A tale of two robot codexes. Unlike the Necrons, the Adeptus Mechanicus have had an incredibly rough go of things in 10th edition, launching with what was probably the game’s worst Index. Things improved a little bit with the fall dataslate, but Admech players have been waiting months now for a full overhaul of their army which might give them more variety and a detachment rule worth playing. Today we’re looking at the upcoming 10th edition Codex For the Adeptus Mechanicus, unpacking the new rules, and talking about how they change the faction. There’s a lot to talk about here, and at least a few things to be excited about, so let’s dive in.
Note: Similarly to Codex: Necrons, we are currently unaware of what the final points for the Adeptus Mechanicus will look like on release. With the volume of changes present in this codex to their datasheets, we fully expect that there will be an update to the points in the MFM and the Codex similar to the one released for Codex: Space Marines. For this review we are working off of the current Munitorum Field Manual, but similarly to the passing of the flesh into machine, points may change!
We would like to thank Games Workshop for providing us with a review copy of the Codex.
Army Overview
The Adeptus Mechanicus see a large number of changes from their Index incarnation – in total, more than we saw for Codex: Space Marines and Codex: Tyranids. That’s good, because they needed a lot more help than either of those books.
We think the following are five standout features of this book:
- Detachment abilities to be excited about with multiple playstyles: bring defensive Skitarii with the Skitarii Hunter Cohort, or aggressive Cult Mechanicus with Data-Psalm Conclave
- Changes to datasheets are almost all improvements
- Sydonian Skatros can be a bane to enemy characters with its long range and longer legs
- Cybernetica Datasmith and Kastelan Robot interactions have been massively improved (drop the Infantry keyword and no longer needs a leadership test to change protocols)
- Still the coolest models in all of Warhammer 40,000
There are also a couple of things we don’t like so much:
- The army still feels a bit lackluster: While there are a number of improvements here and interesting detachments, the overall power level of the book feels lower than the other releases we’ve seen so far, especially at their current points values. Here’s hoping there’s a points update in the works which corrects this.
- Internal balance hasn’t changed from the index: Kataphron Breachers are still your MVPs with their access to full hit rerolls and amazing weapons. Ironstriders are still lean, mean, las-cannon machines. Skitarii Rangers and Vanguards are still … present on the battlefield to grant Battleline buffs. And Kataphron Destroyers, Sicarian Ruststalkers, and so many others remain on the shelf because they don’t have a clear role in the army.
- Army ability still only affects 2/3 of the faction: Just why.
Where’s Crusade?
You’ll find our review of the book’s Crusade rules this upcoming Tuesday.
Army Rules
Adeptus Mechanicus models with the Doctrina Imperatives faction keyword all gain access to Doctrina Imperatives. At the start of each battle round, the player can choose to have either the Protector Imperative or the Conqueror Imperative active. These are unchanged from the Index, but for completeness they’re summarised here.
Doctrina Imperatives
- The Protector Imperative gives all ranged weapons the [HEAVY] ability and provides units within your Deployment Zone with a reduction in AP for incoming ranged attacks.
- The Conqueror Imperative gives all ranged weapons the [ASSAULT] ability and improves the AP on your attacks against enemy units in the opponent’s Deployment Zone.
As in the index, not all units in the codex have the Doctrina Imperatives ability – only 21 out of the 30 datasheets in the Codex have it. This includes the new Sydonian Skatros, as well as all three datasheets for the chicken walker: the Ironstrider Ballistarii, Sydonian Dragoon with Taser Lance, and Sydonian Dragoon with Radium Jezzail.
The good news is that these do still only require you or your target to be “within” rather than “wholly within” the specified area, making the effect a bit easier to turn on. There’s also some improved support for defense stacking within your own deployment zone – Cawl’s Shroudpsalm now provides the Benefit of Cover, and putting both that and the Protector Imperative up can make your 2+ Save Dunecrawlers and Disintegrators extremely tough to crack open. There’s also some better incentives for more aggressive play in some of the detachments, which can help increase the value of the Conqueror Imperative.
Detachments
Adeptus Mechanicus armies have access to 5 detachments. The Rad-Cohort returns from the Index as the Rad-Zone Corps (albeit with fairly substantial tweaks, most notably a massive improvement to the Detachment ability), and it’s joined by the sneaky Skitarii Hunter Cohort, the ominous Data-Psalm Conclave, mobile Explorer Maniple and robotic Cohort Cybernetica. There’s a pleasingly broad set of stuff to play with here, and a relatively even spread of goodies between them. The Skitarii Hunter Cohort probably looks splashiest on a first read, and the existing Rad-Zone Corps may be the weakest but all five have some big draws, and it’s plausibly the best internally balanced set of five we’ve seen thus far.
Rad-Zone Corps
Credit: Pendulin
The Rad-Zone Corps retains a bit of an all-rounder feel from the Index, with maybe a bit more of a focus on taking a combined arms list. It heavily incentivizes you to try and keep the enemy back so they suffer gradual chip damage from the detachment ability, and rewards you for combining Battleline Skitarii with more specialized helpers.
Detachment Rule – Rad-Bombardment
It’s better! It got better! It’s maybe still not phenomenal but it’s the first Index detachment ability we’ve seen get a (fairly huge) buff, and that’s got to count for something right?
The Rad-Zone Corps assails the enemy with radioactive bombardment, and this makes their deployment zone a really bad place to be. At the start of the first Battle Round, your opponent has to choose whether each of their units within their deployment zone stands firm, in which case they suffer d3 Mortal Wounds on a 3+, or take cover, in which case they’re Battle-shocked for the entire first Battle Round, and still take d3 Mortal Wounds on a 5+. That last bit is the big improvement to the first half here – no longer can your opponent just ensure that anything they don’t care about getting shocked takes no damage out the gate.
For the rest of the battle, at the start of each of your Command Phases the radioactive fallout further assails any opposing units that are still partially within their deployment zone, inflicting a further Mortal Wound and forcing a Battle-shock test on a 3+. You can also extend the area this effects – if you take the Radial Suffusion Enhancement on one of your Characters, then as long as they’re on the board the fallout affects enemies within 6” of their Deployment Zone as well, which starts being a pretty massive swathe of the Battlefield on some deployments.
Combining all the improvements here does get this to a point where it’s actually fairly annoying to play against. The Battle-shock part of the game-long effect isn’t quite as good as it first looks, because it triggers in your Command Phase so the enemy will un-Shock before it comes to checking objective control, but it can still mess up their defensive stratagem plans, and occasionally allow you to get a very sneaky steal off on Capture Enemy Outpost. If you take this detachment you pretty much choose Radial Suffusion 100% of the time, and factoring that in certainly results in it feeling like you have a detachment ability, even if it’s not the greatest out there.
Enhancements
We’ve already covered the practically mandatory Radial Suffusion, and speaking of practically mandatory you’re also going to take Peerless Eradicator for Sustained Hits in shooting 100% of the time. Sticking that on a Tech Priest with some Breachers or Destroyers is your bread and butter for the big damage. Sadly, one of the other favoured toys has been toned down Autoclavic Denunciation replaces Omni-Sterilisor, giving a Character’s weaponry Anti-Infantry 2+ and Anti-Monster 4+, but no longer also adding 3 to their number of shots. This is presumably because the old version would have been jaw-droppingly stupid on the Sydonian Skatros, and it’s still kind of OK on either a Manipulus or volkite Dominus if you have the points, but less mandatory. The last option here is Malphonic Sussurus for Stealth, which is marginally more interesting now that Cawl doesn’t hand this out, but definitely not mandatory. Definitely take Suffusion and Eradicator, add one of the others if you have the points.
Pendulin: Quick sidebar here for you die-hard Tech-Priest Manipulus + Omni-Sterilisor stans out there. Yes, the Omnipulus is dead, long live the Omnipulus. But honestly, I’m glad to see it go. As much fun as it’s been to erase an entire unit of marines each time it shoots, and it has been fun, that combination of abilities has quite honestly never been healthy for the game. If you’ve never been on the receiving end of an Omnipulus it, on average, killed about five and a half 2W marines each time it shot, regardless of cover or invulnerable saves. It worked in overwatch, too, as well as with the old shoot-back stratagem. Meaning you could potentially shoot it three times in a single battle round, and kill an average of sixteen marines. Buck-wild. The new Autoclavic Denunciation feels, for lack of a better word, “correct”. It still kills two and a half marines on average each time it shoots, and can spike up to six. Not weak by any means, but no longer the nuclear bomb around which you build an army.
Stratagems
The Rad-Zone Corps Stratagems see quite substantial re-works, which do a lot to change the overall playstyle of the detachment. Most notably, Vengeful Fallout is gone, but in its place there are some much more reasonably tuned offensive buffs, and less restrictions on when Stratagems can be activated. You can no longer win some games by default because the opponent flat cannot interact with you, but you can proactively do stuff to them now!
In terms of those offensive buffs, the big one is Pre-Calibrated Purge Solution, which for 1CP gives a unit full hit re-rolls when targeting an enemy within the opponent’s Deployment Zone. Good clean fun, and there’s an additional upside – if you target a Battleline unit with it, you can tag the effect onto a nearby non-Battleline Skitarii unit for free. There are several other things like this in the detachment, and it gives a fairly clear indication of what you’re supposed to do with this detachment – push forward with Vanguard in boats (also improved by swapping out their previous Advance/Disembark for Fire Support) alongside spicier Skitarii shooting like Ironstriders or some of the Vehicles.That is a fairly specific set of hoops to jump through, but the fact that this is just baseline good before you start getting clever with it means that the optional upside feels like a true reward, rather than something you have to do for it to be worth it at all.
Also good clean fun is the improved version of Lethal Dosage, which now just gives Lethal Hits (it’s in the name) for 1CP rather than +1 to Wound for 2CP, and doesn’t have a “no Vehicles” clause any more. This is extremely good on the big brick of Breachers you are still absolutely running, especially if you’re also packing in a Master Eradicator to double dip on those juicy 6s.
Those two stratagems also let some of the unsung heroes of the codex shine in ways that could catch your opponent off guard. Deep Strike a unit of 10 Pteraxii Skystalkers, and take Conqueror Imperative on the second battle round. Deploy them, shoot into your opponent’s deployment zone, and pop both Pre-Calibrated Purge Solution and Lethal Dosage. Congratulations, you have 59 ranged attacks, Lethal Hits, full hit rerolls (reroll everything that’s not a 6), at AP-1. Even if you fail every wound roll, your opponent will still be facing an average of 18 saving throws at AP-1 from Lethal hits alone.
To get into position to unleash that shooting, the new version of Aggressor Imperative is worth a look, providing auto-Advances of 6” to Skitarii, and having the same trick of bouncing onto a nearby non-Battleline Skitarii unit in concert. This can help you get into position to pop off your other shooting tricks, or just rapidly bundle lots of models onto an objective. This strategem no longer gives out Advance and Charge, which is a shame, but there’s a silver lining. Sydonian Dragoons with Taser Lance now natively advance and charge, which means this stratagem gives them a massive 28” charge threat radius. This also doesn’t have the limitation that you can only use it during the Conqueror Imperative – that’s clearly when it’s best but it’s not mandatory any longer.
Similarly losing that limitation, but going up to 2CP, is Bulwark Imperative, providing a 4+ Invulnerable Save to Skitarii (and again tagging from a Battleline to non-Battleline if they’re nearby). This one is mostly a miss, as you’re already on 5+ Invulnerable saves for the majority of the army, and are unlikely to get the bounce when you really want it, because the opponent has to target your Battleline unit, which they often won’t. The one exception to this is that taking a single Stratoraptor looks reasonably plausible in this detachment, and since they have no native Invulnerable save you might blow this in a pinch. It should definitely still cost 1CP though. The same is true of Baleful Halo, which provides -1 to wound against incoming attacks in the Fight Phase for non-vehicles, and again can bounce from Battleline to non-Battleline.That does provide an ersatz way of actually activating this on Skitarii Vehicles, because the non-Vehicle clause only applies to the first target, but your opponent has such a degree of agency to stop that happening that it doesn’t super matter.You’ll still blow this occasionally to try and save a Breacher brick, but it could have been so much more. Realistically, I think both the 2CP strats here should just cost 1CP – they fall into the trap that Purge Solution avoids of being costed like you’re always using the full effect and getting real value from it, which you just won’t.
Finally, you can still bomb an enemy objective with Extinction Order. This does combine with the improved Detachment Ability to potentially throw multiple Battle-shock tests at enemies on the opponent’s home objective if you really need to steal it, but I very much doubt you’re spending CP on this rather than either Lethal Hits or re-rolls. This (and the Detachment Ability, honestly) desperately need to happen in the opponent’s Command Phase to be truly worthwhile.
So where does that leave this detachment? It feels like its niche ends up being “all-rounder shooting” – the abilities aren’t locked as hard to specific Keywords as some other Detachments, and handing out re-rolls, Lethal Hits and Sustained Hits with relatively minimal overhead means you’re generally pretty good at withering the enemy away.
Skitarii Hunter Cohort
Do you remember Adeptus Mechanicus in 9th edition? Do you remember hordes of unkillable Skitarii? Those days are long-gone my friend, but the Skitarii Hunter Cohort is a flashback to those blessed and cursed days. Defensive abilities, unit redeployment, defensive abilities, movement tricks, and defensive abilities. Believe it or not, this detachment even has some defensive abilities!
Detachment Rule – Stealth Optimisation
Skitarii Infantry, Mounted, and Ironstrider units gain Stealth and, in addition, Sicarian units gain Cover when shot from outside 12”. This detachment wants you to take a lot of little Skitarii, and it makes them flexible, fast, and a big problem for your opponent.
Stealth, which gives a flat -1 to hit penalty on incoming ranged attacks, can be incredibly powerful. Space Marines, and other factions that typically hit on 3+, will have a 25% reduction in the number of hits they score. Factions that hit on 4+, including T’au and ironically Adeptus Mechanicus themselves, are hit with a 33% reduction in ranged effectiveness. And factions that hit on 5+ (I’m looking at your Orks, you beautiful green weirdos), suffer a massive 50% reduction in effectiveness. And that’s just the surface level. This detachment synergizes with other abilities in the codex in ways that will surely bring joy to yourself, and frustration to your opponents.
Belisarius Cawl grants cover to all units that fit under an American large pizza, and an Onager Dunecrawler gives a 4++ invulnerable save to all Battleline that fit under a steering wheel. Those are important metrics to remember when driving your opponent crazy with the cheese of having Skitarii Vanguard with -1 to be hit, saving on 3+, and a 4++ invulnerable save.
And that’s only the beginning. This detachment is loaded with enhancements and stratagems that let you be where your opponent doesn’t want you to be, and shrug off attacks should bring you down.
Enhancements
As you can imaging from the Skitarii theme of this detachment, all these enhancements are locked to Skitarii characters – meaning either Skitarii Marshal and Sydonian Skatros. Despite that limitation, there are some absolute bangers here.
Starting off with Cantic Thrallnet, which lets you pick a Skitarii unit within 12” and give them both Protector and Conqueror imperative. Heavy and Assault and worsen incoming AP and improve outgoing AP. There are a lot of tricks you can pull with this: advance the whole army up the board and leave a unit of Ironstriders standing still in the back to get the Heavy +1 to hit bonus, while also giving them the improved AP from Conqueror. Hold fast with your army, but give a unit of Pteraxii the Assault ability to let them advance and score a secondary.
For another wild combination of abilities, Clandestine Infiltrator grants both Infiltrators and Scout 6”. Park your shiny new Sydonian Skatros on top of the tallest terrain feature, and get 6” of free movement before the game starts. Or take a unit of Skitarii Rangers and aggressively deploy them near a mid-field objective marker. If you get the first turn, scoot onto the objective and tag it with Objective Scouted at the start of the game. If you get the second turn, take your 6” of movement and pull back to safety.
Pendulin: Quick aside , I have to give Games Workshop props for this enhancement granting those abilities to both the bearer “and models in any unit they are leading”. That’s something that could be incredibly easy to overlook when designing this enhancement, and would cause no end of angry ranting on my part. Hats off to the rules team for thinking of this.
Veiled Hunter is another solid enhancement. After everything is deployed and you’ve determined who goes first, this enhancement lets you redeploy three units of Skitarii Infantry (including putting them into Strategic Reserves). This lets you deploy extremely aggressively with your infantry, and shuffle things around after you’ve already shown your hand.
And the last enhancement is a utility that will absolutely take your opponent off guard, Battle-Sphere Uplink. After shooting, the bearer’s unit can move up to 6”. Just think of the objective shenanigans you can pull off with this. Put this on a Skitarii Marshall leading Skitarii Vanguard, and take Conqueror Imperative. You’ve got a unit with a 6” move, can advance, shoot, and then get another 6” of movement. Up to 18” of movement in total, and if you wind up within 3” of a non-vehicle enemy, you reduce their OC by 1 with the Vanguard’s Rad-saturation aura. That’s a 21” radius of objective stealing goodness.
Stratagems
Keeping with the theme of this detachment, it comes loaded with movement utility and defensive ability stratagems. Bionic Endurance grants a Sicarian, Pteraxii, or Sydonian unit the Feel No Pain 5+ ability in either the shooting or fighting phase for 1CP. It’s a little underwhelming on the cheap Sicarian and Pteraxii infantry, but if you’ve got a brick of three Sydonian Dragoons wreaking havoc, tossing a 5+++ on them for a CP is a great way to increase their effective wounds.
Coming in at a whopping 2CP, you’ve got Binharic Offence which improves the AP of all weapons in two Skitarii units, in either the fighting or shooting phase, but both of those units must target the same enemy unit. It’s pricey to be sure, but coupled with the improved AP from Conqueror Imperative, you’re looking at a potential AP-5 with Ironstrider lascannons or Skorpius Disintegrator Ferrumite Cannons. Even the humble Pteraxii Sterylizor can hit AP-2 with their Phosphor Torch, which also ignores cover for extra punch.
The old Aggressor Imperative stratagem from the index returns here with Expedited Purge Protocol which grants any Skitarii unit advance and charge, and it’s improved by no longer being restricted to Conqueror Imperative. Serberys Raiders, who have long been a staple in Adeptus Mechanicus armies, are now packing AP-1 on their melee, which makes advance and charge an appealing option for them (and they refund the CP on a 5+ with their Enhanced Data-Tether). If you’re wondering about the strongest melee Skitarii threat, the Sydonian Dragoon with Taser Lance, they don’t even need this stratagem. They got a big glow-up in the codex, picking up the native ability to advance and charge, as well as keeping their old fall back and charge ability.
Isolate and Destroy is going to be a niche use, but an extremely important one to remember. Grant a Sicarian, Pteraxii, Sydonian, Ironstrider, or Serberys unit +1 to wound in the shooting phase, so long as their target is at least 6” away from any other enemy units. While this sounds great, those unit restrictions mean almost all the options are with strength 3 or strength 4 attacks. Spending a CP to let your AP0 Flachette Blasters wound marines on a 4+ isn’t the strongest of propositions. Ironstriders can make decent use of this, letting them wound a lone Armiger or Dreadnought on a 2+. With their attacks being twin-linked, that gives each of their lascannon shots a 97% chance of wounding. Not shabby.
Have you ever had an opponent target your units with a shooting attack, and you wished you could politely say no? Now you can with Shroud Protocols. For the low, low price of 1CP, you can pick a unit of Skitarii Infantry that was targeted with a ranged attack, and that unit can now only be shot if the attacker is within 12”. If you’ve ever fought Chaos Space Marine and had to play the five-dimensional mind games of Dark Obscuration, then imagine that, but now serving the Omnissiah.
To wrap things up, how about one last movement trick with Programmed Withdrawal, which lets you put two Sicarian units, or one Skitarii Infantry/Mounted unit, into strategic reserves at the end of your opponent’s fight phase (providing they are more than 3” away from enemies). Need to get to the opposite corner of the battlefield? Just book an express ticket with Skitarii Hunter Cohort and you’ll be there in your next reinforcement step.
Data-Psalm Conclave
Credit: Pendulin
If you’re one of the people still mad that Cult Mechanicus and Skitarii were only separate armies for like a few months in 7th Edition, this might be the detachment for you, as it’s the Cult Mechanicus show. This keyword has been added to all Tech Priests, Kataphrons and Electropriests, and the rules in this detachment are largely locked to them – even the Stratagems that target based on unit Keyword only apply to models with that Keyword, so no sneaking these buffs onto Skitarii via their Leader. You’ll still want a few Skitarii utility pieces around, but you need to be using the Cult Mechanicus for your heavy lifting.
Luckily, Kataphrons are extremely good, and there’s some seriously compelling buffs for Electropriests here, so if this is the army you’ve been dreaming of, read on.
Detachment Rule – Benedictions of the Omnissiah
At the start of the first Battle Round, this Detachment gets to pick one of two game-long buffs for Cult Mechanicus stuff to benefit from. You can either favour shooting with Panegyric Procession, providing +1AP within half range, or melee with Citation in Savagery, which gives the fairly eye-popping buff of +1A and +1S to a unit if they Charged this turn.
Procession is boring but effective – it’s good with Breachers and Destroyers (particularly grav ones), and sometimes fun if you can hurl some Corpuscarii priests out of a Dunerider at the right moment, but Citation seems like it can completely change the character of some units if used right. Both Kataphrons and Fulgurite priests are 1A short of where they really need to be in order to fully rock out in melee, and this can provide it. I think you probably still end up on Procession a lot of the time, and dip into this via the inevitable mode-switching Enhancement – Data-Blessed Autosermon lets you have both active on a unit once per game.
Stash that with a Tech Priest and some Fulgurites for a nasty counter-charge threat, or honestly just put it on Corpuscarii and they’ll kill stuff in two phases. It is nice that you can get a bit clever with this – since every Cult Mechanicus Character can go with any of the four units, you can pivot between having this providing once-per-game boosted shooting AP in a match where it mostly doesn’t matter and a once-per-game melee boost by “default”.Alternatively, it’s genuinely possible that just YOLOing 18 Breachers up the table with Citation up could overwhelm some enemies, especially as they have access to additional durability buffs in this detachment.
Enhancements
Outside of Data-Blessed Autosermon the standout option here is the Temporcopia, providing Fights First. Even without +1A, Breachers are threatening enough as long as they have some buff Skitarii huddling nearby that this makes charging a unit really hard – the failure case of just getting snipped to death is real for pretty much any target, especially as this detachment provides a +1 to Wound melee stratagem. The other two are a bit weird – you get a Ld buff and once-per-game un-Battle-shock from Mechanicus Locum, which is generically fine if you have spare points, and the slightly odd Mantle of the Gnostiarch, which changes the damage of attacks allocated to your model to 1. This is clearly intended to stop your Tech Priest getting sniped out, but I’m not sure that comes up enough to be really worth it. It’s somewhat plausible that you could try this on a Technoarchaeologist in order to make it safer to leave them alone screening a position with their anti-Deep Strike bubble, but the problem is at only 3W they’re still going to die to a stiff breeze with this up – you really need Marine statlines to make this kind of effect worth it.
Stratagems
The bulk of these Stratagems are melee buffs, with a couple of defensive buffs thrown in the mix to help your units fall into melee. All of these cost 1 CP. The only real dud among these is Incantation of the Iron Soul, which is a victim of the fall dataslate, which made its ability to grant a 4+ Feel No Pain against mortal wounds pretty weak.
For your melee units, there’s Chant of the Remorseless Fist (+1 to wound in melee), and Verse of Vengeance (fight on death on a 4+) to ensure you get the most out of them.
On the defensive side you’ve got Tribute of Empathic Veneration, which forces an enemy unit within 18″ to take a Battleshock test and get -1 to hit if they fail. Luminescent Blessing gives a 4+ invulnerable save to a single unit in the enemy Shooting phase and works on any CULT MECHANICUS unit, acting as a massive durability buff for units lacking a good invulnerable save.
Finally there’s Litany of the Electromancer, which lets you drop mortal wounds on every enemy unit within 6″ of a CULT MECHANICUS unit from your army. Each roll of a 5+ does a mortal wound and you get +1 to the result if the enemy is within 6″ of an Electro-Priest.
Explorator Maniple
The Explorator Maniple are less about Movement and more about objective control, with a number of tricks to make that happen and letting you do more with less. This is my objective. There are many like it, but this one is mine.
Detachment Rule – Acquisition at Any Cost
At the start of your Command phase, pick an objective marker to become your Acquisition objective marker. Until your next Command phase, each time you target an enemy unit with an attack (ranged or melee), if either your unit or the enemy unit is within range of your Acquisition Target, re-roll wound rolls of 1. This is relatively unique and can potentially be very nasty, especially if you’re going second and are able to react to your opponent each turn by picking whichever objective they’re currently trying to hold. The enhancements and strategems for this detachment are all about objective control, and many key off being near or attacking an enemy unit near the Acquisition objective.
An absolutely essential part of this detachment is the Infoslave Skull stratagem, which lets you take a second Acquisition objective marker. Put one in your deployment zone, and a second on your opponent’s side of the battlefield. More on that in the Stratagems section below, but it’s something you should keep in mind while seeing what else this detachment has to offer.
Enhancements
Four options here: Magos, Genetor, Logis, and Artisan. These all key off being within range of the Acquisition objective marker, or targeting enemy units within range of the Acquisition object, which means your Tech-Priests will need to get cozy.
Magos is the sole method Adeptus Mechanicus have of generating additional CP, outside of the Data-Tether CP refund. That alone alone makes it worth considering. Simply take this on a Tech-Priest, park them on a nearby Acquisition objective, and get an extra CP each turn on a 4+. Not shabby.
Genetor grants the bearer, and models in their bodyguard unit, a 4+ invulnerable save. Knock knock. Who’s there? Why, it’s Kataphron Brachers lead by a Genetor Tech-Priest Dominus, complete with a 3+ save, 4++ invuln, and 5+++ Feel No Pain.
On the offensive side of things, Logis grants +1 to hit with ranged and melee attacks that target an enemy within range of an Acquisition target. You might once again reach to Kataphron Breachers with this, but another spicy option is Corpuscarii Electro-Priests who can wind up with ranged attacks hitting on 2+ with this enhancement.
Artisan is a jack of all trades. While within range on your Acquisition objective, each phase you can change either a Hit, Wound, or Save to an unmodified 6. Toss this on a Dominus for an all-but-guaranteed 2 damage Devastating Wound attack at 24″ range during each shooting phase. Overwatch? There’s another 6. You opponent’s shooting phase? Guaranteed save in the pocket. Good stuff.
Stratagems
The Stratagems here heavily favor a board control strategy, changing how they army can play. Cached Acquisition lets one of your units maintain control of an objective after they’ve been destroyed. Priority Reclamation gives your units a 6″ consolidate move as long as you move closer to your priority marker. Auto-Oracular Retrieval gives a unit +1 to wound on ranged attacks against a target enemies within range of your Acquisition objective. This last one would be great, except that it not only costs 2CP, but it also can only be used on friendly units that disembarked from a transport this turn.
Two defensive Stratagems are in the mix as well. Incense Exhausts lets a SMOKE unit fire off a Smokescreen which also spreads to another INFANTRY unit within 6″, giving both the benefit of cover and Stealth. Reactive Safeguard is a particularly nasty Stratagem which lets a unit re-embark into a transport during your opponent’s Charge phase after they declare a charge, so long as every model is within 3″ of the transport. That’s not wholly within, and while your opponent can still declare a new charge, it’s fairly easy to use this to ensure deep strike charges just can’t hit you as you slide back into your transport.
As mentioned above, the most interesting stratagem is Infoslave Skull. For 1CP in your Command Phase, it lets you point to an objective marker within 24″ of any Tech-Priest, and that objective marker becomes a second Acquisition objective. Not only does this greatly expand the number of units that can benefit from the detachment ability’s wound re-rolls, but it also doubles the footprint available to trigger your enhancements and other stratagems.
Success in Explorator Maniple will hinge on your ability to plan ahead, pick the best objective marker(s) each round, and positioning your army to get the most Acquisition bang for your Acquisition buck.
Cohort Cybernetica
A detachment dedicated to our beloved Kastelan Robots – and every single Vehicle in the Adeptus Mechanicus line. A seemingly underwhelming detachment rule hides some gems of enhancements and stratagems. Combined with the glow-up that the Kastelan Protocols got, this detachment might be quite fun to play indeed!
Detachment Rule – Cyber-Psalm Programming
Legio Cybernetica units from your army gain the Doctrina Imperatives army rule.
Curie: This doesn’t require explaining, does it? Big strong robots with Armour of Contempt within your deployment zone. Who then get to run and gun at your opponent.
Enhancements
Let’s open up with the most fun of these enhancements which takes the form of Emotionless Clarity, which allows you to (once per turn) trigger Deadly Demise on a friendly Adeptus Mechanicus Vehicle or Legio Cybernetica model within 12” of the bearer. This author immediately scoured the codex to find something with Deadly Demise d6 or better but couldn’t find any. Cute, but I don’t see this finding much use. Two of the other enhancements feel similar – Arch-negator gives the bearer’s ranged weapons Anti-Vehicle 4+ which again while being nice isn’t amazing. Your best bet here is either a Dominus or Manipulus who, with their access to Devastating Wounds, can reliable chip 2 to 4 wounds off a vehicle each turn. Lord of Machines allows you to choose one enemy Vehicle unit within 12” and visible to the bearer to take a leadership test at the start of your opponent’s shooting phase. If they pass, that unit subtracts one from all of its shooting attacks. If it fails the leadership test, then it cannot shoot that phase. Paired with the leadership debuff from a unit of Sicarian Infiltrators, this could be anywhere from a mild annoyance, to shutting down your opponent’s plans entirely.
The more powerful enhancement lies in Necromechanic, which allows you to negate one failed save per battle round for a Legio Cybernetica or Adeptus Mechanicus Vehicle within 12” of the bearer. Very powerful when combined with the other durability buffs available to this army. It goes without saying that this enhancement feels like an auto-take.
Stratagems
In a lovely turn of pace, all six stratagems for this detachment are 1CP – and all of them apply equally to Legio Cybernetica or Adeptus Mechanicus Vehicle units.
The first of these is Motive Imperative, giving a unit +3” to their Move characteristic and +1 to their Advance and Charge rolls. All around solid – getting those lumbering oafs up the battlefield quickly is priority number one! Auto-divinatory Targeting gives ranged weapons Ignores Cover and a Ballistic Skill characteristic of 3+, but they can only target enemy units within range of a selected objective marker. Machine Spirit Resurgent requires a unit to be below Starting Strength, but gives it full re-rolls to Hit (ranged and melee). If the unit is below half-strength, it also gives the unit full re-rolls to Wound as well. Very powerful, but also quite situational. If you running a full brick of Punchbots, then keep this stratagem close, and call on it each turn.
Next we have Machine Superiority which not only makes the unit eligible to shoot in a turn in which it Fell Back, but also allows it to ignore all modifiers to its characteristics and any modifiers to any roll or test made for it (with the typical exclusion to any modifiers to its saving throws). Ignore modifiers remains a very powerful rule, handing this out alongside Fall Back and shoot really makes this stratagem shine. Transcendent Cogitation doesn’t let you know where the nearest C’tan is, but it does grant both Imperatives (Protector and Conqueror) to the targeted unit. Finally, we have Benevolence of the Omnissiah, which gives a unit a Feel No Pain 6+ ability that lasts from your Command Phase ‘til your next Command Phase. Oh, and it also gives you a Feel No Pain 5+ against Mortal Wounds.
Overall, this is an odd detachment. While clearly themed around Kastelan Robots, many of the strategems seem best to use on other vehicles. Adding 3″ to move, 1″ to Advance, and 1″ to Charge means a unit of Sydonian Dragoons with Taser Lance have their threat range increased by a full 5″. Bumping the Ballistic Skill of a Skorpius Disintigrator or Stratoraptor to 3+ means they’re potentially hitting on 2+ with their own separate +1 to hit abilities.
It’s not the worst detachment out there. I mean, I can’t think of a worse one, but it’s not entirely unplayable. You absolutely could have fun running it in a casual game. Just make sure that your opponent is sitting down before you tell them about your detachment ability. “It grants my army ability to some of my army. No, not all of my army, most Tech-Priests still don’t have it. But more of my army has my army ability than it did before. So that’s progress.” Quality.
Credit: Pendulin
Datasheets
The second pair of Codexes have a notably greater number of changes to datasheets than the first two, which for AdMech (given their relatively underwhelming Index) is good news. They get two new Datasheets (one completely new, one broken out from a previous dual build) and a whole bunch of tweaks, so let’s take a look.
New Datasheets
The literal standout here, atop his enormous legs, is the Sydonian Skatros. This is a relatively speedy Lone Operative sniper, and realistically that means you’re going to take some – they aren’t that good at sniping stuff by themselves (though, as we’ll see in a moment, they may actually have some help), but Lone Operatives basically only have to be OK to find a place in lists, and this one crosses that threshold.
The surprising partner in crime for the Skatros is Sydonian Dragoons with Radium Jezzails, which have now been separated out from the taser lance build as their own datasheet. You could argue this is a new datasheet, but I have literally never seen the non-lance build on the table in my six years back playing this game, so they may as well be. Assuming that the points cost in the book are broadly accurate to where the MFM ends up, that’s about to change. These have the durable Ironstrider statline, one decent sniper shot, and are slightly cheaper than Ironstriders. That means you can slot these into the role of cheap, durable position holders, and then choose to take Ironstriders as an actual alpha unit if you want them.
Updated Datasheets
As ever, we’ll split these out into the categories of upgrades, downgrades and sidegrades. We’ve had to editorialise a bit here, as a lot of units see tweaks that are technically sidegrades in terms of both losing and gaining something, but that we think make them way better at their jobs and far more likely to see play.
Upgrades
We may as well start with the other half of the Sydonian coin, the classic lance build. These swap out “Shoot and Charge after falling back” for “Charge after Advancing or Falling Back”, which is obviously an incredible upgrade on a pressure melee unit. These have good support in pretty much every detachment except the Data-Psalm conclave, providing ways of going faster, hitting harder or staying alive, and this option seems likely to see a lot more play as well.
Another unit that gets a lot of support in this book is the Skorpius Dunerider, and it gets a sidegrade-but-really-an-upgrade to go with that. These swap out the ability to disembark a unit after Advancing for Fire Support, which allows them to bequeath wound re-rolls on their passengers after they get out. This is great with Corpuscarii Electro-Priests, and definitely fine on units of Skitarii toting special weapons around, and should ensure this is a staple. It even gets Twin-Linked added on its guns, helping it chip away hordes a little more effectively, and the SMOKE keyword for extra defences. A bunch of other vehicles get SMOKE back too, which is a good tool to have up your sleeve.
Next on the list of basically-upgrades is Pteraxii Sterylizors, who swap out their move debuff (which moves to Corpuscarii Priests) for re-rolling 1s to wound against targets on an objective, or full re-rolls if you also have a nearby Battleline unit. This can be a lot from a full squad with flamers, and unlike their previous ability it also works well on overwatch. Keep an eye on these, depending on cost a full 10 might be something you want in a few detachments. Other mid-tier Skitarii get a few boosts too – Infiltrators throw out Battle-shock tests in the Fight Phase, and Serberys Raiders get some AP on their melee, both helping to make the units more appealing.
Also a huge winner is the Archaeopter Stratoraptor, which might be the next plane that sees a little bit of a resurgence. The reason for this is that someone noticed that “Heavy Phosphor Blasters” not being as good as the smaller “Kastellan Phosphor Blasters” was weird, so the heavy build is now the one that’s D2. Six shots with that statline makes one of these pretty good for clearing out Chosen and the like, especially if you take it in a detachment that can hand it some re-rolls. Kastellans also end up winning from this change, as it means they can have a more all-rounder setup combining the longer-ranged shoulder blasters with twin fists.
Speaking of Kastellans, the Cybernetica Datasmith no longer forgets how to do their one job 40% of the time. There’s no more roll to apply a Protocol and you get dropped into the Aegis Protocol for free at the start of the game. All this combines with some boosts from the detachments to make Kastellans seem seriously legit now, and it feels quite plausible that a Cohort Cybernetica running 8+ of them may be one of the better builds that emerges here.
Pendulin: The single greatest part of this codex is that Cybernetica Datasmiths no longer makes Kastelan Robots vulnerable to anti-infantry. Omnissiah be praised!
The last change here that functionally works out as an upgrade is to the Tech-priest Enginseer, whose ability to buff vehicles now hands out a 5+ Feel No Pain instead of a 4+ invulnerable save. Given that plenty of the Vehicles you’re likely to buff sport either or both of a natural 4+ Invuln or a 2+ save, this is overwhelmingly likely to do more for you than the old version. It feels like a tank gunline around Cawl is something that’s well-supported here, and an Enginseer can certainly contribute there.
Downgrades
Perhaps unsurprisingly, this is a much shorter list, hitting only four units. Kataphron Breachers get slightly reduced range, which doesn’t stop them being the best unit in the book. Other than that, both Sulphurhounds and the Fusilave get slightly reduced efficiency on their Mortal Wound abilities, with Sulphurhounds only counting models that make engagement range, and Fusilaves only trigger Mortals on a 4+. The Fusilave still isn’t going to see any play, while Sulphurhounds still seem more likely to get used now thanks to support from the Skitarii detachment. Finally, the Skitarii Marshall loses the Wargear ability from the Control Stave, so no more Stratagems while battle shocked. Why? No idea.
Sidegrades
So, Cawl nearly goes into the straight upgrade list, as Shroudpsalm now provides Cover instead of Stealth. This is going to be better for you most of the time, and if Tau didn’t exist it would be a straight upgrade. Since they do, it goes in the sidegrade bucket, especially as his Leadership aura option changes to be slightly worse (+1 instead of re-rolls).
Next, Corpuscari Electro-Priests change out their durability buff (-1 to wound while lead, which is now exclusive to Fulgurites) for a debuff to enemy movement when they shoot. The Codex heavily incentivises hurling these out of Duneriders, and throwing out some extra havoc when you do seems fine.
Finally, back in the “closer to a buff” category, Dunecrawlers no longer move over 4” terrain, but do provide nearby Battleline units with a 4+ invulnerable save, a definite nice-to-have. There are going to be some boards where this hurts just a little, but most of the time the new version does more.
How They Will Play
This is an interesting question because it’s very clear that how Admech play may change substantially depending on which Detachment you take, with options that encourage you to range out across the table, sit back and shoot from your Deployment Zone, or charge into melee with Electro-priests.
Additionally, remember we are working from the MFM points, as we expect there to be post-release changes similar to Codex: Space Marines.
Skitarii Hunter Cohort
This gives you a little taste of just about everything Skitarii, while also giving you some dumb toys to send across the board on the first turn for laughs. And it’s that why we’re all here?
Characters
Skitarii Marshal
Skitarii Marshal
Skitarii Marshal
Sydonian Skatros
Tech-Priest Dominus
Tech-Priest Dominus
Battleline
Skitarii Rangers
Skitarii Rangers
Skitarii Vanguard
Skitarii Vanguard
Skitarii Vanguard
Other
6x Kataphron Breachers with Heavy Arc Rifle and Hydraulic Claw
6x Kataphron Breachers with Heavy Arc Rifle and Hydraulic Claw
5x Pteraxii Skystalkers
5x Sicarian Infiltrators
3x Serberys Raiders
2x Ironstrider Ballistarii with Twin Cognis Lascannon
2x Ironstrider Ballistarii with Twin Cognis Lascannon
Skorpius Dunerider
Skorpius Dunerider
Skorpius Dunerider
The idea of this is to put the Skitarii Marshals with the Skitarii Vanguard in the Duneriders, and send them up the board early. When they disembark, they’ll have full hit and wound rerolls, with Anti-Infantry 4+ guns. If you get first turn, go Conqueror Imperative and see how much hurt you can put in their infantry. Sure, your Vanguard will get obliterated, but with Stealth from the detachment ability, it’ll take a frustrating amount of shooting to do so. And after they’ve sunk all their attacks into your Vanguard gambit, guess what, you have a dozen Kataphron Breachers with full hit rerolls waiting to go.
Data-Psalm Conclave
Is MVP status not enough for your Kataphron Breachers? Let’s go MVP++, and toss in some Electro-Priests to boot!
Characters
Tech-Priest Dominus (with Kataphrons)
Tech-Priest Dominus (with Kataphrons)
Tech-Priest Manipulus (with Corpuscarii)
Tech-Priest Manipulus (with Corpuscarii)
Technoarcheologist (with Fulgurites)
Technoarcheologist (with Fulgurites)
Battleline
Skitarii Rangers
Skitarii Vanguard
Skitarii Vanguard
Other
10x Corpuscarii Electro-Priests
10x Corpuscarii Electro-Priests
10x Fulgurite Electro-Priests
10x Fulgurite Electro-Priests
6x Kataphron Breachers with Heavy Arc Rifle and Hydraulic Claw
6x Kataphron Breachers with Heavy Arc Rifle and Hydraulic Claw
2x Ironstrider Ballistarii with Twin Cognis Lascannon
2x Ironstrider Ballistarii with Twin Cognis Lascannon
Skorpius Dunerider
Skorpius Dunerider
The play here is to go with Citation in Savagery and play hyper-aggressively. Get in quick and start charging. Those Corpuscarii are packing 4 melee attacks at strength 6 with Sustained 2, the Fulgurites have 3 attacks at strength 7, and the Kataphrons are swinging 3 times each at strength 9. Use the Technoarcheologist to give your Fulgurites OC 2, a 12″ deep strike denial, and let them be the objective bullies they always wanted to be.
Final Thoughts
There are a lot of improvements in the Adeptus Mechanicus Codex, and a lot to like over the Index, but even with these changes it admittedly feels underpowered next to the other new books, especially with the current points values in the MFM. The faction is better off now, but how could they not be?
That said, there’s lots of good news here and legitimately things to be very happy about – the Cybernetica Detachment feels like it might fly under the radar and has enough to offer that we’d venture to say it’s good, actually. Explorator Maniple also likely has some play, where the tricks it can pull around getting in close and going after enemy units trying to stay on objectives in the middle of the table. The Skitarii Hunter Cohort might also have legs, though not at the current point values – Skitarii Vanguard would have to come down in price before they can hit the sweet spot of “being stupid durable for their cost,” but if that happens, they’ll be a potential nightmare thanks to said durability and the ability to reposition them – that redeploy after the first turn roll-off is potentially huge.
After 9th edition gave us busted book after busted book, it’s refreshing to see the first four Codexes of 10th deliver much more grounded, balanced experiences. Admech feel like they’re on the lower side of that at the moment, but they still feel very playable now and some point tweaks could go a long way to elevating the faction. At the very least, there are some much more exciting options to build around now and several different ways to play the faction, giving players options no matter which units they want to focus on.
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