Space Marines are the most adaptable Army in Dawn of War - All rounders.
They CAN do anything, but I would argue they are also not the best at anything either.

Their key to success is counter building and fast timings, for example you have plenty of anti armour options but if you don't get it up before the armour is coming your way, you'll get folded. Anyone who has played into Chaos with no experience knows this. By end game - known as T4, or Relic Units -most armies have Space Marines beat. You need to be efficient, be polite and have a plan to kill everyone you meet strike hard, strike accurately and strike fast.

This guide will feature a basic build order with tips and notes, and a detailed per-race guide for MP battles. However, it is entirely based on my experience as a Vet since 2011 and entirely subjective. I will be adding continuously as I discover more and more enemy strategies and more of my own that work against theirs.

Remember to watch MrLandShark, the best DoW cast that side of East Yorkshire to see professional matches played and learn from the best!

Most games you want to open the same way:

- Build Chapel.

- In the HQ queue: Scout > Scout > Builder

- 1st scout captures the closest Strategic Point (SP).

- 2nd builder joins the builder building the Chapel, by right clicking the same build you can have two builders build something doubly fast.

- 2nd scout captures another SP.

- Using Shift-M2 you can queue the Scouts to cap the next nearest point.

- When the Chapel finishes, have your builders doubly build Listening Post (LP) on the 1st SP.
YOU START WITH 100 POWER, spend 50 on the Force Commander (FC) and situationally an Armoury with the second 50 power. Not Listening Post Level 2 (LP2), just yet.

- Then in Chapel queue: FC > Marines. Situationally these will be other way around, but the FC can take on most Tier 1 Squads 1v1.

Now work on your economy, capture control posts and build listening posts on them. Rushes or Middle Map Skirmishes will start to happen about now so you will need to be ready and mobile. Micro is essential to win these fights but you cannot let your macro slip.

I recommend building two squads of marines rather than reinforcing one, as it takes 26s to build a new one and 36 seconds to reinforce 4 adds to the first. Having two squads also means greater mobility and map control.

When your the dust settles from early skirmishes (or during!) you need to get 2 Generators down to build toward T2 and unit upgrades.

Building Armoury next is good for unit upgrades - unless you are winning with the T1 units, then you may want to save the power and requisition to get Monastery upgrade (T2) sooner.

Depending on situation you will now have a FC and at least 3 or 4 reinforced Marine squads.

For larger maps there is an alternate build where after Chapel you put down a Gen instead of the first LP, and after that continue the build as normal. This works because rushes and skirmishes take longer to happen on large maps so you will have more time to get those LPs on. This means you will start a bank of Power ready for the Armoury upgrades and the T2 upgrade.

Once you have T2:
- Research Blue Flag1 on LP and Green Lightening1 on Gens to speed your economy.

- 2 more Gens (should have 4 now).

- Build the Machine Cult and queue your first armour
-- Dreadnoughts first if you need anti Vehicle/Heavy infantry displacement (Chaos, Necrons, Space Marines)
-- Land Speeders if you need anti Light Infantry (Guard, Eldar, Orks)

- Research the vehicle cap upgrade from HQ, so you can create more than 1 vehicle. If you are going Dreads you'll need the capgrade just to have 1.

- Build Sacred Artifact, for Grey Knights and Librarian.

DEFILER RUSH
A lot of Chaos players lean on the long ranged infantry displacement-devastation of the Defiler - lucky for you it takes a little while to get there
You will need to survive the typical aggressive early game of Chaos and rush your hard counter to these beasts - Dreadnoughts.
Dreadnoughts flat stomp Defilers once they get in CQC and will do an excellent job of displacing and executing Chaos Infantry once they mop up the metal monsters.

Your opening should be:
- Scout > Scout > Builder
- Chapel > Marines > Force Commander > Marines
- 3 LP
- 2 Gen
- Monastery

Now start skirmishing and controlling the middle ground. Play safely and smartly, upping to LP2 when necessary for defence but bear in mind every cent of power spent is delaying your precious coffin boy.
As soon as you complete the Monastery get the machine cult up and get the Dreads on field.

If the Defilers are on field take them out using your Dread and then proceed to fight for their LPs.
If they haven't yet got Defilers on field just take their LPs like candy from an Agri-World civillian.
Never rush them, just take and hold LPs to edge them out of their economy and bolster your own. Land speeders are great vs Cultists and Plasma rifles on your boys vs their Marines.

Be mindful of early game cultist rushes - as soon as you see nade launchers you need to get smart and prevent them from wiping your whole force

RAPTOR RUSH
It is impossible to know until it is too late if your opponent is going Raptor Rush. Even Builder > Scout > Scout to get the fastest possible FC and Marines will be slower than Raptors deploying and rushing your scouts and SPs. This tactic will push out your scouts and FC off of doing anything at all while their Cultists cap the whole map and they build Bolter turrets outside your base.

Best defence is to get LP2 early and kite them around, laying down fire if they go for the LP. But you still have the map control to worry about

BIG MEK RUSH
One strategy to look out for is Big Mek, two boyz and a shoota squad coming into your base early. They can exploit the power imbalance between boyz and scouts, and between the BM and your FC.
So, you need to be prepared to wipe small advances off the map before they tie up all your forces in CQC and start back capping your LPs.

I play Orks as follows:
- Builder > Scout > Scout > Sniper Training
- Chapel > Gen > 2 LPs
In the Chapel you want FC > Marines

This allows you to surpress and demoralise the boyz and lay down fire with the Marines, and with fire support from further Marines you will be able to outweigh that imbalance between the BMs melee and your FC's.

Tau have far superior firepower to you early, mid and late games - I know only one strategy that works every time.

Scout > Scout > Builder
Finish the Chapel and build LPs on the first two SPs
then split the builders into one armoury and the other 3rd SP.

In the Chapel you are making FC and as soon as the armoury finishes you need two Assault Marine squads. Reinforce both and rush them. Use the FC against the Tau Commander and the Assault marines to chase Fire Warriors.
Continue to build your economy while microing the Assault marines and FC who may well be either in the enemy base or destroying their early listening posts - as long as all the fire warriors are dead!
Send over normal Marines when possible to continue harassment and killing all new units as they are made. This whole time you should be capping the entire map, skipping Crit Locs and Relics to just smash their economy. Enjoy.

Early Vespid rushes counter this so if you get scent of that keep your FC in your base and use him and the Assault Marines to kill them dead.

Sisters capping unit is the missionary, which much like Scouts are pitiful at much more than scouting and capturing SPs.

Typical way to get an Edge on Sisters is to go for a quad Scout build where two squads of scouts cap SPs and the other two move out and decap their SPs, this means while you're teching up they're chasing around your scouts.

This also means when they rush out Seraphs they're occupied there - and not in your base. If they don't opt for Seraphs then you're golden, and if they opt for flamers you'll want Snipers and just kite them!

Limited experience vs Necrons but they aren't lying when they say they are weak early.
Necrons are slow, so you get to set the terms of engagement. You can always, always kite them. Just be sure you mind that they are very strong when firing into your arse due to no loss of accuracy when moving.

STRATEGY: ASSAULT RUSH
Most games I will run
Builder > Scout > Scout and cap as normal
Doubly build Barracks and queue an armoury to build immediately

FC > Assault Marines and rally them straight to the base.
Make sure you get one LP before you queue the Assault Marines.
The key is to take out the builders, especially ones building generators.
If they fight you with any Warriors, reinforce the Assault marines and overwhelm them as they come out of the Monolith, then squash more Scarabs.
If it's the Lord who comes out first, he's even easier to overwhelm.

They will do two things in response - more Warriors or Flayed ones
If more warriors, second Assault squad and then a Marine squad to lay down fire while you tie up the warriors in CQC (see Tau Assault rush)
If Flayes, just stick with the Assaults you've got and pump out Marines to kite them. You have the speed.

When they Flayes chase your marines, jump the Assaults over to their Gens and go to town - they can't be everywhere at once.

Eldar are a slow rolling ball and can be very tricky to play against on normal grounds. Much like the TTG, the gamemakers had a huge hard on for Eldar and never balanced them. Dark reapers early prevents you from winning any fight whatsoever. And they have a better mid and late game than you - flat.

One strategy you can employ is 4XScout > Builder
You can send the first two scouts directly to their base and kill their builders setting back their early game, meaning you can try to get a head start on your eco.
Don't worry about the guardians; in spite of their name the silvery shards of their guns mean nothing to the brave space marine Scout. Make sure they are fully reinforced to 4 as they approach, but do not continue once they take out the builders. They knew the risks when they signed on. Godspeed, you magnificent bastrds.

This means when you're in mid game, they're still in early game which levels the playing field. The only way to beat the most premier army in the game is to cut them down at the knee!