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Hello everyone!

I'm considering starting an Adeptus Mechanicus army, mixing Skitarii and Cult Mechanicus. I've also recently seen the Militarum Tempestus codex, and it seems interesting to have a few Scions and a Taurox (or a Valkyrie) for Deep Striking on problematic targets and objectives and thus assist the AdMech with a more mobile force. I also like the idea of elite, regular human soldiers deploying as a small strike force to support the main army, and I love all their models.

Thing is, I haven't played 40k in years, and I have never used formations or allies. I've never played against anyone other than a close friend who has GK (I have CSM), but this time I would like to try out playing at a club and maybe even participate in some tournaments. About the ally rules, I'm not familiarized with them so I don't know if it would be even possible to have Cult Mechanicus, Skitarii and Militarum Tempestus.

My idea of army list would be to use Cult Mechanicus as main force with Dominus, Cataphrons and Kastelans, adding Skitarii in the form of Vanguards, Rangers, Infiltrators and Onagers, and then add one or two squads of Scions with a Taurox or two, and a Lord Commissar. The AdMech would act as the "front line" army, bringing massive long range firepower while the Tempestus would deploy where most needed and perform surgical strikes on objectives and some enemy units.

Would this be legal? How should it be organized in terms of ally rules? Do you think this could work in terms of tactics?

Thank you very much!

PS: eventually I would like to add a FW Thanatar Siege Automata to my AdMech army (and even an Ordinatus, but that's something far away), to have some more cool rrrrobots. Even though they're a 30k unit, they're not explicitally stated to be incompatible with 40k and would make sense fluff-wise. What do you think?

First off, I'm more of an ork player, so my experience with imperium armies is limited.

Cult Mechanicus, Skitarii, and the Tempestus are all Imperium, so they count as battle brothers (No problems at all with allying). The only thing is whoever leads tournaments may have special rules regarding how many different detachments you can take. Also, I'm not 100% certain if the Thanatar Siege Automata is playable in 40k, it may be a 30k only thing.

Cult Mech could use a Battle Congregation which is your basic CAD variant (which you could use as well) with Cult Mech specific rules.
That would be a dominus and 2 units of Kataphrons of your choice. Has slots for the Kastelans.
The Skitarii can use their Skitarii maniple which requires 2 squads of either rangers or vanguards with slots for the Infiltrators and Onagers.
The Tempestus can, depending on the size of the detachment, use an allied detachment or a CAD.

 IronChaos wrote:

My idea of army list would be to use Cult Mechanicus as main force with Dominus, Cataphrons and Kastelans, adding Skitarii in the form of Vanguards, Rangers, Infiltrators and Onagers, and then add one or two squads of Scions with a Taurox or two, and a Lord Commissar. The AdMech would act as the "front line" army, bringing massive long range firepower while the Tempestus would deploy where most needed and perform surgical strikes on objectives and some enemy units.

Would this be legal? How should it be organized in terms of ally rules? Do you think this could work in terms of tactics?

Yes this is legal and not a bad plan. You probably know that War Convocation is the most competitive way to field Adeptus Mechanicus, but your idea sounds more fun.

 IronChaos wrote:

PS: eventually I would like to add a FW Thanatar Siege Automata to my AdMech army (and even an Ordinatus, but that's something far away), to have some more cool rrrrobots. Even though they're a 30k unit, they're not explicitally stated to be incompatible with 40k and would make sense fluff-wise. What do you think?

Reliable rumors say that the next Forgeworld Imperial Armor book will have rules for Heresy Mechanicum units in 40k.

I ran with your idea and made this three detachment list to give you some ideas:

DETACHMENT ONE: Skitarii Dominus Maniple Formation (440 points)

Tech Priest Dominus - Conversion Field, Phosphor Serpenta

Onager Dunecrawler - Neutron Laser

Skitarii Vanguard - 10 models, 3x Plasma Caliver, Omnispex

This formation is in the Start Collecting box, and it's maybe the best way to field small numbers of Skitarii. Let the Dominus tank hits but don't expect this unit to last very long. Try keeping them back ready for later turns.

DETACHMENT TWO: Cult Mechanicus Elimination Maniple Formation (980 points)

TWO Kastelan Robot Maniple, all phosphor blasters, add Conversion field for Datasmith

TWO Kataphron Destroyers, all grav-cannons

This is the meat of this roster. The big advantage of this formation is you're not paying for the expensive Tech Priest Dominus, and you can focus fire on one or two targets to give your grav cannons Ignores Cover. You're giving up Objective Secured for the Destroyers, but that's what the Tempestus are for.

DETACHMENT THREE: Tempestus Combined Arms Detachment (425 points)

Tempestus Command Squad, Medi-pack, 3x plasmaguns

Tempestus Scions, two hotshot volley guns

Tempestus Scions, two meltaguns

Tempestus Scions, two plasmaguns

Three deep-striking Objective Secured units will help your Adeptus Mechanicus compete for Maelstrom objectives. They're weak but cheap and your opponent will be forced to deal with them.

You could put one of those squads in a Taurox if you want, but I don't recommend that because it'd be your opponent's first target and it's made of paper. For the price of a Taurox, you can have another deep-striking Objective Secured unit that's often more survivable than a Taurox.

This all comes out to 1845 points, so you can shuffle the wargear or even add a few more models to some units.

If your format allows a fourth detachment, consider Coteaz or a cheap Inquisitor with servo-skulls.

If you're not married to the Kataphron Destroyers, consider the Cohort Cybernetica formation. It's _really_ good if you can fill in its weaknesses with Imperial allies; Tempestus are good for this.

Thank you all for your help!

 axisofentropy wrote:
...

That sounds great! I'm not sure how to feel aobut not being able to use Cataphron Breachers on the Elimination Maniple, and thus not being able to have their heavy arc rifles or torsion cannons. Do you think those two weapons are worth having over the options for the Destroyers? In any case, I guess one can simply choose the most appropiate heavy/special weapons for the whole army depending on the enemy army's composition. Still, I'm loving how this looks!

 IronChaos wrote:
heavy arc rifles or torsion cannons. Do you think those two weapons are worth having over the options for the Destroyers?

No. Grav is popular for a reason, and 36 grav shots at 30" solves a lot of problems.

 axisofentropy wrote:

 IronChaos wrote:
heavy arc rifles or torsion cannons. Do you think those two weapons are worth having over the options for the Destroyers?

No. Grav is popular for a reason, and 36 grav shots at 30" solves a lot of problems.

When you look at it that way, it certainly sounds superior to both other options. It also allows to have another weapon in the other arm for Destroyers (as opposed to melee weapons on the Breachers). Yeah, it's definitively superior.