40K Tactics: Space Marine Master of the The Forge & Techmarines
Hey guys, I am Learn2Eel and this is my Codex: Space Marines Tactica! Today, I will be looking at the Master of the Forge and his Techmarine Brethren. I hope you enjoy this article!
The Space Marines have a large array of generic characters to choose from, with characters that have distinct roles in an army list and fulfill them admirably. The Captain and Chapter Master are combat-oriented heroes that can allow army list manipulation when certain wargear options are chosen, while Librarians, Chaplains and Masters of the Forge are primarily geared to varying forms of support. The addition of Chapter Relics and the streamlining of wargear costs leads to tougher choices than previously for which character to lead your army; gone are the days when a Librarian was a default choice due to Null Zone and the like. Now, there are intrinsic benefits to employing a Chapter Master in place of a Captain, and so on, rewarding your choices in a considered fashion. As well, the differing Chapter Tactics certainly boost the viability of individual choices by considerable margins!
Master of the Forge
Overview – One of the hidden stars in a codex filled with glorious heroes, a Master of the Forge is far more than a simple lord-styled Techmarine. Rather than charging head-first into combat or casting psychic powers to prove his worth, the Master of the Forge is truly a ranged character that, helpfully, doesn’t compromise on melee capabilities either. He provides your army with a welcome defensive boost by upgrading a single piece of terrain to provide a bonus +1 cover to its regular cover save. For these reasons alone, a Master of the Forge is well suited as the Warlord or supporting commander to a gunline-oriented force. He boosts cover for Devastators and the like to ply their deadly trade in safety, or even your scoring Tactical Marines and Scouts. Additionally, as you would expect of any form of Techmarine, he can repair vehicles of any kind with his servo-arms; restoring one of a lost hull point, a destroyed weapon or an immobilized result. Obviously, this is an invaluable asset in any army featuring a handful or more of vehicles, particularly for Iron Hands who both provide the Master of the Forge with bonuses to Repair rolls, and the vehicles themselves with It Will Not Die.
The Master of Forge, while primarily a support character that is already useful enough, can be quite damaging as well in the right circumstances; probably in a well protected bodyguard unit and out of base contact with enemy models. With three power fist attacks base at Weapon Skill four, as well as the ability to fire two weapons if he doesn’t try to repair a vehicle, the Master of the Forge is as likely to do some decent damage as a Librarian or Chaplain. Their servo-harness affords them with a twin-linked plasma pistol, effectively, and a flamer. Add a standard boltgun, combi-weapon or even a Conversion Beamer to the mix, and you have a character that can really worry light vehicles, light infantry and even heavier units at range, depending on wargear choices. That the mechanical genius himself has a 2+ armour save and two wound stock is pretty handy, especially considering his price, as he can be used to soak up troubling AP3 wounds for power-armoured units as necessary. Additionally, he can tank power swords and the like quite well in challenges, though the lack of an invulnerable save can be irritating against enemies such as monsters or plasma weaponry; not that you should ever willingly engage these, of course.
To add to the Master of the Forge’s already rather extensive list of traits, he allows you to take Dreadnoughts and Ironclad Dreadnoughts as both Heavy Support and Elite choices, significantly freeing up the Elites slot to allow you to take strong units such as Sternguard. This works best for a drop-pod assault based army, due to most of the Heavy Support units either being invalid or not really conducive to the effective use of such a force. Otherwise, you may find your Heavy Support choices more contested than your Elites, due to the sheer strength of the units available there. Regardless, that the Master of the Forge allows you to change up the army list in such a way, while already being a very cost effective commander, seals him as one of the best HQ choices that you have access to.
How to Equip Them – Though you would logically think that a lord of the armoury would be one of the best equipped models in the force, you really don’t need to upgrade a Master of the Forge that much to make them more effective. A conversion beamer is very much a preferential choice depending on whether you want a static Master of the Forge, though I would think it relies a bit heavily on deployment type and the size of a game board to make the most out of its evolving profile based on range. I would avoid the power axe as the Master of the Forge already has a free power fist in the form of the servo arm, unless it is for model purposes. Putting him on a bike is about the limit I would push the Master of the Forge to, as he really doesn’t need anything else to be a great choice that supports your army in an ideal fashion. If you have the points spare, giving him the Primarch’s Wrath while mounted on a bike is a smart and fluffy choice to add to his decent assortment of ranged weapons. Of course, a smarter choice would be to take a conversion beamer on a bike to make the most out of being mobile and Relentless! This makes the Master of the Forge so much nastier at range and removes the restriction on being forced to fire or move. Keep him as cheap as you can, as he already gives you some sizable boosts just through his inclusion in an army.
Where to Put Them – There are a few primary methods to utilize a Master of the Forge, and each works well in their own associated army list variant. The most commonly seen is to mount them in a vehicle or on a bike riding just behind a vehicle, using them to repair it as necessary. Land Raiders are ideal for this, particularly in an Iron Hands army list due to boosted repair rolls and It Will Not Die. You can even put them in a Drop Pod as a means of getting an extra combi-weapon into the alpha strike, and to repair your already rather tough Ironclad Dreadnoughts. Another is to simply put them in a squad on foot or on bikes and provide either static or mobile ranged fire support as well as making full use of Bolster Defences.
Best Uses – I think that a Master of the Forge is ideally used in a vehicle-heavy Iron Hands army list led by a trio of Land Raiders of some variety, or any other kind of list featuring more than five or six tanks. The sheer utility and damage control provided by the Master of the Forge is simply priceless. In an edition where stripping hull points remains the primary method of dealing with vehicles of all kinds, safeguarding them from such damage by giving those units two chances to recover hull points in the same turn can be utterly ridiculous if exploited. Maximising its potential is best served by employing as many high-armoured vehicles as possible whom massed strength seven attacks would struggle to put down in one salvo, such as Ironclads in Drop Pod lists, or Predators, Vindicators and Land Raiders in mechanized lists.
Chapter Tactics – Though there may be a clear winner here, it is pertinent to point out the advantages of the various other beneficiary Chapter Tactics. White Scars help out any Bike-mounted Master of the Forge – even allowing him to grant Scout to allied units! – while Salamanders give him free master-crafting and re-rollable saves against template weapons, making them an awesome wound tank against Heldrakes. Still, it needs to be said; Iron Hands are tailor made to make a Master of the Forge into an incredible commander at dirt cheap prices. They give him a bonus to repair rolls, the ability to grow back wounds, a slight Feel No Pain save, and, most important of all, they provide immense benefits to the same vehicles a Master of the Forge is best suited to supporting. They really are the master artisans amongst the Loyalist Astartes.
Techmarine
Overview – The cheaper, more generic equivalent of a Master of the Forge, a Techmarine doesn’t provide the same bang for your buck potential Warlord choice, but makes up for it by not taking up an HQ slot. You can take one for each other independent character – excluding Techmarines – HQ choice you take, and as independent characters, they can be joined to a wide variety of units. The differences between them and a Master of the Forge are quite significant, as the Techmarine has but a single wound, only a servo arm and not a full servo harness, and reduced access to wargear such as conversion beamers and the Primarch’s Wrath. That the Techmarine is also Leadership 8 as opposed to 10 lessens the benefits they provide to a typical Space Marine squad, as even despite And They Shall Know No Fear, sticking in a particular combat or passing a given Pinning test is still very important and can change the game. Basically, you take a Techmarine(s) either as the cheapest Repair option you have, or because you don’t have a spare HQ slot to fit in a Master of the Forge. Generally speaking, they are also a cheap method of adding Bolster Defences to an army, which can be quite useful in limited numbers; you don’t want to spend too many points on abilities that may not see use on terrain-light game boards, after all. They become far more effective in a mechanized army list so as to spread out the repair rolls that receive the handy +1 bonus in an Iron Hands list – the favourite of mech Space Marine armies.
How to Equip Them – You are probably off leaving a Techmarine bare if you want them to support vehicles, as they can stick inside transports until their servo arms are needed; otherwise, you can put them on a bike to give them some much needed extra durability. With only one wound and a 2+ armour save, they are very easy to kill and as such you shouldn’t invest any more points in them than absolutely necessary. You can replace their servo arm with a servo harness, but it leaves them only marginally cheaper than a Master of the Forge that has a wide range of advantages, so I would leave such gear for them unless you are playing in a list that requires multiple ‘mechanics’.
Where to Put Them – Techmarines are, like Masters of the Forge, best placed either in a transport or on a bike to support vehicles and make the most out of their Blessing of the Omnissiah special rule. Unlike the Master of the Forge, you can’t really get away with using them in a bunker unit as effectively as they lack a servo harness, and are too close in price to a Master of the Forge when upgraded with one.
Best Uses – I would keep Techmarines reserved solely for a mechanized list, as unlike a Master of the Forge, the Techmarine doesn’t really have much utility outside of reparing vehicles, particularly as he doesn’t potentially eat up your mandatory HQ slot. A Master of the Forge does this and more, including moving Dreadnoughts of all kinds to Heavy Support and being quite a bit tougher to kill. When paired up with Iron Hands Chapter Tactics and moving around with Predators, Vindicators, Land Raiders and the like galore, there aren’t too many better investments than a Techmarine.
Chapter Tactics – Though I feel like I am beating a dead horse, having the Iron Hands Chapter Tactics really benefits Techmarines – and by extension, Masters of the Forge, vehicles and so on – the most given their role in a typical Space Marine force. Making full use of those abilities really demands the use of Iron Hands, and so that would be my stock recommendation. Other handy choices are Salamanders to master-craft a combi-weapon, or, indirectly, Imperial Fists to give tank-hunting Devastators a nice 3+ or 4+ cover save in your deployment zone.
Servitors
Overview – The cheap companions to Techmarines and Masters of the Forge, Servitors are a unit specifically designed with Blessing of the Omnissiah in mind; each has a servo arm, providing large bonuses to repair rolls and, hilariously, providing cheap ablative power fist attacks and wounds. With a 4+ armour save and stats befitting a typical Imperial Guardsmen, Servitors are cheap for what they do and useful to maximise your repair rolls. They can even be used to add heavy weapons at low prices to your force, though these are unreliable and pale in comparison to only slightly more expensive Devastator Marines. Where Servitors start to shine is an Iron Hands army, or more loosely, a mechanized force; the sole purpose to take them is to make sure your repair rolls are successful, as any other use of them is inefficient compared to regular Space Marines or even Scouts.
Unfortunately, the unit proves to be rather less useful than initially thought as they preclude the Techmarine or Master of the Forge from joining another unit. Though they are cheap, with their middling Toughness (that extends to the character if two or more are taken due to majority toughness rules), mediocre stats and 4+ armour save, they do not protect already comparatively (to Captains and Chapter Masters) fragile characters all that well. That their squad size is a mere five means that you can’t even provide that many ablative wounds for the characters, and outside of some power fist attacks at Weapon Skill three, they really can’t do much else. Additionally, if you want to make your repairs on the fly, taking Servitors precludes your character from being mounted on a bike. As an unlocked unit available to Techmarines and Masters of the Forge, Servitors aren’t anywhere near as impressive as Command Squads or Honour Guard. This is not just because they can’t do as much damage or protect them well enough, but because those characters already have a high enough success rate with repair rolls to not really need the help of Servitors. When Iron Hands – best pals to the Omnissiah’s servants – are thrown in as the chosen Chapter Tactics, the need for Servitors is almost completely eliminated due to the +1 bonus to repair rolls already gained, and the vehicles all gaining It Will Not Die for free.
How to Equip Them – If you are taking Servitors, do yourself a favour and leave them bare, and take them in maximum sized squads. As they cannot repair vehicles themselves, may potentially do nothing if left alone, and are generally taken just to boost repair rolls, you should always take four or five and always leave them with the Techmarine or Master of the Forge. Any other use of them is simply a waste of points; if you want heavy weapons, you are far better off paying less than five points per model more for better damage output, survivability and adaptability from Devastators.
Where to Put Them – Given that they cannot take any kind of mount wargear, and are quite fragile themselves, I would always place them in a transport, preferably the one you most want a character with Blessing of the Omnissiah to keep in the battle. Land Raiders are good uses for such tactics, though it does bring into question the viability of using a Land Raider to ferry a unit of Servitors and their master.
Best Uses – Ignore the heavy weapons, and use them in transports, or hide them behind cover, so as to best repair either mobile or static vehicles. These are the sole reasons you take Servitors; even despite their power fist attacks, you can’t even really use them as a counter-assault unit in the backfield due to how mediocre their profile is.
Chapter Tactics – Ironically, you probably don’t want to see Servitors in an Iron Hands army list simply because a Master of the Forge with those Chapter Tactics already fixes vehicles on a 3+, and that is even before mentioning the It Will Not Die rolls those vehicles obtain. This leaves them best suited to bodyguard duties for Techmarines in other Chapters, as you can have four plus the Techmarine himself for the price of a Master of the Forge and have a guaranteed repair roll.
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Thanks for reading everybody and by all means chime in down in the comments. How have you been running your Techmarine characters?
