The question, then, is what do we do better than other marines, and what's worth building around? Also, are there things that just look neat, but are somehow not quite as cool for us as others? And, finally, do we have some hilarious tricks or things?
The Iron Father
Post 7 Jan FAQ, he's 160 points. That's a significant increase over a regular techmarine, and really, you're paying for his 5++ invuln save bubble. Unless you're going to push a bunch of Intercessors up the table, I don't think he's really worth it. Yes, he gives +1 to hit out more freely, but seriously, you've got re-rolls for CORE stuff already.
MOVING OUT - Build around him, or leave at home.
The Relic Character Contemptor of Dakka
Would you like to bury a bunch of heavy weapons on a character that really does NOT care about snipers? For a little over 200 points and 2-3 CP, you can bring the sniper dreadnought from hell. Take a Relic Contemptor, drop a pair of twin-las on it, and buy a Cyclone missile launcher for good measure. Pay a second CP (you already paid one for Martial Legacy) for March of the Ancients, and since he's 9W, he just needs to hang back for Look Out, Sir. If you REALLY want to have fun, give him the Warlord Trait 'targeting protocols' - he can hand out a re-roll to hit, a re-roll to wound, and a re-roll to damage.
He's not CORE, but you might have a techmarine nearby for a +1 to hit, or you might just buff yourself. You're kicking out six shots that are probably wounding on a 3-4 and then doing 1d6 damage per shot. It's a chunk of points, but unless you throw him out too far forward or just get your screens nuked, this guy is bound to have a few turns of ugly, ugly shooting.
MOVING OUT - not for smaller point games, but it's a bloody productive model.
Grav Devastators in Drop Pods
Seriously, the ability to drop in and drop a bucket of accurate dice is solid. 24" is "you have to hide out of LOS, you aren't screening this out" range. If this unit lives, you can pay a CP and promptly go back into the devastator doctrine.
I suppose you could lean into drop-pod multi-melta if you wanted to, but that seems like overkill and you have other ways to deliver that capability (like, say, Eradicators and possibly strategic reserves).
I suppose you could also use traditional long-range devastators and leverage the "revert to devastator doctrine" stratagem as well, but grav is tasty and demands a response.
MOVING OUT - it's just shy of 200pts and a heavy support slot, and it's not hard to fit into a build.
On Dreadnoughts
Real talk here - I think it's safe to say we do the Redemptor very well; a 6+ shrug on wounds and no stat degradation until we're on 3 wounds remaining? Come on. They're big, they hit hard, and I'm having a hard time not putting 1-2 in my list before looking elsewhere. They're even more fun when you get a Librarian with Psychic Fortress Up, because now you've got a tasty 5++ save.
Venerable dreadnoughts are in a different spot - 2+ to hit is pretty awesome, but the 6+ shrug they come with is redundant, and they don't degrade. We lose a touch of efficiency here, but a venerable dread is still a bargain-bin pick for March of the Ancients and guns.
The other dreadnoughts skip out on our ability to basically ignore degrading stats, but they're good with the 6+ FNP. The core advantage they have is weapons choices - and really, the only standouts are the twin lascannon and the multi-melta. You trade out a LOT of volume for these - a dozen S6 shots and another 8 at S5, then your small arms fire and possibly that Icarus pod (because at 5pts, why not.)
The Ironclad is worth mentioning because T8 is significant - small arms and most melee shifts to 6+ to wound, and most heavy weapons are on 4+ to wound now.
MOVING OUT - Redemptors are awesome. It's hard to say not to them because we make them shine. The biggest competitor is the relic contemptor sniper build mentioned above.
On the Apothecary
So, these guys got a nice buff. The thing is, we already have half of what an apothecary offers - a 6+ shrug. So, we bring one to resurrect guys. A Chief Apothecary is around 100pts and a warlord trait (probably means he's your warlord, and you're spending a CP to buff someone else, or he's getting his trait for a CP). If you didn't bring a beefy unit of special characters, skip this guy - you want to bring back something like Terminators, Aggressors, Bladeguard Veterans, Eradicators or something else tasty.
If you're bringing him to bring back intercessors, think about what you'd get out of 5 more intercessors on the field right away.
MOVING OUT - Much as I like this model, Iron Hands really want more of a plan for it since the 6+ shrug aura is redundant.
Warlord Traits / Relics of Note
Don't neglect Student of History - it's not really killy by itself, but Paragon of Iron for a more killy trait (like Sword of the Imperium) along with this lets your Warlord back out of combat on your opponents turn, letting you shoot things and then charge or relocate.
Sword the Imperium + Axe of Medusa = bargain thunder hammer on the charge; you get an S8, AP-3 3 damage power axe that hits on 2s.
If you really want to try to make a Repulsor Executioner work (or some other weird, large FW tank) consider a Techmarine with the Iron Stone and Targeting Protocols; -1 damage from your relic, +1BS and a re-roll to hit, wound, and damage is tasty. It's also a lot of eggs in one basket.
Aegis Ferrum + The Flesh is Weak-- if you really, really, REALLY have to be tanky, you can stack +1W, -1 damage, and a 5+ shrug (that goes to 4+ via stratagem) on a model. This gets kinda dumb on bike characters (T6, W7 biker captain, T6, W8 biker primaris chaplain) and the captain in gravis armor (T6, W8). Make sure your character can already do damage with his existing weapons, though. (Hammer/shield bike, Gravis say "HI!" and then promptly want to beat the hell out of you.)
On Flyers
Look, even though we have a 6+ shrug, I really can't bring myself to recommend more than 0-2 flyers in a list at any given moment. Marine flyers are a touch flimsy - best-case scenario is they fly across the board, dump bullets into a hard-to-see target, and then get dead.
MOVING OUT - I'll bring them occasionally for fun, but anyone with guns is going to spike them as hard as they can, just because you can take out a lot of firepower for the wounds. 170-220pts for 10W on a T6-T7 chassis that's in short-to-medium range just isn't that hot, even with a -1 to hit.
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