Much Ado about an (old, but we don't mention that) Angry Marine

Well, today I'm going to look at some of the aspects of one of my brother's armies...The Black Templar! Having recently read Helsreach, I have to say that Black Templar are utter beasts. Not only do they do all kinds of awesome stuff in the book, but in regular 40k, who doesn't love assault terminators with twin lightning claws, furious charge, and prefered enemy? Anyway, I've been looking over the codex more thoroughly, and I have to say, being a 4th edition codex has its perks. Ld 10 from a marshal, cheap Typhoons, Min/Max squads of everything, and my most favorite, Power of the Machine Spirit Vindicators! Of course, there are also the downfalls, like marshals only being WS 5, none of them having grenades, and rather expensive anything that hasn't been FAQ'd. But hey, they can still be beasts! So, my next few posts will look further into the depths of the Black Templar, and hopefully surface with a competitive 4th edition codex army (I like being competitive, by the way)!

Space Marine Terminators

Hey guys, I will be filling in for John today. My name is Clay and I will be talking about Codex:Space Marine Terminators (both types) today.   Now don’t be expecting a tactica, that will come in a later article.  Let’s start with a general overview. Well for starters, a terminator is durable (I know everyone knows this, but it still needs to be stated) and can put out a lot of damage if used right.  Now for the details. I typically run a 10 man squad of tactical terminators and this is what I have learned. For one storm bolters are deadly. You get 16-20 shots (with a 10 man squad). Now it’s time to look at the upgrades. Heavy flamers are ok, but you will probably kill more with a storm bolter.  Cyclone missile launchers are very deadly and have range but lack the ability to penetrate the heaviest armour.  Now, to my personal favorite, the Assault Cannon. It packs a high number of shots and when combined with the rending rule it has the chance to kill heavy armour.

The Assault phase is where Terminators really can shine. They are so good at what they do. Some drop their guns for more deadly weapons. Heresy you say, space marines without guns! Surely not. Joking aside, Assault Terminators can be even deadlier than their storm bolter armed brethren if used correctly. Now, on to armaments. A standard Terminator has a power fist for close combat. This makes them incredibly deadly. This means you can land a power fist on Independent Characters so you can trigger instant death, and even though you strike last, you can bet on doing a predictable amount of damage. Take the chain fist upgrade, and even Land Raiders will scream in terror.  That’s just the standard Terminator! Assault Terminators are even better. The basic armament is lightning claws. This will tear through low initiative opponents such as guardsmen and Tau.  That’s not all. We also have the thunder hammer storm shield option as well, which most people choose for the improved invulnerable save. They are very effective at killing tanks and enemy elites, as a thunder hammer works like a power fist.

This is how I use my terminators. I find that walking a 10 man tactical terminator squad down a flank is very effective.  As they not only tend to soak up a lot of firepower, but also tend to kill lots of enemy infantry. To help achieve this goal, I equip them with 2 assault cannons. For the assault terminators I tend to stick them in a land raider redeemer and slam them into my enemy's line with a mix of 3 TH SS and 2LCs.

That’s all for today, folks! Hope you enjoyed the post, look for more to come!

Foot Slogging Space Marines

While trying to help out someone on a blog site, I came up with this army list. What the person was looking for was an army list that was not the usual mech army list, and was still competitive. Together we came up with this army list.

Space Marines Heroes

Well, Games Workshop has come out with a tactica of army lists and advice on how to use Marneus Calgar and the other Chapter specific leaders (not for Ultramarines). It looks like there is some good stuff in here. This should be some help fo rthose of you wanting to spruce up your vanilla marines!

Also, Games Workshop's What's New Today article has some advice on how to make the most of your Storm Raven. It is rather interesting to get GW's opinion on this, since I don't think I have seen them do something like this before. They must really want to sell those Storm Ravens!