space marine commander

[boundy]

just bought a space marine commander and was wondering what weopons to give him? i have painted him all over and is just ready to be glued together however i cant decide what to equip him with? i'm thinking of a power sword and a plasma pistol but most people have lighting claws?

any help would be appreciated.

[masterofweirdness]

This is gonna sound annoying, but what do you want him to do?

Commanders work best as support chars in a shooty marine army. You give him a stormbolter and powersword plus termie honors and he rocks.

Or, get a big command squad, inflitrate him with 2 lighting claws, termie honors, frag grenades, ect and he's KILLS in the assault.

Finally, you can go for the cheapie commander, powersword and bolt pistol. Not the best, but still, he's great for sweeping away hordes of MEQs in one round of combat, though against low saves its a bit of a waste...

Also, remember, each hq in the marine army, though versitale, do have differant roles and seem to do best at differant jobs. Chaplains are assault, Libririans are expensive support, and commanders are cheap support.

[boundy]

ya i was going for shootie lol maybe i'll equip him with the gun found on the front of the box? and a power sword ( looks cool) i'll get up a picture of the finished product thanks

[experiment 626]

well, for a gun i'd honestly go for either a bolter-plasma of bolter-melta combi-gun! it's so nice being able to fire even one shot from such a deadly weapon with the commander's wonderfull BS5!
(and don't forget that plasma is rapid fire so you can get two shots within 12"!!!)

a lightning claw/s, while expensive are great toys because of the re-roll they impart... if you're wanting your commander to hold his own in an assault, a lightning claw is a must!
on the other hand, if you're simply trying to keep him cheap because you only his Ld abilities, then a power toy is just fine.

the other option is to go to town and turn your commander into a monster slayer!
thunder hammer, bolt pistol, combat shield & mantle. expensive? oh yes! but this guy can thump pretty much any big nasty death gribbly that doesn't bear a mark of chaos!
in this role, i advise against a command squad... the commander is suvivable enough while the vets would simply get squished! just slap your commander into a regular squad for protection before sending him off on his great hunt!

finally, it must be said that the main thing to avoid doing with commanders is going nutty on wargear! commanders just aren't the combat monster most people think they are... spending 60-80pts or more on wargear is just a waste because overall, you simply don't have the same resiliance/abilities that other fighty character have!
just stick to termie honours, combat shields and melta bombs!

hope this helps,
cheers!

[DeAd_cOmMaNdO]

A nice and simple commander is bolt pistol and power sword r power fist.

twin lightning claws (+furious charge if he has a command squad) are probably the best weapon but expensie and you only get one lighting claw on the sprue anyway.

[experiment 626]

honestly, for only a couple more pts, i'd go the thunder hammer over a power fist on an IC because of the stun effect...
it's usually very dangerous for IC's to strike last in assaults (as they can be targeted!) so being at a disadvantage for only 1 round can be a life saver!

it's just too bad you don't get a thunder hammer on the commander sprues! though you can bit order a good one from the iron hands box set, or else just use a spare plastic termie one!

cheers!

[masterofweirdness]

If you want a shooty commander, I'd stay away from the combi-bolters, unless you pack on termie armor.

Why? Because you can't assault and shoot, and, to say it bluntly, commanders, no matter how you use them, are assaulty warriors. I would take the stormbolter, I forget what's on the front, but isn't that a lighting claw+plasma pistol?

And another thing, if you get a lighting claw, (only one) TAKE A STORMBOLTER!!! Why? Because pistols don't give you extra attacks in CC w/ lighting claws.

[r4wr89]

i'm liking the setup of power weapon and storm bolter or bolt pistol, relatively cheap yet moderately effective in both CC and shooting.

the thing with lightning claws is that you need two for them to be max-effective, and that's 30 points gone :| and plus there is no ranged weapon on a clawed character, he has to rely on a command squad or a unit he joines to be meat shields / soften up the squad he plans to assault

to tell you the truth, one of my favorite weapons in the entire game has to be the thunder hammer, just because it's a hammer. how much more powerful can you get? a powerfist with a stunning effect? what's more, it's a hammer and looks awesome when modeled, haha

:]
-ant

[r4wr89]

Originally Posted by masterofweirdness

And another thing, if you get a lighting claw, (only one) TAKE A STORMBOLTER!!! Why? Because pistols don't give you extra attacks in CC w/ lighting claws.

wait i'm just wondering, can't you ONLY get 2 attacks from having 2 CCWs with lightning claws if you have two of them? i thought that you couldn't mix and match and still recieve the extra attack for two weapons...maybe that's just me ?

hmm... :]
-ant

I think he meant that since the BP dosne't give +1 attack, go with the storm bolter for max ranged and CC abilities.

[r4wr89]

ah, okay. just checking...the only drawback of LC's is that you still need a pair of them, sigh. haha you can't have everything, i guess :]

[boundy]

thanks alot the sound of my commander bearing a thunder hammer makes me speculate how many orks i cud squish into a sticky green goo

[Grand Master Raziel]

Based on what's in the box, I suggest going with the Lightening Claw and Storm Bolter for weapons. For wargear, you should take Terminator Honours (use the shoulderpad with the skull and crossbones), the Iron Halo (the spikey thing that glues onto the backpack), and frag grenades. That will run you 151 points for a completely battle-ready chapter master.

Why this stuff? The L-claw is the best weapon you can give your commander. Since the box set doesn't come with two L-claws and with the L-claw he can't get a bonus attack for having a pistol, he may as well have a nice gun, and the storm bolter is the best suited for a commander - decent firepower, shooting it won't prevent him from assaulting, and it's relatively cheap (the combi-weapons are overpriced). The T-Honours give him an extra attack, and the Halo gives him an invulnerable save, which is very important because against the foes he's likely to face, an invulnerable save is likely the only save he's going to get. The frags are there in case he has to assault into cover.

This setup is going to leave you with some extra bitz, which is nice. You can use the power weapon and power fist to make some veteran sergeants.

[Perturabo]

As every one has said make sure you actualy have a role for him in mind.I have on many occasions seen a fully tooled up commander costing loads of points just floating around at the back of the battlefield not doing anything because of the players unwillingness to risk the "life" of their commander.
This is fine if thats what you want to do but in that case just give him the bare basics of equipment.
My suggestion is play him in several roles before you decide (bluetack the appropriate arms on to satisfy WYSIWYG mad opponents if needs be) and you may be supprised with what works-I often find my first idea goes out the window and somthing completely new/supprising/un-thought of works!

[boundy]

my final model is here he has the standard on his back pack termie honours power sword and the gun on the front of the box And here he is. Feel free to critizise or offer help......thats what your here for right? I know there are a few piant marks were they shouldnt be i'm sorry i'm going to touch them up when i get round to it. ( not bad for a 13 year old eh?)

[boundy]

Finally got them up as i have posted above they are the glue lines near the back of the standard wich need sorting out and the red on the commanders leg and in some part faint streaks of black are showing

[Cagarner]

Thats a nice paint job. I would add some highlight, or a light drwybrush of the blue parts. maybe also do a very light drybrush on the cape at the back. maybe use Blazing Orange, or Skull White.

[experiment 626]

one thing; take a few minutes prior to assembling to clean off the mold lines... you'll be amazed just how much better the model will look!

overall, i think the main thing is to try and thin down your paints a bit - use 2-3 coats is nescessary! (hell, the desert yellow on my guardsmen's cammo pattern is more like 4-6 coats!)

the paint control is quite good! like i said, thining your paints will help... (a drop or two of water is all you need.)

the metalic areas especially need an ink wash to add some definition. i find just watering down chaos black works just as well, if not better than black ink. (and chaos black also helps to dull down the gold making it look ancient to boot!)

trust me, red is fething annoying to shade/highlight because you have to be soooooo carefull! try working from a scorched brown basecoat and working up from scab red ----> red gore ----> blood red...
for now, just try a black wash and then go from red gore to blood red.

hope this helps!
cheers!

[fearlessgod]

the metalic areas especially need an ink wash to add some definition. i find just watering down chaos black works just as well, if not better than black ink. (and chaos black also helps to dull down the gold making it look ancient to boot!)

Another way is to go over the gold areas with flesh wash ink, and then highlight. Works for me.

BTW, nice model boundy. Looks good to me.


~fearlessgod~

[Grand Master Raziel]

Well, it doesn't look too bad. Gear-wise, the only really glaring weakness is the lack of an invulnerable save. The storm bolter isn't optimal for assault strenght, but it doesn't prevent him from assaulting when he shoots it either, and it's a far better gun than a bolt pistol, so that probably evens out. The power weapon is better for him that the power fist, not quite as good as the L-claw, but cheaper and easier to paint.

Speaking of paint, your paint job isn't bad. The one thing I'd suggest doing differently would be to paint ropes across his chest a different color than his chest eagle (and maybe not a metallic color). Also, like the other fellows say, red is damn hard to paint over black primer (and white primer too, for that matter). When I paint over black primer, I find that blues, browns, greens, and metallics paint better than reds and yellows.

[boundy]

Ya i had to have like 2-3 coats of red on the cape because you could still see black i will take your advise people and thank you