Space Marine battle barges carry a heavyweight battery of bombardment cannons as part of their main armament. Bombardment cannons fire in the same way as weapon batteries with two exceptions:

1. Bombardment cannons always hit on a 4 or more, regardless of the target’s armour (even vs ordnance).
2. Bombardment cannons inflict critical hits on a roll of 4 or more, rather than just on a roll of 6.

When randomly generating the Leadership value for a Space Marine ship, use the table here.

Space Marine ships add +2 to their D6 roll when they fight in a boarding action and +1 when they make any hit and run attack.

Enemy hit and run attacks against a Space Marine ship deduct 1 from their dice rolls (and so will fail on a roll of 1 or 2 before modification).

Drop Pods

All Space Marine capital ships are equipped with drop pods. These add nothing to their profile and are not treated as ordnance in any respect. Drop pods enable Space Marine capital ships to quickly deploy Space Marines to the surface and impart +2 assault points for each capital ship during a planetary assault instead of +1.

Honour Guard

Some Space Marine vessels are noted as carrying the Chapter’s Honour Guard. Once per turn you may use the Honor Guard, if your fleet list includes them. All the normal rules for teleport attacks apply, except that they may be used in addition to a normal teleport attack that turn. The player may roll two dice and choose which one to use as the result, including the normal +1 bonus for being Space Marines.

Terminator Boarding Parties

Once per turn a vessel equipped with Terminator boarding parties may use them when conducting a hit and run teleport attack. They roll two dice for its hit and run attack and apply both results, including the normal +1 bonus for being Space Marines. Terminators may be used in addition to a normal teleport attack that turn.

Thunderhawks and Enemy Ordnance

Thunderhawk gunships combine the abilities of assault boats and fighters, and move like any other attack craft, with a speed of 20cm. A Thunderhawk counter that is intercepted by enemy fighters or move onto an enemy ordnance marker removes the enemy as fighters would. However as they are extremely resilient, roll a dice when this happens. On a score of 4+, do not remove the Thunderhawk marker. Thunderhawks can only remove one enemy marker in any given ordnance phase and stop moving as soon as they intercept an enemy, and if a Thunderhawk marker uses its save to remain in play and comes into contact with another ordnance marker in the same ordnance phase, it is removed normally.

Note that against Eldar fighters, which also have this ability, it is possible that you end up with neither marker being removed! If this happens, either marker is free to move away in their next turn, or they can stay in place and attempt to remove their enemy again.

Thunderhawks and Enemy Ships

When a Thunderhawk marker moves into contact with an enemy ship’s base, they are treated exactly like assault boats (with the +1 bonus to their hit and run attack for being Space Marines). Using its 4+ save does not prevent it from attacking a ship if in base contact with one when stopped. Once a Thunderhawk marker has made its hit and run attack, it is removed from play.

Refitting to carry Thunderhawks

Any vessel that earns or pays for a refit to carry Thunderhawks may then ONLY carry them, and its launch bay capacity is reduced by half (rounding up when applicable). Escort carriers may never be upgraded to carry Thunderhawks!

Thunderhawk Annihilators

Some Space Marine vessels are noted as carrying Thunderhawk Annihilators. Thunderhawk Annihilators combine the abilities of bombers and fighters, and they move like any other attack craft with a speed of 20cm. A Thunderhawk Annihilator that is intercepted by enemy fighters or moves onto an enemy ordnance marker removes the enemy marker exactly the same way fighters would. However, they are extremely resilient and follow all special rules for Thunderhawks above. When a Thunderhawk Annihilator comes in contact with an enemy ship’s base, they attack it like bombers, even if they have used their resilience to remain in play. Once they complete their attack, they are removed normally. Thunderhawk Annihilators cannot be used as assault boats.