Friday, September 4, 2009

SM Special Characters and Chapter Tactics

It's made pretty clear in the SM codex that when there are two characters with the "Chapter Tactics" rule, you must choose which one is active. Now, what I want to ask is if you would consider worth it to take two of these characters.

I've been considering adding more Terminators to my Salamanders army (what can I say? These things are hella fun to paint and assemble) but want to avoid using another squad of assault terminators since I'd have to get another Land Raider to chauffeur them around in. My issue though is that regular terminators don't quite have enough 'ooph' unless fielded en masse or are...

Fielded with Captain Lysander. For 200 points, you get a 4 W Eternal Warrior with a S10 MC Thunder Hammer with Termie armor and a Storm Shield. That's not all folks! You get a +1 Cover save to a set of ruins of your choice and you get the fantastic Bolter Drill rule, meaning those Storm Bolters are now pretty awesome! However, I've gotten some criticism, saying that it's a waste of Lysander's Chapter Tactics. I say - who cares? He (and most of the Space marine characters) are a bargain for what you pay for. If I wanted Terminator armor, a storm shield and a thunder hammer on a regular captain, I'd be paying a solid 170 points. For 30 more points, I get another wound, rerolls with Bolters in his squad, eternal warrior and a better cover save. Worth it.

So my next 1750 list is gonna be this:

Vulkan
Lysander
Terminator Assault Squad (5 TH/SS)
Terminator Squad (Cyclone Missile Launcher, Chainfist)
Tactical Squad (Flamer, Multi-Melta, Sergeant Power Weapon/Meltabombs)
Rhino

Tactical Squad (Flamer, Multi-Melta, Sergeant Power Weapon/Meltabombs)
Rhino
Tactical Squad (Flamer, Multi-Melta, Sergeant Power Weapon/Meltabombs)
Rhino
Land Raider Redeemer (Multi-Melta)
Total: 1750



C&C?

Squirrel_Fish

1 comment:

  1. He feels a little costly to buff 'just' a 5-man squad. Imagine him at the head of a larger terminator squad, or

    Hands down, I'd take Vulkan's tactics over Lysander's.

    I would almost consider, though, dropping Lysander and a couple power weapons and/or meltabombs to just get a second Crusader, and get two assault boxes of death.

    The thing about paying for two burly HQs for marines is that you're dropping 380-400pts in HQs. I'm just asking what else you could get for it. I think a second Raider, for example, could make your force a LOT nastier.

    If you WERE going to take a second character, though, Lysander would be one of them. Even without Stubborn, he's pretty nasty on his own. The second place to him would be Shrike followed by something nasty, like 5-10 TH/SS termies in a 'ok, fine, shoot THIS' formation.

    I'm not saying he's a waste of chapter tactics (Stubborn is so-so at best, mostly it's a Close Combat buff for your non-fearless guys). I'm just asking what you could get in his place.

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