Some of the most basic strategies come from the essentials of having not awesome killer charachters, but a charachter with a few good pieces of wargear. Such examples follow.

A captain with a bolter, power fist, rad grenades, conversoin field, and aegis suit is good for the cost of 162 points. You may want to give him a chainsword or something for a parry but thats up to you. Still, as you can see, hes not to psychotically maxed out.

The next thing to think about is squads. What will your army be made of?? Well, assuming youre using a codex chapter, you should almost always start with a devestator squad. This is essential to cover all your movements on the board. I find that the best combination of weaponry is 1 lascannon, 1 heavy bolter, 1 missile launcher, 1 multi melta and sergant with power fist. The total will vary on the squad so Ill leave the total to you. If you dont have the last one (and you probably dont) then substitute a missile launcher or heavy plasma instead. The second squad you'll need is a couple of tacticals. The best thing to have is 2 tacticals, 1 with Missle launcher and melta gun, and 1 with either a missile launcher and flamer or heavy bolter and flamer. I find these combinations work very well against foot units as (most) units wont want to approach a meltagun and missile launcher at the same time(not to mention the 8 others with bolters). To top it off make the sergant a veteran and give em a bionic arm or rad grenades. If you think theyll face heavy fighting and you have the pionts left over, you might consider giving them krak grenades (+30 pts per squad).

Now you should fill in the gaps with vehicles and specialist squads. You could consider taking vehicles instead of devestators but they will end up drawing a LOT of fire. Eldar (or anyone with WS 5 assault troops for that matter) should have the honour of fighting your assault troops. Orks and Imperial Guard should be slaughtered by a scout squad with a multi melta, and other marines and Chaos deserve the Terminator treatment. This referrs to mega armoured nobz, termies, or indeed, anything extremely hard to kill.

On to Psykers. Since i play marines ill give you my best combination. Chief librarian with force sword, Hood of Hellfire, Displacer field, and combat drugs. This makes him a practically unstoppable force to anything less than a heavy weapon or a vehicle. You may say "why a displacer field??". Well, because its reliable; it wouldn't do to have your librarian killed by bolter shots, now would it. I didnt think so. And between the force sword and combat drugs, hes got a S10 with a -6 saving throw modifier in hand to hand combat. Some people dont like psykers for the reason that they "take to long to use". Well just roll dice to activate powers then. Also, to make your psykers more useful, (unless youre playing a campaign with a specific objective) try to draw an even hand of powers. My favorite hand includes: Smite, Displacement, Hellfire, and prescience. But in my games everyone can use psychic shield and teleport wether they have the card or not.

So you want strategies, huh?? Well ill give ya the space marines tips cause thats who I play. First of all, STRATEGY RATING!!! Most novices dont think it really matters but it does. First of all, if you make them deploy first then you can keep some of their units out of the game by deploying your units in hard to get places. This gives them the time to shoot em up as they advance, as well as keeping them out of the fight for at least 1-2 turns, and maybe more (assuming they go for your bait). Flanking is another great tactic. It allows you to get the edge by harassing both the front and the side/rear of the opposing line. This generally causes havoc in their battle formation and sometimes the reaction is to pull the line over to help the side being assaulted, and if they do this you have the chance to flank on the other side. Then you simply fight toward the center and crush them between your two lines. This somewhat resembels the jaws of a vice. If you have a lot of crazy, hard to kill troops then you can send them on a suicide mission up the middle of the enemy ranks. This works well for Nurgle Death Guard and things like terminators, mega nobz, and things like Blood Angels Death Company and Deathwing Terminators. Librarians can use some devestating tactics on the battlefield if they use the right powers. Things like Smite can be used to wipe out massed ranks of troops (provided you can roll under their reduced leadership). Hellfire is a great power because it stays in play until it is nullified. This power can be used to block off lines of sight and to block movement since anything that touches it suffers a hit. The gate can be intimidating, if not useful. First, find a place where you have lots of models nearby. Then use the gate and place on end in front of all those models, and place the other end near your enemys forces. Put your forces some of your forces on overwatch and wait. If theyre not dumb enough to waltz through into a hail of fire, then send some tough guys through to cause some havoc. This can be very annoying, especially if you leave it there for a while. Well enough on psykers, lets get back to regular tactics. For the Marine terminators teleporting can be a godsend or a disaster. I find it helpful to teleport my termies right down behind the enemys battle lines. This generally causes some frustration and bloodshed amongst their ranks. Or if youre the psychotic type, just use one of the most well know strategies:SEARCH AND DESTROY!! Another useful tactic is the scare tactic. If you have say 50 models all advancing on their line, chances are pretty good that they will wither and be afraid to attack you.

What should i do with my specilised troops, you ask?? Well for starters, examine the surrounding terrain and make a decision first. But i suggest not to jump with assault squads when there is a lot of overwatch fire, or else youll get cut down. Also, DO NOT PUT TERMIES INTO RHINOS!!! If you do you will unfortunately see that it attracts the attention of every heavy weapon on the board. Even though it may give you a chance to shoot up your opponent before he gets to you, your termies will most likely be turned into dust pretty quick. Teleporting them is much safer. Scouts, however, are potentially the most deadly squads you can field. I like to arm em with high power, short ranged weapons like the multi melta and needle rifles. This makes a deadly combination for anyone fighting them.

Well thats all for tactics for now, but ill try to update every now and then. So until then, ALOHA.