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I have played a few games with Dante and can certainly see his usefulness, but not sure if he is worth the 225 pts. I am curious as to what BA special characters other players use and why they use them. I see lists with Mephiston, Lemartes, etc...what are the favorites? Thanks for the comments.

Some one at my store uses the sanguinor to great effect. He buffs everyone around him with the extra attacks and he doesn't draw as much fire as mephiston would. I'm not saying the sanguinor is amazing or the best, but he is good both in combat (he has to be supported of course) and through his attack buff. Just watch out for dreads since they can tie the sanguinor up for a long time.

Lemartes' usefulness, as I understand it, is limited by his JP. Of the people that run DC in their army, most seem to run them in a rhino/razorback (which means no JP's). If you attach Lemartes to the squad, the only way you could avoid being kited around by rage is to put them in a stormraven (another model people have mixed feelings about). He's powerful, but the drawbacks to taking him can be a little cumbersome.

I've used the Sanguinor a number of times, after receiving him unexpectedly at Christmas. The bonus attacks thing is cool, as is buffing one of your sergeants. He pretty much plows through basic troop units, too. The downside is that he can't join squads, so you have to be very careful with how you position and move him around the battlefield because there are no ablative wounds traveling with him. As aforementioned, he can also get tied up fairly easily. I can see few, if any, reasons to deep strike him close to an enemy unit, since he has no shooting attack and would be in a vulnerable position during the opposition's turn.

I got a great deal on a Tycho blister, so I might try him out this week if I get his model done, and can report back afterwards with how he goes. I've been interested in Astorath, since he doesn't seem to be a very common choice but is a fairly powerful unit.

The most popular SC, hands down, is Mephiston. Just watch out for plasmas, meltas, etc if you use him, because they turn him into a glass cannon. I haven't played with him, but he seems like the Sanguinor in that regard: careful positioning and movement to keep him out of fire until he can get his hands on some juicy targets to chop apart. Oh, and prepare for lots of complaints of

I'm liking Astrorath for the increase army wide of succumbing to rage.

Dante, as you say, is useful. In order to justify his points, you need to take maximum advantage of all his rules, however. That usually means taking a squad of Sanguinary Guard, and putting him with a squad than can benefit from not scattering. I personally put him with a Sanguinary Guard unit with at least one Infernus pistol. It's easy to land him 3 inches away for two melta shots. Putting him with Sanguinary guard is also a smart move because if he's in the squad, they don;t have to pay for death masks, since he has one.

I think all that can be said about Mephiston and the Sanguinor has already been said.

Astorath probably isn't the most useful IC. He's rather good in close combat, but some of his other special abilities aren't the greatest. More units of Death Company, outside of a themed list, is useless. People rarely take more than 10 anyway, because of their expense. Red Thirst on a 1-3 is arguably pretty good. Some players don;t like fearless, because of No Retreat! wounds and the tar pitting effect it can have on your own guys. Also, some players play it that this special rule affects both friendly and enemy Blood Angels units. Not much fun buffing your opponent.

Tycho, I think would be most useful attatched to a Sternguard squad, since he can add another Combi-melta/special ammo shot. Death Company Tycho is useless. He's not an Independent Character, and can get doubled out by a meltagun. He'd be pretty sweet if you could add him to a Death Co, but no dice there.

Seth can add some punch to a CC unit, but can't wear a jump pack, which most of the better CC units in the book have. Also, a Reclusiarch will usually be a better choice.

Brother Corbulo is mostly good for his ability to re-roll a single die in the game, but then again, I can't think of many times when a game was definably won or lost because of a single dice roll.

Also, some players play it that this special rule affects both friendly and enemy Blood Angels units.

Anyone not doing that with Astorath is not following their codex.

WARNING!
fething mahusive wall 'o text!






Ive played BA for quite a while now (long, long before the new book)
But ive noticed huge changes in characters over time. (plus the addition of new ones)
While ive tried to adapt and include as many as possible to try them out, some are pretty poor.


Lem - As stated, his jump pack really does limit any use he has.
If he cost the same but didnt have it, i would take him without fail.
However, to take him you need to either sink points into a raven (ill get to that later) or jump packs, which IMO, are a huge waste of points.
For that reason alone, he stays at home all of the time. (i have actually converted him into a normal chappy now)





Tycho - Allways loved taking him, even when he wasnt amazing.
However now, he does have some use.
His low points cost really does help too (low ish for BA anyway)
Rites of battle alone is very nice, boosting all units LD to 10 for morale and pinning.
Dead mans hand is great too, allowing you to smash apart lighter vehicles and heavy infantry with ease.
The inv. save + normal 2+ is allways nice, no eternal warrior though.

Quick note: Dont take him as DC tycho though.
You gain some amazing rules, but you lose IC, so he is in essence a very poor dante/sang.





Astorath - Again, nice saves, but no EW, meaning a stray las can drop him if your not careful.
His axe is pretty cool. (S6 power wep, re-roll passed inv. saves) Meaning he can be used for hunting characters.

Litergies is pretty nice, however, he has a jump pack, so the added bonus that the DC get are too points heavy to make it worth while.

Shadow is epic.
Furious charge and fearless on a 1-3, rather than just a 1.
This rule alone makes him great in an assault heavy list.

Honour of the chapter again is a nice rule.
However, you have to taylor a list to him, which could result in having no scoring units (DC cant score)
so to win, you will have to table the other player.

I have used this rule for a 100% DC list, and i love it!
However, its not competative by a long shot.
you tend to either table someone in the 1st few turns, or get shot to pieces very quickly since you have a small elite army.

Never the less, in an assault army i would take him quite often.





Mephiston - He has caused alot of rage with players since his rules were released lol.
He is a pure combat monster that is capable of hunting down and killing MC's with ease (unless they have EW, then it takes a bit longer)

His high stats mixed with his powers means he can be very mobile and hard hitting, but in a competative enviroment, expect people to have a counter in place for powers, so he will have to work harder.

He has a 2+, but it ends there.
No inv or eternal, so every las, plas, melt, power wep etc will be aimed at him, and if your not careful, he will die very quickly.

To make him work, your best off shielding him with a pred or a raider (Rhino is nice, but gets popped far too quickly)
however, that means spending more points and limiting the mobility of said vehicle simply to make meph hit home.

Like the DC army, he will either smash through everything in his way, or get torn apart very quickly.

TBH, i wont comment on his cempetative natuer, since he is very on the edge with it.
However, i like taking him now and again, but thats simply because ive allways taken him in an army.






Dante - A chapter master that is missing EW? not good.
He does have a 2+ and an inv though, and unlike a few others, he can join a unit, so that helps to no end.

Death mask is a quirk, and nothing more.
Nice for annoying someone, but not enough to really change a game.

Axe is poor.
You would think such a prestigious (sp?) character would have a beast of a weapon.
Alas, someone must have stolen it, since all i see is a Master.C power wep.

Precision is great.
Drop him and his unit right where they are needed. (him and a unit with infernus pisols for raiders is nice)
So this rule really does boost him as it removes the biggest downfall to all DS models/units.

Surgical strike is great again.
Another rule that helps out to no end.
The ability to withdraw from a fight means it will stop you getting pinned into combat.

Master of the host is pretty poor.
Sang guard are nice, but cost wise they dont make a good list.
Just too few of them to be of any use.





Sanguinator - Eternal warrior, 2+ / 3++
This alone is an amazing start.

Angel is like the mask that dante has, except its no only against IC's (it applies to HQ units)
So thats nice.

Blessing again is a quirk.
A pretty nice one, but nothing ground breaking.

Will (see the 1st bit about him)

Aura is nasty.
throw a unit of sang guard near him (since they cant join him) and give them a chapter banner.
This alone will double a sanguinary guards attacks to a healthy 4.
This will also provide a nice unit to keep around him since he wont win large combats alone. (you want to be smahing into a unit and through it in the 1st turn of combat)

All in all, he is great.
No IC rule is the only downfall, but unlike meph, a stray las shot wont kill him.
I take him in most games, but when i dont take him, ill take meph. (rare)






Seth - Very underrated IMO.
Low points cost, 3+/4++ (so not the best) and no EW.
However, he doesent draw fire and can join units.
So this alone helps him to last longer than he should.

Raver is great.
A S8 weapon with rending and hits at I5.
I like it anyway

Whirlwind is nice if your against elite combat units, since you know you will get 2-3 hits every round (make sure you place him in B2B contact with a few models if possible)

Instincts is amusing, but it ends there really.
Has its funny moments (like watching a LoC being killed by it) again though, its no ground breaker.

Ill take him as a secondary special character, but its only due to low points and some of his special rules.
Not competative though.








All in all, i would try to avoid taking 2 special characters since they really do eat into points.
I would take 1, then a libby with shield as backup.
Failing that, a reccy with infernus is nice if you have DC in your army.

If you do take 2 special characters, ignore taking dante and astorath as they both really need you to shape your army.
they may seem nice together, but the points alone are bad.
The guard and DC mix is nasty, but also very points heavy and lacks any shooting.




Hope that helps to some degree


Automatically Appended Next Post:

Anyone not doing that with Astorath is not following their codex.

Shadow does indeed work on both friendly and enemy units.
So you could end up boosting the other player.

I saw one game where the player taking astorath did not get any black rage and his BA opponent got it on all his units.

bagtagger, thats a problem that may happen, and will do in alot of tournies if you take him.
Keep in mind though that it works both ways.

So if i did enter a tournie i'd be taking sanguinator and a libby.
If i play an army with astorath i simply get a bigger boost for free.

I have a soft spot for Lemartes. Sure, the delivery is kind of hard, but once you get him started, he's an absolute monster.

Faf, the main problem though mate is the fact he needs to lose a wound to really make him cause alot of damage.
So you need to play a tactical game of "bouncing wounds" first.

you then need to play an even harder game of "hiding from wounds" to keep him going.


I do agree though, he is a great character.
Im just pissed that packs are so insane on points for DC :(

Well, my army is built around jump packs anyway, so it's not a huge loss for me. It's fluffy for my army (who mainly fight in a large city where jump packs are useful for maneuvering) and I like the look of it.

From a gameplay standpoint, they are overcosted, but they do have their advantages. If they cut the cost of jump packs by even 5 points each, they'd be a lot better.

I prefer Mephiston and love his play style as I use him as a scary diversion from everything else I'm doing. I play a very vehicle heavy list and Mephiston is the only fleshy part on the field and he draws fire and still gets to the enemy to make his points back while the troops in transports come in behind to mop up. I started with Nids and this is the same thing my Carnafex does, draw fire and survive.

The only character I run is Dante. Some say he is not worth the points, but if used correctly he can be devastating.

I run him with a unit that consists of an Honour Guard (3xMelta,2xSS) for 235 points and a JP Epistolary(Typically with Sanguine Sword/Unleash Rage). Dante allows this squad to land wherever they want and deal a swift melta death to their target. In my opponents turn the SS HG are used to take any high strength low ap shots that come their way.

In CC the Epistolary is great for putting monstrous creatures down. Hit and Run works amazingly here along with Furious Charge given by the Novitiate.

I've always been a big fan of Dante. Stick him in a full size RAS with an attached Sanguinary Priest and watch them obliterate targets. Personally I've found his ability to make one enemy IC weaker to be outstanding. Particularly when you can send Astorath or Mephiston after that character. And his granting the entire unit Hit and Run is a bucket of laughs if the enemy gets the charge in against you. You break away and then charge right back in and let the enemy take the Death Mask test. Very little as amusing as a bunch WS1 guys trying to fight off Assault Marines who are under the influence of Furious Charge.

At first I avoided Astorath since I think the GW fig is too "Gary Oldman as Dracula" for my taste. But once I made my own conversion, I found him to be excellent. It's expensive but when he has an Epistolary (Preferred Enemy and +1d3A) boosting his combat...

Corbulo is great because he gives you a dangerous character that doesn't take up an HQ slot or even restrict other options. And his once per game re-roll is magic when you need something 110% dead. Getting to re-roll the damage table with a Melta hit almost guarantees a dead tank. Or re-rolling the reserve roll for a Storm Raven, and so on.

I've not used any of the other characters, but have been on the receiving end of Mephiston a couple of times. I found that if you treat him like a Dreadnought you'll come out alright (ie. you better have a Power Fist or three nearby).