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I am starting a custom chapter and I was wondering what the best commander to use is? and why?


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I was also wondering if you could use commanders out of the space wolf, blood angles, dark angles.

No, you cannot use commanders out of the BA, SW, DA, or BT codex's unless you are using that codex.

In response to your question-customise your own captain using the normal entry, it gives your army a ot more flavour than just having a copy of a special charector. You may see him as "Captain Robotay, terror of the Orks", but I see him as "Kantor in Blood red".

I also have a custom chapter for Marines called "The Siege Paladins", and i can give you an example of the best commander that i have maneged to use in the past 4 years, start with the Master of the Chapter model for the base stats so
points 125
WS6 BS5 S4 T4 W3 I5 A3 Ld10 Sv 3+
Next heres the wargear that i have on mine:
Iron Halo 4+ invulnerable save
a boltgun free
a relic blade +30 points
replace power armour with artificer armour (2+save) +15points
hellfire rounds (wound on 2+) +10 points
frag n krak grenades points included
jump pack +25 points
terminator honors +25 points (+1 A)
point total 230 points total
new stats of WS6 BS5 T4 W3 A5 Ld10 Sv 2+ (4+ invulnerable)
The reason why i have the relic blade is from what i was told at my FLGS (and please correct me if im wrong) was that anything that fails a save and has more then 1 wound dies instantly, i maneged to kill 6 scarab bases in 1 turn

edit: spelt my own armies name wrong

Old Codex much? I don't think terminator honors is an upgrade for anyone anymore.

I myself use Shrike. Of course, with any of the Special characters above, you have to build your army list around the character. A Shrike list has a lot of assault troops to take advantage of fleet, and is typically a quick hitter. A Kantor list will likely take advantage of Sternguard being scoring and load up on those. It all depends on what kind of playstyle you want to use. Choose, then pick your commander.

Cheaper commanders can also be useful though. I'm a big fan of Librarians and Chaplains, who are very cheap for the support they can bring to other units. 10 Assault Marines with 4 attacks on the charge attached to a Chaplain will do 40 S4 hits that can reroll misses. And you paid 115 points for said Chaplain, who also comes with a power weapon. Cheap, and synergistic. Very useful.

Old Codex much? I don't think terminator honors is an upgrade for anyone anymore.

I myself use Shrike. Of course, with any of the Special characters above, you have to build your army list around the character. A Shrike list has a lot of assault troops to take advantage of fleet, and is typically a quick hitter. A Kantor list will likely take advantage of Sternguard being scoring and load up on those. It all depends on what kind of playstyle you want to use. Choose, then pick your commander.

Cheaper commanders can also be useful though. I'm a big fan of Librarians and Chaplains, who are very cheap for the support they can bring to other units. 10 Assault Marines with 4 attacks on the charge attached to a Chaplain will do 40 S4 hits that can reroll misses. And you paid 115 points for said Chaplain, who also comes with a power weapon. Cheap, and synergistic. Very useful.

None of the above. Cato Sicarius + Rites of Battle for the win.

Lysander.

Lets your marines tarpit those nasties if necesarry.

He can punch out a monolith with ease.

2+/3++ eternal warrior is one tough nut to crack.

Master crafted S10 thunder hammer.

+1 on the vehicle damage chart.

Cool model, as well as being part of the imperial fists!

He costs as much as 5 assault terminators with TH/SS... for good reason.

there are VERY few viable HQ choices for space marines... unless you don't care about points efficiency.

my short list of viable captain configurations:
-biker captain (IFF your using bikers as troops)

when it comes to librarians or chaplains, any configuration is perfectly viable. Captains just are not cost efficient any other way.

Honersstodnt wrote:there are VERY few viable HQ choices for space marines... unless you don't care about points efficiency.

my short list of viable captain configurations:
-biker captain (IFF your using bikers as troops)

when it comes to librarians or chaplains, any configuration is perfectly viable. Captains just are not cost efficient any other way.

What about Vulkan He'stan?

ah, I was only listing generics

special characters, here are the useful ones.

Lysander (if a larger point game, and your using hammer/shield terminators in a raider)
Vulkan (if your using nothing but meltas / flamers)
Calgar (in a very large point game, using a huge number of tac marines / dev squads / assault marines)

Meh, not ONLY meltas and flamers.

Three vindicators is the real thing, in any of those lists.

I'm am still getting back into the game what would be the best way to set up a custom commander. I will mainly be playing against Eldar and IG. I have 3 Tac squads ( I thought they were the coolest when I was younger) and 2 dreads if you have any other ideas for army set up let me know? Thanks.

if you wanna run a mechanized army, convert 5 tac marines to sternguard, put em in a rhino, and attach either a captain w/ combi-weapon + hellfire rounds, or a librarian.

Librarians would be very friendly to you against Eldar. A psychic hood will screw with any of his plans, and anything with invulnerable saves will be sad. He could gate around with a tac squad and shoot stuff and mess with the eldar. That's barring you buy him something more useful like shooty terminators or Sternguard to gate around with.

Chaplains are great HQs for assault units such as Jump marines or anything charging out of a Land Raider. Cheap and hugely effective.

Of course, if you're willing to shell out the cash and points, Sicarius goes well with Tac squads as he can give them some nifty helpful special abilities.

The libby is great, as long as he doesn't try psychic powers himself - RoW are killer against him.

Against footslogging eldar, you're basically guaranteed a win, so don't worry about it.

Against mechdar, you want meltaguns and lots of them.

Against ID, you want meltaguns for the tanks and flamers/assault for the massed infantry.

Either way, Vulkan is probably your best bet. Even without a single flamer or meltagun in your army, he's worth his points as a commander.

PanzerLeader wrote:None of the above. Cato Sicarius + Rites of Battle for the win.

I hate the Cato Sicarius fluff so much it all makes him sound like a d**k

MekanobSamael wrote:Against footslogging eldar, you're basically guaranteed a win, so don't worry about it.

I heard it on the internet, it must be true!!!!1!!/one11!11!!!!

Against mechdar, you want meltaguns and lots of them.

The melta guns that we ignore...?

foot eldar is far more deadly than most people give it credit for... don't EVER underestimate it. While true, most marines can beat it, you'll loose if you underestimate it.

Chapter master; Can get expensive, but lots of options to customize him. I imagine he'd be nice in a foot-slogging shooting heavy army to get good use out of his orbital bombardment skill. Allows you to take honor guard if you are inclined to a rhino/razorback based heavy assault squad.

Captain; Access to "Command Squad" and cheaper then a chapter master if you don't intend him to stay still long enough to fire the orbital bombardment. One of the worst options IMO.

Chaplain; Not super killer, but the base 4+ invul and power weapon for 100 points is nice. Stick him with a solid assault or assault terminator squad and make sure they get the charge and watch stuff get obliterated.

Librarian; Probably the best "budget" option. 100 base gets you some nice powers. for 40? more you can give him termie armor and a storm shield for some serious survivability.

Master of the Forge; If you want dreads as heavy support, stay cheap with him or go conversion beamer + bike for an interesting toy.

Special Characers;

Calgar: Big meh IMO, big games only.
Lysander: Big hitter and a tough cookie. Easily the single toughest and hardest hitting character BY HIMSELF.
Kantor: Some interesting changes to the army by making Sternguard scoring. His inspiring aura makes him a huge asset to buffing nearby assault troops. One of the weakest hitting and survivable characters to choose from himself though.
Tigurius: Just...bad. about 75 points too many for his stats.
Cassius: Interesting. T6 is a BIG boost to his toughness against S4 opponents. FnP is gravy. If you want a foot slogging chaplain, it's hard to pass him up.
Shrike: Run of the mill himself. His special rules open up some weird army wide special rules that make him worth while.
Sicarius: Decent himself, his special rules are the gravy, especially in a somewhat alpha strike style army.
He'Stan: The all MIGHTY! Try building a chapter master with his gear....3+ invul, relic blade and heavy flamer to boot. Digital weapons and Artificer armor....now look at the points for that. Yeah, He'Stan is about equal or CHEAPER, and brings one of the most blatantly overpowered army wide special rules in the game ATM. If you build a heavy melta/flamer/T-hammer army he is completely unfair for his points.

Pvt. Jet wrote:Librarians would be very friendly to you against Eldar. A psychic hood will screw with any of his plans, and anything with invulnerable saves will be sad. He could gate around with a tac squad and shoot stuff and mess with the eldar. That's barring you buy him something more useful like shooty terminators or Sternguard to gate around with.

Planing to gate around against an Eldar player sound like a really good idea to get raped by small nasty creatures from within the warp

MekanobSamael wrote:The libby is great, as long as he doesn't try psychic powers himself - RoW are killer against him.

Against footslogging eldar, you're basically guaranteed a win, so don't worry about it.

Against mechdar, you want meltaguns and lots of them.

Against ID, you want meltaguns for the tanks and flamers/assault for the massed infantry.

Either way, Vulkan is probably your best bet. Even without a single flamer or meltagun in your army, he's worth his points as a commander.

Have you played against Eldar? That is poor advice when facing Eldar.

I do like He'stan as a leader, but I have played Salamanders since about '98 so I am a little biased.

I also like the Shrike idea, I haven't played with that list yet but fleeting marines sounds good to me. And if you take Khan outflanking with a Land Raider filled with Termies sounds equally fun.

Shrike is pretty broken if you put him with assault terminators.

If you want to use a generic captain, give him a relic blade and hellfire rounds. Reasonably cheap @ 140 points. Since you are taking the captain, it opens the command squad, which is a great way to get 4 plasmaguns. Put them all in a razorback and you have a very shooty squad.

purplefood wrote:I hate the Cato Sicarius fluff so much it all makes him sound like a d**k

He is a dick read the new Ultramarines book Chapter's Due


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Sleepinismy9to5 wrote:I'm am still getting back into the game what would be the best way to set up a custom commander. I will mainly be playing against Eldar and IG. I have 3 Tac squads ( I thought they were the coolest when I was younger) and 2 dreads if you have any other ideas for army set up let me know? Thanks.

If your just getting back into the game and creating your own chapter use the fluff you create to decide what Captain works best or how you should kit out a custom character

MekanobSamael wrote:
Either way, Vulkan is probably your best bet. Even without a single flamer or meltagun in your army, he's worth his points as a commander.

As others have rebuted the other statments I will settle for this. Vulkan is absolutly not worth his pts if you dont have meltas and flamers in your army.

purplefood wrote:

PanzerLeader wrote:None of the above. Cato Sicarius + Rites of Battle for the win.

I hate the Cato Sicarius fluff so much it all makes him sound like a d**k

Well of corse he is a d k he is part of the Ultramarines, the one marine chapter that gets to much glory.

This is really a tough decision.
Special characters are rather expensive.
Moreover, if you take one, the army eventually looses the default combat doctrine.
I'd take a customized HQ for a customized chapter.
None of the special characters are a must have.

Don't be afraid of Special Characters, The right one can make your army.

That said ^

There are some charectors that you should stay away from.

Sicarus is really just an overglorified Captain that allows you to give a Special rule to a Tactical squad and reroll to see who goes first. He is ok for his cost, but unless you really plan on using the special abilities he has.

Calgar is really just a CC monster. He brings the option to have MOAR overpriced ineffective Honor Guard(I love the unit and what it can do, but they are way too expensive) the God of War special rule is meh.

Tigerius is too expensive for what he does(and it is impressive what he can do) No options makes him fragile and too easy to take down.

Tazz Azrael wrote:
The reason why i have the relic blade is from what i was told at my FLGS (and please correct me if im wrong) was that anything that fails a save and has more then 1 wound dies instantly, i maneged to kill 6 scarab bases in 1 turn

You're thinking of the Grey Knight Grand Master's Nemesis Force Weapon, which is kind of like a relic blade combined with a force weapon, but on crack. The reason why the scarabs died instantly was because they're T3, taking wounds from a S6 weapon.