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Hello everyone,

I was wondering how best to start working on building a skitarri army? I am very new to this world so I know very little about it in general but for my boyfriend for our 5th anniversary I want to build him a skitarri army as he reads the books and these have become his favourite and so I thought it would be a nice present to give him. But I'm not sure where to start and with what so any help would be greatful!

Charlotte

What kind of a budget do you have and when you say "army" how many figures are you imagining?

Initially I was thinking maybe £100 to start off with I'm not sure how much it will be though all in I have a few months so its something I can spread the cost on. As for army something he can play a game with would be good.

Space marines codex would be the likely base however the models would have to be heavily converted... type skitarii into the p&m blog section and you will probably find good stuff there

Well, I guess the first thing to consider is what codex you intend on using for counts-as since Mechanicum do not have their own codex at this point. The obvious armies to me are Imperial Guard, Space Marines, Chaos Space Marines, and Necron. Next you will need to consider whether you want to convert and paint the miniatures from GW parts to allow for game play at GW sanctioned stores and events, purchase ready made models such as the Iron Brotherhood miniatures here:
http://www.shop.microartstudio.com/iron-brotherhood-c-36_43.html
Or if you would want to commission the custom army. How many points worth of an army do you want to do? This being said, what sort of time frame is there and what sort of budget?

I'm going through the older threads now there seems to be some contention with starting it as either imperial or space marine


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I'd like to be able to give the option if being used for GW (game worpkshop) events and I have until September 23rd to present in a shiny case. Price wise then I have looked up some of the sets online they are more expensive then I thought so budget wise maybe 300 for now. This will be my first model or Warhammer experience but I don't mind giving conversions a go

A basic space marine army that is affordable to start with and fits the theme well would be a Master of the Forge for the HQ, a pair of Scout units (snipers are a great option) for troops, and Dreadnoughts filling in. Other units of course could be used as well. I can provide a conversion guide to help you out if so interested, though the amount of converting will be fairly intense.

Forgeworld just came out with some nice Mechanicum figures.

Grey Knights allied with Guard w/ Inquisitor Coteaz + henchmen and Infantry platoons. Gives you tons of options and a good army to play. If you are decent at sculpting and converting the henchmen make a good base for an army.

Coteaz
6 Squads of Henchmen in Chimera or Razorback
3 Dreadnaughts

Can find lots of tanks to convert into more mechanicus looking tanks if its on the cheap.

http://littlegreenmentoys.com/Tanks_c2.htm

Several companies make good cheap options. These are my favorite for price to models:
http://wargamesfactory.com/webstore/alien-suns

Thank you a guide would be much appreciated. I have been reading that skitarii can be considered simillar to steam punk and the augmentation dependent on what role they have is this true?


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Haven't done any converting but I'm not afraid to try even if its not great he will hopefully appreciate the effort def appreciating the advice so far so thank you. Now just debating my shopping list for the first GW forage.

I have all sorts of sketches and drawings... I have been wanting to make an AdMech army for quite some time. I will go through some sketches and make a parts break down for the intended minis and show some minis that I have already been working on.

I must say that he is very lucky to have a girlfriend who is willing to make this kind of investment of time and effort. Let us know how we can help out.

this could get you started:
http://www.dakkadakka.com/gallery/images-14779-2618_The%20Mechanicus%20Project.html

Thank you all so far I have decided on building enough for an evenings game so about 1500 points (I'm learning all this as I go so I hope that's right)


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I've been looking up some images from the gallery as to how I would like them to look I'm seeing that most if the models are red it gives me a Christmas steam pink Santa feel but I like it. I'm thinking to start with some basic space marines and augmenting how many of these should I be looking into using?


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 Ifurita wrote:
I must say that he is very lucky to have a girlfriend who is willing to make this kind of investment of time and effort. Let us know how we can help out.

Thank you and I will I am just hoping he isn't disappointed by the end result if he is I will keep them and learn to play

If you are looking for inspiration as for the look and style, for me the definitive mechanicus army was the one Dave Taylor did about 6-8 years ago. It was featured with a 3-4 page spread in white dwarf magazine. A quick search on google says it was white dwarf #308. I can't confirm that at the moment as I'm at work but will be glad to check when I get home. Dave's armies are always fantastic and this is my favorite that he has done. Can't recommend it enough as a good source of information.

edit: did a quick search and actually found a thread about another of daves army that has one of the pages from the WD article. Its a ways down the first page , after a bunch of broken links for pictures:

http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/blog/267862.page

 Col. Kurtz wrote:
If you are looking for inspiration as for the look and style, for me the definitive mechanicus army was the one Dave Taylor did about 6-8 years ago. It was featured with a 3-4 page spread in white dwarf magazine. A quick search on google says it was white dwarf #308. I can't confirm that at the moment as I'm at work but will be glad to check when I get home. Dave's armies are always fantastic and this is my favorite that he has done. Can't recommend it enough as a good source of information.

edit: did a quick search and actually found a thread about another of daves army that has one of the pages from the WD article. Its a ways down the first page , after a bunch of broken links for pictures:

http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/blog/267862.page

Is this the 33rd Greenwick rifles army?


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I've now learnt the diffrent ranks in the skitarii army but to build one do I need to incorporate all the ranks and if so how many I'm guessing the armour etc affects how many points each model or unit has?

Im an avid fan of ADmech. I don't think space marines would make a good counts as skittari. Maybe if they were all Praetorians. Skittari would be along the lines of augmented guardsmen closer to veterans or stormtroopers from IG codex. Why the henchmen make good bases as you can have so many different options.

http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Skitarii#.UV6eoVeReXs

Yes after reading some of:
http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/blog/267862.page
I'm more inclined to think IG for the more human look and as he also likes things WW1-ish I think using dave Taylor's 33rd Genwick Rifles would be ideal for him. I just hope I can do the painting justice. I'm also thinking about using the army list provided at 1250 points as I'm not sure how I would go about setting one myself. Is that allowed or would it be against some GW rules?

Points don't matter. 1 HQ +2 troops only compulsory. This is my favorite. admech army.

http://www.warseer.com/forums/showthread.php?11246-The-Adeptus-Mechanicus-Project

That has alot of useful ideas too.

Could try using these: http://www.anvilindustry.co.uk/index.php?route=product/category&path=98_100

(bit small though, and they aren't GW legal)

 progreen10 wrote:
Could try using these: http://www.anvilindustry.co.uk/index.php?route=product/category&path=98_100

(bit small though, and they aren't GW legal)

Thank you but I would ideally like them to be GW legal as I know he would want to play GW games

Cllowery, the army I was referencing is the on in the picture below. It is a force dave planned as allies for his grenswick army. I found my old issue 308 of white dwarf and it's got some really great images as well as some good back ground from dave about how he went about making them. It even has some work in progress shots so you can see how much of the conversions are green stuff'ed and how much is just kit bashed. I would be glad to scan them on monday when I get to work and PM them to you. I would post them in this thread but I think that's a dakka no-no. It's too bad white dwarf never does article like this any more because if they did I might actually think it was worth ten bucks and buy an issue or two.

GW legal only refers to if you play at an actual "Gamesworkshop Store" which are less common then any hobby store where people play warhammer.

@Col. Kurtz I would be interested in those scans

Col Kurtz I oils defiantly appreciate those scans thank you


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I'm liking the look but for the servitors I may have them less augmented at first the paint work as well looks very suitable for a muddy warfare environment

I see my Mechanicus Project was referenced a few posts back. I want to focus on the really crazy mechanicus stuff like the Myrmidae and Tracked praetorians etc so I am thinking of selling some of my tanks seen here:

http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/120/239185.page#3376817

I am currently working on a new range of figures to model Skitarii and Praetorians etc based upon descriptions in books like Titanicus. They will be cast in resin as soon as i can. I've been out of the hobby for a while because of health issues but now i'm back and have heaps of ideas. I would be happy to assist if I can.

The best way to start would be to use cadians as a base and add hoods and a few bionics. These are the sort of parts i am currently sculpting.

Personally, i am using GW vostroyan models as a base and replacing their heads and sculpting on hoods etc. I like the ornate look.

The thing about Skitarii is that they aren't all the same. Each Forge World and even individual regiments can have different uniforms and weapons. Dan abnett described some in Titanicus that were really feral looking with big spears, shields and implanted weapons. Think 300 spartans combined with high tech weapons.

I would think using the imperial guard veteran squad rules would suit skitarii best. They come in squads of ten and have multiple special weapons.

Let me know if you have any questions. This is going to be the year of the mechanicus for me so a lot of what i'm doing may be beneficial to your project.

@tyrius and cllowry86: I will scan the pages on monday when I get into work and pm them to you both.

 Col. Kurtz wrote:
@tyrius and cllowry86: I will scan the pages on monday when I get into work and pm them to you both.

Thank you


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So I should be looking at IG codex then wanted to buy something from GW to get starters today but couldn't decide as I was doing it online and git sidetracked by how nice the tau battlesuit looks!

Anyway I'm thinking my first purchase then would be an imperial guard storm trooper squad and that two of these and add a few bionics to them?

Yeah, I think IG or as I said Coteaz Henchmen armies would be best for mechanicus. I only suggest Greyknights because of the dreadknights would be great to use for a knight titan and henchmen can be as varied as you want them to be.

I've recently looked at the GW to start on my army and was going with IG storm troopers with a few grenade launchers and flamers and I was thinking what to use for my tech priest when I noticed the space marine tech priest and also the servitor pack would I be able to use these as they look fairlyAM and wouldn't require much converting but would I have to use a diffrent codex for these pieces rather then the IG one for the storm troopers?

On another note I have been trying to draw some designs to give me something to work towards which has been keeping me busy. Answers would be appreciated as hoping to get buying soon

Space marines have tech marines. IG have tech priests and they look ADmech because they are