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Hi all,

I am currently working on a small Space Marine force I can either field by itself in small-point games, or use as allies for my Imperial Guard force.

The general theme I'm going for is 'armoured' and 'tactically flexible'. Therefore, my tactical squads are equipped with plasma gun and auto-cannon, and I aim to give everyone a rhino to ride in.

What I was wondering is, how does one equip a Captain to be 'tactically flexible'? That is, I would like a Captain that is decent enough in ranged combat to help hold the line if needed, but also able to aggressively storm objectives and hold his own in close combat.


To achieve this, I was thinking of equipping him with:
- Artificer armour
- Relic blade
- Plasma Gun

Overall, this should work out at 145pts, and gives the Captain a little bit of a punch to use in ranged combat when he's holding the line or riding in the rhino, but still leaves him with some close combat ability. However, I'm not entirely sure if this is the best loadout to achieve both roles. Would a chapter relic, thunder hammer, or stormbolter be better suited?

I would appreciate any feedback the community has as to a flexible loadout for my Captain.



Thanks,

40k Pirate

You cannot give Space Marines any Autocannons (those are only found on Dreadnoughts and Predators in SM lists). A Missile Launcher is flexible, but won't be able to instantly kill any vehicle (unless it's Open-topped). If they are going to be riding around in Rhino's all day, consider not giving them any Heavy weapon at all (Combi-weapons on sergeants can up the firepower of the unit whilst remaining mobile).

Equally, you cannot give a Captain a Plasma Gun, the closest you could get is a Combi-Plasma (or the ranged Relic weapon - Primarch's Wrath) for shooty-goodness. If you choose to take a non-pistol ranged weapon, consider a Specialist melee weapon (such as a Lightning Claw) since you won't benefit from the bonus attack for pistol+CCW anyways.

What Quanar said.

A captain is not really a shooty character. I equip mine in 500-1000 pt games with Artificer Armour, Storm Shield, Teeth of Terra, Melta Bombs and most of the time with a jump pack. Combined with CT:IH, he is able to pick and harass the units he can butcher single-handedly. And also has a good chance to pop vehicles.

Quanar wrote:You cannot give Space Marines any Autocannons........

Quanar wrote:.......you cannot give a Captain a Plasma Gun........

Wow, I should really read my codex a little more closely. Thanks for pointing this out.


I'm aware that trying to be effective in both ranged and melee means that my Captain won't really specialize in either, however, would you say that I lose much more than I gain this way?
From your experience, would a Captain with 'Primarch's Wrath' and a relic blade be significantly worse than a Captain that specialized in close combat? (On a side-note, is it legal to have both a two-handed melee weapon and a two-handed gun, assuming you don't use them at the same time?)

Primarch's Wrath is a salvo weapon if I recall correctly. So he would need either TDA or a bike to work best.

Yes, there is no limitation to two-handed weapons.

It is perfectly legal to have a 2-handed gun and a 2-handed melee weapon - guns don't even have the Two Handed special rule, so they make no difference to your combat ability. It is simply assumed that the other weapon is stowed out-of-the-way when not in use (harnesses, straps, scabbards, mag-locked etc.).

On the Autocannon front, Forgeworld do produce marine-portable Autocannons but those are for use in the Horus Heresy ruleset (Chaos SM also have access to them).

Giving the Captain a ranged weapon only loses out on a single attack in melee (due to not having a pistol), so if he's going to be hanging around with a Tactical squad and hopping out of a Rhino (i.e. not an Assault Vehicle), then the Wrath or a Combi- will suit well (you won't get the full effect of a Salvo weapon when you disembark or move). It very much depends on what you will be using him for.

Thanks for the advice.

You guys have given me some good food for thought. I do like the idea of using terminator armour or a bike to maximise the effectiveness of 'Primarch's Wrath'.

I guess in the end, as Quanar says, I'll have to look more closely at the role I want my Captain to play in order to make the best use of his loadout.


Thanks again,

40k Pirate