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I've been playing SM for a few months now but never with special characters, was just looking for some opinions on what you guys think are the better ones for the points cost. I generally play 2000 to 2500 point games. I also try to run more balanced shooting / CC army lists.

Well I dont use the SC that often, each one is specialised for a specific role in mind and many are equally as good as each other as long as they are played smart.

1) Maneus Calgar - Good Leadership Skills, Decent personal shooting, Really good in CC with 2 MW power fists (giving him the +1 to attack because they are the same as each other)
2) Tigerus - The most OP psyker you can hope to have on your side. but no invul save.
3) Casseus - Better than an adverage Chaplain but debatable as actually useful for the points.
4) Lisander - Kicks butt in CC, kills tanks and dreadnoughts, makes your army stubborn, Nearly Imposible to kill especially if you have an apocathery in the squad. Good value but potentially its better to use Maneus.
5) Strike - This guys buffs your CC marines and is an absolute CC freak against light units and MEQs, gives out fleet to the army - he is potentially quite squichy though because he must floot slog in his jump pack and potentially be left in the open, Still a good choice if your wise.
6) Vulkan - This guy benefits from being marginally better than a normal commander in CC and has a heavy Flamer which he makes Twin linked. Your entire armies compliment of melta and flamer become twin linked. This guy is worth it if you use lots of those and not if you dont!
7) Imperial Fists Master - Again makes your army good at sticking around he has the best storm bolter money can buy... he may not be worth it though with Maneus being better in most regards.
8) I would never recomend the white scars guy as I dont like him.

Cato Sicarius. The most underrated special character in the Marine 'Dex. He has Rites of Battle and LD 10, which goes a long way to keeping all your little combat squads in line. He allows you to give a Tactical Squad Scout, Infiltrate, Counter Attack or Tank Hunters as the mission and opponent dictate. He lets you reroll Seize the Initiative, which dramatically improves your odds off pulling it off (though I still wouldn't plan on it ). And as a bonus, he has a close combat attack capable of instant killing anything without eternal warrior and has a 2+ save and FNP. Pretty good complement to any Marine company, particularly at 2000+ points where I run 40 tactical marines and 6 attack bikes and combat squad often.

EDIT: And I'm not sure how Lord Kas skipped the most important features of Marneus and Tigerius. Marneus lets you choose whether you pass or fail a morale check for every Marine unit in the army and Tigerius lets you reroll reserve rolls so you get some control on when your units come in.

Would this thread include the new BA and SW characters? I don't know much about them personally but some of them might be worth a mention.

Lord Kas wrote:Well I dont use the SC that often, each one is specialised for a specific role in mind and many are equally as good as each other as long as they are played smart.

.
4) Lisander - Kicks butt in CC, kills tanks and dreadnoughts, makes your army stubborn, Nearly Imposible to kill especially if you have an apocathery in the squad. Good value but potentially its better to use Maneus.
5) Strike - This guys buffs your CC marines and is an absolute CC freak against light units and MEQs, gives out fleet to the army - he is potentially quite squichy though because he must floot slog in his jump pack and potentially be left in the open, Still a good choice if your wise.
6) Vulkan - This guy benefits from being marginally better than a normal commander in CC and has a heavy Flamer which he makes Twin linked. Your entire armies compliment of melta and flamer become twin linked. This guy is worth it if you use lots of those and not if you dont!
7) Imperial Fists Master - Again makes your army good at sticking around he has the best storm bolter money can buy... he may not be worth it though with Maneus being better in most regards.

I few things here...
Lysander...gives bolter drill to any squad he joins. This means that he turns a Sternguard or 10 man Termie squads w/2CMLs into absolute monsters.
Shrike....yes whole army fleet....Fleeting TH/SS Termies....that alone makes him worth it
Vulcan....also makes TH mastercrafted...go, go gadget TH/SS Termies! Probably the strongest SC in the entire dex.
Pedro...makes Sternguard scoring....enough said

Personally, I would take ANY of these guys over Calgar. I also like Sicarius in large games.

This thread is just about Special Characters from the vanilla Sm codex, as that's what the OP plays I think.

I don't know how you passed over Pedro Kantor. Awesome Stormbolter, gives extra CC attacks to units nearby, and most importantly, makes the best Elites infantry choice (Sternguard Veterans) even better by making them scoring.

There are some other special characters that are upgrades for squads, and I'll mention them quickly.

Sgt. Telion is awesome when included in a Scout squad outfitted with sniper rifles and a missile launcher. He get what is essentially a 2 shot sniper rifle, or he can allow any other model in his squad to shoot at BS6, which pretty much means you can make the Missile Launcher hit every time if you want to.

Sgt.Chronus is useless with the Vindicator or the Whirlwind, since one inch on a scatter dice rarely makes a huge difference. However, having him command a Predator is always useful, since he vastly increases the percentage of the vehice to hit. Putting him in a Laspred is a sure way to clear the field of enemy armor.

Lord Kas wrote:Well I dont use the SC that often, each one is specialised for a specific role in mind and many are equally as good as each other as long as they are played smart.

1) Maneus Calgar - Good Leadership Skills, Decent personal shooting, Really good in CC with 2 MW power fists (giving him the +1 to attack because they are the same as each other)
2) Tigerus - The most OP psyker you can hope to have on your side. but no invul save.
3) Casseus - Better than an adverage Chaplain but debatable as actually useful for the points.
4) Lisander - Kicks butt in CC, kills tanks and dreadnoughts, makes your army stubborn, Nearly Imposible to kill especially if you have an apocathery in the squad. Good value but potentially its better to use Maneus.
5) Strike - This guys buffs your CC marines and is an absolute CC freak against light units and MEQs, gives out fleet to the army - he is potentially quite squichy though because he must floot slog in his jump pack and potentially be left in the open, Still a good choice if your wise.
6) Vulkan - This guy benefits from being marginally better than a normal commander in CC and has a heavy Flamer which he makes Twin linked. Your entire armies compliment of melta and flamer become twin linked. This guy is worth it if you use lots of those and not if you dont!
7) Imperial Fists Master - Again makes your army good at sticking around he has the best storm bolter money can buy... he may not be worth it though with Maneus being better in most regards.
8) I would never recomend the white scars guy as I dont like him.

lolwut?

Calgar - monstrously costed, fun only character. OH WAIT, he lets you take 3 Honour Guard..:\
Tigurius - Two times more expensive than a basic Librarian, and way more expensive than a single kitted out one that will do almost everything he can do, and considering you'll just be using Null Zone each turn anyway..
Cassius - Great deal, cheap HQ.
Sicarius - I can't decide how I feel about him so expensive but a lot of buffs in general. Also, don't count on his ID blade to work. Most things you want to take down quick are going to be 4s to hit, 4s to wound, so 25% chance right there. Why not though eh? Pretty good at killing hordes with FNP, 2+ save and a high weapon skill
Kantor - Good deal for what you get, +1 attack to all close units, scoring Sternguard, decent at shooting just another 'sit around and buff' character IMO
Lysander - No complaints, multiple uses and actually not a bad price for what you get
Shrike - Glass Cannon, fleet to all units is GREAT
Vulkan - A game breaker, easily able to make a good army way better. Also super strong in combat, with a 2+/3++ and a twin-linked heavy flamer.
Khan - Good, as good as a tooled up Biker Captain? - debatable.

Anyway, marines are in a good position for SCs.

Thanks for the advice guys, I do run vanilla marines, just been looking into adding a little punch to my force. I'll probably try out Kantor since I like Sternguard. Vulkan sounds like he would work for me as well since I usually run a LR redeemer with assault terms. Thanks again!