Warhammer 40K: Ranking The New Space Marine Detachments
Regular as the tide, Space Marines are getting a new Codex. Today take a look at the new 10th edition Detachments – from the best to the worst.
A brand new Space Marine Codex, along with a host of new models, is coming. We’ve finally got a look at the whole thing, and there is a lot to unpack here. This is only the second Codex of 10th Edition, so it can help tell us a fair bit about the shape of things to come. One of the most interesting aspects the Codex is the new detachments. Since detachments work a bit differently in 10th this is a big deal. In the Index normal Marines only had access to one detachment, but now they can pick from seven, which are themed a bit to certain famous Chapters. Let’s take a look at them and break down how they match up. Just to keep things easy, I’m going to mostly be focusing on the main rule as there is a fair bit of overlap and similarities between the rest.
Gladius Task Force – The Index Classic
This is the “classic” detachment from the Index and represents the Ultramarines. It’s pretty much unchanged. I think its fine, but it still has the issue of only giving you bonuses for three of the five turns of the game. Still, it’s flexible and, with the right build, can deliver a devastating turn. Ok, onto the new ones.
Anvil Siege Force
This detachment represents the Imperial Fists, and it’s a rule I’m really torn on. In effect, all your units ranged weapons in the army get Heavy, and if they already had heavy, they get +1 to wound if they remain stationary. That’s really good, giving you a lot of +1s to hit and wound and making your shooting very powerful. It’s also kind of the most boring thing you can have – as it just rewards sitting still and shooting the enemy off the table. Not a lot of fun. However, the rule has no real downsides and will pretty always give you SOME kind of a buff. So it’s up there as the best and easiest to use. (Battle Drill Recall is also a great stratagem but I said I wasn’t going to talk about them!)
Ironstorm Spearhead
The Iron Hands are represented by Ironstorm Spearhead. They have a variation of a rule we’ve seen a few times with Marines. Once a phase each unit can re-roll a hit, wound or damage roll. I’m not a huge fan of this rule just because it adds a ton of bookkeeping, and slows things down with re-rolls. Still, it’s a solid rule and you should always get use out of it. It does help you out if you are running a bunch of tanks with big guns, for sure.
Firestorm Assault Force
The Salamanders are represented by the Firestorm Assault Force. This rule is kind of the inverse of Anvil Siege Force. It gives all your ranged weapons Assault, and if you target a unit within 12″, you get +1S. Overall for a general build, this is solid but likely not as good as the Anvil Siege Force. It does allow for some aggressive (Aggressor) builds and really works for some units. It’s just a tad trickier to use than the Anvil, but good for trying to go grab objectives.
Stormlance Taskforce
The White Scars get the Stormlance Taskforce. This is a real mixed one for me. In a general build it’s one of the least useful rules, and you could well go a whole game without using it. However, in the right build it can be absolutely devastating. It can allow repeated quick charges and the possibility to swamp enemy units on turn one. Giving bikes and Jump Pack units a 30″ melee threat range on turn one is solid. However, some bad rolls could also leave it high and dry.
Vanguard Spearhead
Raven Guard get the Vanguard Spearhead rule, which also doubles as representing the Vanguard. It’s another rule we’ve seen before and has a lot of utility. Making your units harder to hit and kill at range is always great. Sure some units will be able to ignore the debuffs, but almost never an entire enemy army. Like the Anvil detachment it is also one of the more boring rules. It rewards staying back and away from the enemy and shooting them down. I think if you are planning that kind of battle, it’s normally better to just up your offence power. But it’s not bad.
1st Company Task Force
Lastly, we come to my least favorite and in my opinion, the worst detachment. In effect, the First Company, for one turn a game, gets the Index version of Oath of Moment rule. This allows full hit and round re-rolls on the Oath Target. This just seems lackluster. Maybe it’s because it’s just a worse version of what all Marines have had for the past few months. But it’s also just an army wide rule that only works for one turn and only affects one enemy unit. I think being able to get army wide +1s or +1 wound from shooting is going to be much better for damage output.
I’m also just a little disappointed at how… standard the first company Task force detachment rule is. This was the perfect detachment to really have done something else. It could have restricted units you could take, and/or changed what counted as Battleline. It could have made it really feel like its the 1st Company going to war. Instead there’s not a whole ton that’s really defining as a chapter’s First Company. Sure, a lot of the stratagems and some of the enhancements only affect various “veteran” units, but you can still freely mix in other units. I really wish they had gone more hardcore with this and made it a restrictive unit list with a much stronger rule. It’s just very meh, and nothing in the detachment rule makes me feel like I’m seeing the awesome sight of a First Company going to war.
Let us know which detachments you think are best, down in the comments!
