Space Marine Codex Review: Part 2- Stratagems (second half)

Welcome to the second part of my Space Marine 9th edition codex review. This part will look at the second half of the stratagems available to the Space Marines. 

Stratagems

Skilled Riders (1CP)- Use when a Biker, Land Speeder or Storm Speeder unit that advanced is targeted by an enemy shooting attack. The unit is at -1 to hit. 

This stratagem went from an invulnerable save (moving or advancing) to -1 to hit. Still pretty useful in some circumstances, but the invulnerable save was much better. I think this should still help the durability of Bikers, especially as they got an extra wound. The only issue is that you need to advance. Sadly, the White Scars have currently lost the stratagem to advance and still shoot (with everything but assault weapons), so there is less use in advancing. Nice if you need to advance onto an objective and want to make it harder to shift the squad from it. 

Uncompromising Fire (2CP)- The unit can shoot and still perform an action. 

Pricey at 2CP, but well worth it in my opinion. This allows your unit to perform an action on an objective or in the centre of the board for your secondaries and still get to shoot with the unit, meaning they are not wasted sitting doing nothing. Very powerful in the right circumstances. Also great for holding the centre of the board with something like Flamer Aggressors and still getting to shoot to good effect. A key stratagem for the Marines. 

Steady Advance (2CP)- An infantry unit acts as stationary until the end of the turn, even if they moved. 

Again, pricey at 2CP. I think this would be amazing if Aggressors could still double shoot if stationary. I can still see a strong use for this for a number of units. Devastators in Drop Pods can now fire their heavy weapons with no penalty, as well as allowing other units to move and fire to full effect. Great for getting into position or grabbing objectives. Also useful on Stalker Pattern Bolters. I think this will be great on the Dark Angles, as you will be getting +1 to hit as well, meaning Devastators can arrive from a Drop Pod and hit on a 2+ with their heavy weapons. 

Space Marine Codex Review: Part 1- Stratagems (first half)

 Welcome to the first part of my Space Marine Codex review for 9th edition. As expected, Marines lead the charge with one of the first codexes for the new edition of the game. This first part of my review will take a look at the Stratagems available to the army. 

Stratagems

Space Marines have a plethora of great stratagems to choose from, stretching four pages in the new codex! This review will take a look at the first 17 stratagems on the first two pages. 

Death to the Traitors (1CP)- When making melee attacks against a Heretic Astartes unit, you can re-roll the hit roll. 

A decent bonus when you are playing against Chaos Space Marines. Situational, but I can see this coming in useful for my White Scars when coming up against Chaos.

Honour the Chapter (2CP)- Use at the end of the fight phase. An Assault Intercessor squad can fight again. 

This stratagem dropped to 2CP, but got a serious reduction in power, allowing it to only be used on Assault Intercessors. No more attacking with your Thunder Hammer smash Captain again if you didn't manage to kill off your target the first time round. Again, could be useful for my White Scars, but I don't see it getting used too often. Nice to get the reduction to 2CP. 

Fury of the First (1CP)- Add 1 to hit rolls for Terminator models in the shooting or fight phase. 

Quite useful for negating the effects of power fists or Thunder Hammers in a Terminator squad in combat. Also great for hitting with your Bolters on a 2+. Could be useful if you are running Terminators in your army, who are a lot better with the extra wound and bonus to armour saves from Storm Shields. 

Index Astartes Deathwatch- Review and Initial Thoughts

As you will probably have seen, a lot of armies have had their rules updated for 9th edition. The Deathwatch have been folded into the Space Marine codex, and as such, have their own supplement to modify their rules to update them with the new codex. I'm going to take a look at some of the rules that have been presented and what they may mean for the Deathwatch. 

Special Issue Ammunition

This has seen a big change, not only in what the ammo does, but in who and what weapons can utilise it. 

Dragonfire Bolts- Target unit does not gain the benefit of cover. 

This is a great change for Dragonfire bolts. Under the previous rules, I don't think I even used this round type in any of my games, now I can see it being very useful. Not only do you ignore the +1 to armour saves of cover (great with the Doctrines now in effect), but you also ignore the -1 to hit from some cover types. This should help to provide good accuracy for your Bolter weapons throughout the game. 

Hellfire Bolts- +1 to wound against targets that are not vehicles or Titanic. 

This is the biggest change and reduction in power to the SIA. Being able to wound almost any unit on a 2+ was incredible for the Deathwatch and one of the reasons that the Storm Bolter became such a feared weapon for the Deathwatch. I think the change was inevitable, but it is a big blow to the army. The bonus to wound is still great, allowing you to wound all but the toughest monsters on a 4+, as well as wounding Marines on a 3+. I'm not sure how often this will be used in my games now, I will need to run the numbers to see.