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In Battlescribe it is possible to create a terminator captain as follows:

1. Captain = 90 pts
2. Terminator Armor = 30 pts
3. Cataphractii Armor = 0 pts
5. Shield Eternal = 50 pts

And thus we have a unit which has 3 wounds, a 2+/3++ with rerolls to 1s on invuln saves. So, the odds of getting a wound passed this guy's invuln saves would be 22%, barely better than 1/6, for only 170 points.

Additionally, the Shield Eternal grants Eternal Warrior and Adamantium Will. Of course for tanking purposes i'm mainly interested in eternal warrior.

Mathematically if you land 12 hits on this target, assuming these are all AP2 or better, you have roughly a 50% chance to kill it. Freaking insane.

Is this legal?

In the Angels of Death Supplement they have a datasheet specifically for this unit. I'll post a summary here:

HQ option. 120 base. Has Terminator Armor, storm bolter, power sward and iron halo. Special rules Know no fear, chapter tactics and ID character. Can take options from termi and special issue and chapter relics. May replace termie armor with Cataphractii at no extra cost.

Make him Iron hands if you want to be a raging jerk to get aoms sweet feel no pain rolls.

Yup. He’s pretty tough.

He’s also slow, and being in CTDA, can’t fit into rhinos/razors, and takes up 2 seats in the things he can fit into.

He also can’t be upgraded to a CM (And the CTDA captain is his own entry) And is still T4.

He does let you pull some S&P tricks, which is nice.

But if you have a spot for him in your list, he’s a pretty tough nut to crack.

Yeah it's legal.

He's pretty tough, but than there are way worse things out there (Iron Hands.....)

this has been a thing for awhile

the common build is

ultramarines

captain w/cataphractii + storm shield for 125

devs with drop pod and 4 gravs for 245

370 points gets your 20 shots with doctrine rerolls, grav amps, and pseudo relentless

Do not forget if you abuse RAW you can put him on a bike.

Use the gorgan's chain for the same effect at +1fnp and another weapon slot. Ally in Grey knights with captain stern to guarantee sanctuary. Put your captain in a unit with stern and five grav cannons. You now have a 2+/2++ (rr) unit with 5+ FNP that moves and fires 20 grav shots a turn.

You can't take a bike though because Cati armor follows the same restrictions as normal terminator armor

 MattKing wrote:
You can't take a bike though because Cati armor follows the same restrictions as normal terminator armor

If you want to push RAW to the breaking point, there is a case to be made.

CTDA counts as normal TDA for the following:

Embarking in transport vehicles
Use of teleport homers
Formation restrictions.

At no point does it mention wargear restrictions.

If you, and your friends, play 100% RAW, go for it. But there are a lot of things that fall apart at 100% RAW. The game is just not that well written. And don’t try to bring it to a tournament without checking with the TO. And if you bring it to a casual game, don’t expect your opponent to cut you any slack on rules arguments. Because it’s pretty clear what RAI is here.

Bad logic with that. You have to purchase the TDA first before converting to Cataphractii for free. Purchasing the TDA puts you past the Bike option.

SJ

Yeah, my most recent game where someone wanted me to "bring the heat" on them:
I ran a white scars battle company gladius where both dev squads had 3 grav cannons in a pod, one being escorted by the stock calth cata-captain (combi-melta chainfist) with hunter's eye while the other cata-captain had auspex, hammer and shield eternal (and of course, being tankier, was the warlord.)

So yes it is both possible and pretty good if you synergize up the s&p with something.

(And before anyone wastes their time posting, yes I had the mandatory chaplain, one captain came from the command detachment.)

 jeffersonian000 wrote:
Bad logic with that. You have to purchase the TDA first before converting to Cataphractii for free. Purchasing the TDA puts you past the Bike option.

SJ

I don’t care enough to play Devil’s advocate on this. I’ve seen weaker arguments win on rules interpretations. I think it’s pretty clear how it should be played.

Which is, for the record, just like normal TDA with all the restrictions (aka no bikes).

But I’ve gamed with some fairly limber rules lawyers over the years, so can see their arguments.

 Nevelon wrote:

 jeffersonian000 wrote:
Bad logic with that. You have to purchase the TDA first before converting to Cataphractii for free. Purchasing the TDA puts you past the Bike option.

SJ

I don’t care enough to play Devil’s advocate on this. I’ve seen weaker arguments win on rules interpretations. I think it’s pretty clear how it should be played.

Which is, for the record, just like normal TDA with all the restrictions (aka no bikes).

But I’ve gamed with some fairly limber rules lawyers over the years, so can see their arguments.

Just to be clear:

Terminator Captain
A Terminator Captain can be included in any Space Marines Detachment or Formation that lists ‘Captain’ as part of its composition, subject to the Formation Restrictions. The Terminator Captain replaces the Captain listed in the composition. For example, a Terminator Captain could be included in the Strike Force Ultra Formation in Codex: Space Marines.

Excerpt From: Workshop, Games. “Angels of Death (Enhanced Edition).” v1.1. Games Workshop, 2016. iBooks.

You replace any "Captain" with a "Terminator Captian". Terminator Captians do not have the option to purchase bikes or jump packs or artificer armor. They come stock with TDA, and can swap to CTA for free. Anyone that thinks they can rules lawyer their CTA Captain into having a bike is simply cheating as there is no route to such a combo.

SJ

Honestly I feel dirty doing this.

I don't like the Angels of Death supplement at all.

Ultimately I decided in my group, doing this would make me TFG and went with a Librarian in Terminator armor to proxy as Tigurius as my HQ.