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 Mr_Rose wrote:

beast_gts wrote:

 lord_blackfang wrote:
Skitarii are Phoenix Lords I guess

It's looking like these Skitarii are different from the 40k ones.

I hope we get an explanation of what happened to this lot after the Scouring. I mean, clearly someone decided they were too good/powerful/easy to make for them to be left in the hands of the newly minted Adeptus Mechanicus and replaced them with a pattern based more on the Titan Guard, but y'know, in detail.

To be clear, 40k-style Skitarii also existed in 30k. Transacta-7Y1, a Skitarii Vanguard Alpha, is aforementioned important PoV character in Echoes of Eternity. She is seen using a radium carbine, then an arc rifle, then a transuranic arquebus. She is never called a "vanguard" explicitly, but she is described in great detail and it's extremely obvious what she is.

GW emphasising these Pilgryms as "the" Skitarii is because GW wants to keep the ranges separated for ease of calculating how much model line sells. That doesn't mean the Pilgryms turned into the Vanguard/Rangers. They were coexisting.

The 40k Skitarii (while obviously used as the basis for Titan Guard) could also be what those loyal to the Throne started to use when they no longer had access to the forges of Mars.

Much like the Inductii of the Legions, the modern 40k Skitarri could represent a similar sidestep where more forces were needed at a more rapid pace that were somewhat lesser than their forebears. Ergo, goodbye elite memory-armour stalkers with Volkite guns, hello upgraded servitors with radium weapons.

 The Phazer wrote:
"Lots of" Horus Heresy units are coming.

He will do another video about Mark IV in the next week or two.

Very keen to see refreshed Mark IV, it's such an iconic suit of armour & will be great to have it redone and available in scale with the newer kits. Hopefully not waiting too long

All part of the general atrophy of Imperial Technology. And to a certain extent? Sheer cost efficiency.

These lads were told are personal troops of the Fabricator General, and numbered around 2,000,000 strong.

We also know the Heresy all but removed the Automata from the equation. Horrendous battlefield losses, some stripped for parts to repair Contemptors (and vice versa, presumably with varying levels of consequences from former proprietors).

And so over the intervening 10,000 years the Mechanicus as a whole has become more dependent on warriors of flesh and blood origin. Each somewhere between the crude Tech Thrall and the more sophisticated and individually powerful Thallax and Skitarii Battle-Pilgryms.

And for the most part? Modern Era Skitarii are still damned good infantry, more than capable of fulfilling their role. Certainly superior in certain ways to regular entirely unaugmented human soldiers.

It’s roughly analogous to Grenadiers and Riflemen in the British Army. The name is retained to maintain tradition and history, even if the troops within those regiments now fight in entirely new ways,

I don't think we should read too much into it. It's just a business move, not anything influenced by in-universe details.

Remember, we were going to get all the 30k stuff in 40k (via Fires of Cyraxus) until the tragic loss of Alan Bligh and GW's move towards department separation.

It's like Assault Squads in MKIII armour. We never got them, so some people think they didn't exist. But we know from interviews that Mr. Bligh intended to do them. He just never had the chance to.

I wonder what this means for the Pelasts and the Hoplites, now that we have "retro skitarii".

I don't think they'll ditch them considering their pictures are in the new codexes, and I'm pretty sure they're in the titan codex (I don't have it).

 Moopy wrote:
I wonder what this means for the Pelasts and the Hoplites, now that we have "retro skitarii".

I don't think they'll ditch them considering their pictures are in the new codexes, and I'm pretty sure they're in the titan codex (I don't have it).

If you've read Ashes of the Imperium, some of the mortals from across the galaxy were sort of familiar with both ironstriders and serberys cav units. Thats within months of the siege ending, the tineline is a bit iffy. But 40k mech units clearly existed in their 40k incarnation at the time of the Heresy.

Peltasts and Hoplites are Secutarii, not Skitarii.

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
Peltasts and Hoplites are Secutarii, not Skitarii.

In organisation, but the issue is they clearly use 40k skitarii armour which the new release insinuates is not the same as the contemporary armour available to the mechanicum.

Under the hood of the new Skitarii Battle-Pilgrym rules

When you start filling in the Detachment containing your Battle-Pilgryms, you can choose one of four Faction Traits that each come with a special ability, which can radically change how you utilise your Skitarii in battle.

The first two, Acquisitor and Expurgator, grant a unit either the Line (1) or Vanguard (3) rules respectively, making them top shelf objective-takers whether you like to hold ground from the outset or wrestle it off your opponent. This versatility makes them a great choice as an Allied Detachment, granting Space Marine, Solar Auxilia or Mechanicum players an easy way to round out their force. Even better, when allied to a Mechanicum Primary Detachment, they’re not limited to 50% of the total points value, so you can really stock up on Skitarii. The other two depend on your status as either a staunch Loyalist or dastardly Traitor – loyal Skitarii can choose Vindictor to boost the power of their Deflagrate abilities by one, while Traitors with Scourger add an extra inch to their Set-up Moves when going in for a charge.

Myrmidon Destructor PDF Update

New MKIV plastics! If Valrak has rumours about them, they might be coming as soon as this year. Excellent.

Also, since he mentions "a lot of kits", this might mean we're going to be seeing MKIV marines on several upcoming plastic kits. What could those be, if the OOP resin kits were any indication? Spatha bikes with MKIV riders? Land Speeder Proteus with MKIV crew? Recon squad was MKIV, right? Also, destroyer squads were MKIV, as well as regular MKIV and MKIV Assault squads.. that would already be a lot of MKIV based kits

Really excited about these personally! Land Speeders and MKIV troopers and assaults are pretty much the only thing I'm waiting for, in order to be able to finish my dream army, since I'll be using MKIV battleplate for my veterans.

Regarding the rumours about re-done "tracked vehicles for 40K", I am a bit torn. I know GW doesnt want us to use 30K models in our 40K games, so are they just going to sell me new Rhinos, Razorbacks and Whirlwinds for 40K now, just when I bought the 30K ones specifically for that?! OTOH, as long as the weapon loadouts remain identical, I'll just "counts as" my 30K models in..

WarCom yesterday wrote:voltlock arquebuses – refined volkite weapons with superior range

WarCom today wrote:voltlock arquebuses are relatively short-ranged by boltgun standards

Someone is having a stroke

Also, forgive me, but reprinting the Myrmidon Destructor profile for literally nothing except changing the default weapon to a free upgrade is in(s)ane.

… Did we mention that the voltlock arquebus has a big, choppy bayonet on the front?

The Volkite Charger is 15", so 20" would be longer ranged than that but still shorter than a bolter (although the Caliver is 30").

It does serve to settle concerns they’d lost weapon options. And all but confirms a second set with the other weapons will be along in due course.

 lord_blackfang wrote:
Also, forgive me, but reprinting the Myrmidon Destructor profile for literally nothing except changing the default weapon to a free upgrade is in(s)ane.

They've all got be armed the same now.
EDIT - but re-reading it I'm not convinced that's the case...

Poor Ivan. I think he's not been on top of GW's MO of the last few years.

It'll be a cold day in hell before this GW leadership gives you this unit in 40k.

Huh. These guys are way more elite than I expected. Two wounds? Weird they only have M6 though, even with the Fast rule.

lord_blackfang wrote:

WarCom yesterday wrote:voltlock arquebuses – refined volkite weapons with superior range

WarCom today wrote:voltlock arquebuses are relatively short-ranged by boltgun standards

Someone is having a Troke

Fixed.

beast_gts wrote:

 lord_blackfang wrote:
Also, forgive me, but reprinting the Myrmidon Destructor profile for literally nothing except changing the default weapon to a free upgrade is in(s)ane.

They've all got be armed the same now.
EDIT - but re-reading it I'm not convinced that's the case...

The pic would be misleading then.