New AdMech FAQ

[MajorNese]

Just a heads up - since the marines codex dropped, the wargear that overlaps with AdMech was updated too, and overcharge now blows up on unmodified 1s - no more Daedalosus for safe overcharging.

 

Short FAQ recap:

-cognis/heavy flamer are increased to 12" range

-heavy bolter is 2D

-meltagun/multi-melta within half range do D6+2 damage instead of rolling two dice and discarding one

-multi-melta is Heavy 2 now

-plasma caliver/cannon/culverin kills the bearer on an unmodified 1 when overcharging

-power fist is 2D fixed, not d3D

-power sword is now S+1

 

No other changes besides the weapons profiles, no new Q&A.

[Magos Takatus]

The main thing I took away from it was that Taser weapons and Electrostatic gauntlets now only give 2 bonus hits instead of 3. Since I have a 10 strong squad of Infiltrators, a pair of Dragoons and some Corpuscari, this has hit my army harder than I would have liked. Especially since my rival plays Tyranids, I valued the bonus damage. Hopefully it won't be a dramatic difference in practice.

[DanPesci]

Cheers for this!

 

So 2 things I see this related to in my current list

 

 

1. My outstanding thoughts that arc rifle breachers are superior to plasma destroyers now has possibly extra weight. Losing a 3 wound model when overcharging is a big risk. You now really need the dominus nearby for the reroll 1s to help avoid this, not just deadalosus.

 

If not overcharging, the cheaper arc rifle is wounding most infantry on the same (3+) and does d3 damage rather than 1.

 

As a caveat to this, there seems to be also  be a trend of more units/strats now that can reduce damage (e.g. all dreadnoughts), invalidating overcharge even further.

 

Conversely, the flamers on destroyers going up to 12" is nice, as this acts as further charge deteral.

 

 

2. Infiltrators with powerswords may now be superior to to the goad/uzi ones depending on role usage.

 

e.g. If using infiltrators as a source of cheap massed fire for the mortal wounds mars strat - no real change. But if like me you don't play mars and are looking to get those infiltrators into combat. The boost to powerswords is nice (especially as the exploding 6s on goads now is always an unmodified 6).

 

 

Obviously we'll need to wait until our new codex drops to see how points changes are reflected in this (e.g. powersword infiltrators may become more expensive than goad ones)

[MajorNese]

The main thing I took away from it was that Taser weapons and Electrostatic gauntlets now only give 2 bonus hits instead of 3.

...they never gave 3 bonus hits in the first place.

 

GW changed the wording (and the fact that it's now for unmodified rolls), but not the total number of hits.

Pre-FAQ it was "3 hits instead of 1", now it is "2 additional hits" with an unmodified 6 always hitting. Either way, you roll a 6 and get 3 hits.

 

 

If not overcharging, the cheaper arc rifle is wounding most infantry on the same (3+) and does d3 damage rather than 1.

But it only has 2 shots. Plasma has d6 (average 3.5), with Blast making it even more on average against hordes.

Also the option to overcharge allows wounding marines on 2s and reliably instagibbing 2W marines (d3 damage has 1/3 chance of not doing that). While damage reduction buffs are a thing for individual units, your number one target got buffed to 2W across the board.

I agree that plasmaphrons are less attractive than before, but they still have their role - you absolutely need something dead, you blow these guys up and get it done.

[Magos Takatus]

Ah, cheers for the correction. I prefer the new wording personally even if amounts to the same result :)

[9x19 Parabellum]

So what do we think about cheap-ass servitor unit with 2 multi-meltas (4 shots) hitting on 4's and getting 30" range from TPM?  60 pts for 4 melta shots?

[MajorNese]

So what do we think about cheap-ass servitor unit with 2 multi-meltas (4 shots) hitting on 4's and getting 30" range from TPM?  60 pts for 4 melta shots?

68p - servitors got up to 7ppm. They die to a stiff breeze though, don't expect them to live for more than one turn. 48p for heavy bolters could also be a way to go, with 2D per shot now.

 

Otherwise - not bad firepower as long as no one shoots at them. Mars canticle could offset that by ignoring the movement penalty, so the servitors could hide behind LoS blockers or in transports until your turn.

Edited October 6, 2020 by MajorNese

[9x19 Parabellum]

Hrm. One thing I noticed since I made that post...do we know how many points each gun is for each unit right now? I didn't realize this until I took a deeper dive into Space Marine Codex pricing...every unit has different pricing. For example multimeltas on the Land Speeders, for example, are 10 points, while multimeltas on devastator squads are 20 points. 

 

How do we know the pricing for a specific faction right now? Is the Munitions Field Manual the current last word for everyone (except Space Marines)?

[MajorNese]

Munitorum Field Manual is the last word for now.

 

Neither the AdMech FAQ nor the Munitorum Field Manual FAQ has changed anything in that regards - the latter only adds an entry for the skitarii maul option they forgot in the MFM in the first place.

[DanPesci]

 

The main thing I took away from it was that Taser weapons and Electrostatic gauntlets now only give 2 bonus hits instead of 3.

...they never gave 3 bonus hits in the first place.

 

GW changed the wording (and the fact that it's now for unmodified rolls), but not the total number of hits.

Pre-FAQ it was "3 hits instead of 1", now it is "2 additional hits" with an unmodified 6 always hitting. Either way, you roll a 6 and get 3 hits.

 

 

If not overcharging, the cheaper arc rifle is wounding most infantry on the same (3+) and does d3 damage rather than 1.

But it only has 2 shots. Plasma has d6 (average 3.5), with Blast making it even more on average against hordes.

Also the option to overcharge allows wounding marines on 2s and reliably instagibbing 2W marines (d3 damage has 1/3 chance of not doing that). While damage reduction buffs are a thing for individual units, your number one target got buffed to 2W across the board.

I agree that plasmaphrons are less attractive than before, but they still have their role - you absolutely need something dead, you blow these guys up and get it done.

 

 

 

forgive me, i totally forgot that plasma destroyers are d6 shots and not d3 - thats how long its been since i used them lol.

 

Fully agree that when you need to do the damage, plasmaphrons have it, and if you're going to sacrifice anything, it may as well be those mind-wiped servitors 

 

 

Interesting points on the standard servitors having ready access to 2W weapons with heavy bolters now too. I had been bringing them anyway due to running servitor maniple, albeit without heavy weapons (i realise this currently isnt legal in matched play) - but i find they get totally ignored in favour of juicer targets. Having HB on there for meq clearance isnt the worst idea ever! 

Edited October 6, 2020 by DanPesci

[Charlo]

12 Heavy Bolter Servitors in a transport is kind of amazing?

 

Solid bit of firepower and can otherwise perform actions or sit on objectives.

 

Timing the right canticle with exiting the transport and unloading could be pretty gnarly

[MajorNese]

12 Heavy Bolter Servitors in a transport is kind of amazing?

6 heavy bolter servitors, 6 servo arm servitors. You can only replace the servo arm on two out of four models.

[DanPesci]

12 Heavy Bolter Servitors in a transport is kind of amazing?

 

Solid bit of firepower and can otherwise perform actions or sit on objectives.

 

Timing the right canticle with exiting the transport and unloading could be pretty gnarly

 

 

Sorry if I've got something wrong here (yet to play a game of 9th)

 

But wouldn't servitors be BS 6+ with heavy weapons after exiting a transport (unless techpriest nearby to avoid mindlock, and even then they're still only 5+)?

 

Also (unless this changed), you can only take them in units of 4 max, so that's 3 elite slots taken up, and very easy to give points away for kill more/kill unit secondaries (again, yet to play 9th but I believe this is a thing now )

[MajorNese]

But wouldn't servitors be BS 6+ with heavy weapons after exiting a transport (unless techpriest nearby to avoid mindlock, and even then they're still only 5+)?

 

Also (unless this changed), you can only take them in units of 4 max, so that's 3 elite slots taken up, and very easy to give points away for kill more/kill unit secondaries (again, yet to play 9th but I believe this is a thing now )

BS5+ improved to BS4+ near a techpriest, and with Mars canticle ignore the movement penalty so it stays at 4+.

Putting 3 squads into transports would require a termite (which is pretty wasted in the backfield), or two duneriders, so that's quite an investment.

 

And yes, having 3 spare elite slots in the first place is an issue, as well as killpoints. Servitors are trivial to kill - T3 4+ and not even the 6++ for bionics.

Still, as cheap fillers to prevent backfield deep strike, and put on objectives out of LoS, they could be situationally worth it. I'll build a few more because why not, since I have tech-thralls around in spades...

[DanPesci]

Ahhh id forgot the mars one lets you ignore movement pens as well as the +1 S (stygies player). ta, get the idea now.

 

I have 8 built as I used to run the servitor maniple - hoping this comes back in our dex in some form - servitors being elites is also kinda weird as theyre really the lowest of the low. Making them troops but having them unable to ever hold objectives would make much more sense (or free slot for every techpriest/engineseer).

 

As you say, even when they werent being used to fix my breachers, they were still useful for backfield DS denial. But then in 8th I also used to run dual battalion so fitting them in alongside my infiltrators and priests was never an issue.

[Gaz1858]

So on the subject of Servitors then.

 

4 x Servitors with 2 x Heavy Bolters is 48 points. I run Mars with Cawl, Magos Trait Manipulus etc so this would be 6 S6 -1AP and 2DMG shots hitting on 4s rerolling misses and 6s are exploding...

 

Doesnt seem bad for 48 points really. Especially as Kill Points arent generally a big thing now and if theyre shooting my Servitors and not anything else im ok with that.