Hello everyone Frankie here to talk a bit about the Space Marine Battle Company.
So recently the Space Marine Codex came out and is for sure one of the best. They buffed up a lot of units and came out with some really cool detachments. The one that I was most excited about was the Gladius and take two Demi Battle Companies. When you take the two Demi-Battle Companies they combine to form the Battle Company. The Battle Company gets all of its transports for free and every unit becomes objective secured. They Also gain the Doctrines.
I have never played Space Marines but once I saw this detachment I couldn’t resist. The hardest part was trying to figure out what chapter I wanted to play. My first choice was Ultramarines as they would gain more Doctrines and the Doctrines make the Tactical Marines scary. But after thinking about it more and playing with some of the numbers I decided on playing a White Scars Chapter. The White Scars gain scout with Khan and all of them gain hit and run which is very useful. Another chapter which would work well with the Battle Company would be Salamanders since they twin-link all there special weapons.
I picked White Scars but I did not want to paint white as I have heard it is a pain to paint. I was looking up White Scar successor Chapters but was not excited to painting yellow either haha. I ended up stumbling upon the Minotaurs who are not a White Scar successor but look freaking awesome. I also heard that Bronze is easy to paint. Plus Forgeworld has all sorts of Minotaurs accessories and Scibor makes some Spartan Shields and bases. They are a Spartan themed army that the Imperium uses to police the other chapters. Sounds like a fun army to play.
Here is the Battle Company List I have come up with:
| HQ | ||
| khan | Moondraken | 1 |
| Chaplain | Bike, Auspex | 1 |
| Troops | ||
| Tactical Squad | melta, melta bomb | 10 |
| Rhino | _ | 1 |
| Tactical Squad | melta, melta bomb | 10 |
| Rhino | _ | 1 |
| Tactical Squad | melta, melta bomb | 10 |
| Rhino | _ | 1 |
| Tactical Squad | melta, melta bomb | 10 |
| Rhino | _ | 1 |
| Tactical Squad | melta, melta bomb | 10 |
| Rhino | _ | 1 |
| Tactical Squad | melta, melta bomb | 10 |
| Rhino | _ | 1 |
| 10th Company Task Force | ||
| Scouts | _ | 5 |
| Scouts | _ | 5 |
| Scouts | _ | 5 |
| Fast Attack | ||
| Space Marine Bikes | Grav x2, Combi-Grav, Multi-melta Attack bike | 4 |
| Assault Squad | Flamer | 1 |
| Razorback | _ | 1 |
| Heavy Support | ||
| Devastators | Missile Launcher x4 | 1 |
| Droppod | _ | 1 |
| Devastators | Missile Launcher x4 | 1 |
| Razorback | _ | 1 |
I am taking maxed out Tactical Squads because with ten man units you can combat squad and they hit a lot harder which, gives you flexibility. Being able to combat squad is really important as you get twice as many units and the army becomes harder to kill. When My army combat squads I am able to get 27 Objective Secured units. I believe this army is going to dominate missions. Everyone that I have talked to have enjoyed playing against the Battle Company as well mainly because they are killing a lot, and playing a much more tactical game. I take one dropped in my list so that if I need to I can hold my whole army in reserve. The characters go with the bikes to make a little shooting unit with more ap 2.
I cannot wait to finish my army and get it on the table for some battle reports. I will take some pictures of the building processes. Let me know what you all think about the list and what you would recommend changing if anything. Ill also keep updating my progress on this project.
Im building a Drop pod Battle Company with sentinels of Terra. pretty good. I found a use for heavy bolters, being twin linked in half rangs and drop pods
I prefer a single Attack bike for each requisite Fast Attack. Cheap, fills the niche well, small, fast, agile and can take objectives.
This is my dream list to face… You see 27 ObSec units, I see 27 Blood Tithe. 🙂
This army stands no chance against Orks =P
That’s something I haven’t in a long time.
I’m just teasing. The first time Frankie tried it out was vs. my new Ork army and I beat him.
To be fair, you were using a pretty nasty deathstar… 😛
Lol, I will never live that down, haha!
Naaah Reece would never “hide” an Ork list from his ork fellas… Lol
Never! haha
only because you use Death Stars 😉 lol
lol!
Honestly, Frankie, you are better off running 2 Units of 3 Cent Devastator and take a Flesh Tearer Strike force with 2 Sang Priest with 1x 5 man Scout and 2 Pods. Stick the Priest with the Cents in the Pods, now you have an Object Secured 2+ 5+ FNP Unit
That’s an awful lot of points to find!
Easily doable if you keep the squad body count to a minimum,
Yeah. Maxing out the squads is cute in terms of ObSec, but it’s far from an ideal choice.
That’s what I run with my BC – 2 dev centurions. Only I don’t ally in BA. I just use a Space Marine CAD in the ITC format (where you can self-ally). But I like the idea of dual-S-Priests.
Since you’re using a CAD, that’s technically legal in any format that allows at least two sources. The only thing that ITC does differently is allow a faction to have an allowed detachment that’s the same as the primary detachment.
You’d have to drop near enough 30 marines to do that – the hitting power is worth the trade in a list like this imo.
*isn’t
I’d be curious to see how this does against an all Ravenwing list. That’s a lot of MEQ to kill.
I’d give BC Marines a slight advantage due to all the ObSec units, but they are going to be losing units left and right.
I think any Razorback in a Battle Company should have the twin-linked heavy flamer. No extra points and a hell of a lot more useful.
Bummer you haven’t worked a command squad with storm shields into the list — would work really well with the shield thing you have going. Would probably have to lose some tacs to make that work (maybe two 5 mans in razors to scrape the points, turn the bike squad into attack bike)
I can’t help but think your list misses the point of the Space Marine Battle Company. The true strength of this formation lies in the freebies you get for min/maxing the crap out of it. 27 Obsec units sounds great, but most of that comes in the form of combat squadded Tactical Marines. And why in the world would you choose Rhinos over Razorbacks if you’re going to combat squad them anyway?
I would field something more along these lines:
1850 Point Space Marine Battle Company
Demi-Company 1:
Chapter Master (Captain), Storm Shield, Artificer Armor
Command Squad, Apothecary, Company Champion w/Power Axe, in Razorback with Heavy Flamers
5 Tactical Marines, Meltagun, Meltabombs, in Razorback with Heavy Flamers
5 Tactical Marines, Meltagun, Meltabombs, in Razorback with Heavy Flamers
5 Tactical Marines, Meltagun, Meltabombs, in Razorback with Heavy Flamers
5 Assault Marines, (2) Flamers, Meltabombs, in Razorback with Heavy Flamers
5 Devastator Marines, (4) Missile Launchers w/ Flak Missiles, in Razorback with Heavy Flamers
Ironclad Dreadnought, (2) Heavy Flamers, in Drop Pod w/ Deathwind Missile Launcher
Demi-Company 2:
Chaplain w/ Auspex
Command Squad, Apothecary, Company Champion w/Power Axe, in Razorback with Heavy Flamers
5 Tactical Marines, Meltagun, Meltabombs, in Razorback with Heavy Flamers
5 Tactical Marines, Meltagun, Meltabombs, in Razorback with Heavy Flamers
5 Tactical Marines, Meltagun, Meltabombs, in Razorback with Heavy Flamers
5 Assault Marines, (2) Flamers, Meltabombs, in Razorback with Heavy Flamers
5 Devastator Marines, (4) Missile Launchers w/ Flak Missiles, in Razorback with Heavy Flamers
Ironclad Dreadnought, (2) Heavy Flamers, in Drop Pod w/ Deathwind Missile Launcher
Comes up to exactly 1850 points. The only downside is you have no librarian, but librarians reek of heresy and should be purged anyway.
You are missing an auxiliary choice…..
Caught that! I’m actually working this up as a Salamanders list. The corrected version drops the two Ironclads and their drop pods, but adds Vulkan He’stan and a Librarius Conclave with three level 2 Psykers. Fair trade, I’d say!
Gah! The Librarius Conclave is a command choice. So, that means I’m going to have to go with a suppression force. Decisions, decisions. Good thing the new Space Marine Codex is full of great choices!
Neat to hear Frankie, and the Minotaurs can look soo cool with the Bronze and red..
I’m running salamanders. Would suggest you put the devastators in a rhino so they can shoot out the hatch. Love the list otherwise.
Love the minotaurs btw. Going with them you can run it either way because minotaurs chapter tactics can be fun if you’ve had a few beers 😉
That’s a good idea. Personally, I still get a razor for my devastators, only I don’t deploy them in it. Instead, I have 2 units shooting separately, and if my devastators die, then they die. I only give them 2 missile launchers anyways so they are not so expensive.
Hey Frankie,
For the list you made, don’t you have to have a captain and a chaplain in order to use the Gladius formation of the 2 demi-companies? Or is this being ruled that even though it says it requires those 2, you can still use the substitution for another character?
You can swamp in a named Captain or Chaplain from the list on the formation of which Khan is one.
As a BA player i have tried fast razorbacks with flamers and wasnt a huge fan. I don’t know how your gonna make slow ones work. 8 heavy bolters just seem more versatile. Having 2 cent units with the battle company seems really strong.
If you are going to use White Scars Chapter Tactics I would use bike scouts rather than regular ones. The first turn they have a nice +2 cover if they jink and they add to the army a nice amount of S6 shoots rather than more boltguns.
What do you guys think of the Lion’s Blade Strike Force?
I think I am going to try out a 2 Battle Company list (4 Demi-Co) with 20 Razorbacks, using 1x 5-man scout squad for the “10th Co. Support”. Looking like a ton of Ob Sec. and overwatch at full BS.
I am wonder why people are building lists with more grav cannons on tactical and dev squads, and tons of plasma. While Tactical squads aren’t relentless they make up for it by allowing you to twin-link your grav cannons. Re-rolls to hit and wound seems pretty beast compared to cents and you do not have the delivery system dilemma.
With devs just give them a single grav cannon. With the signum, that dev marine will be “twin-linked” when ever you use tactical or devastator doctrines. Venerable dreadnoughts benefit in the same way, making assault cannons really good on them.
As for plasma, you reroll 1s most of the game eliminating the drawback of plasma entirely.