Karhedron

I think the risk is relying too much on the Red Thirst for doing our heavy lifting. Yes we are good at melee and can certainly "punch up" when required but we are still Marines and not every problem can solved by punching it. We still need our fire support units to deal with the things we cannot reliably hack to death. Most armies include a couple of anti-tank units such as Lancers or Ballistus Dreads. Use massed bolter fire to strip away friendly units and then shoot the Primarch-equiv character with a bunch of anti-tank. Shoot the choppy, chop the shooty! We also have a few spoiler units for dealing with really heavy stuff. Lemartes gives his squad Lethal Hits. Even a chainsword can kill big stuff when used in sufficient numbers. Leading your VanVets and BGVs with a Chaplain means you will be wounding even the toughest Monsters on a 4+ when Charging. Lastly, you make an important point about Objectives in Take and Hold. Big monsters like Ghaz tie up a lot of your opponent's army in one place and can only accomplish so much in one game. So play for the Objectives, wipe out the units that Ghaz is too far away to support. Deny him easy charges so he does not rack up too many kills for his Purge score. Dealing with a big monster does not have mean killing it.

I am pretty sure that you are right. We have already seen Infilrators and their Bolt Carbines have gone to S5 Ap-1 (and gained Precision) so I think it is fair to assume that will be the new base profile for all Bolter weapons. There are a lot of unknown unknowns at this point. Orks having only a single 3DP Detachment was a surprise so we will have to see how that shakes out with Marines. Another persistent rumour is that OOM is going away as the faction rule to be replaced by Combat Doctrines. This would be great if it is true but will probably lead to Saga of the Greatwolf disappearing. We also don't know if we will retain access to Intercessors or if we will go back to having only Grey Hunters and Blood Claws as our Battleline units. On the plus side, the humble Rhino has survived the purge and the current rumour is that Primaris units will now be able to embark on it. Back in 5th edition, I used to run a mechanised force with multiple squads of Grey Hunters in Rhinos. I can see that being cool again!

I have the same feeling and eventually decided the same thing. My Blood Angels all get red helmets apart from veterans and officers. I still run them as Blood Angels, they are just MY Blood Angels! When in doubt, always refer to the First Rule of Modelling!: They are you models so paint them how you like!

Thanks, I shall share my secret! I have a pair of really strong reading glasses I use for painting.

Not quite, I still have a Ballistus Dreadnought to go. I may end up cutting close to the deadline with him as I bought an upgrade kit from Archies Forge but have now worked out that it was actually designed for the Redemptor (despite being labelled as for the Ballistus). This means I will have to carefully cut up the armoured panels on the torso which is going to be nerve-wracking.

Yes, definitely interesting but it will be a shame to see sticky Objectives go. This slightly reduces the value of Intercessors in a "Take and Hold" Dispositions but increases them in a couple of others. I can definitely see a couple of 5-man squads roving the battlefield.

Yeah, same here. And having to count them as Desolators rather than getting a proper Legends entry is doubly rough. I guess it is because Devastators still filled a couple of valuable niches. The quad Lascannon build in particularly remained viable (even competitive) right up to the end. Now Marines don't have a long-ranged anti-tank option for infantry units. You either have to run Eradicators and get them in close or invest in tanks of your own to kill enemy tanks at a distance.

My guess is shields will cost extra. One thing I noticed though is that they specified Combat Shields (rather than Storm Shields) so I am guessing only a 5++. Will you be able to run Combat Shield + Pistol + CCW though?

Orks seem to have picked up a points hike so I am sure Marines will too. My guess is 5 Intercessors will clock in at around 100 points now but we will have to wait and see.

Looks like my bike Captain is back on the road. Saddle up, lock and load!

I feel that will need something to compete. Orks have had a significant upgrade, particularly in terms of lethality (although I haven't seen points costs yet). We know that Vanguard Veterans have gone from slightly better Chainswords to full MCPWs so it will be interesting to see what other updates are in order.

More good stuff by the looks of it.

And here is my second Smash Captain, I am pretty pleased with the way this conversion turned out. I might try and take a better picture tomorrow in daylight.

Yes I think it does as the Support Character is also part of the unit.