It can be very effective as Stomp says, but the trick is in effectively pre-plotting and choosing the right turn to come down, don't be too down if you call it wrong the first few times...

No, being in the scouts ZoC doesn't make it more difficult to activate. It means the only actions the enemy formation can take are engage (on the scouts), advance, double, march or marshal (with a move). Once more, the first move of that formation must be to immediately leave the scout's ZoC. Also, if the enemy formation fails to activate it MUST move out of the ZoC (no regroup, no fire).

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Dave

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Squats 2019-10-17

Ok, thanks Dave, I can clearly see the value of scouts now.

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And Land Speeders, with scout, are also very usefull for prepping a target, providing support, and also for setting up or using crossfire.

As others have said, Dreds are very usefull as part of a dropped formation, but they can also be used in defense - try putting two in a Devastator formation with a Hunter (no rhinos) as a garrison force.

Yeah. Landspeeders are an amazing unit, especially for only 200 points.

Fast moving scout skimmers with macro weapons - what's not to like!

Why no rhinos? I would assume you would want them in there to absorb losses or is there save enough worse that they will cause more blast markers to be picked up.

I've been working on making a 3000-pt list:

Is it typical to put the Supreme Commander in with a unit of tactical marines or are there other, better options?

If marines are best at surgical strikes, but not as good at holding a fixed position, then does it make sense to garrison a devastator unit near an objective? I know it gives a lot of firepower to defend the point, but does that not really just make them a ripe target for an enemy?

While asembling the list I'm wondering how many core tactical marine units should be used, and how many more 'colorful' units can be taken, so as to create a fair playlist. My list right now has all kinds of specialized units such as terminators, predators, assault marines, land speeders, etc. - but only one tactical formation. (Right now I'm thinking this borderlines cheesy)

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One Tac formation per army is pretty normal. Any more than 2 is extremely rare.

Tactical formations are generally too expensive to be worth using en-masse.
They're best as a solid Supreme Commander's formation, or as a "bodyguard" to the Supreme Commander's formation.

I've been arguing for a long time that they should be 275pts per formation, but nobody cares. :-)

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I don't think a 25 point drop will help much. Tac's aren't taken as they don't excel at any one thing. Marine lists need to apply the best formation for each task at precisely the correct point at the correct time. Tac's aren't geared up for this.

Even at 250 I think you'd only see a max of 2 and most likely one as a pimped up blitz/SC guard formation.

I generally base my army lists around a battle company:

2 Tacticals
1 Devastator
1 Bike and 1 Land Speeder (the Assault Marines)

If you got a THawk, Assault Marines are more viable I think. Either way, that's 1250/1225. Add in characters and some 1st/9th/10th company support and maybe navy and 3k doesn't seem like a lot anymore. I try to aim for 3 formations per 1k at a minimum.

I haven't found Tacticals to be overpriced. They are the backbone of most of my lists. They're there to absorb punishment and create pivoting points/lend support. As with anything in the Marine list you have to minimize the amount of fire that they are subjected to because there are so few of them.

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Squats 2019-10-17

Use Salamanders. Here a pimped out Tactical Formation is very good at holding Objecives.

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