So here is my 1000 pt Space Marine list to kick off the Space Marine Evolution of a List Sequence. For those of you who don't know what that is, I start with a small list and build upon it, developing an army in much the way a hobbyist would by slowly adding units and new concepts/tactics to the list.
HQ- Forgefather Vulkan He’stan: 190
TROOPS- Tactical Squad (10): 220- Sergeant, bp & chainsword; Melta Gun; Lascannon; Rhino
TROOPS- Tactical Squad (10): 210- Sergeant, bp & chainsword; Melta Gun; Multi-Melta; Rhino
TROOPS- Tactical Squad (10): 210- Sergeant, bp & chainsword; Melta Gun; Multi-Melta; Rhino
ELITES- Stern Guard Veteran Squad (5): 170- 2 x Combi-Flamer; Rhino
Pts: 1000 Scoring Units: 3-6 KPs: 5, 8 (Hard Boyz)
Hobby Notes:
Be ready to switch the Flamers in the Sternguard to melta-guns and the chainswords to power weapons. The Sternguard Rhino should be able to be converted to a razorback with both HB and an Assault Cannon. My recommendation to do this is buy 2 razorback kits. Use one as a Rhino for the Tac squads and then use the parts to make two seperate turrets for the Razorback.
Tactics:
Okay simple tactics here. Vulkan gets attached to the Sternguard. He is going to stay with them through the whole series. They are a potent squad with their bolters. They should be able to tear apart squads with their weapons and then weather an assault with Vulkan.
3 Tactical Squads will remain the core of the army. The Lascannon is to give some long range umph and the vast amouts of melta owes to having Vulkan. Plus they are cheap and good, doubly good with Vulkan treating all Melta weapons in the army as Master Crafted. Basically: Take objectives and kill stuff. You can also use combat squads to spread out and take more objectives, which in a 1000 pts game can be usefull. And you can footslog guys to the near objectives and motor guys out to further ones. But don't get too spread out so that your opponent can eliminate your smaller squads piecemeal.
Everything mounts up in a basic Rhino for now. Thought about Drop Pods, but for the same cost, I like rhinos, as they are moving cover and will help support other ground units later on by having the Tac Squads on the table rather than stuck in Reserves.
So there you go. I went with Salamanders because everyone and their mom does Kantor. So Vulkan it was, giving me alot of AP 1 potency, saving me from having to worry about buying lascannons and such. And I also want to avoid deep striking too much through the list. Many lists are built to counter that these days, and conventional tactics work just fine.