3/5 stars. Ideal for small points value games where you want a bit of a minor threat.
Background.
Lowly commanders entrusted with certain small scale actions. When the opportunity for promotion comes around, they will be sure to have tried to get as good a record as possible off the ground. They are well connected men who generally garner the respect of their peers.
Strengths.
These command options are great for small scale games where you want a bit of a boost or to pack a bit of a punch where you might need it. Kill Teams, Zone Mortalis, and similar might all benefit.
Weaknesses.
Candidly, you won't be taking Optae outside of small scale games. Hence their utility to you depends on how many points you are playing. If like me, you quite like smaller games that you can actually get finished over a lunch time, they're great! If you're gaming for the afternoon or the entire day, they won't get used. It is as simple as that in my eyes. I'd politely suggest a limit of 750 points to include them? And on top of this, they've lost the auto-rally thing they had going for them in second edition. Boo.
Builds.
I'm thinking here of lower points games especially and have tried to control the amount of points spent accordingly. Clearly you can spend more, but in low points value games, you want points efficiency as much as possible.
1 Optae, Thunder Hammer (65 points).
Not elegant, but is a great way to bring an obvious extra thunder hammer to a fight. And if you are in challenges, it might matter as well.
1 Optae, Twin Lightning Claws (70 points).
Goes at higher initiative than the thunder hammer?
1 Optae, Jump Pack, Combi-Melta, Melta Bombs (85 points).
Getting more expensive here, but worth it if you don't have another dedicated melta unit potentially. In the range of a Centurion might be better here?
1 Optae, Disintegrator Pistol, Bolt Gun with Chain Bayonet (57 points).
A great way to sneak in another man with a disintegrator weapon into a standard troops selection.
1 comment:
Optae do have an extra use in Ultramarines as well. The UUM detachment has a Prime slot that can only be filled by an Optae which can make it very flexible for army building. Plus more Command models feeds into the UM gambit (though how useful that is I'm not really sure).
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