Under rated and under used units

Hi all,

Angryman here again with another article about hardly used units, this time it's the turn of the Adeptus Astartes Techmarine.

The techmarine has always been a unit that everyone likes the idea of but no-one ever uses. In the latest space marine codex the techmarine has been given a major face lift. It can now be taken in 3 different force organisation categories.

• HQ - Master of the forge
• Elites - basic techmarine
• Heavy - Thunderfire cannon

All techmarines come with the 'bolster defences' and 'blessing of the Omnissiah' special rules. The bolster defences allows you to increase the cover save of a single piece of area terrain and the blessing allows you to attempt to repair damage to a vehicle.
Master of the Forge

Image Courtesty of: http://gravengames.co.uk/iron-guard-master-of-the-forge/

If taken this choice allows you to take Venerable and Ironclad Dreadnoughts as heavy and elite choices. You also get to take the conversion beamer, this is a variable S and AP heavy 1 blast weapon, determined by the distance from the firer to the intended target. He also comes with a full servo-harness (2 servo arm attacks at S8, I1 and ignores armour., It also has a twin linked plasma pistol and a flamer) and artificer armour (2+ sv) as standard.

Techmarine
This is the 'basic' techmarine. He comes with a servo arm (1 S8 I1 ignoring armour attack) and artificer armour but can be upgraded to have a full servo harness.
Thunderfire Cannon


This is one of the new units given to the space marines. He comes with a servo arm and artificer armour but cannot be upgraded to a full servo harness. This unit can be given a drop pod. The Thunderfire cannon has 3 different types of ammo (airburst, surface and subterranean) all have a long range and are all heavy 4 blast. Airburst shots ignore cover and subterranean shots cause wounded units to move as if in difficult and dangerous terrain.
Master of the forge and Techmarines can take a variety of additional extras, from power weapons to various pistol types. This means you can have a character (as both are independent characters) you can attach to a squad to give it some extra punch in combat. A full servo harness upgrade gives you 2 S8 I1 ignoring armour attacks. This is AFTER the techmarine has attacked with any power weapons he has been given and AFTER they have shot into combat with a flamer AND a twin linked plasma pistol. Imagine the damage this could deal out if he is attached to either a terminator squad in a landraider or an assault squad in a drop pod.
The techmarines can also take servitors

These may be taken for every master of the forge and techmarine in your army list. This are basically a meat shield for the techmarine with 1 advantages. Upto 2 servitors may be upgraded to take either a heavy bolter, a multi-melta or a plasma cannon. The only disadvantage they have is that they must test for mindlock every friendly turn (roll a dice and on a 1-3 they can do nothing unless with a techmarine / master of the forge).
Techmarines are worth trying, they can allow you to take more dreadnoughts in your army, they come with artillery, they can improve cover saves and are quite handy in the assault phase.
All comments welcome.