Tactica: Techmarine + Servitor + Stormraven

[Deschenus Maximus]

Gents,

 

An idea I had that I wanted to share with you: taking a Techmarine as your mandatory HQ, adding a single Servitor to him, and loading both in a Stormraven.

 

The idea is to have the TM and Servitor inside the Raven to fix up hullpoints/immobilised results over the course of the game. Then, on T5, go into hover mode and put the Servitor on an objective to capture/contest it (since it started the turn with the Techmarine, it doesn't have to test for Mindlock). Should the game go into turn 6, and the Servitor gets killed, the Techmarine can then disembark and do the same. If the Raven gets shot down while in Hover, at least the Techmarine should survive.

 

Since its a bit of a risky tactic, you don't want the Techmarine to be your Warlord, so you will have to pass on the Veritas. Hence, this tactic would work well with a Dante-based list.

 

Obviously, this tactic works best if you go second rather than first.

 

EDIT: Also, the Techmarine should have an Auspex. No rule saying you need LoS for it to work.

[knife&fork]

Is it really worth 60 pts for a 4+ chance to repair + some pretty easy to kill scoring? 

 

If it was enough to keep the raven from jinking then I'd say so, but getting shot with melta equivalent or loads of S6/7 fire still has a really good chance to downing it (and killing the cargo) in one round of shooting. I don't think the presence of a techmarine makes opponent less likely to fire at the raven either. 

[Deschenus Maximus]

That's really not the point; rather, it's just a bonus.

[knife&fork]

For only 5 pts more you get 5 bolter scouts with camo cloaks that can disembark safely and go to ground in terrain. 

[Deschenus Maximus]

Bolter scouts can't fix their ride, and are only one unit. You only get one shot at contesting an objective rather than two.

[knife&fork]

True, but it's also 5 T4 wounds vs 2 and zero chance of a mishap due to dangerous terrain rolls. 

 

I tend to lose my ravens to concentrated force in a single round rather than being nibbled to death over several turns. I think the techmarine is better suited to keep something like a land raider alive, at least in my meta. 

Could make for really tough backfield scoring box, and the huge footprint of the raider makes it easy to score several objectives in a single turn if needed. 

[Deschenus Maximus]

True, but it's also 5 T4 wounds vs 2 and zero chance of a mishap due to dangerous terrain rolls. 

 

Mishaps I plain ol' don't care about. I don't intend to paradrop the guys. As for the extra wounds, the flipside is that you only get one chance with the Scouts, whereas you get two with the TM.

 

I tend to lose my ravens to concentrated force in a single round rather than being nibbled to death over several turns.

 

What sort of lists are you going up against that they can down a Raven so easily?

 

I think the techmarine is better suited to keep something like a land raider alive, at least in my meta. 

Could make for really tough backfield scoring box, and the huge footprint of the raider makes it easy to score several objectives in a single turn if needed. 

 

If Raiders were any sort of good, it might be an option. Sadly, they suck.

 

Comments in red.

 

In addition, I forgot that the TM should have an Auspex. There is no mention of it requiring line of sight to work, and with the big footprint of the Raven, you should be able to get some decent coverage. Useful for shooting down opposing aircraft, too.

[knife&fork]

 

 

 

I tend to lose my ravens to concentrated force in a single round rather than being nibbled to death over several turns.

 

What sort of lists are you going up against that they can down a Raven so easily?

 

I think the techmarine is better suited to keep something like a land raider alive, at least in my meta. 

Could make for really tough backfield scoring box, and the huge footprint of the raider makes it easy to score several objectives in a single turn if needed. 

 

If Raiders were any sort of good, it might be an option. Sadly, they suck.

 

Comments in red.

 

In addition, I forgot that the TM should have an Auspex. There is no mention of it requiring line of sight to work, and with the big footprint of the Raven, you should be able to get some decent coverage. Useful for shooting down opposing aircraft, too.

 

 

Most armies in the game can deal with a raven in a single turn. They might soak a disproportionate amount of fire before going down, but dealing with it quickly is preferable to having it around for most of my opponents. 

 

I've tried running the raider (phobos, zero upgrades) as back field scoring in a couple of games now and it actually does pretty well.  

It's very difficult for most to deal with without getting close. Immunity to all that S6-7 fire and mobile LoS block for fragile units (such as bikes or jump DC) during deployment or early game.

The actual damage output of the TL lascannons is underwhelming to say the least, but the potential is good enough to make opponents worry and most importantly force jink on things like serpents and necron skimmers. Making two separate targets fire snap shots every turn, thanks to PotMs, can make it worth taking all on its own.  

 

Worth trying, I promise. 

[Deschenus Maximus]

Honestly, if my opponent decides to focus on taking down the Raven to the point where he just forgets about the rest of my army, I'd say mission accomplished.

 

I'd take two autolas preds over a LR any day of the week.

[knife&fork]

Ravens might not be super easy to kill, but it doesn't take that much to bring them down. Particularly if you want to bring them out of flyer mode. 

 

I've been gradually phasing out my autolas preds, damage output is def better but they just aren't survivable enough :( That side AV 11...

[Khorneeq]

Guys,

maybe try combining this two tactics. Attach a techmarine to a unit of scouts :D

I've tried scouts in raven, but they died too fast because of heavy flamer. I've been trying techmarine, but he also died fast even with 2+.

With servo harness techmarine would have 50% to repair raven and he could support scouts too.

Just my 2 pence ;)

[Deschenus Maximus]

Ravens might not be super easy to kill, but it doesn't take that much to bring them down. Particularly if you want to bring them out of flyer mode.

I've been gradually phasing out my autolas preds, damage output is def better but they just aren't survivable enough That side AV 11...

Unless your opponent has a very solid anti-air apparatus, hard to hit + AV 12 all around + jink should take quite a lot of firepower to bring down. Like, all of an army's shooting for a turn (except maybe for Eldar... dirty stinkin' xenos bastids).

If you're getting shots into your AV11, you may be playing them too aggressively. I put mine in the corners and getting shot in the sides only happens when my opponent has deep strikers or flyers.

Guys,

maybe try combining this two tactics. Attach a techmarine to a unit of scouts

I've tried scouts in raven, but they died too fast because of heavy flamer. I've been trying techmarine, but he also died fast even with 2+.

With servo harness techmarine would have 50% to repair raven and he could support scouts too.

Just my 2 pence

I feel holing up Scouts in a Raven is wasting them. I'd rather have them in the field either swinging punches or getting shot so the rest of my army suffers less.

[InquisitorBlack]

I don't like this. If you're planning to go into hover mode, I'd much prefer delivering something that makes use of 'assault vehicle'. 

 

Props for trying to be creative DM, keep up the ideas.

[Deschenus Maximus]

I don't like this. If you're planning to go into hover mode, I'd much prefer delivering something that makes use of 'assault vehicle'. 

 

 

Go into hover mode on T5. In this tactic, the Raven is not an assault transport. It's a sneaky bastid that steals one objective on the home stretch and turns a loss into a tie or a tie into a win.

[Red-beard]

I've used this tactic before, but instead of putting the techmarine and servitor in a stormraven, I ran them in a LR Redeemer with an assault unit.

 

It didn't do too much as my opponent mostly just ignored the land raider.

[Deschenus Maximus]

I've used this tactic before, but instead of putting the techmarine and servitor in a stormraven, I ran them in a LR Redeemer with an assault unit.

 

It didn't do too much as my opponent mostly just ignored the land raider.

 

As I said above, Land Raiders are bad. I likely would have done the same if I had been your opponent.

[Remtek]

If you can utilize bolster defense for something useful maybe, but i'd much rather have Scouts and  potentially capture an objective my opponent is holding. Grabbbing and denying at the same time. If you have some sort of assault unit inside your not forced into only holding objectives either. You can pop a wave serpent turn 3 or other min squad troops. Seems more flexible to have something that can hold and do dmg since the cost is the same.