WIP Scout captain

[Mr.Millar]

This is the first custom character that I have designed, scout captain Artemis. The character is supposed to be well balanced for game purposes as I hate cheesy overpowered home-brew characters. I will be making a model of this guy if i have time and his scout command squad.

 

The current WIP image is below. I have tried to achieve an official GW style of data sheet and apart from some minute tweaks I would say It is for all gaming intents and purposes finished, as the only thing missing is some flavor text which I shall write up when I have time. The final version will be available as an A4 PDF if anyone wants it.

 

A play test is in order I think...

 

C&C wanted and much appreciated as always.

 

Edits thus far: Watermark made lighter, spelling error removed, infiltrate rule added to armour, precise aim rule added, weapon altered to AP3.

 

 

http://i770.photobucket.com/albums/xx349/Mr_Millar/ScoutCaptainArtemis-1.jpg

[Oiad]

Awesome work. I'm especially impressed with the layout. You'll have to give me some tips on fonts and where you got your watermarks as I'm working on my own PDFs.

 

In the meantime, here are few tips for improvement:

• Characters very rarely have a multiple options section. Whenever they do, they tend to seem justifiable. I'd take them away here.
  
• The watermark may need to be more faded as I had slight problems reading the box.
  
• Even for his price, a single unique ability wouldn't go amiss. It doesn't have to be powerful, but something that subtly defines his role would make him a lot more attractive to take.
  

Hope that helps. Keep up the top work. :P

[Mr.Millar]

Thanks for the feedback Oiad, my concept for Artemis is a suitable captain for a 10th company army list, I felt that giving him the weapon options made him a little more flexible than other characters and better reflects the variety of roles that scouts fill.

 

Only two fonts were used for the data sheet; 'Tw Cen MT' for the main text (bold and italic where appropriate) and 'Palatino Linotype' for the "HQ", the whole thing was made in photoshop.

 

The background was a grey-scaled and I adjusted the white levels until it looked faded enough to read the text. I assure you the text is much easier to read in A4 size (I'll change the pic)

 

The layout is the same as C:SM, i just sat at the pc with the book open next to me for reference, thanks for the positive feed-back :P .

[Commander Sasha]

I like this character, and a good cheap HQ unit is always handy!

I'd add 'Infiltrate' to the Advanced Scout Armour, as it would seem crazy not to; otherwise, he couldn't join a scout squad without nerfing them.

 

I think if you are going to give him a better gun, but that it's a heavy/sniper, it wouldn't be wrong to give him Telion's "Eye Of Vengeance", ie you can target an enemy squad member. 2 shots means you still can't kill most ICs, but you can take out a Powerfist.

 

Other than that, I like this; the points feel about right, comparable to the bonuses a Chaplain confers.

 

If GC08 hasn't noticed this one, PM him, as he is the authority on Scouts; I don't know what he uses as an HQ.

 

One thing: you've spelt IndependEnt wrong! Other than that, a well composed page. Now, about his personalised Landspeeder Storm...!

[Mr.Millar]

I was tempted to add infiltrate to the armour but I felt it might be exploitable with a command squad kitted out with it. If i bump up the cost per model by 5pts that should make up for having infiltrate I think. Eye of vengeance hadn't really occurred to me but should make him more useful.

 

Personalized Landspeeder...I like the way you think.

 

Also, ninja spelling edit.

[spartan249]

Power Armor with Scout Advantages seems like too much from both worlds. I have a better, less "I wanna have everything" kind of upgrade.

 

Have your advanced scout armor apply Night Fighting when trying to spot him and his command squad. Optical Camouflage would be the next sensible evolution of scout armor, rather than extra armor plating. Extra armor plates adds weight, which reduces the marine's long term effectiveness, which is exactly counter to what scout armor's supposed to provide. Have night-fighting only apply if the unit did not move in your previous turn, to simulate optical camouflage.

[greatcrusade08]

i like this guy, looks great and not over the top either.. i think 3+ for these guys is fine, all space marines are supposed to be capable of stealth anyway.

 

quick Q what does the Orion sniper rifle do?

 

edit @ sasha im using shrike at the moment

[Mr.Millar]

GC08; the Orion rifle is just a fancy name for his special weapon and is a mythology reference, the Greek goddess Artemis (who's name is now accepted as a male name) had a hunting partner by the name of Orion, which makes a rather appropriate name for a rifle in my opinion :lol:.

 

Spartan; Advanced scout armour is supposed the scout equivalent of artificer armour, instead of the benefits of power armour with a 2+, it's the benefits of scout armour with a 3+. Personally I'm not too fond of the night fighting rule in non night fight games, but that's just me.

[greatcrusade08]

GC08; the Orion rifle is just a fancy name for his special weapon and is a mythology reference, the Greek goddess Artemis (who's name in now accepted as a male name) had a hunting partner by the name of Orion, which makes a rater appropriate name for a rifle in my opinion :lol:.

 

sweet, i thought artemis was a male god anyway.. shows how much i know..

 

anyway is it just a standard sniper rifle?, im not sure id want 120 points standing around throwing out one normal sniper hit per turn.. hed have to be more like the vindicare to be worth it IMO.

id probably kit him for assault.

[Thantoes]

GC08; the Orion rifle is just a fancy name for his special weapon and is a mythology reference, the Greek goddess Artemis (who's name in now accepted as a male name) had a hunting partner by the name of Orion, which makes a rater appropriate name for a rifle in my opinion :lol:.

 

sweet, i thought artemis was a male god anyway.. shows how much i know..

 

anyway is it just a standard sniper rifle?, im not sure id want 120 points standing around throwing out one normal sniper hit per turn.. hed have to be more like the vindicare to be worth it IMO.

id probably kit him for assault.

 

Or possibly increase the AP to 3 or something to make it a true marine killer.

 

Otherwise looks good.

[Mr.Millar]

Orion is a 2 shot ap4 sniper rifle (as stated in the weapon profile), however I think Thantoes' suggestion of making it AP3 should balance it out a little.

[greatcrusade08]

mmmm tasty goodness

[spartan249]

Ok... But the armors were meant to fulfill different POUs. Power Armor can afford to have extra armor incorporated into the build because it's powered. It conveys no extra work to the marine, and it enhances the power armor in it's POU, the protection of it's wearer. Scout Armor was designed for low maintenance and high sustainability: No power cells, light weight, very simple construction for ease of repair. Adding armor to the scout armor platform is counter to these points, complicating the system and driving the amount of maintenance required up while driving the sustainability down. It's counter to what Scout Armor should be: Special operations armor.

 

Give them Fleet, Give them that stealth night fighting sort of thing that Stealth Suits get, Give them some other bonus that makes sense. Extra Armor (translated into WEIGHT) is not sensible and counter to what Scout Armor is all about.

[greatcrusade08]

thats all well and good, but sometimes you can over analyze things.. its the 41st millenium, anything is possible.. having an iron halo combined into the scout armour or somethign equally as silly could work.

just have an open mind

[Ktan]

I'm inclined to agree with Spartan, to some extent. I think stealth power armour might be a better idea than super scout armour.

EDIT: Reading the box again, it appears that is precisely what you've done.

 

That said, I probably would give him the same special rules as a Scout Squad, so long as it was costed fairly. I know I did this with my generic company captains rules (I think the Command Squad got the option to use the USRs for a point cost too. It was something like 10pts per squaddie, and you could only take an Apothecary, no Champion or Standard Bearer)

 

Looking again, I'd suggest perhaps either increasing his base cost, or altering it (lower) and making the sniper rifle a purchased option. Such a precise and powerful sniper rifle seems a steal at only 20pts, including the other rules he gets. This allows you to snipe out special weapons and sergeants. Once per turn, you could potentially neuter a Tactical squad quite easily from quite a long range. Heavy might be a suitable limit, but I'm just not sure.

[DarkGuard]

I think it's fine. Remember, S4 only wounds Marines half the time, so if he hits dead on with both shots only expect to loose one special or heavy, maybe the Sergeant. My squad's have two specials and a heavy (thank you combis :D), and stick in Rhinos. That's the other thing, in a mech environment he'll struggle to make an impact with the rifle until the later game. The other shortfall is combat, with only limited combat from the go, and the fact that he has a limited amount of combat options that need paying for, one only needs to get a unit in combat to neutralise the threat from range and that can easily be done.

 

However, I could see why one would consider his points going up by 5 or 10 as acceptable considering the Orion rifle, perhaps 5, but not necessary.

 

I like your ideas on a Command squad Ktan, perhaps work that in to his profile, like: " for 10 points each model may take Advanced Scout armour", but then limit options like Company Banner and perhaps Champion, and other wargear. Of course, one option could be to allow them to purchase Stalker pattern boltguns, but then that would be mean ;).

[Ktan]

Fair enough, I can see why the weapon being Heavy would be a suitable enough handicap.