Using HQ

[LardO'Blood]

I was thinking about all the threads I've seen over time asking about what HQ to take and I thought, "Why don't we make a little guide?" So that's what this thread is about. Basically we outline the uses and recommended builds and tactics with the non-special character HQs.

Sounds good? For those of you who don't remember of the top of your head here are the HQ options.

Chapter master

Captain

Chaplain

Librarian

Master of the forge

(honor guard and command squads?)

[Jackelope King]

Chapter Master *

Pay an extra 25 points for a Captain with more expensive options, no Command Squad, no Mounted Assault, and an inaccurate attack which requires the Chapter Master stand still for a turn? Yeah. No.

 

Honor Guard *

Here's part of what makes a Chapter Master so bad. Super-expensive close combat squad with neat options and a 2+... but no Invulnerable Saves?! Well... okay. At least they get an Apothecary, right? No?! Seriously?! Very poor unit.

 

Captain *** (on a Bike: ****)

The Captain is a melee brute. WS6, I5, A3. And he can get a Relic Blade. Nasty. But in most Marines armies, that's not really what we need from our HQs. He's not bad, mind you. A little pricey, but not bad. It's a Biker Captain that deserves some attention. The generic Captain on a Bike is quite effective, allowing you to retain Combat Tactics and still purchase effective weaponry to make the Bike Captain quite killy. My Biker Army doesn't leave home unless the Captain is packing a Relic Blade, and 4 WS6 S6 attacks at I5 on the charge are quite nasty, especially in a Biker Command Squad to help get some early kills and thin the enemy out a bit, putting your squad at lower risk. And remember: those command squads get Apothecaries, which translates to Feel No Pain. And they can get Storm Shields, giving them a major leg-up on the Honor Guard.

 

Librarian ****

The Librarian is effective in an all-comers list for several reasons, not the least of which is a Psychic Hood on a Ld10 character, giving you some good defense against psykers (who are more and more common in 5th Edition than ever before, and more dangerous to boot). Further, even at a bare minimum of cost, Librarians can be outfitted to provide strong defenses and offense against many competitive lists out there. Null Zone in particular is the cornerstone of such a Librarian's repertoire. The ability to weaken a powerful unit's invulnerable save can turn the tables in your favor (it makes Seer Councils cry blood), and many army lists can include powerful units with invulnerable saves these days.

 

As for the second power, I tend to place The Avenger and Vortex of Doom on a similar tier of effectiveness: both are powerful, short-ranged attacks. I prefer The Avenger if only for the added reliability, but the Vortex is an excellent choice as well, especially in Terminator Armor (being able to move and fire that Vortex is key) or on a Bike. The other powers I rate considerably lower, and really need a more specialized list to take advantage of them.

 

Chaplain **

Used to be good, but now they're just weak sauce. Marines don't have a middle-ground close-combat unit that'd really benefit from their Liturgies. The ideal unit for it would be Vanguard Veterans: lots of attacks on the charge, ideally power weapons. But those vets are just too expensive. He makes Terminator Assault Squads even killier, but unlike Vulkan, doesn't benefit anyone else, and they really don't need that extra edge enough to justify taking him. He's actually got the best close-combat kit out of the box (4+ invulnerable and a power weapon), but has a weak statline (only A2 and W2). And Fearless is just such a double-edged sword... you really don't want to risk your units like that.

 

Master of the Forge ***

The Master of the Forge is a bit more pricey, and provides different options than the Librarian or Captain, but a conversion beamer can actually provide a little extra "oomph" of firepower for a list that needs just that little extra long-ranged nudge. Sitting on a bike with the conversion beamer, the Master of the Forge is definitely more expensive than a Librarian, but provides fairly reliable firepower that a Librarian just can't match. The Master of the Forge also unlocks Dreadnoughts in the Heavy Support slots, which is a whole 'nother army altogether. However, he's always just going to be "meh" as a close combat character (not that he needs to be one to be worth it). Not awful by a long shot (the Harness is nice), but certainly not something for an army to fear.

[Mysticaria]

To be fair... honor guard has a lot of power weapon attacks and the option for relic blades.

 

What about special characters?

What about other armies? Are we talking only C:SM here?

 

-Myst

[LardO'Blood]

Other armies are acceptable, I just didn't include them on my list because I don't own all the codexes and therefor don't know all the HQ choices. I suppose special characters are ok.

[Grey Mage]

Wolf Lord ****

A good solid HQ choice. Sure, you have to pay 25pts to get him an invulnerable save, but hes got good options all around, 4 base attacks, and the option to take sagas that can exponentially increase his abilities. Saga of the Bear gives him the much sought after eternal warrior, while saga of the warrior born can potentially allow him several dozen attacks in a single close combat phase. Combined with Initiative 5, his place in a battle plan is very straightforward- get him into melee, and watch things die. A Thunderwolf Mounted lord gains a number of bonuses, but loses the ability to join non cavalry/beat units, wich depending on the players budget can be a significant drawback. Still, for anyone who ever wanted a loyalist demon prince hes certainly an excellent option.

 

 

Wolf Guard Battle Leader **

30pts cheaper than the Wolf Lord, but you lose out on an attack, leadership, and WS each. He also only has 2 wounds instead of three. Again, good options- though the only the Saga of the Hunter is unavailable to him and not the Lord, while Saga of the Bear is not in his listing. A good solid combat hero, but frankly is just a bit awkward- once you give him the wargear to do his job hes more expensive than a priest, but not as good all around as the Lord. Mostly a good choice when you want to run multiple choppy characters.

 

 

Rune Priest ****

Rune Priests provide one of the most potent psychic defenses in the game, are dirt cheap, and have a nicely rounded selection of psychic powers with good options. Suffers from the lack of an invulnerable save, and the few shooting upgrades he can take are inferior to his psychic powers. Still, did I mention how cheap he is? For a support character the Rune Priest is everything you could ask for.

I find Tempests Wrath is an invaluable power against many armies, and less situational than Jaws of the World Wolf. Murderous Hurricane and Living Lightning pull foward as excellent shooting powers, one long ranged and strong, the other a short range gattling gun, with the added bonus of making your enemy slog through difficult and dangerous terrain.

 

Wolf Priest ***

Similar to a Chaplain in function, the Wolf Priest is most often seen with Bloodclaws, and occasionally with Wolf Scouts. His prefered enemy special rule gives an assault unit a long term buff to its combat skills, but is sadly limited by only affecting one unit type- wich will often be infantry. Fearless has both advantages and disadvantages to his unit, so well call it a wash. He does come well equipped with a powerweapon and 4++.

[Brother_Fatiswon]

Chapter Master *

Pay an extra 25 points for a Captain with more expensive options, no Command Squad, no Mounted Assault, and an inaccurate attack which requires the Chapter Master stand still for a turn? Yeah. No.

 

Honor Guard *

Here's part of what makes a Chapter Master so bad. Super-expensive close combat squad with neat options and a 2+... but no Invulnerable Saves?! Well... okay. At least they get an Apothecary, right? No?! Seriously?! Very poor unit.

 

Captain *** (on a Bike: ****)

The Captain is a melee brute. WS6, I5, A3. And he can get a Relic Blade. Nasty. But in most Marines armies, that's not really what we need from our HQs. He's not bad, mind you. A little pricey, but not bad. It's a Biker Captain that deserves some attention. The generic Captain on a Bike is quite effective, allowing you to retain Combat Tactics and still purchase effective weaponry to make the Bike Captain quite killy. My Biker Army doesn't leave home unless the Captain is packing a Relic Blade, and 4 WS6 S6 attacks at I5 on the charge are quite nasty, especially in a Biker Command Squad to help get some early kills and thin the enemy out a bit, putting your squad at lower risk. And remember: those command squads get Apothecaries, which translates to Feel No Pain. And they can get Storm Shields, giving them a major leg-up on the Honor Guard.

 

Librarian ****

The Librarian is effective in an all-comers list for several reasons, not the least of which is a Psychic Hood on a Ld10 character, giving you some good defense against psykers (who are more and more common in 5th Edition than ever before, and more dangerous to boot). Further, even at a bare minimum of cost, Librarians can be outfitted to provide strong defenses and offense against many competitive lists out there. Null Zone in particular is the cornerstone of such a Librarian's repertoire. The ability to weaken a powerful unit's invulnerable save can turn the tables in your favor (it makes Seer Councils cry blood), and many army lists can include powerful units with invulnerable saves these days.

 

As for the second power, I tend to place The Avenger and Vortex of Doom on a similar tier of effectiveness: both are powerful, short-ranged attacks. I prefer The Avenger if only for the added reliability, but the Vortex is an excellent choice as well, especially in Terminator Armor (being able to move and fire that Vortex is key) or on a Bike. The other powers I rate considerably lower, and really need a more specialized list to take advantage of them.

 

Chaplain **

Used to be good, but now they're just weak sauce. Marines don't have a middle-ground close-combat unit that'd really benefit from their Liturgies. The ideal unit for it would be Vanguard Veterans: lots of attacks on the charge, ideally power weapons. But those vets are just too expensive. He makes Terminator Assault Squads even killier, but unlike Vulkan, doesn't benefit anyone else, and they really don't need that extra edge enough to justify taking him. He's actually got the best close-combat kit out of the box (4+ invulnerable and a power weapon), but has a weak statline (only A2 and W2). And Fearless is just such a double-edged sword... you really don't want to risk your units like that.

 

Master of the Forge ***

The Master of the Forge is a bit more pricey, and provides different options than the Librarian or Captain, but a conversion beamer can actually provide a little extra "oomph" of firepower for a list that needs just that little extra long-ranged nudge. Sitting on a bike with the conversion beamer, the Master of the Forge is definitely more expensive than a Librarian, but provides fairly reliable firepower that a Librarian just can't match. The Master of the Forge also unlocks Dreadnoughts in the Heavy Support slots, which is a whole 'nother army altogether. However, he's always just going to be "meh" as a close combat character (not that he needs to be one to be worth it). Not awful by a long shot (the Harness is nice), but certainly not something for an army to fear.

didn't your mama teach you, about not having anything nice to say?

[Jackelope King]

didn't your mama teach you, about not having anything nice to say?

And then I went to college and that whole "present an objective analysis" thing took over :)

[greatcrusade08]

And then I went to college and that whole "present an objective analysis" opinion thing took over :)

 

chapter master is a reasonable choice, sure your essentially paying for a 25 point lottery ticket, but in the games it works it often turns out to be a game changer.. as for honour guard, i feel your underestimating them somewhat alot.

 

this is the problem with writing an article like this, if your presenting in as JK did above its gunna come across as nothing more than an opinion.. you need to give the good the bad and the ugly and let people make thier own minds up.

i remember a guy doing an analysis of all SM units in a blog somwhere, everything with the name scouts in it got a poor review despite my assurances they CAN work if done properly..

Too many people are 'lazy' with 40k, they dont want to put in the work with units, they want boring instant win choices to the detriment of everything else. And as such peoples army lists become standardised and generic.. and thus was born the art of metagaming.

 

Used to be good, but now they're just weak sauce

everyones wearing blinkers i see :jaw:

they are weaker than they used to be, but that doesnt make them weak.. a common misconception, they are still 100 point HQ chocies with an inv save and PW.. moreover they are force multipliers, it is force multipliers that turn good hard cc units into UBER units.

 

i could go on, but you get the point..

[LardO'Blood]

Let me toss my two cents in here.

Chaplain 3/4

Pros:

Very useful, take an assault squad that's only got 16 WS 4 attacks and 4 WS 4power weapon attacks on the charge and make them all hit (assuming a perfect world) Works even better when you are running a 10 man squad, 31 attacks that should technically all hit. This can very easily wipe out a weakened gaunt/boy unit. The fearless also means your expensive assault squad doesn't fall back off the table, get caught in a sweeping advance or just fall back to be blasted to bits. In many cases the assault will conclude during their assault phase, ready for you to assault again on your turn. Plus if you take chaplain Cassius you have a guy that can kill some at a range with hellfire and can take a real beating in close combat. Your squad won't get pinned or go to ground while your trying to charge the enemy because of fearless. * Same goes to DA chaplains but has better WS and can take sacred standards *

Cons:

Without TDA or Cassius your chaplain is relatively vulnerable in CC as he can be singled out and has only 2 wounds. It can be quite easy for an enemy to maneuver around him if you don't force them to make important actions. Potentially his squad can take heavy losses in the first round of assault and be wiped out the next round because he can't fall back.

Company Master 3.5/4

Pro: Much the same as captain but no biking around, leave that to Sammael. Rites of Battle is very useful, it lets you kill of a squads sergeant to save a heavy weapon or something and not feel bad about losing leadership and give you Ld 10 which is always a plus. Can take a combi or storm bolter in addition to wargear, I believe that C:SM captains can only replace their bolt pistol/chainsword with a combi or storm bolter. This enables you to shoot a flamer, melta gun or storm bolter before you assault with twin lightning claws or something. (Uber tank killer? combi melta, melta bombs and thunder hammer?)

Cons: WS 5 instead of 6 on vanilla captain and no relic blade options. Storm shields are pretty much useless to him so don't bother complaining that he cant take one. Not very many options.

Dark Angels Librarian 2/4 (Ezekiel is 2.5)

Pros: Can take a single high S hit for the squad every turn, almost 2+ save. Once again can take a storm bolter or combi in addition to regular war gear. Psychic hood covers the whole board. Potentially devastating template weapon, very much a gamble though. Force weapon can take out certain MCs or ICs in one hit, very fun paired with Deathwing terminators who can wipe the board of any retinues. Taking Ezekiel for mind worm almost gives you a ranged force weapon. I believe about 1/6 chance to kill a Ld 10 opponent. The downside is that it is a heavy weapon. Ezekiel is also less fragile with 3 W and also gives out a fearless bubble.

Cons: Can only take a single invulnerable per turn, hellfire is not always effective. Can easily die to 3 power weapon attacks. Already quite fragile character can lose wounds to psychic tests.

[Hellios]

everyones wearing blinkers i see :wub:

they are weaker than they used to be, but that doesnt make them weak.. a common misconception, they are still 100 point HQ chocies with an inv save and PW.. moreover they are force multipliers, it is force multipliers that turn good hard cc units into UBER units.

 

i could go on, but you get the point..

 

Yer... the problem is no one thinks space marines have any units that are any good in combat... except for over-priced vets and terminators... oh well I'll just keep on taking my assault squad with a chappy (granted mine is better as it is the DA codex) and using it for counter assault because I don't expect to be better than a unit of Khorne berzerkers who pay points to be better than me in combat... or a mob of orks that out-numbers me three to one... but you know I'm old fashioned and like to weaken enemy units with shooting (from a shooty unit) before I charge in for the kill.

 

Dark Angels Chaplain: The same as a normal chaplain but we can get better stat lines so it is worth looking into.

 

Dark Angel Librarian: Gah these guys do suck compared to everyone else except maybe just maybe they would come out on top of a Primaris Psyker who is cheaper XD, they have two powers one which gives you a save and can help you live longer and the other which is a random "avenger" that can burn a unit of terminators into ash or leave grots unharmed. The biggest problem however is Ld9 meaning you are more likely to fail your test, more likely to be blocked by other librarians and so on and more likely to fail when trying to stop other psykers from using powers with your hood. Take a Grey Knight Hero is you want a psychic hood... or Ezkeial (sp?) who has mindworm!

 

Company Master: Just your standard captain style character not amazing (although they can have a pistol and two other weapons, say power weapon and stormbolter!) and they have combat tactics which gives ld10 to everyone like Sicarius making your marines more reliable.

 

Going to mention the special characters here...

 

Belial: If you want to play Deathwing you need him... simple as... apart from that he is nothing special, most people seem to think that a pair of lightning claws is the best use of his stat-line.

 

Master of Ravenwing: I forgot his name... see how much I use him... Well a jetbike with a plasma cannon and an invulnerable save is pretty cool! However he cannot hide in units and so is at risk of being killed by anti-tank weapons if he fails his invulnerable save or just getting shot to death by mass small arms... on the other hand I can't say anything bad about a AV14 Land Speeder... and you need to choose one or the other if you wish to play Ravenwing.

[greatcrusade08]

Yer... the problem is no one thinks space marines have any units that are any good in combat...

 

thats very sad.. but its hardly true.. only a bad plumber blames his tools:

 

honour guard (used correctly)

assault termies (a mix of the two types, 3 claws 2 hammers or something)

command squad (to a degree)

vanguard vets

 

with force multipliers the following can be good

assault squad

assault scouts

all of the above

 

edit: every marine army HAS to take a HQ, for its points a chappy with JP is one of the best IMO.. if your taking an assault squad, youll find them alot more useful on the charge.. they might not be great without him, but with him they suddenly become pretty good (on the charge).

Fearless is best used by marines, if your losing combat by more than two or three guys then your unit is in trouble anyway (two or three saves at 3+ isnt a huge deal).. at least fearless means you wont get pinned or made to fall back before you get a chance to mulch your opponent.

 

in terms of HQs i much prefer force multipliers than standalone heroes.. the former makes you think more about your armies..

the whole should be greater than the sum of its parts (2nd time today ive written this)

[LardO'Blood]

He is named Sammael =P

A special notice with Belial, he is the only TDA captain that DA can get. I forgot to mention this but Dark Angels have cheaper veterans then SM have Vanguard, they just don't have jump packs and are limited to 3 CC guys. Because of this I will not feel bad about adding a chaplain on. IMO DA chaplains have 3 possible "retinues", assault squads, DW squads and company veterans. IMO C:SM chaplains have 2, assault terminators and assault squads.

[Jackelope King]

chapter master is a reasonable choice, sure your essentially paying for a 25 point lottery ticket, but in the games it works it often turns out to be a game changer.. as for honour guard, i feel your underestimating them somewhat alot.

Let's analyze that for a second, then.

 

Honor Guard are a close-combat beatdown machine, with the potential to be a force-multiplier. That by itself isn't bad, and is worthy of consideration. But the initial cost to access this option is enormous.

 

I'll be honest: the +1A Chapter Banner is very nice. I wish I could get it with a Company Banner. It can completely change the way an army works. However, we have to examine the price tag to access it. A minimum price tag of 265 points before we even start talking about required transport. And that's at the bare minimum. What we get out of this is 16 power weapon and 6 CCW attacks on the charge. That's not too shabby at first glance, but then look at the complete lack of invulnerable saves and the absolutely tiny number of wounds. That is completely and utterly crippling for "rock"-style units, especially in a C:SM army. As Space Marines, we're used to having small numbers of wounds, but we usually have some tricks to get around it (3++ invuln saves with Storm Shields, Feel No Pain Command Squads, T4(5) bikers).

 

This unit doesn't have any of those options, short of asking the Chapter Master to take all the hits, because evidently Honor Guard should get less access to the armory than Command Squads.

 

In the end, even the lack of Invuln saves could be forgiven if the squad had reliable ways to dish out more wounds and deny the enemy the ability to counter attack. But their only option is to almost double the cost of each model with a Relic Blade each, which would overcome the S4 problem. If the squad could taking Lightning Claws, even just one each, they'd be a more effective option (being able to reroll that to-wound roll sticks their damage output considerably higher). But we still have to contend with the poor survivability against anything that has even the slightest hint of close combat prowess. One power weapon wound = one dead honor guard. Only one wound each, and the Chapter Master can only soak so many power weapon wounds.

 

Now if we could eke out S5 and I5, with someone like Khan, then the unit would deserve another look. They'd be attacking before most close-combat units, ignoring armor, wounding more often, and generally circumventing the weaknesses of not having an Invuln. But that's tacking another 160 points onto the unit, and we still haven't bought a transport. Oh, we also devoured both of our HQ choices.

 

Which is where it gets worse. This unit doesn't get much in the way of mobility. None of its vehicles get an assault ramp. They all necessitate that the unit sit around and twiddle its thumbs for a turn and hope the enemy doesn't decide to shoot through its tiny number of wounds before it can assault. We can't stick the Honor Guard on Bikes (apparently it's not dignified :lol:) or by them a Land Raider as a Dedicated Transport. We can't give them Jump Packs (because evidently that'd make Dante sore with us). So our Honor Guard get even slower.

 

Where they do excel is in chopping up other power-armored models. But for 300 points minimum for a Honor Guard + Chapter Banner + Chapter Master in a Rhino, I mean... really. There are much, much, much cheaper ways to kill other Marines. And it's just so fragile. The force-multiplier aspect is nice, and hard to come by short of Pedro, but still, they're a tiny, fragile unit.

 

everyones wearing blinkers i see ;)

they are weaker than they used to be, but that doesnt make them weak.. a common misconception, they are still 100 point HQ chocies with an inv save and PW.. moreover they are force multipliers, it is force multipliers that turn good hard cc units into UBER units.

 

i could go on, but you get the point..

And as I said above, short of Assault Terminators, we don't have "good hard cc units". C:SM wants for good middle-ground melee-types. Assault Marines don't do it... they're not effective at whacking anything above light infantry. Now something like a Command Squad with a Company Champion and 3 Power Swords would actually be pretty ideal for a Chaplain. Cheap-ish unit, 20 power weapon attacks on the charge (which would benefit from the rerolls), options for mobility with Bikes, and FNP to help overcome being Fearless and trapped in melee. But we're not Blood Angels, and Chaplains can't take a Command Squad of their own. So we're forced to eat up multiple Force Organization Chart slots to make the unit decently effective. And if we've already got TH/SS termies available to us, the only reason to do something like this would be if we've already devoted our Elites slots to something like a forward Sternguard presence or Rifleman Dreadnoughts.

 

So basically, the Chaplain is all dressed up with no place to go. There's no good unit for him to join. Our only really good option would be with TH/SS termies, but they don't really need a 100-point investment to be even killier. Even they would benefit more from having a Librarian around with Null Zone to shut down other units with invulnerable saves.

[greatcrusade08]

all very well said, but it all comes down to playstlye.. i know fellas who make HG work very well.. you dont need invs unless your facing another uber squad..

if your charging an uber squad with an uber squad then your failing at one of the better aspects of 40k.. shoot the choppy stuff and chop the shooty stuff.

 

I agree HG would be better with better options or stats, but as they are hey arent too shabby, they dont need FNP as anything that can get through 2+ armour would deny FNP anyway.

the chapter champ can re-roll against characters..

the optimum build is the 'Idaho pattern'

CM with relic blade (who ties up PW/Pf in combat)

champ with relic blade

banner

2 HG (IIRC)

in a rhino

 

It works very well.. if your worried about the rhino getting shot, if its wrecked you can get put on the opposite side to avoid nasty AP1/2, if its destroyed then your now conveniently in cover :lol:

just drive up to within charge range, pop smoke and bobs your mothers brother.. of course it has to be supported, but thats another discussion.

 

I also disagree that assault marines suck as bad as you say, yes they are good against light infantry, but with a chappy can face against other marine units just as well

[LardO'Blood]

Lets keep this centered on the HQ's more then Honor guard/command squads please. Anyone wanna talk about vanilla special characters, BA or BT?

Azrael, Grand Master of the Dark Angels 3.5/4

Pros: Relic blade that allows +1 attack with a second CC weapon, master crafted combi-plasma. Grants invulnerable to entire squad (kind of makes up for lack of an honor guard), can be put with a veteran squad or command squad with plasma and melta weapons for uber MC/vehicle killing. Artificer armor grants one of the only HQ 2+ for DA. Very cool HQ IMO, I can see myself running him in 60% of games in the future.

Cons: No honor guard, no orbital bombardment, almost costs the same as land raider.

Side note:

You pay around 55 of his points for his invulnerable save for the squad, make use of it. (This is taking the costs of articifer, relic blades and modifying them slightly because of his master crafting and adding them to the company master then subtracting from Azrael's cost) Maybe field a 10 man veteran squad or a DW squad.

[greatcrusade08]

korsarro Khan is my fave SC from the nilla dex.

 

he has furious charge which makes him a great force multiplier, i use him with scouts, the higher 'S' puts them on par with assault marines.. but the greater 'I' is far more beneficial.. ive found initiative to be a big factor in winning games.

he isnt as good as shrike in cc, but does have the instant kill ability if he rolls a 6 to wound, i dont like mathhammer but its just shy of 50% chance on the charge against another character, slightly higher against WS4/5 multiwound gribllies

 

he can outflank and grant all units with ded'd transports outflank too.. got a problem with tanks being killed early game... no problem :lol:

 

edit: on bike he has fleet, can take bike squads as troops and is T5 so harder to kill

[LardO'Blood]

This is what we have so far. Feel free to offer suggestions on rating changes and offer pros or cons to existing things. I excluded Chapter Master because there wasn't a single good review. I mean a review that was both for and against him, not just against. We have to explore both sides of the characters.

 

Vanilla Codex

 

Captain 3/4 (On bike 4/4)

The Captain is a melee brute. WS6, I5, A3. And he can get a Relic Blade. Nasty. But in most Marines armies, that's not really what we need from our HQs. He's not bad, mind you. A little pricey, but not bad. It's a Biker Captain that deserves some attention. The generic Captain on a Bike is quite effective, allowing you to retain Combat Tactics and still purchase effective weaponry to make the Bike Captain quite killy. My Biker Army doesn't leave home unless the Captain is packing a Relic Blade, and 4 WS6 S6 attacks at I5 on the charge are quite nasty, especially in a Biker Command Squad to help get some early kills and thin the enemy out a bit, putting your squad at lower risk. And remember: those command squads get Apothecaries, which translates to Feel No Pain. Storm shields provide a good invulnerable to increase survivability, something honor guard don’t get.

 

Librarian 4/4

The Librarian is effective in an all-comers list for several reasons, not the least of which is a Psychic Hood on a Ld10 character, giving you some good defense against psykers (who are more and more common in 5th Edition than ever before, and more dangerous to boot). Further, even at a bare minimum of cost, Librarians can be outfitted to provide strong defenses and offense against many competitive lists out there. Null Zone in particular is the cornerstone of such a Librarian's repertoire. The ability to weaken a powerful unit's invulnerable save can turn the tables in your favor (it makes Seer Councils cry blood), and many army lists can include powerful units with invulnerable saves these days.

 

As for the second power, I tend to place The Avenger and Vortex of Doom on a similar tier of effectiveness: both are powerful, short-ranged attacks. I prefer The Avenger if only for the added reliability, but the Vortex is an excellent choice as well, especially in Terminator Armor (being able to move and fire that Vortex is key) or on a Bike. The other powers I rate considerably lower, and really need a more specialized list to take advantage of them.

 

Chaplain (depends on how you use, 2-4/4)

The ideal unit for it would be Vanguard Veterans: lots of attacks on the charge, ideally power weapons. But those vets are just too expensive. He makes Terminator Assault Squads even killier, but unlike Vulkan, doesn't benefit anyone else, and they really don't need that extra edge enough to justify taking him. He's actually got the best close-combat kit out of the box (4+ invulnerable and a power weapon), but has a weak statline (only A2 and W2). And Fearless is just such a double-edged sword... you really don't want to risk your units like that. Assault marines are practically THE chaplain’s squad. Not extremely effective alone but with a chaplain they gain some power weapon attacks, an invulnerable save and the re rolls to hit on charge.

 

Master of the Forge 3/4

The Master of the Forge is a bit more pricey, and provides different options than the Librarian or Captain, but a conversion beamer can actually provide a little extra "oomph" of firepower for a list that needs just that little extra long-ranged nudge. Sitting on a bike with the conversion beamer, the Master of the Forge is definitely more expensive than a Librarian, but provides fairly reliable firepower that a Librarian just can't match. The Master of the Forge also unlocks Dreadnoughts in the Heavy Support slots, which is a whole 'nother army altogether. However, he's always just going to be "meh" as a close combat character (not that he needs to be one to be worth it). Not awful by a long shot (the Harness is nice), but certainly not something for an army to fear.

 

Space Wolves

 

Wolf Lord 4/4

A good solid HQ choice. Sure, you have to pay 25pts to get him an invulnerable save, but hes got good options all around, 4 base attacks, and the option to take sagas that can exponentially increase his abilities. Saga of the Bear gives him the much sought after eternal warrior, while saga of the warrior born can potentially allow him several dozen attacks in a single close combat phase. Combined with Initiative 5, his place in a battle plan is very straightforward- get him into melee, and watch things die. A Thunderwolf Mounted lord gains a number of bonuses, but loses the ability to join non cavalry/beat units, wich depending on the players budget can be a significant drawback. Still, for anyone who ever wanted a loyalist demon prince hes certainly an excellent option.

 

Wolf Guard Battle Leader 2/4

30pts cheaper than the Wolf Lord, but you lose out on an attack, leadership, and WS each. He also only has 2 wounds instead of three. Again, good options- though the only the Saga of the Hunter is unavailable to him and not the Lord, while Saga of the Bear is not in his listing. A good solid combat hero, but frankly is just a bit awkward- once you give him the wargear to do his job hes more expensive than a priest, but not as good all around as the Lord. Mostly a good choice when you want to run multiple choppy characters.

 

Rune Priest 4/4

Rune Priests provide one of the most potent psychic defenses in the game, are dirt cheap, and have a nicely rounded selection of psychic powers with good options. Suffers from the lack of an invulnerable save, and the few shooting upgrades he can take are inferior to his psychic powers. Still, did I mention how cheap he is? For a support character the Rune Priest is everything you could ask for.

I find Tempests Wrath is an invaluable power against many armies, and less situational than Jaws of the World Wolf. Murderous Hurricane and Living Lightning pull foward as excellent shooting powers, one long ranged and strong, the other a short range gattling gun, with the added bonus of making your enemy slog through difficult and dangerous terrain.

 

Wolf Priest 3/4

Similar to a Chaplain in function, the Wolf Priest is most often seen with Bloodclaws, and occasionally with Wolf Scouts. His prefered enemy special rule gives an assault unit a long term buff to its combat skills, but is sadly limited by only affecting one unit type- wich will often be infantry. Fearless has both advantages and disadvantages to his unit, so well call it a wash. He does come well equipped with a powerweapon and 4++.

 

Dark Angels

 

Company Master 3.5/4

Pro: Much the same as captain but no biking around, leave that to Sammael. Rites of Battle is very useful, it lets you kill of a squads sergeant to save a heavy weapon or something and not feel bad about losing leadership and give you Ld 10 which is always a plus. Can take a combi or storm bolter in addition to wargear, I believe that C:SM captains can only replace their bolt pistol/chainsword with a combi or storm bolter. This enables you to shoot a flamer, melta gun or storm bolter before you assault with twin lightning claws or something. (Uber tank killer? combi melta, melta bombs and thunder hammer?)

Cons: WS 5 instead of 6 on vanilla captain and no relic blade options. Storm shields are pretty much useless to him so don't bother complaining that he cant take one. Not very many options.

 

Dark Angels Librarian 2/4 (Ezekiel is 2.5/4)

Pros: Can take a single high S hit for the squad every turn, almost 2+ save. Once again can take a storm bolter or combi in addition to regular war gear. Psychic hood covers the whole board. Potentially devastating template weapon, very much a gamble though. Force weapon can take out certain MCs or ICs in one hit, very fun paired with Deathwing terminators who can wipe the board of any retinues. Taking Ezekiel for mind worm almost gives you a ranged force weapon. I believe about 1/6 chance to kill a Ld 10 opponent. The downside is that it is a heavy weapon. Ezekiel is also less fragile with 3 W and also gives out a fearless bubble.

Cons: Can only take a single invulnerable per turn, hellfire is not always effective. Can easily die to 3 power weapon attacks. Already quite fragile character can lose wounds to psychic tests.

 

Belial, Master of the Deathwing 4/4 in Deathwing force, otherwise 2.5/4

If you want to play Deathwing you need him... simple as... apart from that he is nothing special, most people seem to think that a pair of lightning claws is the best use of his stat-line. Slightly worse than a regular company master because no invulnerable save but he is essential in a Deathwing force.

 

Sammael, Master of Ravenwing 4/4 in Ravenwing force, otherwise 3.5/4

Well a jetbike with a plasma cannon and an invulnerable save is pretty cool! However he cannot hide in units and so is at risk of being killed by anti-tank weapons if he fails his invulnerable save or just getting shot to death by mass small arms... on the other hand I can't say anything bad about a AV14 Land Speeder... and you need to choose one or the other if you wish to play Ravenwing.

 

Chaplain 3/4

More or less the same as standard chaplain, just with a potential fearless bubble on command squads, WS 5 and int-chaplains have 3 wounds.

 

Azrael, Grand Master of the Dark Angels 3.5/4

Pros: Relic blade that allows +1 attack with a second CC weapon, master crafted combi-plasma. Grants invulnerable to entire squad (kind of makes up for lack of an honor guard), can be put with a veteran squad or command squad with plasma and melta weapons for uber MC/vehicle killing. Artificer armor grants one of the only HQ 2+ for DA. Very cool HQ IMO, I can see myself running him in 60% of games in the future.

Cons: No honor guard, no orbital bombardment, almost costs the same as land raider.

Side note:

You pay around 55 of his points for his invulnerable save for the squad, make use of it. (This is taking the costs of articifer, relic blades and modifying them slightly because of his master crafting and adding them to the company master then subtracting from Azrael's cost) Maybe field a 10 man veteran squad or a DW squad.

[Meatman]

Someone's got to do it. I'll pitch a ball in Shrike's direction.

 

195 points, for this you get master crafted lightning claws (and a bolt pistol), fleet to every unit with combat tactics, allowing you a greater charge range and the psychological effect of this is great against less combat orientated armies (Tau, guard, etc), and the ability to outflank or infiltrate with a unit of your choice (another HQ tagging along is debatable). Those master crafted claws kill on average, on the charge, 3 MEQs, or force 3 invulnerable saves on TEQs at I5.

 

Everyone has heard of the vanguard Shrike bomb. But personally I'd stick him with a plain old assault squad with a fist or hammer. Keeps it cheap, great against nearly all infantry, can destroy all but AV14, and puts up a good fight against the tougher enemy units.

 

Giving the army fleet adds an extra tactic, mass alpha strike. Scouts and the selected unit of choice can now get first turn charges. Scouts with meltabombs and combi-melta can now be your 90 point anti-raider unit, as well as getting ranged units tied in combat for a while (looters, devs etc) Shrike and his squad can hit other units. Again, I keep saying this, but be a bully. Hit units that cannot fight back so well while you weaken tougher stuff with shooting, then sweep up.

 

 

And the model is awesome. Just putting it out there.

[Warp Angel]

I've already written a guide on using HQ... it's a bit dated, since it was written before BA and SW codexes were printed, but the principles are still sound.

 

http://www.bolterandchainsword.com/index.p...howtopic=155627

 

Killhammer Strategy: HQs

[Ryjak]

I'd be interested to see someone's assessment on the Blood Angel HQ choices.

[Jackelope King]

I'd be interested to see someone's assessment on the Blood Angel HQ choices.

I'm much less familiar with Blood Angels, but for one of their big builds (Jumpers) and many of their lists over all (various speedy sorts of builds), I'd actually make a Librarian my go-to there as well. Why? One power: Blood Lance.

 

Especially for Jumpers, the easiest way to negate the advantage of Deep Strike is to castle your army up and throw some speed bumps around your more-vulnerable but killier units. Blood Lance is a power that lets a BA Librarian grin and say, "Go ahead and castle up. I dare you." By forcing the enemy to spread out, the Blood Angels can take greater advantage of their increased speed.

 

Blood Angels Librarians are doubly-nice because they can bring along an Honor Guard (read: Command Squad), only they get a Blood Chalice in there for another FNP/FC Bubble. It's an expensive way to get another Chalice on the table, but useful when you're starting to run into problems sparing another Elites slot.

 

Then again, I only dabble in C:BA. Fun, but I enjoy C:SM more by and large.

[Jakobus]

I'd be interested to see someone's assessment on the Blood Angel HQ choices.

 

BA Captain, he seems to lack the options to make him a good choice. No Relic blade or Artificer armour options. It would have been nice to have an option to upgrade him to a Chapter Master for your own successor chapter

 

The Librarian, a decent choice - the choice of psychic powers will define where he goes and what he does. The Epi upgrade does not seem to be a popular choice. UNleash Rage for preferred enemy and Sanguine Sword for @ initiative Str10 power weapon hits can the usual Assault powers, Bloodlance and Fear of the Darkness are probably the two best 'shooty' powers and Shield giving everything within 6" a 5+ cover save is not too shabby at all.

I prefer buying him an actual Jumppack instead of the Wings of Sanguinious, but a Terminator Librarian can use this and be pretty scary.

 

The Recluisarch, your HQ Chaplain probably my preferred HQ unit. He will make Deathcompany dead scary and make normal RAS pretty damn mean as well.

 

I'm not big on special characters, I have Mephy from years ago who is a powerhouse and I have Gabe Seth because would wouldn't like a guy with a chainsword taller than him

[Warp Angel]

BA Captain, he seems to lack the options to make him a good choice. No Relic blade or Artificer armour options. It would have been nice to have an option to upgrade him to a Chapter Master for your own successor chapter

 

A Captain with twin lightning claws is an absolute beast in hand to hand against basic troops. He doesn't NEED a relic blade. He's just not the answer to monstrous creatures and other high T stuff that a relic blade captain is. He still has I5 and still has a large number of attacks.

 

ANY HQ choice needs to fill a role in your army. I do agree with your other assertion that the Reclusiarch is probably the best general HQ choice because of the overall army benefits that he provides. But again, it depends on the role you need your HQ to play.