Freman Bloodglaive

I'm a fan of terminators, my army is basically the Ultramarines First Company, and supported by Venerable Dreadnoughts they can hang in there for a while. I use Cataphractii for the assault role, their bolters and a heavy flamer are good enough for a squad that is going to deep strike pretty close to the enemy, cyclone equipped terminators and the ven dreads for the ranged role. I have a couple of squads of assault terminators but I haven't used them that often. I like to include Cataphractii Captains with thunder hammer/combi-plasma for the escorting character role. They can potentially put 16 wounds on a single model in one phase and they tank well. They suffer from the usual problem Marines have though. You just don't get enough for your points. Smite sucks, bring psychic protection.

For me there's only two bike choices in the army list. Company Veterans, and Attack Bikes. Company Veterans can take a free chainsword for 3 attacks each, and every model can take a special or combi-weapon. The extra leadership isn't that important, but it's there anyway. If you give your squad members combi-plasma they can fire their bike storm bolter, either the bolter or plasma gun, or both the bolter and plasma gun (don't overcharge) giving a considerable amount of firepower per model. Then they can still punch stuff in melee if you really want to.

I like the heavy flamer for the auto hits and the -1 save modifier with decent strength. Pretty much any Dreadnought I run with a fist gets the heavy flamer. Its short range is a downside, but the storm bolter has lousy strength and no save modifier so I think it balances out.

If I took Tactical marines I'd give the sergeant a combi-weapon matching the squad special weapon, and that's about it. Of course I don't take Tactical marines.

I've had my Cataphractii locked up so they couldn't retreat. They had to break free of those Nurgle cultists the old fashioned way, by ripping their faces off.

Also, although I've yet to buy the models. Vanguard Detachment, Space Wolves HQ Bjorn the Fell-Handed, twin-lascannon Elite Murderfang 2 x Venerable Dreadnoughts with storm shields Because I love Dreadnoughts, so what can be wrong with a detachment composed solely of Dreadnoughts?

Venerable Dreadnoughts. Many many Venerable Dreadnoughts.

I've regarded biker vets as superior assault terminators since fifth edition. Of course I liked all bike armies back then, so there wasn't much option if I wanted something for beating face. Although I prefer thunder hammers to power fists, you can squeeze a few more points out of the squad by downgrading thunder hammers to power fists. With the -1 to hit it's best to take unwieldy weapons in bulk though, rather than rely on one or two in the squad. With an extra attack and access to free chainswords I regard your basic biker command squad as a substitute for the bike squad. A squad of three costs 27 points more than three bikers with the same ranged weapons (and can go to five, all with special weapons, if you want to) but generates three times the number of attacks in melee. If you want extra durability trade the sword for a storm shield.

My equipment is very simple. Fist, storm bolter. One model has a heavy flamer. The Sergeant has a grenade launcher. Fists are the cheapest weapon that provide high strength, good AP, and multiple wounds. If chainfists had been reduced to 14 points as they were for Chaos then I'd recommend them, but they weren't and an extra point of AP is not worth an extra 10 points (I regard a flat 2 damage vs D3 as a wash). Lightning claws don't provide any benefit with terminators. The kind of enemy you send them after, with their improved durability, generally have multiple wounds and high toughness, which means chipping away wounds 1 at a time is inefficient. Paired lightning claws give you more attacks, but you lose the ability to shoot, and most games (even though I despise bolters) having 4 shots at 12 inches will always net you more wounds than a extra attack in melee. It's a pity that you can't give Cataphractii combi-weapons and thunder hammers, but my Cataphractii Captains can, and do. Combi-plasma plus thunder hammer is pretty much my default armament in 8th edition.

First Primaris model. Obviously a Captain with power fist and plasma pistol. Basing and a shoulder transfer to go.

Is this enough plasma? ++ Spearhead Detachment +1CP (Imperium - Space Marines) [50 PL, 955pts] ++ + No Force Org Slot + **Chapter Selection**: Ultramarines Gametype: Matched + Heavy Support + Hellblaster Squad: Plasma incinerator Hellblaster Squad: Plasma incinerator Hellblaster Squad: Plasma incinerator + Fast Attack + Inceptor Squad: 2x Inceptor, Inceptor Sergeant, Plasma Exterminator Inceptor Squad: 2x Inceptor, Inceptor Sergeant, Plasma Exterminator + HQ + Primaris Captain w/Power Fist: Plasma pistol, Power fist, The Santic Halo ++ Total: [50 PL, 955pts] ++

Did all chainfists drop to 14 points, or just those for Chaos?

If you look at the difference between knife fighting and knife killing you'll see the difference between military combatives and martial arts. Even in things like MMA they're holding back, not trying to injure or kill each other. If you told one fighter, "Take the other guy out, or you and your family are dead," the fight would be over in seconds. As one wag commented about using MMA in self defence, "Ask what things you're not allowed to do in the ring, then train to do those." Astartes are special forces cranked up past 11. As already noted, when they're not killing they're practicing killing, when they're not practicing killing they're thinking about killing, and for all we know when they're asleep they dream about killing. A Marine expects to die in battle, and believes that he earns his place with the Emperor through killing a lot of the Imperium's enemies before then. Take the most fanatical of Islamic jihadis. Strip away anything that might cause him to hesitate, compassion, fear, mercy etc. Enhance his body through surgery and genetic engineering. Encase him in a powered suit of tank armour, and arm him with the most brutal weapons developed in 30,000 years of war. Point him at your enemies and bring an umbrella to shield you from the blood spatter. If you look at historical Western martial arts you'll see that grappling in armour was trained for, but for a very specific purpose. It was to lock up your opponent so that when you stuck your knife in them to kill them, they didn't have any way to kill you in that time period between you stabbing them and them dying, which can be 90 seconds or more. A marine might train in grappling, so that when facing someone armed and armoured similarly to himself he can kill the other guy without retaliation, but he wouldn't bother against a normal human where a simple punch is enough to crush a human skull.

Militarily women are at their best where they can use their capable brains, and aren't hampered by their poor upper body strength. Tech jobs, Pilots, Navigators, Computer operators, that sort of thing. It makes sense that star ships would have women crewing them, and Marines would make use of them wherever they were capable of serving.

Quantity can have a quality all its own, as Guard demonstrate, but bolters are not only weak, almost as weak as lasguns with the revised damage table, but they no longer cut through the armour of basic grunts like Guardsmen and Orks, and each one costs you a lot in points. Storm bolters give you quantity, but they're on units like bikes and terminators. The cheapest platform being (I think) Command Squads, but there you have the option of taking combi-weapons, and why wouldn't you? I'm fully aware that I hamstring myself by playing exclusively First Company, but I do it for the rule of cool and without much expectation of victory. Sternguard are decent, and are what Tactical squads should be, just as Vanguard are what assault squads should be.