Starting AdMech as my second army

[lash144]

Hello together fellow Techpriest,

 

as I already mentioned in another thread I am currently looking for a secondary army to start besides my Imperial Guard. (I just need a pause of painting green :P)

First I was flirting with CSM but I lost interest quickly and am now considering AdMech, because of hands down really amazing looking models and they can be allys for my Guard.

 

But I have some questions regarding them and would love to hear your advice.

 

1) What is the general playstyle of AdMech in 8th edition? What are strengths and weaknesses?

 

2) I am pretty new to 40k, but I heared that the faction was divided in two subfactions in 7th edition: Skitarii and Cult Mechanicus.

How do these subfactions interact now? Do they support other playstyles or are they just fine complementing each other?

 

3) Where should I start model-wise? Is the Skitarii starting collection a good way? 

 

Thanks in advance!

[Vel'Cona]

Welcome to the binharic chime of eons, brother Techpriest!  :D

 

1) AdMech is primarily a ranged army with a plethora of deadly options both in powerful single shot weapons (Neutron Lasers, et al) and volume of fire (Rad-Carbines, many others).  Close combat is available for many of our elite units, such as Kastelan Robots and Electro-Priests, though many of our units can pull-double duty in this regard.  Note our lack of Psykers or Transports; if you want to mind-laser things, look elsewhere, and expect to depend on deployment shenanigans to get your cyborgs/robots where you want them.

 

2) The subfactions (primarily Legiones Skitarii and Cult Mechanicus) are now conjoined by the overarching "Adeptus Mechanicus" keyword, and so play together quite well now.  The sub-factions now have relevance mostly in some unit Abilities, such as Cybernetica Datasmith's "healing" for robots.

 

3) The Start Collecting! for Adeptus Mechanicus is an AMAZING deal, as its components are easily 20-25% more expensive (depending on exchange rates, shipping, discounts, etc.) if you bought them solo.  The Tech-Priest Dominus is a fantastic support Character with plenty of flexibility and durability, while the Skitarii are your bread-and-butter inexpensive line Infantry.  Finally, the Onager is a highly adaptable weapons platform that provides much needed high power and/or anti-aircraft support for your army.  If you wanted a decent force right away, 2 Start Collecting! Boxes and perhaps a box or two of Kataphrons/Kastelan Robots will give you a solid force with a surprising amount of variety.

 

Good luck in building your forces and may the Omnissiah guide your cogitation!  :)

[Perry]

Welcome

 

It's an exciting time to collect Admech, the new codex book is nearly released and for the first time there are 7 distinct Forgeworld 'chapter tactics' style rules. These will help decide on how you want your Forgeworld to perform and might influence unit choice, for example Infiltrating, teleporting, counter attacking, absolute firepower etc

 

As others have said the Start collecting box is a good solid deal, and every force will make use of the box contents, especially a Neutron laser or Anti-air Onager.

[Yoda79]

All said so far are nice. Since the current codex release was made last week we see lists atm like. Cawl with heavy robots.

A pack of robots will also provide a datasmith that mot likely can be used as tech priest our thrid hq option.

 

So if i started now id go with

 

2* start collecting boxes

2* robots.

 

That will cover 4*5 man infantry 2 tech priests 2 onagers and 4 robots with 2 datasmiths. After that you ll need to decide.

 

As for building. Magnetise onagers cause both neutron laser and icarus are valid

Atm you ll need rangers s troops more than vanguards. Snipers can be used. Rest of guns situational so magnetise 2/5 and seargents. For now bare bones rangers.

Cawl can be a good step. Another starting might also help.

Then im sure you ll be ready to decide more on your own. Welcome and good luck

Edited September 21, 2017 by Yoda79

[OnboardG1]

The start collecting box is a great deal as said and I also bought some robots and extra skitarii. I'm going to get a second start collecting once I've painted this lot up.

[Prot]

The beauty of the start collecting Skitarii is there is no dud. It's all good and if you're a fan of Skitarii there's a few good builds with them and some generic Admech strategems benefit from larger squads. Also they make a good natural defence to deep strike and infiltration.

[Magos_Adephus]

Welcome to the light of the Motive Force

 

Second everything above, two of the boxes is a fantastic start. From there its more up to you on which Forgeworld you move forward with. Personally, I'm a Stygies man, the slight bit of durability their Dogma adds is very nice (was one since 7th, I kinda lucked out), and I always take a unit of Sicarian Infiltrators for SNEAK ATTACKS and some Kataphron Destroyers for some solid plasma. If you're looking for a exhaustive breakdown of how AdMech functions and how all the parts fit together:

 

https://1d4chan.org/wiki/Warhammer_40,000/Tactics/Adeptus_Mechanicus(8E)

 

Full breakdown of Stratagems, Dogmas, weapons, units, some strategies people are trying and some tips at the end on starting an army. This is your bible now, a holy text of war, the Omnissiah's plans made manifest through code. And as befitting our order, it is constantly updated with new findings, recovered archeotech and more. Be sure to check back every now and then.

[lash144]

Thanks for the warm welcome and your advice

I am on vacation the next week, but after that I will start with the Start Collecting box and share my progress in a WIP thread.

 

Btw does anyone know a good guide for magnetizing the Onager?

Edited September 22, 2017 by lash144

[lash144]

Atm I am working on a conceptual army list to plan my start with AdMech.

 

What units are you guys using against mass infantry spam like Orks or guard?

[Magos_Adephus]

Against guard I'd Fo heavy on Inflitrators and Vanguard. A full squad of Infils can crank out 50 laspistol-equivalent shots and tasers will take out any survivors, and Vanguard are Vanguard. And of course some heavy support, a couple Onagers, a squad of Dakkastalens. I might take some rangers with Arquebuses too, snipe those Platoon Commanders or Commisars.

 

Against Orks you'll want more melee heavy hitters. Fist Kastelans are brutal, Infils with tasers are always great, EPreists would work if you can get them into combat, and Dragoons would be great at targeting small squads or characters. If you end up using Dragoons and Infils, wait to charge them in the same phase to make the most of the Conquorer Protocal stratagem. And then you have your standard sprinkling of heavy support.

[lash144]

So I wrote my first conceptual list for 1250 pts, which included all the models from two Starting Collections + a few additonal ones:

 

 

#HQ

- Dominus (Eradication Ray, Macrostubber)

- Dominus (Phospor Serpenta, Volkite Blaster) 

 

#Troops

- Rangers (Omnispex, 2x Arquebus)

- 2x Vanguard (2x Plasma, Arc Pistol, Taser)

- Vanguard (2x Arc Rifle, Arc Pistol, Taser)

 

#Elite

- 8x Infiltrators (Blaster + Goad)

 

#Fast Attack

- 2x Dragoons (Taser Lance)

 

#Heavy Support

- Dunecrawler (Data Tether, Stubber, Icarus Array)

- Dunecrawler (Stubber, Neutron Laser, Smoke Launcher)

 

 

Tell me what do you think :)

[Perry]

Id ditch the smoke launcher on your Onager and take Data tethers, this will allow you to use 1 CP to activate Protector Doctrina stratagem, this will give you +2 BS, allowing you to blast a flyer on a 2+ for a turn!

 

Also have a think which free Relic you can choose, I like the Phosphoenix which replaces a Phos serpentia, 3 shots with good AP and no cover bonus, using this on my Dominus with Volkite to add some midrange firepower.

[lash144]

Okay thanks for the advice :)

 

What do you say to the list in total?

[Magos_Adephus]

Pretty solid I'd say. Have you looked into which Forgeworld you'll be playing as?

[lash144]

Mars, but I thought Cawl would be pretty overkill in a 1250 points game?

[yellabelly]

Mars, but I thought Cawl would be pretty overkill in a 1250 points game?

Cawls very much a force multiplier. As the points grow so does his worth, as he can buff more and more big guns.

[lash144]

 

Mars, but I thought Cawl would be pretty overkill in a 1250 points game?

Cawls very much a force multiplier. As the points grow so does his worth, as he can buff more and more big guns.

 

 

Yep and my thinking was that in such a small point level like 1250 it its more worth to invest the points in additional units. 

[Yoda79]

Solid for 1250.

 

Dont take pistols on vamguard taser are enough? New stubber on onager is 5 points take a second one.

 

If you got more points take 6th vanguard in plasma group for extra wounds before you loose plasma. With data tether you can go till 6-8 unit to protect you plasma.

Edited September 23, 2017 by Yoda79