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How does one go about picking a hq to lead your army. i been having trouble picking a hq to fit in my army i normal take a chapter master and our caption and hide them in a corner and pray they get left alone

What chapter tactics do you usually play with?

I normal use IF as that fits my style of defense play

Well there's three types of SM HQs:

captain: beatstick who should lead an assaulty squad and use them as disposable bodies till he reaches cc

chaplain: assault multiplier unit who should lead a big assault unit and make them killy as hell

librarian: allrounder who works fine at the back and at the front as well

Considering you play Imperial Fists you probably would be best off playing with the supplement Sentinels of Terra. In which case the Bones of Osrik librarian is an excellent value. That or Lyssander who is one of the best combat characters in the game and is a vital part of some of the best IF army lists.

There are a number of options that are all very good HQs in the SM codex. Different HQs synergize or allow different army types.
*Librarian: A good cheap utility HQ. This is usually the HQ of choice for any army that wants to maximize other aspects and spend as few pts as possible for an HQ. Telepathy is also an amazing discipline.
*Chapter Master: CMs almost always have shield eternal, a Powerfist or Thunder hammer, Artificer Armour, and either a bike or jump pack. They are superior in every way to the captain and so if you have the pts and don't want the command squad then you should take a chapter master if you planned to take a captain. Properly equipped this is one of the best melee combatants in the game.
*Captain: An overall poor value due to the wargear costs being the same as a chapter master yet the captain being significantly worse using them. However command squads are very useful with their ability to take a bunch of special weapons, bikes, etc. Mediocre combat character who quickly becomes overpriced if you are not careful and give him to much wargear.
*Master of the Forge: This is a cheap combat or shooty character who is mediocre at damage dealing. The repair ability is usually not worth it and the bolster ruins ability is better left to Thunder Fire Cannons. However the ability to unlock multiple relics of the Armoury from Forgeworld Imperial Armour 2 Second Edition makes this a must take in several very good army builds. In the correct Iron Hands build with the correct wargear the MotF becomes a god like support unit.

Of course the special characters are a completely different story than the general HQs. Lyssander for example is amazing and well worth his pts. Khan is another example of an excellent special character.

warsawwarriors wrote:
How does one go about picking a hq to lead your army. i been having trouble picking a hq to fit in my army i normal take a chapter master and our caption and hide them in a corner and pray they get left alone

space Marine HQs are beasts, you are COMPLETLY wasting the points of most if they're not out there kicking ass.

my suggestion would be to replace your captain, if thats your style of play, with a Librarian. they can hang back and buff

+1 for the librarian if you play defence/shooty you cant really get better for your points

Normally I'd agree with the Librarian. But, I've also found the usefulness of a Master of the Forge with a Conversion Beamer. Also bumps up the Cover Save of a nonpurchased piece of terrain in your deployment zone. Throw some blasts as far as you can for S10 AP1.

That's my problem i just can't find a hq that fits in my army. i normal have no place to stick one. lately i been running my army with out a hq as i just can't find one that fits me

There is always an HQ that you can slap in there. A Chaplain to give almost Fearless to a high risk squad. A Librarian with Divination on an artillary squad, or with Biomancy to throw Lightning, or Pyromancy to throw Templates, or Telepathy to murder Horde squads. A Master of the Forge to be artillary. A bare bones Captain to just lead a squad. A Chapter Master to be a god in Assault.

And if there's no place, MAKE a place using a Command Squad. Don't have a high risk squad for a Chaplain to lead? Throw some Power Weapons or Flamers or Meltaguns on five guys as a Command Squad, get a Drop Pod or Razorback and throw them at the enemy. Don't have a unit for Assault? Get a Chapter Master and an Honor Guard squad who all have Power Weapons normally and again, throw them forward.

I use the Chapter Master with honour guard in a land raider usually but I use BT chapter tactics..

For a defensive player the librarian seems to be the best as paying the points for the chapter master to use the orbital bombardment once doesn't seem worth it.

You can always throw The Primarchs Wrath on a Captain and just let him sit back and shoot, a Salvo 3/5 Bolter isn't too bad to add to your current Bolter fire.

Note it will not benefit from the IF chapter tactics though.

See my problem is i domt have a unit a hq can fit in with all my tac squads are maxed out in rhino so there's no room there don't fit in with my dev squads andhe don't help there and they normal just sit back any how i don't run a sqaud small a nuff for a hq to fit in to i always run max squads in rhinos

 SharkoutofWata wrote:
A Librarian with Divination on an artillary squad...

I'm pretty sure it takes Dark Angels, Mantis Warriors or special characters like Tigurius, Ezekiel or Redth (the latter two are of DA and MW characters anyway, respectively) to pull that off since as far as I can remember, vanilla SM cannot into divination anymore.

 Barrogh wrote:

 SharkoutofWata wrote:
A Librarian with Divination on an artillary squad...

I'm pretty sure it takes Dark Angels, Mantis Warriors or special characters like Tigurius, Ezekiel or Redth (the latter two are of DA and MW characters anyway, respectively) to pull that off since as far as I can remember, vanilla SM cannot into divination anymore.

Blood Angels too. I don't use it so I always lose track. Divination is next to completely worthless for me since I can't seem to throw enough dice at Warp Charge 2 powers. Doesn't make it bad, it's just the reason why I don't remember who can grab it and who can't.

warsawwarriors wrote:
See my problem is i domt have a unit a hq can fit in with all my tac squads are maxed out in rhino so there's no room there don't fit in with my dev squads andhe don't help there and they normal just sit back any how i don't run a sqaud small a nuff for a hq to fit in to i always run max squads in rhinos

You could work towards running a Captain/Librarian with a Command Squad in a Razorback to move up and support your other Tactical Squads in Rhino's.

Something like that will fit in well with the theme of marines in transports to shoot at stuff.

Captain w/ Primarchs Wrath, Armour Indomidus
Command Squad w/ Apothacary, 4x Plasma Gun
Razorback w/ Heavy Bolters

If i go with a librarian what powers should i go for as i only get 2 with one i know all get.

The discipline you choose really depends on what you want to do with the Librarian, will he join a squad? Have a CC or Ranged Command Squad? Roll around solo? What do you want his role to be?

I think of putting him in a shooty command squad
i thinking of doing 3plasma 1melta gun and the doc guy who gives fnp so maybe have librarian help them but also be kind of ok in cc

With plasma, I think divination would probably give you the most bang for your buck.

 King Pariah wrote:
With plasma, I think divination would probably give you the most bang for your buck.

Imperial Fist librarians cannot choose from divination. As someone mentioned, if you are playing Imperial Fists, and you want the librarian to be your HQ, you should look into the "Sentinels of Terra" book. The "short range bolter drill" is better than the "bolter drill" if you are running mobile tactical squads (and it sounds like you are), and the Bones of Osrak relic is amazing for the Imperial Fists librarian.

If you truly cannot come up with a place for your HQ, consider taking Darnath Lysander and deep strike teleport him in all by himself. It's not the most common strategy, but he is tough enough to take a turn of heat, and he can dish out massive amounts of pain, and he is truly one of the most terrifying "Distraction Carnifex"s around. It sounds like you are running a mechanized infantry type list, which is going to take a lot of fire while they move into bolter range. If Lysander, one of the toughest close combat units in the game, suddenly drops in behind enemy lines, he is going to draw a lot of attention off the rhinos and razorbacks running up field.

just my $.02

My codex says i can pick divinaton. why would i not be able to i don't run supplement codex as i not pay a nother 50 for a codex that will be outdated in a yr as a new codex for marinez coming out soon

warsawwarriors wrote:
My codex says i can pick divinaton. why would i not be able to i don't run supplement codex as i not pay a nother 50 for a codex that will be outdated in a yr as a new codex for marinez coming out soon

Nope, if you notice in the librarian entry of the codex it says they can only generate their powers from: Biomancy, Telepathy, Pyromancy and Telekinesis. The only person that has access to Divination in the codex is Tigurius.

Also, it's normal etiquette on this site to have proper grammar and punctuation. From what I remember it's one of the things you agree to when you create an account on Dakka. it will serve you much better in communicating with the members of the community and getting better feedback.