Ask the Mormon

[Chozon1]

Nice. XD That's pretty awesome. Who do they crusade against?

[ArcticFox]

EVERYONE.

Anything that's a threat to the Imperium, they destroy. They especially hate psykers (Some characters in the game have the ability to use psychic powers... which originate from the warp, which is associated with Chaos) and of all the Space Marine chapters, the Black Templars are the only one that absolutely will not use them in their force and will never ally with anyone who is using them... even other Imperial aligned armies. (With ONE exception... The Grey Knights, who are considered to be so pure and so above reproach that the Black Templars will fight alongside them.)

[Chozon1]

I'd actually considered the Grey Knights at one time.

But that's hilariacool. XD But if Psy powers come from the Warp, why do any Space Marine chapters use them? :\

The perils of having not read anything about the game aside from Armies.

[ArcticFox]

The reasons are as varied as the fluff and backstory. Some chapters refuse to acknowledge the true source of the power. Some understand it as a necessary evil. Still others see it as not inherently evil, but definitely to be handles with the most extreme care.

Besides, without psy powers, the Imperium could not exist. Without psyker navigators, ships could not safely navigate through the warp, and thus humanity would be stuck with sublight drives. The Emperor himself is the source of the telepathic beacon that serves as a fixed nav point for all Imperial ships. Without astropaths, communication between systems would be reduced to messages can be carried aboard ships.

...which, when you think about it, shows just how critical and essential it is to the Imperium, since even the Black Templars must rely on these things. They draw the line at using psykers in battle, though.

[Chozon1]

Odd. But cool. XD

How many chapters of marines are there?

[ArcticFox]

Accordinng to the Codex Astartes, one thousand.

The Codex Astartes is the document in the 40k universe that lays down the structure, regulations, procedures and limits for all Space Marines chapters.

The Black Templars ignore this document.

[Chozon1]

XD

That's how the math worked out, but math is untrustworthy.

So then...all the chapters haven't been 'revealed' for lack of a better word? Like...is a unit of 1000 Space Marines considered a chapter, but only some of them (Black Templars, Space Wolves, ETC) get names?

[ArcticFox]

Yeah. Each Chapter is completely independent and autonomous, fighting for the Imperium. Only a few of them have been defined in the fluff. The rest is to allow for players to create their own chapters.

[Chozon1]

The pants of win need no belt. O_o

I srsly need to get by a GW store. -_-

Shooty armies vs close combat?

[ArcticFox]

I'm a close combat sort of guy, myself. Half of any victory is being able to intimidate your opponent just a little bit on the table. What's more intimidating, a line of space marines hanging back, shooting at you and waiting for you to come to them, or those same space marines coming in via drop pod right in your face swinging chainswords?

My favorite tactic is to land drop mods among the enemy's units. When they've been taking up defensive positions to deal with my guys who actually are on my side of the table, and suddenly some of my troops are tapping theirs on the shoulder and I have to come around to my opponent's side of the table in order to move my units, hilarity ensues.

[Chozon1]

Oh dude. That's epic. XD I saw a vid once where a dude managed to get a tank behind the enemies army. It didn't end well for the other guy.

Are standard space marines a ranged or close army? I canna seem to find info on that.

[ArcticFox]

Regular Space Marines are meant to be flexible, so that if you pick up the generic Space Marine Codex you can build your army to suit your own play style and preferences. The Codices that focus on a specific chapter typically emphasize one particular style at the expense of others. For example, the Black Templars are generally better at close combat than any build you can come up with using the regular marines 'dex, but that comes at the expense of ranged combat effectiveness. So Ultramarines (a "generic" Space Marine chapter) can outgun Black Templars but once the Templars get them into hand to hand...

On the other hand, my buddy, who plays Dark Angels, has an army build emphasizing heavy hitting ranged attacks. When we play, it's really a matter of how fast I can get to him. If he can destroy me at range before I can get into close combat, he'll win. If not, I have an early lunch. He's the reason I developed the drop pod tactic. By forcing close combat early in the game, I gain a huge advantage. In response, he rebuilt his army to be almost entirely made up of Terminators, which forced me out of my element by making me play defensive, and the Black Templars stink at the defensive game.

[Deepfreeze32]

What think ye of this?

[Chozon1]

So it's possible to build a normal Space Marine army that can fight melee, but it isn't always effective to do so?

[ArcticFox]

What think ye of this?

I think that's pretty awesome. I wonder how close they'll be able to get to the actual look and feel of the Mk VII Viper...

So it's possible to build a normal Space Marine army that can fight melee, but it isn't always effective to do so?

Yeah you can kit it out in prettymuch any way you like... it's a very flexible Codex. Like, you could create one 10 man squad of marines with bolters and a couple heavy weapons for ranged fighting, and another in the same army with an assault squad equipped with jump packs and close combat goodies. The ranged guys could provide cover for the assault squad to go in and wreck face...

Or, you could put an entire 10 man squad in a Land Raider armed with Las Cannons... you roll up on the enemy with guns blazing and then when you get to them, open the assault hatch and let the marines come charging out and let the good times roll.

Or, you could get mostly ranged weaponry and hang back, setting up a killing box... And have a few Terminators around to deal with enemies that get too close.

It's all in the play style you like best.