Skitarii Reinforcements

 I built 10 Sicarian Ruststalkers, 10 Skitarii infantry and 3 Serberys Raiders in a single day. I'm exhausted, I'm not going to paint tonight.

Oh, and I thought I would fill in on the background of my Sicarian Ruststalkers. While many of the Skitarii are recruited directly from the labor castes and residents of the forge world Draconis IV itself, there is also a great number of Skitarii drawn from the population of Draconis III. Sometimes there will be Imperial Guardsmen too injured to continue fighting, or basically half dead. The Adeptus Mechanicus would take these debilitaed Guardsmen and turn them into Skitarii. It's sort of an understanding between the Knight world of Draconis III and the forge world of Draconis IV (I'm starting to think I should change the names to differentiate them better), as well as to seal their alliance.

Now, there is a shinobi (ninja) clan in Draconis III that answers directly to the Shogun, called the Hattori clan. The ninjas of the Hattori clan serve as spies, assassins, covert agents and shadow of the Shogun. But sometimes...they suffer injuries in the line of duty. These assassins are then taken to the forge world of Draconis IV and converted into Sicarian Ruststalkers. There, they remember their assassination skills and swordsmanship, which they put to good use with their new transonic blades.

Well, that's the head canon or fluff for my Sicarian Ruststalkers anyway. Speaking of which, since Draconis IV is known as the second Ryza, I decided to go with the Slaved Systems Forge World and select Ryza instead. Draconis IV isn't subservient to Ryza exactly, but they strive to emulate Ryza, learning much from its plasma technology as well as following its combat protocols. Not only that, their interaction with the Knights of House Yato (Glorified History, Slayers of Beasts) has also led to them adopting more aggressive tactics and embracing close combat, in addition to plasma.

So on the tabletop, my Draconian Skitarii and Legio Cybernetica work mostly by trying to get close with the enemy, the Skitarii Vanguard making use of their rad-saturation and plasma calivers to weaken the enemy before hitting them in close combat with power swords or taser goads. The Skitarii Rangers do the same, using arc mauls and arc pistols in close combat, while the Serberys cavalry charge headlong into combat. And even the Kastelan robots are designed for close combat rather than ranged. The Sicarian Ruststalkers lurk in the shadow, remembering their skills back when they are shinobi of the Hattori clan, darting out and striking the enemy when they least expect. I think Ryza's dogma works best for my Adeptus Mechanicus army, and I still have plasma weapons in my Skitarii squads (yay?). Too bad the Stratagem isn't very good and I can only take 1 plasma caliver per 10 Skitarii, which just sucks. Ugh. Oh, well...

Anyway, I'll experiment between Slaved Systems Forge Worlds: Ryza and Expansionist Forge World (Accelerated Actuators and Rugged Explorators) to see which dogma I prefer, or which dogma fits my army more. +1 to wound in melee, or an additional AP -1 in melee? We'll see which is more useful for my dudes. And soon.

Oh, and maybe I should change the name of my forge world. I'll keep my Knight World as Draconis, and think of a new name for my forge world. It's kind of confusing to keep calling them Draconis III and Draconis IV. Ugh...