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Pretty simple you can purchase a individual Techmarine for 50 points from the elite section of the codex ; you can purchase a Thunderfire with one techmarine from Heavy Support.

If the Techmarine joins the thunderfire cannon squad and is killed can he man it and fire it?

I would say yes.

No, as he is not crew.

Artillery is removed as soon as all the crew models are killed.

It says its crew is a techmarine though.

Yeah, the gunner is IDENTICAL to the Techmarine, stats, Special rules etc.

Yes, but if the gun has no crew, it just dies.

Exactly, if the Techmarine that came with the gun dies, the gun dies also.

Yeah but cant a techmarine join that unit and make a artillery unit?

Hollismason wrote:Yeah but cant a techmarine join that unit and make a artillery unit?

It would make sense but the artillery was bought together and falls together per the rules. Adding an IC, even if he's identical to the gunner doesn't help. It's not his job to run the cannon so he won't.

Don't think I'd have a problem houseruling it in a friendly game as long as we can think about some of my pet peeves too.

It would make sense IRL, but for game purposes I would have to say no. The techmarine manning the gun has special equipment in his armor to load the gun and is trained to use the gun etc.

pg. 55 2nd paragraph under "The Unit" below the "Artillery" Section

"...Independent characters that join the unit, however, do not count as crew and cannot operate the guns."

2nd to last sentence.

Hope this helped =D

If you have an IC join the crew like a regular unit, there isn't be anything stopping you from taking the wounds on the IC and keeping the crew alive, at least i don't think there is.

So say you take three wounds, you put two on the IC (technically being a different character as he can leave the unit) for his protection, and one on the Thunderfire Techmarine. Roll to save, the IC Tech survives, but the Thunderfire Tech dies.

Originally I would have agreed, and perhaps in a friendly game I would let it slide as long as the IC Tech died instead, maybe, but Spet makes a good point about equipment and training.

Ruleswise, they are not equals, and can not be exchanged one for the other and must be rolled for seperately. The Thunderfire is silenced for lack of better training of Space Marine Techpriests.

How do you work out the shooting then as the techmarine apparently doesnt count as crew and you roll when you shoot a Artillery unit to see which you hit. Since the Techmarine isnt crew you can not select him.

Hollismason wrote:How do you work out the shooting then as the techmarine apparently doesnt count as crew and you roll when you shoot a Artillery unit to see which you hit. Since the Techmarine isnt crew you can not select him.

That's the sticky bit. I would assume that if a "crew" result is rolled, the controlling player could assign the subsequent wounds to either the crew or the IC.

Yeah I hate thunderfire cannons :(. I want to use them so badly because of the model but ugh. I bet theyll be good units in Planetstrike though.

Hollismason wrote:Yeah I hate thunderfire cannons :(. I want to use them so badly because of the model but ugh. I bet theyll be good units in Planetstrike though.

Why do you hate them? As I've said in several other threads, they are a huge asset for their points cost.

In a devastator squad , say a plasma cannon marine dies , can the bolter marine pick it up and use it?

They are both marines
they are both "devastator squad"

You are getting mixed up Luna, Artillery is different from Infantry.

I was going to say, can a Farseer joining Support Weapons fire the gun? and the answer is obviously no. (Whereas the Warlock can, at BS4). Hence it would follow Space Marine ICs cannot fire the Thundercannon. Pity.

It is a cool enough weapon on its own anyway.

LunaHound wrote:

In a devastator squad , say a plasma cannon marine dies , can the bolter marine pick it up and use it?

They are both marines
they are both "devastator squad"

This situation is "addressed" by wound allocation. Since you can assign wounds to the rear of the squad, even when fired upon from the front, it's almost as if your plasma marine DID get killed, and a bolter marine from the back moved up to take the gun, and the dead marine's position.