Our best HQ by far - giving rerolls to hit for all models within 6". Cawl is the core of our army, and an integral part of the "CawlStar" (Kastelans, Cawl, Datasmith, and a screening unit). Very much worth his pricetag for what he does.

His armament is hardly to be laughed at, but is very much secondary to his utility usage. The Solar Atomizer's short range makes it a semi-decent CC monster deterrent (it will generally do significant damage to Carnifex sized creatures), but it being in range signifies that you're in a dangerous position. Kastelans being locked in combat generally spells doom for our army, if we cannot resolve the situation quickly.


Now that we have Enginseers to serve as a cheap HQ, the Dominus isn't particularly useful. Unless you're unable to run Cawl (say, you're playing mono-Stygies or mono-Lucius), I would advise skipping him. The TPD is simply not effective enough for his high price.


Gambling unit. For 17pts per model you have a little bit overpriced glass cannon, but if you meet certain prerequisites you get underpriced murder machines. They have normal movement(6”) and decent WS(3+), okay LD(8) and two attacks with crazy good weapon.

They can give mortal wounds at rate making Death Guard jealous. First giving at charge on 6 per model, and then in combat on 6+to wound d3 mortal wounds instead of normal damage. That thing can drop any tough target down, even superheavy, and if you would need to, you can repeat this electropounding with 3cp.

But there is a catch. They are only T3 W1 with 6+/5++/5+++. It wouldn’t be bad if they were not so high in target priority of your opponent. And here comes twist. If you wipe unit in fighting phase, they get 3++ for the rest of the game. Suddenly you have quite sturdy unit that punches like hammer. You want to use stygies stratagem to place them in optimal range from your opponent (9”+from enemy if first, somewhere in midfield behind LOS blocking terrain if second). If you went first, GG they probably single handily won you the game, if second you need to use them carefully since they are probably in unit size of 10+ and you don't want them to evaporate under enemy fire and morale loss.
You can also use Lucius startagem, but I saw to many failed 9” charges to add even more gambling to this equation.

Hordes are their weakness, since they deal multi wound damage, but not so many hits. Also, 2+ wound damage, since it almost nullifies their fnp. Never aim their first charge at something that they couldn’t destroy in first take. If you multicharge, activate them first. Vehicles, monsters, MEQ and TEQ are their preferred target. They are in destructive potential probably on par with Kastellans, but much trickier to pull of. Once they are in SuperSayan mode, they force your opponent to dedicate tremendous power to stop them from rampaging through their back line, giving rest of your army easy time. High risk, high reward unit.


Corpuscarii are relatively cheap, not troop’s level cheap, but 14 pts/model isn’t much for power they offer and for role they are going to do. They aren’t super durable since 5+ inv and 5+ FNP is just barely better (55% vs 50%) than 4+ on 1D attacks. You can’t bump their defense by cover or Shroudpsalm, since their normal save is 6+, and T3 doesn’t help either in world where bolters are common. And you would need every bit of defense since their weapon range is only 12”.
Now, their weapon is 12” assault 3 shots s5 ap0 and D1 exploding 6+ on hit rolls giving you 3 instead 1 hit AND 2 attacks in melee with the same stats. That is a lot of daka averaging with 33,(3) hits of 10 man shooting. It’s bit better than storm bolter in rapid fire range. What they lack in range, they add up to their value in melee averaging on 17,(6) hits on 10 man unit. That’s 50 hits in one round.
Their role is to get in front of your gunline with vanguard, catch charges and deny your opponent from deepstriking and fast attack units, preferably holding objective at the same time. They want to do that on high power opponents, like TEQ with plasma, scions with plasma, harlequins etc bikes. Preferred unit size is 5-10, anything over that will suffer from morale rolls. Look for places with LOS blocking terrain and hold that. Only horde type troops can reliably reclaim objective from them, since other ones won't stand chance in 1v1.
You could also drop them in size of 20+ with Lucius stratagem delivering nasty amounts of daka, but that may quickly backfire with morale rolls. Use with caution to sweep enemy backline objective holders on turn 2 or 3 and lock or distract artilery.

Their best Dogmas are Sygies and Graia(boost defense), then Metallica. They don't benefit from Lucius. They lack serious synergy since we don't have any way to give them +1to hit. There are few stratagems that we can use them with, mainly Wrath of mars, Acquisition at any cost, Legio teleportarium, Clandestine Infiltration and Zealous Congregation, of which three are Forge World specific.
Not bad unit, but overshadowed by other that can do its job better(Sicarian Infiltrators, Dragoons) pushing priest to semi-vanguard role, even harder since codex came out.
6,5/10



Dragoons are the fastest unit in the Adeptus Mechanicus codex aside from Mechanicum Knights. Despite their speed, they are a surprisingly durable unit, due to T6, -1 to hit from Incense Cloud, cover in the open from possible Shroudpsalm, and no damage table. Dragoons should always be taken in a Stygies detachment, which grants it a monstrous -2 to hit past 12" making it impossible for Ork-level shooting to damage them, and causes supercharged plasma to explode 50% of the time. Stygies also grants a stratagem to allow Dragoons to infiltrate, which forces your opponent to adopt a more defensive posture--a situation in which you as a shooting army are clearly favored.

They have two weapon choices. The first is the Taser Lance, which allows AdMech to take a unit that is capable of fighting. It is the preferred option. Although 5 points cheaper, the Radium Jezzail suffers greatly from a lack of AP, is inferior to the Transuranic Arquebus, and is not recommended in any situation.

The primary role of Dragoons is to serve as a screening unit to prevent enemies from getting into close combat with your shooting units. They can also skirmish to tie up enemy screens and other shooting units in close combat, and grab objectives cleared by your artillery. Finally, they may act as shock cavalry to destroy T6-7 vehicles, especially transports and artillery. The size of a Dragoon unit dictates its usage, as the Dragoon's large 105x70mm base causes issues when piling-in--both for yourself and your opponent.

A unit of 1-2 is ideal for screening, as the unit can be deployed at maximum coherence without ever fearing being unable to pile-in correctly. The proper formation is a wall, with the Dragoons' sides facing the enemy. This wall should move sideways toward the enemy and should pile-in so that enemy models cannot fit in between the two Dragoons. Without any additional screening units, two units of 2 is considered ideal for a 2000 point army.

A unit of 3-4 is ideal for a shock cavalry role. With the Conqueror Doctrina Imperative stratagem, a unit of Dragoons becomes a battering ram. Normally mediocre Taser Lances explode on 4+, which in a unit of 4 translates to 24 S8 AP-1 D2 attacks that hit on 2+. A unit of 3 can be expected to consistently kill any T6 transport (such as Taurox Prime), and a unit of 4 any T7 transport (such as Razorback). A unit in this role should always be the last in your army to deploy, as you must position it as far to the opponent's flank and rear as possible. The proper formation for a unit of 3 is a wedge, with two Dragoons following a lead Dragoon facing the enemy, and the proper formation for a unit of 4 is a square, with two parallel lines facing the enemy.

When charging as a large unit, move your Dragoons together as far to the target's side as possible; the enemy should be on the immediate left or right of your Dragoons, a hair's breath under 1". After fighting, you may consolidate an addition 3". Use this to move further past and behind the enemy, being sure to end the consolidation move less than a hair's breadths under 1". The goal here is to get within 1" of as many shooting enemy units as possible. This "sliding" technique is essential for two reasons: 1) Tying up additional enemies without having to take Overwatch. 2) Allowing you to penetrate into the enemy rear by falling back past the enemy the following turn.

++PLACEHOLDER++

If your army is led by an Adeptus Mechanicus warlord, then you can give one relic to an Adeptus Mechanicus Character. Keep in mind named Characters like Belisarius Cawl can't have any relics, so I'll be giving advice based on the generic Characters. You have access to one free relic, and can buy a second one for 1 CP, or a third one for 3 CP (1 Relic = Free, 2 Relics = 1 CP, 3 Relics = 3 CP).

ARCANA MECHANICUM

Universal:
Pater Cog-Tooth: Replaces an Omnissian Axe, so usable by a Tech-Priest Dominus or an Enginseer. It gives 1 more Strength and 1 more Damage than an ordinary axe. It would be a waste on an Enginseer with his poor CC skill, but a Dominus would hit at S6 with it. It's an odd statline, because you wouldn't face that much T6 models except against Xeno armies like Aeldari flavours or Tyranids. It would probably be best against the latter, as Tyranids are more likely to face you in CC than Drukhari Raiders for example. Could be useful on a Stygies VIII Warlord with the Xenarites Studies trait, as you'd add +1 to your Wound rolls and so wound T7 models on 4+. So it's a highly specific relic that could be useful in a Xeno-heavy meta, otherwise you'd be best to leave it in the reliquary.

Anzion's Pseudogenetor: Each time the bearer fights, it can make 1D6 additional attacks with this S4 AP-1 D1 weapon. Clearly meant to deal with hordes, you could use this on a backfield character, like a Datasmith or Tech-Priest, to deal with tarpits that reach your artillery so as to dispose of them faster and get back firing earlier. Otherwise, could be used offensively against horde armies with a Tech-Priest supported by Infiltrators with Tasers for clearing the area. There are more useful relics, but it's not terrible either.

Autocaduceus of Arkhan Land: The bearer regains 1W lost earlier each turn, and allows him to reroll the die for the number of Wounds repaired when repairing a friendly Adeptus Mechanicus unit. It's a great relic, best used on a Dominus dedicated to repairing your artillery like Onagers and Robots, as it greatly enhances the lifespan of those units. Best used with the Necromechanic Warlord trait, as you'll reliably heal between 2 and 4 Wounds per turn, maybe double that if used with the Tech-Adept stratagem. Your Onager ate a Lascannon shot ? There it's fixed. The regenerating 1W per turn in just the cherry on the cake, in case Snipers noticed you you just heal between 2 and 4 Wounds with your Dominus each turn. A must-have in any army that relies on its artillery.

Uncreator Gauntlet: Replaces a Power Fist, so usable only by your Datasmith. It's a regular Power Fist that deals a Mortal wound each time you successfully wound a Vehicle with it. Not worth wasting a slot for this most of the time, the only use I could see for it is to make your Datasmith useful when accompanying Punching Bots, but it's a highly situational/useless Relic otherwise.

Phosphoenix: Replaces a Phosphor Serpenta, so usable only by a Tech-Priest Dominus. It's a S5 AP-3 D1 Ignore Cover Assault weapon. I don't see the use of this to be honest, its statline being great against TEQ but you'd still need the 3 shots to hope to bring one down so that looks like an underperforming weapon to me. Could be used with the Xenarit Studies Warlord trait to wound Xeno T6 units on a 4+ but that's a lot of adjusting to do to make it usable. Not worth a Relic Slot.

Raiment of the Technomartyrs: Gives the bearer a 6+ FnP equivalent, and each time a friendly <Forge-World> model within 6" of the bearer shoots in Overwatch and obtains a 6 to Hit, this model can make a bonus attack with the same weapon (this bonus attack can't generate more bonus attacks). The only way I see to make this item useful barring the FnP is to use it near Corpuscarii Electro-Priests to try to trigger even more Tesla shots, otherwise hoping to have one or two more shots in Overwatch won't likely change the game. Congrats if you manage to get a bonus Neutron Laser attack with it, though. I'd not recommend it, but it's a way to add more survivability to a character otherwise.

The Skull of Elder Nikola: Once per game, in your Shooting phase, the bearer can use this to deal one Mortal Wound to each enemy Vehicle unit within 2D6" on a roll of 2+. Not worth it at all, keep away from this. One mortal Wound will never help you more than the other available relics we have access to.

Omniscient Mask: Allows you to reroll failed Hit rolls in CC for friendly Skitarii units within 6" of the bearer. The only Skitarii units that would benefit this are the Sicarians and Dragoons, and they'll both be faster and most likely far away from your relic bearer. Using the Conqueror Doctrina Imperative for 1 CP is costlier but far more effective than this relic, because they'll hit on a 2+ and their Taser weapons will proc on a 5+ for Infiltrators and 4+ for Dragoons. A way to use this would be if somehow you screened your backline with Sicarians near your relic bearer and artillery and want to defend against a charge more efficiently, but it's still a situational relic that'd be best left for another one.

Forge-World specific:
Graia - The Cerebral Techno-Mite: Tech-Priest Dominus only, gives +1 CP at the start of the battle if your army is Battleforged. Don't buy another relic for this obviously. Could benefit a Graia Detachment if you're hungry for CPs, but as it will be your only relic you'll have to consider if it's absolutely necessary to have this bonus CP. I'd not recommend it, seeing how easier it is to grab CPs now that we have a 52 pts HQ.

Mars - The Red Axe: Replaces an Omnissian Axe to give it an AP-5 profile instead of AP-1. It's not great at all, as your Dominus/Enginseer won't have enough Strength to reliably wound the targets that have a 2+ armour save. Avoid !

Lucius - The Solar Flare: Once per game, at the end of any of your Movement phases, the bearer can teleport instead of moving normally. Remove him from the Battlefield and replace him anywhere within 30" of his previous position and 9" away from any enemy units. Could be useful when playing Maelstrom missions when you have a card that asks your Warlord to control a certain objective for example, given there's no enemy nearby. Could be useful to save your Warlord's backside from a tedious situation and deny your opponent the Slay the Warlord.

Metalica - Adamantine Arm: Gives a Melee S*3 AP-3 D3 weapon to the relic bearer. You can only hit once each time the bearer fights in CC with it though, so hitting at S12 might be tempting but for just 3 Damage you'd best leave it where it is. Not worth taking.

Stygies VIII - The Omnissiah's Hand: The bearer rolls a die at the end of each Fight phase for each enemy unit within 1" of him, on a 4+ that unit suffers a Mortal Wound. Could be useful if your bearer gets assaulted by Characters or something, but in that case he will probably die before fighting anyway so it's not worth picking this relic.

Ryza - Weapon XCIX: Replaces a Volkite Blaster, so usable by a Tech-Priest Dominus only. Changes the profile to a S7 AP-1 D2 weapon with the same Mortal wound on a 6+ to Wound ability. If you run Ryza and really want a powerful weapon for your Dominus this can be nice, as it's a nice anti-vehicle weapon, but keep in mind you have access to the First-hand Field Testing Warlord trait that gives +1S and +1D to a weapon of your choice barring a relic, so you just win a AP-1 with this. It's a choice between a relic slot and a Warlord trait.

Agrippina - Eye of Lexum: At the beginning of each of your Shooting phases, pick an enemy Vehicle unit within 18" of the bearer, and all friendly Agripinaa units can reroll 1s to Wound against that target until the end of the phase. If the target is a Chaos Vehicle, you can reroll all failed to Wound rolls against that target until the end of the phase instead. Can be great when used with Onagers, when you really need to destroy a Vehicle.

Wrathbots

This strategy revolves around a specific combination of models, rules, and strategems. The concept is simple, but gives our already powerful Kastelan robots an added buff.

Forge World: Mars
Strategem(s): Wrath of Mars (2CP), Binharic Override (1CP)
Key Units:
Belisarius Cawl
4-6 Dakkastelan
Datasmith [Optional]

Overview:
The “Dakkastelan” - or a Kastelan Robot configured with a trio of Heavy Phosphor blasters - is the lynchpin and ideally we want to take a larger squad for economy of CP. Each Robot puts out 9 shots in Aegis (the default) or 18 when in Protector Protocols.

Once your Robots and Cawl are in position, you either switch to Protector Protocols via a Datasmith or Binharic Override. The unit of Dakkastelans should be within Cawl’s Lord of Mars Aura. This allows all friendly Mars units to re-roll their to-hit rolls in the Shooting Phase. The volume of fire plus the increased number of hits via re-rolls means that when we use Wrath of Mars, we have a large pool of hits which will ideally translate to additional Mortal Wounds.

This simple strategy enables our already deadly Robot unit to deliver a staggering number of Mortal Wounds, giving us an answer to large threats like Magnus.

By-the-Numbers:
Six Dakkastelans puts out 108 shots in Protector Protocols. On average rolls with Cawl’s Aura, this translates to roughly 80 hits. The likelihood of rolling a 6 to trigger a Mortal Wound via Wrath of Mars is 16%, meaning around 13 mortal wounds in a single round of shooting in addition to our standard damage. This is why Wrathbots will be a staple of all AdMech lists, because being able to one-round extremely tough units is an asset. It also increases our overall damage pool, meaning we can wipe out additional models from units, making this a solid strategy for knocking out must-kill horde units in addition to tough single-model units.

Goondozer

This strategy is a general formation of models utilizing specific buffs. Sydonian Dragoons with Taser Lances under Conqueror Doctrina Imperative and the Chant of the Remorseless Fist Canticle. Due to the addition of -1 AP to the Taser Lance and the new strategem, this unit becomes our premier close-combat unit.

Forge World: Stygies VIII
Stategem(s): Conqueror Doctrina Imperative (1CP), Clandestine Infiltration (1CP), Machine Spirit's Revenge (1 CP) [Optional]
Canticle(s): Chant of the Remorseless Fist
Key Units:
4+ Sydonian Dragoons w/ Taser Lances

Overview:
This strategy is straight-forward and powerful. Forge World Stygies adds an additional layer of protection from shooting, adding to our innate -1 to-hit via Incense Cloud, for a total of -2 to-hit from shooting outside of 12”. This is a major boon to keep our unit alive so it can close in and start getting locked into combat(s). Via Clandestine Infiltration, we can position our Dragoons as close as we dare to the opponent’s units - given that we can make our normal movement of 10” and declare out charge, we do not need to be so close as to allow the enemy to move up and shoot within 12”, though. Position just where you think best via pre-measuring movements/ranges to enable a likely charge.

Each Dragoon has a Broad Spectrum Data-tether, which is a prerequisite for the Conqueror Doctrina Imperative to provide its maximum benefit, which is +2 to-hit in the Fight phase. The reason this is impressive is due to the Taser Lance triggering on a 6+, meaning under this strategem it will trigger on a 4+, leading to significantly improved chances to get the three hits instead of just one.

In addition to the strategem, we should strive to get the Chant of the Remorseless Fist activated, to allow us to maximize our hit potential via re-rolling 1’s in the Fight Phase. This gives us more chances to roll 4+ and have our single miss turn into three hits instead. With the addition of -1 AP on our weapons and the high strength of the attacks translating our increased volume of attacks into a high volume of wounds, we should be able to put out a solid amount of damage in a single round. Given the nature of our army, having a solid close-combat element can be vital for locking into place units while we address others via our artillery.

By-the-Numbers:
A unit of six Sydonian Dragoons with Taser Lances will start with three attacks each, for a total of eighteen initial attacks. Half of these will result in a 4+, meaning 27 attacks from our exploding hits. Of the 2 or 3 misses we get via 1’s, when we re-roll via Chant, we will get an additional 1 or 2 hits - for additional chances to explode. This translates into about 30ish hits or more, meaning against most enemies we are wound on 2+, for a total of about 25 wounds at -1 AP. Even against toughness 8 models, we are doing 15 wounds. Those are the two most common scenarios for our Goondozer unit to encounter. Given our high toughness, modest wounds, and somewhat mediocre save (4+), it would likely not be prudent to engage dedicated melee units, especially those with weapons that do d3 and d6 damage. That being said, we can always do a last resort Machine Spirit's Revenge when one of our Dragoons inevitably dies - exploding automatically and causing 1 mortal wound to each unit within 3”. Not particularly deadly, but in some instances it might prove useful.

++PLACEHOLDER++

em_en_oh_pee - Wrathbots and Goondozer tactics
Aaranis - Relics overview
Suzuteo - Sydonian Dragoon entry
Spera - Fulgurite and Corpuscarii entry

Sydonian Dragoons

Dragoons are Skitarii vehicles that stand out as the fastest unit in the Adeptus Mechanicus codex aside from Mechanicum Knights. Despite their speed, they are a surprisingly durable unit for their relatively cheap price of 68 points. They have T6, -1 to hit from Incense Cloud, cover in the open from possible Shroudpsalm, and no damage table. Dragoons should always be taken in a Stygies detachment, which grants it a monstrous -2 to hit past 12", making it impossible for Ork-level shooting to damage them, and causes supercharged plasma to explode 50% of the time. Stygies also grants a stratagem to allow Dragoons to infiltrate, which forces your opponent to adopt a more defensive posture--a situation in which you as a shooting army are clearly favored.

They have two weapon choices. The first is the Taser Lance, which allows AdMech to take a unit that is capable of fighting. It is the preferred option. Although 5 points cheaper, the Radium Jezzail suffers greatly from a lack of AP, is inferior to the Transuranic Arquebus, and is not recommended in any situation.

The primary role of Dragoons is to serve as a screening unit to prevent enemies from getting into close combat with your shooting units. They can also skirmish to tie up enemy screens and other shooting units in close combat, and grab objectives cleared by your artillery. Finally, they may act as shock cavalry to destroy T6-7 vehicles, especially transports and artillery.

The size of a Dragoon unit dictates its usage, as the Dragoon's large 105x70mm base causes issues when piling-in--both for yourself and your opponent.

A unit of 1-2 is ideal for screening, as the unit can be deployed at maximum coherence without ever fearing being unable to pile-in correctly. The proper formation is a wall, with the Dragoons' sides facing the enemy. This wall should move sideways toward the enemy and should pile-in so that enemy models cannot fit in between the two Dragoons. Without any additional screening units, two units of 2 is considered ideal for a 2000 point army.

A unit of 3-4 is ideal for a shock cavalry role. With the Conqueror Doctrina Imperative stratagem, a unit of Dragoons becomes a battering ram. Normally mediocre Taser Lances explode on 4+, which in a unit of 4 translates to 24 S8 AP-1 D2 attacks that hit on 2+. A unit of 3 can be expected to consistently kill any T6 transport (such as Taurox Prime), and a unit of 4 any T7 transport (such as Razorback). A unit in this role should always be the last in your army to deploy, as you must position it as far to the opponent's flank and rear as possible. The proper formation for a unit of 3 is a wedge, with two Dragoons following a lead Dragoon facing the enemy, and the proper formation for a unit of 4 is a square, with two parallel lines facing the enemy.

When charging as a large unit, move your Dragoons together as far to the target's side as possible; the enemy should be on the immediate left or right of your Dragoons, a hair's breath under 1". After fighting, you may consolidate an addition 3". Use this to move further past and behind the enemy, being sure to end the consolidation move less than a hair's breadths under 1". The goal here is to get within 1" of as many shooting enemy units as possible. This "sliding" technique is essential for two reasons: 1) Tying up additional enemies without having to take Overwatch. 2) Allowing you to penetrate into the enemy rear by falling back past the enemy the following turn.