Smash Captain Builds Between the Sons of Dorn

There's several interesting builds of Smash Captains that scions of Dorn have access to in 8e, post-Vigilus and Crimson Fists getting their own Chapter Tactic. I'm quite partial to the Crimson Fists but I do have to mention the Black Templar one as well.

Keep in mind for Crimson Fists, with that new +1 to hit units double your size, that makes Characters using -1 to hit weapons not suffer -1 to hit, when fighting units with more than 1 model. That's better for Docehuelgas than Cortez.

In Crimson Fists you have a lot of options but my favorite:

• Captain Cortez: Power Fist, Jump Pack, Storm Shield, relic Fist of Vengeance
• So that's a Captain w/Fly and all that, the 3++, and he has the Fist of Vengance which amounts to a Thunderhammer with no penalty
•  2+ to hit Thunderhammer == production
• reroll 1s too
• Docehuelgas
  
  Source: https://www.belloflostsouls.net/2019/01/40k-move-over-smash-captain-a-new-player-has-entered-the-arena.html
  Docehuelgas
  
  Source: https://www.belloflostsouls.net/2019/01/40k-move-over-smash-captain-a-new-player-has-entered-the-arena.html
  Captain Docehuelgas: Then there is the build that got some recent attention in the Bell of Lost Souls website (link to article) --> Captain on Bike (T5!), Thunder Hammer, Chain Sword, relic -> Teeth of Terra
• reroll 1s of course 
• the Captain on Bike, the funny thing that BoLS wants to use the original CF Warlord Trait +D3 attacks when within 6" of 10 enemy models, and the Teeth of Terra for +D3, and run the Captain directly into Hordes. He'd have 6-10 attacks against units of 2+ models

What makes Space Marine captains good against Knights, whether Blood Angels or not, most Knights have no invuln in CC. The Thunderhammer/Powerfist they save on 5+ or 6+, wounds on 4s, 4 attacks (maybe +D3), flat 3 damage.

Now Blood Angels can use a stratagem to get +D3 attacks which is cool, but if your captain is your Crimson Fists WL and he gets within 6" of 10 enemy models (maybe by running around a screen) he also gets +D3 attacks.

Then fight again to double that.

If you do have the -1 to hit, you can use the "Slay the Tyrant" because most Knights are Characters, and also get over the -1 to hit.

One thing about Bikes VS Knights is that Knights cannot step over bikes when they leave CC... it's just hard to get there.

I've also experimented with including a small force of Black Templars in my army. Fluff wise to, it lines up well, there was even the Declates Crusade where Crimson Fists and Black Templars shared Iconography. When my Crimson Fists models have a knee pad, I paint it white with a black maltese cross already.

The Black Templars got a Vigilus Defiant detachment that does some nice things for their Captains, and they have that reroll charges Chapter Tactic which helps when you deep strike 9" away.

For 1 CP you use the Detachment, 1 more CP you can grant the BT Captain the Warlord trait of that Detachment. The WL trait's rules read: "Add 1 to your Warlord’s Attacks characteristic. In addition, each time you roll an unmodified hit roll of 6 for an attack made by your Warlord in the Fight phase, that attack inflicts 2 hits instead of 1." And we're talking Thunder Hammer hits here.

Mathematically, that is equal to saying "hits on 2+" instead of the "hits on 3+ because of the -1 to hit." That's the average, there is a crazy outside chance one day you roll 5 6s to hit too. 10 Thunderhammer hits, just kill that Knight in one go.

For 2CP there is another tight BT stratagem in the Vigilus book "Use this Stratagem at the start of the Fight phase. Pick a SWORD BRETHREN unit from your army. Add 1 to the Attacks characteristic of models in that unit for this phase. In addition, you can re-roll wound rolls for attacks made by that unit until the end of that phase." So we're talking about 6 attacks from that Captain, rerolling wounds of 4+ (75% conversion), getting double hits on hit rolls of 6.

Then 3 CP to fight again. It's expensive, but if your BT jump captain can reach a Knight, he can really TKO it.

Anyway, after all the mathing I've done on Space Marines in 8e one central concept I've found to be very reliable is that Stacking Buffs is better than Spreading Buffs around. So spending 7 CP on a concept like that Black Templar Captain can easily be worth it.

Also, with Inceptors and Suppressors, I actually have Fast Attack slots I think are useful, so building a Brigade for 12cp doesn't seem as insane as it used too. Though building a Space Marine brigade and having enough points left over to bring that Captain might be a stretch.