# Mechanized Space Marines Tactics



## Zeriah (May 25, 2009)

Hi guys,

just wanted to start a thread to compile ideas on mechanized tactica, as there seems to be almost none anywhere on the interwebz.

Specificaly, Troops mounted in rhinos and razorbacks supported by some battle tanks. e.g. predators and vindicators.

my army has
1 razor back squad (command)
3 rhino squads
2 predators
1 vindicator


any help would be duly appreciated 

Thanks guys.:so_happy:


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## Calamari (Feb 13, 2009)

I guess the key to a mech marine army (in my experience at least) is to resist the temptaion to get out of the Rhinos and don't forget the smoke launchers.

What is it in particular you need help with, I'll have more to go on.


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## Zeriah (May 25, 2009)

Oh my idea was to jump out of the rhinos and rapid fire the enemy to kingdom come!!!

in a tactical way mind you...
maybe this is why i lose all the time

but im just looking for general advice 

thanks


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## Someguy (Nov 19, 2007)

I think the reason there isn't much written about mechanised marine tactics is because marines are assumed to be mechanised, or at least tactical marines always should be. There has been quite a lot of discussion on the relative merits of rhinos, razorbacks and land raiders.

A tactical squad in a rhino, with fist, melta gun and missile launchers is pretty much the default set up I think. You can add combi-weps and swap the special weps around if you want, but I think melta and missile is the best all-round armament.

Some kind of melee ability is a requirement for this army, because it spends a lot of its time within 12" of the enemy. You need to look at things like terminators and think hard about what kind of HQ you want. I find Pedro pretty handy, because marines under his command stop being quite so pathetic in cc. He also doesn't really need to be in cc, so he won't mind riding in a rhino.

I don't really rate predators and vindicators. Personally I'm a fan of land speeder typhoons and land raiders. I like my firepower units to be mobile and/or long-ranged, so they can influence large amounts of the board. In battles where mech armies fight each other the winner is very often the person who can get his opponent out of his transports first, so anything that can fire lots of high strength shots at long range is gold. Predators and devastators often don't fire on turn 1, especially in dawn of war, so the enemy can be in your face already before you can do anything about it if your support units are too slow. 

Land raiders work because they are very difficult to kill at range, so they very often able to get their cargo where it's needed. If you have to go all the way across the board a rhino isn't going to get you there against people with any kind of firepower. A land raider usually will. The problem for marines though is that they can't get a very powerful scoring unit inside the land raider, because tactical marines waste its assault abilities. Often then, the best option is to send assault termies to contest the enemy objective while holding your own with your tactical guys.


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## Uilleam (Nov 23, 2009)

Something I've been doing as long as I've been playing World Eaters is using my rhinos as mobile cover. Drive straight at the enemy and then pivot on the spot so your rhino is now sideways to his squad. Dump your guys out the back. You can even put rhinos front to back to form long lines that block LoS or at the least give you cover against heavy weapons. Pop smoke. Next turn if your rhinos are still mobile you drive them away to block LoS against your opponents other shooty units and charge with your marines. This has frustrated all of Tau, GK, and IG players I've come up against. 

The only other thing I can add is always take Extra Armour. A transport that can't move because of being stunned is a complete waste. And with good old rhinos even an immob result can be repaired.


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## Calamari (Feb 13, 2009)

A very long and well contributed Land Raider Tactica can be found here.

Not much more to add than whats been said realy...


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## ironhammer (Aug 14, 2008)

ah the mechanized marine unit, with drop pods available this is a rare sight to see another. this is easy, shock and awe, split up your platoons so the heavy weapon is not in the transport these and your predator will provide fire-support, then have your mobile troops swing around from the side, once the troops are unloaded use the rhinos to box the enemy in, your vindicator should be with them, firing at the hard targets as it moves to keep up with the main force. this will be fast and will throw a lot of players off balance, especially if they are not used to marines being used in this manor, because really most marine players will have one of two armies: the drop pod assault which is annoying, or the heavy foot sloggers which just chase you around the board. the speed is a jarring thing for players used to one of these two tactics.

also, get a land raider crusader, some assault terminators w/ thunder hammers and a terminator Chaplin to lead the mech. charge. this is a devastating force to behold. i know, I've seen it personally.


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## pariha (Dec 1, 2009)

for my mech SM army i have :
2 rhinos
razorback
vindicator
landraider
whirlwind

for my tanks and then just basic set up of 2 tac squads riding in rhinos termies in landraider and command squad with pedro in the razorback, it seems to work rather well


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