In our Detachment Focus series we take a deep dive into an army’s Detachments, covering what’s in them, how they play, and how they’ll fit into the broader meta and your games. In this Detachment Focus we’re looking at the Explorator Maniple Detachment for the Adeptus Mechanicus.
Are you ready to set off for BIG ADVENTURE in the HIGH GALAXY, scouring the place for ancient bits of human technology? Are you prepared to capture that old garbage AT ANY COST? Well saddle up, pardner, because the Explorator Maniple Detachment is for you, representing the advance teams who go out and scour the galaxy for lost technology and knowledge.
Detachment Overview
There is no sugar coating it, this is the least competitive detachment in the Adeptus Mechanicus Codex. Why? Even more so than other detachments, the set of rules here have very strict or bizarre restrictions that force the player to jump through several hoops to actually benefit from the detachment. If you enjoy this sort of challenge then this detachment might pique your interest. Otherwise, you’re better off looking at other options.
Detachment Rule: Acquisition at Any Cost
At the start of your Command phase, pick an objective marker. Until your next Command phase, that objective marker is your Acquisition objective marker. Each time an Adeptus Mechanicus model front your army makes an attack, if the attacking model’s unit is within range of your Acquisition Objective Marker, or if its target unit is within range of your Acquisition objective marker, you can re-roll 1s to wound.
This Detachment rule had to have been written by the only soul on the 40k rules team that actually followed the early 10th edition public motto of “there will be fewer re-rolls in 40k.” Because while there does give you re-roll 1s to wound, it does so in a way that’s both highly restrictive and easy for opponents to play around.
Let’s go deeper. In order to get the Detachment’s re-roll 1s to wound, my unit either needs to be on that specific objective or the enemy has to be on it. Let’s start with the one in our control, which is standing on our home objective. If it’s my home objective, terrain will obstruct most line of sight to the enemy. If it’s a mid-table objective I’m exposing my unit to subsequent enemy attacks. If the enemy has already put units onto an objective – which are usually mostly exposed – then they are already expecting them to take damage. Meanwhile the enemy units that are not on an objective will be the ones they want to keep safe for another turn.
In other words, this rule could apply to all objectives (not just a chosen one), and it still wouldn’t be competitive with Haloscreed Battle Clade or Skitarii Hunter Cohort. This rule assumes your game of 40k is being played in a Napoleonic style, where armies lumber straight to objectives, and that’s where the battle occurs. It couldn’t be farther from how competitive 40k is played in most games.
The last thing to mention is many of our best weapons or units either have access to twin-linked or did at the time of the Codex release, limiting the amount of units which can truly benefit from from the Detachment rule.
Credit: Pendulin
Enhancements
All of the Enhancements for this Detachment are for TECH-PRIEST models only and three of them have effects which only kick in while the bearer is leading a unit.
- Magos (15 Points) – At the end of your Command phase, if the bearer is within range of your Acquisition objective marker, roll a D6: on a 4+, you gain 1 CP. Gaining additional CP or reducing the cost of stratagems are very strong and useful rules. They become much less useful when they are inconsistent and require you to be in a specific spot. You’d take this inSkitarii Hunter Cohort because of the high power of the stratagems accessible there, but here it’s merely fine.
- Genetor (25 Points) – While the bearer is leading a unit that is within range of your Acquisition objective marker, models in that unit have a 4+ invulnerable save. The most expensive enhancement here, but one with a good amount of value on a Dominus in Kataphron Breachers, granting them the 4+ invulnerable save and a 5+ FNP. One of the few times you might consider a Dominus over a Manipulus.
- Logis (20 Points) – While the bearer is leading a unit, each time a model in that unit makes an attack that targets a unit within range of your Acquisition objective marker, they get +1 to hit. Another solid enhancement for a Manipulus or Dominus and with doctrines granting extra BS or WS, the +1 to hit does stack with those buffs, making the unit very efficient.
- Artisan (15 Points) – While the bearer is leading a unit that is within range of your Acquisition objective marker, once per phase, you can change the result of one Hit roll, one Wound roll, or one saving throw made for that unit to an unmodified 6. 9th edition is calling and wants its popular rule back. This is a powerful rule on a single entity unit with a low rate of fire but high quality weapon. Not nearly as useful on the units which can actually be led by Priests.
The faction’s paucity of leader options really comes into focus when three of the four enhancements require a unit being led by a Priest. These are some of the weakest enhancements in the Mechanicus Codex. They only benefit a narrow set of units and are not strong enough to dramatically elevate those units in power, not to mention that the buffs only work in specific situations.
Credit: Pendulin
Stratagems
These Stratagems tend to focus on play around objective markers, with four focusing on or interacting with your Acquisition marker.
- Cached Acquisition (Epic Deed, 1 CP) – Used in any phase when one Adeptus Mechanicus unit that was controlling an objective was just destroyed. You can keep control of that objective without any models in range until an opponent controls it at the end of any phase or turn. This is a great stratagem for combat armies like World Eaters, where the enemy will be cautious to get close and put too many units on objectives. Against a control and lower damage army like the Mechanicus, this stratagem loses some of its power. But it does still force the enemy to put something on the objective they are killing our units off of so it can be a useful tool against elite armies that don’t have many units to spare and don’t want to commit them to the center objective in the early turns.
- Auto-Oracular Retrieval (Battle Tactic, 2 CP) – A unit that disembarked from a transport this turn can add 1 to their wound rolls for ranged attacks that target an enemy unit within range of your Acquisition objective marker.
Who wrote this Stratagem? I need to know for my own edification. Let’s look at how many criteria we have to meet to use this one. First, we select a unit that disembarks from a transport this turn, severely limiting the units that can use this stratagem right off the bat. Second, the +1 to wound buff can only be used for ranged attacks, not melee that turn, and finally the enemy unit has to be on the Acquisition objective marker. Then we pay the ridiculously steep price of two CP for this. How is this two CP? Did the designer think that Kataphrons could go in transports? At 1 CP this would be used on Marshal+Vanguard units popping out of a dunerider. But at 2 CP it is hard to justify with the limited CP economy Admech have access to.
- Priority Reclamation (Battle Tactic, 1 CP) – Used in the Fight phase to let a unit Consolidate 6” rather than 3” providing the unit ends that Consolidation move within range of your Acquisition objective marker. You can’t use this to target a unit that’s within 3” of an enemy unit. A solid stratagem for an army looking to tie up additional enemy units, but held back by the severely limiting criteria of ending on an acquisition objective marker.
- Incense Exhausts (Wargear, 1 CP) – Used during your opponent’s Shooting phase on one of your Mechanicus infantry units within 6” of a mechanicus SMOKE unit and has been selected as the target of an attack. That unit gains the Stealth ability and the Benefit of Cover until the end of the phase. An okay defensive buff for one of our infantry units. Something we can already easily gain from Hunter Cohort or Haloscreed for free. The unit will almost certainly be benefitting from cover already, so 1 CP for stealth on just that single unit is on the weaker end of defensive stratagems considering you need to be within 6” of a SMOKE unit to activate it. Creations of Bile, for instance, have a 1CP stratagem for -1 to Hit that can be used in both shooting or combat.
- Infoslave Skull (Wargear, 1 CP) – Used in your Command phase. A tech priest can declare another objective marker within 24” to be one of your Acquisition objective markers for all rules purposes until the start of your next Command phase. This detachment is predicated on this stratagem being used effectively every turn since so many rules hinge on acquisition objective markers. You choose your home objective where units can easily string back to and then one middle objective, or two middle objectives if you’re getting aggressive this turn. Frankly this should have been backed into the detachment rule where you pick two objectives each command phase instead of only one. Unfortunately, because you are often spending this stratagem, your CP economy to do much else is very limited.
- Reactive Safeguards (Strategic Ploy, 1 CP) – Used in your opponent’s Charge phase just after they declare a charge. A mechanicus infantry unit that has been selected as the target of a charge and is within range of your Acquisition Objective marker can embark inside a transport so long as every model in the unit is within 3” of that Transport. A great stratagem held back once again by the qualifier that your infantry unit needs to on an Acquisition objective marker to use the stratagem. It’s also not as good as the Haloscreed Reactive move which would be activated in the movement phase preventing the unit from taking any damage, unlike here where the unit could simply be shot to pieces before the charge phase if the objectives are not covered by terrain.
These Stratagems are some of the worst in the Mechanicus Codex for two reasons:
- Many of them have unnecessary qualifiers on them that severely limit their ability to played effectively in a real game of 40k.
- Infoslave Skull has such upside if the enemy is on multiple objectives that you are almost forced into using it most turns just to try to get every little bit of juice out of this detachment since so many rules interact with Acquisition objectives, Making your games feel very similar and less dynamic.
It seems pretty clear that the designer for this never once put this on the table and played it, otherwise these issues would have become obvious.
Credit: Pendulin
Playing This Detachment
To play this detachment, you want to use cheap and expendable units like Serberys Raiders to get onto midfield objectives early and either use their reactive move to get behind terrain if the enemy commits units to touch the objectives or if they don’t. You use the Cached Acquisition stratagem to sticky them and swing primary in your favor. In most detachments I prefer Infiltrators to Raiders, but in this one, the Raiders have higher upside and are perfect for the role.
You will then utilize Infoslave Skull as needed to set up damage into durable enemy units that attempt to touch objectives. If chaff touches the objective you use Dunerider packages to kill them and take the objectives back.
To play this detachment you need to really zone in on the few things it does well and hyper focus on doing those things well and turn after turn. Do not get distracted by having other rules in theory. My version of Explorator below highlights this mantra.
Strengths
- I have to list 3? Seriously Goonhammer, this level of strain on my neurovault is unappreciated. Rob: This isn’t a Strength.
- If the +1 to wound Stratagem was 1CP it would be a great stratagem for Draxus+Vanguard or Marshal+Vanguard popping out of a Dunerider.
- Ironstriders lost twin-linked in the June update, making the re-roll 1s to wound much more valuable in this Detachment for them.
Weaknesses
- Most of the best rules are related to Acquisition Objective Markers
- The stratagem suite is extremely lackluster with hardly any reasonable ways to increase defense or offensive output. The tricks that do exist are locked behind annoying qualifiers.
- Infoslave Skull can dominate your CP expenditure, limiting the ability to pull off other combo plays with the other stratagems in the detachment or the powerful core stratagems.
A Sample List
Rob: Finding a good list for this was like pulling teeth, and the best competitive option we’ve seen in the last few months was this 3-2 list from Dylan Sempel, run at the Renegade Open GT in late November. Dylan took this list to a 3-2 finish, beating Necrons, Grey Knights, and Space Marines.
Brett's List - click to expand EMMelee (1995 points) Adeptus Mechanicus CHARACTERS Cybernetica Datasmith (50 points) 1x Power fist Cybernetica Datasmith (60 points) 1x Power fist Tech-Priest Enginseer (55 points) 1x Omnissian axe 1x Servo-arm Tech-Priest Manipulus (60 points) 1x Omnissian staff Technoarcheologist (45 points) 1x Servo-arc claw BATTLELINE Skitarii Rangers (85 points) 1x Close combat weapon 1x Galvanic rifle 9x Close combat weapon 6x Galvanic rifle 1x Omnispex 1x Plasma caliver 1x Transuranic arquebus Skitarii Vanguard (95 points) 1x Close combat weapon 1x Radium carbine 9x Close combat weapon 1x Omnispex 1x Plasma caliver 7x Radium carbine Skitarii Vanguard (95 points) 1x Close combat weapon 1x Radium carbine 9x Close combat weapon 1x Omnispex 1x Plasma caliver 7x Radium carbine DEDICATED TRANSPORTS Skorpius Dunerider (85 points) 1x Cognis heavy stubber array Skorpius Dunerider (85 points) 1x Cognis heavy stubber array OTHER DATASHEETS Kastelan Robots (380 points) 4x Kastelan fist 4x Kastelan phosphor blaster Kataphron Breachers (320 points) 6x Hydraulic claw Pteraxii Skystalkers (70 points) 1x Taser goad 4x Flechette carbine Pteraxii Skystalkers (70 points) 1x Taser goad 4x Flechette carbine Sicarian Infiltrators (70 points) 1x Stubcarbine 4x Stubcarbine Sicarian Infiltrators (70 points) 1x Stubcarbine 4x Stubcarbine Sicarian Ruststalkers (150 points) Sicarian Ruststalkers (150 points) Exported with App Version: v1.22.1 (57), Data Version: v488
Strike Force (2000 points)
Explorator Maniple
Dylan is a brave soul for giving himself the enormous challenge that Explorator Maniple offers to a player. And a winning record at 3-2 no less. Very impressive! With that being said, I think we can write a stronger list that zones in on the few things this detachment does well so here is my Explorator list.
Richard’s List - click to expand Adeptus Mechanicus Strike Force (2000 points) Explorator Maniple CHARACTERS Belisarius Cawl (150 points) 1x Cawl’s Omnissian axe 1x Mechadendrite hive 1x Solar atomiser Skitarii Marshal (35 points) 1x Mechanicus pistol Skitarii Marshal (35 points) 1x Mechanicus pistol Skitarii Marshal (35 points) 1x Mechanicus pistol Technoarcheologist (60 points) 1x Servo-arc claw BATTLELINE Skitarii Rangers (85 points) 1x Close combat weapon 1x Galvanic rifle 9x Close combat weapon 6x Galvanic rifle 1x Omnispex 1x Plasma caliver 1x Transuranic arquebus Skitarii Vanguard (95 points) 1x Close combat weapon 1x Radium carbine 9x Close combat weapon 1x Omnispex 1x Plasma caliver 6x Radium carbine 1x Transuranic arquebus Skitarii Vanguard (95 points) 1x Close combat weapon 1x Radium carbine 9x Close combat weapon 1x Omnispex 1x Plasma caliver 6x Radium carbine 1x Transuranic arquebus Skitarii Vanguard (95 points) 1x Close combat weapon 1x Radium carbine 9x Close combat weapon 1x Omnispex 1x Plasma caliver 6x Radium carbine 1x Transuranic arquebus DEDICATED TRANSPORTS Skorpius Dunerider (85 points) 1x Cognis heavy stubber array Skorpius Dunerider (85 points) 1x Cognis heavy stubber array OTHER DATASHEETS Ironstrider Ballistarii (75 points) 1x Twin cognis lascannon Ironstrider Ballistarii (75 points) 1x Twin cognis lascannon Ironstrider Ballistarii (75 points) 1x Twin cognis lascannon Pteraxii Skystalkers (70 points) 1x Taser goad 4x Flechette carbine Pteraxii Skystalkers (70 points) 1x Taser goad 4x Flechette carbine Serberys Raiders (60 points) 1x Galvanic carbine 1x Mechanicus pistol 1x Enhanced data-tether 2x Galvanic carbine Serberys Raiders (60 points) 1x Galvanic carbine 1x Mechanicus pistol 1x Enhanced data-tether 2x Galvanic carbine Serberys Raiders (60 points) 1x Galvanic carbine 1x Mechanicus pistol 1x Enhanced data-tether 2x Galvanic carbine Sicarian Infiltrators (70 points) 1x Taser goad 4x Taser goad Skorpius Disintegrator (175 points) 3x Cognis heavy stubber 1x Disruptor missile launcher 1x Ferrumite cannon Skorpius Disintegrator (175 points) 3x Cognis heavy stubber 1x Disruptor missile launcher 1x Ferrumite cannon Skorpius Disintegrator (175 points) 3x Cognis heavy stubber 1x Disruptor missile launcher 1x Ferrumite cannon
This list does indeed have Belisarius Cawl. Why? Well, he might not be worth his points, but his re-rolls aura gains the most value here as you can have your key firepower rerolling 1s to hit and wound and at that point in Protector, you have a very solid shooting core. I have several Raider units here over more Pteraxii or Sicarians as they synergize so well with the sticky objectives stratagem.
And I have brought in some solo Ironstriders to have a few more activations on each flank to help finish off units without caring too much if the opponent commits their guns to kill them, allowing the Skorpius to always act first. The dunerider packages bring efficient anti infantry firepower to the mid-board. Draxus is definitely an option here, but still very expensive for 95 points. If you drop Cawl it’s much easier to fit her in.
Is this the most efficient Admech detachment? No, it’s not, but if anyone else is dedicated to the Explorator way, this is what I would recommend as a baseline! I think it’s easy to get tempted to bring a bunch of Tech Priests with the different enhancements, but I have found that to be a trap that takes us a large amount of your points. Magos is the best one in my opinion as additional CP is always needed with Admech.
Final Thoughts
Every few months when I’m looking to let out a bellowing laugh, I re-read this detachment. When you tie the vast majority of a detachment’s rules to standing on objectives or the enemy standing on those objectives, you allow the opponent a great deal of latitude to play around your best rules. The smart opponent will simply not put any of their key units on objectives until your damage output is no longer enough to take them off. The better the opponent the more they will limit your ability to utilize the rules in Explorator, which is the worst feeling as a player. This detachment could easily change to be all objectives are Acquisition Objective Markers and it would still have a hard time competing with Haloscreed or Hunter Cohort. Ultimately, if you only get to play a few games in a month or one tournament every so often, the Mechanicus have much better options to put yourself in positions to win games.
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