Trencher Combat Engineers

As turn the wrenches of the mechaniks, so turns the war. Trencher combat engineers are even tougher and more combat-ready than their field mechanik counterparts in the regular Cygnaran Army. Every man and woman among them must be as adept with a firearm as they are at maintaining and repairing the warjacks and weapons of the platoon.

Basic Info

Abilities

• Template:Tough
• Template:Dig In
• Template:Repair
• Template:Sabotage

Weapons

• Carbine - 10" range, POW 10 gun
• Monkey Wrench - 0.5" reach, P+S 8 melee weapon

Theme Forces

• Cygnar
  • Template:Gravediggers - In this theme this unit gains Rise
  • Template:Heavy Metal. They gain Reposition [3] in this theme. Also, they get +1 to their Repair result.
  • Template:Sons of the Tempest
  • Template:Storm Division - In this theme this unit gains Immunity: Electricity

• Other Factions
  • Infernal players can use this unit in the Template:Hearts of Darkness theme, but only if Sloan is leading the army.
  • Mercenary players can use this unit in the Template:Llaelese Resistance theme. They become Llaelese models and gain Pathfinder.

Thoughts on Trencher Combat Engineers

Trencher Combat Engineers in a nutshell

The Trencher Combat Engineers are a solid mix of support and light combat unit. As a combat unit they bring:

• the all round solid trencher statline, including tough
• Guns
• the ability to dig-in, making them difficult to remove

As a support unit, they bring:

• Repair D3
• Sabotage
• they are a small, sturdy unit available in Heavy Metal, making them good for scoring zones that Jacks can't

No discussion of these guys is possible without comparing them to Cygnar's other Mechanik unit: Field Mechaniks. Whereas the Field Mechs represent dirt-cheap repairers who aren't good for much else, Trencher Mechs can shoot, are more durable, and are much more expensive (per model). A huge point in the Trencher's favour is they can be taken in the Trencher theme, while the gobbers can't. Gobbers provide more bodies for the same price, offer more opportunity for repair, and give access to Malvin & Mayhem. Neither is distinctly better than the other, it mostly comes down to personal taste, and whether you want M&M.

Combos & Synergies

• They're the cheapest unit that can maximise the number of shots that a Grenadier can make through Manual Reload.
• Under Haley 3's Temporal Distortion, they can be Def 19, meaning they can sit at the back of a zone being almost unkillable.
• If you have Nemo4 summon a Trench Buster in a Heavy Metal Theme list, these guys can function as Flank enablers.

Drawbacks & Downsides

• Everything they do is an action (either [[:Category:{{{ability}}}|{{{ability}}}]]

[[Category:{{{ability}}}]] or combat). They can do only one per turn, and you're paying for all of them.

• They lack Advance Deployment, meaning that most of the time you won't have the opportunity to repair a jack, and be dug in the same time.
• In the Gravediggers theme, they don't do anything unique other than repair, and the theme generally doesn't bring very many jacks.

Tricks & Tips

• In the Heavy Metal theme, remember if you use Reposition[3] while they are dug in, they will no longer be dug in because of the move.

Other

Trivia

Released in the Gravediggers expansion (2017.06)