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Hey, this came up at the weekend and I can't see an answer that is satisfying enough for me.

Is Marbo a special character that can be challanged or is he just a 1 man unit?

We asked the TO and he wasn't sure and came down on the side of no but I'm not convinced as special characters have the ability to generate warlord traits without being IC's or their FAQ naming them as such. Warlords must be characters Bjorn got corrected to be a character. Mephiston for example is a character but not an IC.

Is Marbo a character?

Yes he is a Character. The character section should clarify this.
But no he may not be the Warlord, as he is not an HQ choice.

Oh I know he isn't HQ but I was trying to argue by example.
Units that weren't designated character due to being vehicles or lacking IC rule were characters.

Marbo is not listed in the 40k main rulebook as being a character or otherwise. Neither is he in the FAQ.

 jadedknight wrote:
Marbo is not listed in the 40k main rulebook as being a character or otherwise. Neither is he in the FAQ.

Neither are any other named character (apart from Bjorn).

But we do have:
Q: Do models classified as unique count as characters? (p63)
A: Yes, but not in the case of vehicles (with the exception of Bjorn the Fell-handed).

But he does have a name.

P. 110 "these unique individuals, who stand out from normal characters because they have a personal name and not just a title, are called 'special characters'"

All named individuals are Special Characters.

Therefore Marbo is a character.

Well that could have pushed that minor into a major victory. Needed to challange marbo and not kill him so the assault would continue into the opponents turn.

Ah! Marbo would have wiped the floor with your weakling character and won the day !

Guess it happened close to my gaming table as I heard the discussion and the furious flipping of pages last week end

Marbo has 5 attacks that wound on a 2+, you would have lost that challenge . #shadowofthemarbo

 DeathReaper wrote:
But he does have a name.

P. 110 "these unique individuals, who stand out from normal characters because they have a personal name and not just a title, are called 'special characters'"

All named individuals are Special Characters.

Therefore Marbo is a character.

Yep doh, I agree. Was a long day yesterday.

magicafiend wrote:
Marbo has 5 attacks that wound on a 2+, you would have lost that challenge . #shadowofthemarbo

Marbo didn't even cause a single wound.

Marbo decides what he wants to be a the beginning of each turn.

Not really I just made that up...

magicafiend wrote:
Marbo has 5 attacks that wound on a 2+, you would have lost that challenge . #shadowofthemarbo

Does it matter? He's dead already...#Marbodangerjenkins

Marbo is as much a character that can be challenged as a monstrous creature.

He may issue challenges, and due to not being able to join a squad, he must accept challenges.

Khalbrae wrote:
Marbo is as much a character that can be challenged as a monstrous creature.

Point of order:

Not all monstrous creatures are characters.

Are there monstrous creatures who come in units of more than one model?

*points to Tyranid Codex*

Carnefexes.

Elric Greywolf wrote:
Are there monstrous creatures who come in units of more than one model?

Yes, but that has no bearing on what Khalbrae said.

Also not all MC's are Characters, even some solo MC's are not characters Such as Harpies, Mawlocks, Mycetic Spores Etc.

C'tan are, even though they arent classed as unique. Which makes no sense...

 IHateNids wrote:
C'tan are, even though they arent classed as unique. Which makes no sense...

You don't have to be unique to be a character.
Special characters have to be unique.

Marbo is sadly not that great in cc. 5A on the charge at I5 and wounds on 2+ sounds pretty good but alas it's normal armor saves. I used him to charge a techmarine/thunderfire cannon and marbo died..

The previous time I took Marbo his demolition charge scattered back on him and killed him.

Elric Greywolf wrote:
Are there monstrous creatures who come in units of more than one model?

Carnifexes. And Harpies, while single MC units, are not characters so... There's no blanket statement you can make.
Also Trygon non-Primes are not characters.

ers126 wrote:
Marbo is sadly not that great in cc. 5A on the charge at I5 and wounds on 2+ sounds pretty good but alas it's normal armor saves. I used him to charge a techmarine/thunderfire cannon and marbo died..

The previous time I took Marbo his demolition charge scattered back on him and killed him.

He does seem to underwhelm in CC...Ouch, thats just bad luck. He's all about taking out those juicy targets/easy VP in some cases. You basically pay 65pts to almost always kill something far more expensive...the killing yourself thing with the charge is unlikely to become an issue because Marbo has BS5....

 lonedrow02 wrote:

ers126 wrote:
Marbo is sadly not that great in cc. 5A on the charge at I5 and wounds on 2+ sounds pretty good but alas it's normal armor saves. I used him to charge a techmarine/thunderfire cannon and marbo died..

The previous time I took Marbo his demolition charge scattered back on him and killed him.

He does seem to underwhelm in CC...Ouch, thats just bad luck. He's all about taking out those juicy targets/easy VP in some cases. You basically pay 65pts to almost always kill something far more expensive...the killing yourself thing with the charge is unlikely to become an issue because Marbo has BS5....

Exactly this. If you're relying on Marbo to kill enemy units in combat, then I think you need to buy new scatter dice. He's supposed to show up, make something blow up, then most likely die. If he survives, then you have a cheap meltabomb in the enemy backfield that is always fun to use.

I had one situation where Marbo turned up and killed half a dozen Paladins (the survivors were picked off with other shooting and assaults). My opponent shot several units at him but he survived, and in desperation assaulted him with a psyfleman Dreadnought. He was only one failed save (thanks to instant death) away from pasting the Dreadnought with his meltabomb...but hey, I'm not complaining.