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At this point it’s become something of a running joke how many Primaris Lieutenant there are–there are a TON–and it seems like a new one is released every month. Is it warranted? Are Primaris Lieutenants among the best Space Marine HQ and characters? That’s what we’re going to look at in this article.

The Three Best Space Marine HQ and Characters — First, Some Caveats

The first caveat is that we’re going to be looking not just at Space Marine HQ units, but we’re also going to be examining Space Marine characters. This widens our range to include some of the most important characters who are not actually HQ but are rather Elite.

The second caveat is that we’re not going to be looking at special characters: no Mephistons and Ragnar Blackmanes here. Just the generic Best and Worst Space Marine HQ and characters.

The Three Best Space Marine HQ and Characters

#1. Captains and Lieutenants

For the first best Space Marine HQ I’m cheating and including two choices at number one, but that’s because they both fill the same sort of role, just one different scales. That’s not to say that if you’re fielding a 2000 point army you need a captain and if you’re fielding a 1000 point army you should use a lieutenant, but generally the two should work in tandem, just as in a regular army.

The Space Marine Captain is great because of its Rites of Battle, as well as giving those Space Marines in 6″ the ability to reroll any to hit rolls of of 1, which basically means that Space Marines will only miss on 2s, and that’s a pretty impressive bonus. This is particularly nice if you want to assign your Captain to work alongside a squad with plasma weapons, keeping them safe from blowing up on that roll of 1.

And that’s to say nothing about the fact that Space Marine Captains are pretty darn tough on their own when it comes to melee, if given the proper loadout. You could very well have a Space Marine Captain who leads from the rear, buffing and using stratagems, or you could have a Space Marine Captain who is right out in front with a boltstorm gauntlet and a power fist, in Gravis Armor. With his Iron Halo he’s very survivable.

On the other hand, a lieutenant costs fewer points and provides much the same buffing characteristics, with the additional benefit of helping with flamers (something that Captains don’t do). Captains have all of the power of the personal combat expert, while lieutenants don’t have quite the same stat line characteristics.

That said, having a Space Marine Lieutenant combined with a Space Marine Captain gives you the Captain’s Rites of Battle and the Lieutenant’s Tactical Precision. That means that if you combine the two you reroll 1s on to hit rolls AND to wound rolls, which is pretty great.

All of this means that Space Marine Captains and Lieutenants are my number one choice for Best Space Marine HQ and characters.

Captain: (Buy from Amazon | Buy from Element Games)

Lieutenant: (Buy from Amazon | Buy from Element Games)

#2. Apothecaries

Point-for-point, this may be the very best Space Marine character available in the game in 9th edition (even though he’s not technically an HQ). Upgrade him as Chief Apothecary and Selfless Healer will give him a 6+ Feel No Pain, let him heal two models by up to three wounds each turn, and bring a model back from the dead once per turn.

This bringing a character back from the dead may not sound like much if your Apothecary is trailing a squad of Intercessors, but if he’s with heavy infantry like Bladeguard Veterans or Eradicators and he can bring one of them back from the dead he’s practically paid for his points cost right there.

When it comes to Firstborn Apothecary versus Primaris Apothecary, it’s just a matter of one extra wound, but it only costs 5 extra points, so it certainly seems like Primaris is the way to go.

Apothecary: (Buy from Amazon | Buy from Element Games)

#3. Chaplains

The Space Marine Chaplains are the third best Space Marine HQ or character you can pick, but it’s important to pick the right kind of Space Marine Chaplain, as that can make all the difference.

Space Marine Chaplains are powerful because of their Litanies of Battle, and it’s generally in your best interest to upgrade them to the Master of Sanctity and the 2+ to cast litanies. Litanies are potent, by being Master of Sanctity you can cast two of them and, and with the 2+ to cast you don’t run such a high risk of wasting an important power.

But, for Litanies of Battle to work, the Chaplain has to be on the board at the beginning of the battle, which means that having him in reserve costs you. Consequently, a deep-striking Chaplain in Terminator armor could be a negative, even though it makes him tough and durable and gets him close into the fight.

A better choice for getting your Chaplain up into the fight quickly, and buffing quick moving close combat units, is to put him on a bike. The Primaris Chaplain on Bike is one of the most valuable units for Space Marines in 9th Edition. Casting his litanies that will give +1 to hit and wound when shooting, +2 to charge, and reroll hits and + to wound in the combat phase are all very valuable, and having a speedy Chaplain who can get around the table quickly is great.

And don’t forget the fact that you can give him the litany of Mantra of Strength, turning himself into a close combat powerhouse–especially when he’s on that bike which gives him extra wounds and toughness.

Chaplain (Buy from Amazon | Buy from Element Games)

Chaplain on Bike (Buy from Amazon | Buy from Element Games)

RELATED: The Three Best and Three Worst Space Marine Tanks

The Three Worst Space Marine HQ and Characters

#1. The Space Marine Ancient

As much as I love the new Indomitous sculpt of the Space Marine Ancient, he just isn’t that powerful on the board. He is best at standing with a unit and allowing them to fire even in death, which makes him far more helpful buffing a good shooting unit like Intercessors or Hellblasters than to help a close combat unit.

He’s not terrible–none of these units are terrible–but he’s definitely my #1 choice as the worst Space Marine HQ. If you’re running a certain chapter that happens to have a particularly good banner then he can be better than the generic, but your standard run-of-the-mill Space Marine Ancient is going to be mostly a waste.

This is exacerbated by the fact that Space Marine Ancients are primarily used to buff shooting units, and 9th Edition Warhammer 40k doesn’t really reward shooty armies anyway, so it’s kind of a lost cause.

#2. The Company Champion

Now, to be completely clear here, we’re talking about generic Company Champions, not chapter-specific ones (like the Emperor’s Champion in the Black Templars).

The Company Champion is a melee unit through and through and he’s designed for one purpose, and that’s to take down other characters. This is all well and good, and it’s even better if you upgrade him to be the Chapter Champion. He can accompany other close combat units letting them reroll charges.

But the problem is that it’s just really hard to use him effectively. It’s hard to get him in the right position where he can go after an opponent’s character, especially if the opponent tries to take the Company Champion out (which they will probably do because there isn’t a lot of strategy that goes into using a Company Champion–your opponent will know exactly what you’re trying to do with him.

Considering that the points differential between him and a Primaris Lieutenant is only twenty points, and the Primaris Lieutenant is better in close combat, ranged combat AND buffing, it’s hard to see the reason that you’d pick a Company Champion.

#3. Judiciar

To be completely fair, the number one reason why you’d want to take a Judiciar is because he just looks like a badass on the table. The sculpt is great and he looks like he’s ready to take anybody down.

But looks can be deceiving. I mean, he’s good, but he’s not amazing. Not 85 points worth of amazing, at least.

The best thing going for the Judiciar is that he has Tempormortis ability, which means that he can nominate a unit within 3″ and it has to fight last, which can be really useful if you have the Judiciar accompanying a very small and tightly-packed group of close combat experts–the Bladeguard Veterans come to mind. Put him with them, use Tempormortis, and you’ll be happy.

The downside is that the chance of using that ability will likely only come into play once or twice an entire game–probably once if you’re lucky.

So, the Judiciar is probably not going to be a character that you want to field in a battle anytime soon.

RELATED: The 11 Best Imperial Guard Regiments

Conclusion

So that’s the Three Best Space Marine HQ Units and the three worst Space Marine HQ and character units. There’s a reason that you see Captains, Lieutenants, Apothecaries, and Chaplains (especially on bikes) in tournament lists.

What do you think? Do you agree or disagree with any of our picks?