Techmarine Tactica

[Iron Father Ferrum]

Dig into this for me, fellas. I'd like to get some feedback on it before I go showing it off to anyone else. Reviewing, I feel like I was redundant by posting up some of the more obvious rules in each section, but I'll let y'all be the judges for me.

 

 

TACTICA: TECHMARINES

 

 

Introduction

 

T

echmarines are a vital cog in the machinery of a Chapter of the Adeptus Astartes. They are products of two different aspects of the Imperium. The Emperor's science has made them superhuman, and they learn the ways and rites of technology from the Adeptus Mechanicus -- the priests of Mars who are the seekers and protectors of all mankind's technology. They are the fabricators and repairmen of the Space Marine Chapters, spending much of their in the forges of their fortress-monasteries. However, they remain battle-brothers of the Astartes and are fully capable of bringing death and destruction to the enemies of the Imperium.

 

What is this?

Techmarines of all stripes are perhaps the least-utilized units of all Codex: Space Marine units, despite the advantages that they can bring. This article is intended as a tactical treatise on the uses of the Master of the Forge, Techmarine, Servitor Bodyguard, and Thunderfire Cannon.

 

What isn't this?

This is not a fluff discussion about Techmarines, the Adeptus Mechanicus, or the hows and whys of Imperial technology. This is also not a mathhammer discussion since I'm not very good generating statistics, so when it comes to determining hit percentages etc, the situations will be illuminated as necessary.

 

 

ARTIFICERS

The Master of the Forge

 

T

he Master of the Forge is the commander of all a chapter's Techmarines, serving as the keeper of the chapter's greatest technological treasures and its lead mechanic and artificer. They fill a HEADQUARTERS slot on the standard Force Organization Chart.

 

Basic Statistics

 

The Master of the Forge has a standard Space Marine statline, with an extra point in his BS, A, and W with Ld10. This gives them a subpar close-combat ability compared to the other HQ choices, since they possess only MEQ WS and I and thus strike simultaneously on a 4+ with MEQ (Marine Equivalents). Their shooting, however, is quite accurate (but we'll get to that). He is not an Eternal Warrior and so can be instant-killed, and contrary to common sense, he has no invulnerable save.

 

Special Rules

 

ATSKNF: We all know it, we all love it.

 

Combat Tactics: While he contributes no special rules, if you choose to take a Special Character as your second HQ slot, the Master of the Forge will benefit from it.

 

Independent Character: He's capable of joining squads.

 

Blessing of the Omnissiah: If in base contact with a vehicle that has suffered an Immobilized or Weapon Destroyed result at the start of the shooting phase, he can repair those on a roll of 5+. This reason, almost by itself, is a good reason to take a Master of the Forge. It allows to you get otherwise neutralized vehicles -- such as immobilized Dreadnoughts and weapon destroyed Vindicators -- back into the fight.

 

Bolster Defenses: Allows you to increase the cover save of one set of ruins within your deployment zone by one level. This is most especially useful if you bolster ruins next to an objective and place camo-cloaked scouts in it. This grants the scouts a 2+ cover save against shooting, giving them considerable resiliency in holding said objective. It can also be used to provide a 3+ cover save for standard Marines that are hard-pointing the ruins (Devastators are the normal choice for this, although Tactical Squads and Sternguard can also do so effectively if need be).

 

Master of the Armory: The Master of the Forge allows Dreadnoughts to be taken as both Elites and Heavy Support slots. This allows you to take up to six Dreadnoughts in a single army, or can be used to free up Elite slots for Terminator or Sternguard Squads and still take Dreadnoughts -- especially useful in all-drop pod armies, as it lets you take massed drop podding Sternguard and deep striking Terminators and still have the resilience of a unit with an armor value instead of a Toughness value.

 

 

Wargear Options

 

Stock Options: The basic, 100-point Master of the Forge comes with artificer armor (2+ armor save), the ubiquitous frag & krak grenades, and a bolt pistol. What makes him special, however, is the presence of his servo-harness.

 

Servo Harness: This piece of wargear incorporates two servo-arms, a twin-linked plasma pistol, and a flamer. The harness automatically decreases the target number for Blessing of the Omnissiah rolls by one point. It also allows the Master of the Forge to fire two weapons in the shooting phase instead of just one; if equipped with a combiplasma or plasma pistol, that can give as many as three plasma shots (one of them twinlinked) in one turn, all hitting on 2+. The two servo-arms also give him two S8 power weapon attacks in close combat that hit on his Weapon Skill, which provides an excellent secondary close-combat capability even if he is not given his own dedicated power weapon.

 

Conversion Beamer: Last on the list, I have put this one first because it is the easiest way to substantially increase the damage-dealing capabilites of your Master of the Forge. The Conversion Beamer fires in three different profiles, with the damage increasing and the AP value decreasing as the range to target increases. Over 42", the Beamer hits at S10 AP1 Blast, capable of killing any model in the game. As a blast weapon, it will always place a template on the table somewhere, and the Master's BS5 will ensure that deviations are kept to a minimum. However, it does have its drawbacks. At close range, it has no AP, wounding MEQs on a 2+ but allowing them their normal armor save. It is also a Heavy weapon, which makes it a move-or-fire if the Master of the Forge is on foot. One other drawback is that by taking the Conversion Beamer, the Master loses his servo-harness and the weaponry that is associated with it.

 

Space Marine Bike: At first glance, the bike is not the greatest option for a Master of the Forge. However, it does provide two distinct advantages. If your Master has a servo-harness, it allows him to rapidly move to base-to-base contact with damaged vehicles, thus getting those all-important repair jobs in sooner. However, the bike comes into its own if the Master has taken a Conversion Beamer -- since it allows him to move and fire the Beamer, and the bike's speed means that he is able to more easily stay in the maximum range bracket for the Beamer, thus allowing him to put the most powerful shots down-range.

 

Digital Weapons: Don't bother unless you take a power weapon or have a spare ten points to burn.

 

Power Weapon: When combined with his servo-harness, a bolt or plasma pistol, and digital weapons, this gives the Master of the Forge three (four on the charge) power weapon attacks with two additional power fist-equivalent attacks from the servo-arms with a single reroll on to-wound rolls. While far from a powerhouse, this does give the Master a respectable close-combat punch.

 

Thunder Hammer: I would personally not recommend a thunder hammer for the Master of the Forge. Two additional S8 power attacks on top of his servo-harness sounds good, but it also forces him strike last with all of his attacks instead of just half of them, which increases the chances that he will take wounds before he gets any of his attacks in. It's also expensive points-wise, so I'd avoid it unless you intend for him to be used solely against Monstrous Creatures (more on this with the Servitor Bodyguard section) or tanks.

 

Bolt Pistol Replacements: The Master of the Forge can exchange his bolt pistol for a bolter, stormbolter, plasma pistol, or combiweapon. My personal preference is for the plasma pistol, giving him two plasma shots in the shooting phase as well as adding one attack when equipped with a power weapon. A combiflamer can be a decent combination with the flamer on his servo-harness when facing horde armies, since it gives him two flame templates in one turn of shooting. If you replace the harness with a Conversion Beamer, there is no reason to take any extra ranged weapons.

 

Tactical Recommendations

 

If you decide to take a Master of the Forge, you have to know exactly what you intend to use him for. There are four specific builds that I have used or seen used:

 

Dread Master: If you need him to take Heavy Support Dreadnoughts -- and that is ALL you want him for -- then he should be taken bare and assigned to a Tactical Squad. This is normally done for the purpose of taking all-drop pod armies. Just keep in mind, however, that he is still decent at repairing those Dreadnoughts, so ensure that you keep him close to at least one and get something extra out of your 100-point model.

 

Bike Beamer: The conversion beamer is a powerful weapon, and putting the Master on a bike with the beamer makes him an excellent mobile gun platform. He will draw fire, however, so it is best to keep him with a bike squad of some sort to provide ablative wounds; scout bikes are my recommendation since they're cheaper and probably won't have the chance to make use of any of the better weapons available to bike squads.

 

Foot Beamer: Conversion beamer-carriers on foot are rare, but as a build they can be used if assigned to the proper squads. Allow me to state this plainly: Foot Beamers should never be fielded by themselves. They should be given either a Servitor Bodyguard to provide ablative wounds or be placed in a Devastator Squad equipped with 48" ranged weapons. Lascannons are, in my mind, the optimal choice, since it provides three to five high-strength, low-AP shots on a single target, although being paired with missile launchers can also throw down as many as five small blast templates on a single target -- nothing to sneer at, especially if the target is Imperial Guard or Tyranid swarms. This can be combined with the Bolster Defenses ability to create a resilient and powerful base of fire.

 

Combat Mechanic: The optimal build for a combat mechanic is the servo-harness, power weapon, digital weapons, and one of the two choices of pistol. This can provide as many as six extra power weapon attacks to a squad on top of the two to four you can get from a standard Tactical Squad sergeant, as well as providing as many as three different special weapon choices for that squad (flamer and one or two plasma pistols), which increases the overall flexibility of the squad. Plus, if playing within the current mechanized metagame, he has a certain amount of speed so that he can be carried to tanks and Dreadnoughts that need repairing fairly quickly.

 

Major Drawbacks

The greatest issue with the Master of the Forge is that he does not have his own transport option, meaning that even if taken with a servitor bodyguard and intended for repair use, he will need to borrow a Rhino/Razorback/Land Raider to get around. While it is possible to include a combat mechanic or bare Master on foot with servitors and no transport, run-distance being dice-dependent makes such a tactic dangerous for the Master.

 

Take It or Leave It: Take it. Masters of the Forge can be tooled to fill several different roles and are the only non-Special Character HQ choice that modifies how an army list can be taken.

 

 

 

IRON BROTHERHOOD

Techmarines

 

Techmarines are the individual tech-priests who direct the construction and daily maintenance of a chapter's vehicles, armor, and weaponry. If needed, they can march into battle alongside their brothers. Techmarines take up an ELITES Force Organization slot.

 

Basic Statistics

 

A

Techmarine has the exact same basic statline as a normal Space Marine, with two exceptions: one, he gains a single S8 I1 power weapon attack from his servoarm; and two, he comes with artificer armor as standard.

 

Special Rules

 

ATSKNF: Shocking.

 

Combat Tactics: He has it, too.

 

Independent Character: Yes, though single-wound models, they are ICs and thus are capable of joining squads.

 

Blessing of the Omnissiah: See Master of the Forge for description.

 

Bolster Defenses: See Master of the Forge for description.

 

 

Wargear Options

 

Since the howabouts and whyfors for all of this wargear was discussed above, this section will only discuss what each piece does and does not give to a basic Techmarine.

 

Stock Options: A techmarine comes with artificer armor (2+ armor save) as standard, the ubiquitous frag & krak grenades, and a bolt pistol.

 

Servo Harness: Since the basic Techmarine only comes with a single servo-arm, the servo-harness is the best way of increasing the usefulness of the Techmarine in both direct-combat and mechanic roles. The Techmarine is already fairly expensive for a single-wound model, however, and will take up one our precious Elite slots. It is for these reasons that standard Techmarines rarely get time on the tabletop -- we have too many other options that provide better combat capability.

 

Space Marine Bike: The bike upgrade for a stock Techmarine is really only useful if you take a servo-harness as well, since now your Techmarine has the speed to get to damaged vehicles quickly in order to start making repair rolls. An alternate use is to use the bike to speed up to enemy vehicles and hit them with the servo-arm attack(s), though this is one tactic that I have postulated on and never actually used/seen.

 

Power Weapon: Without access to digital weapons, power weapons become harder to justify on a Techmarine. They are a base of one attack and so cannot deal as much damage as a Master of the Forge or even most Tactical Squad sergeants. My advice: leave them at home.

 

Thunder Hammer: At 30 points, the thunder hammer is less attractive on the Techmarine than it is on a Master of the Forge. Fewer attacks striking last is not ideal; one possible combination is to take a servo-harness, thunder hammer, and bike and used him as a tank-assault unit since he will have a total of four S8 attacks on the charge. This, however, almost triples the model's point cost, which is far from ideal.

 

Bolt Pistol Replacements: This largely depends upon the part the Techmarine is intended to play. If placed with a Tactical Squad to provide extra power fist attack(s) and/or serve as a mechanic, I would recommend equipping him with a combiweapon -- specifically a plasma or melta, since these provide the "carrier" Tactical Squad with extra anti-tank/Terminator guns for uses in extremis. The plasma pistol is also an option, but the combiplasma overall is probably a better bet since he will not receive an extra attack from the pistol unless you pay out the points for a power weapon, and the combiplasma can fire two shots in one turn instead of just one.

 

 

Tactical Recommendations

 

Combat Mechanic: Whether you have the points to spare for the servo-harness or not, the combat mechanic is probably the best use of a standard Techmarine. Whether inserted with a Tactical Squad to hijack their Rhino or foot-slogging with servitors, the Techmarine alone simply does not have the stats to make for a significant close-combat or shooting threat.

 

Major Drawbacks

 

In order to become truly effective at any serious combat roles, the Techmarine requires an inordinate amount of points to be spent on wargear, inflating his cost beyond what should ideally be spent on what is, after all, a single wound model. Plus, they take up an Elite slot, and there is already fierce competition for these from units like Terminators and Sternguard.

 

Take It or Leave It: Leave it. We have better choices for our precious Elite slots.

 

 

SANTA'S HELPERS

Servitor Bodyguards

 

S

ervitors are men lobotimized, their neural pathways remapped through invasive surgery and the implatation of machine-code wafers to create human-machine hybrids capable of only simple problem-solving skills. Nominally designed for menial tasks, Techmarines can go into battle leading a gaggle of such servitors. As a retinue choice for Masters of the Forge and Techmarines, servitors do not take up Force Organization slots.

 

Basic Statistics

 

Servitors are not battle-brothers in any way, and so feature a subpar statline. They have an IG stateline with Ld8, carapace armor, and a single servo-arm coming standard.

 

Special Rules

 

ATSKNF: While servitors themselves do not have ATSKNF, if they are lead by a Techmarine or Master of the Forge, then they will benefit from it in order to remain with the Techmarine.

 

Mindlock: If servitors are taken, then the Techmarine or Master of the Forge that is taken with them should stay with the unit to prevent Mindlock from occurring. Similar to the Eldar's Wraithsight rule, servitors without a Techmarine may end up standing still for a turn and doing nothing at all.

 

 

Wargear Options

 

Servo-Arm: All servitors come with a servo-arm standard, providing them with a power fist attack in addition to their normal one base attack. Additionally, each servo-arm-equipped servitor with a Techmarine improves the die roll needed to successfully effect a repair. Therefore, a Techmarine with a servo-harness normally requires a 4+; with two servo-arm servitors, he needs a 2+. Note that the Rule of One does apply to these rolls, so no matter how many servitors are taken.

 

Heavy Weapons: Up to two servitors per retinue have the option of replacing their servo-arms with either a heavy bolter, plasma cannon, or multimelta.

 

Tactical Recommendations

 

Use with Combat Mechanic: A servo-harness Techmarine/Master of the Forge with a retinue of servitors becomes extremely useful when running Dreadnought-heavy or fully-mechanized army lists. Lacking any guns except the short-ranged one carried by the Techmarine's harness, feel free to run in the shooting phase; if necessary, dragoon a Rhino or Razorback from another squad. Also, while intended for a technical role, such a unit can be extremely potent against vehicles or Monstrous Creatures due to the sheer number of powerfist attacks that are being directed against the target. Always remember, though, that the Techmarine himself is an Independent Character and thus can be fought against in close combat and lacks an invulnerable save, making this a dicey proposition against a wily player.

 

Ablative Wounds for a Beam Carrier: If Devastator Squads are not your style, a servitor bodyguard can be used to provide ablative wounds for a Foot Beamer Master of the Forge. Two options become available in this scenario. First, you can leave the servitors bare and use them for wound allocation shennanigans while the Master of the Forge fires his Conversion Beamer. Alternatively, you can equip two of the servitors with heavy weapons. But wait, DXF, you might say. The beamer is only really good at 42" and over! None of their weapons are can even reach that far! And you are correct to say so, but consider that without any way to keep the enemy at such extreme ranges, you're likely to be firing at targets within the 18-42" block which still provides a respectable S8 AP4. Now add in two plasma cannon templates, and that's three high-strength templates all hammering the same target. While not as impressive individually, as a whole, the unit is actually dishing more damage to non-invulnerable squads than the beamer alone is capable of. Is it an ideal solution? No. But it's also not not horrible, and it costs less than a Devastator Squad with three or four plasma cannons.

 

Major Drawbacks

 

If the Techmarine dies, your servitors will begin to suffer from Mindlock rolls and may eventually end up doing very little on their own. The majority Toughness of a servo-squad means that its easier to wound your Techmarine against shooting attacks.

 

Take It or Leave It: Leave it unless your Techmarine or Master of the Forge is built around having a squad of servitors with him. Without a specific role, they simply chew up points.

 

 

 

RAINING DEATH

Thunderfire Cannon

 

W

hile field artillery does not mesh well with Astartes combat-doctrine, the Thunderfire Cannon's long range, compact size, and multi-use ammunition make is an indispensible tool for bombardments and defensive operations.

 

Basic Statistics

 

The Thunderfire Cannon is a powerful but fragile artillery piece that is, in my opinion, under-utilized by most Space Marine players. It's one-man crew has all of the rules and stock wargear of a Techmarine with a servo-harness. The cannon itself counts as a vehicle with AV10 all around that is destroyed by any glancing or penetrating hit. It can fire in three different weapon profiles, detailed below.

 

 

Special Rules

 

ATSKNF: No surprise.

 

Combat Tactics: Yup.

 

Independent Character: The Techmarine gains this if the Cannon is destroyed.

 

Blessing of the Omnissiah: See Master of the Forge for description. The Techmarine gains this if the Cannon is destroyed.

 

Bolster Defenses: See Master of the Forge for description. Yes, he gets Bolster Defenses, which means that a Master of the Forge and a Thunderfire Cannon in the same army list will allow you to reinforce the cover saves of two different ruins.

 

 

Wargear Options

 

The Techmarine crewman, sadly, can take NO wargear. However, the cannon has three different types of ammunition it can fire at the enemy. All Cannon rounds fire at 60" and spit out four small blast templates. Remember that this weapon is straight Heavy 4, not a barrage weapon -- so you roll for scatter for all four shots separately.

 

Surface Detonation: Surface rounds slaughter Imperial Guard, Orks, Tyranid Swarms, and Eldar Guardians, and with four templates, can put enough hits that wound on 2+ on a MEQ squad to overwhelm most player's ability to roll 3+ armor saves. It is even useful to knock around light vehicles such as Rhinos and Chimaeras (if you can get a side-armor shot), although this is far from ideal.

 

Airburst: Airburst rounds are designed to completely nerf units that rely on cover saves, such as Eldar Guardians, Rangers/Pathfinders, Guardsmen, and Gretchin squads. They still wound on a 2+ against GEQs (Guard Equivalent) and just like a flamer are not stopped by cover saves. This makes them eminently useful for pushing units like Rangers and gretchin off of home deployment zone objectives.

 

Subterranean Detonation: Subterranean rounds are the most situational of the three ammo types available. This type of round is at its best when fired at Jump Infantry and Bike squads because it forces those units to take Dangerous Terrain tests. I used this to good effect during the 2009 'Ard Boyz Tournament at my LGS when I was able to roll decently and put wounds on a Nob Biker squad. In the subsequent movement phase, the Ork player took several more wounds which resulted in the deaths of a couple bikers and opened the door for the Nobz to get pummelled by my Dreadnoughts on the next turn.

 

 

Tactical Recommendations

 

Simply put, you either love the Thunderfire Cannon or hate it. Unlike units like Assault Squads and Razorbacks, no one includes Thunderfires just because they are all around decent units. They work best in static gunline armies, which have become rare amongst 5th Edition Space Marine players due to our inability to compete in gunnery duels with the Tau and Imperial Guard. However, they do remain one of the cheapest Heavy Support options in the entire Codex and make for decent filler if you find yourself with 100 free points and nothing left to do with them.

 

Also remember that even when the Cannon is destroyed, the Techmarine is capable of independent movement and can even join squads and conduct repairs.

 

Major Drawbacks

 

The Cannon is fragile, counting as an AV10 vehicle that is destroyed by ANY hit. The crewman may have a 2+ save, but he is also only a single wound. Like Elites, Heavy Support choices also tend to be at a premium, so the Cannon probably needs to be an integral part of an army list from the beginning or it will lose out to its bigger, better-armored brothers.

 

Take It or Leave It: Take it if you have space. They tend to be ignored, since your opponent is likely to be shooting at your bigger, more expensive models like tanks, APCs, and Dreadnoughts.

[Fatuous]

Looking pretty good there, covers most things pretty well.

 

I'd stress the point of adding servitors tho, as dropping you MOF or TM to T3 to taking fire is a big thing, and the main reason that I would probably never take any Servitors. MOFs are a little delicate already, with good armour, but no inv save, not many wounds and at risk of instand death, so anything that softens him further is not a good thing for me. However, taking 1 servitor does have it's advantages. This doesn't drop his T, and increases his ability to fix things from 1/2 to 2/3s of the time, a significant increase. Add to this the cost of servitors as well, 1 servitor is cheaper than a power weapon........ then any additional servitors cost the same as a power weapon, so adding in 1, ups his chances significantly, doesn't drop his T to shooting attacks, and is incredibly cheap! So could be a good option.

 

However, like you mentioned, no transport options, and even worse, you now have a 2 model unit with no way of joining other units unless the servitor is killed. IMO this is too high a price to pay for the increase in Mr Fixit.

 

Which is why my MOF gets a power weapon (if he is lucky, I'll drop it if I have to shave points) and joins a tac squad. His main purpose for me is to give me access to more dreads, then act as a support unit for a tac squad, spitting out more flamer death, increasing their Ld and fixing dreads if the oppertunity arises. Sure it is only 50 50 chance of doing it, but tooling him up to get better odds, just doesnt seem worth it for all the disadvantages (no transports, dropped T). He really does add some nice extra fire power to a tac squad as well, doubling the flamer attacks (adding a combi flamer to the sarge works well too if you want to max out flamer death) or freeing up the special weapon for a melta, diluting the over all power, but increasing the flexibility.

 

I can see little to no real use for a regular tech marine though, elite slots (for me at least) are higher premium than HQ slots, and as to be really effective you want the servo harness, you are only saving 25 points, for less wounds and attacks, but it is the Elite slot that is really the kicker.

[ShinyRhino]

Good article. One minor point: the wording of Tremor for the Thunderfire Cannon does not require you to wound, only that the unit be "hit". So long as even one of the Blast templates lands on a unit, they are affected by Tremor, regardless of wounds caused/saved.

[H.C.118]

Great Article. I would also note that I have used a Techmarine with Servo Harness in a Land Raider with Terminators to deliver. It provides repairs, and if faced with an enemy too powerful, can beef it up in assault.

[Bannus]

Looks good - but I have one significant reservation: Too much information. Please edit the article to focus more on the how and why of the character's rules and edit out the rules themselves. We are treading a little heavy on GW's IP rights to be comfortable.

[Iron Father Ferrum]

I hadn't thought of that. I'm on it.

[jesselowe]

Question: Can you take a retinue of servitors with the TFC & techmarine gunner? Seems like a way of boosting the resilience of the unit, if legal, albeit at the cost of lowered Toughness.

[Iron Father Ferrum]

No, you can't -- in order to join any squad, the gunner needs to be an IC, which he doesn't become until after the cannon is destroyed. And even if you could, this does not improve the fragility of the unit because you have to randomize hits between the crew and the cannon anyway, and those are set numbers. The best way to make the cannon survivable is to deploy it in cover (preferrably a ruin so the gunner can boost the cover save to a 3+).