Warhammer 40K: Space Marine Unit Guide – Warriors Without Dread – PRIME
Today let’s continue our in-depth look at the massive roster of Space Marine units and how to use them. Today we talk Terminators & Dreads.
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. We looked at Marine HQs and Troops, and some elites and more elites 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.
Terminator Assault Squad
Terminators, of which there are several variants, are the heavy assault unit of classic Marines. They represent some of the most heavily armored units in the Marine line up and fill a number of roles. They fill a similar role to Aggressors and Bladeguard Veterans in the classic Marine line up. All Terminator’s share a few characteristics, including a base save of 2+, extra wounds and attacks over normal Marines and the option to deep strike. They also all have a minimum of a 5+ invulnerable save.
As the name implies Assault Terminators are a purely close combat focused variant of Terminators. Their 2 attacks base, as well as 3 wounds and a 2+/5++ save makes them both deadly and resilient to many attacks. By gaining an extra wound they became significantly less vulnerable to plasma attacks. They come equipped with a Thunder hammer and Storm shield but can swap these for lighting claws. Both options have a useful role to play. The base load out makes them deadly against any target, and capable of dealing some major damage. Storm Shields give them a remarkable 1+/4++ save (in cover this can get to a 0+ save) making them even harder to shift. Lighting claws on the other hand make them strong at chopping through light infantry. They also have the option to take a teleport homer, allowing them to in effect re-deep strike during game and are Core allowing most aura’s to affect them.
Terminators while good on paper do have drawbacks. Their speed of 5 and no ranged attacks makes them dependent on getting into close combat, but walking is rarely a good option for them. This leaves them hoping to make a charge out of deep strike or paying for an expensive transport. In addition while aided by shock attack, they simply don’t have that many attacks, meaning they can often struggle to earn back points. While they can be a solid rock unit, they struggle when compared to other elite units such as Vanguard Veterans who have similar damage output but far greater mobility. While they can have uses this is one classic unit that doesn’t see play much anymore and for good reason.
Terminator Squad 
Another variant of Terminators, the base Terminator Squad is a mixed ranged/close combat unit. They have the same base stats, rules and abilities of the Assault Terminators. The primary difference here is in load out. The basic Terminator is armed with a power fist and storm bolter. Any model can swap their power fist for a chain fist, while one out of every five can either replace their storm bolter with a heavy flamer or assault cannon or take a cyclone missile launcher in addition to their storm bolter. The sergeant is armed with a power sword instead of a power fist
The primary issue here is again one of damage output and mobility. In combat the unit’s relatively few attacks combined with hitting on a 4+ base due to power fists means they just don’t get a lot of hits in, often a single cheaper character can do more damage than a whole squad. Meanwhile at range the increased lethality of the game has somewhat left them behind. The storm bolter gets an ok number of shots, at 4, but remains a base S4 AP- weapon, and Marine armies aren’t really lacking in basic small arms fire as it is. Even the inclusion of a heavy weapon, none of which are the best in the army or unique to the unit, doesn’t really push them over the edge.
They suffer in particular when compared to similar units like Aggressors who sit at a similar points cost in the Elites slot. Aggressors have an extra attack over Terminators and 2-3x the ranged firepower, with roughly equivalent survivability, indeed against S4 Ap 0-2 attacks, the most common in the came, Aggressors are more durable. Terminators do have access to deep strike and better transports, but it’s not much. Given the choice and saying I wanted to take Terminators I’d opt for the more focused Assault Terminators who bring more durability and close combat damage.
Relic Terminator Squad
The final Terminator unit in the core book, Relic Terminators are a holdover unit from the Horus Heresy era. They have the same rules and abilities as other terminators with the exception that they cannot take a teleport homer. Functionally they are equipped similarly to the base Terminator squad. They do have the option to take lightning claws as well as either a power fist or chain fist. They have slightly better firepower with the option to take grenade harnesses and upgrade their sergeant’s gun to something better. They have different heavy weapon options and crucially lose access to the cyclone launcher, by far the best Terminator heavy weapon. These guys don’t really do anything base Terminators do, and without a Cyclone lose any long range anti-tank firepower. The loss of a teleport homer can also hurt them. Their slightly increased firepower is matched by a slight increase in costs and really picking between them and base Terminators will likely come down to which models you have access to, with neither being top tier choices.
Centurion Assault Squad
Centurions are the heaviest Marine infantry around and pack quite a punch. With strength and toughness 5, 4 wounds, 3 attacks and 2+ save they have truly amazing stats able to both take a punch and dish one out. This is only offset by a slow 5 inch move and a limited unit size of 3-6. For close combat weapons, they are armed with the amazing siege drills, which is effectively a thunder hammer without -1 to hit. For ranged they come with a pair of either flamers or melta guns, making them great at attacking either hordes or vehicles. In addition, they are armed with centurion assault launchers, which can be swapped for hurricane bolters.
Given that the assault launchers’ only effect is to give them access to a stratagem of limited usefulness it’s likely always better to arm them with hurricane bolters. So armed the unit can put out a really massive about of firepower, with up to 24 anti-infantry shots per model or a mix of 12 anti-infantry shots and 2 anti-tank shots, making them highly versatile. In combat, the unit can deliver a large number of high power, high damage attacks. Unlike terminators they don’t suffer from low attacks or a -1 to hit so make the most of their small numbers. As a bonus enemy units don’t receive cover against their ranged attacks, though they do suffer from not being core.
Centurions are an extremely deadly unit with strong ranged and combat attacks. On the flip side, they are a slow unit without access to deep strike and few transport options. Though they are a tough unit their lack of an invulnerable save and smaller unit size means that they risk being cut down by enemy fire as they struggle to get into position. If you have a way or a plan to make up for their slow movement, such as a stratagem or other trick this is an amazing unit and potentially can swing a game in your favor. If you don’t have some way to boost their mobility however they can easily end up an expensive pile of casualties without having achieved much.
Invictor Tactical Warsuit 
The Invictor is a newer Primaris unit that combines an amazing amount of firepower and mobility. As a vehicle, the Invictor has great stats, but is only a single model. With a base movement of 10″, T6 and 14 wounds, plus a 3+ save this thing can move around well and take a lot of hits. While it has a lower toughness than many vehicles, its 14 wounds mean it not going to be easy to kill. For weapons, it also has an impressive loadout. For combat, it’s armed with an Invictor fist allowing it to make S14 ap -3 D 3 attacks which are pretty devastating. For ranged it’s armed with a storm grenade launcher, heavy bolter and twin ironhail heavy stubber, giving it a base of up to 17 attacks. In addition, it must take either an Incendium Cannon, in effect a souped-up flamer, or a Twin Ironhail autocannon.
With either load out the Invictor can put out a huge amount of shots with a maximum cap of 29 ranged shots. While the Incendium cannon does auto hit, and has a higher potential number of shots, the flat six shots of the autocannon, and its attacks being slightly better, as well as much longer-ranged, makes it a better choice overall and more reliable. Armed with the autocannon. The Invicitor is a strong and mobile ranged unit that can punish any unit that gets close.
In addition to a strong load out the Invictor also has concealed positions allowing it to infiltrate. This gives you the potential to have one or more heavy armored close combat units in the enemy’s face on turn one. With these it’s quite possible to pin an enemy army in their deployment zone and control the flow of battle. They also work great alongside units like Infiltrators allowing you to throw forward a mix of infantry and vehicles to claim forward objectives and put pressures on the enemy. If used aggressively like this the Incendium Cannon is something to consider taking. Overall this is an amazing unit that favors an aggressive close up play style but is flexibly enough to find use in most armies.
Dreadnought 
Dreadnoughts are a large and diverse class of Marine walkers. These armored vehicles tend to combine ranged ability with strong close combat attacks at the cost of being slower than most other vehicles. The most basic of all these variants is the humble Dreadnought. It has standard Marine WS and BS, a 6 inch movement and T7 and 8 wounds, with 4 attacks and a 3+ save. For weapons, it can take a variety of heavy weapons on one arm including the newly improved heavy plasma cannon and multi-melta. Its other arm is equipped with a dreadnought close combat weapon and either a storm bolter or heavy flamer. The whole arm can also be swapped for a missile launcher. The Dreadnought and all variants in the base Marine book are core and have the Duty Eternal rule which reduces the damage of any attack by 1 to a minimum of one.
The basic Dreadnought is not a particularly impressive unit. It is OK at both ranged and close combat, but does not excel at either and its slow movement is a hindrance. On the other hand it’s a relatively cheap unit that thanks to Duty Eternal is fairly survivable. Armed with a multi-melta it’s a decent threat. Dreadnoughts in general also benefit greatly from a Techmarine that can not only heal them and buff their chances to hit, but with the Warden of the Ancients Warlord trait give them extra attacks. Overall Dreadnoughts aren’t the worst unit, but the base model gets outshone by other variants and likely you’ll only want to consider taking it if you’re trying to run a large mass of them.
Contemptor Dreadnought
The first Dreadnought variant we have is the Contemptor. At first glance, it seems a vast improvement over the base model, with a jump up to 8″ movement, and an extra point of S and Wounds. It also boasts a very nice 5++ save making it significantly more durable. On the flip side it has fewer weapon options, with its gun arm only able to take either a multi-melta or a slightly better assault cannon and fist arm stuck with the close combat weapon/storm bolter (actually a combi-bolter but same stats) load out. If you were looking to run your Dreadnought with a multi-melta it’s up to to you if the extra 25 points are worth it for the movement, wound, and better save. It’s likely worth taking over the base model, but still likely not the best option.
Venerable Dreadnought
The Venerable Dreadnought is identical in all ways to the base Dreadnought with the exception that it cost 15 pts more base and WS/BS of 2+. It also gets a 6+++ save. To me this extra cost is well worth it for the superbly reliable damage output you get. As a CORE unit it can benefit from re-rolls with ease, putting it at the coveted hitting on 2s and re-rolling 1s. This makes it relatively cheap, and reliably killy enough that it can’t be ignored and just hard enough to kill to be annoying. Of the classic Marine core dreadnoughts this is my favorite option.
Ironclad Dreadnought
The Ironclad is a close-ranged variant of the base Dreadnought. It has similar stats though it is bumped up to toughness 8. At base it comes with an Ironclad close combat weapon, a seismic hammer, a storm bolter, and a melta gun. It can swap its storm bolter for a heavy flamer or swap the storm bolter and close combat weapon for a hurricane bolter. It can swap the melta gun for a heavy flamer and the seismic hammer for a Dreadnought Chainfist. It can take up to two hunter-killer missiles and assault launchers.
At best the Ironclad has mediocre ranged ability, and it’s best not to count on it to do much in that regard. On the other hand it’s pretty decent in combat with its weapons reaching D5-6 and capable of getting a decent amount of attacks. Should an Ironclad reach it, even a Knight will be worried. On the downside the Ironclad is slow with relatively few ways of boosting its speed. Even with advancing it’s unlikely to make much of an impact on the game until turn 2-3. Though they are decently tough a smart enemy won’t really have trouble killing them before they can get into range. Overall you just have a lot of better options for the slot and points and it’s better left a home.
Redemptor Dreadnought
The Redemptor is the lone Primaris Dreadnought, and it is a beast. It shares similar stats to other Dreadnoughts with the key differences of being movement 8″ and have a whopping 13 wounds. Off the bat, this makes it a strong unit, though it does suffer from have degrading stats as it gets wounded. It has a rather blistering array of weapons. For close combat it has the amazing Redemptor fist hitting at S14 AP -3 D3+3, it can really put the hurt on even strong enemy units.
For ranged its primary weapon is either a Heavy Onslaught Gatling Cannon, with a massive 12 shots, or a devastating Macro Plasma Incinerator. For a secondary weapon it can take either a regular Onslaught Gatling Cannon or a heavy flamer. It also has a pair of fragstorm grenade launchers which can be swapped for storm bolters and it can take an Incrus Rocket Pod. At max output, a Redemptor can throw out 35 shots a turn, or a lesser number of more powerful shots. The Redemptor has benefited greatly from the new codex with the vast majority of its weapons getting buffed from their prior versions.
All in all the Redemptor is currently a strong unit for Marines. At under 200 pts, it has great damage output at both range and in combat and is a great unit to push forward into enemy lines. With 13 wounds and Duty Eternal it is a difficult beast to bring down and needs dedicated fire to do so. One or more Redemptors can form the tip of a strong offensive spear and act as great bully units with just enough speed that they can’t be discounted. They are an amazing unit to support with a techmarine as one can not only buff their large number of shots, but prevent them from degrading and give them extra attacks, with some chapters able to buff them up to 7 attacks. Add a librarian with Psychic Fortress into the mix to give them an invulnerable save a block of three of these can cause some major damage. This might not be a must-take unit, but it’s one you should strongly consider.
That’s it for elites, see you next time!
