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!