Shouldn't we be showing this little guy some more love?

[jgfield79]

So -- being deployed to Iraq, I have way too much time for "Theoryhammer" -- was recently building an A/M tank-heavy list and came across this little gem:

 

The Trojan Support Vehicle (FW) -- This ammo carrier can be purchased as Techpriest's dedicated transport. It's basically a flimsy little Chimera with a crane on the back (easy to model, btw), but that's not the point. The point is that it can bestow Preferred Enemy (Everyone!) rule to a single tank or artillery model in 6".  Leman Russ Punisher?  Its like a mini-Pask bonus for free!  Also good for re-rolling gets hot on plasma Russ.  This is on top of the fact that, IMHO, Techpriests are woefully underrated... I believe they've gotten cheaper, and they give you some great benefits -- forget that whole "healing your tanks" thing, they have Power of the Machine Spirit.. basically, allowing a second weapon to fire at full BS, as if it hadn't moved.  SO, correct me if i'm wrong here at all, but i see:

 

-- Cheap as dirt Trojans as dedicated transpo for cheap Techpriests (who don't count against HQ slots)

-- Ordinance Russes have utility again!  you can fire hull/sponson weapons with the main cannon... right?

-- At least one of these guys follows Pask and his wingman... BOTH guys get Preferred Enemy.. always.  

-- P/E is just too good on Plasma Russes... so much for wounding yourself to death

-- two of these guys following Pask-isher + 2x Punishers... all P/E??   (albiet two at lower BS)

-- Worst-case scenario?  The Techpriests have a powerfist... charge that tank!

-- Vanquisher can actually fulfill multiple roles... turret shoots at armor, HBs all around dish it out to infantry

-- No one will be shooting at these guys when there's anywhere between 3-12 Russes staring them down

-- Easy to model -- just add a crane-like contraption to your Chimera's.. done!

-- You can bring servitors, which increase chances to repair HPs (you can get it up to 100%, and techpriests can "share servitors")

-- Starts to become a pointsink at this point, but servitors can bring cheap plasma cannons.. hell.. give them orders!

 

That's probably just scratching the surface.. I think they're well worth the CHEAP investment to make an armored list more efficient/survivable... thoughts?

[Shamansky]

 

-- No one will be shooting at these guys when there's anywhere between 3-12 Russes staring them down

 

To get First Blood people tend to shoot anything.

[WarriorFish]

Power of the Machine Spirit doesn't override the ordnance rules unfortunately, but still useful to have. They're a nice addition, but a bit niche and old FW to boot which is why you don't see them used. Would be worth double checking the rules to see how they work especially as old ones, as if it explicitly says "model" than you can't apply it to a squadron of vehicles only the one.

[CoffeeGrunt]

In which case, at 35pts you have to balance the value of buffing a single tank against merely saving the points for something else. It's basically a Rhino which means it's an easy kill for First Blood as well.

[jgfield79]

For Punishers, Mathhammer suggests Preferred Enemy creates one extra unsaved wound vs. MEQ.. i guess it would be worth investigating if that was worth a point investment, considering any other benefits that apply.

 

For Executioners (w/ Plasma sponsons), over a typical game length will wound itself to death, but won't with Preferred Enemy... 

 

Maybe a Prescience Psyker would be the cheaper option?  There are other benefits with the Techpriest/Trojan though... 

[CoffeeGrunt]

You always have to be careful during gameplay with fragile-but-potent things like that, because when you tell your opponent what it does, it's inevitably going to be dead next turn.