Space Marine Tactics

The Warhammer 40k Space Marines and Space Marine tactics pages examines the Space Marines armies and Space Marine Tactics, the Space Marines special rules, and all Space Marine related material.

Space Marines are the easiest army for a new player to learn. They are very flexible in their tactics. For example a standard tactical team can fulfil the roles of infantry, support and assault. The downside of this flexibility is that Space Marines tend to be out numbered by enemy troops. When you play using Space Marines you are saying that quality is better than quantity!

Space Marine General Tactics looks at tactics and strategies that work for all the Space Marines Chapters. Chapters that have different codex's may find these pages useful.

• Space Marine HQ Tactics
  
  Every army needs a HQ squad. In this section we will look at the Head Quarter choices available to the Space Marine army
• Space Marine Elite Tactics
  
  In this section we will be looking at the Space Marine Elite choices and their tactics. The elite section is where you fond the specialists intrhe Space Marine army.
• Space Marine Troop Tactics
  
  In this section we will be looking the Space Marine Troop choices and tactics.
• Space Marine Fast Attack Tactics
  
  In this section we will look at the Fast Attack tactics for the Space Marine army.
• Space Marine Heavy Support Tactics
  
  In this section we will be looking at the Space Marine Heavy, and the Space Marine Heavy Support tactics.
• Blood Angel Tactics
  
  In this section we will look at the Blood Angel Space Marines and their tactics.
• Dark Angel Tactics
  
  In this section we will look at the Dark Angel Space Marine army and their tactics.
• Space Wolf Tactics
  
  In this section we will look at the Space Marine Dark Angel army, and the Space Wolf tactics.
• Black Templars
  
  In this section we will look at the Black Templar Space Marine army, and the Templars tactics.
• Space Marine Gallery
  
  Picture Gallery of Space Marine images

General Space Marine Advice

Due to the 'all round' nature of the Space Marines you should be able to adapt to use any tactics that you find on this site or elsewhere. In addition to searching this and other Warhammer sites for tactical advice. Search the net and your local library for ideas on what tactics great historical generals used in their campaigns. Alexander the Great may not have used Lascannons but his formations are worthy of study.

Learn the Rules

I have said this in the general advice for all armies but it does need saying again:- Get The Rule Books and Read Them!

Sharing rule books with friends might work for a week or two, until you decide whether you like the game or not. After that you do need the books. If you have to decide between spending money on the rule books or on models get the books. Use Plasticine / coins / used match sticks / silver foil, to make some home made models. If you have models with out the rules then they will just sit on a shelf looking pretty.

Tactical Squads

Learn how to use the Tactical Squads in your army, and everything else will fall in to place. Learn when to stand your ground, when to advance and when to retreat. If you learn these three skill with this one squad type you will win 60% to 70% of the games you play.

Keep it Simple

As a new player keep your army simple. Four tactical Squads and one HQ. choice is all that you require of the first few games.

Playing Styles

It won't take you long to spot that different Space Marine players have different styles of playing. Some will charge forward and get in to close assault as soon as possible, others will stand as far back as possible and use their guns to whittle down the advancing enemy. Other players will use fast troops and vehicles to wage a hit-and-run style campaign, and some prefer a close ranged fire fight. In this section I will be examining different playing styles and the pros and cons of each.

Close Assault Armies

Speed

With a close assault army speed is of the essence. The sooner you are in combat the sooner you will be using your killing skills. Speed can be achieved by putting jet-packs to the back of your troops, putting then in transport, or dropping them on to the battle field with drop pods and teleport.

Grouping

With assaults it is much better to attack a weak defence with a much larger force. To do this you need to identify a weak spot in the defence and hit it with all your army. That requires all your army to arrive at the same time. If your troops arrive in a piece-meal fashion then your opponent will be able to hack you down before you reach critical mass.

Cover

To effective assaulting force you need to reach the target in one piece. This means that you have to avoid being shot at. Cover has several different forms. Buildings and hard cover that you can run up behind reducing the number of shots that the enemy can take at you.

Tanks can provide moving cover for the troops inside them, and any troops that follow them.

Your opponent will use cover to protect his troops. This allows him to attack first when he is assaulted, probably killing some of your troops before they can strike back. This advantage can be minimized by taking frag grenades.

Shooty Armies

With all these close assault armies around, somtimes the best option is to stand back and shoot them down as they charge in.

The Best Starter Space Marine Army

(Prevoiusly the best 500 point army)

The Space Marines are a great army for a player to start with when they are starting to learn to play Warhammer 40000. The question I am often asked is what type / style of army shouls a starting player choose, and which modles should they get.

Space Marines Special Rules

Space Marines only have a couple of special rules. It is worth getting to know them.

They Know no Fear

This special rule represents the high level of training that a Space Marine receives and comes in three parts; passes re-group tests; re-group with less than half strength; and resisting sweeping advances.

Automatically Passes Re-group tests

Using this rule Space Marines automatically pass a re-group test . This normally happens the turn after the Space Marines failed a leadership test. Be aware that if the Space Marines do not get chance to test then they will still be fleeing. This happens if the enemy are within 6 inches of the squad at the start of our turn.

If your Space Marines pass the re-group test, then they can move & fire as normal. This gives you an option to run for cover, or fire heavy weapons.

Not Wiped Out by Sweeping Advances

Combat Tactics

Sometimes a strategic withdraw is your best option. This special rule allows most of your Space Marines to choose to fail a leadership test if you want to. This means that if you think that running from a close combat will give you a better tactical advantage, then it is an option.

Combat Squads

Most 10 man Space Marine Squads can be split in to two 5 man squads. These are called combat squads.

Combat squads have the strength of being able to cover more ground, and you can divide your assault weapons away from your squad heavy weapon.

The weakness of combat squads in that two small squads is frequently weaker that one large one.

> Also See : Space Marine chat board
> Also Buy : Discount Space Marines