30K: Betrayal at Calth Space Marine Legion Squads

If you took the advice on getting two sets of Betrayal at Calth (BAC), you now have plenty of Space Marines in (MK IV) Power Armour – 60, to be exact (or 62, if you count the special character, but let's ignore that guy for the moment). So what to do with them?

In 40K, we wouldn't have many options. Tactical Marines, sure, and maybe Devastator Squads, thanks to the heavy weapons in BaC (Missile Launchers and Heavy Bolters). In 30K, however, there are many things we could kit them out for. Let's take a look.

We've got four options that can be achieved without any conversions:

• Veteran Tactical Squad (Elites): 5 to 10 Marines with Bolters. The Sergeant has more options, and one in five Marines may take a special or heavy weapon.
• Tactical Squad (Troops): Your bread and butter, seriously. 10 to 20 Marines, and only the Sergeant can deviate from the standard armament (Bolters, unless you kit them out for close combat, which is also possible (but in most cases not advisable)).
• Tactical Support Squad (Troops): 5 to 10 Marines, all armed with the same special weapon. The Sergeant can take other weapons, but normally he's equipped with the same weapon as his squad.
• Heavy Support Squad (Heavy Support): 5 to 10 Marines, similar to the Tactical Support Squad, but with the same heavy weapon choice. Yes, that once again includes the Sergeant.

In addition to the 60 Space Marines two boxes of BaC include six heads for Sergeants (so if we want more Sergeants, we'd have to get converting), enough Bolters for all 60, and six each of the following: Missile Launcher, Heavy Bolter, Plasma Gun, Meltagun, Flamer.

There are many viable combinations to kit your 60 Marines. But again, Tactical Squads are the mainstay of the Legions. And they are anything but useless. In any case, you need to take two Troop units as per the Force Organisation Chart. While Tactical Support Squads are considered Troops, too, they are non-compulsory troop choices, meaning that they are taken as additional Troops, not the initial two.

To really get your money's worth from Tactical Squads, you'll want your units to be as big as possible. Two BaC boxes give you enough Marines to build two full 20 men Tactical Squads. As for the Sergeants, I'd either give them Combi-Bolters (for a cheap alternative fire mode if the need arises) or let them stick to the standard Bolter.

It's worth considering giving all your Tactical Marines an additional close combat weapon (so they'd have a Bolt Pistol and a close combat weapon for one additional attack in assaults), which are also supplied in the box. This depends on how you want to use your squads and on what Legion you've chosen. In any case, close combat weapons probably work best in large squads.

That would leave another 20 Marines. You've got four Sergeant heads left, so you could build four Tactical Support or Heavy Support squad. From all the weapons in the box, the Missile Launcher is probably your first choice, and rightfully so. Heavy Bolters aren't that effective against fellow Marines (your most likely target), while the Missile Launcher offers some flexibility. But at least consider the Heavy Bolter, as some Legions (notably the Imperial Fists) could make good use of this weapon.

Flamers are the standard choice for Tactical Support squad, but in many circumstances they might not be your best (but still cheapest) choice. The Death Guard, for instance, are able to make Flamers far more deadly (with a certain risk added). Meltaguns and Plasma Guns are much more powerful, and therefore more threatening.

Your weapons of choice for these four squads all depends on your Legion. If in doubt, make it flavorful ("fluffy") – as mentioned before, the Imperial Fists will have plenty of Heavy Bolters, while the Death Guard loves their Flamers.

Remember the Rites of War (RoW)? There's a rather popular RoW named "Pride of the Legion", which seems tailor-made for BaC (but that can't be the case, because this RoW is way older than BaC): among other things you can (and have to!) take Veteran Tactical Marines (and Terminators) as Troop choices. However this is not your best plan of action, unless you're strapped for cash, only have a single BaC box and want to get your army on the tabletop ASAP. Veteran Tactical Squads are expensive, and not as easy to make good use of when compared to Tactical Support and Heavy Support squads. The fact that one in five Marines may take a special or heavy weapon is kind of a trap – most weapons demand other targets than Bolters, and you can't split your fire (that is, by the way, one of the things that make the 40K Tactical squad perform sub-par).

That said, you could still build a Veteran Squad or two. Especially if you also want to use your miniatures in your 40K Space Marine army, as Legion Veterans are kitted like 40K Tactical squads.

So there you have it: quite a lot of choices out of the box(es). In the Betrayal at Calth board game, the units are essentially Veteran squads, in case you need to know.