march10k Posted July 4, 2015 Share Posted July 4, 2015 I thought about this for a while...I kind of leaned towards the chaplain, since I've been playing with interrogators to lead my deathwing knights for a few years...but it's the basic chaplain, not the interrogator, so he's kind of wimpy in a challenge, stat-wise. He could just take a jump pack and play super-sergeant for the assault squad, but meh. That's no job for a warlord! The company master...he's pretty good in a fight, and not good for much else...kinda sad, really, I used to take a company master with no upgrades except a power sword back when DA still had rites of battle...he was a good investment for table-wide LD10, plus a decent charge deterrent to babysit my devastators...and cheap. Well, no more. He's literally useless, except as a challenge monkey, while the chaplain is...underwhelming, at best, especially when compared to an interrogator or a librarian. Actually, a librarian was my default greenwing HQ under the last codex...PFG and prescience to buff the devastators and keep them alive and shooting! Since I can't have a libby or an interrogator as my demi company HQ, I've given in and decided to make a challenge monkey out of Balthasar (I do 5th company). Challenge monkeys have to have a bike or a jump pack, preferably a bike for T5, but we don't have that option, so a jump pack it is.. Okay, I don't want to spend 300 points on him, so he's not going to be a flying thundernator (2+/3++ with artificer and storm shield)...the jump pack should allow him to keep clear of fights he can't win, so I don't *need* that. Artificer armor is still a good idea, I guess, but he can easily dodge thunderhammers and powerfists...power axes are ok to face, I guess, they're not insta-kill. The points cost of the storm shield isn't as big a deal, although it's a ton of points to go from 4++ to 3++...what really kills me is the loss of the "i has a pistol" +1A. That brings me to weapons...I was torn between the relic blade and the mace...if I was running another fighty HQ, then the fact that only company masters can have relic blades would make things easy...in the end, balancing all of the stats and special rules, it's the fact that the mace is neither two-handed nor unwieldy that won the day. S7 vs S6 is ok, but rarely relevant, and neither blind nor concussive matters that much most of the time. The thought of the relic blade plus the shroud almost won the day, though... When I have the points, I'll throw in digital weapons, but nothing else is really appealing. I thought about a grav pistol to inflict I1, but that's a long shot, really, anyone I'm targeting who's worth the expense is probably 4++ or 3++ anyway, or I4 or worse. Anyway, what I came up with was company master, artificer armor, mace, and jump pack. So...a model. Happily, there's a jumping captain model...but he's got a two handed axe! Ok, chop off the axe head, replace it, and find ways to DA-up the model...here's what I came up with: Hmmm...crap. I thought his legs were a bit scrawny when I was painting them! Yep, the sculptor screwed up, battle sisters have thicker thighs! Ok, when framed by the jump pack, the head doesn't look quite so unnaturally large. I'll paint up a bare head, too, under the theory that it'll look less oversized than a helmeted or hooded one...we'll see. Oh, yeah....that's sweet! scythe-wielding angel of death in place of the iron halo and skull combo...definite improvement! Aaand the mace. big enough to impress, not so big that it couldn't be wielded one-handed. The ones from the DWK frame were comically large! Thoughts? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CarbonBased Posted July 4, 2015 Share Posted July 4, 2015 I dig it. I was looking around for maces myself. I do believe the bit box might be holding one of those. Any other shots of that backpack? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Solrac Posted July 4, 2015 Share Posted July 4, 2015 You can still take a Libby with the Inner Circle choice in the Lion's blade, make him your Warlord and have him babysit the Devs as always. Small price to pay for a cheap character that would make the Devs fearless and increase their damage output exponentially with a guaranteed Prescience. Doing that you can have the Master at the front holding the line somewhere. Give him Foe Smiter. It's a bargain shooty weapon for what it is. Drop him in with a Tac squad onto an objective and make them hold it to the last man. It's no bubble of leadership but at least the squad he is with will be fearless. I definitely agree that Company Master > Chaplain. Same points better stats and you can't give the Chaplain relics. I think I'll only ever field a Chaplain in a double demi lions blade, obviously you have to and I'll stick him in a squad that would need the Zealot or if I was running a Demi company alongside a Ravenwing Strike force I would take the Chaplain to stick him in the Ravenwing Command squad with Sammy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Solrac Posted July 4, 2015 Share Posted July 4, 2015 Btw that mini is looking great ;) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darkangeldentist Posted July 4, 2015 Share Posted July 4, 2015 Nice conversion and I agree with just about all you've said. Like Solrac I'm looking at equipping my company masters with foe smiter plus probably a relic blade since I'm already giving up the extra attack due to foe smiter. With artificer armour and shroud of heroes he comes to 160pts and looks good enough for duty. I really love the change to foe smiter, by itself it makes our first warlord trait seem so much more useful even if it's still very niche. The chaplain is definitely looking the most mopey of our HQ options but although he's nothing to write home about he's still the better choice if you're going for a tooled up unit of combat veterans. Re-rolls are still a thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gillyfish Posted July 4, 2015 Share Posted July 4, 2015 I agree with your reasoning and I would probably field something similar. I also agree with you about the legs on the model. As you say, perhaps changing the head will help - maybe a bare one so the proportions are less noticeable? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chaplain Lucifer Posted July 4, 2015 Share Posted July 4, 2015 I'm also on the CM boat. The Chaplain is just unimpressive, sadly. For me, CM with AA, foe smiter and power weapon, maybe shroud of heroes as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mika_angelus Posted July 4, 2015 Share Posted July 4, 2015 I'll probably convert a CM with Foe-Smiter (assault cannon) relic blade, AA and I'm planing to attach a storm shield to an armorum cherub to fly above my CM. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Interrogator Stobz Posted July 4, 2015 Share Posted July 4, 2015 I'll likely run my CM in TDA, relic blade, Foe Smiter and stormshield with some attached DW unit like Knights, then at least he can be the 'Challenge Monkey' that he needs to be. In a CC unit. To be honest though; I'll hardly ever take the Lion's Blade, as CAD meets my army design better. And if I do take it, I'll take two for the ten 'free' RBs ;) 2c Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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