Follwing on from December's post:
But that’s enough of me complaining. What about the good things with
Techmarines? Yes, there are good things,
so I can’t pout too much. Here we
go. You may have noticed that in my
previous griping post, I was going on and on about how they are nowhere near as
good as they used to be in combat. But
that’s a little too narrowly focused to be a fully valid complaint. Techmarines are a lot easier to accept when
you realise that their role has become more of a support than it was
before. They used to be a nice
close-combat surprise with an added ability to repair vehicles and do the whole
Dreadnought unlock thing. Now, with Hull
points being very much de rigeur in 6th edition, their repair ability becomes
much more of a primary focus. In 5th ed
(and you may be spotting a theme here), vehicle destruction was very much in
the lap of raw chance with that bloody damage table. Vehicles could keep going forever if your
opponent kept rolling those ones on the table.
Now, with Hull Points, vehicles die quicker, but are functional and
useful for longer (snap firing’s still better than no firing). It’s very difficult to stop a vehicle firing
without killing it completely.
The ability to restore hull points can be crucial when
dealing with attrition, especially in the higher AV units that are more likely
to receive glancing than penetrating hits.
As to whether that ability alone is worth the points, I would hazard
not, unless you have entire vehicle firebase at the back of you army. The servo-arm alone only gives you a 5+
chance, but that can be readily upgraded with cheaper servitors who also act as
ablative wounds.
Speaking of servitors, they are the cheapest way of
getting plasma cannons into your army if you want that kind of thing. A handy bolster for a firebase, as you can
get two cannons for only 60 points total.
They still mindlock like the lobotomised little cretins they are, but if
you have a Techie in there they’ll be fine and can still fire while he focusses
on repair. Either that or you go for
more of a firebase feel with a conversion beamer Master of the Forge. Remember, you don’t need a servo-arm to
repair, just the Blessings of the Omnissiah rule! Also to bear in mind is the handy rule that
the heavy weapons guys can still fire as normal if they personally stood still,
allowing greater freedom for the repair guy to get into the gut of the nearby
damaged vehicles, particularly if you’ve decked the unit out with additional
servo-armed guys.
The other deployment option for them is to stick them in
your front-line units and view them as squad upgrade guys more than anything
else. They come into their own in
transport vehicles to keep them going where they need to go. But once they are out of the vehicle, what do
they do. Is there any point to getting
them out with the rest of the unit? I
think so, as they are still useful at a pinch.
2+ armour and a S8 AP1 attack are not to be discounted, especially as
the combat rules can have you deflect damage to the Techmarine onto the other
squad members, meaning he is far more likely to land the blows you want him to
and helping make up for the lack of an invulnerable save. There is also the possibility of using him as
a bit of a damage soak if you want to entrust his fate to a tonne of 2+ armour
rolls. Probably not your best call in a
bog standard tac squad, but could be useful for more specialised units, or when
you want to keep that troops choice alive as long as you can. Personally, I feel that is you are going to
go for a front line Techmarine, you are far better served by taking a deep
breath and going for the full servo-harness.
This gives far more than the 25 points bump should do, certainly when
you compare it to some of the other tactical squad options. What’s the better deal: giving your Sergeant
a power fist, or giving the Techmarine an extra attack with a better power
fist, a flamer, a twin linked plasma pistol and a better chance to keep the
transport running? I know which I’m
rooting for.
A final point to bring up is the slight tweak they’ve
received in the Force Org chart. Instead
of consuming an entire Elites slot to themselves, they now take a phantom HQ
slot, one per regular HQ choice. This
gives you far better flexibility in your choices, as now he doesn’t have to
content with the host of other, more combat-effective Elites options. I’ll also add that the Iron Hands expansion
allows you to take two per regular HQ slot or three per Master of the Forge,
really opening up your choices, and looking damn cool while they do it!
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