Have you seen this unit? Part 4

Techmarines, the grease monkeys of the Astartes. They are in every Marine codex, but why are they not on the table? Now I'm talking about the pure elite choice, not the Thunderfire operator or a Master of the Forge. These are both occasionally used, but the typical Techmarine elite seems to have been lost in the shuffle.

"Sweet the deployment roster has downloaded...and checking........Yup, not on it again."





Now there are small and subtle differences between the various Astartes Techmarines. I’ll be looking at the Codex Space Marine version. I’ll get to the other codex Techmarines in another post.



So the “vanilla” Techmarine has the typical Codex Marine stats: WS 4, BS 4, S 4, T 4, I 4, 1 wound, 1 attack, and leadership 8. He also has And They Shall Know No Fear, Combat Squad, and is an Independent Character. He also has Bolster Defense and Blessing of the Omnissiah. He also comes equipped with artificer armor (2+ power armor), a servo arm, a bolter or bolt pistol, and frag and krak grenades.

He can Bolster which does increase the cover save of a terrain piece by +1. Yes 3+ cover is better than 4+. He can also repair vehicles with the Blessing. The Techie can fix an immobile or weapon destroyed on a vehicle with a dice roll of 5+. Now he has to be in base contact in the movement phase and vehicle cannot move or shoot until the following turn. His servo arm can also be used not only to repair, but as a powerfist attack as well. Thus the Techmarine is a better armored Marine with an extra powerfist attack.

Now he also has some options he can purchase: the typical combi-, plasma, power weapons and a bike. The two I will look at are the servo-harness and servitors.

The servo-harness adds some extra arms and guns to the Techmarine. It can also help with repair vehicles. It comes with an extra servo arm, which gives a second powerfist attack. It also has a plasma cutter which fires as twin-linked plasma pistol and a flamer.  Now the plasma cutter and flamer can fire in the same round; or one of them can fire and the Techie can shoot a weapon he his armed with. The harness will also add 1 to the dice roll to repair a vehicle. It does add 25 points to the Techie, but two powerfist attacks and two guns are handy.



"Look at all this stuff I have. Why are you not using me?"



Servitors are the menials that can assist the Techmarine. They help with repairs or can form a semi Devastator squad. They have a stat line that is very Imperial Guard; all 3’s with a leadership of 8, 1 attack and a 4+ save. They come equipped with a servo arm and that is it. The servo arm will add 1 to the vehicle repair roll for each servitor that is the squad with the Techmarine. You can take 1-5 of them in a squad, that doesn’t use a force org slot (but is considered Elite). So a few of them and you basically automatically pass all repair rolls. It costs 10 points for one and 15 points for each additional servitor. Wait...what? One is ten but any more are 15? That is silly.



"BEEP..BOP..BOOP..WE ARE FAIL..BEEP..BOP..BOOP.."



Then you can further upgrade them, well two of them may take heavy bolters for 20 points or a multi melta or plasma cannon for 30 points. This can make a semi- albeit worse and more expensive Devastator squad. Why anyone would do this is beyond me. There are better places for these guns…like in Marine squads, or Devastator squads, where the ballistic skill is better, the guns are cheaper, the toughness is higher and the saves are better. A 35 point heavy bolter on, what is basically a Guardsman is crazy. Not to mention the plasma or melta option.



They also can suffer…MINDLOCK. If a Techmarine is not with them, you roll a D6 at the beginning of the turn. On the roll of a 1, 2 or 3 they will MINDLOCK. A cannot move, shoot or assault. As will any character attached to the squad with them. Sure they will fight if charged, but that is all. So they need babysitting and that means the Techmarine is doing it or these guys probably won’t be doing anything.

So after all that why is the Techmarine a bench warmer? Well first he costs more than any Marine Terminator, 10 points more. We all know how good Terminators are, and the Techmarine cannot compete. Why take a Techmarine when you can take those extra points and add another body to your Terminator squad?

He also costs as much as two Sternguard. These are another popular choice. They are the shooty elites and with their special ammo they are good at it. Plus they can be turned into scoring units, which is also super handy. Why a Techmarine when I can add two more Sternguard?



Third, you can take better Techmarines in two other locations. The Master of the Forge is a HQ and has the abilities of A Techmarine and can open up more Dreadnoughts for the army. He is also a bit more survivable with an extra wound. He doesn’t cost much more than a Techmarine with a servo-harness and you are taking that already aren’t you? Well you should if you’re not.



Then there is the Thunderfire cannon. It comes with a Techmarine with a servo-harness and a big cool gun. This unit costs as much as a bare bones Master of the Forge and has all the abilities of a Techmarine, and a big cool gun. Sure if he takes a hit the gun might (and will probably) get destroyed, but the Techmarine is then free to roam or join a squad. Why take a Techmarine when I can take a Techmarine and a big cool gun for almost the same price as a Techmarine and servo-harness. You are taking that on him aren’t you?

To me the Techmarine fails due to better choices in the same slot. The problem is where else would he go? Why not make him elite that doesn’t use a force organization slot? Were they worried about Techmarine “spam?” So until something happens, look for the Techmarine to sit the sidelines and just repair stuff that makes it back to base.



I, however, do like two things about this unit, the servo-harness and the Independent Character rule. The servo-harness guns along with a combi-flamer and a squad of marines with a flamer interests me. It would make for a nice anti-infantry unit. Jump out of a vehicle, drop 3 flamer templates. That is spicy! The same goes for a combi-plasma, plasma squad and same tactic. Jump out of a vehicle, rapid fire plasma gun, plasma pistol (twin linked) and rapid fire combi-plasma all into some elite unit. Then there is the powerfist attacks to help said unit if need be. Is it effective? Who knows? Nobody seems the popular choice is just take Sternguard or more Terminators and they can’t be blamed for that.