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I was thinking the other day, and started wondering if GW will ever release the Adeptus Mechanicus as a playable 40K race. I mean, they've started releasing some ships for BFG, and there's some truly awesome possibilities for all sorts of mechanical wierdness with an AM-only army. Heck, they could probably make an entire RPG system based on the Explorators alone!

In all the books I've read (not that there've been all that many, but enough,) some of the most evocative imagery I've come across has to deal with the AM: Magos Bure and his cool stuff in the Eisenhorn Trilogy, fluff stories about the massive forgeworlds, the deep, super-labyrinthine complexes on Mars with their datastores and machine archives... I can't even begin to write what I see in my mind when I think about this stuff. I think more could be done with it, and done well.

Thoughts?

I think it could be done. I am torn between having them as a free standing army (ie the whole Army is AM), or building them with the purpose that they will be used as allies. While i know the DH/WH books addressed this issue by having rules for doing both, I would like to see heavies that can be used as both allied and frees standing army choices.

Well, there are two big problems with the AM as an army:

1) GW seems to have stopped with "ally" codices in 4.5th/5th edition. This means that every codex is fully stand alone and complete.

2) There is, to a certain extent, Imperium overload in the hobby. With 5 SM codices, plus two inquisition and IG, half of the the playable codices are imperially controlled, and Chaos Space Marines are aren't that distinct.

It's a cool idea, and one that would be neat to see, but there are other ideas I'd rather see first.

Personally, I'd rather say to hell with all the extra Space Marine codices (except for maybe the Space Wolves, but that's just my personal bias ) until everything else was done.

It would be cool if GW did regular Space Marines, Imperial Guard, Adeptus Mechanicus, and then Witch/Daemon/Xenos Hunters with all the alien races interspersed with the Imperial releases. And then once everything has a solid base, start doing the stupid off-shoot Marine codices.

But of course, that's not happening.

I think Ad Mech would be a great candidate for a White Dwarf/online release codex. It would generally be an ally/IG offshoot, but with crazy "build your own machine" VDR type rules. No premade models (maybe a bitz pack of shoulders etc.) just rules for making your own Ad Mech tanks and machines.

That would be dead sexy, even as an "opponent's option" sort of army.

Maybe they could re-release some of the Ad Mech minis that were in the Skullz set. That would be righteous.

problem is, if they ever made something like this, the only regular way to get enough minis for something like that would be ordering single parts from the mail ord....oh wait.

Nah, they could release an "Ad Mech Bitz Pack" with little SM shoulder pads and other random tech priest peices. Then just let the rest up to scratch builds.
I would think the best way to look at it would be not as a full blown codex, but rather an addendum army, like Armored Company's codex. Not really meant to stand alone, but just as a boost to other armies' stuff. Allow people to scratch build their own stuff, particularly if they sell a "heavy weapons" bitz pack. Want auto cannons on that walker? Get a pack of 10 for 15$. Woo!

Overall, I think that a 'revolution' 5th edition (Instead of the 'evolution' we're getting) should, along with a complete and total rules overhaul, focus on the following armies (playable out of the box set, at least in a trimmed down form).

Space Marines (They're popular and iconic.)
Chaos (The core Chaos army being Chaos Heretics with CSM and Daemons as Elites and HQ options)
Orks
Tyranids
Imperial Guard
Eldar
Tau

The following armies would be added in a series of 'campaign Codexes' featuring a couple at a time along with some other goodies.

Space Marine variants (BA, DA, SW, BT... Maybe an additional interesting one like the Mentor legion)
Chaos Ascendant (Special lists for CSM-heavy forces, Daemon-heavy forces, etc.)
The Inquisition (as per the song from The History of the World, Part 1... Wait, I mean Sisters, Grey Knights, and Death Watch. Includes info on Guard for inclusion.)
Genestealer Cults

The Adeptus Mechanicus could be either added to the second list or perhaps shoe-horned into a very dense Inquisition codex. However, even with trimming down making a 'Imperial Cults' Codex that combines all of them is certainly possible.

Balance wrote:Chaos (The core Chaos army being Chaos Heretics with CSM and Daemons as Elites and HQ options)

There are entire armies' worth of models for CSM and daemons. There are ZERO models for Chaos cultists. So you're going to relegate CSM and daemons to Elite choices in favor of making your Troop choice a unit that has generated ZERO measurable sales for nearly half a decade? Good luck getting that idea past the bean counters...

Abadabadoobaddon wrote:

Balance wrote:Chaos (The core Chaos army being Chaos Heretics with CSM and Daemons as Elites and HQ options)

There are entire armies' worth of models for CSM and daemons. There are ZERO models for Chaos cultists. So you're going to relegate CSM and daemons to Elite choices in favor of making your Troop choice a unit that has generated ZERO measurable sales for nearly half a decade? Good luck getting that idea past the bean counters...

It's actually been over a decade. In the 2nd edition chaos codex (1996), Andy Chambers explained that nearly every Chaos army he saw from the Black Codex used CSMs heavily.

There have been Ad Mech armies. For Epic. Play it.

That doesn't really cover those of us who play 40K Pariah, like... oh I dunno... most of GW's customers.

BYE

It would be nice... But like the mini army list in the back of the 3rd Edition - Heroes of the Imperium.

Upgrade packs (BT, DA...) FTL.

I like the idea of Bitz Packz.

~sA

When I spoke with Owen Branham at last year's Baltimore Games Day, he said that Forge World will release a complete Adeptus Mechanicus army, with skitarri, combat servitors, the works... He said that he and Warwick had discussed it for some time and that the Mechanicus deserves a complete book unto itself to do it justice. He also stated that it would would most likely be the very next book upon the completion of the Vraks series/campaign.

Overall, I think that a 'revolution' 5th edition (Instead of the 'evolution' we're getting) should, along with a complete and total rules overhaul, focus on the following armies (playable out of the box set, at least in a trimmed down form).

Space Marines (They're popular and iconic.)
Chaos (The core Chaos army being Chaos Heretics with CSM and Daemons as Elites and HQ options)
Orks
Tyranids
Imperial Guard
Eldar
Tau

The following armies would be added in a series of 'campaign Codexes' featuring a couple at a time along with some other goodies.

Space Marine variants (BA, DA, SW, BT... Maybe an additional interesting one like the Mentor legion)
Chaos Ascendant (Special lists for CSM-heavy forces, Daemon-heavy forces, etc.)
The Inquisition (as per the song from The History of the World, Part 1... Wait, I mean Sisters, Grey Knights, and Death Watch. Includes info on Guard for inclusion.)
Genestealer Cults

Ouch, no Necrons! Some of us still like to play them

When I spoke with Owen Branham at last year's Baltimore Games Day, he said that Forge World will release a complete Adeptus Mechanicus army

Is it me, or is there some kind of beautiful irony that Forge World is releasing the AM army? I look forward to it if this is true.

At some point i though there was a WD list for an IG based ad mech force. I think all the guys had shotguns and hell pistol and a 6 inv save Skittari or something like that.

I really would like a place to get some in depth info on the ad mech since all i have seen is a couple pages of fluff and the little bit in dark heresy and whats on wiki.

AM stuff would be awsome, but lots of their stuff would just be vehicles for SM and IG that they kept for themselves surely? Either that or the super heavies like Titans that Forge World make, which doesn't make them viable.

Also its how to make them playably different from IG, most of the army would be humans, or heavily altered mech humans so may not offer a huge variety. And having a techpreist enginseer (or whatever) lead the army doesn't sound hugely appealing...

Well, think too about how secretive the AM is, and how jealously they guard all their knowledge. There've GOT to be lots of really super-awesome things that they don't let anyone else use.

H.B.M.C. wrote:That doesn't really cover those of us who play 40K Pariah, like... oh I dunno... most of GW's customers.

BYE

Bah! You're all fools! Fools, I say! An Adeptus Mechanicus force should have TITANS! LOTS of titans!

a buddy of mine actually has an AM army list. i don't rememeber where he got it but it is very cool. kind of like crossing IG with iron hands and some nice gagets.

Hordini wrote:Maybe they could re-release some of the Ad Mech minis that were in the Skullz set. That would be righteous.

While I too would like to get my hands on those minis, they're some of the most highly-valued collectible sets released for 40k. Casting a bunch of new copies thereof would be like, I dunno, making a new Centurius or metal thunderhawk.

Who cares? It doesn't help GW, as that's all after-market money, and it sure doesn't help us, the gamers who want that stuff and can't get it. They should definitely recast; it'd be awesome and they'd make a pretty penny if they priced for collectors (which they probably can).

hopefully they will make a box or something to go with the Guard book.

LittleLeadMen wrote:When I spoke with Owen Branham at last year's Baltimore Games Day, he said that Forge World will release a complete Adeptus Mechanicus army, with skitarri, combat servitors, the works... He said that he and Warwick had discussed it for some time and that the Mechanicus deserves a complete book unto itself to do it justice. He also stated that it would would most likely be the very next book upon the completion of the Vraks series/campaign.

That's nice. Maybe Forgeworld should expand and write the oft-hoped-for '40k Advanced' rules, too.

Sorry, bitter... Especially after reading the thread about Forgeworld problems. It seems liek they've expanded far ebyond their original mission and are possibly failing at many things because of that.

There's an undercurrent of Adeptus Mechanicus players throughout the world, generally using 'counts as' Guard, Witchhunters or Daemonhunters; Tim Huckleberry's Codex: Mechanicus or the Tempus Fugitives' Codex: Cult Mechanicus (my personal choice)
http://www.tempusfugitives.co.uk/index.php

Requires a bit of conversion, but no more than (say) third edition orks.


As with much in the hobby, it's not 'official' – but I've never met anyone face-to-face who's actually bothered by officialdom. I wonder whether it's an internet symptom?

wow, nice models

First, I have to agree with Polonis. There are too many imperium armies.What I want to see is more xenos books. Having said that,a AM book should have already been made a long time ago.With all the great mythos surrounding the machine god, and the weird tech religion surrounding the machines of the imperium there would be endless possiblities for a codex. Years ago, this would have made a great allies book. Sigh.... I miss the Andy Chambers 40k days.

The thing is, if they ever did release the book it either wouldn't do the fluff justice or not look quite the way it should. Also isn't there a rift between members of the Machanicus over an aspect of the Machine god (Ctan related I think) and maybe GW doesn't wan tto have to worry about people saying they can't build armies from both sides properly

And besides, the mechanicus is an empire in its own right, and GW dont want to take focus away from the Imperial creed Imperium

Also its how to make them playably different from IG, most of the army would be humans, or heavily altered mech humans so may not offer a huge variety. And having a techpreist enginseer (or whatever) lead the army doesn't sound hugely appealing.

Actually, they would and need to be radically different as the AM are as alien to the human nature of 40K as Tyranids are alien to the humans. Dig really, really deep in the background and you'll see. The Necron Codex has some good stuff.

I worked on my own AM list for quite some time back in '04-'05 and still muck about with it once in a while when I catch my fancy.

The AM has its own independent army and wouldn't be led by a Techpriest enginseer or similar boring fixing types.. though they'd be a part of the arrmy. It would have its Magos Militantus Generalis whom would have had years of psycho-training to render him the most efficient leader of armies.

Wargear - Mechanadendrites - -1 Attack to each model in base to base contact as the flailing mechanadendrites whirl about grasping opponents arms and weapons and blocking blows.

MIU - Mind Impulse Unit - (my personal favorite and many thanks to Graham McNeill for the assistance on this one) This allows indirect fire weapons to fire counting line of sight from the Magos as if it was its own line of sight.


Skittarri - While human beings in most aspects, they've had substantial modifications to their persons such as augmented vision, hearing, breathing, etc. All would have gone pyscho-conditioning and should have a LD of 10 to represent it. BS 4 should be considered due to enhance sighting optics and hot links to their weaponry. Save is probably a 4+ due to armor, bionics and such. Spam cannons and such would not be unheard of for the army. Combat cogitators as a special unit upgrade character could give the units a re-roll of a shooting dice.

Servitor mobs - armed for combat and shooting. Picture units of 10-20 models armed to the teeth. I'd say they should have the Feel No Pain rule after their 4+ save.

Praetorians and Heavy Praetorians - Heavy armored and armed tracked servitor models (think Ogryn size models on small Goliath style tracked units). Units of 3-5. 3+ saves, Feel No Pain.

That's all I can recall from the list at the moment but its a good one.

I'm sure Forgeworld's stuff will be great when it finally arrives.

This is an army that could net GW substantial amounts of money if they spent some time on it.

Graham McNeill's Dark Mechanicum novel will certainly bolster the ranks with folks want to do AM or DAM (Dark AM gone to Chaos in the HH) armies after reading.

There are certainly some great ideas and lists of AM out there! And nice models like the ones above!