Unit of the Week: Brother-Captain

[Skywrath]

Welcome to the Grey Knight unit of the Week, where we analyse the Grey Knights units strength's and weaknesses. The unit for this week is the noble Brother-Captain. Each week a different unit will appear, with the idea being that we discuss how best to use that model on the battlefield.

 

Questions:

 

1. General first thoughts and impressions of the unit?

 

2. How would you use said unit, to compliment a list, or to build a list around? 

 

3. What other units/strategems synergize with it to give it that extra shine?

 

4. Miscellaneous use/Tips and Tricks?

 

 

BONUS: Creative ways to use units that wouldn't be obvious at first. 

[librisrouge]

I think Reskin summed it up nicely. There just isn't any point to the Brocap unless you're specifically planning on the smite spam army. If you're not, don't take him and fork out for a Grand Master instead.

[Skywrath]

The BC does have his place. Seeing how the purifiers became a viable unit due to their effective 2+ invuln, their smite range would be limited to melee combat, if not for his psychic locus ability. He's also a rather decent beatstick (although not on the level of Kaldor, the GMNDK and Voldus) for those points, where in a 2k lists he isn't hard to fit in. 

 

In my lists I follow more or less a tier (think, I have spare points, can I upgrade any of my units? (with the caveat that the list doesn't follow a certain theme)):

 

Expensive tier

 

Voldus

Kaldor 

GMNDK

 

Medium tier

 

Librarian

Brother-Captain/Brother-Captain Stern

-

Chaplain

 

Cheap tier

 

Techmarine

Brotherhood Champion 

-

Castellan Crowe

 

So the Brotherhood Champion's upgrade would be a Brother-Captain and then eventually Kaldor. A techmarine's upgrade would be a Librarian and then eventually Voldus. So on and so forth. With this I'm trying to say that he's a better choice than anything in the "cheap" tier and anything below him in the medium tier. He has a place, but in an escalation style lists. Perhaps to the tune of - a BC, 1 librarian, Voldus, 3 strikes, 20 purifiers, 2 rhinos, and a 10m paladin brick? (You probably have room for more, but that's the barebones idea). 

 

Other than that, he's just an edict caster, sadly. But I do agree HQ units should know two, cast two at the very minimum when our codex launches. Hopefully our codex will be next. 

[librisrouge]

Ya know, I was thinking. Perhaps a good way to have a conversation here would be on equipment. Lets set aside abilities and general worthwhileness and focus on what you'd give him if you would take one, and why.

 

I'll start (seems fair.)

 

If I took a BroCap I'd rock him with a stave and psylencer. Here's why:

• Staff - The BroCap is basically taken for his abilities, that means I want him to stay alive. The stave's defensive bonus is great at helping this, since his save is now actually good, being a +2/+3. The strength bonus is great, since he'll wound a lot of threats on a 3+ and the AP isn't that big a deal because, at least in my experience, he's either killing mobs of things with poor saves (cultists, guardsmen, lesser daemons, etc.) or tough things that have a good invulnerable anyway. The d3 damage is a staple, unless you want to invest in a hammer, but I don't want to his on 3+.
• Psilencer - As a support character, I want him sitting back. Six shots means that he can contribute without having to be in melee and will have a number of supports to enhance the gun (such as strats and Rites).

What would you guys go with?

[Skywrath]

Ya know, I was thinking. Perhaps a good way to have a conversation here would be on equipment. Lets set aside abilities and general worthwhileness and focus on what you'd give him if you would take one, and why.

 

I'll start (seems fair.)

 

If I took a BroCap I'd rock him with a stave and psylencer. Here's why:

• Staff - The BroCap is basically taken for his abilities, that means I want him to stay alive. The stave's defensive bonus is great at helping this, since his save is now actually good, being a +2/+3. The strength bonus is great, since he'll wound a lot of threats on a 3+ and the AP isn't that big a deal because, at least in my experience, he's either killing mobs of things with poor saves (cultists, guardsmen, lesser daemons, etc.) or tough things that have a good invulnerable anyway. The d3 damage is a staple, unless you want to invest in a hammer, but I don't want to his on 3+.
• Psilencer - As a support character, I want him sitting back. Six shots means that he can contribute without having to be in melee and will have a number of supports to enhance the gun (such as strats and Rites).

What would you guys go with?

 

My counter-argument to the stave would be that for 2CP you could employ Heed the Prognosticar strategem and give him the daemon hammer. That way he'd be just as durable, as well as being a credible threat. If you don't have the points for a hammer, then I usually defer to either the Soul Glaive relic, or the Blade of the Forsworn relic. I find paying 1CP to be worth it. While the stave ensures we would be wounding on 3's on Gravis marines, the -1 AP will do practically nothing. If it does go through, then there is another hurdle you have to pass, but if 3 damage pops up, you are laughing. 

 

The psycannon/psilencers/incinerator idea is interesting. Personally, I'm moving away from psycannons as I stated previously and focusing on the psilencers. However that being said, incinerators could be something, if the BC is guarding a point. Someone declares overwatch, and the incinerator scores additional hits. Ideally, the prime target for this would be chaff, for the incinerator to make up the points.  

[Skywrath]

Yes it does. 6" smite, however I am wondering whether that can combo with the strategem that increases aura range, effectively making it 12".

[Trollbeard]

I kitted mine out with a hammer and psycannon, I went psycannon because I wanted some extra higher strength shots from my list, and the hammer because I had a spare heavy thunder hammer from my DW I converted him with.

 

Might not be the most optimal, but he sure looks cool!

Edited February 28, 2021 by Trollbeard

[librisrouge]

Might not be the most optimal, but he sure looks cool!

And, in the end, isn't that what matters most?

[Gnomeo]

So I think the brother captain can be a really good choice however as pointed out it depends on the list. And by that I don't think smite spam as I don't believe it is a viable option.

 

So how I have used him in the past is to give a list more options depending on opponent. Playing against knights or other tough slow moving armies getting a few smites on the really help. If not then you can consider him as an option for psychic actions (most the time stay away from them but in some match ups they can work).

 

I think the point I am trying to make os he does not fit every list nor every opponent. But he does give your army another trick. And considering we are an army that relies on tricks to win is not necessarily a bad thing.

[The Woodsman]

Some interesting points from everybody here, really happy to see these threads back up and running!

 

I also don't want to beat a dead horse, but I will try and play devil's advocate here and back up the humble Brother-Captain. I think the main thing that plays against him is how list-building has turned towards a single Battalion rather than multiple detachments. That being said, I've been working on some 2xPatrol lists that I think could do the business, notably to cut down on mandatory Troops options while being able to squeeze in a fourth HQ. To be fair, I think the double smite range buff does have potential and is often overlooked in favor of other abilities. If you take Spider's (from Tabletop Tactics) lists, he most often does run the BC, usually in conjunction with a trio of Ven Dreads sitting back and shooting heavy weaponry. The 24" Smite then becomes crucial for them (or at least the two not casting Astral Aim) to actually make use of their psychic ability. He even believes the Bro Cap is a must-take (not that I agree with this theorem). That being said, as a combat character he is no slouch either - mine is equipped with a Sword and Psilencer (though I do think a halberd is better... or a Stave for the 3++ in combat for that matter). He then also gets a decent shooting weapon that benefits from his higher BS. I also think the BC can be key when running a "character castle", say Voldus, a Chaplain, Librarian and Captain (for example in 2xPatrol list), an Apothecary and Ancient. You're going to have some spare casts and the 24" Smite will really help you get the most out of them. 

 

To sum, is the Brother Captain an auto-take? No. Can he be a key part of a solid strategy and a great way of getting more out of your forces? I think so.