Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

Hey,

coming from WHFB I'm usually used to people banning special characters, but they're generally accepted in 40k -- which is cool...

but I feel like I never see lists that use a vanilla capatain or librarian -- they almost always opt for the Special characters...


Are they that much better kitted and priced that it's rarely worth it to byo?

The HQ's in most armies, especially Space marines, are usually used as the foundation of the army. A cheap librarian is acceptable in low points games since you don't want to waste your points, but other than that they just offer options too good to pass up. Khan gives bikes scout to the addition of their hit and run from white scars (then you make your army bike spam), Vulkan gives all melta weapons master crafted to salamaders already standing flamer rule (then you make your army melta and flamer spam), shrike can infiltrate good melee units, Lysander is just an epic badass in termi armor with a Str 10 AP1 master crafted thunderhammer, Kantor gives you scoring sternguard (spam em in pods with melta), and thats just the big HQ characters.

So once a person picks the type of army they want (pods, bikes, melta, massed infantry, etc), they should then look at the special characters and their chapter tactics, then pick the specific units to take advantage of the special rules of the character.

The few caveats to this rule are chapter master/captain on bike (smashface), termi librarian, cheap librarian, and there are a few uses for a MOTF (conversion beamer on bike, etc).

Generally seconding what Ryan_A said. You want your HQ to match what the rest of your army is doing, or just be smashy enough to be useful in a variety of situations. Generic SM Captains in the previous SM Codex couldn't get Eternal Warrior, and in this codex they're generally outclassed by the Chapter Master -- the extra attack and wound are much better when you're throwing down against MCs with a Thunder Hammer.

Chapter Master Smashface, for reference, is a Chapter Master on a Bike, with a Power Fist/Thunder Hammer, The Shield Eternal, and Artificer Armor. He may be from Iron Hands, in which case the Shield will be an equivalent EW-granting gear from the Clan Raukaan supplement that I can't remember the name of.

 Thariinye wrote:
Clan Raukaan supplement that I can't remember the name of.

I probably got you confused by calling him "Smashface". The original is "Smashbane" and the clan Raukaan is "SmashF***er". I just typed smashface to bridge the gap

edited to add: http://1d4chan.org/wiki/Chapter_Master_Smashfucker

It’s a difference between force adders, and force multipliers. The generic captains are OK beatsticks. They add +K killing power to your army. Many of the special characters have army wide rules, that makes everyone better. They add K +(k x N) killing power to your list, where they have the amount of damage they can personally do (often quite good) plus the amount of carnage they help the rest of the army do. They are obviously going to shine in larger games, where there are more things for them to boost, as well as armies tailored to their playstyle.

The bike captain is the only one that comes with an army wide boost (making bikes troops). Librarians can buff anyone they can reach with their powers, but generally one or two at a time. Chaplains buff the squad they are in. MotF can buff a ruins.

Another thing the named characters have going for them is combos. Often you can get some very strong builds by combining special rules from multiple sources. We don’t have a huge amount of that in our codex, but sometimes it does show up.