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I have all the hq choices for ultramarines.(been playing for a decade now). with the new 6th edition I'm stumped on who to lead? Marneus is to expensive and Cato looks like my number 1

Named characters? It depends on the style of army you want. Khan gives you an outflanking bike army, Pedro gives you a shooty/stubborn/pseudo-counter-attack army. Vulkan for melta/TH spam, etc. For an overall good named character, I would argue Sicarius. He's flexible, rather decent in CC, and not too expensive (all imo).

Non-named characters? Go for a Captain. Cheap as possible, and serves the purpose of filling the HQ slot. Love Dreadnoughts? Master of the Forge. Nuf said.

I would love to go into more detail, but provided that you have no given detail yourself, I can't really help you, except tell you what you already know from a decade of playing.

Sicarius definitely got better, but I think the basic Librarian is still the best all-around utility and value.

Chaplain Cassius is also a great value if you want a good melee character.

Sicarius himself did not get better. Being AP3, I had him in combat with broadsides for 5 turns.

A librarian with telepathy. The default power allows you to reroll misses. Imagine 10 devastators or 10 sternguard with this. It is also cheap so you could afford 2.

DAaddict wrote:
A librarian with telepathy. The default power allows you to reroll misses. Imagine 10 devastators or 10 sternguard with this. It is also cheap so you could afford 2.

I think you might be thinking of divination, a thing that Ultras woefully do not have but all the other marines do (i guess being 100% badass and not being emo makes you unable to see the future)

 riverhawks32 wrote:
Sicarius himself did not get better. Being AP3, I had him in combat with broadsides for 5 turns.

so they broadsides weren't shooting for 5 turns...

But sicarius couldn't kill anything...Especially not the other suits that proceeded to kill half of my models...

I like Epistolary Lib Term with SS and Force Axe

generalchaos34 wrote:

DAaddict wrote:
A librarian with telepathy. The default power allows you to reroll misses. Imagine 10 devastators or 10 sternguard with this. It is also cheap so you could afford 2.

I think you might be thinking of divination, a thing that Ultras woefully do not have but all the other marines do (i guess being 100% badass and not being emo makes you unable to see the future)

Dagnabit that is what I was thinking of. Really, they don't let standard marines have divination? Way too bad. I mean why give the shooty marines the psychic ability that benefits shooting? <sarcastic disgust>

Null Zone still benefits shooting. And it doesn't target enemy units, so they have no defense.


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 riverhawks32 wrote:
Sicarius himself did not get better. Being AP3, I had him in combat with broadsides for 5 turns.

He got a lot better in comparison to Vulkan, who used to be the default go-to SM special character. Sicarius brings some good special rules, and doesn't take away your Combat Tactics, which is one of the best rules in the game now.

If you want a special character, either Sicarius, Tigurius, or Cassius. Sicarius is a massive beatstick, Tirgurius is a psyker, if over priced, and Cassius is dirt cheap for what is essentially a better Chaplain (even if you aren't insane about Chaplain he's quite hard with T6 and FNP, and only for 25 points more than a naked Chappy).

If you don't want a special character or don't care if you do or don't, and still want to be the boys in blue, your two good options are a Librarian or a Captain, depending on what you want. Librarians are a good all-rounder choice. Having access to BRB disciplines is a huge plus, they effectively come with a power weapon for free, and they can be kitted out however you like. The most popular configurations either seem to be naked (PA, Force Weapon, Bolt Pistol), or in Terminator Armour, which may or may not include more weaponry or a storm shield. For your captain, if you are taking one, you should be taking him on a bike to get access to Biker Troops. That is it. Most other roles a captain can play are played better by either a librarian or a similarly priced Special Character. If you take him on a bike, the common equipment loadouts are bike, artificer armour, optional auxilliary grenade launcher, and either a Relic Blade/TH + SS, or a Power Fist plus Lightning Claw.

If you don't mind a non-Ultramarine SC running your army, you get some of the better options. Pedro Kantor is extremely good with Sternguard (one of the better units in the codex), Vulkan makes all those meltaguns you take twice as accurate, and Lysander is a beatstick that can tank hits for a squad and cause them to rain down death with their bolter weapons (a new tactic now that Tactical Terminators are less worse when compared to TH/SS is to take a squad of tactical termies with Lysander to twin-link your stormbolters, then get stuck in)

Right now at my FLGS we play 2,500 and I'm 3-0 in 6th edition. Planet strike I use marneus. Did well. Kill points I used chapter master and chaplain w/JP and did real well. My last game used master of the forge on hammer and anvil I believe? Against daemons. Close but did well in the end. I usually play mech heavy with either 2 landraiders and terminators pushing up with support from 3 storm talons. My next game is going to be 5k points and we can bring 3 HQ. so I'm thinking marneus, Cato, and tigurius. With snipers and telion. Chronus in a landraider, 2 squads of termies . Standard troops. 3 talons, and have several points left to fill up with depending if the guy I play uses chaos or dark eldar

 Mannahnin wrote:
Sicarius brings some good special rules, and doesn't take away your Combat Tactics, which is one of the best rules in the game now.

This!

Special characters are no longer 'auto take' choices. Given the changes to rallying and ATSKNF, combat tactics is an awesome ability.
To answer the question, a libby Null Zone is still a rock solid choice.

These days, my Ultramarines spend most of their time being lead into battle by a bare-bones librarian. My other go-to HQ pick is a chaplain, with either a jump pack or TDA. Now that I've converted a Cassius mini, he will probably take over from the TDA chaplain.

I think most of the named HQs are overequiped and expensive. I've fielded Calgar, and he is powerful. He should be, he costs the same as a land raider or a kitted out Dev squad.

Converting a Lysander counts-as is on my things to do list. If you are willing to go outside the strict chapter character lists, he looks to be good value for points.

Well, if you run Assault Termies, then I'd opt for a Terminator Librarian w/ storm shield, nullzone, and whatnot.

 wuestenfux wrote:
Well, if you run Assault Termies, then I'd opt for a Terminator Librarian w/ storm shield, nullzone, and whatnot.

I've had mixed results with TDA librarians with the assault squads. I have consistently good results with chaplains. I like librarians as a support/generalist HQ, but if the goal is to get stuck in and maim things in CC, chaplains are where the action is.

YMMV of course. It doesn't help that my terminator librarian is kinda "meh" looking, while I really like the way my chaplains turned out.

My fav hq for my sm army is a chaplain in term armor then toss him in a god hammer lr and watch the enamy cringe when they assault

Master of the Forge with conversion beamer is 120 points. Place him in a corner and use him to shoot out S10 AP1 blasts.

Best HQ choise IMO.

Polecat wrote:
Master of the Forge with conversion beamer is 120 points. Place him in a corner and use him to shoot out S10 AP1 blasts.

Best HQ choise IMO.

You think the best HQ is something that is countered by simply walking toward him?

There should always be something 42" away, unless you are playing like 500 point games. In that case librarian might be better.

Polecat wrote:
There should always be something 42" away, unless you are playing like 500 point games.

Not really. Especially if the MoTF goes first. He relies on going second and facing an army that is both incredibly slow and not a long ranged army.

I wouldnt automatically dismiss Calgar. hes horribly expensive, especially in the armour of Anticolus, but hes a amazing beatstick, especially in 2500 point games, maybe 2000 point ones. Hes unstoppable in CC, has a pair of AP 2 storm bolters, his combat tactics is the shizz, he has a orbital bombardment, has EW, 4 wounds, and besides his pair of power fists, can decide to swing his power sword if he wants to swing at initiative. And he rerolls all fail to wounds.

He costs as much as a Landraider but he hits real hard.

Ah what power sword? Last I checked Calgar only has the Gaunlets of Untramar.

He has a power sword in his list entry. Check that shizz.

What CappyBen said, its in his warger and on the model.

I only use Master of the forge when im playing longways on the board. put him up on 3+ cover save tower then bolster defenses. plus at the base my tanks are pushing out. so its going to be a tough choice for them to choose to target my master of the forge. storm talons. snipers. or get stormed by termies. Last night i used marneus and cato and mowed chaos marines in 3,000 point game.

cruzazul wrote:
I have all the hq choices for ultramarines.(been playing for a decade now). with the new 6th edition I'm stumped on who to lead? Marneus is to expensive and Cato looks like my number 1

What sort of list do you like to run?

Lots of great answers already on this thread. Bike captain, as well as bike troops, now requires S10 for instand death, so gold for taking challenges.

While libby utility is amazing, i always struggle with the idea of a libby leading the push. Surebhe could have figured something out, but fluff wise i want the units captain there.

Sicarius is great. Lascannon combat squads w tank hunter and LD 10? Yes please.

Tigurius as who doesn't like a challenge.

Calgar is a nice fluffy choice, not the best but usable.
Cassius is wonderfully cheap.

Librarian in terminator armour is probably better than Cato.