First Impressions of Space Marines

 

I'll leave it to every other site and blog out there to the hard core break down of the book, say what is good or bad, and to do an in depth analysis of the codex.  What I will way of it is this.  It is what I expected it to be, with one or two exceptions. I expected the model costs to be on par with Dark Angels and for the most part this was correct.  Scouts were modified just enough to be worth taking, which I was really pleased about.  It was something about the DA book that rubbed me the wrong way...after I buy camo cloaks they cost the same as Tactical marines???  Glad to see that minor change there. Librarian Level 2 upgrade is a bit cheaper as well.  Though I'd rather have access to divination for the difference!

Another deviation from the DA book is the Artifact section.  Each piece of gear looks either fun to use or really fun to model.  Both the Artificer Armor and the Stormshield are considerations if I did not want to run a named character in the HQ.

 The biggest shock for me was the point cost (I won't touch on the $$$ cost) of the centurions.  Without the ability to deepstrike or have an invulnerable save they are not worth the price per model.

While I am not blown away by this book it is what I exepcted it to be.  Not top tier competitive, but a nice update to what the marines have been, mostly as a result of the decrease in unit costs. I'm going to try them out proxied anyway to be thorough, but not expecting much for the results of that trial.

Unlike the DA book I've already got a list in mind that I am excited about running in the first week.  I'll post it sometime Friday, after I get to play it Thursday night

1500 Tournament Results

I ended up brining Guard with Dark Angels this past weekend.  Two platoons, two Psyker Battle Squads, a manticore and Azrael.  I won one of the three games, which is what I was expecting seeing as I knew what the issues were with the list and just didn't want to over adjust it to the point where I did not know what I was doing.

Game 1 Nate playing Demons with Orks (Nate went on to win the tournament)

Cool list that was short on troops, but very in your face.  Bloodthirster, great unclean one and Ork Boss on Bike with Biker Nobz all deployed center and came at me.  I tried using the Manticore and PBS to blast the troops, but it just didn't work out.  One Bike survived and hid out of LOS on an objective and I just could not inflict enough wounds on the Horrors or plague bearers.

I took out too many Lascannons and put in too many Autocannons. I was concerned about flyers and not concerned enough about monsterous creatures.  This ended up being a really big deal.  Didn't hurt that the Bloodthirster was rolling with a 4+ FNP either.

I didn't make a whole lot of mistakes during this game.  My target priority was sound, deployment solid.  I was dreadfully under-prepared for this kind of list.  Big mistake, the flying circus is something everyone should be prepared for.  Even though these guys were not flying much I still need to be prepared for MCs and this list was not at all.

Game 2 Tyler and hs space puppies

I like Tyler's play style.  Puppies all in your face, either via drop pod or on bikes.  This was not an optimal min/max, or spam list.  Rather a bunch of tools for many situations.  I could tell he had been playing the list a while and was comfortable with what it could and could not do.

Deployment sucked big for me on this one.  Hammer and Anvil, scouring and 6 objectives worht different points.  Points are revealed after sides are chosen....so yeah all the points on a long table are in my opponents zone.  This game was over before it started.

Tyler took advantage of a very small area right along the table edge to drop his drop pod....just close enough in range of my manticore.  Really stupid on my part since the melta popped the manticore before my first turn.  The game went down hill from there.  In order to have a chance I was going to need to take out the 10 puppies before leaving my deployment zone.  My blob moved back and took care of them, but that one turn was enough.  By the next turn I needed to deal with the lone wolf...then the other lone wolf, and by this point was hemmed in.  Another game where my opponent got near max points.


Game 3 Steve with...Guard and Dark Angels

I made a few mistakes in this game (tired and probably more than a little lazy given my record for the day) but luckily they did not cost me the game.  I chose night-fighting with the warlord power and went first...now I should have popped his manticore with his HQ right next to it on the first turn after night fighting...instead I dropped it on his Ogryns that t had a 4++ from the Chaplain's Power Field Generator.  Was hoping to double them out.

So he drops his manticore on Azrael directly.  Azrael fails 3 of the 12 look out sirs.  Then gets 3 ones...thansk dice, one of those was enough to double him out.  So the next turn I learn my lesson and hope it is not too late. I take out the chimera and his HQ with the next shot and the PSB destroy troop after troop.  I really felt at this point like I was getting the hang of them.  I ended up winning my last game handily and Steve was another great person to play against.

I had three really enjoyable games and turned out my opponetns agreed since I was tied for sportsmans' prize.  On top of that the Guardsmen took home the best painted.  So I liked to think I won everything that had nothing to do with the playing the game.

I'm excited for the new vanilla book next week and finding a way to take the models I have and try and get back into serious competition, hopefully the new book will present me with some options that are competitive and fun, or at least competitive and I already own them!