40K: Our Favorite Space Marine Stratagems
The Space Marine Codex is hitting shelves this weekend and we’ve already got our favorite Stratagems picked out!
We’ve been talking about the Space Marine Codex all week and have been showcasing it in action on our twitch streams, too. It’s a pretty solid codex and it’s packed full of great background, rules and a ton of new things for cunning Space Marine Commanders out there to use. That said, we’ve gone through the list of Space Marine Stratagems and picked out a few that we just liked. These might not be the most tactically impressive or game breaking – but we liked them for what they can do on the tabletop and what they represent from a background perspective. So ya, some of these are more “fluffy” choices than the competitive players might like, but no one is forcing you to use them. Again: This list is totally subjective and presented in alphabetical order.
Auspex Scan
Are you concerned about “Deep Striking” units? Well I sure hope you brought your Auspex along! Okay – you don’t even need an Auspex but we finally get a use for these things besides “cool bits” and fluff reasons. The Auspex Scan can now detect reinforcements that are “popping-up” within 12″ of a unit – from a lore stand point, that’s what they should have been doing all along! We really liked this one just because it invokes that scene from Aliens. You know the one…they are inside the room!
Datalink Telemetry
This is our first example of a stratagem that is a direct call-out to an old Apocalypse formation. We really appreciated that GW dug into those old books to come-up with some of these stratagems as it adds some cool flavor to your options. Plus, it’s a nice hat-tip to Apoc of old.
Datalink allows your Land Speeders to help coordinate with your Whirlwinds. If the target unit is within 12″ of a Land Speeder, the Whirlwind’s attacks auto-hit! Will this propel Land Speeders and Whirlwinds to the top tables? Probably not – but it’s a neat rule and it really paints a cool narrative picture!
Hellfire Shells
Oh Hellfire Shells…Why doesn’t every Marine have these? Well guess what, if they have a Heavy Bolter they do now! Hellfire Shells are a super virulent mutagenic acid. They are pretty nasty rounds and have a habit of causing lots of wounds to the target units. Now, the victim target just takes D3 Mortal Wounds – OUCH! We like this one just because the idea that all Heavy Bolters had a few of these rounds in their ammo pack is cool to us – cool and deadly!
Honour the Chapter
Okay – I know we were looking at these from a more narrative point of view – but we could NOT ignore this Stratagem. Honour the Chapter can take your Infantry or Bikers from being a close-combat threat to a real problem for your opponent. If this thing didn’t cost 3CP you’d see it used at the end of pretty much every fight phase!
Linebreaker Bombardment
Linebreaker Bombardment is another one of those abilities that is a direct throw-back to an Apoc Formation. This time it’s Vindicators that get the spotlight. We love the idea that all three Vindicators have coordinated their firepower to drop a massive BOOM on a point on the battlefield. Combine that with the damage potential of 3D3 mortal wounds PER UNIT within 3″ of the point and OUCH. And folks said that didn’t have a reason to space out their units any more…
Well that’s it for our favorite Stratagems from Codex: Space Marines! With 26 to choose from, there is bound to be something for everyone!
