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Just came back from a big break from Tabletop. I have kept up on the new armys that have been introduced, just haven't been able to see them in play. Was wondering if anybody could give me a quick rundown on how they play on the table as they seem pretty interesting.

They look to me to be very similar to Imperial guard.

Cheers

Skiitari: Foot based infantry army, with numerous means of moving faster than normal infantry.

They get army wide scout, move thru cover, and several units who move 9" rather than 6", but no transports.

Cult Mech: Heavy, specialist infantry, low model count, based around army-wide buffs. Each turn they get to turn on a big buff to all their troops that makes them shoot better, or pop smoke, or gain electric melee attacks. Strong vs elite opponents, weak vs horde style.

Cheers for that. In terms of the Skiitari strengths. Are they shooty then run? Im guessing they dont have many melee capabilities

No bagglefocus for skitarii unfortunately. It's also important to remember they have the dune crawler tank for anti anything you kit it out to kill, really. They also have dune strides which are fast walkers which are good objective cappers/harassment unit. Shame the kit is so expensive.

Can't add much to the cult mechanicus part, Scotsman got it.

 Alphabet wrote:
Cheers for that. In terms of the Skiitari strengths. Are they shooty then run? Im guessing they dont have many melee capabilities

They also have an army wide "buff/adjustment" mechanic that either adds to their BS and subtracts from their WS, or vice versa. So skiitari consist of:

-The skiitari troops, basically rangers are long range no melee, and vanguard which are super short range and half-decent in melee (degrade opponents stats)

-The sicarian ninjaduders, you've got infiltrators who have short range shooting and choppiness, and ruststalkers who are pure choppy. Infiltrators I find are better because they infiltrate where they need to be.

-The chickenwalkers, Ironstriders are basically IG sentinels, and Dragoons are badass electrolance shock cav. I love those, only drawback is the cost

-Dunecrawlers, which are again mostly shooty.

 Alphabet wrote:
What style of army are Skitarri and Mechanicus

This is one of the issues of Admech (inc skita)
Most of us have no idea how we are supposed to play them, and some of us even get frustrated when they don't play as we expected. Just look at the amount of "why are there no transports" or "if they only added x" discussions.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
I am one of those who have no idea how they play. But my best guess would be that they play as modern version of a traditional non gun line non tank wall IG army with more gimmicks.

 oldzoggy wrote:

 Alphabet wrote:
What style of army are Skitarri and Mechanicus

This is one of the issues of Admech (inc skita)
Most of us have no idea how we are supposed to play them, and some of us even get frustrated when they don't play as we expected. Just look at the amount of "why are there no transports" or "if they only added x" discussions.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
I am one of those who have no idea how they play. But my best guess would be that they play as modern version of a traditional non gun line non tank wall IG army with more gimmicks.

Sorta, but not really. A lot of people I think have trouble with them because they ONLY consider shooting as an option, and minimize or remove all melee options from the army, because then they don't have to make the choice between melee and shooting, and they just end up with a subpar shooty list which really hates having no transports. This was why podtarri was so popular, it was just dirt simple point and click, pop your BS7 and shoot everything to bits with all your vanguard.

Playing Convocation, even though it's a list capable of hacking it with top tier competitive stuff, can actually be quite difficult because if you give yourself a turn where you want to shoot and you want to charge, you're not going to be doing either optimally.

I usually lean towards the more flexible units for that reason, and I end up with something that's more like 'nids in playstyle than Guard: Rely on cover buffs early to get into range, blast everything to bits with short range high ROF shooting, then plow into melee to mop up.

they definitely have units that are lackluster (ruststalkers, rangers and electropriests have never impressed me) but they have others that are clear winners, like Vanguard, Dunecrawlers and for me at least Sydonian Dragoons. I've had one of those stupid little ostrichwalkers solo most of an imperial guard tankline with his goofy little S8 lance.

Been looking at them. They look fun, not many unique units but still fun.

As far as I can tell(could be wrong) they don't have a hero/lord. Which kinda takes away from the character of them slightly for me. Unfortunate as I really like the look of them.

Cheers for the replys, I have a good idea of how they work now.

I really like that dune crawler.

Tempting, but my backlog is tremendously long!

 Alphabet wrote:
Been looking at them. They look fun, not many unique units but still fun.

As far as I can tell(could be wrong) they don't have a hero/lord. Which kinda takes away from the character of them slightly for me. Unfortunate as I really like the look of them.

This is true for Skitarri, but not their "companion" army the Cult Mechanicus which is led by a techpriest. It's obvious that GW intended for Skitarii to be allied support for other factions, particularly the Cult. That's why each army has just four model kits, with formations that require each others' models. It's also why the Skitarii "start collecting" box comes with a techpriest who isn't even a part of their codex. I know the box has rules for a special skitarii formation that includes the priest, but it still seems clear to me that GW is marketing the two factions as one army.

Same goes for the Harlequins, Inquisition, Tempestus and Imperial Knights. They can stand alone in casual games, but it doesn't look like GW designed them that way.

Fans have speculated that the next edition of 40k will have a unified Adeptus Mechanicus codex, but I doubt that will happen since GW makes more money by splitting books up and making you buy both. I think they're steering 40k further in the direction of allied forces and armies consisting of multiple detachments/formations. I have no problem with this since many of these armies were conceived as single factions and then broken up into multiple books. I'm actually pretty sad to never see Daemons and Chaos Marines fighting side by side these days, or Sisters backed up by Grey Knights and Inquisitors.

 Real News wrote:
I'm actually pretty sad to never see Daemons and Chaos Marines fighting side by side these days, or Sisters backed up by Grey Knights and Inquisitors.

It is my best guess they are content with creating many formations that would make a logical blend of any number of factions together like you outlined. I am waiting for the SOB and Black Templar "Formation of Fury"™.

I've actually been working on a small skiarii horde, at 1500 points i can get 100 basic vanguard - whose weapon, the galvanic rifle is actually pretty decent. Then still have 600 points for a special weapons squad, infiltrators, ironstriders and onagers.

That's 100 troops with a 4+ and 6+ FNP each putting out 3 shots at 18", it's not like anything else playable right now.

With the super cheap walkers @45/55 points there's also easy ways to have 10+ even in smaller games, with the outflank given by a certai formation it can make for a great aggresive (and very fast) army

Kataklysmic wrote:
I've actually been working on a small skiarii horde, at 1500 points i can get 100 basic vanguard - whose weapon, the galvanic rifle is actually pretty decent.

Rangers use galvanic rifles, Vanguard use radium carbines. The Carbine is a much better weapon in my opinion, arguably the best or second best "basic rifle" in the game for what it's worth. Though getting within range to shoot can be a problem.

While Skitarii lack in the Unit Department, I would still say they are still a fairly unique army given they are more of an Allied Faction. Army wide "orders" to boost BS or WS, versatile weapon choices (especially considering Special Weapons are different for each unit aside from Ranger/Vanguard), complementary special rules (Dunestrider to get in the action, Move Through Cover for a more shooty position), and a handful of different debuff options. Having two hits or wounds on a six (weapon dependent) adds a bit more to the rolls as well. I'm currently building towards a War Convocation now and have decided to start with Skitarii.

I feel like the Cult Mechanicus rely more on allies than Skitarii, as there is less variety in their standout units... and less unit choices for that matter. They are more of a solid wall that slowly moves forward (restricted movement, good saves across the board). Their prices lead to less models fielded, but their durability helps them get across the board. They also have army wide "orders," and the bonuses go up if you have more units. There are also bonuses that can be provided to individual units (i.e. Kastelans allowing you to get off more shots, have more melee attacks, or FNP), and they also come with pros/cons.

Personally they seemed like interesting choices when I started my new army, and I've always liked when Tech Priests make an appearance in the 40k novels. I'd prefer to go for the Dark Mechanicus flavor, but that will have to wait until my conversion skills improve.

The thing to keep in mind when building a Mechanicus army in general is threat management. Which is to say, you need to overwhelm your opponent with units that look scary, while taking out units that are scary.

Best analogy to make is comparing to Tau's Infiltration Cadre. You'll need to sacrifice a unit like the Tau would say their Piranha; if left alone, it'll wreck something. But wrecking it causes an issue elsewhere on the battlefield.

It's why they're fielded so commonly with Knights even outside a War Convocation. Knights are an amazing threat control unit, both for drawing fire away from other units and dealing with the threats TO your units.

It's kind of the polar opposite to Tau in a way. Rather then synergy through special rules (Markerlights and Supporting Fire) it's synergy through unit types. (Fast Melee with midrange shooting)

AdMech play like Nids, only with better options, better buffs, and more useful formations.

SJ

 Alphabet wrote:

As far as I can tell(could be wrong) they don't have a hero/lord. Which kinda takes away from the character of them slightly for me. Unfortunate as I really like the look of them.

Them not having a true HQ is down to fluff choices... pretty similar to an army like Harlequins (who I think should have an actual HQ unit)... the fluff for why there is no HQ unit option, is that the "HQ" is sat up in their space boat, directing traffic through synapse.

Strange how the mighty Tyranid Hive-mind that can direct massive living fleets spanning hundreds of light years across space requires a commander on the ground. Meanwhile the Admech have progressed to the 20th century, employing advanced tactics like "not putting your general in the line of fire".

 Real News wrote:
Strange how the mighty Tyranid Hive-mind that can direct massive living fleets spanning hundreds of light years across space requires a commander on the ground. Meanwhile the Admech have progressed to the 20th century, employing advanced tactics like "not putting your general in the line of fire".

I think the difference is in the HQs.... The Nids HQ units are big fething monsters, driven for combat, whereas the "generals" of the AdMech are even more machine than Vader, and fairly useless in a fight. Now, I don't think that really excuses them from having HQ options (well, AdMech has the Dominus, so there's that, but Skitarii don't) because even at the level that we fight 40k, there'd still be a captain or colonel or some such.

Also, the true HQ/general of the Nids would be the hive mind, no? Well, that's basically what the Skitarii have in their ships (fluff wise)

The Nid Hive Mind required close contact to work until they absorbed a psychic race, which expanded the Hive Mind's ability to connect over vast distances. That's in their fluff.

SJ