A bit of advice on equipping Space Marine Assault Squads?

I'm trying to put together an assaulty Space Marine force for casual play - I've always tended to hew to the shooty side before now.

I've been eyeing up putting together a Skyhammer Annihilation Force together with a Flesh Tearers Blood Rain Strike Force, but I'm at a bit of a loss with how much kit to parcel out amongst the fighty troops. I'll have:

1XDeath Company Squad
1XVanguard Veteran Squad
3XAssault Squad

that I'll need to equip. Should I keep 'em dirt-cheap? They could potentially be getting re-rolls to hit and wound from the "Suppressing Fusillade" rule on the Skyhammer Annihilation Force, while the Blood Rain Strike Force assault squad will get Furious Charge to boost their killiness. On the other hand, I'd like them to be able to engage all kinds of enemies - including big ones - if at all possible.

Any Space Marine vets with some advice on how much stuff to give 'em? It's tempting to go nuts and start handing out hand flamers like candy, for instance, but I often tend to put too much gear on my troops and then forget to use it.

Any advice will be greatly appreciated.

Got this advice from Martel732 over on Dakka:

"Give the vanguards melta bombs and a few storm shields, the DC 2 X power fist and the ASM meltaguns, combi-melta."

"You don't need a bunch of power weapons, as most units now fold in assault. There are exceptions, but that's what the DC is for."

as Captain Bubonicus says, so long as you can pick the right unit to assault you shouldn't need that much by way of upgrades to win an assault. My personal preference for assault marines is 2 flamers and a melta bomb on the Sargent; its pretty cheep, and deep striking flamers help a lot into troops bunkered down in heavy cover. I think that Vanguard Vets get cheeper power weapons in the new codex, I'd recommend giving each either a stormshield or a power weapon if the power weapon is cheaper than the standardised 15 pts.

Thanks, Reldane - flamers are kinda groovy in overwatch, too. I gotta get used to the tactical implications of having my troops right up in the enemy's face - the only army I'm used to doing that with is Plague Marines, and they can take a lot more abuse!

I've been using the 2 flamer/Meltabomb option for about 5 years now and I really enjoy it as well. I'm going to try running the double Gladius + Skyhammer Annihilation Force this fall. Looking forward to all the free drop pods and/or Razorbacks for the detachment and the Skyhammer is simply evil.

I can't muster that many vanilla chapter troops, or I'd do it, too. I went on a bit of a Space Wolf binge, and that's the majority of my (unassembled) Space Marines at the moment. I just saw the Skyhammer Annihilation Force datasheet and thought about how fun it might be pairing it up with a bunch of bloodthirsty Flesh Tearers. Best part is that I've already got a bunch of Imperial Fist devastators I can use for the force - I just have to paint up some Fist assault squads.

I'm lucky that my first event army was Howling Griffons... I went crazy and painted up a full Battle company plus tons of extra units and tanks so all these weird new formations are like Christmas! I had to look up the Blood Rain Strikeforce. It looks fun!

Yeah, it's in the new WD 47 issue - nothing as ground-breaking as the "charge from reserves" Skyhammer Annihilation Force, but it's still very "in-your-face" - which is a novel way to play Space Marines for me. I'm looking forward to it!

I think the important question is what is the purpose of them?

If they are cc then tool them up for that, if they are for short range fire fighting then that is a different option.
What do you want them to achieve? Anti-infantry, anti-tank, melee or shooting.

Once you know what they need to do you can build up from that. Multi-purpose units end up being overly cost as they end up being tooled up to take over multiple targets

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Wolfshade

I think the important question is what is the purpose of them?

If they are cc then tool them up for that, if they are for short range fire fighting then that is a different option.
What do you want them to achieve? Anti-infantry, anti-tank, melee or shooting.

Once you know what they need to do you can build up from that. Multi-purpose units end up being overly cost as they end up being tooled up to take over multiple targets

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Oh, anti-personnel, most definitely. I'll use the devastator squads to try to deal with any armored threats (but I'll give the sergeant of each assault squad a melta-bomb, just in case).

What was primarily worrying me was how to handle a wide range of enemy infantry - I'd like to have assault squads that can at least hold their own against power-armored elite infantry or horde units or Tyranid Monstrous Creatures, if that's at all possible.