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Hello fellows!

Thinking of beginning a C:SM army, and was wonder, what is everyone's preference of HQ? Librarian, chaplain or commander?

My army is mostly likely going to consist of a fair few drop pods (because the thought of that many dreadnoughts/marines in the enemy deployment 1st turn is awesome ) and be very alpha strike. Was thinking of buying that strike force box, but not sure about the command squand and captain, and definitely don't want AMs heh.

So, as a space marine noob, I turn to you! What HQ do you like? What chapter tactics do you like? etc


Von Chogg

I prefer a Captain or Vulkan since they do some nice things and get your mandatory hq.

And dont get battleforces unless you want everything in it.

I agree with Lime, a Captain-shaped object would probably be your best bet.

With a drop-pod army, you still can't assault that turn, so your best choice are shooty units in order to cause as much damage as possible before retaliation - thus a Chaplain doesn't really come into play until either your opponent assaults you (in which case he's confident enough to do so whether or not you have the Chappy) or until your next turn when you can charge (either crimping one of your shooting units, or meaning you brought a non-shooty unit just for the Chappy to lead). He's not a terrible choice, but you risk a Jack-of-all-trades deal.

A Librarian can be scary in a DP, either going for Telepathy (Psychic Shriek) or Pyromancy (less attractive option - Flame Breath), but suffers by not being able to cast Blessings / Maledictions on the turn he arrives. And without an invulnerable save, can be a bit squishy in combat.

A Captain or Master can be given an improved armour save (Artificer?) and has a stock invul (4+) that can be improved with a Storm Shield (or Shield Eternal), so he's great for 'tanking' shots for the rest of the unit, and can be enough of a beatstick that you can detach him from the unit so he can charge separately (not really an option with the Chappy, since you'd only be benefiting himself with Hatred).

While Chaplins look cool, they are way over costed for what they do - esp. compared to the Librarian. I like the Librarian for the cost and "spells". I also like the Chapter Master over the Captain as he brings much more to the table as far a beat stick HQ is concerned as well as the one orbital strike. For special characters I do like Vulkan (being a Salamanders player myself) as he does enable some good buffs on your melta weapons (though if you aren't taking significant numbers of melta except combi-melta I skip him as a Chapter Master is better and combi-melta benefit from the Salamander Master Crafted ability on characters).

A Chaplain can be useful for an assault marine group. But then why would you want one?

Whenever you are looking at GW bundle deals, price how much everything would be separately, look at what you actually want, and check if it's still worth it. The strike force is priced so that a couple of units could go straight into your bits box and you'll still save money.

Don't sell the assault marines short. In a drop pod list, 5 AMs with two flamers who've swapped their jump packs for a drop pod is not a bad idea.

Even if you don't like the captain and command squad, those sprues are bits-laden. Seeing that the command squad includes crux terminus shoulder pads, they could be modeled as sternguard, who fit very nice into a drop pod list. But command squads can be used themselves. 4 plasma gunners stepping out of a pod will ruin someone's day, and the apothecary will help when things get hot.

As for what HQ/chapter tactics, that depends a lot on what you want. I personally run Ultramarines, as that's the army I have. Might not be the best choice out there, but it's flexible. If there are any special characters that appeal to you, that will dictate your choice. Vulkan and Kantor make for good drop pod HQs.

A Master of the Forge would let you drop more dreads onto the table, which can be fun. If you are leaning that way, Iron Hands can be nice, and fluffy.

Librarians have the potential to be very powerful. But there are a number of random factors involved.

Chaplains are cheap, effective, CC HQs. While assault gets a bad rap in 6th, sometimes you need to get stuck in and carve something apart. These zelotous nut-jobs do that.

Captains and Chapter Masters need to be geared up to work, and the points can escalate quickly. They don't add much besides being a beatstick. But sometimes that's what you need.