Blood Angels Captain Tycho

Another guest article from Joe Harter of 40k Fight Club!

One of the most little used characters I’ve seen out of the Blood Angels Codex is Captain Tycho.
Capt. Tycho comes in two versions, a regular Captain with a few interesting perks, and a Death
Company version who I feel is almost completely worthless because he is not an independent
character and cannot join Death Company. I think the only reason to ever use Death Company
Tycho would be to have an entire Death Company list with no regular marines.

Regular Tycho is one of the few Captains who still have Rites of Battle, Capt. Sicarius from
the Ultramarines being the other. This lets all the Blood Angel units use Tycho’s leadership
10 for morale and pinning tests. Tycho comes with a combi-melta and he is allowed to use the
Sternguard special issue ammo. One of his best hidden gems is the Deadman’s Hand, while not
considered a close combat weapon allowing extra weapon bonus attacks it allows Tycho’s close
combat attacks to ignore armor saves completely, and lets Tycho roll 2D6 for armor penetration
against vehicles. It also has a set of digital lasers to give a wound re-roll. Tycho also has a
Hatred for Orks.

Using Capt. Tycho

Tycho is one of those HQ characters that you want in a support role. By himself he is fairly
underwhelming and not the character killer many other special characters are. He can be a threat
to other characters with his one shot melta, and in close combat his 2+ armor takes away the fear
of Power Swords, Lightning Claws, and Crozius’s. He is a threat to terminators and power fist
sergeants so he works well in tactical and sternguard squads as some added protection. Even
with Hatred against Ork armies don’t send him in against Nob bikers, his strength of 4 is not
enough to deny Feel No Pain and chances are he will either get tar pitted or killed quickly.

If you’re looking for a reasonably cheap HQ unit that has some decent gear I suggest taking a
look at Tycho and see if there is a place for him in your list. The first time he keeps a squad
from running off the table because they rolled a 9 or 10 instead of the 8 they needed he will have
paid for himself.