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So on a whim, I decided to try my hand at a combined Cult Mechanicus/Skitarii list, just too see what it would look like if I ever got around to collecting a Mechanicus force. Here's what I put together:

Cult Mechanicus Battle Congregation:

Techpriest Dominus- 105 Warlord
3 Kataphron Destroyers- plasma culverins & phosphor blasters- 165
3 Kataphron Destroyers- heavy grav-cannons & phosphor blasters- 165


Skitarii Maniplie:

10 Skitarii Vanguard- 3 plasma calivers- 190
10 Skitarii Vanguard- 3 plasma calivers- 190
5 Skitarii Rangers- 2 arc rifles- 95
5 Skitarii Rangers- 2 arc rifles- 95
2 Sydonian Dragoons- 90
Ironstrider Ballistarius- twin-linked cognis lascannon- 75
Ironstrider Ballistarius- twin-linked cognis lascannon- 75
2 Onager Dunecrawlers- Icarus arrays- 250

Total: 1495


Thoughts: The basic idea behind this list is: shoot things, shoot them, and shoot them again until they're dead. The Onagers provide vital anti-air, and everything else can dish out a lot of plasma, phosphor, haywire and anti-infantry damage. I threw in the Ironstriders to block/tie up units that might threaten my shooty units. The Dragoons are there because I had the points to spare, but they can also aggressively threaten enemy troops/vehicles.

Any thoughts on this list? My own thoughts:

-I'm considering trading the Ironstriders and Dragoons for a unit of Sicarian Ruststalkers or Infiltrators, as a nice, aggressive close combat/countercharge unit, though I suspect that Sicarians work best when you have two units of them.
-Alternately, I could ditch the above units and maybe a unit of Rangers, and hopefully have enough for a pair of Kastelans, who can fullfill a dual shooty/close combat role.
-Would I be better off taking the Battle Congregation as is, or instead going for the Holy Requisitioner formation? On the one hand, deep striking units is nice, but on the other, Breachers just don't have the same crazy firepower that Destroyers do.

I would look at some of the relics on the Dominus, scryerskull in particular would suit your army. I would also go grav on both Destroyer units.

Skitarii should have omnispexes all the time. Rake them everywhere. Rangers aren't really worth it over Vanguard.

Dragoons work best as MSU present 2 targets for better objective grabbing and more threats. A single Dragoon should waste any vehicle it charges. If you need 2 to charge something then just charge them both it. Lascannons are not near worth it on Ballistarii. Keep them cheap.

Vanguards aren't worth it? Why, might I ask? Is the long range just not that useful on a smaller squad?

I see what you mean about the Sydonians, though. I'll split them up, and maybe ditch the Ironstriders as well (seeing as dual Sydonians will do their job just as effectively), though I'm not sure what I'd replace them with.

Rangers are more expensive than Vanguard for very little benefit. Particularly with Arc Rifles as you want to be firing at vehicles meaning both the more expensive side arm and the precision shots are wasted. Stick to Vanguard. Ballistarii are useful but only with the auto cannon and they give you some support AA for the Dunecrawlers if you're against multiple flyers. They also give you some decent range to do damage turn 1 against castling armies.

Assuming your playgroup allows Knights I would suggest looking into an Adeptus Mechanicus War Convocation with 1 dominus, 2 kataphron breachers, a knight gallant, then the maniple builds itself. The canticles are just so good, let alone combined with the doctrines. Giving your whole army (namely a Knight) stealth and shrouded for 2 turns can just be insane, let alone the other bonuses. Also to go up to an 1850 list you simply need to add another knight gallant, 2 more vanguards, and a ranger. Its somewhat funny as the only real tax is having to actually take the Ad Mech units as they really don't benefit from free upgrades (breachers for instance just don't need them as limiting your range to 24" vs 36" is a pretty big deal IMO and they are quite slow). I feel if you want to go much deeper into the pure Ad Mech route the Cohort Cybernetica formation is where to look mixed with a basic Skitarri Maniple.

Example Ad Mech War Con: (may be able to take a few more Relics of Mars as they are free, but 1 per model, but I didn't want to put forth the effort of figuring it out).

Ad Mech War Convocation: 1492

Cult Mech Battle Congregation:
1 x Tech Priest Dominus w/ phosphor serpentia, digital weapons, infoslave skull, conversion field, rainment of technomartyr
2 x 3 Kataphron Breachers

Imperial Knight Oathsworn Detachment:
1 x Knight Gallant w/ stormspear rocket pod

Skitarii Battle Maniple:
1 x 8 Skitarri Vanguard w/ omnispex, 2 plasma caliver, powersword on alpha, phosphopheonix on alpha, conversion field on alpha, digital weapons on alpha
1 x 5 Skitarri Rangers w/ omnispex, 2 arquebus, divinator on alpha, powersword on alpha, digital weapons alpha, conversion field alpha
1 x 5 Rust Stalkers w/ dataspike alpha, digi wep alpha, conv field alpha
1 x 5 Infiltrators w/ digi wep alpha, conv field alpha
1 x 2 Dunecrawlers w/ icarus array, cognis heavy stubber, mindscanner probes, cognis manipulator
1 x 2 Dragoons w/ phosphor serpenta

Why don't you run the war convocation with cult mech, the knight, and skitarii?

It's only like 1370 minimum and you can add on some things all while have free upgrades.

I agree that you should probably run the War Convocation since you are already looking at running most of the units anyway.

However, You might want to see if you can fit a Knight with a Gun into the list instead of the Galant.

I also think you should run Arc Rifles on the Rangers. They will be more versatile. Unless you are planning on backfield objective camping with them.

Alternatively if you are looking for pure offense then you will be better served with Flesh Tearers Drop Pods.

Either way Sicarians of either flavor can do series work, unless they end up with dedicated melee opponents.

SilverSaint wrote:Assuming your playgroup allows Knights I would suggest looking into an Adeptus Mechanicus War Convocation with 1 dominus, 2 kataphron breachers, a knight gallant, then the maniple builds itself. The canticles are just so good, let alone combined with the doctrines. Giving your whole army (namely a Knight) stealth and shrouded for 2 turns can just be insane, let alone the other bonuses. Also to go up to an 1850 list you simply need to add another knight gallant, 2 more vanguards, and a ranger. Its somewhat funny as the only real tax is having to actually take the Ad Mech units as they really don't benefit from free upgrades (breachers for instance just don't need them as limiting your range to 24" vs 36" is a pretty big deal IMO and they are quite slow). I feel if you want to go much deeper into the pure Ad Mech route the Cohort Cybernetica formation is where to look mixed with a basic Skitarri Maniple.

Example Ad Mech War Con: (may be able to take a few more Relics of Mars as they are free, but 1 per model, but I didn't want to put forth the effort of figuring it out).

Ad Mech War Convocation: 1492

Cult Mech Battle Congregation:
1 x Tech Priest Dominus w/ phosphor serpentia, digital weapons, infoslave skull, conversion field, rainment of technomartyr
2 x 3 Kataphron Breachers

Imperial Knight Oathsworn Detachment:
1 x Knight Gallant w/ stormspear rocket pod

Skitarii Battle Maniple:
1 x 8 Skitarri Vanguard w/ omnispex, 2 plasma caliver, powersword on alpha, phosphopheonix on alpha, conversion field on alpha, digital weapons on alpha
1 x 5 Skitarri Rangers w/ omnispex, 2 arquebus, divinator on alpha, powersword on alpha, digital weapons alpha, conversion field alpha
1 x 5 Rust Stalkers w/ dataspike alpha, digi wep alpha, conv field alpha
1 x 5 Infiltrators w/ digi wep alpha, conv field alpha
1 x 2 Dunecrawlers w/ icarus array, cognis heavy stubber, mindscanner probes, cognis manipulator
1 x 2 Dragoons w/ phosphor serpenta

My gaming group typically doesn't field Lords of War at 1500 points, and to be honest, while I like Knights, I'm trying for a "bodies over toys" approach where possible. Also, one of the major tournaments in my area has made a ruling of only two detachments and now LoW, so...no War Convocation for me.

That being said, at 1850 or higher, I'm definitely taking the War Convocation. I'd be dumb not to.

Sick Bag wrote:I agree that you should probably run the War Convocation since you are already looking at running most of the units anyway.

However, You might want to see if you can fit a Knight with a Gun into the list instead of the Galant.

I also think you should run Arc Rifles on the Rangers. They will be more versatile. Unless you are planning on backfield objective camping with them.

Alternatively if you are looking for pure offense then you will be better served with Flesh Tearers Drop Pods.

Either way Sicarians of either flavor can do series work, unless they end up with dedicated melee opponents.

I might drop down to just two Vanguad/Ranger units to fit the Sicarians in. I'm leery of using Flesh Tearer Pods, though. Yes, I realize they cover a major weakness in the Mechanicus forces, but I'd rather try "pure" Mechanicus first to see what sort of mileage I can get out of them.

Also, re: Knights: the Errant is still my favourite, in terms of utility and points.

I think it's looking pretty decent but would lose a lot of the upgrades for more wounds on the table. I don't use plasma culverins on vanguard, they do fine as they are and I would have 4 full squads of them. Lose the ark rifles in the rangers and just use them for precision shots. Change one squad of destroyers to breachers and put the ark rifles in there (though the torsion cannon is just as good). I would also consider not taking the ironstriders at all and either putting in sicarian infiltrators or another onager basic, for the large blast and to increase your invulnerable on the other two.

Alright, here's a revised list:


Battle Congregation:

Tech-Priest Dominus- Autocaduceus of Arkhan Land- 135
3 Kataphron Destroyers- 3 heavy grav cannons- 165
3 Kataphron Destroyers- 3 heavy grav cannons- 165
2 Kastelan Robots- heavy phosphor blaster, twin-linked heavy phosphor blaster- 320


Skitarii Maniple:

10 Skitarii Vanguard- 3 plasma calivers, omnispex- 200
10 Skitarii Vanguard- 2 plasma calivers, omnispex- 170
Sydonian Dragoon- 45
Sydonian Dragoon- 45
2 Onager Dunecrawlers- Icarus arrays- 250


Total: 1495


Any thoughts? I'm considering retaining the power fists on the Robots to at least give me some close combat ability in this army.