Adeptus Mechanicus Techmarine Army

[Ordo Machinum]

I have been lurking around this forum for a short while and wanted to come to the mechanicus experts for some advice and opinions.

 

Essentially, I am planning to build a "Techmarine" army. Following one of the SM codexes, I wanted to have a force loyal to Mars. Now, I know the Steel Confessors were an Adeptus Mechanicus creation, and that didn't go down well with the Lords of Terra. I was thinking of using techmarines, sans harnesses.

 

I came upon 30+ skull cog torsos and shoulder pads and want to put them to good use. I'm debating on either using chapter specific pads on them (making them a sort of Mechanicus Deathwatch) or leaving the other pad blank (as if they're a training cadre or some such thing). Maybe I could use a studded pad or a champion pad for their other shoulder (I have some of those as well). Oh, and for their helmets I was planning on the DA Ravenwing techmarine head (the one that looks mostly robotic with a flat face and targeter and comm unit on it).

 

I could also use a few of these squads as "allies" with another codex army if need be.

 

What say you?

[apologist]

Traditionally, Astartes train for thirty years on Mars to become Techmarines. Given the paucity of Space Marines in general, I always thought it a bit odd that these individuals would miss out on three decades of battlefield experience. Besides, where better to learn the martial aspect of battlefield repair than the battlefield?

 

For an old Mechanicus army I made, I built five Techmarine Aspirants – a term I invented for these techmarines in training – as a sort of 'Deathwatch' equivalent; so I think your concept could work nicely. I'd suggest that you keep the Chapter pauldron, but paint the rest of the armour red.

[Brother Sefiel]

Hello

You are basically doing what I've done. Most of my guys have the cog pad - those that don't usually have the symbol from the centre attached to chest or belt - and there are plenty of techmarines. There are plenty of bionics, too, unsurprisingly.

 

I often put veteran pads on the other shoulders (or wolf skulls or similar) and used to use the Deathwatch Veteran rules for those with the cog pads (before I upgraded the rest) but that is obviously no longer relevant.

The background is precisely that you wouldn't waste all that time for tech-recruits. Basically their operations are primarily securing sites of interest in order to recover tech, and to provide security for senior Mechanicum personnel.

[Ordo Machinum]

Traditionally, Astartes train for thirty years on Mars to become Techmarines. Given the paucity of Space Marines in general, I always thought it a bit odd that these individuals would miss out on three decades of battlefield experience. Besides, where better to learn the martial aspect of battlefield repair than the battlefield?

 

For an old Mechanicus army I made, I built five Techmarine Aspirants – a term I invented for these techmarines in training – as a sort of 'Deathwatch' equivalent; so I think your concept could work nicely. I'd suggest that you keep the Chapter pauldron, but paint the rest of the armour red.

 

It's likely the marines are still put through their paces in battle simulations (these still aren't likely to be without 'incidents' since there isn't a Star Trek holodeck with safety protocols). I can see the logic of using the chapter pads, but a part of me wants to keep them Mechanicus only (tempted to use them as either a Dark Mechanicus force, or a Adeptus Mechanicus one being used in an explorator fleet or something. Loyal to the Machine God ONLY!  :)

 

Hello

 

You are basically doing what I've done. Most of my guys have the cog pad - those that don't usually have the symbol from the centre attached to chest or belt - and there are plenty of techmarines. There are plenty of bionics, too, unsurprisingly.

 

I often put veteran pads on the other shoulders (or wolf skulls or similar) and used to use the Deathwatch Veteran rules for those with the cog pads (before I upgraded the rest) but that is obviously no longer relevant.

 

The background is precisely that you wouldn't waste all that time for tech-recruits. Basically their operations are primarily securing sites of interest in order to recover tech, and to provide security for senior Mechanicum personnel.

 

In a pinch, I could use the skull only torso from the standard marines' sprue for more. I'll have to do a mock up and see how one'll look.  

 

Thanks for the suggestions!

[Brother Sefiel]

You could also try acquiring some of the Iron Hands upgrade sets, which have some unusual torsos and bionic limbs. The front torsos aren't a particularly good fit to the plastic backs, though.

Other things that may look good and appropriate on the force are weapon sights and auspexes.