What Makes a Great 40K Unit – Tactical Marines Edition
People say that tons of units in 40K aren’t great – but exactly what defines a must take unit? Let’s look at Tactical Marines to see what’s going on.
Lots of units in Warhammer are considered amazing or “must haves”. These come in all shapes and sizes and can range from the humble Imperial Guardsmen all the way to the mighty Magnus. Then you get the in between ones like Space Marine Scouts and Eldar Shining Spears.
Stop lying to yourself – you love me.
But if you look at the other 90% of units in 40K (the ones not often used in competitive play – you think – what gives? These units can’t ALL be bad – and how would you make them more desirable?
Now if there is one thing that I have learned over the years – it’s that if you ask two 40K players how to “fix a unit” you’re getting five answers. Normally you can bundle these into three categories:
- Make the Unit Cheaper
- Make the Unit Stronger
- Make the Unit Unique
For today’s thought experiment we are going to take the backbone of every Space Marine Chapter – that tireless and seemingly endless mass of troops that hold the Imperium together striking fear into heretics and xenos alike – Imperial Scouts.
Oh wait I’m sorry. I was looking over army lists from 8th edition; of course I meant Tactical Squads!
Tactical Squads
First we are going to look at the basic unit and consider three ideas from the categories above to make the unit a “Must Have”
There you go – totally standard marines who made the one terrible mistake of being 2 whole points more than Scouts at 13pts apiece instead of 11. Thus they are terribad and Scouts have taken over the meta. So let’s try on 3 options:
Make the Unit Cheaper
I’d argue that it’s the special deployment rules that really make Scouts great – and if that is the case – you could argue that the Tacticals are just overvalued. So try this one. Equalize the squads and make players choose between better equipment vs better deployment options.
Tactical Marines are 11pts apiece.
Make the Unit Stronger
The counter argument is that the unit is overcosted, so we should bring its abilities up to match it’s cost. Then players may consider it. We aren’t looking to rock the boat, so let’s keep it simple.
Tactical Flexibility: Tactical Marines have previously fought at both Devastator and Assault Marines and their Sergeants can read fluid combat situations with ease. Tactical Marines reroll to-hit rolls of 1 in either the shooting or fight phase, chosen at the start of the turn.
Make the Unit Unique
Make the unit do something really unique. Something taken from it’s background that gives it something to offer a player that cannot be found elsewhere. How’s this:
Backbone of the Chapter: Tactical Marines have fought for decades and are tactically flexible and experienced. Across the galaxy it is know that where Tactical Marines stand, no enemy of the Emperor can know victory. Tactical Marines remove the ability of any enemy units within 3″ to hold objectives.
Which One is Correct?
In theory any of them, or all of them. It’s really up to the designer and what they want the unit to represent. Personally I would lean towards Making the Unit Unique, as I really like units that do interesting things, more of a rock-paper-scissors model instead of the bland increasing stats for increasing cost model of design.
~ What is your design philosophy and how would you make Tactical Marines great?
