Ortan Cassius Tactica

I despise out of date Tactics Articles, so: This is written for Space Marine codex 5th edition, in the rules of Warhammer 40K 5th edition.



I am writing this article for what I consider to be an unsung hero in the Space Marine Codex: Chaplain Ortan Cassius. I have been having a hard time selecting a HQ that works well with my army. The codex is full of amazing choices but every one of those choices is blasted expensive. For a character like Vulkan He'stan the cost is easier to stomach because with his pricetag comes an amazing ability that improves all the best weaponry in the Space Marine arsenal. Or maybe Darnath Lysander, who is an absolute beast in close combat. Sure, these are great HQs and I am sure they frequently lead the majority of Space Marine armies. But unless I am playing a pretty big game I cannot justify spending almost 200 points on a character.



I generally get to play smaller games, with my most frequent opponent being Imperial Guard. In these smaller battles, verses hordes of Guard I find that I need every last point I can spare. And against the Guard, I dont really need all that much. The majority of my enemies aren't going to be much of a challenge in close combat. So I have started to shy away from the more expensive HQs in favor of affordable options. Of the custom HQs you have four basic varieties, all which start out at 100 points. The Captain has the most impressive statline with a nice boast to weapon and ballistic skills, and 3 wounds and attacks. The Iron Halo is very nice, but he lacks good weaponry. So no matter what, the Captain is going to cost more than 100pts because we need to get some type of power weapon in there. Options are limitless at this point, and if you really want to the cheap little Captain can become every bit as deadly... and expensive as Darnath or Vulkan. I am skipping the Forgemaster as an option, I havent used him as an option and will therefor not judge him. Our other options are Chaplain and Librarian. Both of which come standard with a nice weapon, and in the Chaplain's case an invulnerable save as well. The Chaplain is a support character, granting fearless and rerolls for the squad he joins. A Chaplain is completely wasted alone, and should always be in a squad. A Librarian has a lot of flexibility with the psychic powers, but is a bit more fragile without the invulnerable save. Both of those options are just the vanilla varieties. Both the Chaplain and the Librarian do well in Terminator Armor, but once we start adding those options the price starts to go up again...



This was my dilemma a couple of months ago when I started to seriously look for a good affordable HQ for my army. I was rereading for the countless time the Codex when I came upon something. Every single entry in the Codex has a toughness of 4. (except for Servitors, but do they really count?) From the mighty Magnas Calgar to the lowest Scout everyone has toughness 4. Even bikers only have fake toughness (5). If a strength 8 hit came in they would suffer instant death. Everyone has toughness 4, except Cassius. When I saw "toughness 6" under Cassius' entry I thought it was a misprint. I checked the back reference page and found the same back there. Still not believing I got online and checked the errata and FAQ on the Games Workshop site to make sure it wasnt a mistake. Lo and behold, it was accurate. Chaplain Cassius has toughness 6. I have peeked at online battle reports and read different tactics articles and I have never heard Cassius mentioned. I am not sure if people really understand how amazing toughness 6 is: Nothing will cause instant-death from being double his toughness. The vast majority of attacks against him will be hitting on 6+. He has the same toughness as a Carnifex and higher than a Daemon Prince.



At this point, on those merits alone I think Ortan Cassius is worth a closer look. Aside from his formidable toughness he boasts the same stats as a regular Chaplain. But he does come with some extra wargear: Cassius' bolter "Infernus" rerolls hits and wounds on 2+. Plus once a game you can fire a template shot that rerolls wounds. So we have a character built off the stats of an acceptable HQ choice with a boost to resilience and a nice ranged weapon. Turns out that Cassius is the cheapest character offered in the codex too, which I couldn't be more happy about. I fielded Cassius a couple of times, and was very pleased with his performance. Wasnt until this point when I noticed another rule in the Codex: Feel No Pain USR. Basically ignore half of every normal wound that he suffers. I am sold.



Chaplain Ortan Cassius is not a close combat beast, nor does he have the best shooting in the codex. But he is dirt cheap, tactically flexible, and can soak up a fair amount of punishment. Unless I am playing a larger game where I want Vulkan He'stan's special rule or something, then Cassius is my sworn sword. I think he is the most overlooked character in the codex, I know because I overlooked his stats twice... and I read the codex pretty thoroughly. So take Cassius, stick him in a squad, and he will not let you down.