Phobos Sniper Captain

[L30n1d4s]

I have been thinking about this a bit and I think I may try out the following unit in my army in the future:

 

 

-Phobos Captain with the "Marksman's Honours" Warlord Trait and the "Helm of Censure" Relic

 

 

So, what specifically does this HQ bring to the fight? Well, for starters, he has a Master-Crafted Instigator Bolt Carbine, which is Range 30" Assault 1 S4 Ap-2 D3 and can target Characters even when they are not the closest model. He also has 5A base, plus 1A for his Combat Blade, and +1A from Shock Assault for 7A on the charge. In terms of durability, he has 5W, a 3+ save (which goes up to a 1+ save in cover, thanks to his Camo Cloak, a 4++ from his Iron Halo, and of course immunity to enemy shooting unless he is the closest model or they have sniper weapons of their own. Finally, like all Astartes Captains, he gives re-rolls of 1s to Hit within 6" of him.

 

On top of this, he can set up anywhere on the battlefield more than 9" away from the enemy (so he is not limited to sitting in your DZ turn 1) and, very importantly, he has the same Omni-Scrambler as Infiltrators, meaning that enemy forces cannot arrive from Reserve within 12" of him, which is an AMAZING ability for denying objectives, screening from charges by Deep Striking units, and just general board control.

 

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Now, for how his Relic and WL Trait play into this:

 

-"Marksman's Honours" gives him +1 Dmg for all shooting attacks, so that makes his Bolt Pistol Dmg 2 and his MCed Instigator Bolt Carbine Dmg 4.

 

-"Helm of Censure" (a relic from the new UM Supplement) gives him re-rolls for all 1s to hit and to wound, both shooting and close combat and, if he is attacking an Adeptus Astartes or Heretic Astartes model, also gives him +1 to Hit and +1 to Wound.

 

Taken all together, this makes him an exceptional force-multiplier to a "fire base" force in your DZ, allowing nearby units to re-roll all 1s to Hit (or all to Hits, if you upgrade him to a Chapter Master), denying enemy forces from Deep Striking close into your battle lines, and even providing a decent close combat threat if you some enemy models do leak through into your lines.

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Where he really stand out, in my opinion, is his abilities as a Sniper. With BS2+ and re-rolls of 1s to Hit, he basically is auto-hitting anything without a Negative Modifier on it. On top of that, since he can target Characters and has a range of 30", he instantly is a threat to lots of the key "aura" HQs that many competitive armies field these days.

 

With Tactical Doctrine on (so his MCed Instigator Bolt Carbine becomes AP-3), against T3 characters common in Tau, Genestealer Cult, Astra Militarum and Aeldari armies, he wounds on a 3+ (re-rolling1s to Wound, thanks to Helm of Censure), meaning he has a 77% chance of causing a wound... if they fail their Invul (or don't have one and their low armor save is ignored by AP-3), then his WL Trait really comes into play... Dmg 4 means that AM Company Commanders/Priests/Commissars, Tau Fire Blades/Firesight Marksmen/Ethereals, Craftworld Warlocks, and almost all of the various Genestealer Cult support characters are "one-shotted" by him if they fail their armor saves. Even many T4 Ork characters (like a Big Mek with Shokk Attack Gun) only have 4W, so if he manages to wound them, then they die instantly. This means that, against these types of armies, you can literally kill a key enemy support character every shooting phase the whole game, in turn "unhinging" the synergy and/or damage output of that force as you go.

 

Now, what about tougher opponents, like the many types of Astartes factions, all of which feature T4 base troops with good armor saves and often more wounds per model? This is where the "Helm of Censure" relic comes into its own. While the MCed Instigator Bolt Carbine is only S4 AP-3, thanks to the +1 to Wound versus Astartes, you bring your odds of wounding a T4 model back up to 77% and, even against T5-T7 models, you still have about 58% chance to wound. Again, the key is the consistent Dmg4  attacks... if you do manage to get an Unsaved Wound through against an enemy Aggressor or Centurion or Chaos Obliterator, you kill an entire model with that shot! Alternately, if you get a wound through versus an Astartes vehicle or character with more than 5W, you still instantly cause 4 Dmg, which is more than even a Hellfire Shell or Smite could do to that same target., which can put them on their last legs (and so easily finished off by some friendly Eliminators) or at least take a significant portion of their wounds away if they are a vehicle/monster.

 

So, really, the only factions that this Captain does not pose a significant danger to all game long is Imperial Knights and (to some degree) Necrons/Tyranids/Custodes (and even these he can threaten, i.e. with a lucky shot he can take out a 90 point Vertus Praetor or snipe a Zoanthrope or instant kill a Destroyer). Since he comes in at less than 100 points base, I think he is steal and can really bring excellent value to your army, "pound-for-pound" for what he contributes to fight.

[Toxichobbit]

Having just had a game where Eliminators did fantastic, I'm in the right frame of mind for this Captain. I like it, though I'd be tempted to sometimes use The Vox Espiratum to push his Omni-scrambler out to 15". That's a huge area of nope for strategic reserves to have to avoid. If you're in a play group where it's the done thing to have your warlord trait and relic on your army roster (so before you know your opponent), then I'd just not give him a relic and then use Relics of the Chapter to take one for him as a second (or third if you're feeling flush) relic.

 

Also worth noting that against Marines he can one shot a lot of non-Primaris characters. Lieutenants, Techmarines, Librarians, Exaulted Champions, Sorcerers and Warpsmiths especially will fear him with their lack of invulnerable save.

[Kallas]

I'd be tempted to sometimes use The Vox Espiratum to push his Omni-scrambler out to 15". That's a huge area of nope for strategic reserves to have to avoid. 

 

Now that is an interesting idea!

[Joukernaut]

If that is allowed then you could push it three inch further with the stratagem (i don’t know what it’s called atm).

[CCE1981]

If that is allowed then you could push it three inch further with the stratagem (i don’t know what it’s called atm).

Unfortunately it won’t work, that Stratagem id only in the Shooting and Fight phases.

[Subtleknife]

That captain is disgusting. Even against t7 vehicles he will be pretty tasty. Luckily I've just bought one off ebay.

[Brother Tholath]

I actually just had another idea about this. If you make him your warlord, you could use the stategum to allow him to take a 2nd warlord trait and then give him Paragon of War. Sure you only get the bonus from an unmodified roll of a 6, but still, you are likely to see some MW coming out of his shooting in addition to everything else

[L30n1d4s]

One way that you could improve this "Sniper" Captain is to make him from an Ultramarines Successor Chapter which has the following Chapter Traits:

 

-Master Artisans -- RR one to Hit and one to Wound per unit per Shoot/Fight/Overwatch phase

-Stealthy -- Get benefit of cover for any shooting originating greater than 12" away, even if unit is not in cover

 

These Chapter Traits would allow the Captain to re-roll the Wound on his shot (he already gives himself re-rolls to Hit), greatly increasing the reliability of wounding against all types of targets, as well as make him "permanently" in cover (so giving him a 1+ save, with his built-in Camo Cloak), so even if he is operating independently/away from friendly lines, he would be tough to kill.

 

As an UM Successor, you still have access to the "Seal of Oath" relic (it is a piece of Special Issue Wargear) and you could pay a CP to get access to the "Helm of Censure" relic as well, so all the parts of the tactic described above are still viable.