Considering there are a lot of little changes I figure it might help to run through the units/rules to comment on specific things (
sorry this in all is a bit long - feel free to skip it and just look at / comment on the list if you like!):
1st Company Veterans – this rule makes these elite troops appropriately rare in Marine armies and provides an interesting dilemma on what flavour of veterans to take. I realise added Veterans will make other marine formations better (and it will have to be carefully tested), but in a standard sized game they will be doing without Terminators to get them and one of the goals of the list is to boost the basic marine formations and allow a more elite flavour.
Armour - In Forge World’s Imperial Armour book on Space Marines there are several pages of diagrams and explanations of the sorts of formations the Marines use in different situations and that is very clear in the diagrams and the text is that the Marines are well aware of the fragility of Rhinos and their tactics involve ad-hoc formations with other tougher vehicles (Land Raiders, Predators and Vindicators) in front to protect them from incoming fire: “Space Marines commonly use combined arms and ad-hoc formations. The heaviest armour leads the way…Rhinos are protected behind the lead units.” “the heaviest armour is dug-in at the front, to bear the brunt of the fighting, with infantry held in reserve to counter-attack” In the current list Tactical Marines can gain no protection from Land Raiders in their army, as they should, and consequently Rhinos get blown apart in short order and mechanised formations not used so much. This list tries to address this by having considerably cheaper Tacticals (but more expensive Thunderhawks) and options to add Predators or Vindicators and a limited number of Land Raiders, on to Tactical and Devestator formations. A Tech-Marine can also be added to further protect a formation.
Assault Terminator are a new addition with 2+ CC and disrupt as well as MW on their extra attack to represent the shaking shock of their Thunderhammers, but no FF or ranged attacks. There’s background support for Marines using massed Assault Terminators to take down titans incidentally (
http://www.games-workshop.com/MEDIA_Cus ... Squads.pdf)
Dreadnoughts – now include an option for Ironclad Dreads.
Marauder – I’ve adopted the war engine profile for this from the Death Korps of Krieg list, as I prefer to have the stats that do justice to the size of the W40k model. It’s more useful here than the already barrage heavy siege though so I have upped the cost slightly.
Predators – Predator Destructors. Points altered so that if you have 0-2 Anhilators in the unit cost is 250 but if you have 3-4 cost = 275. Upgrade cost kept cheap also. Destructors need a boost and I think this is a better way to do it than boosting their FF all the way up to 3+ (problem with that is that their shooting in W40k is basically equivalent to that of a Land Raider’s which has only FF4+). Hopefully this might encourage more Destructors to be taken (they are meant to be the Marines main battle tank afterall).
Scouts – they loose the Rhinos and Razorback option, which have never been a legal transport vehicle for them, but they gain Land Speeder Storms instead. A full scout squad is 10 men, just like other Marine squads, so they’ve also dropped to half a heavy weapon. If the Sniper upgrade is taken they have an AP5+ Sniper shot per stand, but their CC goes down to 5+. These are now the only cheap 150 point unit in the list but unless transports and/or snipers are paid they may only have limited tactical use. This is deliberate as it forces a Marine player to take a smaller amount of better formations rather than really maxing out the activation count.
Scout Bikes added in, giving another scout option. Just stat-ing them up as less tough Marine bikers doesn’t really do justice to the sneaky scouty role in W40k where they call in reinforcements and orbital bombardments using specialised tracking and communication gear, so I’ve invented their Locator Beacon rule.
Sternguard Veterans – new addition, as Tactical Marines but with FF3+ and CC3+. They also have a ranged shot to the tune of 30cm AP4+ due to them being able to use special long-ranged bolter ammunition.
Tactical Squads – the Codex Astartes prescribes tactical squads to have one heavy weapon per ten men. I understand 5 man tactical squads with a heavy weapon were commonly min-maxed in competitive W40k gaming at the time epic was written, but it this was flaw of that version of the codex and it was a mistake to adopt if for epic. Note in the current version of Space Marine Codex has made it compulsory to have a full 10 marines in order to have a heavy weapon. The Tactical Detachment has also had a significant points decrease to make up for the lesser firepower and to encourage their use as the heart of the army.
Techmarine – add-on stand giving an additional 6+ repair save versus normal shooting to armoured vehicles in his own formation (can’t be used against CC or MW hits, nor if the Tech-Marine is in combat or has marched). Though not allowed a Rhino in W40k it makes sense for them to be able to travel and the latest FW IA Badab book contains the image of a Techmarine Rhino, so there’s background justification. He also has a Heavy Bolter and Multi-Melta from the Servitors.
Terminators – they’ve gone down to a single assault cannon shot per stand as Terminators only have two heavy weapons per 10 man squad.
Thunderbolts – these are possibly a little too good and no-brainer a choice for their points in the Marine list, so I’m going to experiment with them at 175.
Thunderfire Cannon – as per the Imperial Fists list, though here just as a +0-2 add on rather than whole formations of them.
Thunderhawk Gunship – I’ve upped the points to 250 to tone down the internal balance of the airdrop element of the list slightly, but given the option to equip it with either a Turbo Laser or a battlecannon.
Thunderhawk Transporter – neither Net-EA or Epic-UK stats do this justice at all; it should be just as tough to kill as a Thunderhawk so I have made it so. It also has the four twin-heavy bolters it should have. I gather people have objected it having the proper stats in the past in that it encourages its uses as a bomber, which isn’t appropriate. Therefore I added in a note stipulating it can only shoot while on the ground and on a turn it has dropped off or picked up troops.
Vanguard Veterans – new addition, as Assault Marines but with an extra MW attack. These are significantly different enough from normal Assault Marines to justify their own stats.
Warhound – these are a bit too good and over-used in Marine armies at present so I’ve upped their points a decent amount (perhaps too much but I’d like lists with the other things tried out more). I’d suggest trying out the newer harsher critical idea too.
Incidentally, for what it’s worth, other things I toyed with changing but decided against in the end: Thunderhawks gaining the Lascanons on the models; Space Marine Bikers CC dropping to 4+ (assuming the average of 3 bikers to a base they should be worse than a Tactical Marine stand in combat, not better – 3 Bikers have only 6/11 of the Tactical Marines combat ability so even 4+ would be on the generous side); Attack Bikes becoming infantry with two to a base (legal in the requirements as four rider models on the base) with one Heavy Bolter one Multi-Melta – perhaps as +15 or +25 point upgrades of normal bikes (this would add in another way to get needed MW attacks in, though at a premium compared to Land Speeders); representing the Land Speeder Storms Cerbus launchers by making it’s FF attack disrupt.
I love the whole "it has to be done this way or it's incorrect" theory, but carry on in your "beliefs".
