[Stam]

[size=14pt]Space Marines Armoury[/size]

[size=8pt]Made by Stam[/size]

[size=12pt]Single-handed weapons[/size]

Bolt pistol: Cheapest weapon you can take. Recommended along with any close combat weapon to grant +1 attack. Simple and effective.
[size=8pt]The bolt pistol is a common varient of the boltgun. A standard bolt pistol is capable of housing between 6 and 10 rounds of ammunition, and has a barrel diameter of .75 calibre.[/size]

Chainfist: Terminator armour only and very expensive. Should only be used on Terminator squad members. Pack a bigger punch against vehicles than the normal Power fist.
[size=8pt]The Chainfist is basically a Powerfist mounted with a large chainsaw blade. This weapon is capable of cutting through even the toughest of armor.[/size]

Close combat weapon: Mostly a chainsword. Again cheapest weapon to take. Comes standard for Sergeants. For Characters it is recommended to take advantage of their high WS and take a stronger weapon for the close combat phase.
[size=8pt]The Chainsword is a weapon that has motorised biting teeth that saw and slash through the enemy, in a similar fashion to chainsaws. The teeth themselves are fashioned to be incredibly sharp, in some cases carrying a monomolecular edge, and are capable of slicing through steel bulkheads.[/size]

Single lightning claw: Has a great chance of wounding due to its abilities and is therefore great for going against tougher enemies or for taking down lots of enemy troops. You cannot, however, get the maximum attacks out of your HQ unless you have two claws.
[size=8pt]A lightning claw consists of a powered gauntlet, fitted with three or four blades. A matter-disrupting energy field is projected around the blades, allowing them to cut through armour and flesh with minimal effort. Lightning claws are almost always worn as a pair.[/size]

Pair of lightning claws: These weapons grants the most attacks for your character. With these weapons you lose the ability to take a shooting weapon, but a character with his stats is better served to fight in CC than to shoot.

Plasma pistol: Highly powered pistol that can take down though targets. Grants +1 attack along with a ccw. Expensive and because of overheating dangerous. Master-crafting will make it safer to use. But it will then become even more expensive.
[size=8pt]Plasma weapons use magnetic fields to accelerate balls of extremely hot gases (plasma) towards the target. Their power is countered by poor cooling, and they can build up dangerous levels of heat with continuous operation. On these occasions, they will explosively vent the built up heat, killing the operator.[/size]

Power fist: Doubles the strength of the user. Great for taking down though enemies and even armoured targets. Not recommended for HQ Characters because of their high Initiative. Best use on a Veteran Sergeant of an assault orientated squad.
[size=8pt]A Power fist is essentially an oversized, armoured gauntlet that generates an energy field around it that disrupts any matter it touches. [/size]

Power weapon: Cheap ccw and denies enemy armour saves. Simple and effective. The choice is do you go for a slightly more expensive weapon to have more power or stick with the power weapon. Downside is poor use against targets with Invulnerable saves.
[size=8pt]Power weapons utilise focused energy fields rather than mere brute strength to penetrate armor with ease. Power weapons come in many different forms like a sword or an axe.[/size]

Storm shield: Allows you an invulnerable save in close combat. It does however make you lose the extra attack in close combat and the combat shield is generally superior even if its invulnerable save is slightly lower.
[size=8pt]A Storm shield is a small metal shield that has an energy field generator built into it. The field is too small for use against ranged attacks but it is very useful in close combat.[/size]

Thunder Hammer: Similar to the power fist but this is more effective against vehicles and allows a wounded enemy not to strike back immediately. Expensive and slow to use.
[size=8pt]Thunder hammers are ancient and mighty weapon that release a terrific blast of energy when they strike an opponent.[/size]

[size=12pt]Two-handed weapons[/size]

Bolter: Standard rapid-fire weapon. Not really the weapon for a Character with upgrades.
Better served for the normal un-upgraded Marine.
[size=8pt]The standard weapon of the Space Marines is the boltgun, also known as a bolter. A bolter is a heavy gun that fires .75 Cal rockets in four-round bursts or singly. Each round contains a mass-reactive explosive payload, triggered a milisecond after penetration.[/size]

Combi-Melta: Bolter with a one-shot Melta. Expensive and not a good choice for HQ Characters because of their high Initiative and amount of attacks. Requires two hands to wield thus not granting an extra attackt. The one shot might prove useful to take down an armoured target, but it requires a lot of luck.
[size=8pt]Normal Bolter with an added Melta with enough ammunition to allow it to fire once.[/size]

Combi-Plasma gun:
Bolter with a one-shot Plasma gun. Might prove useful for taking down high toughness targets. Better use
standard Marines with a normal Plasma gun. Similar disadvantages as above.
[size=8pt]Normal Bolter with an added Plasma gun with enough ammunition to allow it to fire once.[/size]

Combi-flamer: Great (especially as you automatically hit) for taking down hordes of lightly armoured troops and can be devastating if combined with additional flamers in the accompanying squad. Similar disadvantages as above.
[size=8pt]Normal Bolter with an added flamer with enough ammunition to allow it to fire once.[/size]

Storm bolter: This has become slightly redundant due to the rapid fire rules but it is pretty cheap, allows you to fire of some long range shots and even allows you to assault. Must be used with two hands thus doesn’t allow an extra attack.
[size=8pt]The Storm bolter is a double-barrelled version of the bolter. It is heavier and causes more recoil than a normal bolter. Due to high munitions consumption, and a lack of Tactical Dreadnaught Armor dexterity, most Storm Bolters are fed from a large box magazine, carrying approximately 100 rounds. These rounds are identical to those fired from bolt pistols and boltguns.
[/size]
[size=12pt]Wargear[/size]

Artificer Armour: A nice big armour save. Expensive and its usually a toss up between this and an invulnerable save, especially as your opponent is going to be firing nasty things at your HQ like weapons which ignore armour saves. This is not really required if you have a command squad as your squad will protect you almost rendering this useless.
[size=8pt]Artificer Armour is forged by Master craftsmen and is even more ancient and ornate than a noral suit of Space Marines Power Armour.[/size]

Auspex: Good for taking a free shot at those scouts and other infiltrators, however it relies on dice rolls and therefore may be useless. It is however only a few points and could be worth it if you know that you face an infiltrating enemy or have points to spare.
[size=8pt]An Auspex is a short-ranged scanner used to detect hidden enemy troops.[/size]

Bionics: Allows the character to ignore a unsaved wound. Very small chance that it is successful and those points are better spend in saving the character getting wounded in the first place.
[size=8pt]Bionics are mechanical augmentations that allow a Space Marine who has suffered a crippling injury to return to service.[/size]

Combat shield: A very cheap invulnerable save which acts similar like a storm shield but allows you to keep your extra attack in close combat by not taking up a place for other weaponry. Has become a favourite of many. There are drawbacks and these are that it is only effective in close combat and the invulnerable save isn't as good as the iron halo and storm shield but its a great addition if you want a cheap invulnerable save for your Character.
[size=8pt]A combat shield is a lighter, more manoeuvrable version of the Storm shield. The shield is mostly worn on the forearm leaving the hand free to use other weaponry.[/size]

Familiar: Only for librarians but great for that extra initiative, making you almost strike first in combat and allows some great modelling opportunities. (Note cannot be used with Terminator armour).
[size=8pt]Librarians are occasionally accompanied into battle by familiars. These constructs are mentally linked to the Librarian to boost his awareness. [/size]

Frag Grenades: The essential element for any HQ as they help you out with attacking enemies in cover. Cheap and simple.

Jump pack: Again a great addition to the HQ if they don’t have a transport as it allows you to either follow or join an Assault squad or dart across the board helping out your front lines if required.
[size=8pt]Jump Packs are bulky, vectored thrust engines that can be worn by a single soldier, designed to be attached to the Space Marines existing powered backpack. They are used to make powered jumps across the battlefield, allowing the troopers wearing them to quickly engage their foes. Jump Packs are thus used by assault troops, primarily the Assault squad.[/size]

Krak Grenades: These allow you a chance to take out light armour however not recommended for your HQ, as he should be going after troops not armour. If you do want to take it just in case, Melta-bombs are much better.

Master-crafted weapons: Helps you to make sure that you hit the opponent, which can be pretty nice but it is expensive. Recommended for items such as lightning claws for a devastating effect or you could use it on your plasma pistol to prevent overheating. Not recommend it for normal Veteran sergeants as its too expensive. Remember that you only may re-roll one failed to hit roll per turn. So, are you willing to pay the price of a Marine to get a re-roll or would you rather have another Space Marine in your ranks? I know what I would choose.
[size=8pt]A Master-crafted weapon is one forged by a great artisan and is superior in almost any way to a normal weapon of its type.[/size]

Melta-Bombs: Similar to krak grenades but more effective and slightly more expensive.

Purity seals: This is to increase/decrease (depending on what you want) your fall back range when you flee or make a "tactical withdraw". Still isn’t very effective and generally not worth it.
[size=8pt]Purity seals are bestowed upon Space Marines proven purity and virtue.[/size]

Space Marine Bike: Nice if you want to accompany a bike squad or want a tougher faster mode of transport than the jump pack. This is very expensive and doesn’t get used much.

Teleport Homer: This is a really nice piece of equipment allowing you to 'safely' bring in your teleporting troops. This is great if given to fast moving squads such as scouts and mounted squads which can get to a key area in the battlefield and call in reinforcements.
[size=8pt]Teleport homers produce a signal that can be locked onto by teleporting units.[/size]

Terminator armour: For HQ's that you are planning on accompanying a terminator squad. Great value for your money. Great armour saves. Remember that you still need to buy equipment.
[size=8pt]Terminator armour is also know as Tactical Dreadnought armour. The best protection for a Space marine. [/size]

Terminator honours: This is great for that extra attack for your HQ's but not always necessary. It can help your HQ to take down even more troops but sometimes an extra marine can prove just as, if not more, effective than the terminator honours.
[size=8pt]A Space Marine with Terminator Honours has proved himself a superior combatant and has earned the right to wear Terminator Armour in battle.[/size]

[size=12pt]Relics & Artefacts[/size]

Chapter Banner: Allows your army a morale and attack bonus. Very nice but required a command squad and that could mean a high points cost.
[size=8pt]The Chapter Banner is the physical representation of the honour of the Chapter. No Space Marine will ever allow it to fall into enemy hands.[/size]

Holy Relic: Similar to above but grants that extra edge in close combat for a randomly determined range.
[size=8pt]Space Marines sometimes go to war carrying their Chapters most revered relics: a fragment of their Primarch’s armour, a legendary Battle standard or even the bones of a long dead hero.[/size]

Iron Halo: The ultimate invulnerable save for non-terminator armoured marines. Still a favourite amongst many but it is expensive especially when combined with the other War gear that is mostly taken to make it worthwhile.
[size=8pt]The Iron Halo is a special reward given to Space Marines who show exceptional initiative or bravery in battle.[/size]

Sacred Standard: Adds to the combat resolution, which means that it’s not as good as the other banners. It is slightly cheaper but not really worthwhile.
[size=8pt]A Sacred Standard embodies the faith and resolution of the Space Marines never to falter in the face of the enemy.[/size]

Adamantine Mantle: Stops your HQ from dying from those weapons that are double the toughness of the Character and would normally kill you outright. Interesting for those of you who want to give your character a Power fist or Thunder Hammer as there is more of a chance that you’ll be able to survive until its your turn. This piece of equipment is very expensive in points.
[size=8pt]The Character wears a cloak or cape made of the strongest and toughest material to protect him.[/size]

[size=12pt]Vehicle upgrades[/size]

Dozer blade: These allow you to re-roll if you fail a difficult terrain test however it is limited to how far you can move and should only be used if you know what kind of terrain lies on the board before a battle or you have a specific plan in mind like driving through a piece of terrain to get to the enemy.

Extra armour: This is the most basic equipment that should be on every vehicle. What it allows you to do is to keep on moving even if you have suffered a crew stunned result. Although you still can’t fire your weapons it allows you to either carry on to drop of your troops, move to a safer point or tank charge.

Hunter-killer missile: This is basically a one-shot krak missile with unlimited range. Now this may seem tempting but there are very few reasons to use one. They are a one hit affair and if you miss then that’s points down the drain. Also most vehicle weaponry it suitable enough for its role and the only real advantage would be to use its unlimited range if you are having difficulties with long range opponents.

Pintle-mounted Storm bolter: This also has its limitations, as there is no point putting it on a cheap and vulnerable vehicle such as a rhino. It could be of use on more heavily armoured tanks but only if the vehicle is designed to take out troops.

Power of the machine spirit: It allows you to keep on moving, similar to extra armour, and can fire a weapon for you. However it is extremely expensive and its ballistic skill is poor.
The only vehicle which could use is effectively is the Vindicator. The Land Raider already comes packed with it.

Searchlight: This is specifically for night fighting missions and allows you to shine light onto a enemy units so everyone can see them. Generally left for games in which there is a chance you’ll be using night fighting rules. Remember enemies can also see the light.

Smoke launchers: These things normally go with extra armour. They allow you to fire some smoke, concealing your vehicle, and makes all hits glancing hits. Making it great for transports (rhinos & razorbacks) and also for vehicles with a short-range gun (vindicator). The draw back is that you can only use them once and that you can’t fire but that’s not a problem if you just want to drop off some troops. Very cheap so no reason why you shouldn’t take them.

[Stam]

I have created this article so that it can be added to the Space Marines army guide.

I have also posted it here so you people can comment on it.

I would love to hear your opinion and maybe there is something you might want to add.

[charn]

Great armoury reference and advice there, Stam. Lots of useful information and tips.

Really the only thing I can disagree with is your take on Smoke Launchers on Predators, Dreadnaughts and other primarily offensive vehicles. Obviously when given the choice, it is preferable to shoot with the vehicle than to use Smoke Launchers. However, if it is stunned / shaken and is unable to shoot, you have nothing to lose and everything to gain by firing Smoke Launchers. Perhaps the vehicle was only stunned on a bad roll of a penetrating Railgun - I'd rather make sure that next turn is glancing only, instead of risking another, more lucky penetrating hit.

[Tom Norman]

Great article, Stam. Who give's you Karma? Do mods give themselves their own Karma? Might explain how Mal accumulated so much.

Normally I wouldn't be so pedantic, but because this is to be a permanent addition to your Space Marine guide, I figured I should point out the mistakes I noticed as well as my own observations.

Combi-Melta - Typo (re-read it and you'll spot it)
Bionics - Incorrect (gives your character a chance to ignore some wounds, not come back to life)
Master-crafted weapons - Only one re-roll...I don't think it's worth it. Do you?
Adamantine Mantle - Typo/bad grammar ('Still very and very expensive.&#39.
Dozer blade - Incomplete sentence ('should only be used if you know what kind of terrain lies on the board before a battle or you have a specific.&#39. A specific what?
Power of the machine spirit - Spelling/language error ('ballistic skill is poorly' should be 'poor'
Smoke launchers - 'Off' is spelt with two f's

Otherwise I think it's really good...we just need to remember to point newbies at it now.

[Falstead]

I don't mean tto sound negative here but what's the point of this? Anyone with teh space marine codex could just find all this exact information in the armoury section. I know there's some advice mixed in there but it's all fairly self evident and basically contained within the weapons description.

All this really does is let a non marine player know exactly what tricks a marine player has up their sleeve. That's not a bad thing but I don't know if that really makes it appropriate for part of the marine tactica.

Good effort though it's obvious a fair bit of work went into this.

[Tom Norman]

Looking this stuff up in the codex tells you the rules, certainly, but new marine players are forever picking the wrong wargear because it looks good on paper, but doesn't really work in in practice (combi-meltas for example). Assuming a new player is made aware of this guide, and makes use of it, it should be of use to them for picking worthwhile wargear.

The problem is that of the few new players to be made aware of this, none of them will ever want to follow Stam's advice, and will instead make the Marine characters they've always wanted to since they first picked up that boxed set. Honestly, there's nothing wrong with that at all...we all want to make our own mistakes, it's human nature. But I was just crediting Stam for what he was trying to do. It's a great guide to the basics of Space Marine wargear, but I don't know whether I would have used it when I first started. :-\

[Stam]

Thanks for your replies!

I have taken out the spelling errors and changed some of the wording. Thanks Tom for pointing them out to me, I wouldn't have seen them myself.

A G-mod has given me Karma. G-mods can give Karma to anyone on any board. Board Moderators can only give it in their own board. G-mods are the ones with the stars and board moderators have stars. But since I have a custom title you see that instead.

I created this ''article'' to add it to the Space Marines Army Guide. I am trying to make this board a great place with lots of information about Space Marines. There are a lot of guests who lurk here on these boards, they are they people who mostly read these articles and use it. I also write these articles for myself. It is fun to do and it is something I am proud of that I have created it.

[Tom Norman]

I understand how rewarding that is. 'Purpose' is the meaning of life really isn't it? I know that sounds like a paradox, but we spend our whole lives striving towards various goals and as pleasing as it is to accomlish them, it's not our reason for being. To ever work towards the things we want is so often our pleasure and our curse simultaneously. Because once we reach a goal, we set a new one...it's just never 'done' is it? We always find a new purpose when our existing one expires.

Think your Space Marine tactica will ever be 'done', Stam? What then I wonder?

[MalVeauX]

Hey Stam,

A good addition; hence the karma. I would however, recommend a little more addition to selections. You've explained a good amount of things that otherwise, may not have been inferred by someone reading the codex (we all know it when we see lists posted with the same thing over and over, and the same advise given--they have a codex, they read, why was it missed over and over? Guides like this help people.) Anyhow, permit me a small example:

Thunder Hammer: Similar to the power fist but this is more effective against vehicles and allows a wounded enemy not to strike back immediately. Expensive and slow to use.
Thunder hammers are ancient and mighty weapon that release a terrific blast of energy when they strike an opponent.

To make an example of this, I would make a few more notes about it. For example, it's similar to a power fist, but it costs a lot more and doesn't have a cheaper cost for non-independent characters. That's a big deal, because otherwise, we'd all be using thunder hammers instead of power fists because it's a better weapon. The ability to not have an enemy model strike back was mentioned, but some people don't quite "get it." I would suggest adding examples, such as how it can keep a monstrous creature from attacking, again and again, each turn if you keep wounding it, until it's dead. That's like built in defense, through offense. This saves marine lives, when battling a Hive Tyrant or Wraithlord for example. You won't kill it in one round of combat typically, sometimes not even two. The thunder hammer can prevent unnecessary marine deaths during that period of time, where otherwise, the enemy would have killed a few of your models. The hammer guards victory points and squad strength in that sense. It's also a good idea to make a note that this weapon, the Thunder Hammer is not readily available as a model to people who are not used to the idea of modification of models, mail order bits, or custom creation. A new player who is told to buy a thunder hammer from a sprue via mail order will see the price and wonder why it's worth it and instead, think the power fist or a power weapon is simply easier to deal with. While that's true in many ways, it's still worth mentioning since many players will want the real deal and not just a custom job.

Anyhow, there's a lot of things that the codex doesn't tell us about the Thunder Hammer. Those are the things that I think would be more important to make examples of when describing various bits of Wargear and Items here. Obviously, it can't be done to everything (after all, how much can you go on about special instances with a bolt pistol?), but when there is an opportunity, perhaps take it.

Another example:

Pair of lightning claws: These weapons grants the most attacks for your character. With these weapons you lose the ability to take a shooting weapon, but a character with his stats is better served to fight in CC than to shoot.

I think some more pertinent information could be added here. Pairs of Lighting Claws are some of the most potent weapons we have that keep our initiative values but raise our ability to reliably deal wounds. They're not cheaper for non-independent characters, again, showing that they're too powerful to allow us to just spam them in the army list wherever possible (like a power weapon). The ability to re-roll every single failed to-wound roll is pretty critical. It takes the average results of a power weapon, and boosts them 25% (a fourth) to be far more effective. It's a very popular item for Space Marine HQs, because of the combination of a large number of attacks and a high initiative. It allows a standard Str4 model to kill a lot more than normal. It's important to note that the Pair of Lighting Claws is not desirable on characters of all kinds, with low numbers of attacks. If you only have 3 attacks total, with Lighting Claws, it's just not that great unless you had a squad full of them. On his own, a single character like that would cost way more than it's worth for the Claws to be useful. A character with 5 to 8 attacks on the other hand, will make a much better use of the Lighting Claws, as more attack leads to more hits, more hits lead to more opportunity to cause wounds, and more wound rolls leads to more failed rolls, which leads to more chances to actually use the ability of the lighting claws to re-roll the failed for more casualties in the end. A humble power weapon doesn't allow that. It's a good idea to note that this particular Weapon is not good for assaulting vehicles or Monstrous Creatures. But it's absolutely superb against normal infantry types, from Guardsmen to Plague Marines and even Terminators. Due to the cost of the Pair of Claws, you may want to be mindful of where you field them. You would want to field them where they're going to be used the most often, while it may seem obvious, it's not always obvious for everyone.

Ok, one more example:

Combi-flamer: Great (especially as you automatically hit) for taking down hordes of lightly armoured troops and can be devastating if combined with additional flamers in the accompanying squad. Similar disadvantages as above.

Most combi-weapons are not that attractive, but they can be useful depending on how specialized you want to get. It may not seem that great, but a Combi-Plasma can really shine if you had a small Drop Pod team who's sole purpose was to burn down a heavy infantry target, or to counter deep striking units such as Terminators, or fast moving Monstrous Creatures like Hive Tyrants. Those extra Plasma hits can make it worth the points. Granted we have other ways of doing it, but there's plenty of situations to explore. On to the Combi-Flamer which is just that. The combi-flamer is a good Combi-weapon because it's cheap for the non-Independent Character (costs the same a Storm Bolter) and while it only gets one shot with the Flamer, the flamer always hits (as you mentioned) which makes it worth that one shot, and it's an assault weapon when using the Flamer, so you may still perform an assault afterwards if the legal target is still in range of that (which it should be). And since you'll be in assault, where you cannot shoot anyways, it's not a big deal that you cannot fire it again. It's a good option for dedicated burn teams, where you wanted three flamers, instead of one or two, so that you cooked something absolute. It subtracts from our overall combat effectiveness on the character, and we'd have to buy the serg's honors to access the armory in the first place, which means a healthy investment of points, but depending on who you're playing (Tyranid, Eldar, Orks, Lost and the Damned) and what Format (Cities of Death) and which mission, it can be an attractive option, even if it's not as attractive as others. Anyhow, a combi-weapon that can cause great damage (better than a standard rapid-firing bolter) and allow you to assault afterwards (rapid-fire prevents assault) means the combi-flamer is a pretty nice situational weapon upgrade, that takes you from shooting and not assaulting, to automatically hitting, burning and being able to assault afterwards and it ignores cover saves to boot.

I would simply suggest perhaps adding a bit more to various items as there's important non-codex information that isn't always considered or thought about by new players and old alike.

Also; just a random bit of forum information, everyone would be surprised here how many people who are not registered users, come by and print stickies, articles, etc, from the forum and website. They don't do this just to supplement their codex. They do it to fill that gap between knowing what a codex/rule book says and having experience playing. Even a guide that is simple to us can be a mountain of epiphany for some people--especially ones who collect and read, but rarely play. It makes a difference.

Originally Posted by Tom Norman

Great article, Stam. Who give's you Karma? Do mods give themselves their own Karma? Might explain how Mal accumulated so much.

Stam is given Karma (positive or negative) by other board moderators of the Space Marine board, or General Moderators and Admins. The very same who would tip the balance of your karma scale as well. The difference is, who sees it first.

Originally Posted by Stam

I created this ''article'' to add it to the Space Marines Army Guide. I am trying to make this board a great place with lots of information about Space Marines. There are a lot of guests who lurk here on these boards, they are they people who mostly read these articles and use it. I also write these articles for myself. It is fun to do and it is something I am proud of that I have created it.

And it's an excellent attitude to have; hence why you are who you are here

Originally Posted by Tom Norman

I understand how rewarding that is. 'Purpose' is the meaning of life really isn't it? I know that sounds like a paradox, but we spend our whole lives striving towards various goals and as pleasing as it is to accomlish them, it's not our reason for being. To ever work towards the things we want is so often our pleasure and our curse simultaneously. Because once we reach a goal, we set a new one...it's just never 'done' is it? We always find a new purpose when our existing one expires.

The work is never done. You will serve your Emperor even in Death. You know that Tom... :P

Cheers!

[GeekyGator]

Awesome article. If only we could get an IG version of this, or Tau.