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Okay, so I'm looking at these three captains I built and I'm wondering about the efficiency of them in their respective roles. Kinda backwards I know...

Relic Blade Captain, with plasma pistol and melta bombs. Pretty choppy, kinda pricey if you toss in AA

Storm shield Captain, with a combi plas. Pretty decent staying power, is the combi worth it?

Power Sword Captain with storm shield. Pretty humble, kind of a low points games only type leader.

What are some other ideas for a captain. Bikes obviously, but I don't want to do a whole pile of bikes unless it's a command squad.

TH/SS captain in Terminator armor.

Relic Blade and Pistol is decent with AA, but you don't lose much by downgrading either to power weapon or Bolt Pistol, or alternatively you could drop the pistol and buy the Burning Blade for just a few points more, which is an awesome weapon.

I'm not a fan of Shield and Combined if I'm honest, as while he can stay alive, he's contributing very little in CC and not much more in shooting after the Plasma shots. Ideally, you want to pair a Shield with a Specialist CC weapon, as you don't get the extra attack anyway and he will stick around and hit hard! Relic Blades, Thunder Hammers and Lightning Claws all pair well with a shield.

On the third one, I'd just upgrade the sword to a Burning/Relic Blade, throw on AA and you're good to go!

As for me, I prefer these loadouts:
Teeth of Terra, Armour Indomitus, Primarch's Wrath: dead expensive, but very snooty, very killly and for one turn, very very tough.

Thunder Hammer, Storm Shield: bit cheaper, can handle anything in CC and is tough to put down.

So you already built them and want to know how good they are?

Relic/PP +MB: Relic blades are jack-of-all, master of none weapons. They do OK, for their points, but lack the advantage of a focused build. Plasma pistols are overpriced, and in this build you don’t even get the benefit of the extra attack (as the relic blade is two handed). You might be better off calling the blade just a power sword, to save points, and get the bonus attack.

SS/c-plas: I could see this guy dropping in with some sternguard to tank wounds, or hanging with some grave cents for the same job. The lack of a CC weapon is really pissing away his combat stats. Not a fan overall. Counting the SS as the Shield Eternal relic would make him a pure bullet sponge.

Sword and Board: Low cost, low output. I might spring for calling the power sword a relic blade here. You aren’t giving up the pistol attack, so the points are not a bad investment for +2S. Of the three options you have here, I like this guy the best. He might not be min/max optimal, but I don’t feel like I’m wasting points or blowing potential.

I'm liking the idea of an Armor Indominatus captain with power axe and power maul. Super hard when needed and able to switch attacks to take advantage of initiative when needed.

I think your best one would be the Power Sword/Storm Shield. Make that power sword a Burning Blade though. BOOOM!

I know I'm doing it backwards, but I just like to build cool models. The combi plas is a homemade job so I feel like I ought to use it somewhere...

More to the point though, I could call the relic blade guy a burning blade, and up the power sword to a relic blade. That would make more sense bits wise and play wise too. is the BB a spec weapon? No book handy.

I already have a chapter master who rocks the big shield eternal, so I'm looking to my captains to be a bit more mundane. I do plan on building a termie captain as well, but that's a later project. Gotta get the bits for that!

I actually could swap the power sword for a t hammer, and maybe swap the plas out for claws? I mean, if I want to run a really bare bones captain I can just "promote" an honour guard model.