Faction Focus: Adeptus Mechanicus

And we finally get a Faction Focus for the Adeptus Mechanicus. Thank the Omnissiah.



So what does Frankie have to say about the Adeptus Mechanicus?

First, he shows off Belisarius Cawl, which is a pretty good HQ unit, to be fair. All Tech-priest Dominus have re-rolls of 1 for shooting phase for units within 6", but Cawl gives re-rolls to hit, so you can re-roll those 2s too. Make sure all your Adeptus Mechanicus units are from the Forge World Mars, though.



The Canticle chart thing is okay if you really want to get that Canticle you want. By the way, what happens is that if you want to use a Canticle, you can only use it once per game. However, you can alternatively roll a D6 to decide which Canticle to use, and even if you already used that Canticle, if you roll it, you get to use it again.



So for example, you use Benediction of the Omnissiah. So you want to use it again, but you can't. Just roll a D6 and hope you get 6. Cawl's ability allows you to add 1 if you roll a 5, or deduct 1 if you roll a 1. So it can be pretty useful.

Electro Priests are very much improved in 8th Edition. The Corpuscarii now have taser for both their shooting and melee attacks, so if you roll a 6 for a to hit roll, you do 3 hits instead.



The Fulgurite cause mortal wounds on a 6+, which is basically the same as Sicarian Ruststalkers. Nice. On the other hand, the Electro Priests have a 5++ invulnerable save and a 5+ Feel No Pain, which the Ruststalkers don't have. Oh well.

Ironstrider Ballistarius are now Toughness 6 with 6 Wounds, as well as the 6++ invulnerable save that all Skitarii units with bionics have. Their Cognis weapons have been changed a bit, so you now have a twin Cognis autocannon or a twin Cognis lascannon with double the shots. Not bad, to be honest. And the Sydonian Dragoons retain their taser lances, which allows them to deal 3 hits whenever you roll a 6 for to hit rolls.



Kastelan robots are better now. They have 6 Wounds, are Toughness 7 and even have a 5++ invulnerable save in addition to their 3+ armor save. Just look at Aegis protocol. Bloody thing gives your Kastelan robots a 2+ armor save (Terminator!) and 4++ invulnerable save. Oh boy. You can equip it with the new Kastelan fists or with two heavy phosphor blasters. Up to you. In addition, if you roll a 6+ for his invulnerable save, the shooting unit takes a mortal wound. Scary. I'll probably go with the shooty version. Probably need to take out one Knight for a Kastealn robot maniple now...



So yeah. I look forward to seeing how they will fare on the tabletop. For now, my combined Adeptus Mechanicus Imperial Knight list is doing pretty well, with 2 wins, 1 draw and no losses so far. I'm thinking of  adjusting my list and replacing my Knight Errant with 3 Kastelan robots, or an Onager Dunecrawler and 3 Kataphron Destroyers (taking out the Skitarii Rangers) instead. Either way, I'll free up points for carapace weapons. We shall see.