Sgt. Rock

This sounds like a blast. Count me in.

Yeah, if you recall how long that Razorback lasted in our game yesterday. 😛 I'm concerned primarily about things like a Leman Russ. As far as I know, we only have one Guard player, but anything T8 is going to give me fits. I could try something like this: ++ Battalion Detachment +5CP (Imperium - Space Marines) [59 PL, 1000pts] ++ + No Force Org Slot + **Chapter Selection**: Crimson Fists + HQ + Captain in Gravis Armor [7 PL, 118pts]: Boltstorm gauntlet, Master-crafted power sword Techmarine [5 PL, 71pts]: Chainsword, Combi-melta . Servo-harness: Flamer, Plasma cutter + Troops + Intercessor Squad [5 PL, 89pts]: Auxiliary Grenade Launcher, Bolt rifle . 4x Intercessor . Intercessor Sergeant: Power sword Scout Squad [6 PL, 80pts]: 5x Camo cloak . Scout Sergeant: Bolt pistol, Sniper rifle . 4x Scout w/Sniper Rifle: 4x Sniper rifle Tactical Squad [9 PL, 170pts] . 7x Space Marine . Space Marine Sergeant: Bolt pistol, Power fist . Space Marine w/Heavy Weapon: Missile launcher . Space Marine w/Special Weapon: Plasma gun Tactical Squad [5 PL, 93pts] . 3x Space Marine . Space Marine Sergeant: Combi-flamer, Melta bombs, Power fist . Space Marine w/Special Weapon: Flamer + Elites + Dreadnought [7 PL, 132pts]: Twin lascannon . Dreadnought combat weapon w/Storm Bolter: Storm bolter + Fast Attack + Inceptor Squad [10 PL, 135pts]: Assault bolter, 2x Inceptor, Inceptor Sergeant + Dedicated Transport + Razorback [5 PL, 112pts]: Storm bolter, Twin lascannon ++ Total: [59 PL, 1000pts] ++ Created with BattleScribe Put the minimum size tactical squad in the Razorback with the Techmarine, that way I have an assload of flamers coming out of there to melt faces with, as well as a power fist and two servo arms to eff up heavy armor/vehicles in melee. I get my Gravis captain melee beatstick again, and the Inceptors who, as @Lyraeus pointed out, are really great with the Crimson Fists chapter tactic. EDIT: Razorback, not Rhino. Derp.

I thought about Inceptors, but I worried that by doing that, I'd be giving up too much anti-armor capability. At 1k points, I should be expecting to see heavier armor on the board, and I need to have the means with which to deal with it. At some point, I need to just break down and buy a Devastator squad or two, but right now, it's just not in the cards.

So here's an idea: ++ Battalion Detachment +5CP (Imperium - Space Marines) [56 PL, 995pts] ++ + No Force Org Slot + **Chapter Selection**: Crimson Fists + HQ + Captain in Terminator Armor [7 PL, 101pts]: Power sword, Storm bolter, Tenacious Opponent, Warlord Lieutenants [4 PL, 80pts] . Lieutenant: Combi-plasma, Power fist Techmarine [5 PL, 71pts]: Chainsword, Combi-melta . Servo-harness: Flamer, Plasma cutter + Troops + Intercessor Squad [5 PL, 89pts]: Auxiliary Grenade Launcher, Bolt rifle . 4x Intercessor . Intercessor Sergeant: Power sword Scout Squad [6 PL, 80pts]: 5x Camo cloak . Scout Sergeant: Bolt pistol, Sniper rifle . 4x Scout w/Sniper Rifle: 4x Sniper rifle Tactical Squad [9 PL, 165pts] . 7x Space Marine . Space Marine Sergeant: Bolt pistol, Power fist . Space Marine w/Heavy Weapon: Missile launcher . Space Marine w/Special Weapon: Flamer + Elites + Dreadnought [7 PL, 132pts]: Twin lascannon . Dreadnought combat weapon w/Storm Bolter: Storm bolter + Heavy Support + Hellblaster Squad [8 PL, 165pts]: Plasma incinerator . 4x Hellblaster . Hellblaster Sergeant: Bolt pistol + Dedicated Transport + Razorback [5 PL, 112pts]: Storm bolter, Twin lascannon ++ Total: [56 PL, 995pts] ++ Created with BattleScribe It might be lacking a little bit of anti-armor at this point level, but it's what I have to work with. Thought is to combat squad the tactical squad with the sergeant and flamer in the Razorback and send them off with the Techmarine to go wreck face up close. Razorback will probably get smoked pretty early, though; it's awfully fragile, and being one of my two main sources of anti-armor, it's going to be a priority target. Really wish I had a Devastator squad right now, but oh well. If I can keep the Hellblasters alive, they can do pretty decent anti-tank duty, too. I'm considering wiggling some points around and trying the heavy plasma incinerators on them, but I dunno.

That's... actually a really good idea. I mean, it doesn't solve the fact that suddenly my Land Raider can't see in the dark, but I'm sure the Machine Spirit has all kinds of like thermal imaging night vision crap like that. Those headlights just give away my position to the enemy!

Wait, derp. Disregard that, that's older editions rattling around in my head. I was wrong, ABRs suck now. 😛

That will definitely be fun, and once I get paid, some Termies are definitely in my future.

Right. My biggest failing in this case, and I think the biggest reason I lost, is due to list building. I had basically 4 5 man squads, which means that if I take 12 wounds, and I lose 2 models (which is pushing it, because my dice hate me) then I'm suddenly down 40% of my squad. If I'd had an apothecary and/or ancient, it would have been a little better, but not a whole lot, I think. And other random screwiness didn't help; I made the mistake of overcharging my plasma gunner, thinking "Oh, he's right next to the captain, he'll be fine." Nope. Rolled a 1, reroll, another 1. He blew himself up without any help. I'm a fan of the MSU approach, and Crimson Fists especially seem to like it, but unfortunately, that means that it's all too easy to nullify any given squad if you put enough firepower into it.

I suppose that's true, I guess I just didn't notice; the tide of green bodies made any casualties I inflicted seem trivial. 😛

Also, it occurs to me that the auto bolt rifle isn't nearly as obsolete as it first appears... while you lose the AP and a bit of longer range, in addition to that 1d6 advance move, the auto bolt rifles still allow you to charge. Intercessors aren't a melee unit, particularly, but theoretically they should be able to make a mess of Tau or Guard in melee. Whether that's worth an extra 1 point per model is open to debate, but it's there, at least.

So I had my game on Sunday with @Lyraeus. Turn one, I lost my scouts and one combat squad of Marines, and it all went downhill from there. That said, but for a few close rolls, I might have actually been able to pull things a little closer... I came close to killing his warlord (Techmarine CC for the fun!) and as usual, the Gravis captain earned his keep and then some in melee, doing some serious damage and almost wiping a squad of boys that were closing on my objective. But there were just too many of them... My Chapter Tactic for Crimson Fists, while cute, didn't help me much. And I feel like Dakka Dakka Dakka! is... well, I won't say it's OP, but I will say that I don't have a great way to counter it; even with a 2+ save from cover, when a 5 man squad is taking 12 hits, it doesn't end well. I'm going to dither about with my new list here in a little bit, see if I can come up with something at 1k that won't get steamrolled like I did yesterday. Still, it was a good game, and I'm learning more and more about how this edition of 40k works. Will post some list ideas here soon.

Well alright then. Now if I can only figure out how to fix my other cockup when I assembled it... when I glued the top of the hull onto the lower assembly, I forgot to put the headlight bits *inside* of the top deck, so now I have a half-assembled Land Raider because I realized my mistake and rage quit on the assembly.

Will they stay on with push fitting? I'm super lazy when it comes to model building, to the point where I'll spend the extra money to buy a kit twice (and the effort of assembling it, paradoxically enough) rather than bugger around with magnetizing.

Well, I was *slightly* on the fence about whether to assemble my Land Raider as a Crusader or Redeemer... I guess that answers it. I'm not sure this will go any significant distance to fixing the problems Marines seem to have right now, but it's something, at least.

I will be there for my 750 point escalation league game.

Ahhh, yeah, I missed that part. Okay. But yeah, there really is no reason not to take them, especially since they don't replace anything. You can have your auto bolt rifle and eat grenades, too!

Auxiliary grenade launchers turn your grenades into Assault weapons, and they're a free upgrade, so there's literally no reason not to take them.

Ooh, so it basically turns them into Elysians +1? I like! But no sentinels... boo! I want to use an Elysian drop Sentinel. Still...

Not super into Death Guard. The aesthetic is too... icky. I'll probably just finish rounding out my Crimson Fists (avoiding Primaris where I can) and then start picking up Scions/Guard, Sisters, and maybe some AdMech to keep myself from being bored. I love the aesthetic of the Imperial Guard; just a bunch of poor dumb bastards who were drafted and given crappy rifles and sent to the front to die. But I really don't want to spend half an hour setting troops up, and then have them stand in one place for the whole game.

Screw Guilliman. He's a wanker. THAT'S RIGHT, I SAID IT! THE LORD COMMANDER OF THE IMPERIUM IS A WANKER! I AIN'T SCARED OF YOUR INQUISITION!

I wanted to go Sisters; honestly, the fact that they're FINALLY getting plastics is one of the things that drew me back into 40k. But everybody and their damn dog is going to be running Sisters when those models drop, and for one thing, I don't like being a bandwagon player, and I also don't like running into a ton of mirror matches. Knights are right out; I can barely afford to buy a $30 kit once a month, much less a $120 one. It's the poor man's dilemma; knights may be cheaper in the long term to play, but I have such a small income that even with a substantial discount from work, I can only buy things a little bit at a time. I hadn't really considered the Scions, honestly. I might give them some thought. Tyranids... I dunno. I can't decide if I like the aesthetic or not. I'm not looking to go sweep ITC tournaments, but I'd like to be able to come to casual and semi-casual environments and still have a decent chance at winning. I'll probably just end up running Imperial soup, depending on my mood.

I dunno if it's helpful or not, but Kromlech makes a conversion kit of a servo-harness backpack and head to turn any ol' plastic tactical marine into a Techmarine. I got one, and it's pretty good quality.

So when I decided to get back into 40k, I chose Space Marines, because they're the most economically accessible army to play. It wasn't until I was already a bit invested that I learned more about the whole Primaris silliness going on. I've never been a big fan of Marines, and that really soured me on things. So once I have enough marines to make a 2000 point list (stupid CA points drop!) I want to start something else, but I don't fully know what. I want an army that's going to be dynamic, because I find static gunlines kind of boring. I don't want a high model count army, so returning to my orky ways of the past is right out. I really enjoy CC. Honestly, if Space Marines didn't have this Primaris BS, they'd be about perfect. As it is, I'm considering Chaos Space Marines, because they have the strong melee, competent shooting, and not hugely high model count (and I already have a few models.) I'm not a huge fan of their aesthetics, though; they strike me as a bunch of try-hards trying to out-evil each other. I'm really intrigued by Necrons, but I've heard they're a pretty slow gunline, so if I want something dynamic, they're probably out. And I have a long-standing prejudice against elves (damn dirty knife-ears...) Any suggestions?

Right, of course! Drop pods! And that's just codex, not counting Forge World stuff. But yeah, in a nutshell, Primaris are largely forced to be footsloggers, and that makes it really hard to advance on objectives and take them. I think GW really dropped the ball on that aspect of them, and it's honestly soured me quite a bit on Primaris marines. I'll still use them, but not exclusively like GW seems to want me to.

The biggest issue with the Repulsor is that there's no cheap and dirty transport for Hellblasters, who want to be in fairly close, and Intercessors, who are your troops that are going to be securing objectives. There's also no way to get that Gravis captain into melee, where he belongs. In fact, Reivers and Inceptors are the ONLY Primaris dudes with any sense of mobility. Compared with classic marines, who can fit into Rhinos, Razorbacks, or Land Raiders, Scouts who can fit into the aforementioned as well as Land Speeder Storms, jump packs, deep striking Terminators, bikers, etc. An all-Primaris force is, by it's nature, pretty slow unless you invest in multiple Repulsors, and then you have way too few dudes on the field.