Tech-Guard - Musing

[Xisor]

In trying to come up with a handy dashboard that suits my purposes for Adeptus Mechanicus, I almost immediately went off-piste and started home-brewing some rules for Tech Guard.

 

Before I launch onto my rambling spiel, does anyone have any ideas/desires they want to share? Similarly, anything I'm likely to overlook or unwittingly run afoul of?

 

(I'm conscious of, say, Dan Abnett & Graham McNeill's 'techno-barbarians' descriptions, but also the more vague concepts that are bandied about but that aren't really distinct enough to justify their place in the main Ad Mech codex.)

 

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The general idea is fairly simple: a centroid house between Astra Militarum, Genestealer Cults, and Adeptus Mechanicus.

 

So:

- Lose access to the 'high end' Ad Mech equipment (culverins, calivers, transonic, transuranic, neutron lasers)

 

- become a lot more dependent on Tech-Priest auras (e.g. presence of Mindlock in a wider sphere)

 

- Introduce a whole suite of Leman Russ, Chimera, Baneblade, Rhino, Sentinel, Taurus, Valkyrie, and Goliath-chassis vehicles.

 

- introduce thralls (5+/5+ sorts of units, but that covers 'conscripts' of a wide variety, including Ogryns, Ratlings, Squats, Beastmen etc), with a fairly wide selection of 'basic' weapons options (e.g. stub weapons, shotguns, lasguns) to encourage and accommodate a good bit of customisation and kit bashing.

 

- Radium weapons become Auto weapons (e.g. autocarbine) by losing their special rule. Phosphor Weapons can largely be reverted to auto weapons by applying -2S, +1AP and removing the special rule. (Reverts the HPB to a Heavy Stubber, for example.)

 

- Galvanic weapons become Stub weapons, loosing their special rules and reverting to

 

- 'Tech-Guard' - as Skitarii but BS 4+, no rad-saturation.

 

- Sicarians merge into 'Sicarian Drovers', WS4+, mix-and-match weapons, but their weapons are shock goads (rather than taser), shock claws, buzz razor and buzz blades. (E.g. less good versions of the high-end Skitarii stuff.)

 

- Culverins and Calivers are replaced by more mundane Plasma Cannons and Plasma Guns (but introduces Plasma Pistols too).

 

- Arc weaponry is kept.

 

- Kataphrons are ejected in favour of 'crap' Combat Servitors (e.g. Kataphrons at 5+/5+ with Mindlock).

 

- Praetorian units are introduced as Elites (Kataphron hulled ones are "Autoclades", whilst those based on the Skitarii Van/Ran bodies are "Insulators" - as guards for Tech-Priests)

 

- Electropriests are merged into 'Mendicantine' electropriests - electrostaves and shock gauntlets (again, 'crap' versions of what's there currently)

 

- Introduce Stratagems which allow:

-- Las-weapons to Hot-Shot (-6", -2AP)

-- Stub-weapons to Phosphor (+2S,-1AP, Ignore Cover)

-- Auto-weapons to Radium (+Radium special rule)

-- Maybe a few quirky special stratagems (like 'Power of the Machine Spirit' as a Special Rule)

-- etc

 

The broad idea means, overall, the individual squads will all be a good bit crapper, and without access to the more nifty strategems. Indeed, pulling level with Ad Mech would need expenditure of Command Points.

 

In essence, it allows the fielding of 'less elite' Tech Guard armies.

 

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As said - thoughts welcome!

[Magos Takatus]

This sounds pretty ambitious. I hope you can pull it off well, it's an interesting idea.

[Charlo]

Do you have any official fluff examples of tech guard? Would like to see them in action!

[Magos Takatus]

I don't think there was much info about them apart from the old Epic system which gave them a few vehicle variants.

[Xisor]

The only credible examples I have is in older fiction where the Skitarii weren't at all standardised to the table top format - e.g. McNeill's "Nouns of Mars" series, his "Mechanicum", Abnett's "Titanicus" (technobarbarians, yay!), Andy Chambers' "Denis Ex Mechanicus" short story and so forth.

 

Often the Skitarii "Praetorians" were looking like current Kataphrons, but more independent and still creepy. In other places they have effectively power armour and access to all sorts of uncommon (though perhaps not high-end super-duper) stuff.