Battle Mechaniks

Khador’s mighty warjacks are built to last, but not even the toughest Destroyer or Juggernaut is immune to the devastating effects of protracted battle. The loyal members of the Khadoran Mechaniks’ Assembly are there to keep the empire’s great battle machines pounding away at the enemy. Every battle mechanik follows his warjacks into battle, ready to make essential repairs or simply crush skulls with his oversized wrench.

Battle mechanik officers are hardened combat veterans who specialize in the maintenance and battle repairs of the vaunted Man-O-War armor. Trained in the use of steam-powered armor, they rely on its protection to wade deep into the thick of battle to repair warjacks and Man-O-War alike. The mechaniks’ presence ensures no soldier’s armor becomes disabled, keeping Khador’s signature heavy infantry in the fight.

Basic Info

Battle Mechaniks

Abilities

• Template:Repair

Weapons

Monkey Wrench
File:Sword icon.jpg		RNG				POW				P+S
		0.5				2				8

Officer

Abilities

• Template:Officer
• Template:Girded
• Template:Repair
• Template:Repairable

Weapons

Wrench
File:Sword icon.jpg		RNG				POW				P+S
		0.5				4				13

Theme Forces

• Khador
  • Template:Armored Korps. In this theme this unit gains +1 on all their repair rolls.
  • Template:Jaws of the Wolf
  • Template:Wolves of Winter
  • Template:Winter Guard Kommand
  • Template:Legion of Steel

• Other Factions
  • Infernal players can use this unit in the Template:Hearts of Darkness theme, but only if Malakov2 is leading the army.

Thoughts on Battle Mechaniks

File:Battle Mechaniks CA.jpg

Command Attachment

Battle Mechaniks in a Nutshell

Battle Mechaniks are Khador's resident Repair unit. They're a cheap and effective tool for keeping your Man-o-War, warjacks and colossals in working condition. The main draw to the Repair ability is that you are able to choose exactly which damages you are removing, allowing you to restore functionality to disabled systems. Battle Mechaniks are designed to achieve exactly this goal and not much more. They're extremely weak combatants and very vulnerable, especially to blasts targeting the models they had been repairing. Beyond that, they're relatively slow and need to stay within 5" of their intended repair target(s) to do anything at all.

Thoughts on the Command Attachment

The Battle Mechanik Officer is the Command Attachment for Battle Mechaniks and is significant for a few reasons. Firstly, as 1pt for ARM 16 and 8 health boxes, he's an incredible value. Even if he did nothing but die, the effort that the enemy spent to kill him would probably be worth a point. Secondly, his improved CMD stat lets the rest of the unit spread out more, potentially getting more warjacks back in the fight. Thirdly, he brings a strong Repair ability, though it's notable that for 1pt more, you could be getting a whole extra unit of Battle Mechaniks, offering more flexibility on slightly faster bodies and a higher average repair rate (4-12 compared to 4-6). Lastly, his Girded ability. If you're going up against blast-heavy indirect fire the Officer will keep your unit alive long enough to actually do their job, and can be repaired himself if the Mechaniks don't have something better to do that turn. The Officer can also provide Girded to friendly models outside his own unit to guard your forces against High-Explosive or boosted blasts, for example. But if blasts aren't an issue, you might be better off with four small-based models that are easier to screen than one medium-based one.

Combos & Synergies

• Karchev the Terrible: The Man in the Machine is Repairable which means you can help keep him alive with Mechaniks! He's on the fast side and likes to go where the danger is but cheap healing can be great for him.
• Malakov2: Mechaniks are the type of expendable Suckers Andrei loves working with.
• Old Witch2: Her Scrapjack platform is Repairable and her Huge base lets her screen Mechaniks to work safely in the rear.
• Sorscha3: Like Karchev, this incarnation of Sorscha is Repairable and is more of a backfield 'caster. After getting hurt you can heal her back up to full in no time with a handful of Mechaniks.
• Zerkova2: Best described as one of those "off label" uses, Battle Mechaniks are great targets for her Sacrificial Lamb spell because each Mechanik is dirt cheap. The officer can also help high DEF low ARM casters like Zerkova avoid blast damage.
• Sorscha1: Fog of War makes it so enemies might actually miss your Mechaniks, and the Officer can make the squishy Sorscha avoid incidental blast damage.

• Behemoth: Big B is an expensive piece that's worth repairing to keep that Sub-Cortex up and running.
• Conquest/Victor: The Khador Colossals are expensive, have Huge bases for screening and do just fine chucking shells into enemy lines. They're a perfect fit. Also, you can place Creeping Barrage templates onto your Officer and its surrounding models without worrying for the blast damage.

• Malakov1: As above, Mechaniks are Suckers!

• Kommandant Arconovich: Arconovich is a Repairable Man-o-War and more than worth Repairing. He spends most of his time behind the front lines so he tends to be available for Repairs as well.
• Man-o-War Bombardiers: The other Man-o-War tend to enter melee rather quickly but Bombardiers prefer keeping their distance most of the time, making them excellent targets of opportunity for Mechaniks.

• Man-o-War Assault & Siege Chariot: Expensive, Huge bases, strong ranged weapons and Repairable. Their hit and run tactics bring them back into Repair range quite often, provided you plan for it.

Mercenaries

• Alexia Ciannor & The Risen: Keeping Mechaniks close to her nets her Stir the Dead corpses for Risen when they die!
• Ragman: If you need something to take a Sacrificial Pawn hit it might as well be a Mechanik.

Theme Thoughts

Battle Mechaniks can be included in all of the Khador Theme Forces but there are two in particular that merit additional attention.

Armored Corps: Battle Mechaniks absolutely shine in many Armored Corps builds, not just because they have plenty of models to screen them, not only because almost everything is a repair target, but also because +1 to all their Repair ability rolls greatly enhances their efficiency on average.

Jaws of the Wolf: Is a jack theme, and Battle Mechaniks help you get the most out of your jacks. The Officer is often a worthwhile inclusion in these lists because you're unlikely to be able to screen your Mechaniks and they're likely to draw the attention of every single blast weapon the enemy has each turn. Their abilities will not go to waste here.

Drawbacks & Downsides

• Mechaniks have a weak low POW melee attack and can't be expected to kill anything on their own.
• Battle Mechaniks are weak models with limited application. If you run out of things to repair they won't do much apart of occasional zone/flag contesting.
• They can't run and repair so they can have trouble keeping up with their intended repair targets.
• They're very vulnerable to blasts and opponents can use them to farm corpse and soul tokens.

Tricks & Tips

• It's almost always better to run two minimum units than one maximum unit of Mechaniks. You get more flexibility in positioning and you pay less per individual model. It's the same price to bring a whole new unit of 4 Mechaniks as it is to add only 2 more Mechaniks to your existing Min unit.
• Ideally you want 2 Mechaniks (or 1 Officer) per 'jack in your force.
• Don't forget your Officer is Repairable!
• Repair rolls allow you to choose which column to repair, which means moving and repairing with the mechanics before a Jack activates can restore critical systems before the jack activates.
• The Officer's Girded ability works on out-of-unit models so you can use him to screen and protect squishy models like Orin Midwinter from blasts.

Other

Trivia

• The unit (not including CA) was originally released in Warmachine: Prime (2003)
• The CA was released in the Warmachine: Wrath expansion (2011)