A Frank Discussion on HQs in general

[TyrionTheImp]

The thing I see with HQ choices is that far too many people use Counts As for my liking.

 

I know it's an advocated thing fro GW, but the thing is why should a Disciples of Caliban player have access to Darnath Lysander, no matter what they name him?

 

If your Chapter doesn't have a HQ SC, then build your own... Thats my opinion anyway and one of the biggest problems I see with HQ choice.

 

Uh, because they want to use the special rules that character may bring to the table? Have you seen the DA Codex? We got nothing special in the way of changing play styles except Terminator Troops and Ravenwing Troops, a bit of a one trick pony most of the time. Fluffwise yeah it's not right, but look at it from playing the game. Restricting choices to a player's own codex or chapter pretty much makes their army bland to play and people like to mix it up. Saying "Oh you're Ultramarines? You can't have Pedro Kantor." is just stupid. A color scheme is a color scheme is a color scheme. Fluff violation happens in the game all the time, and as far as I'm concerned, on the tabletop, chapters are only painting schemes. Of course, that's not to say armies that adhere to fluff aren't awesome too but complaining about people using other chapter's SC's is ridiculous. Now that my little rant is over I'll get back to the topic!

 

I myself as a DA player am resorting to using GKGMs as psychic defense, but I have the option to Deep Strike him in First Turn with some awesome terminators to go with it, but he can be useful for C:SM armies too. Giving him a Psycannon can ruin Chaos Daemons, Zoanthropes, and Eldar Far Seers that all only have Invuln saves and being Str 6 Heavy 3 with 36" Range (On TDA) is not a bad addition to a squad with BS5. The S6 Force Weapon and awesome CC abilities of the GKGM are also valuable. However the cost of such an HQ with 4+ Invuln save reaches about 220 points or so, with other options available.

 

This may not be such a boon for C:SM players though because you guys have normal Ld 10 Librarians with Psychic Hoods, but the GKGM's hood is table wide, so it still is a good choice.

 

I can't comment much else on C:SM HQ's though, all I know is Interrogator-Chaplains kick regular chaplain's butts and that pretty much otherwise our HQ's are sub par (WS 5 only and one of our best HQ's lacks a 4++ save? <_< )

[Gothical]

Captain - Thunder Hammer, Combi-Melta.

 

May not be the smartest option (wastes I5), but he's proven to be fairly reliable and sturdy. When I can I give him Artificer Armour, but it had to go in the new list :confused:.

 

Usually paired with a Command Squad (FNP is great) but I'm still experimenting with their weaponry.

[ShinyRhino]

The thing I see with HQ choices is that far too many people use Counts As for my liking.

 

I know it's an advocated thing fro GW, but the thing is why should a Disciples of Caliban player have access to Darnath Lysander, no matter what they name him?

 

If your Chapter doesn't have a HQ SC, then build your own... Thats my opinion anyway and one of the biggest problems I see with HQ choice.

 

Unfortunately, you simply cannot replicate every facet of a given Special Character with the generics. Sure, you could build a Captain with dual lightning claws and a jump pack, but he won't be Shrike. Your army won't trade Combat Tactics for Fleet, you won't be able to Infitrate a squad alongside him, his claws won't be master-crafted, etc etc.

People seem to get far too attached to the Chapter labels on these special characters. The 40K universe is vast and untold, and has a lengthy past and future. it's not impossible to imagine that another Marine Chapter somewhere fights in the same style as another, or has had epic heroes. Heck, it's even SUPPORTED that Chapters fight alike and have similar heroes. Look at all the Dark Angels, Blood Angels, and Ultramarines successors that all share common principles of warfare.

[Xeonic]

Worse, what if you play say Imperial Fists and don't want to take Lysander?

No Stubborn, and that's supposed to be a trait of your chapter.

Well, if you don't like Lysander you can take a Pedro "counts-as" and still have similar effect, but thatt's about the only choice you have.

Your fists are not Fists unless led by a special character.

 

If you play Raven Guard and want fleet, you are forced to take Shrike.

For that matter if you want to represent a facet of your chapter, say you interpret your space sharks as a chapter that excels in lightning quick raids, "counts-as" is there for you.

 

I personally miss chapter traits, though that was abuseable in a competitive setting, so is character tactics.

[Brother-Captain Isaac]

Or, make up some very cool rules for a character and give him/her a ridiculously high points price :)

 

Captain Agemman, Captain of the Ultramarines 1st Company:

Points cost: 230 pts

WS 6 BS 5 Str 4 T 4 W 3 A 4 Ld 10

 

Wargear: Iron Halo, Relic Blade, Storm Bolter, Power Armour, Frag and Krak Grenades, Chapter Banner

 

Special Rules: Fearless, And They Shall Know No Fear, Independent Character

Regent of Ultramar: As Captain of the Ultramarines Veteran Company, one Sternguard or Vanguard squad may be selected as a Troops choice.

 

And so on and so forth.......

[fudal78]

My regular HQs are:

 

Librarian - never leave home without one, the psychic defence alone makes him worthwhile. I usually take Gate of Infinity beacuse, in my experience, mobility at short notice can be game winning. Other than that I flit between Null Zone, Avenger and Force Dome depending on my mood and how I entend to apply him. At lower points (below 1500) I take him on his own, anything larger then his is combined with one of the following.

 

Pedro Kantor - I add Pedro when I want to take a more Elite Heavy army. I love Sternguard and making them scoring means I can field fewer troops to allow for more Elite and Heavy units. Pedro's a flexible guy too his aura means he can turn most units he is with into an assault threat or he can sit back, drop that big template early in the game and be a very dependable base defender with a suitable unit.

 

Lysander - This is my alpha-strike guy, no messing, he goes into a Drop Pod with a suitable number of Sternguard rocking combi-meltas and causes a major pain in the back-side of my opponent. You just can't ignore him and with Sternguard re-rolling to hit, with their ammo that unit is just too powerful not to cause a rethink on the part of your opponent

 

Khan - If I want to play a reserve/outflanking army then Khan is the obvious choice but frequently I just cant resist stuffing 10 scouts and Khan into a Land Raider and calling it a "budget" Hammer Unit. Furious Charge and Hit and Run on a bunch of CC scouts with 30 S5 I5 attacks on the charge, and you can make it even more disgusting by adding a Chappy. Khan is deffinitely a fun HQ to play with a bit of an edge.