ASSAULT SQUADS.
In an Ultramarine army, Assault Marines add extra oomph (bringing twice the number of attacks) and can leap over you squads (who will be to an extent be static because they are shooting) and lock up the enemy.
This is not so for Templars and using them the way that they do will not bring much benefit to your army.
They are not assault troops per se.
Firstly, they are over priced by 4 points or 122%. You will never get the same amount of kills in close combat from them as you would from Crusaders.
See this scenario versus Ork Boyz.
9 Assault Marines. = 243 pts.
All with Melta bombs, 2 Flamers, Power fist.
7 bolt pistol shots. 4.62 h, 2.31 dead
2 flames. 12 h, 6 dead.
22 A. 16.5 h, 8.25 w, 6.85 dead
2 PF A. 1.5 h, 1.245 dead
16.4 dead Orks. (8.3 from shooting = 50%)
10 Initiates + 6 Neophytes = 245 pts.
Power fist, Melta gun.
9 bs4 + 6 bs 3 bolt pistol shots. 9 h, 4.5 dead
Melta. 0.66 h, 0.55 dead
27 AAC + 18 ws3 A. 29.25 h, 14.625 w, 12.14 dead
2 PF A. 1.5 h, 1.245 dead
18.435 dead Orks. (5.05 from shooting = 27.4%)
Hang on a minute! I had thought the Crusaders would have seriously out performed the Assault squad. But they weren’t.... or were they?
The Assault squad scores 89% kills compared to the Crusaders. The two flamers actually go a long way in compensating for lack of numbers and the shooting phase is what keeps the Assault squad competitive. Which is kind of ironic....
I will say this though. Scoring 89% is a decent sized drop in effectiveness. If that happens over a few turns, you will really notice the difference. If the Assault squad can’t kill a squad in the turn it assaults (or even by the end of the enemies turn) they will not be able to bring the kills of the flamers into play.
But who plays Foot anyway?
10 Initiates + Rhino = 243 pts.
Power fist, Melta gun.
9 bolt pistol shots, 6 h, 3 dead.
Melta shot, 0.66 h, 0.55 dead.
27 A, 20.25 h, 10.125 w, 8.4 dead.
2 PF A. 1.5 h, 1.245 dead
13.2 dead Orks. (3.55 from shooting = 26.9%)
Now the Assault squad are scoring 124% of the Mech Crusaders! That is interesting. With the flamers used, the Assault squad does a serious amount of killing on the charge. Without that, the would drop down to the same output as the Mech Crusaders.
This shows that Assault squads can be used effectively, it’s just that they need to crush small squads, or attack in combination with another squad, to make sure they can rip through it in one or two close combat phases.
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Survivability.
This is one very obvious flaw with them. Whilst Foot Crusaders have very large squads to absorb shooting and Mech Crusaders have AV 11 to get them out of harms reach of even Tau pulse rifles, Assault Marines have no such defence. Even using cover well can mean you lose effective progress of the table top. I am not saying don’t use cover. I am saying unless you have built a terrain bridge across the table for just that purpose, you’ll not likely be able to do that.
What Assault squads can do in follow in the wake of your Rhinos and Land Raiders. Cashing in on the Italian saying that “The best form of armour is to be out of sight” is the idea here. You don’t have to face your Rhinos straight at where you are going, you can pivot them at the end of the move so they are ‘wider’ and provide superior blocking of TLOS than had you not been so creative.
On the turn before the charge, bring the Assault squad more alongside the Rhino. This will give you more depth for effective 18” charge. This could mean you have exposed your squad to shooting, but you will have to gauge the Risk versus Reward of that yourself on the day of the game.
Once they have made it into close combat against smaller squads, they avoid being shot. It becomes important to pick a squad that will not hurt you badly, but at the same time last your assault phase so you end up killing them in their next assault phase. Then you are free to attack something else within 18”. This use of mêlée will reduce the amount of firepower suffered and also block up TLOS to other parts of your force.
If you do not micro-manage your Assault squad and keep them out of sight and/or overwhelm the foe with other more urgent options to shoot at, you will regret bringing them along.
They may kill as well as a larger squad, but they will die much quicker.
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Tank hunters.
8 Melta bombs and 2 PF attacks on the charge will likely end badly even for Walkers and cruising Tanks.
Multiple Melta bombs mean even Land Raiders must be wary. Against AV 14;
15/36 won’t damage.
6/36 will glance.
15/36 will penetrate.
AV 10;
1/36 will glance.
35/36 will penetrate.
That is ridiculous! If you can charge multiple Tanks with one assault (or charge a squadron) you will rack up damage very quickly.
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Who they compete with?
3 Land speeders with MM and HF = 225 pts.
These can deepstrike, shoot their MELTA weapons and still remain out of reach of much of the enemy force, whilst the Assault squad have only fired their bolt pistols and flamers (if they have landed close enough). The Speeders can also land just as close as the Assault squad and fire the more effective HF, something that will hammer Medium infantry with save 4+.
But the Speeders can’t stay out of TLOS behind a Rhino, can’t help out another squad that is already in cc (though they can HF a squad just before another squad charges ~ like the Assault squad can) and can be taken out with a single shot, although they are mostly impervious to bolter fire and can come in neat single choices, meaning you can spread those three Speeders across the board, too.
Assault Marines can lock up a Devastator squad in close combat (which means they get to kill in the shooting and assault phase, the Speeder only in shooting), or leap to the aid of another unit already in close combat. These can be turn-winning strengths in themselves.
If you are playing competitively, Speeders win. If you are playing something less cut throat, Assault squads can do well and if you can overcome their flaws, you will probably enjoy using them.
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Squad load outs.
10 Assault Marines = 267 pts
2 Flamers, Power fist. Melta bombs.
5 Assault Marines = 122 pts
2 Flamers.
5 Assault Marines = 120 pts
Melta bombs.
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Even the dreaded Templar Initiates need a helping hand in mêlée, and the less hard hitting Assault Marines even more so.
It turns out we have just the character for the job.
The Reclusiarch.
4 i5 power weapon attacks, re-rolling all to hit rolls (not just versus ws, which is what AAC brings) is just the extra power they need.
Boltpistol, Frag grenades, Jump pack and Melta bombs ups his cost to 122 pts.
1] Terminator honours ~ more attacks
2] Plasma pistol and Artificer armour (need to stop him hurting himself as much as anything else) ~ for a useful s7 ap2 shot, always handy against rear armour and TEq.
3] Powerfist/Thunder hammer (perhaps swapped for melta bombs) ~ 4 s8 attacks on the charge (of more use than 1 melta bomb attack against AV10-12)
The cheaper you can keep him the better.
Sometimes you’ll have spare points that cannot be spent elsewhere and so these are the better options.
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Plasma pistols and Storm shields.
I don’t like either of these choices for Assault Marines.
Plasma pistols seem reasonable for these anti-Mech warriors. However, when you’ve spent so many points on one, is the Risk versus Reward worth it? I don’t think so. A s7 shot is not a game winner nor that likely to open a transport up for you to assault the passengers but losing an Assault Marine will make you sad.
When compared with Flamers they compete with (the weapons that actually do a lot of the infantry killing that keeps them somewhat competitive) they seem counter productive.
Storm shields cannot be used to keep them alive against shooting (their biggest weakness) and in order to get the reasonable 4++ save in mêlée, you’ll be killing less ~ which in turn means you’ll be taking more hits.
Anything that reduces the kills and increases the cost of an already marginal choice seems unwise to me.
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Deep striking?
No. Most of the time they will not cause enough shooting damage, even with flamers, to reduce incoming fire. They are then in a neat huddle for an Ordnance shot.
A safer bet is to scurry across the board behind Rhinos.
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Assault Marines are not “competitive”, nor are they Assaulty. However, with some care you can get something worthwhile from them.
I think of them as somewhat like Cuirassiers employing the Caracole tactic.
