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I've been playing a lot lately at 1k points and the Techmarine has caught my interest due to his cheap price and decent wargear.

Dead stock for 65pts he comes with a 2+ and a powerfist. Throw him on a bike for 4 MB with of points and bam, T5, 2+, 2W, 12in move, jink, BS5, and a powerfist for less than 100pts.

I understand how the Techmarine starts to get outclassed as a primary HQ at higher points, but why don't I hear more about Techmarines for lower points?

Is a librarian playing the psychic game, or a cheap captain really better than the Techmarine if you are wanting a versatile little beatstick?

What does everyone think of the Techmarine as a budget HQ?

Note : Let's leave the thunderfire cannon out of the discussion. I'm only looking at the Techmarine as a HQ.

basically he is a good secondary hq choice but not a primary, he has artificers for free which is nice but his lack of an armor save and the fact that he cant buy relics means that he cant get an invul save outside of a combat shield. now librarians can be good warlords but most people put them in tda or on a bike or give them TSE. it also has to do with his unit synergy, hes basically built for putting in sternguard in a pod. you drop them in and he gives them CC pull they otherwise wouldnt have but more importantly with his harness they get a free plasma pistol and flamer which is pretty sweet especially if your already bringing plasma or flamer in the team anyway boosting their damage output with those types of weapons. hes also okay with terminators since he has power fists in his harness and can hide behind their big meaty saves.

the bike marines are not meant for him really. dark angels have the luxury of black knights ti hide him in which are just brutally strong with him, they take their already phenomonal stats and gear and gives them additional (if limited) reach across the spectrum. and again he can hide behind they sweet special rules like re-rollable jink saves and improves jink saves.

the techmarine also is awful in a challenge with pretty much every IC the other guys going to take. he gets smacked down in challenges so hard since hes only t4, 2+ and plenty of guys are rocking things like pk's, frost axes, and big mean ap2 weapons or weapons that are s8 and overlap any saves he might otherwise have.

They don't do much that synergizes in some way with the rest of the army. Most marine vehicles don't need a techmarine alongside to support/repair it (i.e. Drop Pods/dreadnoughts) and in the current edition most vehicles are dead/shaken/stunned after the initial salvo of HP-stripping anyways so repairing only 1 HP/weapon per turn is very limited.

Similarly, their ability to take a conversion beamer on a bike kinda takes away their cheapness as an HQ choice and the damage they can inflict is also fairly minimal compared to other choices. Compared to the force multipliers that Librarians can be for shooting (divination/telepathy) or Chaplains in terms of close combat (Zealot), the Techmarine is an awkward HQ choice that brings little to the table. Most of the time its just better to just invest into one of the other slightly more expensive HQ choices.

Things to consider though:
1. Throwing him in a squad of Centurions with Split Fire ensures your Beamer hits something else every turn.
2. Gunlines from the CAD with Predators and Sicarans means he can sit, camp, and repair HP as necessary. Just hide him and he doesn't need a retinue.
3. Better cover saves for your Devastators?

He really isn't the first choice OR second choice though. At the very least, if you had a free HQ slot, you can throw him in a Spartan with that melee unit that needs the repairs on the go. Of course that's not exactly viable either.

Techmarines on bikes on the other hand though, that's an option worth considering. 2+ armour and 2 wounds with the option of dual wielding power fists. Could be pretty good tanking wounds against those Heldrakes.

I think one of the bigger problems with them is fitting them into formations. And their overall jack-of-all-tradesness. If you want a HQ to fill any role, one of the others generally does it better. They are good for shooting gunlines and fortifications, but those kinds of lists are not that great currently.

There is nothing intrinsically wrong with them. I need to get mine into a list more often.

For a low point game, Tm on Bike is pretty tempting so you can spend points on other stuff...

but at the same point, Smashfether wrecks stuff even harder in low point games...

 Grimskul wrote:
They don't do much that synergizes in some way with the rest of the army. Most marine vehicles don't need a techmarine alongside to support/repair it (i.e. Drop Pods/dreadnoughts) and in the current edition most vehicles are dead/shaken/stunned after the initial salvo of HP-stripping anyways so repairing only 1 HP/weapon per turn is very limited.

Similarly, their ability to take a conversion beamer on a bike kinda takes away their cheapness as an HQ choice and the damage they can inflict is also fairly minimal compared to other choices. Compared to the force multipliers that Librarians can be for shooting (divination/telepathy) or Chaplains in terms of close combat (Zealot), the Techmarine is an awkward HQ choice that brings little to the table. Most of the time its just better to just invest into one of the other slightly more expensive HQ choices.

you can however use him well as a secondary hq, and if theres a race for second place between him and a librarian depending on army composition the techmarine isnt bad

I like conversion Beam Projectors. Chill in the back field and blast things. They still get those, right?
He was my primary for my 2000pt Imperial Fist. (I had a lot of dreds) But I went for the cool factor.

I agree with you it's a nice HQ choice in 1000 points. It has bite, mobility and good survivability.

Nice model there the beamer is a beauty

He works best in an armored list with a bike. He can hide behind tanks, repair them, up artillery's cover, pop beamer shots, and casually support in cc.

2W, T5, 2+ with a powerfist swallows anything not tooled for cc. Picking your fights is easy when on a bike.

He'll just never be the "hero" you get out of the other options. Your list needs to account for that if he's your only hq.

 MWHistorian wrote:
I like conversion Beam Projectors. Chill in the back field and blast things. They still get those, right?
He was my primary for my 2000pt Imperial Fist. (I had a lot of dreds) But I went for the cool factor.

i too have gundams on my painting station, i have the sandrock custom and the 00 raiser