Warhammer 40K: What to Watch Out For in Ad Mech
Adam here to help you with some of the things to watch out for with the new Adeptus Mechanicus Codex.
So far we haven’t really seen what the effects of the new FAQ has had on the Drukhari yet. In addition, we haven’t really seen how much the Adeptus Mechanicus is affecting the tournament scene. Even with little to no showing, there are plenty of stories from people that have been playing against Adeptus Mechanicus armies, whether in local Rogue Trader Tournaments or local leagues. So there are plenty of people that are already getting their first real experience with the new codex. This week we will have a look at a few things to watch out for with the new Adeptus Mechanicus codex.
Analysis Paralysis
It’s pretty safe to say that there is a lot going on with the Adeptus Mechanicus book. Even at first glance, you can easily tell that it is a complex beast. This will have a big effect on people being able to effectively play the army in a timely manner. With so many options, I can easily see players become affected by the decision of what to do and when to do it. They can be stuck in some sort of logic loop as they decide what stratagem or ability to use at a key moment, or really any moment. This paralysis could easily eat up a lot of time and will be a skill that will be extremely useful if you are playing a game using a clock.
Beware of these gears!
Less experienced and players that normally take a long time to make decisions will easily time out and most likely lose the game because of it. On the flip side, there will be times that the opponent might be frozen with indecision because they may not know how best to deal with such an army. In either case, the fear of making the wrong decision could actually be the wrong thing to do. This army really heightens that awareness of time, especially as you get higher in the rankings as the tournament progresses.
Rust Stalkers
This is one of those units that really hit above their weight. It all starts with a unit of 20 Skitaari Vanguard. They are equipped with Radium Rifles (S3 AP0 1D) that have the rule that an unmodified hit roll of 6 auto wounds. There is a stratagem that, for 1 command point, makes it so that you auto wound on a 4+ instead. In addition, if a Tech Priest Manipulus nearby, they get an additional 6 inches to their range and a extra AP.
So that’s around 60 shots that auto wound on 4s that are -1AP. If the Ad Mech player goes first, then say goodbye to a chunk of your army on turn one. Better hope your table has a lot of line of sight blocking terrain. It seems that you may want to take these guys out as soon as possible but that will depend on how many units of 20 there are in your opponent’s army. Good Luck.
Pteraxii Sterylizors
If you haven’t heard about this one then you better strap in. Luckily, even though the Ad Mech have this overwhelming firepower they can still be dealt with and neutralized. Thanks to a nifty stratagem, it seems that won’t be the case with this particular unit. The stratagem is call “Booster Thrust”. This stratagem allows you to remove a Pteraxii unit from the battlefield, at the end of your turn, and place them on the battlefield and during your next reinforcement step. This allows you to remove the models and place them wherever you need them to go. The Sterylizors, with their flamers, just jump around the board roasting all the opponent’s units or even just jumping around to various parts of the table to get those precious secondary points that may mean the difference between a win or a loss.
The most frustrating part about this stratagem is that there is very little to no interaction with whatever unit that you choose to use the strat on. It brings about a very bad play experience for players. In all honesty, I wouldn’t be surprised if the is corrected by Games Workshop. Unfortunately, we don’t have a timeline of when this correction will be made. This is assuming they actually correct it in the first place.
~That’s all for this week. I hope you enjoyed the article. Let me know what you think, and what you think we should look out for in the new Adeptus Mechanicus codex, in the comments section below.
