Conclave Acquisitorius and Grand Convocation

Guess what? It seems that we have new Adeptus Mechanicus formations in the Fall of Cadia book, and pre-orders for them are already available on the Games Workshop webstore. The first one is Conclave Acquisitorius, and here's the description on the website:

Description

Belisarius Cawl does not take his rank – that of Archmagos Dominatus – lightly. Each time he ventures out into the cold gulfs of space to gather materials for his secret labours, he uses his absolute authority to requisition impressive swathes of combined Mechanicus forces to aid him. Maniples of Skitarii and chanting Electro-Priests stride into battle, their confidence bolstered by the hulking silhouette of a towering Imperial Knight. Enhanced above their already-sinister capabilities by Cawl’s datapsalms, the combined Mechanicus forces brazenly appropriate all information for the glory of the Omnissiah.


This bundle collects together the miniatures necessary to assemble the Conclave Acquisitorius, a formation from The Gathering Storm: Fall of Cadia. You’ll receive an impressive array of miniatures, including the Triumvirate of the Imperium (Belisarius Cawl, Celestine, the Living Saint and Inquisitor Greyfax) as well as a veritable wealth of Adeptus Mechanicus:


-        a framed and signed commemorative art print by Paul Dainton limited to a mere 50 individually-numbered copies, as well as 3 artwork cards featuring the heroic Triumvirate of the Imperium from The Gathering Storm: Fall of Cadia;
-        10 Skitarii Vanguard;
-        10 Skitarii Rangers;
-        5 Sicarian Ruststalkers;
-        5 Sicarian Infiltrators;
-        3 Sydonian Dragoons;
-        an Onager Dunecrawler;
-        2 Kataphron Breachers;
-        an Imperial Knight Warden;
-        a Kastelan Robot Maniple (4 Kastelan Robots and 2 attendant Datasmiths);
-        2 Fulgurite Electro-Priests;
-        2 Corpuscarii Electro-Priests;
-        a Start Collecting! Skitarii set – this adds another 10 Skitarii Vanguard, another Onager Dunecrawler and a Tech-Priest Dominus.

So yeah. I've no idea what the rules are for this formation, but it's evidently a massive one. All those points add up together and give you quite the massive army that's definitely more than 2,000 points even if we get free upgrades. I think. Well, I'll let you know when I get the book and view the formations.

You can pre-order this Conclave Acquisitorius on the Games Workshop webstore, but be warned: it's very pricey. Costs US$1,200. So watch your credit card.

The second Adeptus Mechanicus formation is the Grand Convocation.



It's a smaller formation, which doesn't seem to include Imperial Knights, and costs a lot less. Again, here's the description:

Description

Giving praise to the Omnissiah as they wage war using revered and advanced technology, the various forces at the disposal of the Adeptus Mechanicus will often work in concert under the direction of the Martian priesthood.


This bundle contains the miniatures necessary to assemble the Grand Convocation, a Detachment for The Gathering Storm: Fall of Cadia that combines the various forces of the Machine God into a single army, unified in mechanical devotion. Included:


-        a framed and signed commemorative art print by Paul Dainton limited to a mere 50 individually-numbered copies, as well as 3 artwork cards featuring the heroic Triumvirate of the Imperium from The Gathering Storm: Fall of Cadia;
-        a Tech-Priest Enginseer;
-        10 Skitarii Vanguard;
-        10 Skitarii Rangers;
-        3 Kataphron Destroyers;
-        3 Kataphron Breachers;
-        3 Ironstrider Ballistarii;
-        2 sets of 5 Electro-Priests – a set of Coruscarii and a set of Fulgurite;
-        5 Sicarian Infiltrators;
-        5 Sicarian Ruststalkers;
-        a Start Collecting! Skitarii set – this adds another 10 Skitarii Vanguard, another Onager Dunecrawler and a Tech-Priest Dominus.

So it's a smaller formation that you can field under 1,850 points, but no Imperial Knight and no Kastelan robots either. You can pre-order the Grand Convocation on the Games Workshop webstore as well, and it's a lot more affordable at US$470. It's entirely up to you. Again, I've no idea what the formation bonus is, but we'll see. This looks good, and I hope to find out more.

By the way, the pre-orders for the Triumvirate of the Imperium have run out, they're temporarily out of stock. So I can no longer pre-order the Gathering Storm collection bundle as I intended. It always happens to me - my visa doesn't acknowledge me when I tried to order the Black Library books online (I'll visit my bank when the semester begins to fix the problem) so the book reviews are on hold. Guess I'll make do with the book itself. Not as if I have the time to build the models anyway, and the Triumvirate wouldn't be doing anything on their own since the rest of my army is left in Singapore. Ugh, I need to shuttle my Draconian Armor Imperial Guard regiment and the Adeptus Mechanicus military forces of the Forge World of Draconis IV to Cadia and help them...

Speaking of which, from what I've seen so far, the Adeptus Mechanicus War Convocation still seems to be the preferable Adeptus Mechanicus formation, even with the addition of these two. The Conclave Acquisitorius seems too unwieldy and huge to field in proper games, and the Grand Convocation...well, I guess you can ally in an Oathsworn Detachment of Imperial Knights if you really want to. We shall see.

For the Omnissiah! Uh...I mean, ave Omnissiah?