Warhammer 40,000/Tactics/Space Marines/Siege Assault Vanguard(7E)

Why Play A Space Marine Siege Assault Vanguard

Are regular space marines just not doing it for you? Do you feel you need even tougher marines, with better options, and more firepower? Then the Siege Assault Vanguard list is for you! There are plenty of units that are simply identical to the regular Codex: Space Marines ones, but there are plenty of new toys to play with. Your Fast Attack choices are reduced (and you only get to take two), but you can take four Heavy Support. Also, if you want to create a fluffy Imperial Fists or pre-Chaos Iron Warriors list (aside from the Horus Heresy Legion list from Betrayal), this is your new best friend. One of my friends even play post-heresy Iron Warriors with this list + IG allies (for Earthshakers) - cause IW don't really bothered worshiping Chaos Gods - only Big Guns and Perturabo. In that order.

Awesomeness does come at a price, however. Your opponent gets to place a "siege objective" anywhere in his deployment zone. This is what your force is "laying siege" to. This is in addition to all other objectives. If you don't capture the siege objective, the best you can do is tie. Unless you table them, that's always a victory. The fact that you can be holding 6 objectives at a time and tie because the last one is being contested kinda sucks, but for the goodies you get, it can all be worth it.

These units can get really expensive, however, really fast (both in terms of points and dollars/pounds/euros/thrones -- this is a Forge World list from Imperial Armour Volume Ten). Keep an eye on it.

Reasons to play a Siege Assault Army

• Re-rollable armour saves
• 4 HS Slots
• Most HS vehicles come in squadrons of 1-3
• ICs with signums
• Troops assault marines who can be given furious charge (because fuck pansy ass Blood Angels)
• All the standard codex goodies
• Siege Dreadnought Talons as troops. Sweet Jesus!

Unit Analysis

HQ Units

NOTE No HQs in this list can take bikes, ever.

• Siege Master - Similar to a regular Captain in many respects, he does have some interesting advantages. First off, he comes default with the vanilla captain's stock wargear, plus artificer armour and a signum (yeah, a signum. Kinda weird). His options are ~similar to a captain's, except that he doesn't get terminator armour. His main difference (other than default wargear) is the ability to give any unit in the entire army either furious charge or tank hunters. Sweet jesus! The already insane amount of anti-tank in this list can get that much scarier, or you can have epic assaults to clear the siege objective! Has the option to take a command squad. Generally, captains aren't the best, but the Siege master just might be a solid hq choice due to being able to buff your army through special rules and the signum. Additionally, he lets you re-roll any reserve rolls, passed or failed. His always having a 2+ is one of the reasons this list has a reputation for being dead 'ard.

Other than the siege master, you have access to all HQs from Codex: Space Marines, albeit without bikes. There are a few worth going into in a bit more detail, however.

• Librarian - Tried and true librarian. The reason they are slightly better than normal in siege assault lists is twofold: You can use the GoI to get to that Siege Objective fast, and second, he can buff your guys EVEN MORE. The second one is important since Siege Assault marines are hardy as all hell, but REALLY rely on their armour saves, more than usual for marines. As such, giving them a 4++, a 5++, feel no pain, stealth+shrouded (all depending on which table you use for psychic powers) can make a big difference.

• Master of the Forge - Not THAT different from a usually list, but since SAV lists tend to have more tanks than marines, it could be a worth while investment. Bolster defences helps out with the problems mentioned in the librarian entry above, as well.

• Lord High Commander Carab Culln - Just like with regular marines, he gives your tactical squads free apothecaries. This is good for two reasons: Re-rollable 3+ armour save and a 5+ FNP save, all happening against every wound, means your objective holders aren't going anywhere, ever. Secondly, you get an appropriately hard to kill commander leading your force, who can dish out the pain.

Elite Units

The exact same as codex space marines, literally. Only difference being that the techmarine can't take a bike. You may not need terminators that much because you already have tactical marines who are harder to kill. TH/SS terminators are great as ever, but really only as a bullet magnet, since there is plenty of anti-tank in this list already. They may be worth it for CC though, as this list is pretty mediocre in assault (Siege Mantlets don't allow re-rolls in CC)

Troops

• Siege Dreadnought Talon - Troops dreadnoughts. Awesome. A unit of 1-3 dreadnoughts of either the "Siege" or "Ironclad" variety. Both dreadnought types have their normal limited selection of wargear. Only half your troops, rounding down, can be SDTs, but they DO score. They split up once they reach the board, so they don't count as a squadron either. Also, since this list is more HARDCORE than blood angels, your troops can actually score. The only bad news is no drop pods, so use these guys to baby-sit home objectives or draw fire, whichever. On the upside, however, if 50% of the dreadnoughts in your army die (including these ones, elite ones, contemptors etc.) the rest of your dreadnoughts get the RAGE USR.

• Tactical Squad - For the most part, identical to standard, except for one option: for 50pts, the squad gets Siege Mantlets. Oh man, are those things ever nice. They prevent you from buying/riding in rhinos/razorbacks (LR and the like are still fair game, however), but they let you re-roll failed armour saves. Holy shit, that makes them harder to kill than terminators. And they're cheaper than terminators. And still get their usually wargear. And score. Use them to hold an objective that WILL NOT FALL. One of the best defensive units in the game (especially once you give them feel no pain from Culln/Harath Shen/Librarian, since they'd be 'arder than plague marines.

Using them normally with a rhino is always an option however, especially for grabbing that objective. It is worth noting, however, that characters joining the squad benefit from the re-roll...so if you put a siege master in the front of the unit, anything with worse AP then plasma simply will not damage them, at all.

• Siege Assault Squad - Blood angels aren't the only ones who get assault marines as troops! These guys are essentially a heavily modified version of the regular assault squads, so I'll go over what they lose, and then what they gain.

• • Lose:
    • Jump Packs
    • Drop Pods
    • Rhinos
    • Razorbacks
    • They lose 15 points, making them cheaper than a normal full-size stock squad.
    • The ability to take squad sizes other than 10 marines

• • Gain:
    • The ability to take melta guns
    • The ability to take power swords as special weapons
    • Combi weapons on the sergeant.
    • Can take Melta Bombs for the WHOLE SQUAD
    • Can take combat shields for the WHOLE SQUAD
    • Troop FOC slot
    • Less expensive flamers
    • The ability to take Land Raiders as dedicated transports
    • Re-roll to sweeping advance

As you can see, they are quite different than regular marines. What's the proper way to use them?

• Squad A: The death of all things with AV (especially when the Siege Master gives them Tank Hunters)

2x Meltaguns, Combi-melta, melta-bombs

• Squad B: Power Choppy (3x Power weapons, especially awesome with furious charge from the SM)

2x Power Weapons, Sergeant with Power weapon. Note: These can now be power swords, axes or mauls.

• Squad C: Flamer on (might wanna take He'stan for this one. And maybe squad A as well)

2x Flamers, Combi-flamer

Either way, these are the guys you will want sweep the siege objective. Give them a landraider or a Caestus Assault Ram (expensive, but worth it seeing as how you will otherwise have a tough time using such a defensive list to take the siege objective).

Dedicated Transports

• Rhino - Same as ever. I like METAL BAWKSES, you like METAL BAWKSES, we all like METAL BAWKSES. They are pretty rare in this list, and give it some mobility where it otherwise would be lacking. Take them where you can, if you don't think you need siege mantlets (there will only be so many objectives to hold in your deployment zone, after all.) A great unit for snatching objectives.

• Razorback - The other type of metal bawks. Might just be better suited to the SAV than the rhino, as it fits in with the theme of mad killy firepower. Can only transport six, so only use it if you want to put a tactical squad on the siege objective, or any enemy objective really (holding the siege objective won't change anything if the enemy holds all the regular ones.)

• Land Raider Prometheus - The most biggest metal bawks of all. A crusader on ANGRY STEROIDS, holds ten models, assault vehicle, PotMS, all the usual Land Raider goodies. But what does it get? FOUR twin-linked heavy bolters, and it boosts reserves by +1, when you want it too. Also, cover saves are at -1 against it. Good for bringing a tactical squad to an objective, and shielding them from cover while giving support. Expensive when used that way, however.

Fast Attack

• Caestus Assault Ram - Oh man, is this thing ever terrifying. A land-raider price tag for a 13/13/11 PotMS, 5++, 4HP, Assault vehicle, holds 10 (ignoring terminators=2 rules), Uber-ramming FLYER! That's right. Move 36" and ram a tank at S10, with re-roll to pen and +1 to damage chart. Just about the only flyer with the "tank" type, and literally the only one that can ram. The debate rages on regarding it's ability to ram other flyers, but regardless, it is awesome. It is also immune to the melta special rules. Lol. It has a TL Magna-melta (R18 S8 AP1 Heavy1 Large Blast Melta) and a firefury missile battery (R36" S6 AP4 blast, heavy four, twin-linked, one-shot) because infantry AND tanks deserve to die. Can also have a teleport home and frag assault launchers. Can also deepstrike.

• Assault Squad - Same as codex.

• Vanguard Veterans - Same as codex.

Cannot take anything other than these three options. Remember also: only 2 Fast Attack choices allowed.

EDIT: An e-mail to Forgeworld has shown that stormtalons are, indeed, legal in a siege assault vanguard. So if you want an anti-air choice that isn't terrible, you can take one of those. Or an aegis line, I guess.

Heavy Support

• Predator Tank Squadron - Predator goodness, now in squadron format! Not too much of a point taking them in squadrons, especially given the debuffs Sixth Edition brought to squadrons. Might be worth it in kill-points games, but given that you will already win every kill-point game ever with this army list, you be best sticking to one predator. That one predator is still as awesome as ever, though. Especially with 6th ed being the rise of the autocannon.

• Whirlwind Support Squadron - Whirlwinds, in a squadron. Just like the name suggests. 1-3, like all the other squadrons in this army type. I suppose it could be useful for clearing objectives before your little men sweep in to capture it, since this list is so heavy on anti-tank that it's anti-infantry generally falls by the wayside (except for little bits of anti-infantry thrown in to anti-tank units, like the Caestus. Taking it in squadrons prevents your opponent taking easy killpoints here, while providing you ample cover-save ignoring anti-infantry.

• Vindicator Tank Squadron - The first, fluffiest choice for this slot. That many vindicators could really bring the hurt. ALL THE HURT. Could be useful for clearing heavier infantry (Tactical marines, plague marines) off of objectives, whereas your whirlwinds tend to struggle with that. Otherwise, it is the same as regular Vindicators: balls-out firepower, hampered by short range. The big upside: Being able to give the whole squadron Tank Hunters, from the siege master. That could be awesome: give them HKM so that they can launch a re-rollable salvo while they close, and then launch your THREE S10AP2 pie plates that roll two dice and pick the highest to pen...then re-roll if you somehow fail.

• Land Raider Achilles - The second fluffy choice. Perfect for not dying, ever (immune to melta, lance, and -1 to damage chart) for raping tanks with it's TL MM sponsons, and for raping infantry with it's HULL MOUNTED THUNDERFIRE CANNON. Hell yes. Even better when you consider this is the perfect list for fielding Imperial Fists, and this Land Raider was invented by them. An overall great tanks, suffering only from a transport capacity of six models. Command squad, maybe? Five siege mantlet marines with a siege master? Endless possibility.

• Land Raider Helios - Anti-air Land-raider. Not that great, 260 points for one skyfire krak missile a turn. If you are looking for a way to transport a command squad/honour guard/vanguard vets though, this could be awesome, with the whirlwind missiles, as it in that case it is basically 10 points for a whirlwind launcher. Don't even think about giving it the AA launcher though. Ever.

Building Your Army

This one isn't very hard: use your existing marine army. 99.99% of you reading this probably have a few thousand points of marines sitting around anyways. A few things to remember: You will need to buy plenty of bits to convert your marines to represent the options they have in this list. The Siege Assault Marines will need to be jump-pack less chainsword+bolt pistol marines, so that'll cost you. Marines with Siege Mantlets are required by the rules to have some sort of shield attached to the model (try the FW boarding shield set, though admittedly you'll have a hell of a time with heavy weapons), just little things like this. Also, you will probably need a Caestus assault ram if you ever want to take the siege objective, and they cost $150. And probably a few land raiders, which cost about $90-100. And a bunch of dreadnoughts. So despite the fact that you (probably) already have about 1000pts of the specific models you want for a 2000pts Siege Assault Vanguard list, it will still cost about as much as a regular 2000 point list. Because Forge World.

Army Tactics

This is, admittedly, a hard army to use. They are extremely forgiving of beginner mistakes, due to nothing in it dying ever, and it will win ever Big Guns Never Tire game you play (because squadrons), as well as winning ever kill point game (as long as you take the siege objective). The issue is that it is an army that is fucking EXCELLENT at defense, honestly nothing else in the game even comes close, blob guard wish they were siege vanguards, but they are forced to play aggressively by their special rule. An experienced player, with a strong, well though out army list and a sound grasp of tactics can definitely use it to their advantage, but most players will struggle with it. Still, it offers some powerful options, some great prices (points wise; god knows they charge about 300% too much money wise) and a unique and fun playstyle I think most players can probably appreciate.

But as far as tactics go, you will generally want at least three of this modded codex's hardcore objective holders-1 or 2 mantlet tactical squads and a talon of two ironclads would work. This way even if you roll 5 objectives, or are playing the scouring, you can hold all the objectives you get to place. You will want two or three units capable of advancing and capturing objectives, or at least one capable of capturing and two or so of clearing objectives. Because one thing is constant: you need to always be capable of capturing that siege objective. In a way, it is kind of a liberating restriction, in that there is no randomness. In a straight up fight, any semi-well planned SAV list will crush any other list (except maybe a legion list, that one is up for debate). That's why they added the siege objective. What this means for you is you need to be able to have a few units move up quick who are tough enough to take and hold objective, and have units capable of wiping the enemy off the other objectives (in an army like this one, you simply can't afford that many transports, since yours are almost all expensive+powerful, rather than cheap+numerous. This means one troops unit with upgrades+a ride, and either tanks, big guns, or heavy infantry to kill whatever is holding the regular objectives).

For hilarity: Kor'sarro khan and a siege master as HQs, with three troops units of Siege Assault Squad+LR Redeemer, outflank them all, arriving on a 2+ on turn two. Hilarity ensues, and then your guys get roflstomped because you have 32 PA models and 3 tanks at 2000pts.

For Awesome (but impractical): Take Lucius Pattern drop pods (yes, you still get those) and drop your scoring ironclads in to sweep/capture objectives. Lol.

Or you could just take 2 caestus assault rams, 4 land raider achilles and just pray for either big guns never tire or the scouring, since you will never lose any of those four vehicles, and if they can hole the siege objective it is just done for your opponent. The downside would be the fact that you just spent 1850pts and $800 on six models. So this is instead of getting a reaver titan. FORGE WOOOOOORRRRLLLD!