Primaris Captain: By having this dude at the top of the first page, implies that GW is trying to push that this dude is the 'default' Captain, despite not being in
Dark Imperium or
Know No Fear. The best wargear he has access to, is the Power Fist. Unfortunately, if you want a Power Fist, GW locks you into having a Plasma Pistol as well, and that's bad. So just ignore that entire sentence and take a
Power Sword The Burning Blade. Unfortunately, this dude has neither
Teleport Strike and nor can he ride around in a Drop Pod, and Impulsors don't even work for Melee units so this is just...Bad. The Auto Bolt Rifle is better than the Stalker, but that doesn't matter when the model is just this...Bad. If you want a gunline Captain, there is a better one.
Captain in Gravis Armour: With T5 and 7 Wounds, the guy is a fairly decent tank. But then he has the ability to pick up extra wounds and Ignore Wounds via
Iron Resolve, and is also a good candidate for
Armour Indomitus. His statline is quite good. Unfortunately, he's goof'd real hard by taking a Power Fist
and Master-Crafted Power Sword, which is incredibly stupid. Once again, there's nothing
wrong with a model who has 5 strong attacks, but he's paying extra points to have two Melee weapons for no reason (don't worry, Guilliman himself, does it too). Despite having two decent Melee weapons, he still falls into the same trap that the above Captain does...He's simply not fast enough - in fact, he's
slower than a Primaris Captain. So, yeah. This is the guy you take when your opponents start spamming attacks that can target <Characters>. If your opponents aren't able to shut down Characters, then you have nothing to worry about and you don't need this model... Despite the fact that you're probably going to end up with 3 or 4 of them if you're on a budget. :smallannoyed:
Captain in Phobos Armour: Coming in cheaper than a Gravis Captain by virtue of not bringing two weapons that compete with each other, this guy comes with a decent Carbine that can target <Characters>. However, it's only 1 shot, and a S4 one, at that. But even one shot with a Carbine per turn against a Character is still more than Gravis Captain is going to do with two Melee weapons. Additionally, his Carbine is an Assault weapon, so he's perfectly happy moving about the board if that's what you want him to do, since he actually can keep up with Infiltrators and Incursors 'cause he's got
Concealed Positions too. But the key reason why this guy is so strong, is that units can't be set up within 12" of him. This means that your opponent can't teleport Tzaangors or Meganobz at you, which is amazingly helpful when you're talking about board control, but, even then, a Phobos Captain is anti-alpha strike, and that's all you really need. The dude should also almost always have a 1+ Save.
Interestingly, this is the only Character in the entire book that it's worth taking Purgatorus on by virtue of the fact that he can't take any other weapons. That being said, how 'bout you don't do that, and just put any other Relic on any other model?
Captain in Terminator Armour: 2+ Saves are over-rated. That being said, this Captain can take Chainfist & Storm Shield. A Lightning Claw is good too, but you probably want to look at the next Captain for that. For no real reason, Terminator Captains are more expensive than their Primaris counterparts, which generally makes them poor picks, even this early in the Codex. That said, <Terminator> models with Storm Bolters should never be overlooked. That said, everytime you don't take a Chainfist, you could just have a Captain with Jump Pack for cheaper.
- ...in Cataphractii Armour: The other Terminator Captain. Same cost, except is better. Because he has a natural 3+ Invulnerable, you're safe to take the dual Lightning Claws for the extra attack. His weaker movement is a non-factor, because he has Teleport Strike and should never not set up 9" away from your opponent. With that said, Terminator Captains - including the above one - are very niche models that only work in certain army builds.
Captain: Regular nerd. Before you do
anything, you want to drop the Master-Crafted Boltgun for a Storm Bolter. The only reason to keep the M-C Boltgun is if you're going to put on
Primarch's Wrath. In any case, if your Captain isn't riding in a Drop Pod, then he's on the gunline. Throw on a Storm Shield if you want or if your opponents are particularly aggressive. There's really not much to say - he hands out re-roll 1s to hit. If you're running a Melee Captain (in a Drop Pod),
Teeth of Terra and
Burning Blade are far and away the best choices. If you don't want to burn your Relic slot or a CP on your Captain, you can always settle for a Thunder Hammer or Power Fist - that being said, Thunder Hammers are 40 Points, so you'd better be sure you know what you're doing.
Burning Blade & Storm Shield is a very efficient combination.
- ...on Bike: The main reason to take this Captain is so you can have Twin Boltgun and Storm Bolter for a total of 8 Rapid Fire Bolt shots on a <Biker> model. Throw on a Storm Shield to make the T5 and 6 Wounds actually mean something.
- ...with Jump Pack: It's a Melee Captain that isn't reliant on a Drop Pod. Having <Fly> means he can jump over terrain and units. But since he can't Charge over Infantry screens, he'd better be able to deal with massed blobs of Infantry before he gets to his real target. Teeth of Terra and Fighting again is always solid, especially since Teeth of Terra is S5, AP-2 is good against everything.
Lieutenants: HQ choice that hands out re-roll 1s to wound. His weapon options are basically the same as the Captain's, except now he can't take Storm Shields. Interestingly, Lieutenants come with WS2+, and BS3+, the implication being that Lieutenants are better in Melee than Shooting. Then again, Lieutenants only have 3 Attacks, whilst a Storm Bolter has 4. So yeah, get rid of the M-C Boltgun that costs points that you're bad with. His 3 Attacks means he's a poor choice to run Relic weapons, and his inability to re-roll 1s to hit (by himself), means he's a poor choice to run Power Fists and Thunder Hammers. So if you're going to run a Lieutenant with a Melee weapon, run a Power Axe. It's cheap. It's good. It's cheap and good.
- ...with Jump Pack: Not really necessary. But nothing's changed - Storm Bolter & Power Axe, and done.
Primaris Lieutenants: For what it's worth, M-C Auto Bolt Rifles have 3 shots, but then again, Lieutenants are BS3+, and it's S4, AP- which is nothing. For the same cost you can pick up a Power Sword. It doesn't really matter how you spend your 4 Points unless your opponents are really aggressive, and then you'll want the Power Sword.
Lieutenants in Phobos Armour: Unlike other Phobos HQs, this guy forgot how
Concealed Position works, and so instead shows up on Turn 2 like an idiot. That said, if he's not going to do anything until Turn 2, maybe
Tactical Doctrine is up to give him AP-1 on his Carbine. Combat Knives vs. Paired Combat Blades is essentially neglible, so it doesn't matter. The big argument is Heavy Bolt Pistol vs. the Carbine...The Carbine wins, even though it costs points. Even then, by forgetting how
Concealed Position works, this is by far the worst Phobos HQ, and it's lucky that Infiltrators can pick up his Aura anywhere on the board, because you're just going to stick him in your gunline anyway, right?
Librarian: With access to the Librarius Discipline, his focus is on buffing your units. Except a Chaplain is arguably better at it, for less Points, and Chaplains can't be Denied and don't get shafted by your opponent tailoring in a Culexus Assassin. There is
very little difference between the various Force Weapons. The Force Axe is the best, obviously, but it costs 2 Points extra. But, really, your Librarians should never, ever be in Melee with anything stronger than a Space Marine Centurion (T5, 3 Wounds), in which case, Force Staves are pretty decent against all but the toughest of targets, and if you're pitting your Librarian against Daemon Princes, you'd better be running
Null Zone and have backup.
- ...with Jump Pack: Nothing changes except your Librarian is more expensive.
Primaris Librarian: Nothing changes except your Librarian is more expensive...And can only take a Force Sword.
Librarian in Terminator Armour: How desperately do you really need one more <Terminator> Storm Bolter in your list, and even then...No, really...Do you?
Librarian in Phobos Armour: Despite being unequivocally better than the normal Primaris Librarian, Phobos Librarians still cost the same points. The only difference is you have to pay +3 Points for the Camo Cloak. Okay? Pay 3 Points for a 1+ save. Life over, right? In any case, with drawing its Powers from the Obscuration Discipline, this guy is focused on debuffing your opponents units, which is always very handy, especially if you're backing him up with Incursors. Having
Concealed Position is an extremely strong start, and might put your Psychic Hood within range on Turn 1. A very
strong model, even if the model itself, is a meme.
Primaris Chaplain: ...Is like a normal Chaplain, but more expensive.
Chaplain: At the start of the Battle Round - even if your opponent goes first - roll a 3+ and do a Litany - pick your favourite. The obvious downside is that if you should fail the 3+, then your Chaplain is doing ****-all and what did you even bring him for? ...Then again, what does a Librarian do if they fail their Psychic test? Not only that, but Librarians can also be Denied, too. A Librarian has two failure points, whilst a Chaplain only has one. In any case, Lieutenants always work, all the time. Do what you want. That being said, if you're ever taking units that are larger than 5 models, or your opponent is doing Leadership shenanigans, <Chapter> units within 6" always use the Chaplain's Leadership. Which has a few niche uses. But not that many to get excited over.
- ...with Jump Pack: Power Fists are always solid. But there's also Benediction of Fury. But, then again, you don't really need a Jump Pack when you could be in Drop Pods, instead.
Chaplain in Terminator Armour: Packing that Storm Bolter and 2+ Save. What else is there?
Techmarine: Drop the Power Axe for a free Chainsword because a Techmarine has WS3+ and why are you paying points to fail - it's not rocket science. Exchange the Bolt Pistol for a Boltgun or Storm Bolter, and done. Servo-Arms, being free, are always good to have more of, so if you want you can take the full Servo-Harness and get even more ranged weapons - the key to this is that you don't have any Pistol weapons, even the Plasma Cutter is an Assault weapon. So yeah. With BS2+, pack as many ranged weapons as you can and shoot all of them. Healing Vehicles is also pretty neat if you run a lot of 'em. But, make note that Thunderfire Cannons bring Techmarines with them, and it's not neccessary to burn your HQ slots on Techmarines if what you need them to do is heal Vehicles that don't leave your own DZ.