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Early on in the Dungeon & Dragons players handbook, there is a description about different styles of playing the game. Among them is the "bust-down-the-door" style, accompanied by a picture of a warrior kicking in a door with such fury that it explode in the face of the monster stupidly standing on the other side. If that style of play sounds appealing to you, then the Force Commander is your guy. Okay, granted, you might need to replace "door" with "ugly
Orc mug", but the concept remains the same. The Force Commander has a lot of health, good base damage, and a standard special ability called Battle Cry which allows the Force Commander to perform special attacks every time he strikes, which is another way of saying that he kicks a lot of ass for as long as Battle Cry is active.
In terms of weapons, the Force Commander has four upgrades. Out of them two are notable, those being the Thunder Hammer and the Power Fist. The Thunder Hammer is an incredibly common upgrade because it has an amazing knockdown attack which, when combined with Battle Cry, allows the Force Commander to carve a swath of destruction through enemy ranks. The Power Fist is less appealing against infantry, but it is effective against vehicles, as it does serious damage against them and has a stun which disables them for a short amount of time. The Power Sword and Sword-And-Shield, the other two Wargear upgrades, are dramatically less interesting, and generally not work buying.
Armor is less exciting for the Force Commander, as his main two armors, the Armor of Alacrity and Artificer Armor, offer modest health boosts. Most go for the Armor of Alacrity because it gives the Sprint ability, which is useful given that the Force Commander is a melee hero. There is also the Terminator armor, but it is less an upgrade and more a re-purposing of the Force Commander. It gives the Force Commander a big gun, making him a ranged hero rather than a melee one. However, the Force Commander also loses special abilities gained from previous Wargear upgrades, so the Terminator armor is generally a bad choice.
Surprisingly, the Force Commander's utility options are extremely good. The cheapest option is the Iron Halo, which gives the Force Commander a shield that runs off energy. This increases survivability, making a Force Commander with an Iron Halo one of the toughest hero units in the game. More subtle players may opt for the Teleportation Pack, however, which allows the Force Commander to instantly move to any spot within a large radius. This is extremely useful for taking out deployable squads which are suppressing your troops, and it also makes for some nasty combinations. For example, you can use the Teleport Pack to place your Force Commander directly next to an enemy tank. Then you can use the Power Fist's Flesh Over Steel ability to stun it, and then send in your Tactical Marines to kill it with missile launches without worrying about retaliation. Finally, the Force Commander has the Sacred Standard, which provides a sizable inspiration buff, increasing damage output of squads near the Force Commander. The only problem with it is that the Force Commander is a melee fighter and most Space Marine units are ranged, so your Force Commander is often not close enough to your squads to make use of this. Because of this, most people go for the Iron Halo or the Teleportation Pack instead.
