Warhammer 40,000/6th Edition Tactics/Space Marines/Siege Assault Vanguard

Why Play A Space Marine Siege Assault Vanguard

Are regular space marines just not doing it for you? Do you feel you need even tougher marines, with better options, and more firepower? Then the Siege Assault Vanguard list is for you! There are plenty of units that are simply identical to the regular Codex: Space Marines ones, but there are plenty of new toys to play with. Your Fast Attack choices are reduced (and you only get to take two), but you can take four Heavy Support. Also, if you want to create a fluffy Imperial Fists or pre-Chaos Iron Warriors list (aside from the Horus Heresy Legion list from Betrayal), this is your new best friend. One of my friends even play post-heresy Iron Warriors with this list + IG allies (for Earthshakers) - cause IW don't really bother worshiping Chaos Gods - only Big Guns and Perturabo. In that order.

These units can get really expensive, however, really fast (both in terms of points and dollars/pounds/euros/thrones -- this is a Forge World list from Imperial Armour Volume Ten). Keep an eye on it, but if you play a space marine army, odds are you'll already have most of the constituent parts for a siege vanguard already, just not the more niche units.

Forgeworld also redid it just before the end of the year in 2013. So you can go get it for free.

Reasons to play a Siege Assault Army

• Re-rollable armour saves
• 4 HS Slots
• Most HS vehicles come in squadrons of 1-3
• ICs with signums
• Troops assault marines who can be given furious charge (because fuck pansy ass Blood Angels)
• All the standard codex goodies
• Siege Dreadnought Talons as troops. Sweet Jesus! Emperor!

Special Rules

Chapter Tactics

The Chapter Tactics have been redone. Rather then needing a special character, you get one of seven army-wide rules - one for each of the First Founding Chapters and the Black Templars. This also applies to their successor Chapters. Note that special characters may not be part of a detachment that does not have the same version of Chapter Tactics as them - i.e. Papa Smurf can't lead a detachment of Salamanders, however he can be taken if you're oh, say, Iron Snakes, as you can choose what Chapter they "are" and thus what Tactics they have.

• Ultramarines: You have three single-use powers ("Doctrines"), each of which lasts for one turn.
  • Tactical: Re-roll is ones to hit for shooting, Tactical Marines get to re-roll all shots.
  • Assault: Re-roll charges, Assault Marines get Fleet.
  • Devastator: Re-roll Snap Shots, Devastators are also Relentless unless they disembarked from a transport.
• Imperial Fists: Bolter Drill - a fluffy choice for a siege army that works decently with plenty of foot slogging soldiers; re-roll ones to hit with bolter shots (doesn't apply to Sternguard special ammunition), this turns your tactical marines with siege mantlets into an incredibly reliable unit all game. Also, Devastators / Centurion Devastators get Tank Hunters and add 1 to building damage rolls.
  • Sentinels of Terra tactics probably aren't that great, since Devastator Centurions already moved to Elites and Assault Centurions are Troops, so there's not point in putting them in congested Fast Attack. But this is entirely up to you.
• Salamanders: Master-Crafted, Master-Crafted everywhere; characters get one weapon Master-Crafted for free (which can include ANY weapon, even one bought as an upgrade). Also can re-roll saves from flame-inflicted wounds and twin-linked flame weapons for you. (Also get to re-roll vehicle pen rolls with flame weapons, but when's that going to be any use?)
• Raven Guard: Stealth on the first turn and Scouts. Also, all Jump Packs can be used in movement as well as assault. Jump Infantry also re-roll failed To Wound rolls for Hammer of Wrath hits. This is so unfluffy, but it is an amazing world of win! The ability to outflank all of your units, virtually circumvents the major down side of the army: poor mobility and lets you go for that siege objective much earlier. However, you won't be Scouting mantlet tacticals, as they're Bulky. Of course, you now get scouting Siege Assault squads in Land Raider transports...
• Iron Hands: Feel No Pain (6+), vehicles and characters get It Will Not Die, and Techmarines/Masters of the Forge get +1 to Blessings of the Omnissiah helps the many vehicles and dreadnoughts that you will inevitably have. Siege Vanguard are always going to get the full benefit of this rule at all times, an excellent choice.
  • Clan Raukaan tactics are worded in a way that specifically allows you to take two techmarines per HQ slot. This is important since techmarines are ordinarily Elites choices, and potentially quire rare in an army that is heavily dependent upon vehicles.
• White Scars: In a siege vanguard, this is a tremendous fail, you can't have bikers at all, don't use this chapter tactic. Everything except Terminators and Centurions gain Hit and Run, pass and move on.
• Black Templars: Their characters get re-rolls To Hit and Rending while in challenges and all of their units have Crusader and Adamantium Will. However, it's worth bearing in mind that units with siege mantlets CANNOT run or sweeping advance, so Crusader USR doesn't help the army move across the board. Not only that, but Siege Assault squads get Crusader regardless of Chapter tactics. Also, no psykers for you. Finally, since it's not strictly a codex: space marines army, you shouldn't be able to take Crusader squads, since the vanguard army was never intended to work with black templars or scouts.
• Red Scorpions: Culn is no longer required to take Apothecaries in Tactical Squads to make incredibly resilient siege marines with re-rollable saves and Feel No Pain. Losing Camo cloaks is fine since this army doesn't have scouts and losing Go To Ground is no biggy.
• Fire Hawks: Suprisingly good in a Siege Vanguard, with the ability to make all your fast attack choices (only Assault & Vanguard Squads) into scoring units. This is very very important as you HAVE to take that special siege objective if you want to win the battle, so fast moving scoring units in a largely vehicle based army is significant. They also get to steal hand flamers from Blood Angels on the cheap! as well as getting +1 strength on them the turn they arrive from deep strike.
• Mantis Warriors: Ironically for a recon based chapter, everything here benefits a Siege Vanguard army. Hammer of Wrath, Furious Charge if you charge out of cover, and particularly Move Through Cover will significantly help your footslogging squads that aren't in land raiders (excepting Tacticals with Mantlets - units with the Bulky rule don't get these bonuses), furthermore re-rolling Seize the Initiative and having access to Divination Librarians can never go wrong.
• Minotaurs: Having this chapter tactic for your army will mean that you never have to worry about morale checks from shooting and pinning tests get rerolled. Remember though that Crusader USR doesn't help siege mantle tactical squads since they cannot run or sweeping advance with them, but it does assist your regular assault squads, as well as adding +1 to charge distances in enemy deployment zones. You really want to take Minotaurs tactics if you want access to Haamath Kratos, Asterion Moloc and Roc Pattern Storm Eagles which are all worthy choices in a vanguard army.
• Astral Claws: As with White Scars, this is not really worth it in an army without bikes or speeders. Having Stubborn can be comforting, but really only take this chapter tactic if you've got something in mind with special characters, which you might.
• Star Phantoms: It's a mixed bag; Deep Striking units in a Siege Vanguard are uncommon but present, so re-rolling 1s on reserves can help when you really need them to arrive. Twin Linking your weapons for a turn is far more useful and more reliable than the Ultramarine tactical doctrine. You take this tactic along with Captain Androcles and lots of devastators and laugh as you let rip with massive firepower for one turn.
• Angels Revenant: Incredibly Good vs Necrons, doesn't really help you in any other situation though.
• Executioners: It has that Black Templars feel to it, making characters better in challenges. You ignore all negative leadership modifiers, which is roughly akin to being Stubborn.
• Red Hunters: You have to be really clever with this to pull it off, as you get to give a number of units equal to the turn number a chosen special rule. Unfortunately the longer you leave it, the less units you might have to work with and actually gain a significant benefit from. So be careful. Further, four of the six rule options overlap with either Siege Master buffs or Warlord traits - not totally bad but not to be forgotten.

Warlord Traits

You don't get access to the regular Space Marine Warlord traits, instead getting a special list to represent specific experience with siege warfare.

• 1: Diviner of Weakness Your Warlord's melee attacks are Rending when attacking a model with an Armor value.
• 2: Master of Bombardment He's an artillery spotter, reroll blast scatter within 12".
• 3: Arch Logistician Split-Fire
• 4: Blood Lord of the Breaches When assaulting a unit occupying a fortification, your unit has Rampage.
• 5: Empowered by Hatred Get hatred while in the enemy deployment zone
• 6: Indomitable Will Re-roll game-end checks.

Other Rules of Note

• Awesomeness does come at a price, however. Your opponent gets to place a "siege objective" anywhere in his deployment zone. This is what your force is "laying siege" to. This is in addition to all other objectives. If you don't capture the siege objective, the best you can do is tie. Unless you table them, that's always a victory. The fact that you can be holding 6 objectives at a time and tie because the last one is being contested kinda sucks, but for the goodies you get, it can all be worth it.

• Instead of the standard FOC, your siege vanguard gets to replace one Fast Attack slot with a Heavy Support slot, not a problem since you have very few Fast Attack choices to fill them with. This additional HS slot is compulsory - which is not much of a sacrifice. Unfortunately this could leave your army lacking in quick movers and leave you foot slogging men over the battlefield as you lob artillery and tanks at your opponent WW1 Style.

Unit Analysis

HQ Units

NOTE No HQs in this list can take bikes, ever.

• Siege Master - Similar to a regular Captain in many respects, he does have some interesting advantages. First off, he comes default with the vanilla captain's stock wargear, plus artificer armour and a signum (yeah, a signum. Kinda weird). His options are ~similar to a captain's, except that he doesn't get terminator armour. His main difference (other than default wargear) is the ability to give any unit in the army either furious charge, tank hunters, interceptors or monster hunters for the whole game. Sweet jesus! Emperor! The already insane amount of anti-tank in this list can get that much scarier, or you can have epic assaults to clear the siege objective! Has the option to take a command squad which can take a Land Raider Prometheus as its dedicated transport. Generally, captains aren't the best, but the Siege master just might be a solid hq choice due to being able to buff your army through special rules and the signum. Additionally, he lets you re-roll any reserve rolls, passed or failed. His always having a 2+ is one of the reasons this list has a reputation for being dead 'ard.

Other than the siege master, you have access to all HQs from Codex: Space Marines, albeit without bikes. There are a few worth going into in a bit more detail, however.

• Librarian - Tried and true librarian. The reason they are slightly better than normal in siege assault lists is twofold: You can use the GoI to get to that Siege Objective fast, and second, he can buff your guys EVEN MORE. The second one is important since Siege Assault marines are hardy as all hell, but REALLY rely on their armour saves, more than usual for marines. As such, giving them a 4++, a 5++, feel no pain, stealth+shrouded (all depending on which table you use for psychic powers) can make a big difference.

• Master of the Forge - Not THAT different from a usually list, but since SAV lists tend to have more tanks than marines, it could be a worth while investment. Bolster defences helps out with the problems mentioned in the librarian entry above, as well.

• Damocles Command Vehicle - Often overlooked, but it is perfect for bringing in reinforcements as it cam add or subtract 1 from your reserve rolls. And in case this list needed even MORE firepower, it's one-use Orbital Bombardment(Strength 10 AP1 large blast) should knock some heads together.

Special Characters

You get all the characters from Codex: Space Marines and IA9-10, so it's only really worth mentioning characters who actually bring something unique to a siege vanguard army in particular, since most characters behave the same way in both forces. Forgeworld also updated characters and chapter tactics, shaking everything up considerably.

• Asterion Moloc - Worth a mention due to Imperial Armour 12 pinning a few new units down to Minotaurs only (like the Roc pattern Storm Eagle & Hamath Kraatos). Though you don't need him to play minotaurs as they now have their own chapter tactic, however his special rules gives your whole army preferred enemy (space marines) which lets you reroll all 1s to-hit/to-wound against a large proportion of the armies your opponent will field. Be aware though that his sanctioned fratricide rule makes all space marine allies into desperate allies.

• Captain Zhurukhal Androcles - Allows you to take Devastators as Elites AND Heavy, even if you don't take loads of devastators, it still frees up Heavy Slots for vehicle squadrons if you just move your devastators over. His warlord trait also give his unit Feel No Pain when he's sitting on an objective, so he's a good guy for sticking with a mantlet tactical squad and getting that special objective and doing what Red Scorpions can already do. New chapter tactics are a mixed blessing that using Star Phantoms at all with Siege Vanguard now likely depends on the number of Devastator squads you can deploy along with Androcles.

• Vaylund Cal - he's an Iron Hand successor so he gets FNP 6+, It Will Not Die and repairs vehicles on 3+ (with servo harness) ON TOP of his Weapon Skill 5, Toughness 6, 3 Wounds and an Iron Halo. So he's an absolute monster of a character. What has changed in the Forgeworld update though is what else he brings to the army. No longer do Devastators get Feel no Pain for free, instead they get to upgrade to Toughness 5 for 50 points per unit, which probably costs too much to make it usable all the time and actually makes the unit worse than before against S7 attacks from plasma or autocannons.

• Armenneus Valthex - Another Master of the Forge character potentially worth taking. While the new Astral Claw chapter tactic provides only stubborness to the army due to having no bikes or speeders, Valthex does allow one of your tactical squads or terminator squads to take hellfire rounds with their bolt weapons, and to soak the inevitable ranged attacks that will head in their direction with the siege mantles. In addition, if he's the warlord any dreadnoughts close to him (and you will have dreadnoughts) can become denial units despite being vehicles!

• Knight Captain Elam Courbray - If you're going to use Fire Hawks chapter tactics (see above), you might as well use Captain Courbray as he's one of the few Jump Pack wearing characters out there that isn't a Raven Guard or a Blood Angel. His warlord trait also brings a pie plate down with him when he deep strikes and makes him land without scatter anywhere within 6" of that blast. One thing to bear in mind though is that his Leadership is 9, meaning there can be no other HQ choices in the army if you want to use his warlord trait.

• Silas Alberec - If you're fighting anything with Daemons, a Mark of Chaos or psychic abilities Silas is your man. His unit get Feel No Pain against all of it and he buttrapes them all. The whole army under him gets to roll 3D6 on leadership tests and choose the best and gets to reroll Deny the Witch. Furthermore what's best about him is that Exorcists can use ANY chapter tactic they like, so you can design the army to do any job you like while having him in it.

Elite Units

The exact same as codex space marines, literally. Only difference being that techmarines can't take bikes and ARE elites choices and not free HQ choices. You may not need terminators that much because you already have tactical marines who are harder to kill. TH/SS terminators are great as ever, but really only as a bullet magnet, since there is plenty of anti-tank in this list already. They may be worth it for CC though, as this list is pretty mediocre in assault (Siege Mantlets don't allow re-rolls in CC)

• Centurion Devastator Squad - Elites here instead of Heavy in the traditional codex. If you seek cheap dakka, go elsewhere, as those guys are expensive as hell and only bring half or even a third the firepower of a Devastator squad of the same price. Though they are tough as hell, menacing and attract a lot of firepower. There is no reason to go with lascannons and MLs to hunt mech - regular devs camping in heavy cover do it better, but the standard setup with double HB's and Hurricane Bolters is kinda good at killing light infantry hordes (and in 6e you WILL face hordes). The last option is grav-cannons and grav-amps, which can vomit 5 AP2 shots per model that wound on a model's armor save roll with rerolls, but it's only 24" range. A squad of 4-5 grav centurions will eat any MEQ, TEQ, MC, or GC unit within 24" in one volley, but will be tarpitted by ANYTHING till the end of the game - being A1 with no close combat weapon they'll struggle to kill even Fire Warriors in CC. Grav centurions are really only good for killing heavily-armored death star units like mega-nobz, terminators, and monstrous/gargantuan creatures. Much like their Assault counterparts, these guys are massively overcosted, even with the Grav Cannons. For the same price as three man unit with Grav Cannons or Lascannons, you could have a Land Raider. Why aren't you taking the Land Raider again?
  • A nice setup for them is with twin-linked lascannons and missile launchers. Pair them with Imperial Fists Chapter Tactics, an omniscope on the sergeant (so that they have Night Vision and can split fire) and camp them in cover. Tanks won't trouble you anymore this way.

• Hecaton Aiakos - (Minotaurs only) A unique contemptor dreadnought character for the Minotaurs chapter, comes with a plasma cannon. Costs a fortune but he's much improved over a normal contemptor; first he's Venerable, which is something other contemptors don't get, letting you force re-rolls on the damage chart. Second he's got +1 to his Initiative, Ballistic Skill AND a +1 bonus to his atomantic shielding, so his invulnerable save is 4+ against shooting, making him a good choice for a footslogging army. On the flip side his rear armour is -1 and his explosion radius in increased by 2". Special mention for a siege army is that he benefits from siege talon rules, so he can gain Rage part way through the battle, making him very scary.

Troops

• Siege Dreadnought Talon - Troops dreadnoughts. Awesome. A unit of THREE dreadnoughts of either the "Siege" or "Ironclad" variety. Both dreadnought types have their normal limited selection of wargear, but you're looking at a MINIMUM of 360 points for this unit, since you have to get three dreads. Think closer to 450 once you've actually bought upgrades. Only half your troops, rounding down, can be SDTs. They split up once they reach the board, so they don't count as a squadron either. The only bad news is no drop pods, so use these guys to baby-sit home objectives or draw fire, whichever. On the upside, however, if 50% of the dreadnoughts in your army die (including these ones, elite ones, contemptors etc.) the rest of your dreadnoughts get the RAGE USR.
  • Alternate opinion: A very expensive point sink for three dreadnoughts with only short range weapons.

• Tactical Squad - For the most part, identical to standard, except for one option: for 50pts, the squad gets Siege Mantlets. Oh man, are those things ever nice. They prevent you from buying/riding in rhinos/razorbacks (LR and the like are still fair game, however), but they let you re-roll failed armour saves. Holy shit, that makes them harder to kill than terminators. And they're cheaper than terminators. And still get their usual wargear. And score. Use them to hold an objective that WILL NOT FALL. One of the best defensive units in the game (especially once you give them Feel no Pain from Culln/Harath Shen/Librarian, since they'd be 'arder than plague marines.
  • Using them normally with a rhino is always an option however, especially for grabbing that objective.
  • It is worth noting, however, that characters joining the squad benefit from the re-roll...so if you put a siege master in the front of the unit, anything with worse AP then plasma simply will not damage them, at all.
  • Lastly, to remind, that re-roll is against shooting attacks only, so watch your placement.

• Siege Assault Squad - Blood Angels aren't the only ones who get assault marines as troops! These guys are essentially a heavily modified version of the regular assault squads, so I'll go over what they lose, and then what they gain.
  • Lose: Jump Packs / Drop Pods / Rhinos / Razorbacks / The ability to take squad sizes other than 10 marines.
  • Gain: The ability to take melta guns, plasma guns, and grav guns / Melta Bombs for the WHOLE SQUAD / Can take combat shields for the WHOLE SQUAD / Troop FOC slot / The ability to take Land Raiders as dedicated transports / Crusader USR
  • As you can see, they are quite different than regular marines. What's the proper way to use them?
    • Squad A: The death of all things with AV (especially when the Siege Master gives them Tank Hunters) 2x Meltaguns, Combi-melta, melta-bombs.
    • Squad B: Power Choppy (3x Power weapons, especially awesome with furious charge from the SM) 2x Power Weapons, Sergeant with Power weapon. Note: These can now be power swords, axes or mauls.
    • Squad C: Flamer on (might wanna take He'stan for this one. And maybe squad A as well) 2x Flamers, Combi-flamer
  • Either way, these are the guys you will want sweep the siege objective. Give them a landraider or a Caestus Assault Ram (expensive, but worth it seeing as how you will otherwise have a tough time using such a defensive list to take the siege objective).

• Centurion Assault Squad - TROOPS... OBECTIVE SECURED UNITS!!!. Though just like dreadnought talons you can only have half as many squads as your tactical or siege assault squads. While 50% more expensive than assault terminators they are like, three times more durable (T5, 2 wounds), albeit fewer in number (though not as terrible as Mutilators) and without invulnerable saves. They are armed with double S9 chainfists WITHOUT unwieldy, and swing them on WS4 I4 (despite their war suits not being synchronised with the Black Carapace, meaning they should be I2 at best). Having only two attacks per base (3 on the sarge) and SAP they aren't good at killing any infantry other than TEQs (and only if they have no storm shields or equivalents), though double flamers and hurricane bolters help a bit, but any vehicle or building they successfully charge is already dead, just too stupid to realize it. Which brings us to their main problem - with close to zero mobility and no deep strike, it's almost impossible for them to charge anything without a Land Raider's help, and you can fit only 5 in a Crusader or 4 in a Redeemer. Spending near 500 points to kill a single enemy TEQ squad, vehicle or bastion and then being kited for the rest of the game is nowhere near cost-effective. But as a scoring unit are actually incredibly useful; roll them over the table and go get that objective from your opponent.

Dedicated Transports

• Rhino - Same as ever. I like METAL BAWKSES, you like METAL BAWKSES, we all like METAL BAWKSES. They are pretty rare in this list, and give it some mobility where it otherwise would be lacking. Take them where you can, if you don't think you need siege mantlets (there will only be so many objectives to hold in your deployment zone, after all.) A great unit for snatching objectives.

• Razorback - The other type of metal bawks. Might just be better suited to the SAV than the rhino, as it fits in with the theme of mad killy firepower. Can only transport six, so only use it if you want to put a tactical squad on the siege objective, or any enemy objective really (holding the siege objective won't change anything if the enemy holds all the regular ones.)

• Land Raider Prometheus - The most biggest metal bawks of all. A crusader on ANGRY STEROIDS, holds ten models, assault vehicle, PotMS, all the usual Land Raider goodies. But what does it get? FOUR twin-linked heavy bolters, and it boosts reserves by +1, when you want it too. Also, cover saves are at -1 against it. Good for bringing a tactical squad to an objective, and shielding them from cover while giving support. Expensive when used that way, however.

Fast Attack

• Caestus Assault Ram - Oh man, is this thing ever terrifying. A land-raider price tag for a 13/13/11 PotMS, 5++, 4HP, Assault vehicle, holds 10 (ignoring terminators=2 rules), Uber-ramming FLYER! That's right. Move 36" and ram a tank at S10, with re-roll to pen and +1 to damage chart. Just about the only flyer with the "tank" type, and literally the only one that can ram. The debate rages on regarding it's ability to ram other flyers, but regardless, it is awesome. It is also immune to the melta special rules. Lol. It has a TL Magna-melta (R18 S8 AP1 Heavy1 Large Blast Melta) and a firefury missile battery (R36" S6 AP4 blast, heavy four, twin-linked, one-shot) because infantry AND tanks deserve to die. Can also have a teleport home and frag assault launchers. Can also deepstrike.

• Assault Squad - Same as codex.

• Vanguard Veterans - Same as codex.

• Stormtalon Gunship - Same as codex

• Stormraven Gunship Same as codex but as fast attack instead. Cool, very good for moving unkillable tactical squads or Centurions across the battlefield quickly.

• Storm Eagle Gunship (Forge World) - Your transport Flyer. Occupies the middle-ground between the Stormraven and the Thunderhawk. Transport capacity of 20, with terminators and jump infantry counting as 2 models each. Impressive arsenal of weaponry, standard armament: Hull-mounted twin-linked Heavy Bolter, Hull-mounted Vengeance Launcher (Range:48"|Str:5|AP:4|Heavy 2, Large Blast). Optional armament includes: Switching Heavy bolters for Multi-meltas or a Typhoon missile launcher, and adding 4 Hellstrike Missiles or 2 Twin-linked Lascannon under the wings. Also get ceramite shielding, and the 'Power of the Machine Spirit' special rule, along with 12|12|12 armour. Disembarking infantry can assault in the same turn.
  • Storm Eagle Roc Pattern (Minotaurs only) - A "new" unit from IA12: Fall of Orpheus. Here you get a Storm Eagle with a reduced transport capacity (still 14, so you can carry most units) and replacing the the Vengeance launcher with a 4-shot twin linked krak missile launcher and the strafing run rule. This thing will eat tanks with 7-8 mostly twin-linked STRENGTH EIGHT or MORE shots when you combine its wing mounted lascannons and either a multimelta or typhoon launcher. Can also be used as an excellent anti-aircraft interceptor, since the firepower it puts out will obliterate the low armour of current flyers. Unfortunately, only Minotaurs special characters can be taken with this.

Remember also: only 2 Fast Attack choices allowed

Heavy Support

• Devastator Squad - These are your tactical marines. Except they don't score. And their heavy weapons cost more. Some special weapons costs so much as to be totally impractical (lascannon most notably, but also the plasma cannon thanks to Gets Hot, and the template doesn't really hold up compared to cheaper, rapid-firing plasma guns). And the short range (and zero mobility) of the multi-melta will get ignored by all non-Salamander lists, unless for some insane reason your enemy's vehicles all have ridiculously short range (or a monstrous creature gets in your face, whereupon the AP1 will really do its magic). The most commonly used weapons here are Missile Launchers and Heavy Bolters. The first is somewhat versatile, able to threaten infantry and tanks while being your best bet against aircraft, and really shines in <1500 point games, while the second is much better against troops but was neigh-upon worthless against tanks until 6th edition gave you the *chance* to glance vehicles to death. Either way, prioritize your targets.
  • Vigilator Sergeant Hamath Kraatos (Minotaurs Special Character) - FUCKING EXCELLENT: a BS+1, 2-wound, Devastator Sergeant with a Heavy Bolter and preferred enemy (anything not a Vehicle, Monstrous Creature or cavalry/beasts for some reason). Has the added bonus of being able to switch his normal shooting for a special "assassin shell" which is basically a S6 AP3 Sniper rifle. His rules wording explicitly states he may only be taken in an "army representing the minotaurs chapter", so you shouldn't be able to combo him with non-minotaurs special characters.
  • Don't forget the Sergeant! He can take combi-weapons for one turn of extra punch. Or can be given a Power Fist for when someone charges your poor, vulnerable shooting squad. He also comes, stock, with a Signum. No one ever remembers to use it, which is a shame because +1BS to a single model in the squad can come in handy...
  • Four plasma cannons might seem like a waste of points, since they might blow themselves up, but if you get some lucky rolls in, you can obliterate any heavy infantry squad from three feet away. Bit of a risk, but they are the only infantry weapons that can take on multiple terminators in one shot (and if your opponent's army is grouped, you will at least hit something).

• Predator Tank Squadron - Predator goodness, now in squadron format! Not too much of a point taking them in squadrons, especially given the debuffs Sixth Edition brought to squadrons. Might be worth it in kill-points games, but given that you will already win every kill-point game ever with this army list, you be best sticking to one predator. That one predator is still as awesome as ever, though. Especially with 6th ed being the rise of the autocannon.

• Whirlwind Support Squadron - Whirlwinds, in a squadron. Just like the name suggests. 1-3, like all the other squadrons in this army type. I suppose it could be useful for clearing objectives before your little men sweep in to capture it, since this list is so heavy on anti-tank that it's anti-infantry generally falls by the wayside (except for little bits of anti-infantry thrown in to anti-tank units, like the Caestus. Taking it in squadrons prevents your opponent taking easy killpoints here, while providing you ample cover-save ignoring anti-infantry.

• Vindicator Tank Squadron - The first, fluffiest choice for this slot. That many vindicators could really bring the hurt. ALL THE HURT. Could be useful for clearing heavier infantry (Tactical marines, plague marines) off of objectives, whereas your whirlwinds tend to struggle with that. Otherwise, it is the same as regular Vindicators: balls-out firepower, hampered by short range. The big upside: Being able to give the whole squadron Tank Hunters, from the siege master. That could be awesome: give them HKM so that they can launch a re-rollable salvo while they close, and then launch your THREE S10AP2 pie plates that roll two dice and pick the highest to pen...then re-roll if you somehow fail.

• Land Raider Achilles - The second fluffy choice. Perfect for not dying, ever (immune to melta, lance, and -1 to damage chart) for raping tanks with it's TL MM sponsons, and for raping infantry with it's HULL MOUNTED THUNDERFIRE CANNON. Hell yes. Even better when you consider this is the perfect list for fielding Imperial Fists, and this Land Raider was invented by them. An overall great tank, suffering only from a transport capacity of six models. Command squad, maybe? Five siege mantlet marines with a siege master? Endless possibility.

• Land Raider Helios - Anti-air Land-raider. Not that great, 260 points to replace the heavy bolter with a whirlwind launcher that is ordnance and forces the lascannons to snap fire. If you are looking for a way to transport a command squad/honour guard/vanguard vets though, this could be awesome, with the whirlwind missiles, as it in that case it is basically 10 points for a whirlwind launcher.
  • You can change the way this unit plays by changing the ordnance launcher into a Hyperios missile launcher, which is a skyfire/interceptor krak missile launcher. This turns the Land Raider into an tank hunter on a par with a lascannon predator, and with PotMS you can use the missile launcher separately from the lascannons to shoot out flyers which are much more prevalent in 6th edition, and apart from flakk missiles on dudes this is your primary anti aircraft.

Allies

Remember, this list allies just like normal Spess Muhreens. Some of the options are more interesting than others.

• Inquisition--The inquisition is interesting primarily for the potential with cheap henchmen to act as damage soaks. Use Inquisitors for divination. Not as useful here as in other lists.

• Imperial Gua... er Militarium Astra--Let the guard bring the fire support and focus fast and killy. A squadron of Hellhounds will make your troubles disappear. A squad of Vets can take a heavy weapon and hold your back field objective, which isn't bad for a 100 point tax to get basilisks or Russes.

• Knights-- Aw hell yeah. Let them lead your charge.

• Sisters of Battle--You may be surprised by this, but I'm going to say one word: priests. Yes, that's right. Put a priest in a squad with siege mantles and take Red Scorpions chapter tactics and watch your dudes never fucking die. Also, penitent engines make good distractions and outflanking Dominions never hurt anyone. This one will lose you friends, though.

Building Your Army

This one isn't very hard: use your existing marine army. 99.99% of you reading this probably have a few thousand points of marines sitting around anyways. A few things to remember: You will need to buy plenty of bits to convert your marines to represent the options they have in this list. The Siege Assault Marines will need to be jump-pack less chainsword+bolt pistol marines, so that'll cost you. Marines with Siege Mantlets are required by the rules to have some sort of shield attached to the model (try the FW boarding shield set, though admittedly you'll have a hell of a time with heavy weapons), just little things like this. Also, you will probably need a Caestus assault ram if you ever want to take the siege objective, and they cost $150. And probably a few land raiders, which cost about $90-100. And a bunch of dreadnoughts. So despite the fact that you (probably) already have about 1000pts of the specific models you want for a 2000pts Siege Assault Vanguard list, it will still cost about as much as a regular 2000 point list. Because Forge World.

Army Tactics

This is, admittedly, a hard army to use. They are extremely forgiving of beginner mistakes, due to nothing in it dying ever, and it will win ever Big Guns Never Tire game you play (because squadrons), as well as winning ever kill point game (as long as you take the siege objective). The issue is that it is an army that is fucking EXCELLENT at defense, honestly nothing else in the game even comes close, blob guard wish they were siege vanguards, but they are forced to play aggressively by their special rule. An experienced player, with a strong, well thought out army list and a sound grasp of tactics can definitely use it to their advantage, but most players will struggle with it. Still, it offers some powerful options, some great prices (points wise; god knows they charge about 300% too much money wise) and a unique and fun playstyle I think most players can probably appreciate.

But as far as tactics go, you will generally want at least three of this modded codex's hardcore objective holders: 1-2 mantlet tactical squads and a talon of two ironclads would work. This way even if you roll 5 objectives, or are playing the scouring, you can hold all the objectives you get to place. You will want two or three units capable of advancing and capturing objectives, or at least one capable of capturing and two or so of clearing objectives. Because one thing is constant: you need to always be capable of capturing that siege objective. In a way, it is kind of a liberating restriction, in that there is no randomness. In a straight up fight, any semi-well planned SAV list will crush any other list (except maybe a legion list, that one is up for debate). That's why they added the siege objective. What this means for you is you need to be able to have a few units move up quick who are tough enough to take and hold objective, and have units capable of wiping the enemy off the other objectives (in an army like this one, you simply can't afford that many transports, since yours are almost all expensive+powerful, rather than cheap+numerous. This means one troops unit with upgrades+ ride, and either tanks, big guns, or heavy infantry to kill whatever is holding the regular objectives).

For hilarity: Kor'sarro Khan and a siege master as HQs, with three troops units of Siege Assault Squad+LR Redeemer, outflank them all, arriving on a 2+ on turn two. Hilarity ensues, and then your guys get roflstomped because you have 32 PA models and 3 tanks at 2000pts.

For Awesome (but impractical): Take Lucius Pattern drop pods (yes, you still get those) and drop your scoring ironclads in to sweep/capture objectives. Lol. Dreadnought talons can't take drop pods. Sorry.

Or you could just take 2 caestus assault rams, 4 land raider achilles and just pray for either big guns never tire or the scouring, since you will never lose any of those four vehicles, and if they can hold the siege objective it is just done for your opponent. The downside would be the fact that you just spent 1850pts and $800 on six models. So this is instead of getting a reaver titan. FORGE WOOOOOORRRRLLLD!