Warhammer 40K: Space Marine Unit Guide – The Troops – PRIME
Today let’s continue our in-depth look at the massive roster of Space Marine units and how to use them.
If you haven’t heard, Space Marines have a brand new Codex with a truly staggering amount of units. Such a massive roster (and that’s just the units in the main codex) can be overwhelming. Luckily Marines are overall a fairly forgiving army. Still, skill is required to make an excellent list. Last time we looked at Marine HQs, today let’s continue our deep dive into the army and its datasheets, taking a look at the massive roster and how to best use them.
Troops
Intercessor Squad 
Despite being a relatively new addition to Codex: Space Marines, the Intercessor Squad, had taken on the role of “default” troop choice. This is an excellent all-rounder unit that can perform a lot of roles well while, at the same time, lacks the specialization of other units. Looking at its basic stats, we can see that the unit starts with a very solid base. Two wounds and two attacks make the unit both hard to shift and effective in combat, especially combined with Shock Assault for an extra attack. Besides some army level rules, Intercessors don’t have any special or unique abilities, though they have options.
The first option, and most basic choice of three guns they should take, Bolt Rifles, Auto-Bolt Rifles, or Stalker Bolt Rifles. Bolt Rifles act as a more generic choice for the unit and represent a good option for different builds. With a 30″ range and AP -1, going up to AP -2 with the right doctrine, they can deliver strong firepower even from a distance and out range many other units basic weapons. While Bolter Drill lets them keep shooting many shots at long range, they are not the most mobile weapon, as moving risks putting you in a situation where you lose half your shots. They are a good choice for any unit that doesn’t plan to move much or feel you’ll need extra AP.
Auto-Bolt Rifles are my current favorite choice. They lost a point of AP on the Bolt Rifle, being AP 0 and only have a 24″ range, but go up to assault three. This gives an Intercessor Squad a really amazing about of firepower, with each model getting 3 shots. These are great for clearing out poorer quality troops, but even vs. stronger units, the extra shot will often more than balance out the lost AP. This makes for a very mobile unit as they can move without losing effectiveness and even advance and still fire. Auto-Bolt Rifles get even better in the hands of Chapters like the White Scares that can advance and fire with no penalty making for a very mobile and deadly unit.
Just a few months ago, the Stalker Bolt Rifle was the king of bolters, but the new edition has taken a lot of the wind out of their sails and destroyed some of the synergies the weapon used. With a 36″ range and both AP -2 and D2, it can still pack a punch, but with only a single shot and generally only benefitting from doctrines on turn 1, it has more limited uses. It’s really best used on an immobile backfield unit, maybe one holding an objective, as you don’t really want to be moving around with this gun. They are still pretty good at killing MEQ units and not horrible for that, but overall these seem the weakest option.
In addition to gun choice, you’ve got a few more options to think about. The first is Sergeant options, they can be upgraded with a few different weapons, but the most important is the chance to take either a Powerfist or Thunder hammer. With three attacks base and four on the charge, an Intercessor Sergeant with a thunder hammer can do some real damage. With some combos, it’s not impossible to get them up to even 5 or 6 attacks, which makes them mini-characters. Unless you are going for the cheapest option you can, I think these are almost always worthwhile upgrades as they make your unit a threat to just about everything in the game.
The final option is to take grenade launchers at one per five models. As these are now assault weapons, they can be fired in addition to the bolt weapon the model carries and are a pretty cheap way to upgrade the unit’s firepower; they are just about always worth taking. They just make the unit better.
Intercessors do suffer from not having any cheap transport options, especially for a full ten-man squad. Most likely, they will be advancing on foot or sometimes rushing forward in an Impulsor. Despite this limitation, they remain a great unit. They are hard to kill, and dumping 5-10 on an objective makes it hard to move unit. They can shoot and fight well and have access to the Rapid Fire Stratagem, allowing them to shot twice. A White Scars squad with Auto-Bolt Rifles can move and advance, fire 84 shots, and then assault for another 31 attacks. While they aren’t cheap, they are affordable enough to take several units as a core and still have plenty of room in the army.
Assault Intercessor Squad 
Assault Intercessors are, as the name might suggest, a specialized version of Intercessors that focuses on assault. Stats and special rules-wise, they are the same as basic Intercessors, with the only difference being weapons. Assault Intercessors are armed with a Heavy Bolt Pistol, which at 18″ range will get used now and then, but isn’t where they shine. They are also armed with Astartes Chainswords, which gives them a +1 attack and AP -1 in melee. This gives the unit 4 attacks per model in combat, with AP -1/-2 depending on the phase, making them pretty deadly. In addition, the Sergeant can also take some options, including the all-important Powerfist/Thunder hammer.
Assault Intercessors are an in your face unit that is great for bringing the fight to your enemy. While they don’t have the range and flexibility of other Troop units, they are a great choice for pushing forward and taking enemy objectives. They are obviously a great fit for assault oriented armies such as Blood Angels and White Scars, which can get a lot out of them. They can also use stratagems to fight twice, meaning that a single squad in the right situation can put out around 100 attacks a turn.
Likely, Assault Intercessors won’t be your only troop choice. They are ill-suited for holding backfield objectives or a support role. They are best used for pushing forward and putting pressure on the enemy. Having a unit or two to be your spear tip is a great option and can turn the tide of a battle.
Heavy Intercessor Squad 
Heavy Intercessors are another specialized version of Intercessors. Unlike either regular or Assault Intercessors, they are clad in MX. X Gravis armor. This reduces their move to 5″ but also makes them T5 and gives the 3 wounds. This makes for a slower but much tougher unit that is quite hard to kill.
Like basic Intercessors, they also have three gun options to pick from. These are the heavy bolt rifle, the hellstorm bolt rifle, and the executor bolt rifle. These are effectively identical to the three options regulars Intercessors but with an extra 6 inches of range and being S5. This makes all of these excellent choices for strong long-range supporting fire, with much the same strengths and weaknesses of the Intercessors options.
In addition to basic weapons, you can also upgrade one model per 5 to have a heavy weapon. They can take the weapon based on the basic guns they are equipped with, but generally are heavy and have 1 extra attack, AP and D, over the normal gun. Except in some rare cases, they are likely worth taking as they add significantly to the unit’s damage output. Unlike the other Intercessors, the Heavy Intercessor unit Sergeant cannot take any extra gear, making this unit very ill-suited for close combat.
In general, Heavy Intercessors are a unit made to hold backfield objectives and provide supporting firepower. They’ve got good ranged damage output and are hard to kill, but their slow movement (made worse by having even fewer transport options thanks to Gravis armor), heavy weapons, and lack of close combat weapons make them poor choices for pushing forward hard. It’s possible that an army could be built around all Gravis units and use hellstorm bolt rife armed Heavy Intercessors to push forward since they can advance and fire still. Sadly the upgraded version of the hellstorm, the hellstorm heavy bolter, is a heavy weapon and can’t advance, or even move, and fire well.
At 28 pts per model, they are significantly more costly than basic Intercessors and fill a more specialist role. Due to their cost, even with better weapons, and equivalent pts amount of Intercessors will generally be a more potent offensive force, leaving these to guys to only be taken if you have a real need for what they bring to the table.
Infiltrator Squad 
Infiltrators are one of the more specialized but highly useful Marine troop choices. Their basic stats are the same as Intercessors, which like Intercessors, make them decent in any role and hard to move once on an objective. Their weapon loadout is quite different, however. Their primary weapon is the Marksmen bolt carbine, which has the same stats as a classic bolter, making it worse than any Bolt Rifle options. It does have an extra rule that any natural hit rolls of 6 auto wound, which is nice, but really doesn’t add a whole ton, giving you a few extra wounds here and there. They have no close combat options, and while the unit can put out damage, it’s the least offensively powerful of the Marine troop choices.
The main reason to take Infiltrators is for two of their abilities, Concealed Positions and Omni-Scrambler. Concealed Positions allows the unit to forward deploy, making the unit great for grabbing forward objectives, and possibly secondaries, on turn one. Meanwhile, Omni-Scrambler prevents enemy reinforcements from being set up within 12″ of the unit, thus preventing them from deploying and charging. Combined, this makes Infiltrators one of, if not the best unit in the game for board control and area denial. Taking a few units to either stop enemy deep strike assaults or throw forward to secure objectives can win you games.
Infiltrators can also pick one of two upgrades. A Helix Gauntlet lets them once a turn reduce attacks D to 0; while this is useful and can save lives, It is probably not worth its points overall, nor is it worth passing on the other option, the Infiltrator Comms Array. This second option allows the unit to benefit from the Captain and LT. Auras (Rites of Battle and Tactical Precisions) of any Phobos versions of those units on the table. Assuming you are taking those versions, this is highly useful as it lets a single Captain/LT buff a large number of units spread out over the table. For instance, a Phobos captain could stay in the backfield buffing some longer-range support units and buff 3-4 units of Infiltrators holding forward objectives.
On top of all this, Infiltrators have the Phobos keyword opening them to benefit from additional powers and abilities. Overall the sheer usefulness of Infiltrators and the number of tricks they bring to the table means that you should strongly consider including some in your list.
Incursor Squad 
Incursors are another Phobos equipped troop choice. As such, they share stats with Infiltrators and have both the Concealed Positions rule and the Phobos keyword. They have a different weapon loadout, however. Their Occulus Bolt Carbines have the same base stats as the Infiltrator Marksmen, but instead of auto wounding on hits of 6s, they ignore the effects of cover on their targets. The unit also has the Multi-Spectrum Array rule, which allows you to ignore any hit roll or BS modifiers when making ranged attacks. This makes their ranged attacks very reliable.
For combat weapons, they have paired combat blade, which gives the unit AP -1, making them better than Infiltrators in combat, and man for man better than even basic Intercessors, though the lack of Sergeant upgrade weapons means the squad as a whole is worse. Overall these guys have a better damage output than Infiltrators but less utility. Their one upgrade option is a haywire mine, which once per game has the chance of doing some mortal wounds to a unit charging this squad. At 10 pts, it’s of dubious value.
For my money, I would take Infiltrators over Incursors 95% of the time. While Incursors are a little more killy, they simply lack the flexibility and area denial or Infiltrators, while also being worse at acting independently. Given their increased combat ability, it is possible that Incusors could be used as a rush unit, pushing forward for first turn assaults and either overwhelming weaker combat armies or tieing up strong units until help arrives. Certainly, the unit has its uses, but it’s one I’d need a real reason to take over Infiltrators or something else.
Tactical Squad 
The OG troop choice, if you want to stick to just Classic Marines, this is your only option for a troop. Thanks to recent buffs, Tactical Marines have an almost identical stat line to Intercessors, Assault Intercessors, Infiltrators, and Incursors. The only difference is that they have a base attack value of one instead of two like all other Marine Troops.
For basic weapons, Tactical Marines are armed with the old classic Bolter. At Rapid Fire 1 24″, S4 AP 0 D1 and no special rules, it is the weakest weapon that any Marine troop choice has, and compared to Intercessors, the most similar troop choice, the gun either has a shorter range and less AP or Damage or fewer shots. Tactical Marines do not have any squad wide gun options.
While Tactical Marines are 18 pts, making them the cheapest Marine troop choice and 2 pts cheaper than Intercessors, they are as a base unit the least deadly unit. The loss of an attack coupled with worse guns makes them noticeably worse in both combat and shooting. Taken at their base level, it is almost always going to be worth paying the extra 2 pts to getter the superior Intercessors.
Tactical Marines shine is in their options, and they do have more of those than any other Marine Troop choice. While they don’t have any inherent mobility tricks, they have access to more transports than the other troop choices, including the cheap Rhino and the Deepstriking Drop Pod, both of which open up options for them.
In addition to that, the squad can take several upgrades. The Sergeant can take both a specialized melee weapon, such as a powerfist or thunder hammer, and a combi-weapon. A five-man squad can take either a special or heavy weapon, while a ten-man squad can take one of each. In total, a squad can have a close combat weapon, combi weapon, special and heavy weapon. When combined, this increases the unit’s firepower but gives them access to better anti-tank firepower than any other troop choice.
However, these upgrades do all add up, and a decked-out Tactical Squad can end up costing more than a decked out Intercessor Squad despite the lower initial cost. Moreover, the usefulness of these upgrade weapons is debatable and largely depends on targets. At the same time, a Tactical Marine with a meltagun can be deadly in the right situation; against many, if not most, targets he will be worse than a cheaper Intercessor with an auto bolt rifle and grenade launcher. Likewise, the Tactical Sergeant with one less attack will get less out of their close combat weapon than an Intercessor.
This all really shoves Tactical Marines into a support role. Their loadout really makes them more a ranged unit, and given the right weapons, they can provide some ranged anti-tank firepower; for pretty much any other role, one of the other troop choices will be better. You should also ask yourself if you need to use a troop choice to provide that kind of firepower, or are you are better off with a dedicated anti-tank unit?
Overall, Tactical Marines still have some roles, but they are increasingly niched. Some tricks and deployment options only work with them, and of course, some players prefer to use all classic Marine units in their armies, but they are really my last choice for a troop, and I need a strong reason to take them.
That’s it for this time friends, tune in next time as we continue to look at Marine units.
