Reecius’ NOVA Tournament Report: Vanilla Space Marines are Viable
Hey everyone, Reecius here to recount playing a pure Ultramarine Space Marines and ending up in the top bracket and 15th place at the NOVA Open 40k Championships event.
I have been getting a LOT of emails asking for my list and how it works. I totally get it as Space Marines are an army nearly everyone has and seeing them do well in a competitive setting is enticing. IIRC, my army was one of two armies that was purely a single faction in the top bracket, too. So, it can be done!
Why Ultramarines
Why the switch to Ultramarines? I prefer to play my Raptors with Lias Issodon but at NOVA they required you to have the actual Forge World model to use a Forge World unit (which is totally reasonable). Lias doesn’t have a model though so that makes it tough to do, haha. Also, with the changes to the way reserves work my old list just doesn’t really function as I have too much Power Level off of the table and not being able to drop outside of my deployment zone on turn 1 was a bit too restrictive. Switching to Ultramarines means I don’t get Lias’ amazing ability to deep-strike himself and 3 other units but does give me the awesome ability to leave combat and still shoot (at -1) and of course, the incredible Ultramarines support Characters including the inimitable Bobby G. People get caught off guard by the leave combat and still shoot rule all the dang time. In so many games it has been instrumental.
Here’s the list:
Ultramarines Brigade
- Tigurius
- Telion
- Captain with Jump Pack, Storm Shield and Thunder Hammer
- Scouts x 5: Bolters
- Scouts x 5: Bolters
- Scouts x 5: Bolters
- Scouts x 5: Sniper Rifles
- Scouts x 5: Sniper Rifles
- Scouts x 5: Sniper Rifles
- Apothecary
- Primaris Ancient with Relic Banner (Warlord)
- Company Champion
- Sternguard x 10: Special Issue Bolters
- Scout Bikers x 3: Storm Bolter on Sarge
- Scout Bikers x 3: Storm Bolter on Sarge
- Scout Bikers x 3: Storm Bolter on Sarge
- Devastator Squad x 5: Cherub, Heavy Bolter x 2
- Devastator Squad x 5: Cherub, Heavy Bolter x 2
- Devastator Squad x 5: Cherub, Heavy Bolter, Missile Launcher
- Bobby G
Strategy
So how does it work? It’s fairly straightforward, actually. It relies on dealing a high number of mortal wounds at long range through the Snipers who force your opponent to keep their characters hidden, and utilizing Hellfire Shells and Flakk Missiles + Cherubs from the Dev squads. With Bobby G, they are very deadly. That potent offense plus the banner to keep you shooting even in death plus the Apothecary to heal characters and bring back key models provides a nice little combo. I also have a lot of redundancy in multiples of each critical unit, a LOT of shots at mid to close range which again, with Bobby G are just deadly to light units, and decent melee punch with all of the characters and weight of bodies with re-rolls available to me.
Many folks have assumed that this is a static gunline army and that isn’t entirely true. Typically the way the army plays is to create a fire base with Bobby G and the shooty elements of the list but I find by turn 3-4–sometimes as early as turn 2–I am playing very aggressively with a portion of my list. With the full re-roll aura from Bobby G you can move and shoot reliably, particularly with Telion giving a unit of Scouts +1 to hit and and Devs having the Signum. You don’t have to get stuck in the mindset that this is a set-piece army as you end up playing with half a deck of cards.
The key to making the list work is to think ahead as to where you want the units not only to be for the opening salvos of the game but also where you want them to be mid-game and endgame. You have to keep an eye on the mission objectives and not just think about shooting your opponent to bits or you may end up losing the game while winning the fight.
Anyone who has read any of my Space Marines articles also knows how highly I value Scouts and I am going to reiterate that point: Scouts are one of the most useful units in the game. They’re just fantastic and critical to this lists’ functionality. In testing I was using 30 Sniper Scouts and while the increased damage output was nice, I often found that it was difficult to actually get that many units + the Devs in Bobby G’s aura and to also see the enemy. It was a bit of a cluster F. 15 still gives you seriously deadly Mortal Wound output. With Bobby G they love shooting things that are T7 or T8+ as it gives them even more opportunities to fish for 6’s on the wound roll. They are very effective against any target in the game from light infantry to Characters to the heaviest tanks (which is a bit silly, but hey).
I also found myself being left open to deep-strikers and infiltrators coming in and swarming me. So, I swapped out to 15 Sniper Scouts for 15 Bolter Scouts and in every single game felt it was the better choice. The Bolter Scouts allow you to zone out a huge chunk of the table to keep things like Smash Captains using On Wings of Fire, Tzaangors, Death Company, Cult Ambush Cultists, etc. from getting the drop on you. They also often end up being your best objective grabbing units which is critical to actually winning games.
The Dev Squads provide a lot of the heavy hitting power. The key is the combination of Hellfire Shells/Flakk Missile strats + the Cherub and Signum. These form a very potent offensive punch that can overcome nearly any defenses. In my previous games with this army I found I could really struggle with very durable units like Magnus, etc. that don’t worry too much about normal weapons like Las Cannon, etc. The ability to use your Cherub and fire 2d3 Mortal Wounds at a unit hitting on 2’s with a re-roll means you have a 97% chance of inflicting the damage on them at 36″ or 48″ range. It’s very deadly. If the unit has the Fly keyword, you are hitting them with 4d3 Mortal Wounds on the first turn. That takes a big chunk out of anything and will outright kill things like Custodes Jet Bike Captains, particularly when combined with the Snipers who between them can whittle down even a Knight or Primarch in short order. The reason I take only 2 heavy weapons in the units is because I am not super concerned with the damage output of the regular heavy weapons so much (although it is considerable) as I am with spitting Mortal Wounds out. So, I leave two of the Marines in the unit to be bullet catchers and give them some ablative wounds.
The other part of this combo is the interplay between the Apothecary and Primaris Ancient (I took the Primaris version for the extra wound to help make him more resilient to Shieldbreaker Missiles, Snipers, Psychic Powers, etc.) with the shooting units, particularly the Devs. The Ancient with the relic banner allows units to shoot or punch before dying on a 3+. The Apotehcary can heal a unit (which is great for mitigating the stupid Shieldbreaker Missile) but also to bring models in a unit back to life. So, as your units get shot (and the Dev squads are often the first to get targeted) you can take a chance on pulling one of the Heavy Bolters (as this is why you take an extra per unit) in the hopes that he fires before dying with the banner. Then, you pop a Hellfire Shell to do more mortal wounds and if you get a little luck, bring him back to life in your turn with the Apothecary to do it all over again. When it works it is really strong and increases your damage output significantly. Beyond that, the Apothecary is just amazing. In games where he wasn’t babysitting Devs and Sniper Scouts, he’d go up with the melee characters and heal them. My Smash Captain was like, best bros with the Apothecary as because of him I’d often get another turn or two out of my Captain before he bit it. I would honestly consider taking 2 of them, they’re that useful. Lastly, I also opted to make the Ancient my Warlord to give me flexibility on Warlord Traits. Losing 3 CP by not having Bobby G as the Warlord was a tough choice, but getting to take some of the other, very useful Warlord Traits and not having to worry about Bobby G getting killed and giving up points was worth the exchange for me.
Tigurius is worth his weight in gold. Absolutely fantastic. His ability to re-roll failed psychic checks makes him very reliable even with powers like Null Zone which can be very unreliable otherwise. While Null Zone can be a game winning power (which I will explain as we go) the bread and butter abilities I found were Might of Heroes, Veil of Time and if I found myself facing a Smite Spam army: Psychic Fortress. Might of Heroes on Smash Captain turns him into a super saiyan. We’ll go over that a bit more in his section but suffice it to say, it’s very strong. Veil of Time was surprisingly good in test games. Re-roll charges is awesome of course but the always strikes first ability was fantastic in ongoing fights. I found that once a scrum developed and you found yourself in multi-turn combats it was awesome. I basically got a free interrupt every turn and if I actually used an interrupt was able to really disrupt my opponent’s fight phase and not only increase the damage I did to them but also reduce the damage I took as I killed enemy models before they got to swing even on turns where they charged me. The ability to take 3 powers and cast two was so good, as it gave you loads of flexibility. On top of this, you also get to give a unit -1 to be hit in your opponent’s turn which is very strong. Tiggy is just an all-star and gets 5 out of 5 stars from me.
Telion is a great 3rd HQ to fill out that Brigade for not too many points. I often used him to shoot last after the Devs and Snipers to finish things off and he was great in that roll. The +1 to hit for a unit of Snipers was obviously excellent, too.
Smash Captain needs little explanation and I have written extensively about him in the past so I will go with the cliff notes version, here. The Space Marines version lacks some of the offensive punch of the ever popular Blood Angels version but he’s no slouch. The real key is the Shield Eternal, which means he takes half damage from attacks. That’s huge. When fighting 2 damage melee characters like a Daemon Prince with Malefic Claws, they have to successfully wound him 5 times to kill him. The odds of that happening before he pulverizes them with his hammer are very low. When fighting another Smash Captain, they have to successfully wound him 3 times to take him out vs. the two he has to get through on them. Also, it means he cannot be one-shotted by a Shieldbreaker missile. As noted above, he also greatly benefits from psychic support and the Apothecary. Might of Heroes jacks him up to strength 10 with 5 attacks and toughness 5. That gives him offensive output not far behind the Blood Angels version but it means his defense is much higher, giving him more longevity. Psychic Fortress gives him defense against Smite spam style armies too, which is huge as that is his biggest weakness. I could go on but I will leave it at this: in the support network of the rest of the army, this guy is an absolute stud and I wouldn’t play without him. The only thing I am considering doing is experimenting with a Bike Captain with the Iron Resolve Warlord Trait as that means he would have 7 wounds at T5 with a 3++ taking half damage, a 6+++ FnP and an Apothecary buddy to heal him. That is a beast of a model!
Bobby G doesn’t require a lot of preamble. He’s monstrously powerful and the best force multiplier in the game. He’s also worth every single point to those who think he’s too expensive, lol. I never played him in competitive games prior to this and I was blown away by his power when actually using him and not just playing against him. So incredibly good. I found him put to best use by hanging out for a few turns to make my shooting tremendously more effective and then to go up the field and chop anything in front of him to bits. He’s a force of nature and often I would find that even if I was in a tough spot simply sending him into the jaws of my opponent’s army would see me through. Last point to mention: he loves Tiggy like a fat kid loves cake, lol. All of the psychic buffs listed above are just as awesome for Bobby G.
The Company Champion was an add to the list as I (mistakenly) planned on using him as the Engineer. Engineers are a mission specific unit in the NOVA format that get extra points by sitting on objectives. Somehow, I had gotten my hands on an old version of the missions where you could make a Character the Engineer (they loose Character protection when actually engineering). The idea had been to give him the Shield Eternal if he needed it and be very hard to kill while he earns the extra points. Turns out in the version of the missions we played at NOVA that wasn’t possible so oops on my part. He ended up being fairly useful despite not being able to do what I wanted him to do, though. I wouldn’t take him again but would replace him with another Apothecary, or more Heavy Weapons in the Dev Squads, Honour Guard to protect Characters or pumping up a unit of Sniper Scouts to a larger size to better leverage Telion’s buff.
Scout Bikers are one of the best units in the Space Marine book, without question. They pack in an absurd amount of firepower on a mobile, cheap unit. At 12″ the unit (with the extra Storm Bolter on Sarge) pumps out 22 shots! With Bobby G backing their play, that is savage vs. light infantry. Plus, they have 7 attacks in melee, too. They also serves excellently as a late game screen for Bobby G as they can shoot up the table in front of him for that critical turn where he’s exposed to save him from getting shot, allowing him to get stuck in to the enemy lines. With a 16″ move, decent toughness and tremendous damage output, and a fun strat to dela Mortal Wounds to a unit when they leave combat you’re really missing out if you don’t take them. Plus, the models are rad!
The Sternguard drew the most questions regarding how they function, why I took them, etc. For one, I just love them both from a lore perspective and how mine came out from a painting perspective. However, they’re also quite valuable on the tabletop. The reason being that with their Special Issue Bolters and the Masterful Marksmanship stratagem (+1 to wound with their Special Bolters) they are very potent in shooting. With 22 attacks in melee, they’re no slouches there, either. With all of the various buffs available to them, they pack a punch and the fact that their weapons are 30″ range (15″ double tap) makes them quite scary. They absolutely obliterate light infantry and especially things like Guardsmen, they can just rip through them. If you pop the strat, and shoot two units while in Bobby G’s aura, you will nearly wipe out both units (killing an average of 18 models with their 20 shots). And, if in range to assault, too, will beat the snot out of a 3rd unit of Guardsmen quite easily. They also do significant damage to big targets. Your average T7 vehicle or Monster will be getting wounded on 4’s and at AP-2 will not be getting much of a save. I find that they can go in and take a big chunk out of a unit like an Armiger or something similar, and then finish it off with a salvo from a Dev squad.
Typically I play these guys very aggressively, going up-field to directly engage my opponent. While they tend to get ignored early game as there are other more threatening units on the table, they usually die to the man by turn 4 or so but I find that they have a huge board presence and impact on the game while they last. They are often Bobby G’s vanguard when he inevitably goes up the table. They were admittedly better in my Lias Issodon list as being able to deep-strike was so good but the ability to also leave combat and still shoot as Ultramarines is nothing to sneeze at. I also often found the Apothecary would be resurrecting them as they frequently took casualties first.
Tactics
Playing the army requires a little forethought to get the most out of it without being outmaneuvered. Deployment is very important. You want to keep your forces as close together initially as possible without severely limiting your board control capabilities. Your specific deployment will vary from game to game based upon whom you are facing but typically you will get the hard hitting shooting units close to the buffing characters in a position with good fields of fire. Just be sure to not to box in the characters that may need to advance like Bobby G, Tiggy, etc. You will often deploy your Bolter Scouts in a picket line and your Scout Bikers in a safe spot but close enough to strike when you need them. The Sternguard will typically be deployed very aggressively.
This is a good example of a typical deployment when facing an army that is going to be coming only to mid-table to engage you. Bobby G is in range of at least 1 model from every shooty unit, the buff characters are safe and close to as many units as possible. The Bolter Scouts are forward to create space and threaten objectives but largely out of LoS as are the Sternguard. Scout Bikers are out of LoS but in a position to jet forward and unleash bolter hell where needed.
Here’s an example of a deployment when facing an army that you know is coming at you. Scouts and Sternguard in forward positions to zone out deep-strike landing zones, and to engage and slow down assault units. Shooty units in a defended position with support Characters, Bobby G in a central location to buff as many units as possible but with a straight shot to hit any enemy units that start to break through the picket. Scout Bikers hanging back in a safe spot to counter where and when needed. I find they’re often most effective when you just do nothing with them for a few turns and then pounce to plug a hole in your lines or to capitalize on a weakness your opponent has left exposed. When they can go in full strength they just obliterate things, often leaving little to nothing to hit them back.
These deployments allow you to get maximum impact out of your multitude of buffs while also looking to win the objective game. It’s a bit of a balancing act but with repetitions it all comes together quite nicely and you get a feel for when to play aggressively and when to play defensively based on mission, your opponent and terrain.
Thanks for reading!
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