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I'm pretty crazy about AdMech and really bad when it comes to list building so I'd like to get some advice for building my army. My group is very casual so massive cheese is unnecessary and a wide variety of armies are represented. I am looking to get Cult Mechanicus and FW Mechanicum forces eventually, so allied formations, or even switching my core to one of them and using the other two as allies is also welcome. Our games tend to be between 750 - 1500 points as we do a lot of team games. And without further ado, the list I'm looking at:

10 Vanguard
3 plasma calivers
Omnispex
Phosphor blast pistol
Power Sword
Refractor Field
Pater Radium
245 points

10 Vanguard
3 plasma calivers
Omnispex
Phosphor blast pistol
Refractor Field
Power Sword
225 points

10 Vanguard
3 Arc Rifles
Omnispex
Phosphor blast pistol
Refractor Field
Power Sword
145 points

10 Skitarii Rangers
3 Transuranic Arquebues
Phosphor Blast Pistol
Power Sword
Omnispex
225 points

5 Sicarian Ruststalkers
Omniscient Mask
195 Points

3 Sydonian Dragoons
135 points

3 Onager Dune Crawlers
1 Icarus Array
2 Eradication Beamer
2 Smoke Launchers
3 Cognis Heavy Stubber
330

spend the extra points for 4++ invul from conversion fields.

I like the list overall. With Skitarii though, I feel most lists end up being fairl similar as the options are just so few. But here are just a few thoughts.

3 icarus arrays may be a bit of overkill. I know the 4++ is very tempting, but getting it with icarus arrays is a waste unless you know you're going to face a ton of flyers. Its a huge point sink as its almost a third of your army and it has to snap fire against anything that isnt a flyer or skimmer. If you know you're facing a lot of those then its a good choice but for a casual TAC list the points could be better applied elsewhere. If you are intent on running 3 onagers and arent sure about the flyers I would use the neutron lasers. They pack a punch as well.

Dragoons! I love them. I run at least 2 units of 3 everytime. If you can get multiple maniples I like running a bunch in pairs or I have even run 4 ironsrider cavalier formations with a 3 knight baronial court and that was crazy as each one is a separate unit. I cant say enough about them. They look awesome and are super fun to play and they hold their own. Dragoons for the win.

Arc pistols- I would try to squeeze them in, at least in the arc rifle unit. I find them to be more useful than the phospor blast pistols. The luminagen rule sounds good in theory, but you have to actually put the wound on them for it to take affect and in my experience, they are easy to save against so I rarely get the benefit.

Ruststalkers- I have found in my experience that I don't like them or the infiltrators. They are expensive and way too fragile. They can definitely lay down some hurt, but in the games Ive used them, they have been pretty 50/50 in terms of delivering or dying a horrible pointless early game death. For the price I just dont like the odds.

My lists usually include atleast one knight as I like the fluff of them escorting a superheavy, but other than that, I like to use MSU for the vanguard and alphas keeping them small and then running packs of dragoons and a few dunecrawlers, but thats definitely just my preference.

Just my 2 cents.

I would suggest breaking the 10 man arc squad into 2 5 man squads with 2 arc rifles and an arc pistol in each. It's More efficient that way.

I would drop 1 dune crawler as well as all the rust stalkers. Instead, funnel the points into some of the Ironstrider formations. They outflank and can hit pretty hard if used right.

Oops. I'll fix the list for clarity, as only one of the Onagers would have an Icarus Array while the others to would have the standard Eradication Beamers, as the only flyer I usually have to deal with is a Flyrant (which our 'Nid player fields in almost every game no matter the points, not that I'm bitter or anything). I've also considered breaking up the Onager squad and spreading them out to be able to support different flanks while still giving that nice appearance of a machine army on a relentless march. Although that is probably better done by making Cult Mechanicus my primary while cutting Skitarii back to a smaller allied detachment.

Ruststalkers were there merely to not waste the elite slots, but I've never been one for sneak tactics so ditching them for more Dragoons/Ballistarii has been one of the major changes I've been looking at. If I use the Ironstrider formation, is it better to give the Dragoons Jezzails and Serpentas or just keep them with the Taser Lance?

Give them Taser Lances. Let them swarm forward while the Ballistarii shoot through them with no penalty.

Consider rolling 2 Icarus array onagers together for a durable anti-air/skimmer unit.

Also be careful with your non-warlord squad having plasma. Odds are all your special gunners will kill themselves by turn 3 without a way to reroll 1's. Might be better off with another squad of arc or two. If you can find the points, an imperial knight is always a good addition to a Mechanicum army.

Ooh, I hadn't thought about the dangers to that other Caliver group (just the kind of detail that slips by when list building while tired). Time to crunch those numbers and see what those extra points could go to.

Look forward to seeing what you come up with

Revised List:

10 Vanguard
3 Plasma Calivers
Omnispex
Conversion field
Digital Weapons
Pater Radium
Power Sword
Phosphor Blast Pistol
260 points

Skitarii Vanguard
2 Arc Rifle
Omnispex
Arc Pistol
Conversion Field
Power Sword
130 points

Skitarii Vanguard
2 Arc Rifle
Omnispex
Arc Pistol
Conversion Field
Power Sword
130 points

Skitarii Rangers
Omnispex
2 Transuranic Arquebus
Conversion Field
135 points

Skitarii Rangers
Omnispex
2 Transuranic Arquebus
Conversion Field
135 points

Onager Dunecrawler
Cognis Heavy Stubber
Smoke Launcher
100 points

Onager Dunecrawler
Cognis Heavy Stubber
Smoke Launcher
100 points

Onager Dune Crawler
Cognis Heavy Stubber
Icarus Array
130 Points

Ironstrider Cavaliers - 380 points
1 squad consisting of 2 Ironstriders
2 squads consisting of 3 Dragoons each

Do you really thing the s3 power swords are worth the points?

Not really, as I suppose a Taser Goad would be accomplishing the same thing more or less. And all they're really there for is if I screw up and get charged so that I might be able to take someone with me.

Edited: Changed Arc Maul for Taser Goad because I swapped the numbers in my head.

I like the improvements. I would drop the upgrades on the alphas that arent the warlord (MSU is best when kept cheap) and then use the extra points to change the onagers to neutron lasers.