Karhedron

The advantage of having the wargear spread across 2 different minis is that you can run 2 different poses if you want multiple Jump Captains.

I am running 5 with Inferno Pistols and 5 with Storm Shields but I put them together at the start of 10th. Rumours are that we will get new VanVets at the start of 11th so less than a year away. If you are building now, it is hard to guess what the new weapon options will be. If you equip them as JAIs then at least if GW change the loadout you can still run them as a legal squad in 11th. Here is the shield half of the squad.

My guess is that the new Calgar is more to do with tying in 10th edition as the Terminator edition. On the other hand, SM line troops tend to get updated around once a decade and most of them will be around 9 years old by the launch of 11th edition so your suggestion is not implausible. I guess the head from the standard Primaris Captain is a decent choice if you want Cato with a helmet on. It is pretty UM flavoured.

Guitar wire might work best.

If that's a fake then the guy who did it deserves some kind of award.

For years I resisted the digitisation of the rules but I have come around.

There is a difference though, their narrative exists beyond the lore. A little piece of it belongs to everyone who has the model and ran it in their army. When we field a character, we are adding to their story, even if it is only within the confines of our own battle and imaginations. This could be the day they achieve glorious victory or are cruelly slain. By killing off a character, you are diminishing their narrative potential for players.

Spears might make a better bodyguard for Dante. For escorting Captains, the free Stratagem means will probably favour Glaives + Red Rampage. But it is good that it is now a reasonable balance between the two.

One thing to be aware of is that Bugmans gets very busy on event days. I took my daughter a couple of months ago and there was an HH event on. We went to Bugman's and got told there was a 2 hour wait for food and they had run out of most things like burgers. Maybe I was just unlucky but they don't seem to lay on extra staff or supplies for busy days.

Yes, BAs are one of the few lists that can reliably do anti-tank with melee infantry. The combination of Red Thirst and +1 to Wound (either from Chaplains or Red Rampage) means they can wound up to T11 on a 4+ (which crucially includes big Knights now). BGVs, VanVets and SangGuard can wound even T12-13 on a 4+ on the charge.

Knights came out a day or two ago so I imagine DE will be either next week or the week after at the latest.

My feeling is that killing off characters with models is a bad idea. It feels bad for the people who have bought and painted those models, even if they are technically still allowed to run them. Plus it creates the feeling that they could go away at any time. Tycho and Eldrad were both killed off lore-wise in the 3rd edition but kept cropping up in codices. It took another 6 editions before they finally removed Tycho and they retconned Eldrad's death completely. Now we have a situation with Yarrick where he is dead but people don't know if he is really gone and keep expecting him to pop up again in the next Guard release. I think killing off characters should be reserved for those who only exist in the lore and don't have rules and models. The post-rift books have given us numerous named SM Captains, we can spare a few of those. The important thing to remember is 40K is a game first and foremost. The lore exists to support the setting. Whilst I understand people's complaints about the level of plot armour some people have, I don't think people playing the game should be penalised just because of improbable storytelling in what is already an extremely improbable setting.

Well there are the 4 "Grotmas" Daemon detachments so the army is still playable.

No rumours yet, sorry. My guess is that Daemons won't be getting a codex back. I don't think GW would have taken the risk of ill will if they were going to bring them back again next edition.

I prefer the MC Bolter. Double the range, Double the rate of fire and you get 2 Damage without having to overcharge. The only real advantage of the plasma pistol is the better AP. But your friend is right. It will rarely make a big difference one way or the other.