Greetings, Princeps. We’re wrapping up our core coverage of the new Adeptus Mechanicus codex as we briefly look at the datasheets in the new book. Since we’ve fixed our Binharic Cant scrapcode issues, let us proceed in the name of the Omnissiah.
DATASHEETS
The reason you get a codex: to play the army! We’ll get this out of the way quickly: AdMech got so much better. There are plenty of unit changes. Old units
are being given new life. Then there are points updates across the board.
Even if you’re not building Titanguard, there is something
here for you.
Doctrina Imperatives are a set of rules that your forces
gain access to if the entire army is AdMech (minus a few exemptions) that
provide minor buffs to some states while providing minor de-buffs to
others. Each is situational and can help
you improve at certain aspects of the battle where needed, but be aware they
last an entire battle round and you need a DOCTRINA ASSEMBLER on the
table to issue them.
Canticles of the Omnissiah are the glorious binharic battle
cant of the Adeptus Mechanicus that provide straight-up bonuses without the
de-buffs; however, they are one-use abilities, meaning you’ll have to be very
careful which one you select at the start of a battle round.
HQ
Every army needs a
leader, and this is where that excellence comes from.
Belisarius Cawl
remains largely unchanged, still boasts a ferociously good statline, and excels
at managing your forces and keeping himself and vehicles on the table.
The Tech-Priest
Manipulus makes an official appearance in the codex and packs a bit of ranged
punch but largely focuses on keeping friendly forces alive.
The Tech-Priest
Dominus and Tech-Priest Engineseer remain by and large unchanged, though
Engineseers can be taken without chewing up a slot for each Dominus or
Manipulus within the Detachment.
The
Technoarcheologist makes its debut from another 40k box and takes on the role
of close-range combatant and servitor repair.
Brotherhood of the Cog allows a Technoarcheologist to be taken without
using up a valuable HQ slot for each Dominus or Manipulus in the detachment.
The new kid on the
block, the Skitarii Marshal, is the lord of the Skitarii and serves as an
uber-alpha in his own right. This is the
fluffy guy you bring to lead your Titanguard.
His Control Edict allows a single friendly DATA-TETHER unit to ignore
the deprecation (de-buff) effect of a Doctrina Imperative, while his
Servo-skull Uplink provides the Lieutenant-like wound re-rolls. He’s no slouch in close combat, either.
TROOPS
Skitarii Vanguard
and Rangers stay rooted in the troops category but saw massive updates to their
weapons. However, the biggest changes
are their new 20-man unit cap and ability to take more special weapons than
ever before. These guys are arguably the
biggest winners of the new codex and still form a solid set of units to build a
list around. These guys can definitely
protect Titans alongside the Secutarii.
Kataphron servitors
sitting in the troops slot allows you something beefy to hold the line and
objectives. They remain at 3W and T5, making them dependable; and it looks like
their main arm-weapons picked up some damage output.
Servitors remain
much the same, but have picked up the profile of other Imperium weapons. There’s nothing special to be had here.
Electro-Priests will
still zap you and make the day miserable.
However, they also benefit from an upped unit size.
Cybernetica
Datasmiths are DOCTRINA ASSEMBLERs outside of the HQ ranks that still maintain
the Kastelan Robots, though changes to these robots now rely on the Action
abilities of 9th edition.
They remain largely unchanged otherwise.
Sicarans are wicked
fast in this codex though they seem largely unchanged.
FAST ATTACK, HEAVY
SUPPORT, AND FLYERS
This is where points
changes were much more common than anything versus changes to unit
functionality. A lot of what these
sections came from later updates after the release of the 8th
edition codex, especially during Psychic Awakening. With that said, there weren’t many things
expected to change beyond points.
Serberys units
remain dedicated skirmishers that will be harassing the enemy flanks but won’t
have the durability of Adeptus Astartes bike forces, meaning they’ll need to be
used judiciously.
Pteraxii remain your
drop assassins, but there is no doubt the increased range on the Sterylizors
has drastically increased their threat potential.
Ironstriders and
Sydonians fill the same role as the Serberys units but are somewhat
beefier. With that said, the points cost
reflects what you’re getting.
Kastelan Robots, the
vehicles, and flyers remain largely unchanged with small tweaks but still
remain effective.
CONCLUSION
This is the kind of
codex AdMech deserves! Weird,
fantastical, and completely bonkers in all the right grim-dark ways. Their Crusade rules are probably the most
thematic of the entire group and changes made to the forces have been all about
increasing their ability to work harmoniously on the table. While some aspects do feel clunky and a bit
too complex, we think they won’t slow the game down and that over time players
will get used to them. As for the focus
of this blog and how we’d use AdMech: these are definitely new tools in our box
and will provide great ways to support our Titans and Knights. The US Branch is even going to be doing a
Titanicast episode on it shortly.
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