Marneus Calgar - a Discussion

[Arnak'ra'Narok]

I think th reason Clagar doesnt see as much play as other SM special characters is that he, while being completely uber and godly in a well built army list, is that almost every marine player ive met loves to go on the offensive and to me Clagar seems to be the ultimate line-holder. I once played with Termie Calgar and TH/SS Termie retinue for him as well as other things, it ended up clagar and termies on the objective farthest back with a pair of Sternguard squads in front, the following happened,

 

1) Stern squads are charged by Khorne Berserkers

2) Stern squads procceed to get the snot kicked out of them

3) Stern squads subsequently fall back with GoW

4) Zerkers fail sweeping advance and both units are left within 12" of Calgar and Termies

5) Next round sees Sternguard unleashing a punishing volley of Vengeance rounds within Rapid fire range

6) Calgar and his termies move forward and mop up the remainder

7) This repeats 4 times during the game

 

The point of all that was Calgar with GoW alone allowed me pull off a powerful tactic which eventually saw me on to victory, his combat prowess played little part in his inclusion ironically...

 

And as for his inclusion in Apoc... well in a game with 2 SM players allowed 5k points a piece to one team (this game was MASSIVELY EPIC) and orks eldar and necrons to another team, one sm player decided to "borrow" my calgar for the game.

 

Imagine if you can this squad;

 

Marneus Calgar

Cato Sicarius

Varro Tigirius

Ortan Cassius

Pedro Kantor

Darnath Lysander

Kayvaan Shrike

Korsarro Khan

Vulkan He'Stan

10 Man Legion of The Damned

 

Trust me that was not a pretty sight for the opposing players....

It never gave a single inch of ground up, never lost a single IC, never failed to wipe out the squads it came into combat with, never let the squads it was holding the choke points for die and while this will seem obvious to someone with half a brain cell, it single handedly decided the game's outcome.

 

Note: I'm well aware almost nobody would ever use that squad in any circumstance but if you can, try to imagine the carnage that thing produced.

[ghost9pm]

The only thing I have to say on the matter is yes, he might be a combat beast, but if you don't put him in a Land Raider I'm just going to drive right past him. lol

 

If you DO put him in a Land Raider you've sunk at least 250 points to transport one guy.

 

"Well I guess I might as well give him a squad to fill up that land raider."

 

Now you've spent 700 points total. That means you probably only have two tactical squads in the game. And you're going to hide them because they're your only scoring units, so now you're not using your tacticals to full effect.

 

I'm going to avoid Calgar at all costs and aim for your tactical squads. He can't be everywhere at once.

 

Too easy.

[Titan87]

The only thing I have to say on the matter is yes, he might be a combat beast, but if you don't put him in a Land Raider I'm just going to drive right past him. lol

 

If you DO put him in a Land Raider you've sunk at least 250 points to transport one guy.

 

"Well I guess I might as well give him a squad to fill up that land raider."

 

Now you've spent 700 points total. That means you probably only have two tactical squads in the game. And you're going to hide them because they're your only scoring units, so now you're not using your tacticals to full effect.

 

I'm going to avoid Calgar at all costs and aim for your tactical squads. He can't be everywhere at once.

 

Too easy.

 

While that sounds like a good tactic I actually use a similar army to the one described above. While true that I only have 2 tactical squads, I also have a Scout squad to count as another scoring unit, and 2 lascannon preds to discourace the run around calgar tactic, as well as to watch over my Tac squads. There is alot of points tied up using calgar and retinue, but it does not mean that you won't have to deal with them, and the land raider.

[Captain Idaho]

I agree, as a Landraider is not something you can just ignore and drive by as if you were just standing there like lemons.

 

And as for people thinking that he is so expensive, consider that many armies will have a Landraider with or without Calgar, so he isn't costing you anything more there really. Secondly is you were going to put a squad in there anyway, so that's not a waste either. Lastly, you were going to spend around 130-170pts on an HQ anyway, so he is only 130pts or so more and you get a model that can eat alive just about any other opponent thrown at him, the whole army is immune to bad luck break tests and he can take the hits for a unit he is with.

 

He is a little more expensive than many people feel comfortble with, but he's not a points sink at all.