Space Marine 40k - The Only Way to Rule the 41st Millenium

This will be remedial for 40K players, but is an essential starting point for new players.

Buying, assembling and painting enough units for even a 1000 point game can seem intimidating, but by starting small and building as you go, you can quickly put together a massive force, although most games are played between 1000 and 2000 points.

To get started as a Space Marine 40K player, you should focus on the mandatory slots of the Organization chart. Every army is organized by the five main types of units - HQ (Your leaders), Elites (advanced units), Troops (basic units), Fast Attack (speedier, often mechanized units) and Heavy (the units with the big guns and often big armor). The mandatory slots are 1 HQ and 2 Troops, the basics necessary to hit the battlefield (basically one leader and two sets of units to command).

5th Edition has expanded the Space Marine codex (the rulebook that has all of the information required to field Space Marines) to include more types of leaders (expanding the basic commander's roles) and more hero characters that were not available before, especially in smaller games. This gives you tremendous flexibility to choose an HQ that you can build a themed force around, and take advantage of special rules and gear. Your initial troops can be relatively simple, but due to the flexibility of core troops in general, and the Space Marines as a whole, you can outfit them in a variety of ways that make them heavy hitters from a distance or as aggressive in-close fighters.

Since the HQ is usually designed to be both a leader of troops and an assault expert, you can design your first two troops choices to be valuable mobile support with some impressive firepower in case they engage in harder-to-shoot troops or armored vehicles.

Sample HQ

Your HQ has access to tons of wargear to make him hit harder, and some characters have relics of substantial power as part of their points cost. I like to recommend a basic Captain as described in the Space Marine codex. He gets very good stats and some additional wargear for free. Outfit him with more powerful close combat weapons, and he is a formidable force. You can even attach a command squad to him to give him more survivability, but that is an expense that we won't worry about just yet.

For now, consider that a Captain with good wargear will cost about 120-150 points.

Sample Troops

Space Marines have two kinds of troops - Tactical Squads and Scout Squads. Tactical squads have a wide array of weaponry, defaulting on the standard boltgun, and are capable of being mobile thanks to rhino and razorback transports, and even dropping out of the sky as deep strike units in drop pods. The weapons at their disposal include those able to kill the hardest troops and toughest armor, while also being capable of mowing down groups of weaker units and being close combat juggernauts.

To support your Captain, a good mix of powerful mobile weapons and power weapons to improve close combat situations make them capable in several roles, and make them dangerous if they dive into close combat along side the HQ.

On the other hand, you might go with scout squads which have a different array of weapons better designed to take out groups of troops or single difficult targets from a distance, although they have some powerful anti-armor as well. Although generally weaker than their tactical brothers, they are also less expensive, trading experience and ability for the potential to field more models. Scouts also have several special rules that allow them to deploy and move more effectively than basic troops, making them more slippery than the standard troop, trading sheer might for cunning.

Sample 1 HQ and 2 Troops

HQ
Let's say you get a Captain with a power sword, giving him the ability to wound without allowing saves, who has invulnerable saves himself. Give him a jump pack as well and he's very mobile and gets him into close combat faster.

Troop 1 - Tactical Squad

Space Marines have new rules that allow you to split squads of models if you have a full squad, and this decreases the cost per model, as well as giving you access to better wargear. In addition, it allows you to field two half squads that can act independently of each other. This allows you to play half as an assault group, and the other as a fire support group, each one properly outfitted for the role.

The Tactical squad box set comes with ten marines, including parts to modify two marines with a missile launcher and a flamer (heavy hitter and in-close group damage dealer respectively, although the missile launcher can do less damage and hit more targets as well). You can buy other weapons separately or buy models that include those weapons separately. I would recommend giving the sergeant of the squad at least a power sword if not a power fist to give him more punch in assault. The squad could then be split up as follows:

Assault combat squad: Sergeant with power weapon/fist, flamer, three bolters and
Shooting combat squad: Missile launcher and four bolters.

This allows the assault group to move forward, firing its bolters, and its flamer when in range, and then wade into close combat to finish the job, while the shooting group would stay stationary to allow the missile launcher to fire and the bolters can join in if they are in range.

Other weapons would increase these costs, and you could add a rhino transport for the assault portion of your squad to get them to the battle faster. Since each combat squad is deployed separately, they can be set up where you need them for the right jobs.

Troop 2 - Scouts

Now that you have two units (your HQ and a tactical combat squad) that can run around and assault, let's give you some more shooters.

Scouts can be squishy and less accurate, but they offset this by being sneaky and carrying some powerful guns for cheap.

Scout squads require a minimum of 5 models.

Fortunately, scout weapons are cheap, so 5 scouts, each with sniper rifles, which are long-ranged and have additional special rules, can do a lot of damage without putting them in harm's way and without a lot of points cost. You can even add a missile launcher or heavy bolter for cheap. The scout heavy bolter has special rules that other space marine heavy bolters don't have. You can even add a 6th scout and have room for more points.

So 5 scouts with sniper rifles, and a missile launcher or heavy bolter gives you another small unit that can camp out in cover and unload on your opponents while your assault troops move in.

Bonus Unit

To fill your mandatory org chart, you need an HQ and two Troops selections, and the first focus for beginning players is 500 points. At this point you'd be happy to find out that you still have points to play with before you hit 500.

This is the perfect opportunity to add some more mobile firepower from one of two models that are not only welcome on the battlefield, but are fun to assemble and paint.

For about 50 points, you can have an attack bike, with either a shell-spewing heavy bolter, or a tank-wrecking multi-melta, or you could have a land speeder with a heavy bolter or extra powerful heavy flamer for dispatching troops, or trade in your sixth scout for a multi-melta for your speeder.

With these options, you can have an HQ, 2 Troops and a Fast Attack unit, which can further be broken down into 6 separate units (including the rhino), which fills your mandatory org chart and adds a Fast unit, and comes in at 500 points (or maybe a hair over, which some opponents will let you slide with).

Not bad for a beginning force that gives you a lot of flexibility and fills all the roles of quick assault, fire support and armor.

For added flexibility, if you take the attack bike, which carries two passengers for assault purposes, and is fully capable of assisting in close, you could swap your Captain onto a bike instead of a jump pack, making for a two bike combination in assault, each with its own guns to tear up units as they approach. The bike for the captain is a little more expensive, but a little creative jiggering with the forces would make room for it.

One of the cool things about 5th edition is the improvement of Scout units for Space Marines.

Your old options used to be scouts as troops, either in a fire support or assistant assault role, and scout bikes which were weaker and cheaper versions of the standard biker.

Now, Codex Space Marines gives you greater flexibility with scouts and makes a scout-themed army much more likely.

5th edition has added not only greater functionality for scout bikers, but also a land speeder transport designed to get a combat squad of scouts right where you need them.

I'm seriously considering the value of a 10th Company army that gets assistance from an HQ, flexible scout units that take advantage of full squads and thus the Combat Squads rule, and Land Speeder Storms for quick deployment of assaulters (taking advantage of full-marine sergeants). The force can be fast, shooty, maneuverable and take advantage of both scout rules and Deep Strike.