Wednesday, April 6, 2011

Strictly Average

I have been thinking about all of the variations of armies I can create with current model collection and I got to thinking about a question:  What makes a plain 'ol Space Marine army?  What counts as your average Space Marine army?  For the purpose of this post I am going to limit that to Codex Marines as all of the chapters have their "average" builds.  My purpose here is to examine what makes a totally vanilla, strictly generic list. 

Here are a few of the things I have noticed as models included in most average gameplay lists.

HQ

Libby- This guy is your bog standard HQ choice.  He has more utility than a captain or chapter master though he isn't as tough in combat.  He is also cheaper than the named characters.

Elite
Terminators and Dreads- These seem to be the general all-purpose no brainer inclusions.  The dreadnoughts tend to come in the rifleman (2x TL autocannons) variety more often than not while the terminators are almost always toting thunder hammers and storm shields. 

Troops
Hmmm....Tac Squads- I see quite a bit of variation in weapons choices here, but tac squads tend to come in two varieties, 10-man squads for the weapon choices or 5-man squads for the razorback options. 

Fast
Melta/Flamer Land Speeders- These are the ultimate in terms of duality and expendability.  At 70pts, they can take out tanks, infantry, or just block movement and provide target saturation. 

Heavy
Predators- The cheap kind, autocannon and heavy bolter sponsons, for the same reason you take melta/flamer speeders.  They can perform dual roles, are cheap, and can provide a decent threat. 

So, these seem to be the winners by majority.  I am not saying that they are the only thing that can be used to make a list, but they are usually part of the original recipe of chicken here. 

Here is a list I put together (quickly) using these elements:

Libby-terminator armor, storm shield, null zone, gate of infinity- 140pt.

Dreadnought- 2x TL autocannons- 125pt.
Dreadnought- 2x TL autocannons- 125pt.
10 Assault Terminators- th/ss- 400pt.

10-man Tac Squad- multi-melta, melta, power weapon (more annoying than you would think), rhino- 225pt.
10-man Tac Squad- multi-melta, melta, power weapon, rhino- 225pt.
5-man Tac Squad- melta bombs, lascannon/TL plasma razorback- 170pt.
5-man Tac Squad- lascannon/TL plasma razorback- 165pt.
5-man Scout Squad- sniper rifles, camo cloaks, missile launcher, teleport homer

Landspeeder- multi-melta/heavy flamer- 70pt.
Landspeeder- multi-melta/heavy flamer- 70pt.

Predator- autocannon, heavy bolter sponsons- 85pt.
Predator- autocannon, heavy bolter sponsons- 85pt.

2,000pt exactly

As mentioned, this rings in somewhere close to a bog standard list.  The scouts infiltrate.  The libby goes with the terminators who stay in a ten man squad or combat squad to provide additional threats.  The libby gates the terminators forward using the teleport homer on the scouts.  The two rhinos move up to midfield to become melta bunkers under cover from the dreads, razorbacks, and predators.  The speeders deepstrike in to pop armor or deploy to zoom forward, block movement, and pop armor. 

It has your basic all-comers elements as well.  There is the ability to take out armor with autocannons, melta, lascannons, and plasmaguns.  It has elite/heavy infantry in the form of the hammernators.  It has the ability to torrent fire to some extent.  Most of the units can fulfill dual roles.  It has plenty of scoring ability. 

But it doesn't stand out as anything special.  I am not mentioning anything that most of you wouldn't already be thinking.  That's why this list is strictly average. 

So, here's your homework.  Come up with your version of strictly average from the C:SM and post it in a comment.  Let's compare.  Am I coming to totally weird conclusions?  Do you agree or disagree with my estimate as to what serves as average?  Let me know.

3 comments:

TheKing Elessar said...

Actually, it's a *little* below average, in that the Scouts are useless without Torias Telion.

They also benefit quite often from the addition of a Master of the Forge (another USP* from the Codex) giving them Bolster Defences for a 2++ (with Stealth)

I would rather another Speeder and Pred, or failing that another Tac squad - though more than 30 Marines at 2k isn't strictly necessary to score.

TheKing Elessar said...

IMO, of course. I also forgot (again, careless...) that footnote:

* - Unique Selling Point, if you don't know. :p

Dave said...

Thanks for the comment. I agree for the most part that scouts aren't worth the points without telion and many case even with him. They are simply there to allow hammernators the ability to gate or deepstrike safely in place and then smash stuff. Otherwise, I couldn't be bothered by scouts.

On the MotF. I love the guy. Elite and Heavy dreads are tons of fun. This guy is great for what he does. Just keep him away from combat unless you have no recourse. 2+ is great, but no invul means he is an easy kp.

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