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Hi All,

I'm interested in building a semi competitive Clan Raukaan Captain/Chapter Master who is a bit less rapey than the typical build-you all know the one I'm talking about. Don't get me wrong, it's a great build, and I would always swing towards fielding it in competition, but I want something a bit fluffier and less friendship destroying to use for casual pickup games.

Naturally, I still want it to be capable of doing some damage

At the moment I'm leaning towards Relic blade, betrayers bane, Gorgons chain, and running on foot (which will then either be dropped in with a squad or transported in a tank-I've got a Rhino, Razorback and LR ready to carry him in). Thoughts? I know a power fist would be similar points, but it might be nice to use the high initiative for once.

Also, had the thought earlier than Betrayers bane on a bike HQ might be nice for high speed tank busting, if anyone is looking for a new HQ...

skolirvarden wrote:
Hi All,

I'm interested in building a semi competitive Clan Raukaan Captain/Chapter Master who is a bit less rapey than the typical build-you all know the one I'm talking about. Don't get me wrong, it's a great build, and I would always swing towards fielding it in competition, but I want something a bit fluffier and less friendship destroying to use for casual pickup games.

Naturally, I still want it to be capable of doing some damage

At the moment I'm leaning towards Relic blade, betrayers bane, Gorgons chain, and running on foot (which will then either be dropped in with a squad or transported in a tank-I've got a Rhino, Razorback and LR ready to carry him in). Thoughts? I know a power fist would be similar points, but it might be nice to use the high initiative for once.

Also, had the thought earlier than Betrayers bane on a bike HQ might be nice for high speed tank busting, if anyone is looking for a new HQ...

The reason Captain Face-smasher exists is because of the character build checklist.

1. Does he swing at AP2 or better? Needed for fighting characters in 2+ armor.
2. Does he have a 2+ save? Needed to stop from being swarmed to death by trash.
3. Does he have a solid invul, 4++ or better? Needed to stand up to AP2 in a duel.
4. Does he have a decent amount of attacks (4+)? Needed to win the fight and/or clear out trash.
5. Does he have a method of hurting vehicles/monstrous creatures reliably? Needed for those really unlucky demon prince/wraithknight/dreadnought character duels.
6. Eternal warrior? Needed for surviving that powerfist/smash to the face that misses the invul save.
7. Does he have a solid way of GETTING to melee? Need to, you know, actually do stuff. Bike is a solid method for several reasons outlined below, but Jump pack and LR/Drop pod should be okay.
8. Does he bring more to the army than just punching stuff in the face? Needed to not be just a missile you point at the enemy and fire off. Generally the smash face melee units are pointless in a shooting heavy game unless they are severely undercosted or bring other toys.

You CAN do the relic blade foot captain....but he's vulnerable to being left in the dust after deploying or an immob'ed or destroyed transport, and will be wrecked by anyone in a 2+ save. Leaving holes in the build gives the opponent an easy way to paper-rock-scissor style counter it for minimal losses/effort.

As for the bike being so great....It's honestly his BEST piece of gear. Not for the speed...as a Jump pack is almost as good. Not for the toughness, which is nice, but not a game changer and certainly not for the twin-linked bolters....lol. The reason the BIKE is so good is because you no longer have to take bloody tactical marines. Honestly, most people would pay a 200 point tax just for that. The fact he still smashes faces is just pure gravy.

Overall, if you want to avoid the Captain Face-smasher stigma all you really have to do is drop the bike. No one will care what he has after that, as he's not exactly stunning with any other loadout. I mean, 5 TH/SS terminator will bury him in both damage output and staying power, and cost about the same, it's the bikes as troops that make him a "filthy power-gamer's tool".

I run my Iron Father without the bike and do just fine. My build is:

Chapter Master
Gorgon's Chain
Thunder Hammer
Combi Melta (if I have points to spare)

And that's it. You've got your 2+, 3++ with EW and FNP. He'll take almost any punishment that comes his way, then smack back at I1. Competitive? Not sure--I don't do tournaments. But he's died only once in 15 games, and he's killed literally half a dozen hive tyrants, another half a dozen chaos lords / daemon princes, a GK librarian, even the swarmlord.

Really it's just a matter of picking your targets carefully, softening those targets up appropriately, and making sure your CM doesn't go in unsupported when the time comes to get stuck in.