Masters of the Chapter - Chief Apothecary

[Captain Idaho]

This topic is for discussion of the Command Point upgrade for the Apothecary character as seen in the Faith and Fury Supplement; Masters of the Chapter.

 

Chief Apothecary - Overview

 

Although an inexpensive selection, an Apothecary is an ELITES choice which is either easy to include or difficult if you have limited additional HQ choices you wanted to include in your list.

 

For most, a Chief Apothecary can be a great addition to an army. A health warning... it's unlikely your Apothecary will be your Warlord and thus will cost 2 Command Points (CPs) if you want to get the best use out of him as you WILL want him to take a Warlord Trait. 3 if you want his Relic as well as other Relics. That is a lot for an army that isn't a Brigade! More on this in a bit.

 

I'd say, despite being multiple wound models, Primaris basic infantry are not the right choice to accompany an Apothecary. Do you really want to use CPs just to bring back a couple Intercessors? Same goes for a couple Tactical Marines.

 

Where this model shines is support of expensive, elite models and units that are already very survivable.

 

Consider providing Medical Attention to 2 separate units with multiple wounds where possible to raise dead models from each in a single turn, though remember they will have a single 1 remaining at this point.

 

Aggressors will love this guy! Bringing back from the dead a model a turn (fairly likely thanks to Selfless Healer) then healing him is absolutely amazing and Aggressors can really benefit from the Healer's Aegis since they don't have a 2+ save or invulnerable. Remem

 

Centurions also enjoy a Chief Apothecary, though don't need the Healer's Aegis very often since they have a 2+ save anyway. Remember, AP-3 will still leave them a 5+ save. Bringing back one of these big boys above 1 wound will be very effective especially if they're hanging further away from the opponent so took a deal of effort to drop a model in the first place.

 

Our poor old friends Terminators and their variants are now something that can be quite effective alongside a Chief Apothecary. Bringing back from the dead a model a turn will make it difficult for opponents to easily remove them, thus maintaining their offensive capacity for longer as well. Over a period of a few turns a remnant Terminator squad can get back up to combat effectiveness quite easily. Just plan the teleportation of Terminators carefully as if the Chief Apothecary can't reach them he's useless for them. Drop Pods are something to consider but only as a tag along - don't pay the points just for him.

 

This ties in with the last types of units that really benefit from this character, which is highly survivable models. Company and Vanguard Veterans, Terminators especially Cataphractii and Assault Terminators, can all have high invulnerable saves and thus be difficult to remove. An opponent will find it frustrating to kill off 5 Vanguard one turn only for 2 to rise from the dead, pick up their Storm Shields and join their brothers in the fight!

 

1 wound models with Storm Shields will enjoy a Chief Apothecary most of all I feel, since 2 at a time can be resurrected and thus an opponent will have to factor that into their target priority.

 

Special mention should go to the fact a Chief Apothecary can, with Selfless Healer, give D3 wounds back to 2 different characters or 2D3 back to the same character in a turn. This could be very entertaining and effective with a high wound character already, so Terminators and Gravis characters both spring to mind.

 

A Cataphractii Captain going from 1 wound to 7 in a turn is too funny to miss whilst a Librarian and Lieutenant could both be boosted up in wounds in a single turn.

 

Relics

 

Out of all Relics available, only the Healer's Aegis stands out as a viable choice for him. Offensive weapons like the Teeth of Terra or Acquital are nice and all but really you have already spent 2 CPs on him and do you not need that offensive output on other characters?

 

Same goes for defensive Relics really. The Tarentian Cloak will keep him alive longer, particularly a Primaris Apothecary, bit again, if he's in the fight he's going to die anyway. Especially of left alone. Save that CP/Relic for one of your HQ characters.

 

The exception here is if you are running Aggressors. I can see the point in the Healer's Aegis for these guys. Think carefully about CP usage at this point but if it helps then go for it. I believe it is fairly easy to get models within 1" of him and you don't even need the whole squad to be to benefit the unit (i.e. the first 3 tank the shots).

 

In summary, this upgrade makes a simple Apothecary much more effective a choice yet isn't an auto-include. Have a planned place for him and add him to your army accordingly.

 

Ultimately, this character is strategic. He is expensive in CP usage and you won't find the benefit in every army you play. Use him alongside units that really are elite or tough and he'll amplify their survivability and thus offensive capacity quite well.

Edited December 5, 2019 by Captain Idaho
Adjustments made

[Riddlesworth]

Aggressors will love this guy! Bringing back from the dead 2 models a turn (fairly likely thanks to Selfless Healer) is absolutely amazing and Aggressors can really benefit from the Healer's Aegis since they don't have a 2+ save or invulnerable.

 

 

Unless I'm missing something, I'm not sure that works. The first roll would revive with 1 wound. The second roll would heal that model D3. Don't get me wrong, reviving an aggressor or centurion to full wounds is grand, but its not quite as good as 2 models a turn (unless you're running 2 separate units of course)

 

I'm also unsure on the Healer's Aegis. It's models within 1 inch. So you may struggle to get a big unit of aggressors wholly within the aura. With that in mind, if you're looking to support an elite unit that way, I think it might be better to consider the Father of the Future warlord trait and give that unit 6+ FNP, but then you miss out on selfless healer

 

In the same way as I asked the question in another thread about the Master of Sanctity, if the Apothecary buff going off reliably is part of your strategy, it's worth the CP (as you'll likely spend 1 to 2 re-rolling it over the course of the game anyway). Whether the other CP spends are worth it depends on what other investment you have in your little ball of death. Brigade and double battalion lists will certainly have the CP to do this. Others, not so much.

Edited December 5, 2019 by Riddlesworth

[BLACK BLΠFLY]

Say two models are dead and the rest are unwounded... can you then revive both ?

[Kallas]

Say two models are dead and the rest are unwounded... can you then revive both ?

 

No, as the first is revived with one wound remaining, meaning the second use would heal that model, not revive again.

[Captain Idaho]

No you are correct, it's raise 1 from the dead then heal him. Of course that is still good just not quite as good.

 

The way it reads to me, seeing as it's necro one then "a second time" give Medical Attention, it should really be healing said model.

 

Still really strong. Raising a model and then giving him D3 wounds means the multi-wound models are still fairly hard to kill.

 

And 1 wound units with Storm Shields will still be raising 2 from the dead.

 

***

 

Yes I wasn't clear, the 5+ Aegis is only models within 1" range, but I didn't mention it since it is quite easy to have a unit of Aggressors benefit from it as you apply the wounds yourself and can get quite a few models around him.

 

I'll update the OP so it covers these things, thanks.

[Captain Idaho]

Cool I updated the OP and included mention of healing 2 separate characters a turn, which I forgot about initially.

 

I added something about clever play also, like healing 2 different units.

Edited December 5, 2019 by Captain Idaho

[Joukernaut]

Nice overview captain! I haven’t gotten my hands on a faith and fury book yet, but the apothecary sure looks like he’s worth it.

[Riddlesworth]

I found myself some spare points in a list that contains a block of 6 aggressors so thought I'd loop this thread back around. I've run 2 test games - one with the doc getting selfless healer, one with father of the future. no relics. while a small sample, I'm leaning towards Father of the Future being the better trait

 

Where Father of the Future really earns its crust is against multi damage weapons. Against the 3D weapons coming at me, where 2 wounds would kill 2 aggressors, Father of the Future would usually mean losing only 1 aggressor, who got 75% rez next turn. Against the more common 2D weapons, its less profound but against 3 2D wounds, i was still only losing 1 aggressor, with another taking 2 wounds and being healed for definite next turn. really added to the longevity of the unit.

 

Selfless healer, on the other hand, in the same scenarios, doesn't stop the 2 aggressors from dying. But it did give me the rez+heal to get a full wound aggressor back on the board and in some cases, if i failed the first rez roll (and reroll...), I could still try again, meaning i usually got at least the rez off. Against the same 3D scenario, i was slightly worse off - from a squad of 6, i'd always be 1 aggressor down (5), with full wounds or 1 at 1 wound compared with 5 at full wounds or 6 (1 rezzed with 1 wound). The results were the same against the 2D wounds - and FotF is far more reliable when all it has to do is heal.

 

I'm yet to try it with the relic, but realistically, your opponent needs to be firing AP-3 weapons to make it at all worthwhile, not including potential cover bonuses.