets hot! rule, but try experimenting with the plasma cannons instead for those 2 squads; you might grow to enjoy them. plus its another template weapon, so it'll help you get a chance to kill more than 1 model with it. not that str 7 and AP2 needs much more help guaranteeing a kill

another thing you could do, is invest in either combi meltas (so you have anti-tank in the squads still) or combi flamers (for more anti bugs/orks) on your three tactical sergeants.it'll 10pts a piece, but sometimes in hindsight you wish you could've placed one more flamer template down before those armies swarmed you, and that combi flamer lets you do that.

i can give a couple suggestions for your command squad, but im not going to tell you whether you should keep them or toss them; that's your choice on how you like the unit when it plays. some people like them, some don't; i own 2 command squads.
if you're going to pay for a command squad, one thing to remember is since they always only come in a set of 5, you want to 'usually' make them all uniquely armed so no 2 guys are the same. the reason for this is because if i make you roll more than 5 dice for wounds, then you get to say "each guy rolls 1 die each, but this guy rolls a 2nd die for the 6th wound you caused me." that way if you roll more than one failed saves, you kind of protect the other guys better and dont lose, say, both melta gun guys cause you gave dude A 1 die, and dude B 2 dice, and dude B failed both dice, so now they both die.
and, if you take the banner, try your best not to give him special weapons like a power fist; you already spent points on him for a special rule for the squad, you dont want to spend more points on him for the fist and then be out nearly 40pts of wargear options when he dies.

The lists looks ok, there are no obviously bad choices. I'm not a fan of the captain with command squad (especially on foot as opposed to bike-mounted) in smaller games. I prefer the librarian or master of the forge as an HQ choice and then those extra points could be spent on anti-tank which I feel is lacking a bit. The one thing I would suggest if you insist on the three big tactical squads would be giving the sergeants a powerfist. Tacticals suck mightily in HtH and once out of their rhinos present next to no threat to your opponent. The fist at least gives them a ghost of a chance versus a walker or an independent character.