Space Marines for 2014

This year was the year of the Tau, 2014 will be the year of the Marine.

Well, maybe! I feel the need for a change and I’m getting excited about a new marine army.

I already have a bike army and a drop pod army, so I fancy something a bit different. I’m thinking about a heavy mechanised list, with at least one Land Raider!

And I would like to start a new chapter. After trawling through lots of material and thinking about colour schemes, and modelling potential, etc etc, I’ve settled on Minotaurs. Why? Well, lots of reasons I guess. I like the Spartan vibe. You can get some interesting head swaps with cool Corinthian Helmets and a few companies do round Spartan shields. I like the colour scheme. I painted a sanguinary guard army a while ago and enjoyed the look of the metal armour. Minotaurs bronze will be pretty similar to  SG gold. Also, forge world do a lot of bits for the chapter with shoulder pads, brass etch and a decal sheets. And finally, Asterion Moloch is my all time favourite FW model.

The centre piece will be Moloch and his honour guard (note the lower case – not necessarily that unit from the Codex), in his personal Land Raider, after that I’m open to suggestions!

First question is what Chapter Tactics to use (assuming I’m not using the FW Chapter Tactics). My initial thought was to go with Iron Hands, or even Clan Raukaan, given I’m going mechanised. “It will not die” on a 4+, and a techmarine inside with a servo harness will make sure that Moloch’s ride stays in tip top condition (unless it explodes of course!). However, another alternative might be Black Templars. A couple of Land Raiders stuffed full of Crusader Squads, with Moloch counting as Helbrecht might be interesting.

And then again, a bunch of scouting Rhinos, stuffed full of Tactical Marines with Hit and Run (Moloch counts as Khan), would be an interesting use of White Scars chapter tactics.

What other units do you like in the Marine Codex?

Three other things are catching my eye at  the moment. First, Legion of the Damned (but not using the silly models that GW puts out, I would probably use the new Sternguard kit). Five guys deepstriking in with a Plasma Gun, a Multi-Melta and a Combi Grav is interesting. Particularly when they’re Slow and Purposeful so can fire the MM on the move, and the Combi Grav gets 3 shots, can re-roll their Deep Strike, and have a 3++.  Not bad for 160pts!

Also really liking Scouts in Storms for the Jammer Beacon – forcing Deep Strikers to scatter 4d6 would help protect the Land Raider(s) from deep striking melta.

And Whirlwinds……65pts for a large blast Barrage Weapon, with an option to ignore cover is pretty good. Three of them hiding behind 2 Land Raiders would be interesting!

Not sure what I would do about anti air though….(Fire Raptor I hear you say, and I would love to field one, but most tourneys don’t allow FW).

So thoughts – which Chapter Tactics, what units do you like in the current Marine Codex (not bikes!), how do you keep Land Raiders alive and what do you put in them.

EYIG