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Looking to build an Ad Mech army of about 2500 points however, having not played 40k for a reasonable length of time (at least, not seriously or adhering to army building rules in any great detail), I have to say that all these formations, detachments etc leave me confused. I have a Dark Eldar army with some Harlequin allies yet Battlescribe/Army Builder complains constantly that I need to add an HQ to my Harlie detachment, even though they don't actually have any HQ choices.

Having just opened the Ad Mech/Skitarii stuff in Battlescribe, it seems the same thing is true - Skitarii have no HQ choice so I can't run them solo, right? They have to be allied with something? I am more of a fluffy player so would prefer something that makes sense from a background point of view so would prefer an Ad Mech/Skitarii army over anything else but I'm not wildly ecstatic about having to buy 2 codexes to do this (and I am assuming I need both?)

I would rather buy one codex and focus on one army, but I would have thought the best way to start build an army would be to buy one or more of the Start Collecting boxes but they contain both Skitarii and Ad Mech units meaning I am being tacitly pushed down that route.

So, with all that, questions:

1) Can you run either army solo and not allied? And indeed, should you?
2) Do you need both codexes or is there crossover between them?
3) Can anyone post some sample army lists or suggested builds so I can get a rough idea of what I need and how much it may cost me?

Thanks!

Skitarii don't need an HQ choice.

You can't run them with a standard big rulebook formation, but the Skitarii book has formations you can run it with.

This does mean you won't have a big hammer single character, as your warlord is just gonna be an alpha from one of the units (what a guardsman would call a sergeant.)

1) Can, yes. Should? Not if you want to be competitive, but I enjoy my pure Skitarii.

2) They work well together, you don't need both.

3) My pure Skitarii 2500-3000 depending on gear is:

30 rangers/vanguard (it's the same box)
3 Onager Dunecrawlers
10 Sicarian infiltrators
8 Ironstriders.

The Start Collecting box is amazing value, even if you don't use the tech priest (since he's from Ad Mech) so getting a few of those (I'd recommend 3 boxes) is a great start to a skitarii army.

Skitarii and Cult can indeed both be run separately and completely by themselves. The Skitarii maniple, their basic detechment, not to be confused with the battle maniple, only requires two troop choices so you would only need to elect a warlord. Personally I'm of the opinion that they run together very well and might have been a single codex but were ultimately split.

You will need both codexes as each force possesses units unique to them but share some special rules such as "luminagen"

 Ir0njack wrote:
Skitarii and Cult can indeed both be run separately and completely by themselves. The Skitarii maniple, their basic detechment, not to be confused with the battle maniple, only requires two troop choices so you would only need to elect a warlord. Personally I'm of the opinion that they run together very well and might have been a single codex but were ultimately split.

You will need both codexes as each force possesses units unique to them but share some special rules such as "luminagen"

Luminagen in no way means you need both codexes. It's not like "more luminagen makes it stronger." Nor does anything else. The only thing that really binds them to eachother rather than to anything else is the War Convocation, which also requires an Imperial Knight.

Thanks for the input so far, some good suggestions.

The all-skitarii force looks intriguing but the 8 x Ironstriders sure does make it expensive!

I don't mind running a combined force and buying both codexes if it helps to drive the cost down a little. I guess what I am after is less a competitive force (in fact, that ranks about the lowest on my priority list) and more geared towards cost, aesthetics and background - I want something that will look good on the tabletop, make sense from a fluff point of view and not cost the earth to buy.

The all skitarii list runs about £380 - £400 or thereabouts from Element Games so if I could get that cost down a little perhaps by swapping in some Ad Mech units, that might be better.

 filbert wrote:
Thanks for the input so far, some good suggestions.

The all-skitarii force looks intriguing but the 8 x Ironstriders sure does make it expensive!

I don't mind running a combined force and buying both codexes if it helps to drive the cost down a little. I guess what I am after is less a competitive force (in fact, that ranks about the lowest on my priority list) and more geared towards cost, aesthetics and background - I want something that will look good on the tabletop, make sense from a fluff point of view and not cost the earth to buy.

The all skitarii list runs about £380 - £400 or thereabouts from Element Games so if I could get that cost down a little perhaps by swapping in some Ad Mech units, that might be better.

I know, the striders cost a lot of money, and they are the worst part of my army. They have never made their points back. But I fell in love with Skitarii largely because of the goofy things, so I built the rest around having a huge pile of them.

I would definitely recommend you ditch them for some Ad Mech instead.

I've also started a Skit/Admech force, and through my research I've found that people tend to prefer the sydonian dragoon over the ironstrider. The skits and Admech seem like they'll complement each other pretty well and thematically it's a perfect combination (other than to sell more codices I don't really understand why GW split them up). Bear in mind that Forgeworld also gives the choice of a couple more elite units if you feel like selling the souls of your firstborn children to afford them. I've heard that the peltasts in particular are quite shooty and effective.

Of course your other option is to ally yourself with another force if you want to shore up your lack of fliers and /or Hq.

Personally, my suggestion would be to just go for whatever you like the look of. Rules change, and whatever is considered meta at the moment is likely to all change in the next edition.

Work your way up to a war convocation

But to start

You need
1 Start collecting box

Then get the new battle force coming out


After these 2 boxes you need:
another box of ruststalkers/infiltrators
another box of rangers/vanguard
2 more boxes of destroyers/breachers
1 imperial knight - magnetized so you can kit any variant.

In the end you should have

1 tech priest dominus
10 rangers (model one with the omnispex) - model 3 of them with the special weapons - or shell out some more cash for some aftermarket plasma guns if you need WYSIWYG
10 vanguard (model one with the omnispex) - model 3 of them with the special weapons - or shell out some more cash for some aftermarket plasma guns if you need WYSIWYG
5 rust stalkers - model with Transonic razor, Chordclaw, and Mindscrambler Grenades
5 infiltrators - model with burst pistols and taser goads
1 sydonian dragoon (don't bother with ironstrider - you have enough shooting) - try to magnetize for either radium jezzails or taser lance
1 dunecrawler (should magetize the main gun so you can swap between neutron and aa array
2 3man squads of destroyers (either magnetize gun barrels or build 1 3 man squad of grav guns and 1 3 man squad of plasma guns) - (secondary gun - I prefer flamers)
1 3man squad of breachers (might as well just keep the arc rifles
1 Kastelan Robots squad ( go with flamer and gun hands)
5 squad of Fulgurite-Electro-Priests (i've never used but i think these are the better variant)
1 Imperial knight (change variant based on list configuration)

Skitarii are probably the better starting force. lots of special rules and tricks to remember. I'd hold off buying the codexes - they should have a combined codex soon.
Cult mech are good but slow. Better used as heavy fire power backing up skitarii units.




Automatically Appended Next Post:
With the models mentioned above you can field a variety of admech lists.
you can pull of a 1500pt , 1850, 2000 war convo

something else to get before they are gone are the data cards - really handy to have your doctorina imperatives and canticles ready

I might be in the minority here, but I really like running Mechanicus as a solo force and then adding Skitarii later on. I feel like they run as a smaller, more elite force while Skitarii have a more traditional infantry-based feel. Do be warned that Cult Mech is SLOOOWWWW while Skitarii have a lot more mobility.

You can get started pretty easily - you need a Tech Priest Dominus, 2 sets of Kataphrons, and you've met the basic requirements for a CAD/Battle Congregation. Points-wise, that'll run you about 400. Then you an tack on more troops, big robots, or melee zealots as needed.

Have a look at the new FW Peltasts. 20 of them pump out such an unholy amount of shots that you don't need much other anti-infantry firepower. And while it's not saying much, they are the toughest infantry that Skitarii have access to.

I run Skitarii by themselves. They're tons of fun and surprisingly mobile what with the scout and dunestrider.

If you think they are too expensive I have the following for sale.

Prices are 40% off retail with $15 shipping worldwide for small orders and postage will never go above $30, if it costs more I will cover the rest.
AdMech/Skitarii
6x Sicarian Ruststalkers/Infiltrators - NOS
4x Electro Priests - NOS
3x Dunecrawler - NOS
1x Ironstrider/Dragoon - NOS
2x Kataphron Destroyers - NOS