Journal Tactica Skitarii The Steel Hand of Mars lore

As usual, now that I've gotten my hands on a copy of the Journal Tactica: Skitarii: The Steel Hand of Mars, I'll be summarizing the lore in detail. That's what we're here for - the lore!

The journal tactica opens with the difference between the Skitarii's oaths and the Legiones Astartes - unlike the Space Marines, the Skitarii are sworn to safeguard and recover technological relics. Unlike most armies, who either served the Emperor or the Warmaster, the Skitarii only answer to the Fabricator General of Mars, though who they acknowledge as the Fabricator General is often up to debate. Their mission is to explore the galaxy, recover valuable technological relics, and bring them back to either the vast halls of Olympus Mons or the vaults of Phobos.

Divided into Conclaves, each Skitarii Conclave is dedicated to a specific aspect of the technological spectrum that formed the Mechanicum's core beliefs, e.g. atomantic power, plasma technology, or even xenos relics. Each Skitarii Battle-Pilgrym begins as a human thrall tithed from a forge-fane across the forge worlds in the Imperium, wherever the conclaves land and need to recruit as required. They undergo the Flesh-shriving, which augments their bodies with the augmetic armor known as Corpus Skitarii, which includes the locomotive prothestics and allow them to survive toxic environments. Their memories are also overwritten by engrams and they're subjected to hypno-indoctrinated training to turn amateurs into veterans, and also allowing the Marshal's memories to download into his successor.

They're more like light infantry who move at incredible speeds across any terrain (thanks to those long legs) and packing heavy firepower, which markedly differs from the attritional warfare that marked the doctrines of the Solar Auxilia and Legiones Astartes.

The Skitarii convlaves' origins date long before the formation of the Cult Mechanicum, the corpus-skitarii's augmetics based on adaptations used by ancient migrant scavenger clans that once roamed Mars. Back then, Mars was haunted by ferocious cy-carnivora and other technological abominations, so these wanderers survived by outrunning them, quite literally. They also recovered ancient technological artifacts, which helped in laying the foundation of the modern Mechanicum, and in honor of their service, they were inducted into the personal service of the first Fabricator General. Over time, they would grow into a mighty force wielded by the Fabricator General, organized into conclaves - small self-sufficient armies capable of operating far from Mars for extended periods of time with limited support. However, Skitarii are not Tech-priests, and so they are not trained in handling, operating, repairing or replicating tech-arcana. Separate from the Cult Mechanicus, they cannot control or use the relics they recovered, and instead simply bring them back to the vaults of Phobos.

During the Horus Heresy, there are about 30 conclaves. All the conclaves are supposed to be under the command of the Arch-Ordinator, the princpal ruler of the collected Skitarii Conclaves and answerable only to the Fabricator General of Mars. The Skitarii Conclaves are defined within the Imperial record as the "Ancient standing armies of elite cybernetically and geneically engineered troops originating on Mars and principally loyal to theoffice of the Fabricator General." They are bound by specific Clade Parameters that govern their coded doctrines in battle, which is the sub-faction rule that gives us Line, Vanguard or better Deflagrate.

Each standard Conclave is divided into 16 individual Themata (the Skitarii equivalent of regiment), which are further subdivided into 22 Lochos (I assume battalions? They seem too big for company). Each Lochos is further subdivided into 12 corpus of Skitarii (squads), and these are commanded by a Skitarii Marshal while consisting of 16 Sktarii Battle-Pilgryms. They are supported by Armored Contingents that include Conveyor and Venator units held at the themata level and assigned to the commanding Marshal, as well as Bonepicker Hosts.

So basically, one Lochos, which is composed of 12 corpus of 16 Skitarii Battle-Pilgryms, contains approximately 192 Skitarii Battle-Pilgryms. I haven't even countered the Skitarii Marshals yet. A single Themata, made up of 22 Lochos, would bring that number up to 4,224 warriors. Since one Conclave comprises of 16 Themata, that means a single Conclave can muster up to 67,584 warriors. That's a lot! Given that there are about 30 Conclaves during the Horus Heresy, that would mean we have around 2,027,520 Skitarii Battle-Pilgryms. A significant force that outnumbers the Legiones Astartes, to be sure, but still very few when compared to the billions of Solar Auxilia and trillions of Imperial Army soldiers.

The clade paraneters are the following:

Incursus Clade (Ad membra fenax): Aggressive response against an enemy.

Excipio Clade (Acquisitor et cognitio): Acquisition of technological relics.

Speculor Clade (Occulus omnisior): Spies and scouts.

Vigilus Clade (Contra cladem): Protection, defense and custody of the vaults of the Mechanicum.

So we have Loyalist Skitarii and Traitor Skitarii. How did that happen when they're supposed to loyal to the Fabricator General? Well, as mentioned in the Loremasters post I did the other day, the engrammatic commandments are "The Skitarii serve the Fabricator General, the Fabricator General serves the Mechanicum." When Kelbor-Hal ordered the slaughter of perceived enemy Magi and the destruction of their forge-fanes, carrying out the Death of Innocence, they realized that Kelbor-Hal no longer served the Mechanicum, having forfeited his position as Fabricator General by his treachery. Logic dictates that their loyalty passes to his successor, Zagreus Kane. A full third of the Skitarii Conclaves have reassigned their loyalty to Zagreus Kane - the Fabricator General in exile, and through him, the cause of the Emperor.

The Traitor Skitarii are those who remain loyal to Kelbor-Hal, and because of the Loyalists who reassigned their loyalty to Zagreus Kane, he seeks to retain their loyalty by infecting then with scrap-code. This warps their engrammatic coding and prevents them from betraying Kelbor-Hal and the Traitors, and they become more erratic and prone to macabre displays, anointing their corpus-skitarii with blood of the slain. They are deployed by Kelbor-Hal ti reciver artifacts and relics of Old Night for Horus, to use against the Imperium.

The Skitarii Battle-Pilgrym Marshal is selected from the most compatible and veteran ordinators within a conclave, leading the warriors of a battle pilgrimage and acting as both field commander and representative of the Fabricator General's authority. This allows them access to sanctified relic-arms, including the auctorit scepter. The bulk of the nomadic contingents of the Skitarii Battle-Pilgryms are organized as conclaves, each war formation led by an ordinator, who is the equivalent of a sergeant.

Skitarii are warriors dedicated to combat, so they can't do other roles like repair and engineering. They can only perform the most basic of maintenance on the wargear forged for them, and they are dependent on the aid of forge worlds, an ancient and intended limitation on their power to keep them bound to the service and protection of the Mechanicum.

The Bonepicker Host is also known as the hosts of Ostologoi, hordes of numberless individuals who salvage armaments and armor from battlefields. Vultarax stratos-automata are employed primarily in a scout-surveyor role, retrofitted with additional auspex scanning arrays to search for relics while serving as mobile fire support to provide cover and suppress enemy forces.

Thankfully, the Skitarii Ordinator has the authority of the Fabricator General, so they can request the assistance of any magos of the Mechanicum to supply them with arms, munitions and support, as well as access to the forge world's factorum, warriors (e.g. Legio Cybernetica automata) and arsenals, but in a diplomatic manner that provides the service of their warriors in exchange...as long as it aligns with their retrieval mission or scouring xenos raucers, of course. The wandering Skitarii are able to accumulate a wide variety of transports and tanks, some incorporated into their ranks permanently and others on loan from the Magi. These include the Triaros Armored Conveyor, Krios battle tanks, Krios Venator tank destroyers and Karacnos assault tank.

The Triaros is a heavy transport found on every Forge World and its combination of heavy armor, potent weapons and a built-in flare shield allows it to serve as the mainstay transport of the Skitarii's infantry conclaves. Their familiarity across the Mechanicum also ensures that repairs and replacements can be easily conducted during campaigns. The Skitarii also makes use of the long-range phosphex mortars fired from the Karacnos, which is protected by heavy frontal armor and layers of defensive energy shields.

The compact Krios tank is protected by layers of energy fields rather than simple bulk armor and powered by a fusion ppower plant capable of accelerating it to incredible speeds. For the Skitarii, it serves as a rapid response and flanking unit that can outpace most other armor and outgun lesser units. Its systems are too complex for simple servitors or cybernetica cortexes, and so a Tech adept is integrated into the chassis to pilot it. The Krios Venator trades the lightning cannon of the more common Krios for a pulsar-fusil, a dedicated anti-armor weapon. Combining speed and firepower, the Skitarii uses the Krios Venator to intercept heavy armor.

The Journal Tactica also includes three battles detailing the involvement of the Skitarii. The first is the battle fot Vault Tharsis Deca-nine, where the Imperial Fists under a Space Marine Vigilator named Korben Talar clashed against the Skitarii of Conclave Speculor-Gamma-Mu. Two Imperial Fists Thunderhawks were taken out by anti-aircraft fire over the city of Mondus Gamma, but while their Captain is killed, Korben Talar took command of the survivors to fortify Vault Tharsis Deca-nine against the 600 warriors of Skitarii Conclave Speculor-Gamma-Mu.

At first, the Skitrarii wiped out the Castellax battle-automata and servitor-turrets guarding the vault, only for the Imperial Fists to show up and assault them. The Skitarii are forced into a retreat, but they have numbers on their side. Though the Inwit Imperial Fists fortify the place, using Castellax wreckage as a barricade, the sheer numbers of the Skitarii eventually overwhelm the stalwart Imperial Fists, and even Korben Talar is slain by the Skitarii Marshal, Speculor/4/11/θ/Tharsis. They are about to recover the dreadful weapon within the vault to unleash it upon Horus's enemies, but Talar has left one last gift to them - melta bombs. Unfortunately, Speculor/4/11/θ/Tharsis and the Skitarii only know how to fight, so they don't know how to defuse the melta bombs, and while Speculor/4/11/θ/Tharsis stays behind, the other Skitarii are forced to retreat. The melta bombs blow, burying both Speculor/4/11/θ/Tharsis and technological relic/dread weapon under tons of broken rock.

The survivors of Conclave Speculor-Gamma-Mu elect a new Marshal, then lop back out to the wastes to seek other lost vaults.

The second battle is the Loyalty Paradox, where the Skitarii warriors of Conclave Incursus-Lambda-Psi infiltrate Phobos to claim its relics in the moon's vaults. There's a reference to Order 66 from Star Wars, but as General Order Omega-99, which basically is an encoded binaric transmission to Skitarii to forewarn them of the Death of Innocence. It is here where the Skitarii no longer acknowledge Kelbor-Hal as the Fabricator General, especially Incursus-Lambda-Psi.

After entering Phobos, they massacre the Tech-thralls, then overwhelm the automata and simple servitor defenses protecting Phobos's fortifications. They eventually run into significant resistance in the form of Conclave Vigilus-Alpha-Omega, their fellow Skitarii querying them. Incursus-Lambda-Psi appeals to them by claiming that Kelbor-Hal has forfeited the role of Fabricator General and no longer serves the Mechanicum, the logic stipulating that Zagreus Kane is the Fabricator General now. Unfortunately, even if that logic holds, Kane has not issued any order to them to open the vaults of Phobos, so Vigilus-Alpha-Omega is unable to comply.

After the debate, they end up shooting each other. Ouch. This is the first Skitarii versus Skitarii action ever. Vigilus holds the advantages of superior numbers and prepared positions, and so the Incursus warriors are wiped out. However, it turns out that the main assault by Incursus-Lambda-Psi is a mere diversion. While Vigilus-Alpha-Omega annihilates the Incursus warriors in their last stand in Reliquary Vault 19-C, a much smaller, elite force has infiltrated an ancient tertiary vault and retrieved the sarcophagus of the first Fabricator General. They carry off the sarcophagus to their ships and set course for Terra, for Zagreus Kane and the court of the Emperor, aware that this relic is a symbol of authority for the true Fabricator General.

In the Coronid Deeps, the Sons of Horus landed on the isolated world of Cambrae to steal a relic buried beneath the obliterated ancienty city of Mithras, which survived Old Night. However, Blackshields allied to the Forge World Mezoa - the Disciples of the Flames - show up and attack the Sons of Horus. A Skitarii Conclave, Expurgis-Zeta-Phi, loyal to Mezoa and by extension Zagreus Kane and the Emperor, also appear to assist the Disciples of the Flames.

Though the Sons of Horus are elite and wear power armor, the Skitarii outnumber them, and overwhelm them with sheer numbers. The Praetor leading the Sons of Horus manage to counterattack, only for the Skitarii's Karacnos to show up and bombard the surviving Sons of Horus, annihilating them. The Skitarii then recover the technological relic underneath Mithras, leaving the Sons of Horus stragglers to the vengeful Disciples of the Flames, who engaged in an inefficient activity known as...hunting them for sport?

By the way, this relic is the Rhadamanthus, or The Judgement of the Dead, a black metal sphere 3 meters across and studdded with coolant hoses and ewreathed in a haze of steam. What does it do? Is it a weapon? No idea. One thing is for sure, it's a bloody macguffin, and an excuse for Loyalist Skitarii and Blackshield allies to fight Traitor Legiones Astartes. That's all I can say.

We also have a few notable events. The Death of Innocence should be familiar to everyone by now, but the Skitarii-focused narrative reveals that a third of the conclaves stayed loyal to Zagreus Kane, but are hunted down and destroyed. Fortunately, they are able to survive and either escape off-world in commandeered ships or continue a guerilla resistance in the MArtian wastes. A few conclaves arrive on Terra, following the heels of the Imperial Fists who evacuated Zagreus Kane, swearing their loyalty to him and dispatched to aid Loyalists in distant warzones.

The Word Bearers stupidly attack the Iron Hands' homeworld of Medusa after Ferrus Manus's death, landing several allied conclaves of Skitarii to raid the Keys of Hel. Though they succeed, it is a pryrhic victory for the Traitors, for they lost many of their forces to claim a small number of dangerous relics in Ferrus Manus's vaults, and this ends up galvanizing the previously disarrayed Iron Hands into launching the War of Bitter Iron.

On the other side, the World Easters and their Dark Mechanicum allies from Sarum assault the nine hollow worlds of Lastrati, a distant outpost of the Lucian Mechanicum. Four conclaves of Skitarii, pledged to Zagreus Kane, including Conclave Vigilus-Gamma-Phi and Conclave Incursus-Lambda-Psi (same one as the conclave who assault Phobos above) stand alongside Legio Astorum. Angron (in his Daemon form) and his flagship, the Conqueror, show up to land a ground assault, and the World Eaters basically slaughter the Loyalists in the system. Ouch.

Apparently, the Loyalist Skitarii Conclave Vindicor-Kappa-Delta goes missing when traveling to the forbidden world of Rangda for unknown reasons.

Cyraxus gets a mention here (man, I wish Fires of Cyraxus is a thing). Loyalist Skitarii conclaves in the Ultima Segmentum begin stockpiling recovered techno-relics on the remote forge enclave of Cyraxus. Starting as a research station within the Dominion of Storms, Cyraxus became one of the largest armories in the Segmentum by the final years of the Horus Heresy, but its location was llost after the battle for Honorium.

The end of the Mechhanicum and official appointment of Zagreus Kane of the new Adeptus Mechanicus, raises concerns regarding the loyalty of Skitarii serving the Loyalist cause, because they're afraid they might not welcome the change.

Phobos is raided by a coalition of Loyalist Skitarii Conclaves during the Siege of Terra. Having learned their lessons last time when Incursus-Lambda-Psi attacked, the fortress moon's defenses have been improved, including Traitor Skitarii, who have been transformed by Kelbor-Hal into warped and twisted creatures. The Loyalists fight fervently to cleanse the moon, but what they expected to be a temporary victory becomes permanent because Horus is slain by the Emperor shortly after. Unfortunately, they discover that many of Phobos's relics have long since been removed by the Traitors and transported to distant strongholds.

If there's one thing that annoys me, it's the whole nonsensical "the vast majority remain loyal to Kelbor-Hal" and "most of the Loyalist Skitarii (aligned to Zagreus Kane) are hunted down and destroyed." Like, they keep hammering us with how few Loyalist Skitarii there are, with most annihilated, and almost all Skitarii being Traitor (Kelbor-Hal aligned), but then you have a bunch of accounts of Loyalist Skitarii. I get the Phobos one, but the Cambrae/Mezoa Skitarii, four conclaves showing up on Lastrati, an entire Loyalist conclave going missing on Rangda, Cyraxus, and a coalition of Loyalist Skitarii Conclaves during the Siege of Terra? Does that sound like "hunted down and destroyed" and a "mere handful" of Loyalist Skitarii to you? Where are all these Loyalist Skitarii Conclaves coming from? Does Zagreus Kane have some secret lab on Terra where he keeps churning out entire Skitarii Conclaves to send all over the Imperium or something? Something's not adding up.

It would be much better to simply state that most of the Loyalist Skitarii Conclaves are able to escape the Death of Innocence on Mars, and/or that Kane and other Loyalist Forge Worlds are able to rebuild and replenish the ranks of Loyalist Skitarii Conclaves. Otherwise, the overwhelmingly Loyalist accounts of Skitarii don't add up. I get it. In "modern" 40K, Skitarii are Loyalist. We don't have a Dark Mechanicum codex with Chaos Skitarii yet. If you see Skitarii on the tabletop, you know they are Imperium and Loyalist. That translates somehow into Horus Heresy...but if you think about it, you need to maintain consistency. Not claim "Loyalist Skitarii" are almost wiped out, with a mere handful remaining, but somehow you have plenty of them crawling out of the Imperial woodwork, ready to defend Loyalist worlds and serving Zagreus Kane's cause.

My head canon is that Zane has a secret manufactorum on Terra where he is able to replenish the ranks of his Loyalist Skitarii Conclaves, which is what occurs in Aaron Dembski-Bowden's Master of Mankind. That's why you have Skitarii in that novel, helping to fight the War in the Webway. That's the only thing that makes sense to me, and I will stand by this head canon. Oh, and that Loyalist Forge Worlds are active in helping reinforce and training new Skitarii. Perhaps this is what leads to the current status quo in 40K - so instead of Skitarii being the Fabricator General's personal army, they're now garrisoned across Forge Worlds because of the state of events when Zagreus Kane is in exile in Terra, and he has to rely on the myriad Forge Worlds to train and replenish Skitarii for him. So this continues into modern 40K, which leads to modern Forge Worlds all maintaining their own Skitarii Corps. It's a tradition that started with Zagreus Kane and the necessities of the Horus Heresy. Now everything makes sense!

Legio Custodes in Plastic!

I woke up at 3.30am (4.30am, Japan time) to catch the Warhammer preview live. Unfortunately, my dad passed out in the bathroom the previous morning and is warded for observation, so I won't be able to write much or as well as I normally do (not that I ever write well, anyway, but alas...I suspect the quality of my writing will drop further).

Anyway, let's get this done and over with, and I'll go visit my dad in the hospital again in the afternoon.

I won't touch much on the Warhammer 40,000 stuff (go watch Chapter Master Valrak's channel for more details, he's vindicated as always), so I'll just sum it up. Red Corsairs have been revealed, with Huron Blackheart's command squad, the Masters of the Maelstrom (a mirror of Titus's Wardens of Ultramar), getting their own boxset. They have a new unit, Red Corsair Raiders, which fall between Legionaries and Chosen and have a lot of special weapons (meltaguns?). Additionally, they also have an upgrade sprue for Red Corsairs shoulder pads for both Legionaries and Terminators (both of whom are inside the boxset), and a Reave Captain to lead all of them.

Facing against them are the Aeldari Corsairs, led by none other than the legendary Yriel, the hero of Craftworld Iyanden! They are joined by a new unit called Skyreavers and a new named character, Kharseth the Aethyrmancer. So he/she is a Void Dreamer, and I wonder if we'll get a generic Void Dreamer. I'm still wishing for a generic Krieg Marshal (and not forced to bring Dreir). Anyway, they also have a Vyper/Starfang, which a dual kit that allows you to build either vehicle. The Voidscarred also make a return - you'll remember them from Kill Team!

They have a new campaign book that's the counterpart or follow up to 500 Worlds: Titus. The Battle for Unity Begins. It's The Maelstrom: Lair of the Tyrant! Just like the 500 Worlds bookset, you'll have a new campaign system, a book for the new detachments, something to do with Characters (so a little different from the Dread Incursions/Boarding Actions that we have for 500 Worlds), and most importantly, the lore book! I can't wait to read the lore! Though with the bloody bookset costing US$80, I don't have the budget (I haven't purchased 500 Worlds because I'm allocating my hobby budget to the Mechanicum Skitarii battle group and the Journal Tactica: The Steel Hand of Mars).

Speaking of Journal Tactica, we have a new one announced! The Mailed Fist: Legiones Astartes Super-heavy Tanks. Not only that, we also have the plastic kit for the Glaive! This is my favorite Legiones Astartes super-heavy tank, and I'll definitely get one either for my Thousand Sons or Dark Angels (I only have the space and budget for one). Which Legion he'll belong to remains to be seen, but I will eventually add a Sicarian Venator and hopefully a Sicarian Omega (if it ever comes out in plastic), and I'm guessing I'll just go Ironwing with Dark Angels. If necessary, my Thousand Sons could have raided a Dark Angels outpost and plundered the vehicles for their own use, heh...

Just look at this beauty! I can't wait to get my hands on one! I think he'll look amazing in black, red and silver! He uses the same chassis as the Fellblade, and mounts one of my favorite weapons - the volkite carronade. If you've been following my blog, you know that I'm a huge fan of volkite weapons. Hell, this is another reason why I'm inclined toward Dark Angels. I have squads of Inductii armed with volkite chargers, my Terminators wield volkite chargers (and a plasma blaster). This volkite weapon dials it up to eleven and fires 12 Strength 8 AP 3 Damage 2 with Deflagrate 8 shots. It incinerates even Space Marines in power armor. However, they mentioned in the stream that super-heavy tanks will receive updated datasheets in this Journal Tactica, so it remains to be seen if they'll change the rules or datasheets. I wonder what lore this Journal Tactica has? I want to read and find out what's this whole lore is about!

Oh, and they're joined by a new plastic Whirlwind on the Rhino Chassis. As you can see, he has a huge missile launcher that will that fires at targets that you don't have line of sight to. Apparently, you can fire different missiles, such as high explosives or incendiary Pyrax rounds.

However, the real star of the show is the Legio Custodes! The Legio Custodes battle group looks amazing, and is filled with new Legio Custodes miniatures in plastic! These used to be in resin, and now they've been ported over to plastic! This time, unlike the 40K stuff, I'll go deep into detail for each and every one of them.

So we have a 6-men Custodian Guard, who's the standard stock Custodians with guardian spears that we all know and love. Mirroring them is a 6-men Custodian Sentinels, wo are equipped with Sentinel warblades and praesidium shields. Both types (and I suspect it'll be a dual kit) can be used in Warhammer 40,000 as well, because they have the exact same options, wargear, etc. Nice.

They are accompanied by the Caladius Annihilator grav-tank, which mounts a more powerful gravis lascannon (or twin lascannons) called the Arachnus blaze carronade. We also have the hull twin lastrum bolt cannon, which can be swapped for a newly conceived neutronium cascade projector. Cool.

But what I'm really interested in are the Contemptor Dreadnoughts! The Contemptor-Achillus Dreadnought - armed with the Achillus Dreadspear - and the Contemptor-Galatus - equipped with the Galatus warblade and praesidium shield - are now in plastic! They were previously in resin, and it's awesome to see them now in plastic!

I think they're a dual-kit, so you can build either. I think I'll build both. Anyway, leading all of them is a new shield-captain. There's an option for a female head, but there's no reason why you can use the helmed option or swap the head for one of the options in the Custodian Guard/Sentinels boxes. And if you want female Custodes, then all the more power to you. I personally think having more options is better, and I won't argue about the whole "shoehorned into the lore" thing. It's been what, 2 years since the Adeptus Custodes codex in 10th edition, and at this point, it's time to move on. It's not like you're being forced to assemble female Custodes - there are still plenty of options to build male ones, and you can't tell their gender apart with helms (you can say they're male, female, both or neither if you really want, your homebrew is up to you). Especially when we have such rich kitbashing options (I bet you can stick Space Marine or Imperial Guard heads on these Custodian miniatures and they'll still work!). Quite frankly, there's no going back. I mean, what do you want Games Workshop to do, retcon the retcon and go back to "only men can become Custodes?" That sounds implausible.

We also have plastic Venatari! The winged dudes with kinetic destroyers or Verutum lances. The jumppack Custodes, in other words. We also have the alternate version of the Caladius grav-tank, which is the twin Iliastus accelerator cannon that fires 6 Strength 8 shots, an upgunned version of the accelerator autocannons mounted on Sicarian battle tanks. I think I prefer the annihilator.

Last, but not least, we have the colossal Coronus grav carrier! Possessing Deep Strike, he's the perfect transport for ferrying your Custodes around, and in the stream, he's huge. Like, literally huge. Almost as big as the Glaive, and almost super-heavy size. Awesome.

Apparently, this is just the first wave of plastic Custodes miniatures, and more will continue to be ported over from resin to plastic in the future, such as the Aquillon Terminators. I can't wait! Accompanying all these new plastic miniatures is the Liber Custodes, which contains rules for the Legio Custodes, Sisters of Silence and the Divisio Assassinorum.

You can continue to use Horus Heresy era Custodes in Warhammer 40,000 10th edition, thanks to Imperial Armor. Apparently, there will be a rules update for later this year, but you can already use all of these models thanks to Imperial Armor and faction packs updates. I suspect the rules update will either add the new weapons, such as the neutronium cascade projector, to datasheets...or Legends them. I have no idea, but I can only be cautiously optimistic.

No news on Sisters of Silence models. In the stream, they mentioned there are new models yet, but they might come in the future. They will definitely have rules in the Liber, though. That's all I can say. And people are wondering that if you have female Custodes, how come we don't have a male Brotherhood of Blanks (sounds better than Brothers of Silence)? Where do all the male blanks go? Apparently, they either become Culexus Assassins or Titan Princeps of the Ordo Sinister, piloting psi-Titans. I assume we'll have a much greater number of male Culexus Assassins, given that a significant portion of female blanks have been tithed to the Emperor for the Sisterhood of Silence. But it'll be cool if Games Workshop explores this avenue (I doubt they will, though) in either lore or models, and come up with something similar. I mean, not outright a Brotherhood of Blanks, but maybe a nod in the lore acknowledging there are more male Culexus Assassins and Ordo Sinister Titan Princeps than female ones? I don't know, that's something fans can discuss. I think it's more productive than simply whining about "woke" and raging against female Custodes.

To clarify, I'm not commenting on the "female Custodes being shoehorned into the lore" or "execution is bad" argument. I'm referring to comments such as "There's female Custodes? I refuse to buy them!" Now, everyone has the right to decide what they want to buy, and I have no intention of persuading you to buy miniatures you don't want. But there's a huge difference between "There are options for both male and female, but I choose to assemble male models because that's my personal preference" and "How dare you give female options to a previously male-only Custodes army? I'm going to boycott it!" The latter just seems to be outright hostility and intolerance to anything you perceive not conforming to your values/beliefs about a constantly changing and modernizing product. You don't have to agree with the design or idea, and you don't have to like or dislike something, but making hostile comments like this alienates other hobbyists (I still recall being told "there are no Asians in Warhammer 40,000"). It's sufficient to say, "Nope, I'm not buying the new Custodes because they're not my thing/I don't like the changes," instead of going "I'm going to boycott this new woke Games Workshop!" Especially when you have the choice to do an all-men Custodes squad and no one is forcing you to glue female heads on your miniatures. More options are always better, everyone is happy and everyone wins. Like, what's the logic behind limiting options? "Everyone should agree with my own headcanon that Custodes can only be male, and anyone who has the option to do female models are falling into the woke agenda!" That just sounds silly.

As for the lore, again, I won't comment on it because I don't really have any opinion on it either way. Is it bad execution? I don't know. All I can say is that I've seen major retcons to both the Imperial Guard and Imperial Knights - both of which used to male dominated in the past lore (read Black Library novels in the 2000s and first half of the 2010s) - and then they quietly diversified them and now we have plenty of Guardswomen and noblewomen piloting Knights. On both sides (Imperium and Chaos). No one has an issue with that. Anyway, if it's the "shoehorning into the lore that you've trouble with, I'd encourage you to homebrew and make up your own head-canon, like I did with my own story. This is the perfect chance to go back to the whole "Warhammer 40,000 sandbox" that we did in the earlier days, before the arrival of Primarchs, and we could do whatever we like or make up whatever story we wanted. Invent your own justification, go wild, we don't need Warhammer 40,000 to come up with "new lore to justify" - they've canonized diversity, so let's diversify the universe with homebrew theories and headcanon stories!

Skitarii Battle Pilgrym rules

Warhammer Community published an article regarding the rules for the Skitarii Battle-Pilgryms today. Cool! Surprisingly, they're more durable than I expected. In 7th edition, and even now, Skitarii are usually Toughness 3 with 1 wound. Though the Sicarians had 2 wounds, they were still only Toughness 3. I think their stats have been buffed in 10th edition, to Toughness 4 with 2 wounds. Apparently, the Heresy-era Mechanicum Skitarii are as elite as Sicarians, also being Toughness 4 with 2 wounds, though they retain the regular infantry's 6++ invulnerable save as opposed to the Sicarian's 5++. They are also Fast (2), but they are only BS3 and WS3.

Wait, what? Skitarii are only BS3? How...?

Their voltlock arquebuses have Deflagrate like all volkite weapons, and have shorter range than a 24" boltgun, but apparently better than a 15" volkite charger if we are to believe that they're a more refined and superior version of volkite weapons. Maybe Strength 6 as well? Who knows? I'll let you know when I get my hands on the Tactica Journal. Oh, and they come stock with bayonets, which I presume gives them better stats than the usual "close combat weapon."

They also have four Faction Traits, which each comes with an ability.

Acquisitor: Line (1)

Expurgator: Vanguard (3)

Vindictor (Loyalist only): Deflagrate gets +1

Scourger (Traitor only): extra 1" to set-up moves when Charging

They also have a Reaction that allows you to nominate one of your surviving Skitarii models to take over as the Marshal when your preexisting Marshal dies. It's only once per battle, though. Speaking of which, Skitarii Alphas are called Ordinators during the Heresy.

We also have updated rules for the Myrmidon Destructor Host, which you can download here. We call them Liber Addenda now. Not much has changed, to be honest. They are still 150 points for 3 models, you can still take up to 10 for 45 points per model. The only change is wargear. Whereas, before, they come stock with volkite culverins and any model can swap his volkite culverin for an irradiation engine, conversion beamer or darkfire cannon, now you have to choose a weapon for every model in the squad. Volkite culverins, if you select them, are free, and the points for the other weapons remain unchanged. It means we might get another box of these guys with the volkite culverin and conversion beamer options? Since they're still listed. We'll see, I guess!

Horus Heresy era Skitarii

We have more information regarding the Horus Heresy era Skitarii in a Warhammer Community article today! Also, Loremasters also dropped a video on Skitarii in the Horus Heresy, if you've subscribed to WarhammerTV like I did. Great video, and lots of cool new info!

Unlike the Tech-thralls of the Taghmata, the Skitarii are considered elite warriors. Not as durable as the shock troops of the Ordo Reductor, the Thallax, they are instead selected from the best in the forge fanes and offered as tribute to the Fabricator-General. A special surgical procedure known as the flesh-shriving replaces their organic and biological parts with machine, blessed augmetics and armor known as the corpus-Skitarii. Their helmets also upload not just combat data and calculations, but also stream the intelligence, experience and knowledge of past wearers, alowing the current Skitarius to benefit from his predecessor and turning him into a ready made veteran.

The origins of the Skitarii lay during the horrors of Old Night, when the Mechanicum had to defend against the Cy-Carnivora and their mutants and mekwrights. First existing as scavenger guilds, they rallied to fight alongside the Triad Ferrum Morgulus, escorting the great Titans as they battled against the monstrous hunger engines of the Cy-Carnivora. For their contributions to the battle, they were honored above other Martian troops and reorganized into the elites of the Fabricator-General. For this reason alone, they are loyal only to the Fabricator-General of Mars and thus stand outside the Taghmata as a separate organization, with their own martial culture distinct from the Cult Mechanicus. Their allegiance lies with the Fabricator-General alone, and his representatives/heralds/whoever bears his seal, and not to any archmagos or tech-priest.

While the Taghmata are theoretically meant to be mustered as a defense of a forge world, and strictly speaking, aren't supposed to be a standing army, the Skitarii are different in that they're a true existing military of Mars, dispatched on explorator fleets to hunt for relics and Dark Age of Technology archeotech, or locate and reunite forge worlds under the domain of the Red Planet. They are hunters, recovering invaluable machines and ancient relics from the Dark Age of Technology, and bringing them back to the Vaults of Mars (vaults of Tharsis?).

They possess a variety of vehicles, tanks and transports, even if they don't have tech-thralls and automata like the Taghmata. Strictly speaking, these tanks and transports are requisitioned from loyal Tech-priests, and the Skitarii are supposed to return the vehicles after their mission or expedition is over, for Tech-priests jealously hoard their machines and are loathe to loan them. But...you know, Horus Heresy. And besides, many Tech-priests appreciate having Skitarii fight alongside them, especially when their interests align with whatever objective the cybernetic soldiers have been assigned to. And there are many cases of that happening, with Skitarii allying themselves with Tech-priests sworn to either the Warmaster or the Omnissiah.

The Skitarii wield voltlock arquebuses, which are refined volkite weapons with superior range and firepower. Being an elite force, there were only 2 million of them spread across the galaxy, dwarfed by the sheer numbers of the Imperial Army and even the Solar Auxilia, and they also appeared rare when fighting alongside the hundreds of thousands of Legionaries from the Legiones Astartes. Nonetheless, despite their comparatively few numbers, they remain a force to be reckoned with, wielding exotic weaponry and having access to tanks and transports specially reserved for the Mechanicum's elite.

They revere the first Fabricator-General above all. So when Kelbor-Hal ordered the Skitarii to destroy Mars and eliminate all threats to his rule as the Fabricator-General, a significant number of conclaves - about a third of them, according to Loremaster - reinterpreted their directives. The Skitarii serve the Fabricator-General, and the Fabricator-General serves the Mechanicum. However, Kelbor-Hal's orders directly contradicted the directive to serve the Mechanicum - the destruction of Mars and its many forges couldn't be anything other than a contradiction to serve the Mechanicum - and thus, this one-third of the Conclaves interpreted that Kelbor-Hal is no longer the Fabricator-General. They defaulted to his successor, Zagreus Kane, and fought under the banner of their newly perceived Fabricator-General, their loyalty toward the Mechanicum itself, rather than the Fabricator-General. That said, they revered the first Fabricator-General, so the Loyalists assault the Vaults of Tharsis to recover his body - not because his corpse is some ancient weapon, but rather, a symbol of legitimacy, which they sought to bring back to legitimize Kane's authority as the "true" Fabricator-General. They, uh, lost most of their number during the assault. Ouch.

Both sides were known for their brutality, the Skitarii fighting until their robes and vehicles ended up being stained with blood. The Traitors, in particular, were exposed to the same corruptive scrapcode that infected automata and Titans during the Schism, and they began to deform into twisted shapes. You know, Dark Mechanicum stuff. The Loyalists, or the survivors after they recklessly assaulted the Vault of Tharsis, harkened back to their scavenger-guild roots during the Age of Strife days (or Old Night) and launched guerilla strikes and ambushes on the Traitors, and even when Mars was reclaimed during the Scouring, pockets of Skitarii Pilgryms remained, still harrying Traitor convoys and raiding their bases.

That's all I have for now, thanks to both the article and the Loremaster video. When I get my hands on the Tactica Journal, the Steel Hand of Mars, I'll write more!

Infinity's Lament

I assembled Infinity's Lament. You guys might remember that he's this year's miniature for Warhammer+ subscribers. The other option is the necromancer fighting for Nagash and summoning skeletons (or something, sorry, I don't play Warhammer Fantasy or Age of Sigmar, so I'm not sure what that's about).

When I first saw Infinity's Lament, I was like, "I have to get this." So once I was ready, I put in my order and got him shipped. Unfortunately, the Cenobium Knights were sold out at that time, which annoyed me. Ugh. I'll get them next year, but for now, I'll settle for Infinity's Lament being the last miniature I assemble for 2025.

A lovely miniature, for sure. Just look at him! A Spiritseer standing atop a destroyed Wraithlord and recovering the spiritstone. A great diorama that would make a fine centerpiece in any collection. I'm motivated to start collecting Wraith stuff now. After I'm done with my Horus Heresy and Legions Imperialis projects, I'll pick up Wraithguard, Wraithlord and eventually a Wraithknight. Hopefully. We'll see!

Amazing model, incredible details. I already thought of a story for him. Hmm, how should I start?

The creature's hideous shriek punched through the auditory filters and filled my Throne Mechanicum, causing me to wince. Clenching my fingers into a fist, I lunged with the haptic gauntlet. Outside, Kazan mirrored my movement and sank his reaper chainsword into the guts of the purple-fleshed monstrosity. It screamed once more and swung its pincer, but I swatted it aside with Kazan's thermal cannon before blowing off its horned head with a pointblank melta blast.

Even as the creature melted away, burning away impossibly into soot I could still somehow smell despite being closed off from the outside world, I shook my head in disgust. Though the existence of such horrors remained redacted from the larger portion of the Imperium, as a noble scholar of House Yato, I had read restricted materials.

The Inquisition called them daemons, and ever since the Great Rift tore open the heavens above, they had begun appearing in greater frequency. Almost the size of a Knight armor, and possessing four arms, this particular creature was named Keeper of Secrets.

"Ugh..." I winced as Kazan staggered. The sword that the Keeper of Secrets bore earlier had torn into my armor's flank, leaving a deep gouge. The Sacristans were not going to be happy about that. Neither was I, not just because I received a stigmatic wound due to my connection to my steed, but also any damage to my beloved suit hurt my very soul.

"What are these foul beasts?" Lord Takeda demanded, his Cerastus Knight Lancer striding forward. Naginata had pierced through another Keeper of Secrets while trampling over lesser daemons beneath his mighty adamantium feet. Lightning continued to crackle around his shock lance as he pivoted his armor, in search of more foes. "They vanish the moment we vanquish them."

"Uh, right." Though I could hear the revulsion in his voice, I couldn't help but be amused by his choice of words. Kicking out, I sent a score of daemonettes flying. A twist and a squeeze of a phantom trigger via my haptic gloves reduced a charging chariot into ash.

"These are unlike any xenos we've fought," Suzuki remarked. His Armiger Warglaive, Hebi, cleaved through pink-fleshed creatures, the daemons convulsing in ecstasy even as they were cut apart. I shuddered. Nasty little things.

"Still, not a reason to let our guard down," Watanabe warned, his Preceptor-patterned Tsurugi wading through another swarm. His las-impulsor barked, the exotic energies surging from its pincer-shaped barrel to slice through the horde. Sendo backed him up, his Armiger Helverin firing salvoes from his twin autocannons.

As the last of the daemons were exterminated, I turned toward the solitary existence at the back. A diminutive figure, it was easy to miss him amidst the chaos, but he was the primary reason why we entered this conflict in the first place.

Unlike the dissipating creatures of unnatural existence, this one was a true xeno. His features concealed by an oddly shaped helm, he held a staff in one hand as he bent to retrieve something from the broken xenos construct that had fallen.

I closed my eyes. When we first encountered him, he was beset upon by the pink-fleshed daemons. Bodies of automaton-like constructs were strewn about him. I wasn't familiar with xenos technology, but I recalled from previous encounters that he belonged to the species termed the Aeldari, and the constructs with similarly shaped heads were supposedly "Wraith" walkers. Or was it Wraith constructs? Who knew what the Ordo Xenos called them? Perhaps the Aeldari themselves had a different name for their own inventions, in that alien tongue of theirs.

Similar to our Knight suits, or perhaps the Adeptus Astartes Dreadnoughts, these Wraith constructs were supposedly designed to house incapacitated warriors of the Eldar. Though, as I watched the Spiritseer at work, I didn't see any broken bodies interred within the shattered shells of the Wraith suits. Rather, as I magnified the holo-pict on display in my Throne Mechanicum, I could barely make out the Aeldari shaman retrieving what resembled...crystals? Stones? Pendants?

He must have noticed my gaze - the Aeldari being a psychically attuned race - for he turned to stare at me. Despite the blank mask that concealed his features, I could feel his eyes burn through the adamantium armor of my suit and into my Throne Mechanicum. I reflexively clenched my fists, and Kazan's thermal cannon and reaper chainsword rose in response.

+I mean you no harm.+

His voice spoke directly into my mind, and I jolted. Still, the calming tone went a long way in easing my anxieties, but regarding such perfidious xenos, I couldn't afford to lower my guard. Lord Takeda thought the same, for he marched Naginata over, his shock lance held threateningly. His voice boomed from vox emitters installed in his Knight.

"Give us a reason why we shouldn't slay you on the spot, xenos."

"Um, he didn't threaten us," I pointed out. "And we're men of honor, my lord. We do not attack the helpless and unarmed."

I could feel Takeda turn his fury toward me, but I knew his character well enough. He dropped his shock lance just a fraction, but held his caution.

"Don't speak out of turn again, Sir Tanaka."

"My apologies, my lord."

+If you seek a reason, then I shall offer one.+

We all turned toward the Spiritseer, who despite being surrounded by hab-block high armor on all sides, did not seem the least intimidated.

+Like your people, the stewards of the Craftworld Onyurei, abide to a code of honor. You have saved not just me, but the souls of my house from She Who Thirsts. I vow to repay this debt in the future.+ His head dipped slightly. +Though not clear, for I am no Farseer, I can still see the strands of our paths intersecting once more. When we meet again, I, Tojiro Ongawa, will repay this kindness.+

"We need no repayment," Takeda snapped.

+Perhaps. Perhaps not. We shall see.+ The Spiritseer turned, his cloak unfurling about him and the collection of gemstones gleaming in his hand. +However, as a minor repayment for the valor you have demonstrated toward my people, I shall at least leave you with a warning. The sands of blood continue to fall. The Red Angel rises once more. The princely serpent uncoils through the stars, leaving a wake of excess. The Sorcerer schemes, and under his whims, the fabric between reality and the immaterium tears and ripples. And in the great distance, a vast industry churns, a new player seeking to ascend to the table of gods. As courageous and honorable as your house is, you will be inevitably drawn toward this new colossal conflict that consumes even the stars themselves when you resolve to hold fast to the oaths you made to your human empire.+

Shadows unfolded, and he was gone, leaving the broken shells of the Wraith constructs in the gloom.

"...what was that mumbo jumbo about?" Suzuki asked aloud, Hebi striding toward Kazan's side.

"Pay no attention to the insidious mumbling of xenos," Takeda ordered. He spun Naginata about. "We should take our leave. As untrustworthy as the words of the alien are, he is right about one thing. We still have a war to fight."

"As you command, my lord."

Even as I obeyed and pivoted Kazan about to follow Takeda's lead, I couldn't help but glance one last time at the wrecked Wraith constructs. For some reason, I was reminded of ghosts. Vengeful phantoms, risen once more to fight again. This wouldn't be the last time I would see them.

Maybe we might really meet Tojiro Ongawa again in the future.

Glaives assembled

I assembled the Glaives for my Thousand Sons!

That's the Super-heavy Spearhead formation complete! Along with the Mastodon Super-heavy Assault Transports, they make up the three units required for the Super-heavy Spearhead that I'll field alongside my Saturnine Terminators and Dreadnoughts. Normally, they're Loyalists, but if necessary (e.g. for my diorama), I can field them as Traitors alongside my Dark Mechanicum. I still have yet to decide what to do for the remaining points...we'll see.

Anyway, it fits my 28mm scale guys, who have a ton of volkite. And will have Saturnine Terminators and Saturnine Dreadnoughts join them soon. I hope...

Some additional info from the Horus Heresy 3rd edition rulebook!

Also known as The Age of Darkness, the Horus Heresy 3rd edition rulebook also has a ton of lore in it. Most of it, we're familiar with, and the faction-specific stuff are explored in greater detail in the Libers. Well, not really...I think they just repeat the Liber stuff from the rulebook because the lore stuff amounts to, what, a couple of pages? Liber Questoris only has one page of lore. Same with Solar Auxilia, yet they have two pages of lore in the rulebook, plus a few sections on the Imperialis Excertus and Imperialis Auxilia as a whole.

In other words, if you're interested in the lore like me, you're better off just getting the Age of Darkness rulebook. The Libers are more for rules and detachments. Oh, well. I guess that makes sense. Most of the lore was in the black books that have the campaigns, and the Journal Tactica had a lot of lore. The red rulebooks that compiled all the different faction rules didn't have much lore, if I remember correctly. I don't need to remember, I literally own the Mechanicum red book from 1st edition and have it right next to me, and yeah...not much lore.

Anyway, some interesting details that aren't in the Libers. The Excertus Imperialis is the vast organization of the Imperial military, comprising of billions of troops, functionaries, laborers, void crew, logisticicians, almoners, a depts, and staff officers. It also includes the astronomical quantities of weapons, equipment, war machines (tanks and walkers), void conveyances and warships. Theoretically under the Officio Militaris on Terra, they're in practice commanded by the Primarchs, Navigator Houses, Planetary Governors, and other principal agents of the Great Crusade. They're more akin to a logistics organization than an actual military, something like the Departmento Munitorum of the 41st Millennium.

Forming the vast bulk of the Excertus Imperialis, the Imperialis Auxilia - colloquially known as the Imperial Army - is the actual military of the Imperium. Around 25% of the Imperial Army constitutes the frontline echelon, composed of thousands of Solar Auxilia regiments and the Terran Old One Hundred regiments. You know, the first 100 regiments of the Imperial Army who fought alongside the Emperor during the Unification Wars. The Geno Chiliads, the Lucifer Blacks, the Kushtun Naganda, the Catharti Arraigners, etc.

Before you say the Lucifer Blacks aren't the Old One Hundred (Timewalkerauthor mentioned in his/her Wordpress blog that there's no "official" mention that they're the Old One Hundred, and also based that on the wiki page, and it's been brought up by several Redditors as well), well, they are mentioned as one of the Old One Hundred in the old black book from Horus Heresy 1st edition, #5: Tempest. Page 177.

There, the list in the small section covering the Old One Hundred under the Imperialis Militia & Cults Army List chapter includes:

Geno Chiliads

Confed Gun Brotherhoods

Thorosian Voltigeurs

Lucifer Blacks

Ouranti Draks

The Lucifer Blacks and Ouranti Draks, in particular, are mentioned to be tasked with a ceaseless crusade, and unlike many of the other Old One Hundred regiments, did not obtain the settlement rights on worlds they had conquered to produce second generation of militia regiments from whose ranks the best would be conscripted into the Imperial Army to fight in the Great Crusade.

There's your official source. Rely on the black books and published material. The wiki is very useful, but it's made by fans, and sometimes there might be gaps.

Anyway, I digress. The frontline, after victory, will move on to the next warzone. The next in line is the second line reserve formations of Imperial Army, comprised of specialized formations equipped and organized in a variety of patterns to conduct long term Compliance operations, consolidating and reinforcing those victories won by the first line. Once a human world is declared fully Compliant, these second line formations will move on or be stood down, and many will form a cadre for a newly raised third line, the many and diverse planetary militias. These third line planetary militias are basically our Imperialis Militia.

Oh, and we have a name for the Horus Heresy era Imperial Navy now. It's the Armada Imperialis.

I don't think we need to talk about Saturnye Ordo and the highly militarized tech-enclaves of Saturn whose expertise in void warfare formed the template of the Solar Auxilia, or the Mars-Solar pattern Leman Russ tanks, or tercios.

Rather, what I found more interesting is the Mechanicum stuff. Particularly the Autokrator. "The Autokrator concerned itself with marshalling the ground armor and artillery trains of the Mechanicum, as well as liaising with seconded Skitarii tech-guard within the Taghmata."

Oh? That's interesting. We know we're getting plastic Skitarii for the Horus Heresy, their official names being the Skitarii Battle Pilgryms. They're being led by a Battle-Pilgrym Marshal. Very interesting. Though Warhammer Community mentions that we can bring them as an allied detachment or field them as an independent force as part of the Skitarii Conclaves army list, I wonder if you can fold them into Taghmata lists directly as Troops choice or something. It also hints that the Skitarii Conclaves army list doesn't just include the Vultarax Strato-automata, but might also encompass the the Autokrator stuff, meaning Krios tanks, Krios Venators, Karacnos and other ground armor or artillery. I don't know if they'll get access to the Mechanicum Legacies stuff (e.g. Tarantula batteries or Macrocarid Explorator), but it will be cool if they do. I doubt it, though. I think you'll have to go around it by taking a Tech-priest to unlock those units in the Taghmata list and ally them with Skitarii.

Also, I was wondering why they renamed Titan Legions into Titan Orders in the Liber Questoris. Well, that's answered in the Age of Darkness rulebook. Originally, the creation of three Orders named the Triad Ferrum Morgulus led to the formation of the Collegia Titanica. The Titan Orders grew and eventually became the Titan Legios, or the Titan Legions. Ancient Orders that were part of Explorator fleets and grew on distant forge worlds were recovered into the fold of the Imperium, and added to the Collegia Titanica, also becoming Titan Legios in their own right.

...so they are Titan Legions, not Orders, right? ...right?