Editing Warhammer 40,000/Tactics/Kill Team(8E) Imperium (section)

====SM Commanders====
*'''Janus Draik (BSF/Annual 2019) (Logistics):''' He's a rather unique card, considering he can be either used for {{W40kKeyword|Adeptus Astartes}}, {{W40kKeyword|Astra Militarum}}, and {{W40kKeyword|Adeptus Mechanicus}} kill-teams without being able to use the rules of either. What he does offer is plenty of anti-armor between His S4 AP-2 pistol, his S3 AP-4 rapier, and his S6 AP-1 Dd3 single-use grenade as well as the ability to use a one-time ability to instantly score d3 mortal wounds.  Unfortunately, he's man-tier squishy with a 4+/4++ save, so he'll need some degree of protection in order to last.
*'''Primaris Captain (Ferocity, Fortitude, Leadership, Logistics, Melee, Shooting, Stealth, Strategist, Strength):''' The Captain hasn't changed much from vanilla 40k, although the free 4++ is nice. Being a Primaris, he's stuck with the basic power sword and bolt pistol, the only thing that's customizable being the bolt rifle. He can take either a master crafted stalker bolt rifle or a master crafted auto bolt rifle (does 2D instead of 1), the former for sitting and the back and sniping, and the latter for rapidly advancing on the enemy. Remember that the auto bolt rifle is Assault 2, meaning you can split-fire with it unlike the Stalker, and the 2D is especially punishing vs GEQs. Despite the inflexible wargear setup, he can fill a lot of roles since he can take nearly any Commander-exclusive Specialism. 
*'''Primaris Lieutenant (Ferocity, Fortitude, Leadership, Logistics, Melee, Shooting, Stealth, Strategist, Strength):''' As a watered-down Captain, don't expect the Lieutenant to make as much of an impact as his counterpart. His re-rolling 1's to wound aura tactic can be useful, but many others have auras that are strictly better than his. Like the Captain, he's stuck with the basic power sword and bolt pistol along with one of the master-crafted bolt rifles. Since the lieutenant has WS 2+ and 4A but only BS 3+, the auto bolt rifle will often be better because his strong suit is melee and the auto rifle lets him advance and still shoot; Usually, though, if you want to get melee then the chaplain will be a better idea due to the superior buffs, stronger melee, and invuln save that he has. That said, he can be almost as flexible as the Captain without having to pay as many points to do so due to how many specialisms he can take.
**'''Interesting Note:''' A level 3 Lieutenant with the Iron Will and Tactical Planner traits is exactly 100 points, allowing them to fit nicely into any preexisting Killteam. If you take the Logistic specialism, you can use 1 of those D3 bonus command points from Tactical Planner to purchase yourself a 5++ save, and upgrade your sword to 2 Damage with the Master Artisan trait. That gives you a well rounded front-line warrior who can also contribute to shooting with the Armed to the Teeth trait allowing him to throw a grenade every turn.
*'''Primaris Librarian (Fortitude, Melee, Shooting, Psyker, Strength):''' The Primaris Librarian is the most expensive Adeptus Astartes Commander, and for good reason. He can use 2 psychic powers per phase, and has a wide variety of powers to choose from. Sitting right at 81 points, the Librarian has a pitiful little bolt pistol for ranged weapons, but has a 4A Force Sword to cut apart multi-wound models in melee. Don't forget that you can manifest psychic powers '''''WHILE IN MELEE''''', so don't be scared to get up in the enemy's face and spam Might of Heroes and Veil of Time. One very important aspect of the psykers in Kill Team are the fact that they can replace psybolt with a different power. For example, you could run 2 power from the Librarius discipline, and 1 power from the universal psychic powers everyone gets. One small disadvantage the Librarian has is that he has 3+ WS/BS, as compared to many other commanders having 2+ in some stat. Overall, the Librarian is likely the best commander because it unlocks an entirely new phase for the Space Marines, and many Commanders Missions make the commander cost no points, so most of the time the higher cost won't have much of an impact.
**'''Torrvald Orksbane:''' Even though the named characters are supposed to be superior versions of the standard model, this guy really does the opposite. He's often ''WORSE'' than the normal Primaris Librarian because of the specialism he's stuck in. His statline is entirely unchanged, the only difference between him and a normal librarian being his "Primaris Librarian Specialism". The reason he is inferior to the normal librarian is that he has '''0''' tactics specific to him. Not only that, but his specialism gives him a +1 to psychic tests at level 1, which is good, but the "Psyker" specialist already does the same thing ('''BUT THE PSYKER SPECIALISM HAS TACTICS SPECIFIC TO IT'''). The normal Primaris Librarian also has the ability to be a few other specialisms, and can help to shore up its weakpoints instead of wasting its time enhancing its already strong psychic phase. The level 4 ability he gets is literally useless outside of a campaign (Like, what were you thinking when you made this guy's abilities GW?) and his level 3 ability, Icy Kiss of Fenris won't work alot of the time because you'll probably just replace psybolt with another power anyways. Buy this guy's box just for the free tokens and psychic powers, don't actually use his ruleset and just have him count as a normal Librarian.
***'''Primaris Librarian Specialism:''' Torrvald Orksbane's unique skill tree, with the following skills.
****'''Level 1: Wyrdsborn:''' +1 to Psychic tests. Good, but you can get this by just using the Psyker specialism.
****'''Level 2: Ork Hunter:''' Reroll hit rolls of 1 in the fight phase. If you're fighting Orks, its failed hit rolls instead.
****'''Level 3: Icy Kiss of Fenris:''' When Torrvald uses psybolt on someone and they don't die, automatically make them shaken. Useful for fighting bigger enemies that won't die to one bolt.
****'''Level 4: Trophy Hunter:''' Roll a d6 for every enemy specialist you killed at the end of the game. If Torrvald didn't go out of action, you get 1 morale if any of them come up as 5+. Obviously only for campaign.
*'''Primaris Chaplain (Ferocity, Fortitude, Leadership, Melee, Shooting, Strength):''' If you have a very stabby kill team, this is gonna be the right guy for you. He's really good at melee, and really good at providing buffs for melee, but that's it. Even though his skill set is limited, he is '''''VERY''''' good at what he does. With his 4++, Arcanum melee, 2+ WS, '''AND''' aura tactic for melee, he's a force to be reckoned with in the fight phase. If you have alot of reivers in your team, this guy works wonders with them. You'll be ripping your enemy to shreds with the right setup. However, his only ranged capability is his pistol. With almost no range to work with, he won't work very well on your team if you're not going for melee. If you're playing a mission that has objectives, probably avoid using the chaplain, because sitting on the objective doing nothing doesn't really work for him. On the other hand, if the mission is about killing the enemy or the enemy's commander, then this guy works great. He performs especially well against enemies with high AP melee like GSC or Dark Eldar (because of his 4++).
*'''Primaris Captain in Phobos Armor (Elites) (Ferocity, Fortitude, Leadership, Logistics, Melee, Shooting, Stealth, Strategist, Strength):''' This model has only one wargear loadout, but what a loadout it is.  Camo Cloak and Iron Halo for extra protection.  Combat knife gives him an impressive 6 attacks if he ends up in melee (but since they have no AP or strength boosts, don't let him get caught in melee against tougher opponents).  A Master-Crafted Instigator Bolt Carbine that trades six inches of range from its Master-Crafted Stalker Bolt Rifle cousin for the ability to ignore range penalties.  Concealed deployment gives him a chance to get a good vantage point and make the most of that thirty-inch range, and the omni-scrambler ensures that your opponent will have a harder time dislodging him with a deep-strike.  Otherwise, he costs five more points at every level than the regular Primaris Captain, but makes himself well worth it.
**Note: If you make the Captain a Level 2 Shooting specialist with the Trick-Shooter ability, he will ignore both range and obscured penalties to hit (the two most common hit penalties), and reroll ones, meaning that he would have to roll a one twice to miss anything without additional sources of hit penalties.  Then, when he almost invariably does hit his target, he can use the Lucky Hit tactic to auto-pass both wound rolls.  A Captain with this setup can ruin the day of any model he can see within thirty inches.  Have fun with that.
*'''Primaris Lieutenant in Phobos Armor (Elites) (Ferocity, Fortitude, Leadership, Logistics, Melee, Shooting, Stealth, Strategist, Strength):'''  <span style='color:red>'''[ADD YOUR SM SPECIFIC OPINION HERE]'''</span>
*'''Primaris Librarian in Phobos Armor (Elites) (Fortitude, Melee, Psyker, Stealth, Strength):'''  <span style='color:red>'''[ADD YOUR SM SPECIFIC OPINION HERE]'''</span>
*'''Librarian in Terminator Armor (Elites) (Fortitude, Melee, Psyker, Shooting, Strength):''' The Terminator variant of the Librarian acts pretty similarly to his Primaris brother, with access to the same psychic discipline and a similar statline.  He does, however, only have 3 attacks and 5 inches of movement, making him moderately less well-suited to dealing damage in melee.  He can choose between a force stave, force axe, and force sword, depending on whether strength or AP is a priority.  Note that he does not come with a ranged weapon by default, though, as is the standard for Terminators, the storm bolter and full complement of combi-weapons are available to this model.  Just know that you will be paying a premium for those.  Take this over the Primaris Librarian if you want a psyker that will be harder for the enemy to get rid of.
*'''Chaplain in Terminator Armor (Elites) (Ferocity, Fortitude, Leadership, Melee, Shooting, Strength):''' Much like the Terminator Librarian, the Terminator Chaplain is a more durable but less mobile variant of the Primaris Chaplain, sacrificing an inch of movement an one attack for a 2+ save.  Unlike the Terminator Librarian, however, the Chaplain does not have an invulnerable save over his Primaris variant, as both have the 4++ from the Rosarius.  The Terminator Chaplain's biggest advantage, then, is the fact that he comes equipped with a storm bolter and can take any combi-weapon, which better than the Absolver Bolt Pistol for ranged combat.  That said, the Chaplain is oriented towards melee, where the Absolver is actually more useful.
*'''Captain in Terminator Armor (Elites) (Ferocity, Fortitude, Leadership, Logistics, Melee, Shooting, Strategist, Strength):''' The Terminator Armor is definitely nice, but this Captain's main draw is the fact he can be kitted out for nearly anything. He can fight in melee with Lightning Claws (single or paired), a Thunder Hammer, or a relic blade (not available for the Space Wolves although they can take a Power Sword, Power Axe, or Power Maul instead), or just stick with a power fist or chainfist. For ranged combat, he can swap out his storm bolter for a combi-weapon. And he can replace either his storm bolter or his melee weapon with a storm shield for extra durability at range or in melee. And a Terminator Captain with a power fist can also take a wrist-mounted grenade launcher. Mix and match to fit your needs. Just be mindful that the only free weapons are the power sword and storm bolter, with the rest of the options getting expensive fast.  Before kitting your Terminator Captain out with a combi-melta and thunder hammer (the two most expensive options), consider that any turn in which he uses one, he will not be using the other (barring overwatch shots), and that replacing either weapon with a cheaper option could pay for an extra body on the field.
**Modelling Note: While all of these options sound nice on paper, the sad fact is that, at the time of release for Elites, only three Terminator Captain models are in production: a Blood Angels Terminator Captain with Storm Bolter and Thunder Hammer, a Deathwatch Terminator Captain (who can simply be assembled with the regular shoulder pad instead of the Deathwatch one) with Storm Bolter and Power Sword, and the Cataphractii Terminator Captain from the Space Marine Heroes box with a combi-melta and chainfist.  While you could run a regular terminator as a Captain to gain access to all the default Terminator equipment, or use spare terminator bits to convert the wargear on the Captain models, the combi-plasma and combi-flamer remain unseen on loyalist Terminators, and the wrist-mounted grenade launcher is not available on any model.  If you want these options, get to converting.
***Conversion Note: The Cataphractii Terminator Captain's combi-melta is a two-part assembly, consisting of a bolter half which the handle is attached to, and a meltagun half which attaches to the side of the bolter.  Given that the bolter half features a flat face for the melta half to be glued to, it wouldn't take much to replace it with a cut down plasma or flamer barrel.  You would still be stuck with a chainfist, but it isn't the worst option.
*'''Inquisitor Eisenhorn (Strategist):'''  <span style='color:red>'''[ADD YOUR SM SPECIFIC OPINION HERE]'''</span>
*'''Neyam Shai Murad (WDSept2019/Annual2019) (Shooting):''' Rogue Trader originally from Blackstone Fortress Escalation. Armed with 2 Negotiator pistols but weirdly not her own sword-leg. <span style='color:red>'''[ADD YOUR SM SPECIFIC OPINION HERE]'''</span>