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What do you think of jump pack captains? (specifically for Blood Angels, if you know anything in particular)

For BA? They fall short courtesy of not being Librarians, Sanguinary Priests, or Chaplains (imo).

Good point.

BA captains are better than they were thanks to having access to artificer armour.

With a jump pack he and no access to Eternal Warrior >S7 will double him out, obviously you can put him on a bike to make it so he only has to worry about S10 and instant death weapons but he's no smashfether.

One good option might be to run him with Dante and a jump priest in a squad of sang guard, give him a storm shield and hammer, and have him LoS any <S8 ap2 shots off Dante and risk anything greater than S7 on Dante's 4++.

Librarians are good but serve a totally different purpose, and their lack of a decent invul without going TDA with storm shield hurts. If you want Librarians you really need to run Meth and a lvl 2 minimum, Chappies are okay, they only really buff 1 unit and have a 3+/4++, I think I'd rather take a Jump Captain.

In short, they're a viable choice with the correct support, I'm finding the composition of my BA lists are heavily influenced by the HQs I take.

D

Edit: Spelling/punctuation.

I like the jump pack captain, but you have to commit a little bit to make him worthwhile. (Yes - bikes are better. Moving on...)

I'm starting a small allied space marine force with a jump captain, a tac squad, and a unit of assault marines. I give the captain artificer armor and the burning blade. He's a little expensive and kind of fragile, but he's very killy. Depending on the situation, you can run him in a big 10 man squad of assault marines, or combat squad. After one combat squad has taken all the shots it can handle, have him join the other unit which was hopefully ignored because of the scary guy with the flaming piece of metal.

Depending on how things are going, you can also have him leave his unit and charge something solo while his buddies charge a second target.

I think he's a nice mid-level threat for not that big of an investment - and his AP2 melee weapon that swings at initiative is nice since that's something GK lack outside of the dreadknight.

I run a SM JP Captain with ToT in almost every game.
I jump him at fragile high cost units or units blocking mission objectives.
He can be a nice surprise for your enemy with +D3 extra attacks and S6.

Belac Ynnead wrote:
I like the jump pack captain, but you have to commit a little bit to make him worthwhile. (Yes - bikes are better. Moving on...)

I'm starting a small allied space marine force with a jump captain, a tac squad, and a unit of assault marines. I give the captain artificer armor and the burning blade. He's a little expensive and kind of fragile, but he's very killy. Depending on the situation, you can run him in a big 10 man squad of assault marines, or combat squad. After one combat squad has taken all the shots it can handle, have him join the other unit which was hopefully ignored because of the scary guy with the flaming piece of metal.

Depending on how things are going, you can also have him leave his unit and charge something solo while his buddies charge a second target.

I think he's a nice mid-level threat for not that big of an investment - and his AP2 melee weapon that swings at initiative is nice since that's something GK lack outside of the dreadknight.

What Chapter Tactics were you considering for them?

I have run a jump captain for quite a while.

I tended to run him - Artificer, Relic Blade and melta bomb in a squad of 10 assault marines with a power weapon vet sgt and a flamer.

It was hit or miss. If I could move them well and keep them covered they could jump in and get 11 hammer of wrath hits followed by 5 attacks with the capt at S6 AP3, 4 from the sgt at S4 AP 3 and then a mass of 26 regular S4 combat attacks from the rest of the guys.

The Vet sgt is a good upgrade as he can fight a challenge for you allowing the captain to shred the unit and stay alive a little longer, some might even put a combat shield on him just for that extra chance of survival at 5+.

Problem is I then for a point saving measure started running a Jump Chaplain instead with the same squad, immediately he is softer as no access to artificer and one less wound but he still has a 4++

With him you are getting -

11 Hammer of wrath, 4 S6 AP4 hits with concussive, 4 from the sgt S4 AP3 and then the 26 massed regular attacks, but you can reroll every miss that first round of combat thanks to the Chaplains special rules. I found I lost warlord a little more with him but the unit as a whole killed so much more every single time.

Saying all that, I now use a bike captain, standard Relic Blade, Stormshield, Artificer build in a bike squad with 2 gravs, a sgt with a grav pistol (sometimes a powerweapon) and an attack bike.

Firing off a possible 8 grav shots, 3 heavy bolter shots, 3 twin linked bolter shots after moving 12'' and then still being able to charge.....

Theres a reason everyone rates bikes for marines!

He has actually become my go to 2nd hq, with my first being a priest. Artificer armor is a must, but for weapons you have a bit of leeway. Valours edge is awesome, and clocks him in at 145 points for a dude whos ws6 init6 with 5 str5 ap2 attacks on the charge.

The other way is more expensive, but still good. Relic blade+storm shield, and maybe the extra warlord trait relic.

They're BA's best choice for a non-unique character beatstick - Captains have very good combat stats, and can usually kill back their points. But librarians, chaplains and sanguinary priests have much more synergy with many of your elite units, and are ultimately a better buy. If you're looking for a jump pack beatstick, Astorath and Dante will give you all the combat prowess of a captain plus extra buffs.

For vanilla marines, bike and jump captains are awesome. They don't have the elite assault units that BA have, so the chaplain is a so-so choice. They don't have access to divination or sanguinary powers, so their librarians aren't as good at buffing. They don't have access to Sangunary Priests or many unique characters with jump packs or bikes. And their CT's give their IC's a boost... all which makes jump/bike captains a good choice for vanilla marines.