Monday, April 27, 2009

Champions of the Game: Poll Series to find the Best!

POLL RELATED POST

So I am going to be running a set of polls over the next few weeks and I would appreciate as much participation as possible. The goal is to find people's favourite characters in a codex and across the board.

This first week I am doing the Ultramarines from the Space Marine Codex. Figured that the best place to start. I thought about guard, but I want to give people time to mess around with those characters first.

The criteria are as follows: Whatever you think is most important.

Character Review:
Marneus Calgar- Chapter Master of the Ultramarines: So Calgar is a whopping 250/265 points. Hit Titanic Might rule allows him to always re-roll to wound. He may choose between Terminator Armour (+15 pts, also gives him a Teleport Homer) and Power Armour. God of War lets you pick and choose when to stand and fight, applying to the whole army. Then the Gauntlets of Ultramar have a stormbolter with AP 2. The only thing is that as they are powerfists, he will strike last in combat, though he gets +1 A for having 2 of them (on a base of 4 at WS 6). OR if you’d rather have higher initiative, you can use his power sword instead. Iron Halo grants him a 4+ invulnerable save. Top it all of with an orbital bombardment and immunity to instant death with 4 wounds. He also alters force org, allowing you to take 3 honour guards (though only one Chapter Banner) that do not take up slots on the chart.

Cato Sicarius- Ultramarines 2nd Co. Captain: Sicarius comes in at 200 pts. He allows you to re-roll to seize the initiative. Rites of Battle give the entire army an LD of 10. He gives a Tactical Squad a free special rule of the following: Counter Attack, Scout, Infiltrate or Tank Hunters. His sword may make a single S6 instant death causing attack. WS 6 base attacks of 3 other wise. On top of his 2+/4+ armour save/inv, AND he has feel no pain. Other weapon is a Plasma Pistol. End it all with 3 wounds.

Varro Tigurius- Ultramarines Chief Librarian: Knows all the Psychic Powers available to Librarians. May re-roll any reserves, even successful ones. Has a psychic hood that functions normally and allows him to use 3 powers a turn. The Rod is a Master Crafted force weapon, other weapon is a humble bolt pistol. Only 2 wounds though. All this for a stately 230 points.

Ortan Cassius- Ultramarines Chaplain: Feel No Pain, Honour of the Chapter and Liturgies of Battle. Armed with a Crozius and Master-Crafted Combi-Flamer, armed with hellfire rounds wounding on a 2+. Rosarius gives him a 4+ invulnerable save, which is good as he only has 2 wounds and a 3+ armour save. T6 makes him the toughest character though, so his 2 wounds count for a lot. 2 Attacks base at WS 5. Stick him with some Sternguard and he does best. Fluffy too as he is rebuilding 1st company, so hanging with Veterans is his style. Have him for 125 points.

Torias Telion- Ultramarine Scout Sergeant: Stealth, Acute Senses, Infiltrate, Move Through Cover, Scout. This guy is loaded with more USR than anyone. A BS of 6 is the best you can get, and a WS of 5 with 2 attacks base ain’t to shabby either. One wound with a 4+ save though, so use that cover (which you should be doing with scouts any ways. You can allocate his shooting wounds however you want, much like a vindicare. He can lend his BS 6 to someone else in the squad, which is good if using something like a missile launcher is more important, or he doesn’t have LOS. Then he has his sweet boltgun which is the same range as a Sniper rifle, has 1 more AP, is Rending and has 2 shots. The only thing is that it has S4 so doesn’t get the wound on a 4+ automatically like sniper rifles, meaning it only inflicts wounds on the high T guys with the rending rule. He can be yours for 50 pts, replacing a normal scout sergeant.

Antaro Chronus- Ultramarine Tank Dude: Can only be bought as an upgrade to a vehicle for 70 pts but has rules to be outside it. Want to keep him on one though. Gives the Tank BS 5 and immunity to shaken and stunned results. When independent of a tank, best bet is to get him to a nearby squad and join them, lending another wound and 2 attacks base and a servo arm. Plus he still has a BS of 5.

SO Hit the Poll over there -->

RESULTS
Which Ultramarine (smurf) is the best? (Choose 1)
Marneus Calgar 8 (30%)
Captain Sicarius 4 (15%)
Chief Librarian Tigurius 1 (3%)
Chaplain Cassius 6 (23%)
Scout-Sergeant Telion 6 (23%)
Brother Sergeant Chronus 1 (3%)