Goatboy’s Warhammer 40K Hot Mess – Sector Mechanicus Sacristan Forgeshrine
The Sacristan Forgeshrine looks like a bunch of terrain bits thrown into a bag and rolled out on the tabletop. What the heck is it supposed to be, or do? Let’s get to work.
40k is a resource game where your resources are damaging-dealing options. You control how you dole out your damage. Having anything that hampers your ability to dole out damage for a turn in the hopes of getting something in return had better be pretty dang amazing. At least, this is what this piece of terrain was supposed to do. It would turn off an Imperial Knight’s shooting for a turn to allow it to shoot its maximum number of shots the next turn. I think it also used to provide cover but guess what it does now?
Nothing… There are no rules for the Sacristan Forgeshrine in the new book, and no rules I can find in the app. However, it is just available on the GW site without any other fanfare. So why is it even here? Could we even make it worthwhile? How could we make it worth the sheer cost of plastic to have it show on the table instead of just being something you throw on a display board?
Let’s Make the Sacristan Forgeshrine Worth It
I don’t hate the idea of good terrain for your armies in 40k. It is one of the unique things from AoS that I wish was pushed more in 40k as it helps amp up the table a bit. I just want it to be good, and not just a weird half-baked idea that doesn’t quite work the way you would want it. So how do we make it good? Well, first thing we make it cheap or make it free for an army that is just all Imperial Knights. Also we should make it for the bad guys too – Chaos Knights. That way it can show up, be somewhat balanced by just limiting how you get it, and then make the rules good.
On the rules front, let’s figure out some of the things to make it work. I like the idea of a repairing “aura” that would allow the appropriate models to regain wounds. The terrain has some kind of nanobots that float around in a nice 6-9 inch bubble around it that help amp up the healing the army might have. Think of it like some kind of d3 wound boost and just let that be the passive aura that floats off of it to make a cool base of operations.
Give the Forgeshrine Options To Amp Up Things
Next, let it have some kind of cool choice option you can activate to boost up your Knights. This way you have to decide how to use it throughout the game and make it a cool little set of choices for the army. Maybe the Sacristan Forgeshrine grants a +1 to hit to friendly models within range of its Nanobots OR a +1 to toughness. Little small things that you have to decide per turn and burn out after you use them to help your army of angry robot knights do their thing.
On the Chaos Side
Maybe have it do some weird Dread stuff or just amp up some weird Chaos Energies to complete the fluffy side of things for the bad guys. It would be cool just to have a Dark Mechanicus flavor. This one isn’t just making things tougher but might instead make things angrier for the army. How about gifting some Dark Mechanicus boost like exploding better, more strength on their shooting attacks, or amp’d up close combat. Let the good guys be benefits to their staying power, and the bad guys amp up how they do damage to you.
Make Its Boosts Happen Immediately
40k is a game of 5 turns of mayhem, so removing a turn to be better the next turn just doesn’t help you. Have all its boosts instead do things like you can’t move after getting the command phase boost. Or you have to start the turn within range of it at the beginning of the turn. I just hate rules where you have to make a choice, sit still, and then wait for your opponent. This just invalidates your unit as it gets ready to go super awesome. That just isn’t fun and we already have to do it for some actions. A giant knightly robot of death shouldn’t be sitting still, twiddling its thumbs.
Make Terrain Worth It
It’s just annoying to see some of the models like the Sacristan Forgeshrine come and go thru a book and just never feel like they were fully realized. In the end, 40K is built around models that move around the tabletop. Terrain can create a cool narrative on the field that is different than a lot of other options in the game. But they have to work with that movement in mind. Any terrain piece that overtly works against movement is going to have a very hard time being used.
Do you want Terrain to be worth it in 40k? Do you think it is something missing from the game?
