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Tactica for Shooty Space Marines [Broken HTML]

Submitted By: Date: October 30, 2005, 04:40:12 PM Views: 3496
Summary: <p class="body">This article provides tactical advice for Space Marine players who love the big guns. An ideal <i>shooty army from hell</i> (SAFH) aims to destroy the enemy by solely making use of fire power. However, assault based armies may still reach the front ranks of an SAFH. Therefore, an SAFH needs more than standing and shooting, namely mobility, fire power, and numbers. Mobile shooty units, able to shoot heavy weapons on the move, are important if there is plenty of terrain on the board. Moreover, mobile close combat oriented units are important to remove units threatening or charging the front ranks. </p>

<p class="body">This article describes three kinds of shooty Space Marine armies: long range, medium range, and short range. It is shown how to configure these armies from basic units. The reader may notice that more insight into configuring Space Marine units and using them on the battle field is provided by my Beginner’s guide. </p>


<p class="subheader">General Issues</p>
<p class="body">Shooty armies mainly use fire power to destroy the enemy. To achieve this, there are a few principles to keep in mind:</p>
<ul>
<li>Plan the firing angles of static shooty squads before the game. Future movement may reduce their fire power. </li>
<li>Take advantage of cover. Deploy shooty squads in cover to get a cover save or glancing hits. </li>
<li>Maximize fire power. Shoot enemy units until they are completely annihilated or at least under half strength (if you play with victory points). </li>
<li>Setup a priority list for shooting the enemy units. Destroy the most dangerous targets first such as infiltrators and transports. </li>
<li>Minimize hand to hand damage. Use mobile counter strike units if the enemy threatens your front ranks. </li>
<li>Keep the war gear of shooty units low, better invest in guns. </li>
<li>Do the math. Make sure that the probability (on average) of a shooty squad to destroy a target is larger than 50% (highly probable). </li>
</ul>


<p class="subheader">Long Range Shooty Armies</p>
<p class="body">Long range shooty armies mainly focus on heavy weapons with range of at least 36". An ideal long range shooty army aims to win by shooting, by laying down so much ranged fire power that the enemy is dead before any substantial part of his army can cause severe impact. Nevertheless, assault based armies may still reach the front ranks. Thus a long range shooty army should basically consist of a larger shooty force and a smaller counter strike force. The ratio between shooty force and counter strike force should be about 3:1. Moreover, infiltrating units such as Scout or Veteran squads can be useful to disrupt the opponent’s plans to deploy infiltrators.</p>

<p class="subheader1">Shooty Force</p>
<p class="body">The shooty force consists of a core of shooty tactical squads. These are either static shooty squads or Razorback squads. These units are complemented by tank hunting Devastator squads, shooty Dreadnoughts, and Predators.</p>

<ul>
<li> Shooty squad
<ul><li>6 Marines w/ lascannon, plasma gun, bolter (x4)</li>
<li>Razorback w/ twin linked lascannon, armour</li></ul></li>
<li>Dreadnought w/ lascannon, missile launcher, tank hunter, armour</li>
<li>Tank Hunting Devastator squad
<ul><li>7 Marines w/ missile launcher (x4), bolter (x3)</li>
<li>Sergeant w/ bolter</li></ul></li>
<li>Predator Annihilator w/ twin linked lascannon (turret), lascannons (sponsons), armour </li>
<li>Predator Destructor w/ auto cannon (turret), heavy bolters (sponsons), armour</li>
</ul>

<p class="subheader1">Counter Strike Force</p>
<p class="body">The counter strike force is comprised of fast close combat oriented units such as Assault squads and Rhino squads. These units are used to remove enemy units threatening the front ranks. The most appropriate leader of a long range shooty army is a Master as he provides all squads with high leadership.</p>

<ul>
<li>Master Commander w/ twin lightning claws, iron halo, terminator honours, jump packs, frags </li>
<li>Assault squad
<ul><li>7 Marines w/ plasma pistol (x2), bolt pistol (x5)</li>
<li>Vet Sergeant w/ power fist, bolt pistol </li></ul></li>
<li>Rhino squad
<ul><li>9 Marines w/ melta, bolter (x8)</li>
<li>Veteran Sergeant w/ power fist, bolt pistol</li>
<li>Rhino w/ armour, smoke </li></ul></li>
</ul>


<p class="subheader">Medium Range Shooty Armies</p>
<p class="body">Medium range shooty armies mainly focus on heavy weapons with range of 24". The best weapon in the Space Marine armory with range 24" is the assault cannon. This weapon is not only anti light infantry and anti light tank, but also anti heavy infantry and anti heavy tank thanks to the rending ability. Therefore, a medium range shooty army should include as many assault cannons as possible. The army splits into a shooty force and a close combat force.</p>
   
<p class="body"> <p class="bold">Traits:</p> Cleanse and purify / We stand alone</p>

<p class="subheader1">Shooty Force</p>
<p class="body">The shooty force needs mobility to get into range for laying down massive fire power. For this, the shooty force should mainly be comprised of Terminator squads, Dreadnoughts, and Land Speeder squadrons all of which equipped with assault cannons. The troop slots can be filled with Scout squads with bolters as these squads can get into rapid fire range in turn one.</p>

<ul>
<li>Terminator squad
<ul><li>5 Terminators w/ assault cannon (x2), storm bolter (x3), power fist (x5) </li>
<li>Sergeant w/ storm bolter, power weapon</li></ul></li>   
<li>Dreadnought w/ assault cannon, armour </li>
<li>Scout squad
<ul><li>9 Scouts w/ heavy bolter, bolter (x8)</li>
<li>Sergeant w/ bolter</li></ul></li>
<li>Land Speeder squadron
<ul><li>Tornado (x3) w/ assault cannon, heavy bolter</li></ul></li>
</ul>

<p class="subheader">Close Combat Force</p>
<p class="body">The close combat force consists of Rhino squads and Terminator squads. An Epistolary with his devastating psychic powers is an appropriate leader of a medium range shooty army. The best way to bring him close to the enemy is to give him terminator armour and let him lead a Terminator Command squad.</p>

<ul>
<li>Epistolary w/ force weapon, psychic hood, terminator armour, storm bolter, <i>Fear of the Darkness</i></li>
<li>Terminator Command squad
<ul><li>5 Terminators w/ assault cannon (x2), storm bolter (x3), power fist (x5)</li>
<li>Sergeant w/ storm bolter, power weapon</li></ul></li>
<li>Rhino squad
<ul><li>9 Marines w/ plasma gun (x2), bolter (x7)</li>
<li>Veteran Sergeant w/ power fist, bolt pistol</li>
<li>Rhino w/ armour, smoke</li></ul></li>
</ul>

<p class="subheader">Short Range Shooty Armies</p>
<p class="body">Short range shooty armies focus on rapid fire 12" range. A short range shooty army mainly uses rapid firing weapons like the <i>holy bolter</i> and assault weapons. To bring a short range shooty army into 12" range, most of the army should be drop podded. A drop podded army is comprised of drop podded tactical squads, drop podded Dreadnoughts, and deep striking units like Land Speeders and Terminator squads. Each drop podded squad should be able to shoot and fight in close combat. <i>Cleanse and Purify</i> increases the fire power of a drop podded squad, while <i>Trust your Battle Brothers</i> makes a drop podded squad more resilient in close combat, because a drop podded squad is more likely to receive the charge than get it. Furthermore, a tooled up drop podded Command squad increases the army’s punch in close combat. An appropriate leader of a short range shooty army is an Epistolary leading a drop podded Command squad. Finally, deep striking Land Speeders with multi meltas can take care of tanks and transports.</p>

<p class="body">A drop podded army is a bit unpredictable as not all Drop Pods will usually arrive at the same time. Thus a coordinated strike cannot be enforced. But the landing of Drop Pods is predictable thanks to the Drop Pod special rule. This allows concentrating the landing to a particular area.</p>

<p class="body"> <b>Traits:</b> Cleanse and purify + Trust your battle brothers / Eye to eye</p>

<ul>
<li>Epistolary w/ force weapon, bolt pistol, iron halo, psychic hood, terminator honours, <i>Fear of the Darkness</i>, frags</li>
<li>Drop Pod Command squad
<ul><li>5 Marines w/ melta (x2), bolter (x3)</li>
<li>Apothecary w/ bolt pistol, nartecium</li>
<li>Company Champion w/ power weapon, bolt pistol, combat shield</li>
<li>Standard Bearer w/ bolt pistol, company standard</li>
<li>Veteran Sergeant w/ power fist, bolt pistol</li>
<li>Drop Pod</li></ul></li>
<li>Drop Pod Tactical squad w/ true grit + counter charge
<ul><li>9 Marines w/ melta (x2), bolter (x7)</li>
<li>Veteran Sergeant w/ power fist, bolt pistol</li>
<li>Drop Pod</li></ul></li>
<li>Dreadnought w/ assault cannon, heavy flamer, armour, Drop Pod</li>
<li>Terminator squad
<ul><li>5 Terminators w/ assault cannon (x2), storm bolter (x3), power fist (x5)</li>
<li>Sergeant w/ storm bolter, power weapon</li></ul></li>
<li>Land Speeder w/ multi melta</li>
</ul>

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