How useful are people finding enginseers?

[Man in the wind]

Hi all.

 

I'm new to ad mech having had a break from 40k for a couple of years and wanting to get into a 'new' faction.

 

I primarily play with friends in a friendly atmosphere so I'm not worried about being hyper competitive, but I do like everything in my list to have a purpose.

 

I also don't like repeating unit choices much and so when I was building my battalion detachment I was pleased to see I could do it without doubling up on domini.

 

The thing is, other than some mediocre repair the enginseer doesn't seem to do much. He has no buffing abilities, has very average combat ability and (this is my biggest gripe) despite belonging to the imperial faction with most techno goodies his ranged weapon is the most ubiquitous and least effective in the galaxy. If he had the option to take even an average ranged weapon I'd be much more prepared to toss him in.

 

So, what's everyone else's opinion on the enginseer? Does he achieve much at all during your games?

 

For a little context I mostly play power level and am building towards this ryza list:

 

Tech priest dominus

Tech priest enginseer

10 vanguard with three plasma culverins

10 rangers with three arquebus

3 destroyers with plasma

5 infiltrators with power swords

Dragoon

Dunecrawler

 

Thanks everyone

[DeStinyFiSh]

He is only good for repairs and tax HQ, won't do much else...

[lash144]

I have a rule question regarding the Enginseer:

 

I´am planing to add an AdMech detachment to my Imperial Guard army. As you might know I could take the Enginseer in the Guard Detachment as an Elite choice (in the Guard codex he has the <Astra Militarum> keyword) or as an HQ in my AdMech detachment (in the Codex he doesn´t have the <Astra Militarum> keyword).

 

Is this some kind of error or do I really need to include them to my Guard detachment if I want him to be able to ride inside a Chimera?

[MithrilForge]

I have a rule question regarding the Enginseer:

 

I´am planing to add an AdMech detachment to my Imperial Guard army. As you might know I could take the Enginseer in the Guard Detachment as an Elite choice (in the Guard codex he has the <Astra Militarum> keyword) or as an HQ in my AdMech detachment (in the Codex he doesn´t have the <Astra Militarum> keyword).

 

Is this some kind of error or do I really need to include them to my Guard detachment if I want him to be able to ride inside a Chimera?

Not sure as my dex is not in front of me,typically the Enginseer in ad-mech can repair "astra militarum" units keyword, so i guess he can heal guard allies if you took some...

i guess it's either an extra CP for ad mech or you take him in astra and he can travel in a chimera...?

 

Mithril

[Prot]

He is only good for repairs and tax HQ, won't do much else...

 

Agreed. It's an interesting idea, but aside from just being a cheap tax there's very little benefit. I would have given him an Lt's aura. (1's to wound) or something. I don't know, he just seems to literally only have the function of filling a slot. Repairs aren't an issue and his presence is literally something I've not really been able to say has any real impact in game.

[Vel'Cona]

Similar problem to a Techmarine, I'd say.  The Dominus gets by because he can make solid use of Relics/Warlord Traits and has some decent guns, not to mention his accuracy aura.  The Enginseer can't do much beyond the repairs (as many have said) and it leaves him sparse for purpose.  For the most part, he's a tax for many lists, which is a shame because the other options are expensive or restricted (Dominus and Cawl).  I feel that GW would have done well to give us some kind of Skitarii character, regardless of what the fluff says.

[Charlo]

He was moved to HQ to answer the problem of only having a Dominus and thus a heavy tax in detachments.

 

It's a shame they didn't do anything more but for the sake of being able to repair some Onagers or a Knight it isn't bad.

[Heliomanes]

He's an incredibly cheap HQ choice that can repair stuff as an added bonus. Don't look for anything more in him, he's already excellent.