We learned who the Adeptus Mechanicus are in the Adeptus Mechanicus Tactics Beginner’s Guide, . The first list balanced strong shooting and the defensive buff from Stygies VII. For the next thousand points, we will add key units and not use Forgeworld Models. Psychic Awakening Machine War promises more units for the Adeptus Mechanicus. For now, we will use lists with models currently available. While the Adeptus Mechanicus is a relatively new army, there are plenty of play styles available.
For the first list, we moved two of the vanguard bodies into the second battalion. Daedalosus Should be an auto-include in your Adeptus Mechanicus. This is due to his Omniscanner ability. This adds a +1 to hit to friendly units within 6” at a target unit within 24″ of Daedalosus. Additionally, with easy access reroll 1’s to hit, you have decent accuracy. The Skorpius Disintegrator and its Belleros Energy Cannon is the only Codex Adeptus Mechanicus unit to have indirect fire. Alternatively, there is a Forgeworld infantry unit, the Secutarii Peltast, that can fire indirectly but they lack the strength and range of the Belleros.
Dragoon Adeptus Mechanicus Tactics
The increase of Sydonian Dragoons is to make great use of the Conqueror Doctrina Imperative stratagem. Importantly, since the Dragoons come equipped with the broad spectrum data-tether, each hit of a 4+ will do 3 hits. Those 6 Dragoons can do 33 hits before reroll’s to hit at strength 8. With all the Vanguard units pushing forward in Duneriders, getting a vanguard unit into combat against a unit that is toughness 5 or toughness 8 and higher will make it easier for the Dragoons to wound. However, the Dragoons are much faster than the Vanguard so this is less important when the Dragoon units are larger.
The Manipulus can give units a bonus to advance and charge rolls. Unfortunately, that bonus happens at the beginning of the movement phase. This can be worked around when using the Clandestine Infiltration by trailing the Dragoons back to be within 6” of the Manipulus and was another reason to increase the squad size to 6.
The strengths of this army
This army is armor centric with 12 vehicle units. In fact, your opponent has to be built to kill this number of vehicles. With 93 Cognis Heavy Stubber shots and more shots from infantry, it can clear hordes well enough. The Manipulus has the other role of increasing weapon range, the Dominus for rerolling 1’s to hit and Daedalosus are there to increase shooting efficiency. The Plasma, Skorpius Disintegrators, and Onager Dunecrawler work for the tougher targets. Dragoons do that in melee. Notably, the only reason they have the Serpentia is to fill points without buying extra models.
2,000 Point Stygies VII Army
Adeptus Mechanicus Battalion Detachment 1421
- Tech-Priest Dominus: Eradication Ray, Macrostubber
- Tech-Priest Manipulus: Magnarail lance
- 3x Skitarii Vanguards Squads w/ 2x Plasma Caliver & Taser Goad
- Sydonian Dragoons x6 w/ Serpentia
- 2x Onager Dunecrawler w/ Neutron Laser, 2 Cognis Heavy Stubber & Broad Spectrum Data Tether
- 6x Skorpius Dunerider
Adeptus Mechanicus Battalion Detachment 196
- 2x Tech-Priest Enginseer
- Skitarii Vanguards squad w/ 2x Plasma Caliver & Taser Goad
- 2x Skitarii Rangers Squads
Adeptus Mechanicus Spearhead Detachment 383
- Daedalosus
- 3x Skorpius Disintegrator w/ Belleros Energy Cannon
Still, there are plenty of model options when list building to use your Adeptus Mechanicus Tactics. The Engine War models previewed look as if they are aimed at solving some of the mobility issues Adeptus Mechanicus have. However, this can currently be solved using Sygies VII or Lucius Forgeworlds. Sicarian Infiltrators can also deep strike in. Like before we will keep the list from the Beginner’s Guide except for two vanguard models. Previously established were the perks of Daedalosus and Skorpius Disintegrator so they are kept for this next list. A 3rd Dunecrawler was added with the Icarus array. The penalty to hit versus non-flying units is counteracted by the Protector Doctrina Imperative stratagem. Considering that stratagem and the fact that it’s free, Broad Spectrum Data Tethers were added to the Dunecrawlers.
Adeptus Mechanicus 2,000 Point Lucius Army
Adeptus Mechanicus Battalion Detachment 1083
- Tech-Priest Dominus: Eradication Ray, Macrostubber
- Tech-Priest Manipulus: Magnarail lance
- 3x Skitarii Vanguards Squads w/ 2x Plasma Caliver & Taser Goad
- Sydonian Dragoons x4
- 2x Onager Dunecrawler w/ Neutron Laser, 2 Cognis Heavy Stubber & Broad Spectrum Data Tether
- Onager Dunecrawler w/ Icarus Array, Cognis Heavy Stubber & Broad Spectrum Data Tether
- 2x Skorpius Dunerider
Adeptus Mechanicus Battalion Detachment 917 points
- Daedalosus
- Tech-Priest Enginseer
- 2x Kataphron Breachers
- Skitarii Vanguards w/ 2x Arc Rifle
- Fulgurite Electro-Priests x20
- 3x Skorpius Disintegrator w/ Belleros Energy Cannon
The second detachment is a second battalion to pay for using the Lucius Legio Teleportarium stratagem. Vehicles can be placed in reserve with that stratagem as well but it is harder to get a squad of 4 Dragoons in the backfield. Kataphron Breachers while much larger than a 5 person Vanguard unit, are scarier should they make the charge after dropping in.
Adeptus Mechanicus tactics to make the Kataphrons better but more Command Point intensive would be to make the second detachment a servitor maniple. Therefore, Kataphrons can use the stratagem to improve their invulnerable save. Building to use that specialist detachment would encourage a few changes such as switching the Dominus with Daedalosus. Perhaps taking servitor units to deep strike in so that Kataphrons may be healed. Reducing the Electro Priest so that Destroyers may be taken instead. As a result, this gets a bit more involved especially if you consider using different Forgeworlds in the same army.
The hard part…
Adeptus Mechanicus has its hurdles. The only psychic defense is Forgeworld locked to the Gria Stratagem. The hovering Skorpius units do not have the fly keyword. The only option to fall back and shoot is Forgeworld locked to the Metalica warlord trait. This army can not forward deploy outside of your deployment zone such as Nurglings or Scouts. Clandestine Infiltration is used when a model is set up before you know if you can use it and can be stopped by units like Nurglings. Fighting twice is limited to the electro priest despite having several melee units. Anti armor is a struggle. Considering the as only a few Neutron lasers, the Ironstriders or mortal wound spam from the Mars Forgeworld. Additionally, here is a battle report of Tau versus Adeptus Mechanicus.
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