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I am (as said in my forum introduction) starting on an Adeptus Mechanicus army - to begin with quite a small one. Micro Art Studios, as used by the wonderful Hortwerth, provide excellent Skitarii and various levels of wonderful Techpriests. I have no problems at all with infantrymen, HQ, tanks (do you think an Adeptus Mechanicus Explorator force would use the Chimera or Rhino? [I am using the Witch Hunters force as a proxy codex thus far, although that is open to debate - robots are a sticking point, they can't all be Penitent Engines] MAS has a lovely Iron Brotherhood proxy if not), but it is in the extra AM stuff I am looking for help.

I started with Codex Witch Hunters, it is pretty straight forward what I want to do:
Faith and psychic stuff waived as electrical bolts and technology. I won't take things that cannot be explained away.
Karamazov: Mutant in tank, a la Dune.
Inquisitors: Magos
Retinue: Tech Adepts and general attendants, Scibor has a beautiful counts-as Sage - if I go Karamazov, they will be tending to the tank, altohugh I will need a suitable Execution Servitor w. Multi-Melta - something clearly intended to kill and just kill.
Sisters: Various. Depends on type - other sorts of Skitarii, the heavier Maniples (retributors, for instance, will be the tracked heavy Skitarii), Seraphim will take the winged Micro Art models
Storm Troopers: Basic Skitarii
Repentia: Close combat servitors
Arco-Flagellants: Above w. electrical weapons
Penitent Engines?

So how to represent robots and other AM paraphernalia? Penitent Engines are beserkers, which does not really fit - are there other codices, or any tips? I am running into some trouble - I wonder if I ought to induct Imperial Guard troops in allowing for Sentinels and other stuff to AM-ify. The distinction between the elements - Inducted Tech Guard and Techpriests - might make it feel more like an Explorator fleet amongst other things.

Id honestly say this;
Dont use the witchhunters codex.
The imperial guard codex makes the most sence to be used. You can have the majority of the kinds of stuff you want, which is actually in the codex.
Also, the Imperium doesnt have robots. They used to in the far far past IIRC, but mankind lost the technology to make more. They had one comic were they went to a world which had an ancient factory which produced them. They were all insane, and wanted to massacre every human in horrible ways. The sort o fthings the imperium use are servitors, Humans combined with circuitry. Humanity lost the tech to make actual combat ready robots thousands of years ago in the timeline.

I. Sorry, I am a fluff imbecile - I am very new to 40K. Servitors it is. Are the larger things, e.g. this [this is my go-to piece of art for AM reference], Servitors as well? They look too small to be Knight Titans.

Incidentally, if anybody knows about good miniatures for them (a sort of walking Leman Russ, I think) please tell me.
II. Thank you. I will have a muck about with pure IG as well.

Yes, they would probably count as servitors. A servitor is pretty much any non-sentient machine that uses biological parts, although it is usually used for the classical "cyborg" dudes. The biological parts are mostly to prevent a robot takeover like the Men of Iron tried during the Golden Age.

Edit: If you meant the big bipedal walkers, those look like Warhound Titans and a bit of artistic license to me.

Also, the Imperium doesnt have robots

Legio Cybernetica. It's very old, and still alive and kicking... in that mechanoid sense.

http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Legio_Cybernetica

Hi.
There is not a current codex able to represent the Admech. They have a lot of unique stuff. You can either try to do some "count as" army or get a fandex like this:
http://www.cold-moon.com/40k/40kRP/PDF/Alternate%20Codexes/Tempus%20Fugitives%20-%20Codex%20Cult%20Mechanicus/Codex%20Cult%20Mechanicus.pdf

There are a lot of conversions here in dakka, like
http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/405157.page

You can get a lot of stuff just by googling "adeptus mechanicus army" images.

Chaos Space Marines and Space Marines are used here and there as Admech. Skitarii are compared to Astartes in the fluff, and myrmidons (spyder-like walkers) could count as defilers (they really look like them) or dreads. Get a master of the forge (archmagos), some servitors, techmarines as techpriests, thunderfire cannons, land raiders... Praetorians could be havocs or devastators, and so on...

To know something about the background, lexicanum is a good place to start: http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Adeptus_Mechanicus#Military_forces

Hope this helps

I started with Codex Witch Hunters, it is pretty straight forward what I want to do:
Faith and psychic stuff waived as electrical bolts and technology. I won't take things that cannot be explained away.
Karamazov: Mutant in tank, a la Dune.
Inquisitors: Magos
Retinue: Tech Adepts and general attendants, Scibor has a beautiful counts-as Sage - if I go Karamazov, they will be tending to the tank, altohugh I will need a suitable Execution Servitor w. Multi-Melta - something clearly intended to kill and just kill.
Sisters: Various. Depends on type - other sorts of Skitarii, the heavier Maniples (retributors, for instance, will be the tracked heavy Skitarii), Seraphim will take the winged Micro Art models
Storm Troopers: Basic Skitarii
Repentia: Close combat servitors
Arco-Flagellants: Above w. electrical weapons
Penitent Engines?

I think this is a great start, and a great way of using what’s available as ‘Counts-As’. I’ve got an AdMech army as well, and I use the Micro-Art Studios stuff for mine (along with a lot of Servitors & Tech-Priests). I had never thought the WH Codex would make a good ‘Counts-As’ Codex for the AdMech, but that listing shows how easy it’d be. I love the idea of using the winged troopers as Seraphim, and the tracked guys (who I use as Praetorian Battle Servitors, converted with Heavy Bolters and Autocannons) as Retributors. Great idea.

You could use Acho-Flagellants as Electro-Priests.

Tanks should be whatever they need for the task. I can see them using Rhinos and Chimeras.

As far as the Penitent Engine. That’s a good question. You could use this model. Some sort of crazed war-like Tech-Priest... wait... the Secutors are Tech-Priests that focus more on war than they do on learning and being engineers and whatnot. So a Penitent Engine could be a Secutor in some sort of huge combat rig.

Well wait, isnt the Witchhunters book invalidated with the release of Grey Knights and the WD SoB list? Think he could probably do something similar with a Coteaz GK list...

I don’t see why the GK Codex would invalidate the WH Codex. The DH Codex yes, but now the WH Codex.

As for the Sisters White Dwarf Codex? Possibly. But if he’s using a completely ‘counts as’ army with a whole host of miniatures from other companies, what book he uses is clearly not going to be a big issue.

Eh, I guess, but there is a new edition coming out, who wants to bet that the already broken book is going to be broken further by the rules changes, and there wont be any FAQ to clarify... its still better to try to use a legitimate/current codex, it makes gameplay easier and less people will have an issue playing against it.

blood lance wrote:Also, the Imperium doesnt have robots. .

Cyber Mastiffs?

Also, I'd say go for the Witch Hunters, honestly makes the most sense with the units you listed. Or IG. either would be a viable choice if you're only playing at a FLGS/non-gw events!

Cyber-Mastiff's aren't 100% robotic.

Doesn't matter what the cyber-mastiff is, the Mechanicus has the Legio Cybernetica, which is a robot army lead by Tech-Priest handlers. They're not AI droids, of course, but they are, indeed, non-human-based robots.

Well they do have AI, just exceptionally basic and demanding the input of their handler. Sort of like a servitor I guess.

WH/DH is probably the best to go with, though the Auxilia Myrmidon may be able to be represented by a MEQ codex if you went with them instead of the normal Skitarii force.

Also there is not one Servitor in sight in that picture. The big things are knights, the guys on tracks are Praetorians (could be counted as Servitors, but could also not be counted as them); or at least one of the interpretations of how they appear.

Cheers and thanks all for so much input. I will stick with Witch Hunters/Inducted Guards in theory, but explore a lot elsewere, and yes, I am aware this is not Tournament legal (although it is not all counts-as, some Chimeras and the heavy weapons, although mounted on tracks, will appear). I will keep on the hunt for miniatures, and am turning up a few already - I don't, sorry, really like the Megatherion, but have found a lovely Magos on that site - , but thanks for tips.

I am starting to think of something involving the Legio Cybernetica and inducted Guard, and I will put it up when I check against the codex.



Automatically Appended Next Post:
Double post, sorry, the flood of posts will calm down when I get to work
My bright idea - Inducted Guard as Legio Cybernetica.
Pig Iron Wardroids as Ogryns. Simple, effective, for fairly large numbers of robust Close Combat robots - Cataphracts, I think. The crude Ogryns match up with the simple robots, useless without a guide, essentially. Imperial Guard troops mystify me - Combat Servitors, perhaps? Platoon HQ is obviously the Techpriest minders of the robots, and each squad could get a Techpriest sergeant.

Illustrative video (not mine), showing this is not new:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xzch_j96fiY

PPS: Can you induct Guards and SM into one WH army?

No, just one or the other. Can't have both.

And Ogryn-as-Robots is an interesting idea. The only hang-up is that the various Imperial robots tended to be very heavily armed, with power fists, lascannons and heavy bolters a'plenty. Ogryns don't really do that. Ogryns don't really do much of anything to be honest.

Yes... it's a bit of a ber that there are no flamethrower Ogryns, Lasgun Ogryns or whatever. Sentinels might work, but the IG Induction rules dictate only the basic models may be taken, and open-topped Cataphracts is pretty bad. I wonder if armoured sentinels count as a basic/upgraded type?

Flamethrowers are too complex for an Ogryn, lasweapons too fragile.

If you want to use a legal codex, I suggest the GK codex.

Henchmen and GKs can roughly represent the various Ad Mech stuff you would want to have. Dreadknights would be acceptable rules for Knights.



I also have my own Ad Mech codex I wrote a while back. There were a whole bunch of threads in the Proposed Rules sections on it.

Thanks, I will certainly bear GK in mind as well - although I fear Grey Knights are simply too powerful for Skitarii.
PS: Not meant as offensive, I think I will stick with WH (due to my army being an Ad Mech expedition, Knights would not crop up).

I ma experimenting, fairly sucessfully, with pure IG lists - can Guardsmen take Carapace armour?

Skittarii are pumped full of combat drugs and given intensive augmentation. They can match space marines for brute strength.

Right - the fluff I was reading is rather different, but I take your point. I will keep on considering all comers though, and WH-IG seems to be the best bet so far. IG-DH might be a compromise, but thanks for the tip about GK - trying things out works best of all.
PS: That sounded really quite rude. I had best put ip some quotes to defend where I am coming from, as your interpretation is probably more correct than mine.

Hypaspists:These are the basic tech-guard infantry, and are armed with lasguns. They are more augmented than the normal Imperial Guardsman, and may have received emotional-suppression surgery.

However, many old sources also suggest that Praetorians are instead an elite Skitarii type following the fashion of Imperial Guard storm trooper units, but with slightly more augmentations, putting them somewhere between storm troopers and Space Marines. In the short story Deux es Mechanicus, Praetorians are in fact servitors, rather than living humans. They move on tank treads and are armed with powerful weaponry, such as plasma cannons*3. All of these are completely plausible, and based on the preferences of the Magos who build them.

No offence meant, so sorry if I sound a right prig (I fear I do).

It sounded ok to me.


And yeah, fluff does often refer to different things by the same name.

In my codex I created a distinction between the 2 types of Skittarii often referred to.


There are the "Tech Guard" that are little more then regular humans with very minor augmentation. Basically being IG with slightly better equipment and minor emotional suppression. These guys are referred to as Skittarii but in actuality appear to simply be the lowest ranking level of Skittarii and are not the same as the Skittarii that make up the bulk of the Ad Mech fighting forces.

the proper Skittarii are Tech Guard that have undergone intense genetherapy and implantation till they arn't human anymore. They have become hulking brutes bred only for war.

Praetorians are the next step up and have had heavy weapons built into their bodies. utterly mindless unlike the Skittarii who are still capable of independent thought.

Thank you for that fluff clear-up. Will be borne in mind regardless of whether I go GK or stick with some permutation of the Guard (pure IG, IG-WH, IG-DH).