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I've been looking at Ultramarine Special Characters. They puzzle me, and I think that's because I don't fully understand how to use them.

They all bring some interesting rules and wargear that you cannot get any other way. But for the most part, they are very expensive, and operate more effectively as part of a unit. Or, at least, they should be part of a unit, because plunking a lone Special Character down in your army will make him a tempting target, and unless it's part of your strategy, they seem too expensive to simply draw an entire opposing army's fire for the first round.

I look at the all-up points of a SC, plus dedicated guards, and a transport, and start counting how many Meltaguns, missles, and Lascannons I can squeeze into the same points value. To me, those things make more sense than one character who usually has to be at zero distance to make the most of his skills.

Can anybody tell me what I'm missing about the use of these Big Beatsticks? Are they really worth all the effort to get them into close combat?

Every single one of the Ultramarines named characters are overpriced, which is really quite a shame.

Cato Sicarius has unique abilities you won't find anywhere else, and allows you to keep Combat Tactics, which is huge. However he costs way too many points considering you can get a 100-140 point Librarian or even a 65 point DA Librarian instead.

Calgar is monstrous, but again, very expensive. He also has a cool ability that allows you to make an Honour Guard army. But that's not really viable outside of Apocalypse.

Tigurius is overpriced plain and simple.

Ortan Cassius is actually pretty good since he's T6 and doesn't cost much more than a Chaplain.

 Shorttime wrote:
I've been looking at Ultramarine Special Characters. They puzzle me, and I think that's because I don't fully understand how to use them.

They all bring some interesting rules and wargear that you cannot get any other way. But for the most part, they are very expensive, and operate more effectively as part of a unit. Or, at least, they should be part of a unit, because plunking a lone Special Character down in your army will make him a tempting target, and unless it's part of your strategy, they seem too expensive to simply draw an entire opposing army's fire for the first round.

I look at the all-up points of a SC, plus dedicated guards, and a transport, and start counting how many Meltaguns, missles, and Lascannons I can squeeze into the same points value. To me, those things make more sense than one character who usually has to be at zero distance to make the most of his skills.

Can anybody tell me what I'm missing about the use of these Big Beatsticks? Are they really worth all the effort to get them into close combat?

I don't think you are missing anything really, they just aren't very good for the price.

IMO the best special characters do something that enhances the army significantly. The only one that sort of does that is Calgar, to form a solid gunline (even then its too expensive). Even in other Dexes I still see people try to bring the 'lone' beatsticks, but I think it doesn't really work out well (Mephiston and Abbadon being the chief culprits).
As you said, this edition just favors shooting way too much for expensive CC characters to be worth it... unless they confer huge advantages to other parts of the army as well.

The only 2 HQs that are relatively "balanced" in my opinion would be Kantor for scoring Sterns and the +1 attacks (awesome with a squad of termies in a LR); and then Vulkan for TL melta/flamer goodness.

The others bring cool abilities but aren't worth the points.

Also note that, although Kantor and Vulkan both add great synergy to a list and provide great buffs to your army, they aren't very great in challenges against real "beatsticks". They also aren't as durable as other models and are less effective as meatshields.

They are both decent in CC, but there a plenty of other models that can outperform.

 Tyberos the Red Wake wrote:
Every single one of the Ultramarines named characters are overpriced, which is really quite a shame.

Cato Sicarius has unique abilities you won't find anywhere else, and allows you to keep Combat Tactics, which is huge. However he costs way too many points considering you can get a 100-140 point Librarian or even a 65 point DA Librarian instead.

Calgar is monstrous, but again, very expensive. He also has a cool ability that allows you to make an Honour Guard army. But that's not really viable outside of Apocalypse.

Tigurius is overpriced plain and simple.

Ortan Cassius is actually pretty good since he's T6 and doesn't cost much more than a Chaplain.

Good summery, but Cassius is actually fairly underpriced. So only 3/4 are overpriced.

Cassius is 25 points more then a normal chaplain. For that you get T6 and FNP. That sounds about right. But you also get a master crafted combi flamer, loaded with hellfire rounds. That should probably also cost about 25 points. As gravy on top, he gets to keep his bolt pistol, so gets +1 A with the crozius in CC. His cost is an opportunity cost. If you field him, you can't field him with a jump pack to join assault marines, or with TDA to teleport in with terminators. But if you want a chaplain on foot/in a transport, he's your man.

Calgar is a beatstick, but his big thing is the whole auto pass leadership thing, not the honor guard bit. But he is far to expensive.