Help Wanted - What Chapter Should I use?

[BaconCouch]

So, I started a decently-sized collection of space marines back in 6th-7th edition.

At this point, with the Primaris rollout, and the increasingly confusing setup of the books (to me at least) i was wondering if someone might be able to help guide me regarding what chapter might work best considering the models I have, with maybe a small purchase here or there to round it out.

 

I'm looking for advice so I can find a decent way to play my marines, since they have a good paint job, and my own custom fluff. (Paint Job is Silver/Red, so I'm not locked into anything)

 

What I have available to me at this point is - 

Captain
Lieutenant

 

30 Tactical Marines (Couple Missile Launchers in here)

Scout Snipers

10 Intercessors

 

20 Sternguard Veterans 

2 Venerable Dreadnoughts

Terminator Assault Squad

 

1 Squad of Marine Bikers with Plasma/Power Weapons

 

3 Predator Tanks with Las/Autocannon

Land Raider Crusader

Devastator Squad

5 Hellblasters

2 Thunderfire Cannons with Crew

 

3 Razorbacks with Twin Assault Cannons

6 Drop Pods

 

 

Any advice is appreciated, thank you!

 

 

[Race Bannon]

IMVHO, and I do not mean to be blithe about this, a Chapter of your own design means you can use whatever rules you want.  One day it can be Raven Guard, the other it can be White Scars.  The only limit is your imagination :tu:

[Imren]

Paint them in a made up colour scheme and you can apply whichever chapters chapter tactics that please you. Consider magnetising the weapons to give you some flexibility from game to game.

[Claws and Effect]

First off, what sort of army do you enjoy playing?

 

Shooty? Assault heavy? Stealthy?

 

My best advice for you is to get the most recent Space Marine Codex from a few months ago and check out the Successor Tactic section. You get to pick 2 of them.

[Aothaine]

Race really has the best idea your going to get. The only reason to paint up an army as one of the main chapters is if you really like that chapter. Painting up your own chapter provide longevity to your force. I've got one as well. The Roaring Lions. I'm still working on their background and everything though. Even then I'm still not sure if that is the route I'm going to go with though. I still have a month or two before I start making some serious purchases to gear up for the 2020 competition scene.

[Son of Sacrifice]

He's already painted his army... Did you guys even read?

If you're just getting back into the game I'd play only using the space marine codex for a little while. Once you are familiar with the chapter tactics and playing again you could look at adding a supplement.

[Happy-inquisitor]

I think the real question is what did you enjoy about playing the army in 6th/7th?

 

However just looking at the list of models I have a few suggestions. As you have a consistent paint scheme I have not considered mixed chapter options, with one paint scheme you should stick to one set of chapter tactics.

 

You do not have a lot of smash-captain action going on here whereas what you do have a lot of are bolter dudes and drop pods. Plus a good selection of heavier support from vehicles in particular.

 

If you want to go in heavy on putting lots of marine bodies on the table and use your drop pods I would suggest you choices might be

1. Imperial Fists/Crimson Fists

2. Ultramarines

3. Salamanders

 

I put the Fists in first place there because massed bolter fire is their speciality and the extra hits they generate really do add up. Also if you push hard on the infantry side of things their doctrine really does a lot of work on the anti-tank requirement which could come up short otherwise. The other two options are strong but I rather think you need to work harder at getting their tricks to work, that can be fun and rewarding but by comparison lots of drop-pod sternguard with bonus hits on 6's just work out of the box. Pedro Kantor in a land raider full of assault terminators just works (not as well as assault centurions perhaps but they do still just work).

 

If you really want to go in hard on the vehicles then what jumps to the top of the list are Iron Hands. Giving Character keyword to a Ven Dread and all the other bonuses they give to vehicles is very solid. The problem you might have here is that Predators are just not that great in 8th so leaning heavily on them can be an issue in more competitive games.

 

Looking at your collection there is nothing there which jumps out at me as really wanting to be White Scars, Raven Guard or Black Templars. These chapters all have their strengths but your collection does not seem to play to those strengths so much.

[Medjugorje]

at anytime I would say Black Templars, no matter the odds.

[MeltaRange]

I'm thinking Iron Hands.

[Aothaine]

He's already painted his army... Did you guys even read?

If you're just getting back into the game I'd play only using the space marine codex for a little while. Once you are familiar with the chapter tactics and playing again you could look at adding a supplement.

 

I still feel that my point stands strong. Race stated to not pick any specific chapter but to play them all and find which one they liked best. :/

[tychobi]

Iron hands is space marines on easy mode. If you want to really learn the game Ultramarines have a trick for any occasion and will stretch you in ways that raw stats will not. The redeploy alone is so powerful once mastered. I do not reccomend actually purchasing the books. They are already badly out of date. The rules/strats are pretty easy to come by online. Happy testing!

[Riddlesworth]

Happy-Inquisitor has broken it down pretty well - you have a lot of bolter dudes, with your fire support coming from tanks.

 

Given the transports you have available, I'd suggest looking at imperial fists. Assault cannon razorbacks get a lot out of their devastator doctrine and your rapid fire sternguard and tactical marines benefit heavily from the chapter trait after drop podding in and getting tactical doctrine once the enemy vehicles are dead.

 

if you went the more vehicle heavy route with the land raider, predators and razorbacks, Iron Hands is worth a shout also.

 

Example list

Captain

LT

3x5 man tactical squad

1x9 sternguard

1x9 sternguard

1x5 assault terminator

2x venerable dread (assault cannon)

1x3 man bike squad plasma

Land raider crusader

thunderfire cannon

thunderfire cannon

2x drop pod

3x razorback

 

This is roughly 2000 points (not sure what level you play at). In IF, the dreads, razorbacks and thunderfires are on anti tank duty in turn 1 as they all get multiple damage shots. The drop pods then come down at your leisure with sternguard special ammo and exploding 6s, with the land raider going up the middle with your assault element.

Alternatively, Iron Hands would soup up your vehicles and make them both more mobile and accurate from turn 1, but you'd lose the increased output of the bolter fire due to the chapter trait.

[BaconCouch]

Appreciate all the great feedback everyone.
The original army was designed for Drop Pod Sternguard, backed up by the razorbacks, and predators back in the day. 

The sternguard are the favorite models i own. So it sounds like, based on that, imperial fists may well be the choice for me to maximize their effectiveness.
Otherwise, sounds like Iron Hands are also a fine choice, however i am slightly concerned i'll be told i'm meta chasing (despite running tactical marines lmao)

Thank you!