Having fun again!!!

Apparently I like punching things.

We all know that 5th Edition made vehicles and 'Torrent of Fire' most peoples priority. Then they tried to give us a bit of variety with the Space Wolves and Blood Angels codices making assault armies* viable.

* Well sort of. I've found that Blood Angels become much less awesome now everybody knows how fast they are and what kills them. Now I've played against them a few times I've moved from the 'That's a bit Broken' to the 'That's fairly well balanced actually' camp.

The list I've being using is somewhere in the middle ground. It has a very decent assault unit while maintaining enough firepower to de-mech a fair chunk of an opposing army and thin out the units inside.

I suppose I better post the version I'm using at the moment for ease of reference.

1750 Pts - Space Marines Roster - Ver 1.1

HQ: Space Marine Librarian (1#, 140 pts)

1 Space Marine Librarian @ 140 pts (...in Terminator Armour; The Avenger; The Gate of Infinity)

1 ...in Terminator Armour (Storm Shield)

Elite: Dreadnought (1#, 125 pts)

1 Dreadnought @ 125 pts (Twin Linked Autocannon; Twin Linked Autocannon)

Elite: Dreadnought (1#, 125 pts)

1 Dreadnought @ 125 pts (Twin Linked Autocannon; Twin Linked Autocannon)

Elite: Terminator Assault Squad (10#, 400 pts)

9 Terminator Assault Squad @ 400 pts (Thunder Hammer & Storm Shield x9)

1 Sergeant (Thunder Hammer & Storm Shield x1)

Troops: Tactical Squad (6#, 165 pts)

4 Tactical Squad @ 165 pts (Razorback)

1 Sergeant (Bolt Pistol; Bolter)

1 Razorback (Searchlight; Smoke Launchers; Lascannon and TL Plasmagun)

Troops: Tactical Squad (6#, 165 pts)

4 Tactical Squad @ 165 pts (Razorback)

1 Sergeant (Bolt Pistol; Bolter)

1 Razorback (Searchlight; Smoke Launchers; Lascannon and TL Plasmagun)

Troops: Tactical Squad (6#, 165 pts)

4 Tactical Squad @ 165 pts (Razorback)

1 Sergeant (Bolt Pistol; Bolter)

1 Razorback (Searchlight; Smoke Launchers; Lascannon and TL Plasmagun)

Fast Attack: Land Speeder Squadron (1#, 70 pts)

1 Land Speeder Squadron @ 70 pts (Multi-Melta x1; Heavy Flamer x1)

Fast Attack: Land Speeder Squadron (1#, 70 pts)

1 Land Speeder Squadron @ 70 pts (Multi-Melta x1; Heavy Flamer x1)

Fast Attack: Land Speeder Squadron (1#, 70 pts)

1 Land Speeder Squadron @ 70 pts (Multi-Melta x1; Heavy Flamer x1)

Heavy Support: Predator (1#, 85 pts)

1 Predator @ 85 pts (Heavy Bolter (each side))

Heavy Support: Predator (1#, 85 pts)

1 Predator @ 85 pts (Heavy Bolter (each side))

Heavy Support: Predator (1#, 85 pts)

1 Predator @ 85 pts (Heavy Bolter (each side))

Total Roster Cost: 1750

The thing is I'm enjoying the assault element more than the shooty elements (which admittedly I've done to death as I've been using gunlines since pretty much the 1st list I wrote using the Marine Codex).

So what issues do I have if I'm maximising the potential of this teleporting/punching aspect of my army?

Psychic defense isn't a big problem as Gate of Infinity (abbreviated to 'Gate' from this point on) has a 24" range which is the same as most psychic hoods so I should be teleporting from outside their area of effect for the most part. Tyranids 'Shadow in the Warp' only has a 12" range so that's not a worry at all. Eldar runes are a pain but at Leadership 10 I've got a 50% chance of the power working even rolling 3 dice so I'll take my chances ;-)

As I'm quite reliant on 'Gate' landing me somewhere I actually want to be I could do with it being a bit more reliable. So is there a way of taking advantage of the fact that 'Gate' is used in the movement phase rather than at the beginning of the turn like normal Deep Striking and Reserves are?

Note - The 'Dawn of War' deployment type is a bit of an issue as well as I have to walk the unit on in the movement phase and so can't also 'Gate' in the same phase (The power is used at the beginning of the movement phase). The obvious way around this problem is deploy the Librarian on the table, hope he doesn't get taken out in your opponents first shooting phase and then walk the Terminators to within 2" of him and then use Gate.

Going 2nd in a kill point mission would cause some tactical problems as well. Also, all reserving or highly mobile opponents mean I still need some shooty elements to my army.

Problems aside for the moment, what are my options for improved accuracy?

1) Drop Pods c/w Locator Beacons

- Advantages : Guaranteed first turn arrival, little chance of arrival mishaps, big 'footprint' so they create a large area for my 'Gating' Terminators to land in, wide variety of units can take Drop Pods so it isn't necessarily a sacrificial unit.

- Disadvantages : Easy to destroy if I don't use their Beacon immediately, No way of redeploying should I need to gate somewhere else without the addition of more Drop Pods.

2) Scout Bike Squad c/w Locator Beacon on Sergeant

- Advantages : 'Turbo Boost' gives them a decent first turn movement for positioning and a 3+ cover save. 'Turbo Boost' also gives them a large redeployment range should they survive.

- Disadvantages : Scout Bike units are a bit rubbish so are unlikely to do anything useful other than provide a signal for my Terminators.

The next couple of options are open to debate a little as they can only take Teleport Homers.

The relevant bits of wording (emphasis is mine) for Teleport Homers is "If Terminators wish to teleport onto the battlefield via deep strike" and also "Note that the teleport homer only works for units that are teleporting, not for units entering play using jump packs, drop pods or other means of transport"

The relevant bit in the 'Gate' description is obviously "using the Deep strike Rules".

I take this to mean that as long as my unit consists of Terminators (It does) and there using the deep strike rules (they are) I should be able to use a Teleport Homer as a target. Of course the counter argument is whether Gate counts as an 'other means of transport'.

For the purposes of debate and as it's my blog ;-) I'll presume I can for now and carry on.

3) Scout Squad c/w Teleport Homer on Sergeant in a Landspeeder Storm

- Advantages : Moving over 12" (Flat-Out) and up to 24" gives them a decent first turn movement for positioning and a 4+ Cover save.

- Disadvantages : Armour 10, Open topped and needs 90 points of Scouts in it to make the trick work.

4) Scout Squad c/w Teleport Homer on Sergeant

- Advantages : Can infiltrate

- Disadvantages : A not particularly survivable unit that is unlikely to get closer than 18" to the enemy.

So overall I have a fair few options. The relative delicate nature of certain of the units isn't necessarily a concern as they can't really be shot at till after they've done their job in most scenarios.

My best option on the face of it is the Drop Pod but the idea of using units people don't field very often such as Scout Bikers or Landspeeder storms has a certain appeal.

This post has ended up longer than I intended so I'll finish there and hope the comments section is filled with brilliant ideas before I start working out how I intend to do it...