Primaris Apothecary

Whelp Jimmy, you had a good run, but I guess I will take your precious progenoids as part of my...'collection'.

"Amongst the most honoured Space Marines of a Chapter are its Apothecaries. It is their role to to [sic] mind the physical well-being of their battle-brothers – this is seen most obviously on the battlefield, where an Apothecary serves as an emergency medic. Their most important duty, though, concerns the dead; an Apothecary can harvest the progenoid organs from a fallen Space Marine, ensuring the creation of further warriors and the continuation of the Chapter."

– Games Workshop

The Primaris Apothecary is the souped-up version of the regular old Apothecary from the SPEHS MAHREENS. The Primaris version of the trusty combat medic is noted for its high praise among many both in and out of /tg/ due to its high quality in the model, cool pose and superb design. Anyways, the Primaris Apothecary functions the same as the normal Apothecaries with the exception of the armor and equipment they carry.

Whilst the normal run-of-the-mill Apothecary isn't that well known for packing a lot of firepower, the Primaris version is known to carry both a Reductor Pistol or an Absolvor Bolt Pistol which gives it a much needed punch. Going back to the Reductor Pistol, whilst normal Apothecaries are perma-armed with a Narthecium, the Primaris Apothecary uses the Reductor Pistol as its equivalent. This allows the Primaris Apothecary to have some flexibility and dexterity (as well as range and firepower if needs be) when caring for wounded or dead Marines on the battlefield. Like the Narthecium, the Reductor is designed to punch through Space Marine Power Armour quickly and cleanly in order to get into the juicy bits of the Marine, or it can inject certain medicinal agents or combat drugs to boost military performance; it can also do much the same to the skull of a rampaging Ork Warboss if push comes to shove.

Furthermore, to complement the Reductor Pistol, the Primaris Apothecary is also armed with an advanced version of the regular Narthecium outfitted with a sensor that enables the Apothecary to see the heart-rate, status and ailments of friendly Marines. This would prove useful in times when even an Apothecary is not too sure about the status of a Marine to enable the Emperor's peace or not.

Additionally, Primaris Apothecaries (unlike conventional Apothecaries) are able to attach a servo-arm armed with a power-drill to either punch through the armor of tanks/buildings in order to get to a trapped Marine or create a giant hole in any foe charging its way towards the Apothecary. Curiously, Primaris Apothecaries are known to carry a bunch of small canopic jars filled with the progenoids of deceased battle brothers around their necks, to be used for future gene-seed reproduction. You would think they would put these precious commodities somewhere safe so it won't get accidentally crushed by a powerfist to the chest or something.

Helix Adept

When you're a close-combat frontline specialist but still more sensible than the Primaris 'Wear your precious Gene-Seed like a necklace' Apothecaries.

A very specialized form of Apothecaries in general. The Helix Adept is a Vanguard Primaris Marines, essentially Primaris Veteran Squads if you will. However, unlike most Apothecaries who are treated as a single individual unit that likes to stay in the backlines, the Helix Adept always come tagging along an Infiltrator Squad and likes to get in close and dirty.

Also unlike regular and Primaris Apothecaries, Helix Adepts actually carry a proper military weapon in the battlefield. Yeah, sure the Apothecaries could use the Narthecium and the Reductor Pistol as a weapon, but these are often medical equipment first and foremost, so their battlefield viability is extremely limited and a tactical liability. The Helix Adept on the other hand, is armed with a Marksman variant of the Bolt Carbine, making him several orders of magnitude more flexible in battle than the average Apothecary.

Speaking of Nartheciums, the Helix Adept carries a smaller, more compact and streamlined pattern rather than the Reductor Pistol, this could be because a Bolt Carbine is far more useful in close quarters than a single-shot pneumatic needle gun.

Furthermore, since they are always paired with the Infiltrators, they are experts in disrupting enemy communications and sabotaging targets of opportunity. Thus, they are equipped with the backpack mounted Omni-Scramblers; electronic warfare devices that intercept signals across a broad spectrum, scrambling frequencies and shutting down enemy communications (Kind of like the Genestealer Clamavus).

Because of this, Helix Adepts are very versatile and what most would call a proper combat-medic. They are able to heal and revive their fallen brethren and since almost every Infiltrator is equipped with one, they can be a very annoying unit to take out. Although the Helix Adept's version of the Apothecary's Narthecium is overall weaker, which lets it restore 1 wound per round to models in its unit, or revive a slain model in its unit on a 5+. The weaker Narthecium is to compensate from the Helix Adept's overall better combat statlines than your regular and Primaris Apothecaries.

Also, unlike the Primaris Apothecaries, the Helix Adepts aren't mentally retarded enough to hang their Chapter's precious Gene-Seed like a bloody Buddhist necklace and actually puts them in safe storage.

Apothecary Biologis

When you want to become a zoologist but accidentally end up in med school...

For whatever reason, the Apothecary now has access to Gravis Armor at a point where all Primaris Marines can now don Terminator Armor. The Apothecary Biologis is a new variant of Primaris Apothecaries (As if the Primaris need yet another version of the same unit), first introduced in 10th Edition.

Unlike conventional Apothecaries, these guys are more scientist rather than a doctor. Due to this, this pattern ditches the Narthecium, likely leaving its duties to the servo-arms mounted on his backpack. He also now carries around a giant jar filled with Gene-Seed (or maybe some other biological sample) and a Vivispectrum scanning suite for determining weak points.

His only weapon outside of his servo-arms is a single Absolvor Bolt Pistol for range. As such, he doesn't really carry that much weight in combat, even amongst other Apothecary variants. So he is more like a support character than anything else. Nevertheless, his Gravis Armour paradoxically means that he is by definition, the toughest Apothecay variants, because for some reason Apothecaries are barely ever seen wearing Terminator Armour unless they're Deathwing or the old Heresy-era Primus Medicae.

Crunchwise, on 10th Edition tabletop, they are simply a Gravis Armour Apothecary who can join other Gravis units (Aggressors, Eradicators, Heavy Intercessors) alongside a Captain or Chapter Master. More of a harmacist than a healer (he doesn't have a Narthecium), instead he grants [Lethal Hits] to his unit as though he were a Lieutenant, which you otherwise can't include. If his unit (read "Aggressors") fully destroys an enemy unit in melee, he can shove some of the dead enemy into his giant keg and suddenly become OC 9 for the rest of the battle, making his unit near impossible to shift. Until they are killed. Because he's a medic who doesn't heal.

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