Some Space Marine Questions...

[Steve H]

Chaps,

As some of you know I'm dipping my toes back into the murky waters of 40k after a couple of years break, and I'm heading to the Vanquish tournament at the end of March (looking forward to meeting the infamous HATE guys!!!)... Problem is I've got no inclination to play my Orks so I'll be starting a Space Marine army from scratch - as there's not much time before the event I need to  make sure I get my selections right-ish before I buy it all! Hence, questions:

(Disclaimer: I'm likely to come bottom of this event, and that's cool... I'd rather have something cool than all-powering, however I would like it not to be a humiliation if possible!!!)

1./ I love the idea of An Ironclad dread. Are they totally bum? If I drop pod will I need to drop pod a bunch of stuff so that it's not just taken off in retaliation straight away?

2./ I'm used to 1500 so 1750 is a little new to me... Is 3-4 troop choices sufficient? Was thinking 2 ten-man tactical squads in Rhino's and Sniper scouts to cover home objectives (if in cover) - would a small scout squad in a LS storm be an ok idea to supplement this or too much?

3./ I'm always a fan of dead cheap HQ's in 40k... Am I going massively wrong in the SM book? I'd like a chaplain leading whatever counter-assault unit I choose, but I'm not sure he requires too much tooling?

4./ I know absolutely nothing about the current meta... Is there a trend that will be everywhere that I need a counter to or is a "balanced" list ok? I know there were a ton of light transports kicking around a couple of years ago, so do I need to be looking at Predator Destructors, assault cannons to help out?

Thanks in advance guys... Will be a huge help!

Stevo

[Meals]

1. Ironclads are ace. You can get away with 1 I think (its gonna be something in their face they HAVE to deal with from turn one), but if you can get 3 pod units (you know if 1 is good, 3 is broken  ) then you have two Pods dropping on turn 1 and its harder to deal with than just 1 Ironclad. Note. not necessarily meaning all Ironclads in pods though. I suggest giving it Melta goodness (pretty sure it can get meltas...) and dropping in to blow the hell out Land Raiders (make the Termies walk!) or anything scarey like that.

2. 2 Tac squads w/ Rhinos/Razorbacks and some scouts should be fine. Combat squading ftw! You only need to contest the other objectives and claim one to win really (probably not the best idea to play for but it can work) A scout squad in Storm can be awesome for alphastrike Melta bombs on turn1 before they can move any vehicles. If you don't get turn 1, you can outflank and get stuck into the backfield, contesting/claiming objectives, and killing the slow shooty stuff (generally being a pain in the ass...).

3. Vulkan/Libby with the reroll Invulnerables

4. From what I've seen/read, I think you need to counter the following (in order of pre-dominance): Light Vehicle spam (GKs, Wolves, IG, Marines, Dark Eldar), Termy/MC Spam (Death Wing, GKs, Nids), Hordes (Orks, Nids). Land Speeder Typhoon Squads can pretty much deal with 3 of those. God, I love Typhoons! Preds are nice but can easily be shut down by a single glancing hit each turn...

Basically with Marines its all solid choices, so you can take most things and be alright. I'd just look at what sounds fun and roll with it.

[Steve H]

Thinks Jim, you're a legend!

[maelzch]

Ooh, so MC spam is good. Double hive tyrant list coming up!

[Tom Loyn]

No Lee...back in the cupboard now ;)

[maelzch]

But, rarrgh?

[itinerant]

I'm off to a two-thousand pointer in feb and I'm running a drop/alpha strike list with two ironclads and a command squad in pods.

Everything in it bar three units can be on the opponent turn one....it's very scary and a good change form my pedro kantor rolling maul that I usually play....

Just watch out for your dread missing his melta shot and then getting melta-ed/grey knighted/MC-ed to death....180 points for a one shot melta can be a bit of a risk.