Warhammer 40k Adeptus Mechanicus Faction Focus Brings Us the Blessings of the Omnissiah
| Tags: General
| Author Bence Loksa
Warhammer 40k Adeptus Mechanicus Faction Focus showcases some incredible new rules for the servant of the Machine God.
After 2 very long days without a Warhammer 40k 10th Edition Faction Focus, today Games Workshop have finally blessed us with the showcase of some of the new Adeptus Mechanicus rules – and honestly, they look great. The army remained shooty, got some new interesting mechanics which complement the fact that the showcased units have a worse Ballistic Skill than before. But I don’t want to spoil too much, let’s get right into the Adeptus Mechanicus Faction Focus!
Faction Rules of the Warhammer 40k Adeptus Mechanicus Faction Focus
The backbone of any AdMech army was the canticles and doctrines in 9th Edition, and players won’t have to worry, as these buffs don’t go anywhere when 10th drops at the end of June. Doctrina Imperatives is now a universal Army Rule for the servants of the Machine God. This rule lets players choose between two Imperatives to follow, which provide buffs to all units until the end of the battle round – so both your and your opponent’s turn.
Protector Imperative gives the ranged weapons of models the Heavy keyword, which gives an extra pip of Ballistic Skill if the unit Remained Stationary in the Movement Phase. Also, if a ranged attack would target a unit which is in your deployment zone, that shot loses 1 AP, so your units will seem extra tanky.
Conqueror Imperative is the aggressive doctrine for AdMech, as it let’s you storm enemy outposts. In this Imperative, all ranged weapons gain the Assault ability, and as such, can be shot even if the unit Advanced, although with -1 to Hit. Also, if your units shoot at an enemy model which is in your opponent’s deployment zone, the attack gains an extra AP, which can make even the most basic weapons hit through even a tanks defence.
The other rule showcased was the Detachment Rule for the AdMech Rad-Cohort Detachment, which is one of the strongest abilities that have been shown so far in all of the Faction Focuses. Rad-Bombardment lets the Adeptus Mechanicus carpet bomb their opponent’s deployment zone, making them choose which units will take cover, and which will take damage: units that hide become Battle-shocked, which makes their Objective Control characteristic 0, while a unit that stands firm must roll a D6 – on a 3+, they suffer D3 Mortal Wounds.
But wait, there’s more! On turns 2 to 5, the deployment zone of the opponent remains a toxic wasteland, dealing damage to units which remain in the deployment zone if they roll a 3+. This ability is extremely strong, as it forces opponents to move forward – right into the gunline of the Children of the Omnissiah.
Unit Spotlights of the Warhammer 40k Adeptus Mechanicus Faction Focus
The first unit which was featured in the Faction Focus was none other than the Skitarii Vanguard, the forward soldiers of the Machine God. The datasheet sparked some controversy, as the Vanguard lost a pip of their Armour Save, Invulnerable Save as well as their Ballistic Skill, so now they hit on 4+ with every weapon they have – but if they stayed still with Protector Imperative, they receive a +1 to Hit, which is eerily similar to the treatment the Leagues of Votann received. However, the Vanguard now have 2 OC stat while also taking away 1 Objective Control from enemy units near them, making them ideal for storming objectives.
They also have wargear showcased: Enhanced data-tether let’s them farm back the CP after they use a Stratagem, while Omnispex negates the Benefit of Cover of their targets. They also retained their heavy weapons, which should make them extra deadly in the shooting phase, even though they are the objective shifting unit of the Adeptus Mechanicus.
They are also a Battleline unit, which is very important when you’re building your army, but with AdMech, they also provide some unique buffs. When the Sicarian Ruststalkers are near an AdMech Battleline unit (so Skitarii Vanguard or Rangers), they gain 2 to their Advance and Charge rolls instead of the regular one.
Games Workshop also showed us Archmagos Dominus Belisarius Cawl, the leader of the Adeptus Mechanicus and the best friend of Roboute Guilliman (and anyone who loves Primaris Space Marines). Cawl worked on his armour and defense systems, as he will have 8 Toughness and 10 Wounds in the next Edition of Warhammer 40k. He’ll also have all three of his Melee weapons, and even though in 10th a unit can only hit with one of their close combat tools in the Fight phase, 2 out of 3 of Cawl’s weapons have the Extra Attacks keyword, meaning he can use them alongside his Omnissian Axe. Arc scourge lost some Strength, but gained keywords to compensate, while the Omnissian Axe received an extra pip of Strenght.
But the most interesting part of the Datasheet of Belisarius Cawls is his abilities: just like Roboute Guilliman, he retains the Lone Operative keyword even when among his fellow Tech-Priests and other AdMech units, and can repair himself at the start of your Command phase, regaining D3 wounds. But as the commander of most AdMech armies, it’s his Canticles of the Omnissiah ability that you have to keep an eye out for. This is the same “choose 1 out of 3” skill that other Epic Heroes seemed to receive. Cawl can choose from the following abilities the start of the Battle round, which stays active until the beginning of the next:
- Invocation of Machine Vengeance let’s friendly Adeptus Mechanicus units within 6” of the Archmagos Dominus reroll Hit rolls of 1,
- Mantra of Discipline let’s them reroll Battle-shock and Leadership tests taken by AdMech units within 6” of him,
- While Shroudpsalm gives them Stealth ability, which has not been revealed yet, but it most probably gives the Benefit of Cover to units (with some condition if it would be too OP).
Belisarius Cawl is an interesting commander for your Adeptus Mechanicus armies, and he should appear in most of the AdMech lists – as the Archmagos Dominus should!
Weapon Spotlight of the Warhammer 40k Adeptus Mechanicus Faction Focus
The only weapon that Games Workshop showed the fans is the Eradication Beamer of the Onager Dunecrawler. The giant spider-tank’s big gun still has two profiles, a Dissipated and a Focused one, which changes the range of the weapon, but the shorter range comes with a better AP and Damage characteristic. Just like the Beam weapons of the Leagues of Votann, the Eradication Beamer also gained the Sustained Hits keyword, which means that if you roll a 6 in you Hit rolls, you get D3 extra shots for each one. Dunecrawlers were a staple in many type of AdMech army, but now we should be more of them, as the Sustained Hits ability will be really strong in 10th Edition.
Stratagem Spotlights of the Warhammer 40k Adeptus Mechanicus Faction Focus
Two of the 9th Edition Doctrina Imperatives have been reworked into Stratagems in the 10th Edition of Warhammer:
- Aggressor Imperative improve the Move Characteristic of models by 3” currently, but reducing the Save of the models by 1. In the 10th Edition of Warhammer 40k, it becomes a Stratagem which costs one CP, and can only be activated if your Army is in Conqueror Imperative – but it let’s one of your Skitarii units Charge even after it Advanced.
- Bulwark Imperative is currently the opposite of Aggressor Imperative, giving +1 to Save, but taking away 3” from their Movement Characteristic. In 10th Edition, it will still be a counterpart of the Aggressor Stratagem, as it can only be used if your army is in Protector Imperative – but it grants a 4+ Invulnerable Save to a Skitarii unit which has just been targeted by enemy shots for the end of the phase, which is an incredibly strong ability paired with the CP refund skill of the Skitarii Vanguard.
Overall, the Warhammer 40k Adeptus Mechanicus Faction Focus gave some really interesting new tricks to the Chosen of the Machine God. While the community is currently preoccupied by the worsened Ballistic Skill of nearly all units showcased, they forget about the ways they can circumvent it – and the fact that enemy units will come to them instead of their units seeking out the opponent’s troops because of the Rad-Bombing ability showed. The Adeptus Mechanicus will be a strong army come 10th Edition when all of the rules are showcased!
There’ a bit more than a month left until the 10th Edition of Warhammer 40k drops – if you can believe the leaks about the June 27th release date. Until then, don’t forget to follow ESTNN for the latest reveals by Games Workshop!