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I'm debating between the following loadouts for a cheapish Captain.

A.Armor and Power axe or S. Shield and Relic Blade.

Both give me a decent weapon and upgraded durability.

For cheap ive gone teeth of terra regular storm shield and AA. I Just let my sgts issue the challenges and let my hq clear house.

What about just adding the burning blade?

Artificer Armor, Relic Blade. 135 points, and kills more or less anything with a 3+ save or worse.

djz05 wrote:
For cheap ive gone teeth of terra regular storm shield and AA. I Just let my sgts issue the challenges and let my hq clear house.

Why not lightning claw and Teeth? That way you get to have 5 attacks on the charge plus D3 for rampage. Could have eight attacks all together!

OP: Of the ones you suggested, the one with the Relic/SS combo is better, as really you don't want to be wasting the captain's high Init stat on unwieldy weapons.

In general, though, I tend to take a libby if I want a budget HQ, as if I take a captain I tend to go for maximising the damage output. Most commonly, I'll run captain with Teeth of Terra, Primarch's Wrath, and Armour Indomitus, giving a 2+, 5 bolter shots with shred and AP4 at 24" regardless of movement, and potential for 7 S6 attacks at I5. Hardly a budget option, but hits hard.

If you want a captain on a relatively low budget, then I'd suggest Artificer armour, SS, LC, as it's resilient but still rather killy, hits at Initiative, and has a 2+/3++.

If you run a captain with both Teeth and a LC, do the specials of each weapon stack, or does the LC simply add +1 attack?

You have to choose between Teeth or LC, but you do get +1A either way.

Teeth & Claw is very strong, but it's also rather pricey.

Between the options I presented, I guess it comes down to swinging at I5 vs AP2 on the weapon.
Both are strong options.

The captain already has a 4++, so if you are on a budget trying to keep points down don't bother with the SS.

I think AA and a relic blade is a good, jack-of-all trades loadout for a captain. Yes, there are more efficient things you can give him, but the points start to get crazy, fast. The relic chainsword I think is a fun upgrade for the normal relic blade. You get some nice features for a few extra points.

I do think that I5 is worth preserving, so if you take anything unwieldy, pair it with something normal. So power axe/sword or PF/LC.

 Nevelon wrote:


I do think that I5 is worth preserving, so if you take anything unwieldy, pair it with something normal. So power axe/sword or PF/LC.

That works well enough for Chaos, so I'd imagine it would work for Loyalists.

Big question is as you get more expensive, just taking the Burning Blade makes more sense.

If it costs more than 140 points, I'd say always try to take a Storm Shield unless its A) on a Bike B) using TLLC's and cheap or C) Super cheap, not that I'd say deciding not to for any of those reasons is a particularly competitive strategy.

Relic Blade is really a bit naff, I'd take the Thunder Hammer anyday for 2+ strength, AP2 and concussive, and the fact that the odds of killing something outright before it strikes are very, very low, and if you can, it probably was never a threat in the first place.

TLLC's may do well on a cheap Captain, they do more damage statistically than a Relic Blade to MEQ I believe and the re-rolls is always nice for those occasions when terrible luck strikes and you roll something like triple ones. Knowing me, that's every other game.

Shield Eternal rocks. With AA you can effectively place a 3-4 wound Terminator squad in your enemy's deployment zone using various methods for fairly minimal cost when you think about it (Cap with SE, TH, AA comes to about 190) and get him there using a squad that doesn't have to be a huge investment CC squad of doom.

Burning Blade, Primarch's Wrath, Teeth of Terra, and the armour look pretty but I wouldn't say they're practical, partially for expense and partially because I've a biased love of Thunder Hammers. I don't think much of the hatred banner, but I'd expect if you stuck him on a SS Cap in a CC unit (possibly a BCS with CC weapons) it could be a good idea.

I'm thinking that Axe and Artifice might be the best budget option.
125 points for 2+/4++ with five S5 AP2 swings on the charge.
2+ should keep me safe against anything that swings before me.

Bike, combi-grav, auspex. Artificer armor is you're feeling saucy. Cheap and awesome.

Ive been contemplating the primarchs wrath on a bike captain with a power axe or relic blade as a good cheap buff to a bike squad (5 for scoring!) or a bike command squad (5 grav guns? why not!)

 generalchaos34 wrote:
Ive been contemplating the primarchs wrath on a bike captain with a power axe or relic blade as a good cheap buff to a bike squad (5 for scoring!) or a bike command squad (5 grav guns? why not!)

I like it.
Sounds fun.

What about for IF ct AA and Primarchs wrath? Cheep with lots of shootie. Since Primarchs Wrath is a bolt gun.... Reroll those ones baby!!!

Alexi wrote:
What about for IF ct AA and Primarchs wrath? Cheep with lots of shootie. Since Primarchs Wrath is a bolt gun.... Reroll those ones baby!!!

Still only kills 0.8 Marines. Plus, it means you can't get any of the other relic items.

I'd like to know if anyone has actually come up with a way of making good use of the Standard of The Emperor Ascendant yet, or is it just poop because of the current state of the meta?

 Mr.Omega wrote:

Alexi wrote:
What about for IF ct AA and Primarchs wrath? Cheep with lots of shootie. Since Primarchs Wrath is a bolt gun.... Reroll those ones baby!!!

Still only kills 0.8 Marines. Plus, it means you can't get any of the other relic items.

I'd like to know if anyone has actually come up with a way of making good use of the Standard of The Emperor Ascendant yet, or is it just poop because of the current state of the meta?

Maybe in a hit and run White Scar army to give a few squads some more hits in combat before Absconding in the next turn.

 Mr.Omega wrote:

I'd like to know if anyone has actually come up with a way of making good use of the Standard of The Emperor Ascendant yet, or is it just poop because of the current state of the meta?

Well, if you think of it as basically being a 6" bubble of pseudo-chaplain effects for 65 points then it doesn't seem so bad if you're taking a large Honour Guard squad, but on the whole, I think you'd be better off with the extra points for a chaplain most of the time though, due to better durability and damage output.

It would be far far better if you could give it to characters like any other relic, making anyone a chaplain on top of their normal abilities. As it is, a large HG squad is the only reason to take one that I can see.

Depends on how cheap you want to go and what you want him to do.

Bike, AA, Primarch's Wrath, Storm Shield, Power Sword/Axe/Lance, and Lightning Claw all come in at 20 pts or less each, so you could mix and match those, taking up to 3 and keeping him under 150.

Relic Blades I'm not really too fond of. I mean, they're good, right up until you run afoul of something with a 2+ save. For the same price as a powerfist, I'd rather have the extra two strength (better against vehicles and MCs) and AP2, even if you're striking slower. If you're ok with AP3, I'd rather pay 10 extra points, go Teeth, and consistently shred everything in my path.

I guess it depends how cheap you want to go, and what you want it to do. If you want a CC shredder, but not a challenge beast, springing for Teeth of Terra is a good call. If you want bikes as troops, take a bike. If you want to get involved in CC challenges, you'll want at a minimum AA and an AP2 weapon of some sort, which at its cheapest runs you 35 pts for AA and power axe.

 DogofWar1 wrote:
Depends on how cheap you want to go and what you want him to do.

This. Do you actually want him as a cheap booster for some unit or a CC monster to throw at enemy squads wholesale? He's already got a good inv save so you could gamble on it. If you want one extra then you'll want more extras and soon he'll be a lot more points than you were going to spend.

I know it's expensive, but personally if I'm going budget I'd prefer a Libby, MotF, or Chaplain, depending ultimately on the rest of the force and CT. If I'm going Captain, I would probably go CC shredder variant with Teeth on a bike, possibly with AA. Somewhat expensive, but will absolutely leave every unit MEQ or worse dazed and confused (also, dismembered).

I usually end up with SCs, but the go big or go home concept happens too. While everyone talks about IH CM on bike with AA, EW shield, and burning blade, I've recently liked the idea of a White Scars version of that. Sure, you lose IWND, but he's impossible to tarpit with hit and run. Point him at anything, and it dies, and if someone tries to slow him down with a blob or something, just disengage and go down the list.

 DogofWar1 wrote:


I usually end up with SCs, but the go big or go home concept happens too. While everyone talks about IH CM on bike with AA, EW shield, and burning blade, I've recently liked the idea of a White Scars version of that. Sure, you lose IWND, but he's impossible to tarpit with hit and run. Point him at anything, and it dies, and if someone tries to slow him down with a blob or something, just disengage and go down the list.

Maybe that is my mistake.
I view the Captain as the budget HQ choice.
If wanted a true beatstick, the Master is worth the price tag with the extra attack and wound.
The Captain seems best as a basic infantry shredder.