Space Marines 101 - Assault Squad

The marines in an assault squad are all normal marines, but equipped with jump packs and chainsword instead of boltgun. This means that they keep their 1 attack in their profile but gain an additional attack due to the chainsword.

Many people will claim that the assault marines are worthless and you can spend your points on better more effective things, and whilst I don't think they are worthless, I do understand why they don't like them.

The positive side of the coin is that the marines are all equipped with jump packs and power armour, meaning you have a fast moving 3+ armor save melee unit. This means that they are more mobile than your units in transports, as they can jump across terrain with ease.

The downside is that if your units aren't in transports they can be shot at. Meaning your assault squad will get a constant rain of fire against them. And a 3+ armor save will just last that long. This means you'll want to bring a full squad (10man) so that you have lots of attack left when you get the charge. This will cost you 190p without any additional upgrades.

The idea is to use them to get an early charge against a unit that would stay back and lay down fire. One example would be Necron Warriors or Immortals, they wouldn't be fast enough to move away from your marines and your marines would eat them up in close combat. You'll want to keep them in cover or out of line of sight whilst advancing to reduce the number of casualties.

However if your opponent is using a close combat focused army, you can use them as a counter attack unit. This way they can protect your other units that would get eaten up in close combat. But the marines tend to die against elite close combat squads, as they often wield armor ignoring weapons. Sometimes that extra round or two that they keep the enemies off your other units can be valuable.

Upgrades:


One of the best upgrades are the flamers, as you are able to take two of them in a 10 man squad. As the flamer is an assault weapon, you can weaken the squad properly before charging in to them. The sergeant should get a power fist or thunder hammer. You can give him a pair of lightning claws as well, but most of the time you'll want something with high strength in the squad, as the rest of the marines can hurt the weaker targets.

You could buy the sergeant a storm shield, however I think you shouldn't be risking taking saves on him and instead pick off your normal marines to make sure your fist or hammer sergeant will get to strike (I:1 :( ). So personally I don't recommend getting the storm shield for him. You'll want to try to keep the point cost as low as possible.

A standard assault squad with 2 flamers, 1 power fist will cost around 230-240p.