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GK Techmarine in 6th edition


L30n1d4s

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Techmarines were already useful in 5th edition, but with the new rulebook and FAQ, arguably their value for a GK army has gone up. Let's take a look.

 

1) Basic Wargear - With basic Marine stats (WS/BS, wounds, Ld, etc.) the Techmarine doesn't seem too impressive for his points right out of the box, however, he has several items of Wargear that make a substantial difference. First, he comes with artificier armor, giving him a 2+ save, which is quite valuable in 40K now that PWs are generally AP3. Additionally, stock he has a Bolter, PW, frag/krak/psy-out grenades, and, most significantly, a Servo Harness. The Servo Harness gives him two S8, I1 attacks that ignore armor saves, as well as a TLed plasma pistol and a flamer. If he upgrades to a Nemesis Daemon Hammer, he has 4 S8, AP2 attacks on the charge backed up by a flamer template and a TL-ed plasma pistol. Since he is a character, all of these weapons benefit from the Precision shot/Precision strike rules, enabling him to select the model to be wounded on a roll of 6 to hit. That is some pretty signifanct damage output for a single model.

 

2) Force Multiplier - As an IC, he can join a unit and provide multiple benefits to it. First, he has Hammerhand, allowing him to add another point of strength to any unit he is operating with. Second, his ability to take Melta bombs and Blind and Rad grenades, while extremely useful in 5th edition, became even better in 6th. Blind grenades provide Stealth against short range shooting in addition to taking away opponent's charge bonus. Melta bombs are better, being able to target MCs as well as vehicles and being AP1 now. Rad grenades reduce toughness, which is even more important now that FNP is only negated by attacks that double a unit's toughness. Now that cover saves are down, the Techmarines ability to Bolster Defences is even more important. Bolstering a ruin to a 3+ cover save and then using Shrouding can make a unit get a 2+ cover save, which is likely to be exceptionally rare in 6th edition.

 

3) Vehicle Surviveability - We all know vehicles are much less durable in 6th edition, even with Fortitude. Now that Techmarines can not only repair Immobilized/Weapon Destroyed results, but also restore lost Hull Points, they can be the differnce in a critical vehicle staying in the fight or not. Is that Stormraven your army's only source of anti-flyer firepower? Is that Land Raider the key to getting your GK Termies to their objective? A Techmarine, if he gets the Reconstruction Power off, has a 75% chance of repairing a Hull Point or an immobilized/weapon destroyed result.

 

4) Shooting Support - Most people think of Techmarines in terms of their ability to buff the CC of a unit (i.e. Hammerhand, grenades, etc.) or for their repair/Bolster Defense capabilities. Now that Blast hit vehicles at full strength whether the center hole is on the vehicle or not, the Conversion Beamer is a much more effective anti-tank weapon, so a Techmarine can use this to boster GK anti-mech capabilities. Also, now that Psykers are likely to be used more in 6th edition and Perils of the Warp causes wounds with no saves whatsoever, the Orbital Strike Relay, and specifically the Psyk-Out Bomb, is more useful. Overall, the Techmarine can use some long range weapons that are more capable than in 5th edition and can definitely provide some much needed long-range firepower to a GK army.

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I love Techmarines (and defended them in GKs armies for years, taking flak on this very board!!!). I think it's a great addition to a GK gunline army. I plan to use my GKTM when having 2 psyflemen in my army. Those guys have become more fragile to shooting. He can bring 3 cheap servo-skull, and he doesn't take a HQ slot while basically having most of the HQ-slot perks (buffs a unit in CC, has IC for challenges, LOS on 2+, precision shots, etc). Not yet sure if I should try the Orbital strikes for laughs, though!

Don't get in close-combat with him, he'll get challenged for sure.

 

Best use for Tech-Marine is backfield with a conversion beamer, babysitting your pair of PsyDreads (he can repair their blown off guns and hull points, they heal stun/shaken on a 2+ with 'Fortitude' and Immobilise is meaningless to range 48" walkers). Even funnier is when you reinforce the ruin the Dreads are hiding in, then cast 'Shrouding' nearby with a Libby. I don't really like OSR, its extremely inaccurate compared to conversion beamer.

Take an ally unit :cry:

 

Master of the Forge (a Techmarine with 2 wounds for 10 points more, and is an HQ choice)

10 man Tactical Squad with Melta and MM or ML

 

275 points for the pair :D

 

Pretty sure the Techmarine can repair the our vehicles, (I am at work so may be wrong as I don't have the tome with me)

Checked in Codex:Space Marine

 

Blessing of the Omnissiah: If a Techmarine is in base contact with a damaged vehicle during the Shooting phase, he can attempt to repair it instead of firing.

 

So, theoretically, what would stop him actually repairing an enemy vehicle?

 

A Master of the Forge is BS5, and has 2 wounds. Surely he is a no brainer? Can anyone think of a reason why not to take him and stick with using an Elite FOC slot and take our own Techmarine?

Checked in Codex:Space Marine

 

Blessing of the Omnissiah: If a Techmarine is in base contact with a damaged vehicle during the Shooting phase, he can attempt to repair it instead of firing.

 

So, theoretically, what would stop him actually repairing an enemy vehicle?

 

A Master of the Forge is BS5, and has 2 wounds. Surely he is a no brainer? Can anyone think of a reason why not to take him and stick with using an Elite FOC slot and take our own Techmarine?

 

If you weren't taking an Inquisitor or Grandmaster and wanted an "I win" grenades caddy? :devil:

Master of the Forge (a Techmarine with 2 wounds for 10 points more, and is an HQ choice)

10 man Tactical Squad with Melta and MM or ML

 

Why would I waste my ally slot with boring Marines? Especially when I can already get the Tech-Marine and conversion beamer

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