Not as long a post today.
After experimenting with my codex, the Techmarine has come across as a choice which I appear to have quite badly overlooked. (Note I not do value the Servitors in any way, so will not be including them here, they are cheap, but also do very little, and hinder more than help the Techmarine).
Rolling in at 5 points more than a Castellan, this guy is already toting a Power weapon, Bolter and Power Fist, at the expense of 1 less Attack and Leadership, I think that is worth the price. Pay a not-substantial 35 points and your 'Better-than-Castellan-for-a-similar-price' gains an extra Servo-Arm attack, a Twin-linked Plasma Pistol, and a Flamethrower, and gets a 2+ save to boot.
If we give the guy and Storm Shield and Terminator Honours (also swap the bolter for a bolt pistol for an extra attack) we get a pretty decent CC Monster capable of dishing it out as well as taking it. In many regards, this guy is better than our beloved Emperor's Champion. Lets take a look:
5 Power Weapon Attacks on the charge.
2 Power Fist Attacks
A Twin-linked Plasma-Pistol
A Flamer
A Bolt Pistol
2+ Armour
3+ Invul.
Looks pretty good to me, now we could add a Jump-Pack or Bike and we're good to go, and we have a souped up character that can whizz across the field taking out key targets like Devastator Squads, low rear armour Vehicles and other shooty squads.
But hold on a minute, there are just a few things we should take into account.
-He's only initiative 4, so charging HQs could be a problem, especially if they have multiple attacks with Power Weapons.
-Same reasons as above, 2 wounds could a major problem, in the case of unlucky rolls on your part, and lucky rolls on you opponents, you just lost a 150-odd point unit.
For these reasons I think it is better that we use this guy in a support-role, but not that which he was designed for. Our Crusader squads have suffered a power drop in comparison with the newer codices such as BA and SW, but if we ditch the unessecary upgrades we can keep his costs down, and make him a very useful back-up.
We can end up with.
7 Initiates w/ BP+CCW + Melta Gun + Power Weapon
2 Neophytes
Techmarine, w/ Servo-Harness + Bolt Pistol.
This comes in a under 250 points, and notice that I have been able to swap out the usual Power Fist because of the Techmarine, who instead brings one with 2 attacks. This allows us to take a Power Weapon instead, which further increases the ability of our Crusader Squads. Our squads also benefit from a small amount of anti-TEQ (Plasma Pistol) and anti-horde (Flamer).
So in the end our Techmarine does more than just significantly boost the killing power of the squad, it is also increases our duality, which is very important.
One last thing which must be mentioned is that, for all this, our good friend does take up an Elite slot. Therefore if you insist on running Terminators and Dreadnoughts, then this may not be the best idea for you. But if you are prepared to replace them with other choices, then give it a whirl, and see the look on your opponents face when he realises that the model that he though was there to help repair your Rhino ends up causing his squads to need repair...and a serious amount of it at that. :)
Not a bad look at him, though you miscalculated the Techmarine plus Crusader Squad but not including the transport they should take (placing the total up to 325 assuming you remembered Frag Grenades). Also his lower Weapon Skill makes him less suited to taking on elite opponents, but you shouldn't have too much of a problem facing Monstrous Creatures if you remember to equip him with a Storm Shield (split him off from the squad to distract it while your squad attacks other, less dangerous stuff like CSM or Necrons or Hormagaunts or whatever.
ReplyDeleteAnother reason he's in my lists is because I already have the model and one of the points of those lists is to be able to make them as quickly as possible.