List Building: 1,000 Point Ultramarine Army

In my continued series exploring making small forces that feature and theme the Chapter Tactics, I would be remiss if I didn't take a run at the poster child: Ultramarines.

Now, unlike a lot of people I've talked to, I really like Ultramarines. I like the idea of them rigidly sticking to an edict a Primarch made 10,000 years ago with little to no changes. I think it works and it fits with the characters. Not to mention, I like the idea of having a bland, boring Codex Company as an army, no frills, just simplicity that gets the job done. 

I've always been a fan of "swarm" armies; I play Nids and Orks in 40k. My dream absurd army is a Fantasy army of as many Goblins as I can cram in (close to a thousand in a 2k game) just for the sheer absurdity of it. That said, unlike the Goblins, I think a codex company, while a bit boring, can be effective, though maybe less so in this edition than in previous versions. The fact is, the number of Space Marines you can get in an army when not taking many upgrades can be a little daunting for some opponents. 

So, with a boring, bland, vanilla marine army in mind, once again, like with White Scars, my army is more or less chosen for me. I'm obviously not going to get a full 100 space marines in at 1k, but I can get quite a few.

To begin with the HQ, a vanilla captain will do the trick, though a Librarian would be cheaper. I'll leave him vanilla now and let whatever small selection of points is left over go to his equipment.

Next is troops. Codex style, so 2x10 strong with a missile launcher and flamer. We're going for as close to a company as possibly, so let's add a third.

Now for the assault marines, 10 of them, with the sergeant getting a power sword should do the trick.

Now Devastators. Four missile launchers and an extra 5 marines to stand around awkwardly (or more accurately, walk forward).

That leaves 10 points to give the Captain a combi-weapon.

Captain: Combi-plasma (100pts)
3x10 Tactical Marines: Flamer, Missile Launcher (3x160pts)
10 Assault Marines: Sergeant w/Power Sword (185pts)
10 Devastators: 4 Missile Launchers (235pts)

There is really nothing all that exciting about this army. If you wanted, you could give the power weapon to the Captain since he'll make more effective use of it. Alternatively, you could swap in a Chaplain for the same points since he comes with a quasi power weapon (AP4) or a Librarian upgraded to level 2 even. This list does have some problems, in that it has no AA and is pretty slow. That said, at 1,000 points and on a 4x4 board (which is what you should probably play 1k on), those issues are mitigated somewhat. Combat Squading will give you 3 backfield scoring units and 3 advance scoring units, who will accompany 10 assault marines and 5 vanilla devastator marines. 51 Marines is a fair number to put down on the board, and could cause some issues just in terms of numbers.

They won't do anything extremely well, but the army will be fairly successful at a good bit. Using the Devastator Chapter Tactic early will allow the army to redeploy and move while keeping the effectiveness of the majority of your missile launchers. Alternatively, against an offensive foe, using it a bit later will allow you to widen the gap and then be better prepared to face a charge. The Devastator tactic of rerolling snap shots could also suddenly make the prospect of shooting down a troublesome flyer more manageable with 7 krak missiles.