Apothecary question

[emeraldegg]

Hey guys, I've been wondering, is it worth giving a banner to an apothecary? I know this means he'll have no physical combat capability, but it would also free up the other models to take all their weapons right?

[RedemptionNL]

I wouldn't do it. Besides the fact that Apothecaries are generally not worth it, you don't want to 'put all your eggs in one basket', so to say. If the opponent has a way to target a single model in your squad (units like Vindicare Assassins, Scout Sergeant Telion, Jaws of the World Wolf, etc), you'd lose both your Feel No Pain and your Banner in one go. Spread around equipment to avoid risk.

You also get exactly the same number of attacks no matter who carries the banner, and you also want to make your Paladins as uniquely equipped as possible for wound allocation purposes. Putting the banner on a regular Paladin means another wound group in the squad.

[Reclusiarch Darius]

Pretty much what Redemption said

 

On a side note, if you want to field a troll list of 'worst combo's imaginable', solo Apothecary with Bro Banner comes pretty close to 'most pathetic waste of points in the game ever'.

[emeraldegg]

LOL, I can see how that would be the case.

[Stormshadow]

You are going to want the Apothecary to stay alive as long as possible, which is why I always give him a Hammer.

Example: you have an apothecary with halberd, and another paladin with a hammer, they get assaulted by something with power weapons or whatever. The apothecary strikes first and kills a couple at I6. The attackers strikes at I4 and makes 3 PW wounds. Your hammer hasn’t struck jet but you still don’t want to place two of the wounds on the apothecary, right? This is why it is better for the apothecary to be carrying a hammer.

 

So no, don’t give him a banner :tu:

[Inquisitor Fox]

There is something to be said for assigning him a Nemesis Warding Staff though... spendy points-wise but could be worth it.

[Stormshadow]

It’s definitely a good thought. But wouldn’t it be better if someone else had it, so you didn’t have to allocate that Power Fist to your Apothecary every time…

[Inquisitor Fox]

Ehhh... pro's and con's each way.

 

If you believe that the model holding the warding staff is just there to be a sacrificial lamb, then yes it would. In fact I'm considering running a warding staff as the 6th man in my Interceptor Squad that will pull double duty as my Kill Team (Justicar w/ hammer, psycannon, falchions, 2 halberds, warding staff which is on the man that won't exist for the Kill Team) and generic trouble shooting unit.

 

If you take the stance that the warding staff is there to better protect models you want alive and untouched by the enemy, then no. Technically all the Termies get a save from the fist, and if you have halberds on everyone else you are more likely to kill that powerfist or thunderhammer before it gets a chance to hit you anyway. You can also assign the powerfist hit to a model armed with a standard sword with relatively decent odds of shrugging off the blow.

 

So there's points to going either way, it depends on your own philosophy and goals.

[Stormshadow]

That’s true…

 

I give the staves to Librarians and Techmarines to keep them alive as long as possible. I do not give them to Apothecaries (to keep them alive as long as possible by not allocating wounds on them). The only other model in my army with Stave is the KoF, and he is a sacrificial lamb as far as I am concerned :D

[Reclusiarch Darius]

Staves are pretty wasteful on normal squads. I find them better on characters usually, especially on the Librarian or Tech-Marine. Grandmaster and Bro Champ have 3++ invul built in (due to sword default and Iron Halo), and your Justicars are generally better off having hammers.