Holy God-Emperor...Ave Omnissiah! We have Skitarii in the Horus Heresy! I watched the Warhammer Preview, and I'm blown away by the reveals! But before we get to the Skitarii, let's briefly go through the stuff for Heresy. We also have a great narrative reveal for Warhammer 40,000, the 500 Worlds. I need to play Space Marine 2 more, but I'm stuck working, so I haven't touched that game in over a year. Sigh. I want to play, but I'm too busy.
Anyway, I won't say much about 500 Worlds, except that I might get it just for lore. And if I do, I'll share spoilers and opinions in my blog, but models wise, probably not. I have neither the money nor the time to buy and assemble so many miniatures. I'll focus on Heresy instead. Speaking of which...
We get 12 Cataphractii Terminators, 10 Breachers and a single Leviathan Dreadnought! These are the new-scale Cataphractii Terminators, so they are much larger than your power armored dudes. They come with volkite and power mauls now, but you can switch to power fists and combi-bolters in a second, alternative kit, if that's more your jam.
They also have the same options for heavy flamers and autocannons, and I believe plasma blasters. And we also get the new MKIII Breachers! Yay! They also come with lascutters and graviton guns in addition to shields.
MKIII is my favorite power armor variant. I think these look really cool!
Since I'm planning on getting these guys for 28mm scale eventually, I might represent them for my Thousand Sons. But we'll see. If I do, eventually, I'll add Fellglaives because I love volkite and super-heavy tanks.
I'm interested in the Journal Strategia, the Ruin of the Salamanders, but I don't know if I'll get it. I don't really care for the rules, which will probably show up in another collected edition eventually, and the lore is about the Salamanders, rather than the Thousand Sons, Mechanicum or Solar Auxilia. I might still get it because I love Legions Imperialis and the lore, so we'll see.
These are the predecessors to the Legiones Skitarii that we have in modern Warhammer 40,000 today. Quite frankly, the Skitarii have always existed in Horus Heresy lore for ages, either as Mechanicum Protectors or in Graham McNeill's
Mechanicum, the awesome Horus Heresy novel with House Taranis Knights, battle robots (automata) and Skitarii in it. The term "Battle-Pilgryms" (or actually, just Pilgrym Skitarii) first appeared in the 2nd edition expansion,
The Martian Civil War, as I mentioned above, but prior to that, they were simply known as Skitarii or occasionally, Mechanicum Protectors.
For years, they existed as a separate and distinct militant arm in the Black Books of first edition, apart from the Taghmata and the Collegia Titanicus. There were rumors they would be brought into the fold at the tail end of 7th edition, the codex for Skitarii and Cult Mechanicus having been first introduced in early 2015 (March and April), but with the launch of 8th edition and a few studio politics, I think they decided to ensure the 40K lines and specialist studios maintain their distance, and thus, Skitarii were never ported over to Heresy.
Around 2018 or 2019, after book 9 Crusade was launched as the final Black Book for first edition, there was supposed to be further expansions for Mechanicum and Dark Mechanicum rules, which would further elaborate on the Armiger Moirax and crazy dark cyborg stuff that Heretek was supposed to bring, but 2021 announced the launch of 2nd edition (or at least it was leaked in 2021) before it finally materialized in 2022.
That's for the rules. Lore-wise, they are very prominent, appearing frequently in many Horus Heresy novels. It wasn't just Graham McNeill's Mechanicum, they also showed up in Dan Abnett's Know No Fear, where a Master of Skitarii led his cyborg forces to fight alongside Ultramarine allies against the treacherous Word Bearers in Calth. They also appeared in Guy Haley's Wolfsbane, where Belisarius Cawl actually is a central character, as well as other novels, including Guy's Titansdeath, Aaron Dembski-Bowden's Master of Mankind, and even Aaron's Seige of Terra novel, Echoes of Eternity. They went from wielding electro staves to galvanic carbines and radium carbines after the release of the Skitarii codex in 2015, where their armaments were more fleshed out (albeit in the 41st millennium), but the Black Library authors had to rely on existing codex and models to depict the Skitarii in the Heresy. Hence the radium carbines and galvanic weapons.
Yes, I'm a history nut. I'm embracing my role as a Rembrancer. Sue me.
Anyway, for years, fans have been clamoring for Skitarii in Horus Heresy, me included. I might be one of the most vocal, actually, ha ha. And now, our prayers to the Omnissiah have been answered!
Skitarii Battle-Pilgryms are distinct from modern Skitarii. First, you'll notice that they don't wear red robes, and they lack the hoods that the Skitarii Rangers sport. They seem more...how do I put it, more ragged and hastily assembled. Yes, there are similarities in their augmetics, though their legs are longer, but they sport the same Skitarii plate - or Corpus Skitarii - that their successors inherit. Their augmetic arms are also very similar. Their backpacks also seem different.
They stand between the mindless Tech-thralls of the Adescularis and the Thallax Cohorts, and can be deployed in units of 8 to 16. They are more advanced than the Tech-thralls, who you usually field 10-40 of, capable of wielding more powerful armaments such as voltlock arquebuses. At the moment, I do not know if they have access to special weapons like arc rifles, volkite or plasma. In contrast, Thallax are heavily armored shock troops of the Ordo Reductor, which you normally field 6-9 of and have access to heavier weapons such as lightning guns, phased plasma-fusil, multimelta and photon thrusters. They're also tougher, more heavily armored, and have jet-packs.
Skitarii Battle-Pilgryms are a step up from Tech-thralls, augmented with the corpus-Skitarii. They are commanded on the field by a Marshal, who you recall, also exists in 40K. Apparently, they are veterans selected from the most proficient of a conclave's "ordinator" squad leaders. No, I have no idea what ordinators are, but it's interesting to see Skitarii cohorts being referred to as "conclaves." Aren't they supposed to be cohorts, or did they decide to change it to distinguish Heresy from 40K?
They appear to wield a variety of weapons, including a volkite serpenta! Nice! I already know what I want to equip my Skitarii Marshal with. So he's a Skitarii Battle-Pilgrym Marshal, not to be confused with the Skitarii Marshal. (sarcasm here) At least he seems to have way more options, so I'm happy about that! Not sure if I like the long legs, though, but still very cool, and still getting this guy.
Rounding them out is a single plastic Vultarax Stratos-automata. I already plan on getting one for my Mechanicum Legio Cybernetica anyway, so this is perfect. Also, a nice piece of trivia: Belisarius Cawl was piloting a Vultarax Stratos-automata remotely in
Wolfsbane.
Now, what drew my interest was the line that Skitarii Conclaves generally operate independently, thus having access to very few of the Mechanicum's battle automata. The Vultarax happens to be the most common of the few they do get to deploy. That's slightly disappointing. It means that if you choose to build a Skitarii army, your options are fairly limited, unless you take them as allies or take Cybernetica allies. I do hope they have access to Krios tanks (including the Venator variant), but from what I can see, they definitely have access to the ubiquitous (for the Mechanicum, anyway) Triaros Armored Conveyor. How do I know this? Well, I saw the cover for the upcoming Journal Tactica.
See? I told you they have a Triaros Armored Conveyor. This contains rules for the Skitarii Conclaves army list, which allows you to field them as a primary army in their own right, or as allies. If your primary army is Mechanicum Taghmata, then you don't have to worry about the 50% points limit for allies! Awesome!
But what units do they get? I get that the Marshal is Command and the Skitarii Battle-Pilgryms are Troops. Okay, then the Triaros Armored Conveyor is Dedicated Transport, and the Vultarax Stratos-automata is a Fast Attack option you can take as an auxiliary detachment? Hopefully, we get battle tanks like Krios (and its Venator variant), and the Karancos, or the list will be super bare. I assume we also have access to Legacies, so Skitarii Conclaves can take volkite Tarantulas like their Mechanicum Taghmata brethren. As Recon, of course. Well, we'll find out.
As usual, once I get my hand on the book, I'll write an article on it. I'll also dedicate a lore page to the Skitarii in Heresy, based on this book, just like I did for the Forges of Saturnine. It'll be fun. I can't wait!
I am definitely getting this, alongside the battle group box for Skitarii Battle-Pilgryms. Or they call it the Mechanicum Skitarii Battle Group. Yes!
Even if I don't get anything else, I will get my hands on this, by any means necessary! Legally, of course. Off to my friendly local gaming store I go, once they announce this box and the Journal Tactica for preorders.
By the way,
this looks cool. I might not play much 40K, but I'm invested in the lore, and reconquering the 500 Worlds appeals to me. If possible, I'll be commanding a Knight House in the realm of Ultramar, our services sworn to Captain Titus's undertaking. Yes, Titus has been promoted from Lieutenant in Space Marine 2 to Captain of the 2nd Company now. YAY! Always knew he had it in him! The detachments are available online for free, so you don't need to get the whole thing if you're only interested in the rules. Me, I'm in for the lore. 88-page lore book in Titus, that has me sold. This will wait until I saved up money, and I'm prioritizing my Heresy purchases first (the Skitarii Mechanicum Battle Group, Journal Tactica Skitarii The Steel Hand of Mars, and eventually the Saturnine box). Damn, and I still have some stuff I wanted for Imperialis Militia too. Oh, well.
We'll see what the future brings. Hopefully, 2026 will be a better year for me, financially and work-life balance wise...
