I got a bit tired of my tyranids the last few months and i have been looking into it... i want a new force to glue, paint and perhaps fight with...

My choice was quite easy... Space Marines since i knew i had to do something VERY different that Tyranids...were my problem came was when choosing chapter...

I was swinging between Black Templars and Ultramarines... the choice was hard... but it became Ultramarines after i found out that Black Templars apparently cant field other tanks than the Crusader... And i want my Predators :p

I made a list of what to buy and here goes:

HQ:

Ultramarines Marneus Calgar Command Squad
Space Marine Command Squad
Space Marine Liberian
Space Marine Chaplain

Elites:

Space Marine Terminator Squad
Space Marine Close Combat Terminator Squad
Space Marine Techmarine with Servitors
Space Marine Dreadnaught

Troops:

Space Marine Scouts (sniper group)
Space Marine Tactical Squad
Space Marine Tactical Squad
Space Marine Tactical Squad
Space Marine Combat Squad
Space Marine Razorback

Fast Attack:

Space Marine Bike Squad
Space Marine Bike
Space Marine Bike
Space Marine Assault Squad
Space Marine Assault Squad
Space Marine Land Speeder “Tornado”
Space Marine Land Speeder “Typhoon”

Heavy Support:

Space Marine Devastator Squad
Space Marine Land Raider Crusader
Space Marine Predator
Space Marine Vindicator
Space Marine Predator
Space Marine Whirlwind


I know thats an awfull lot of tanks for a Space Marine army, but again im not much of a gamer... mostly a collector and therefore i can allow myself to buy that many :p but should i make it a gaming army would these troops do... or shall i remove/add something? I kinda think with this amont of troopers in a Space Marine army well... you can tailor most styles right?

Indeed Space Marines can be truned into any kind of force you want. The Black Templars can choose any of the listed tanks exept whirlwind. And you don't get the devestators. The BT are a rather offensive army but also a little headstrong because of the Zeal. Other than that you can make your space marine armies into almost any kind of army. And btw plz NO ULTRA SMURFS! They are BORING!

that's going to be a huge army!
but if i were you, i'd make your own chapter, you will thank yourself afterwards, i have 1000 points of ultamarines (my first army) and when i first got them i thought it was an awesome idea to make ultamarines, but then every store i went to
i looked left: ultramarines
i looked right: ultramarines
everyone there was ultramarines
i really wished i would have done something more creative and personallized the army to myself
so that's my advice,
the unit selection is great^, but you might regret painted em all blue and gold

But if their not Ultramarines i cant use Marneus Calgar...

*sigh*

bah just ignore me then, marneus calgar is cool, blue and gold it is!

I thought about making my own army as you said... reason i took Ultramarines... i just wanted something that had fought the tyranids before... just to do something so very different... and the Ultramarines are veterans of fighting Tyranids... But as i read my Tyranids Codex just yesterday.. well i found out that a few other companies had encountered the Tyranids before and barely survived: Scythes of the Emperor, and Lamenters... Since their theme has not been made(as for what i know) perhaps i will go with one of these companies...

I don't know how well i will do in helping you as i don't like 40k but i'll try...

Ultra marines i would say no to, as you yourself said your more like a collector so a whole army of blue and gold? will it look good on your shelves? also like winter said everywhere you go theres at least two walls full of space marines (mainly ultra). That is the sole one reason why i don't like 40k. Otherwise i would be collecting them.

I personally (if i ever wanted to collect them) would get either black Templars or the sister of battle (only seen these though are they a official army? otherwise they look fantastic!).

I too had a tyranid force of about 700pts worth. If you want a totally different army to play why not try Tau? They are very different and look great!

Hope i'm helpful!
SDETT

Well probably gonna not take Ultramarines... perhaps Blood Angels instead? or Dark Angels? No Space Wolfs :p

As for Sisters of Battle... their cool... but in the range called "Witch Hunters" that they are part of... i really dont like any other models than the sisters (minus the repentia)... that would give me one a very out of balance army that would not work that well.... Though im a collector... i want them to be somehow "realistic" to the game rules...

As for the templars... what keeps me a bit away are the fact they are meant for much melee... and... my first thought was like "WTF? SUCH EXPENSIVE TROOPS IN MELEE!"... i know a few genestealers that would love to rip them apart... thats kinda... a small problem and the fact that... if i want to move 10 man to melee with my enemy... well if the enemy is like Imperial Guard... based upon heavy tank support... i have this strange feeling that they are gonna end up only 5 man reaching the enemy... kinda kills of the idea... same if the enemy has the abillity to overrush you with powerfull melee fighters as the Genestealers mentioned before...

Why im not taking Tau? two reasons... First Reason: TANKS! (tau tanks are skimmers :p) Second Reason: TERMINATORS! (can you avoid loveing the looks of thoose things?) and i dont like the Kroot things nor the new flying lizard things in their army :p....

Then you can say: for tanks... choose Imperial Guard... and i could do... but... my mate already collects them... so no reason to have same armies fighting each other if i learn the rules...

Ok having played Black Templars now for almost 2 years I think I know how to play them. And I can promise you that a BT squard kitted out for combat and with a chaplain can take on EVERYTHING! And anyone with they heads in the right place knows that your not going to let geenstealers contact with them.

Also just an example on how I make a uber assault squard.
1 Chaplain, 10 initiates, 10 neopythes(Scouts) all with close combat weapons and pistoles. The initiates have 3 attacks each on charge that can be rerolled to hit and always hit on 3+, and also S4. Neopythes have 3 attacks each on charge with ws3 and s4. One of the initiates have a power fist to take down any nasty characters and tanks/dreads(Pleas not he is not a sergeant). The chaplain attack with 6 attacks on charge that hit on 3+ with re-roll and S4 with no saves. all have frag and chaplain have melta bomb. Each time they suffer a wound to shooting they chage D6 that can be re-rolled. That is very very mean (lol)

And you also have to remember that a space marine army will take very few deaths on they way forward if you play it right.

i think the blue and gold looks gorgues, the only problem is that it's just been done so many freakin times
i have another i idea, you can do ultramarines, keep your special character, but just to personalize it you can model your troops to be Tyranid War Veterans
have chipped armour, tyranid skulls, maybe a lot of bare heads instead of helmets
i would even go as far to buy a tyranid box of hormagaunts so you can use parts of those models with your spacemarines,
just imagine an assualt squad captain on top of a tyranid with a chainsword at it's throat,
that's an ultramarine army i would want to see, it's the traditional colours but they would definitly look a lot cooler than the standard ultramarines every 9 year old has

From what I've heard, sisters work just fine without the inquisitorial troups. You get loads of faith points, and they're really hard girls those sisters. If/when I get into 40K, I'll definatly go with the sisters.

And please, no ultramarines! xS

Sisters of Battle are good, some nice stuff out there for witch hunters :biggrin: Anyway Imperial Guard all the way! (lol)

if its a smace marine army i'd have to ask you to consider space wolves....good background awsome models i love em to bits :)

That was actually a good idea winter... perhaps i should try that... indeed it would look awesome... now good thing i have so many spare parts from my tyranids... My idea was to have veterans of the tyranid wars... i sure did not think about something like that... well *looks at his current space marine tactical squad* guess what im gonna try out :p

As for space wolfs... i personally dont like them, so im not going for them :p

that should help a lot, i took some leftover spacemarine helmets i had and incorporated them into my Dark Eldar army, it really will make your force stand out

If you want to win games frequently I suggest blood Angels.

I played them with Tyranids recently- his death company stood up to all my shooting, then beat off (ie. completely killed) 24 assaulting hormagaunts (WS 5 and S4) and 6 assaulting tyranid warriors (ie. almost all my army!). The squad was maybe only 7 guys? And that was me getting the assault...
So stupidly overpowered...
(sorry, just had to complain somewhere...)


I like the tyrranic war veterans idea- make sure to post pictures of them.

Actually that is slightly inaccurate... Black Templars can field any Space Marine Transport or Heavy Support EXCEPT Whirlwinds and Devastators.

I play Black Templars too.

My list is generally 50 footsloggers (a jetpack assault marine squad + chappy) and a LRC that either has an assault termie squad or cc initiate madness.

I sometimes pod the termies in as a surprise ;)

I also run about 2 dreadnoughts... both with ass cannon n ccw.

Its been a good while...

And i have brought some of these marines... though now having another hobby aswell its limited what i can affond each month, riding is such an expensive sport :p

But i went a bit away from the tyranid war veterans idea... tried to do it on some models... but i suck at using green stuff and then getting everything to fit... And then doing an entire army might be a bit to much... though im still trying to make it work on a model from time to time(without luck :p)

Instead i went over it and kinda based them on my clan(which can be seen in my sig), sadly i have no chance of painting the spider logo on each model :p so instead i went with the BT logo as i think it looks rather cool... Main colors are black, grey, white and chainmail/boltgun) in my army(damn BT for having choosen my fav. colors already :p)

What my force contains so far is:

HQ:
Space Marine Commander w/ Storm Bolter and Power Sword

Elites:
5 Terminators (1 Sergeant, 1 Stormbolter, 1 Cyclone Missile Launcher, 1 Heavy Flamer, 1 Assault Cannon)
5 Assault Terminators (1 Sergeant w/ Thunder Hammer and Storm Shield, 4 w/ Thunder Hammers and Storm Shield)

Troops:
10 Tactical Marines(1 Sergeant, 1 Missile Launcher, 1 Melta, 1 Flamer, 6 Bolters)
10 Tactical Marines(1 Sergeant, 1 Missile Launcher, 1 Melta, 7 Bolters)

Heavy Support:
5 Devastators(1 Sergeant, 1 Heavy Bolter, 1 Lascannon, 1 Multimelta, 1 Missile Launcher)

Next would probably be either a command squad or 2 groups of Assault Marines... not certain yet... but that might first be in a month or 2s time...

Yay! not assault cannon heavy terminators! (I hate those stupid things- a friend of mine can fit about 7 into a 1000pt army :blink: ).
It seems like a good, varied base although I have a few questions:
Why have three special weapons in the terminators? Aren't they limited to 2?
No lightning claw pairs in the assault terminators??
You also have three special weapons in your first tactical squad- do you field them as 2*5 with a proxy sergeant or just ignore one of the weapon options?
I assume most of the reasons for the above is just that you want to try out a variety of weapons for minimum money, which is fair enough.

Do you have tactics ideas for your units? eg. the missile launcher is a heavy weapon only effective if you don't move, but the flamer and melta are only effective if you draw close to the enemy. Similarly the multi melta is usually considered a short range weapon (though not bad any time it's in range) and it's in a stationary devastator squad- if the option exists (I haven't seen the SM book in a while) it may be best to have the multi melta and meltagun in the one tactical squad, maybe rhino mounted with a plasma pistol/power weapon sergeant. They can get in quick and easily take out any enemy tank (other than a monolith), or do nasty things to an opponent's terminators.

Yeah terminators are limited to 2 special weapons in a squad but i just had to try out all 3 weapons... so next terminator squad will only have a single special weapon that way things should work out :D

As for my assault terminators... I personally prefer the hammers and shields over the claws, in looks, since i dont know the rules for either of them... the claws look all to small for such a huge model...

As for the tactical squad... yeah like the terminators i just wanted to try out most weapon options... and by the time i get my next squad of tactical marines i will have everything sorted out so theres 2 special weapons pr. squad(and their fielded as 10 man squads)

As for flamers and meltas being short range... Well i will like with having sorted out the weapon limits have sorted this out by next squad having 2 "assault" squads with "close combat" guns and 1 squad with the missile launchers...

As for the devastators... im not done glueing them yet... got the other day so i might change the multi melta...(wishes for an extra heavy bolter :p )

I like the tankless army idea,
i always thought vehicles were hit or miss, so i usually field either an entire tanked up force (transports and everything) or just no tanks at all

one question i have is what your going to do with your commander, and also you might want to consider giving someone a teleport homer if they are going to move up during the course of the game, that makes your assault terminators that much more effective

My commander... i guess i will kick ass and chew some bubblegum :p And my soldiers do the dirty work...

Nah... add a command squad to him at some point and then probs throw them into the thick of combat, or let him and the assault terminators go smashing everything...

And guess i could give the terminators the teleporter... but so far i havn't tried my marines in battle, and probably wont yet... perhaps after i move to the capitol, theres a few clubs around there...

And my army is not going to be tankless, im just waiting with buying the tanks, bikes, dreadnaughts and speeders... a tank usually looks better if theres a few soldiers in the army first :p

Soz if I'm abit late but on the colour schemes, I have been put in charge of painting my school clubs battle for macragg thing set and I decided to paint it in relation to my schools CCF detachment which is a Queens Royal Lancer contingent which is red and white, 50/50. So I decided to paint the crashed space-ships how I wanted to paint any vehicles we get which is Scab Red with two white stripes down the center. Each is 1 cm thick with 1 cm in between them. It looks really cool. The Marines are probably going to have one stripe down their centre....

Sorry about that but I thought it was interesting.... and on topic...

sounds really interesting actually faile :p ... perhaps i should try it on a model... just for the giggle :p

Anyways... my devastators and new tactical marine squad arrived monday... got em glued and they turned out to become

5 Devastators (1 Sergeant, 1 Lascannon, 1 Missile Launcher, 2 Heavy Bolters)
10 Marines(1 Sergeant, 1 Missile Launcher, 1 Melta, 1 Plasma gun thingy :p )

And one of my friends who has been collecting for ages came by, he had some old space marine models he just gace me straight away... Since hes selling out most of his models (save for his IG army), he thought that the marines would be better off with me than some stranger

So another very plesant surprise reinforcement :p

2 Terminators w/ Stormbolters and Power fists
7 Space Marines w/ bolters
7 Assault Space Marines (2 Sergeants)
and 2 Bikes

And on top of that he had 3 extra assault marines which he would see if he could find the jetpacks and such for and a land raider he would have to find the right side lascannon for and that would be mine too :D

So im all in a good mood for all that and that im gonna see transformers tonight :p

Just a little imput on the "Small Claws for Big Model" thing, why don't you green stuff the claws bigger (XD!). Hell, cut em off, grab some paper clips, pinvise em on and hook em. When I start collecting my Dark Angels army (after I paint my 1000 pt Wood Elf Army), I'm gonna have a squad of Death Wing Termies with actual lightning "Claws". When I see the Terminator models, I think Wolverine. Then I think X-Men. Then I think of that scary woman with claws extending from her finger tips.

Also, just if you're still curious about the rules of Storm Hammers and Lightning Claws, Lightning Claws count as twin linked in CC and they are power weapons which strike at Init order. Thunder Hammers count as Power Fists (strike last at Double Str) and automatically stun tanks if they hit them.

Well, good luck on your army...tho I really think Ultra-smurfs suck (so unoriginal). Hopefully they would fit your criteria (Dark Angels for me since I love the fluff and the Deathwing and Ravenwing companies)

Might do that thing about the claws at some point, but first i have to get more men before i get terminators again :p

And you might not have read correctly... but i changed idea and use black, white, codex grey, and chainmail/boltgun metal as main colors... and the black templar logo as mine aswell... since the spider in my signature is to hard to paint(models are based on my clan the sig resides from)

Anyways... heres a few pictures...





I seriously love the assault terminator :p and i will for certain include 1 more in my next terminator group aswell :D

Short update...

my army now consists of the following

HQ:
1 Space Marine Commander /stormbolter and power sword

Elite:
5 Assault Terminators (1 Sergeant, all 5 thunder hammers, storm shields)
5 Terminators (1 Sergeant(stormbolter, power sword), 1 Assault Cannon, 1 Heavy Flamer, 1 Typhoon Missile Launcher(stormbolter, chainfist) 1 Stormbolter)
1 Dreadnaught (1 Assault Cannon, 1 Closecombat arm /w heavy flamer)

Troops:
10 Tactical Marines (1 Sergeant(chainsword, bolt pistol) 2 Meltas, 7 Bolters)
10 Tactical Marines (1 Sergeant(chainsword, plasma pistol) 2 Missile Launchers, 7 Bolters)
4 Combat Marines (1 Flamer)

Fast Attack:
7 Assault Marines (2 Sergeants, 3 Plasma Pistols)
2 Bikes

Heavy Support:
5 Devastators(1 Sergeant(Chainsword, Bolter) 2 Heavy Bolters, 1 Missile Launcher, 1 Lascannon)

so far i have painted the commander, all 10 Terminators, and tonight im finishing my first 10 tactical marines, and then since i've had an accident at work and cant work for the next 6 weeks i have loads of time on my hands... And i suspect i will have painted the other 10 Tactical Marines and the Assault Marines by the end of next week...

And then i just ordered the 4 Masters of the Chapter... And looking forward to getting them...

In october im getting 300 £ extra which i think i will spend on armouring my company... Perhaps getting the Armoured Spearhead and another few nice tanks and transporters... or i might go to forge world and get myself the Lucius Pattern Titan...

For now i dont know...

As for pictures... i will take some once i return to my own place where my camera is, for now im at my parents place since i cant cook, clean and stuff on my own with the broken bones i have... but it might be 4-6 weeks till that...

Your force is becoming pretty impressive in size now.
I assume you're planning on getting a second assault squad and a few things like that (as you have 2 sergeants)?

The masters of the chapter are very nice models, as is the titan. For playability though I'd suggest the armoured spearhead or just a mix of tanks (the spearhead does have a price advantage though).

I hope your accident wasn't as bad as it sounds- are you willing to tell what happened? Hopefully the inconvenience will go away soon (in time for you to enjoy the 6 weeks...)

True that i will get another assault squad Geep, these 7 were models a friend gave me, and there can only be 2 plasma pistols pr. squad, so in due time...

I have quite a load of ideas of how to expand the force after that, more heavy support and HQ is highest priority, followed by transporters for my troops, and then i need some land speeders to keep my flanks clear and to add some fast hitting power into the army so i can fill in holes on the battlefield...

As for the tanks... indeed the armoured spearhead has its price advantages(1 Terminus Land Raider, 1 Land Raider Crusader, 2 Land Raides) and i would still have 200 £ left to spend on 2 Predators a few land speeders, and then something a bit randomly...

The Titan.. im not all certain yet... i know its not very playable.. but on the other hand i dont know when i will have the chance to buy one again, and it is indeed one bloody amazing model and would truely be a majestic centerpiece for my chapter (which i intend to fill with all 1000 space marines) i will decide in due time what to do...

As for my accident my boss and i returned from the danish horse jumping finals when we had to unload the horses from the truck... Unluckily when i loosend a ramp as supposed to... some broke inside it and i had 200 kgs of ramp over me... so ended up with breaking 2 bones in my foot and the bone between the neck and shoulder(dunno the name)

So 6 weeks to paint should be loads of time to get most of my army ready since my computer at my parents place cant run WoW :p unlike my own

Wohoo... i just got my Land Raider :D

a friend of mine (as mentioned earlier in the thread) had a land raider at his place he would give me, once he found the missing twin-linked lascannon... sadly he has not found it.

Though i had one spare from my dreadnaught, he gave me the land raider and now i armed it with the dreadnaught lascannon instead :p... Looks strange... but hell its a lascannon... :D

So add a Land Raider to my armed forces now... starts to actually look like an army now :D just have to paint the thing *goes off mumbleing about the size of a land raider* :p

Not to quibble but...
"..5 Terminators (1 Sergeant, 1 Stormbolter, 1 Cyclone Missile Launcher, 1 Heavy Flamer, 1 Assault Cannon)..."
Can't do that. Allowed one special weapon for every 5 squad members (max being 10)
"...10 Tactical Marines(1 Sergeant, 1 Missile Launcher, 1 Melta, 1 Flamer, 6 Bolters)..."
Or that. With a squad of 10 you can have one special weapon and one heavy weapon.
"...4 Combat Marines (1 Flamer)..."
Ditto.
"...7 Assault Marines (2 Sergeants, 3 Plasma Pistols)..."
2 Sergeants? 3 plasma pistols?? What rules are you using?
You're bike squad needs a sergeant as well...
*ahem*
On a slightly more positive note, painting looks pretty cool. Better than my lead-marines anyhow.
For the assault marines I'd give one bit of advice- take flamers! a squad of ten can take 2 and nothing beats preceeding the assault by bathing the foe in rolling waves of promethium!
Also useful if you're using them to deep strike with- since they're not Vanguard Vets they can't assault when they strike in.

As to your commander, giving him a jump pack's always fun, though my current commander's got a funky Thunderhammer / Stormshield thing going.

Bit of further clarification on the terminator weapons before I go-
-Lightning Claws count as power weapons that only get you an extra attack when used as a pair, but you do get to re-roll failed to wound rolls.

-Thunder Hammers are like a powerfist but additionally cause a crew shaken result on vehicles even if they don't penetrate. Against living targets, anything wounded but not killed has it's initiative reduced to 1 until the end of the next player's turn. Very useful against big nasties- striking at the same time next turn gives you a much better chance to kill it next time!

-Storm Shields are actually worth taking now! They give a 3+ inv save against any attack- shooting or close combat. Extra protection against the aforementioned big nasties.

I think the best tactic for Assault termies is to take a mix of the two weapons- the extra attacks of the lightning claws balanced with the increased hitting power and staying power of the Hammerers.

Now go! Crush the Emperor's foes!

Az

Oh, and change the loadout of your Hellhound. 2 ER Large Lasers? Underpowered. You need Rotary AC2s mate!

;)

Az

Aben Zin you brighten up my day lmao, you and your time machine make me laugh so much (the threads over a year old mate :wink: ) Good to see you floating around still though.

Well that would explain a few things...
Mental note- check the dates first next time...


Az

this makes me miss marines...
sometimes i regret chopping up my dreadnought and my tactical squad to use them for dark eldar bases.