Litanies of the Faithful

Oh boy, this is pretty neat.

As part of Grotmas, Games Workshop is releasing a new detachment for ALL armies in Warhammer 40k that will persist with new codex’s that release.

Awesome.

Compared to 9th edition, when I started playing, this truely is a fantastic time to be playing Warhammer.

The detachment that the Adeptus Mechanicus received is all that we could have hoped for and more, it is what the index detachment should have been and it’s the reason I’m not going to buy anymore GSC boxes and instead start painting AdMech models again. In this article I will be going over the rules of the new detachment as well as some cool combo’s you can try out using it.

You can find a download for the new detachment here:

Haloscreed Detachment download

Haloscreed Battle Clade

Detachment Rule:

In your command phase, select one or more units from your army (including units that are embarked within Transports). The maximum number of units you can select depends on the battle size, as follows:

Incursion: 1

Strikeforce: 2

Onslaught: 3

Until the start of your next command phase, those units gain the Halo Override keyword. Then, select one of the Override abilities below. Until the start of your next command phase, units from your army with the Halo Override keyword have the selected Override ability:

Electromotive Energisation:

Add 2″ to the move characteristic of models in this unit.

Microactuator Bracing:

Add 1 to the Toughness characteristic of models in this unit.

Predation Procotols:

This unit is eligible to declare a charge in a turn in which it Advanced.

Muted Servomotors:

Models in this unit have the stealth ability.

This already done more than Explorator Maniple and Cybernetica Cohort combined, so it’s a good start.

The standout thing for me is the +2″ to move, and advance and charge, which you can stack on a unit (more on that later). Movement is absolutely paramount in Warhammer and getting MORE of it is amazing. AdMech does have access to advance and charge through Dragoons, and in SHC for Skitarii units, i.e. Ruststalkers. But being able to use it on Corpuscarri or even Kastelan Robots is a game changer. This does homogenise AdMechs units unique abilities and tactics, but it feels very ‘Gladius detachment’. You can bring ANY unit in this detachment and they can benefit from your detachment rule. You’ll get a better idea of how strong this detachment rule will be as I go over the Enhancements and Strategems.

Enhancements:

Transoracular Dyad Wafers (30 points):

Cybernetica Datasmith model only. When the bearer is attached to a Kastelan Robots unit, until the end of the battle, models in that unit have the Doctrina Imperatives ability and gain the Halo Override keyword. This unit cannot be selected when selecting units as part of the Noospheric Transference Detachment rule.

Rating – A, Effectively giving Kastelan Robots the army rule AND always having the buff you select from Noospheric Transference. You can include a unit of Kastelans and feel great about it!

Cognitive Reinforcement (35 points):

Adeptus Mechanicus model only (excluding Cybernetica Datasmith models). The Conqueror Imperative and Protector Imperative are both active for the bearer’s unit.

Rating – A+, There is a reason Cantic Thrallnet is an auto-include in every SHC list. Being in both Conqueror and Protector is an incredible boon for a unit. Most likely to go on a Unit of Corpuscarii or Kataphron’s led by a Manipulus. Either of these units will be a must take in this detachment.

Santified Ordnance (10 points):

Adeptus Mechanicus model only. Add 6″ to the range characteristic of ranged weapons equipped by models in the bearer’s unit, and, each time a Hazardous test is taken for that unit, you can re-roll the result. – A, The last sentence clearly intends for this unit to be taken with a unit of Kataphron destroyers using Plasma to leave you with a 2.6% chance of a destroyer dying after shooting. However, by putting this on a unit of Corpuscarii you have 18″ range Jazzhands, very cute. We’ll have to see how strong Plasma Culverins can be at 42″ range, along with 18″ flamers. it almost makes the Kataphron destroyer datasheet make sense now…

Inloaded Lethality: (15 points):

Terch-Priest Dominus or Tech-Priest Manipulus model only. Add 3 to the attacks characteristic of the bearer’s melee weapons and add 1 to the damage characteristic of the bearer’s melee weapons.

Rating – B, I’ll play it and turn a Dominis into a beatstick, why not. The other enhancements are just too juicy to leave at home though. I don’t see this enhancement having as much play as the others, but it’s still nice to have.

Stratagems: (All Stratagems are 1cp)

Eradication Protocols:

Shooting or fight phase, one Adeptus Mechanicus unit from your army, re-roll a wound roll of 1, and, if it is a Halo Overrtide unit, re-roll a hit roll of 1.

Rating – A, having access to re-rolls is fantastic for any unit, stacking this on Ironstriders or Corpuscarii with 5+ crits, or putting it on a Disintegrator when you’re shooting in protector standing still to basically get all your hits and wounds through. You will always find a use for this strategem.

Targeting Override:

Shooting or fight phase, one Adeptus Mechanicus unit from your army, Hit rolls of a 5+ score a critical hit.

Rating – S, the moon, literally unreal, I will use this 5 times every game until 11th edition. CRITICAL HITS ON 5’s. As if having sustained on half your guns and then lethals from the Manipulus wasn’t enough. Now we can have Breachers re-rolling all hits and getting lethals on 5’s, Ironstriders sustained on 5’s, Dunecrawlers sustained on 5’s, Corpscarii sustained 2, lethals on 5’s. It’s a good time to be an AdMech player. Not only is this incredibly strong, it’s also incredibly fun! Things happening on 6’s give me the most joy in Warhammer, and I’m so chuffed that we now have access to this ability.

Neural Overload:

Movement phase, one adeptus mechanicus unit from your army. If the unit is Halo Override, it suffers D3 mortals, and you get an extra Override ability until your next command phase. If not, you don’t take the mortals.

Rating – A, this lets you stack two Override abilities on a single unit, at the cost of D3 mortals, or put a unit that isn’t in Override, into Override. This is an incredibly versatile Stratagem and really lets you get the value out of your detachment ability when you need to. You can now have Kastelan robots move 8″, and advance and charge, while still shooting their flamers/blasters. This unit went from being unplayable outside of a single detachment to an incredibly strong, versatile unit. I played a game today with the Kastelan Robots, moved 12″, charged a Bloodthirster, popped re-roll 1’s to hit and proceeded to do 36 damage to it. Starting so far away that previously before this detachment I wouldn’t even have been eligible to charge, crazy.

Aggressive Impulse:

Movement phase, One Skorpius Dunerider model from your army, give it assault ramp.

Rating – A+, the transport can move, and you can get out, and charge. Duneriders are now Landraiders. This ability is sick, considering you can give the Dunerider +2 to move, so move 14″, then get out 3″ and charge. “Yo what’s the threat range of those Corpuscarii shooting”, with the 6″ extra range. “Oh, 35″, for 30 shots at 5-0-1 with sustained 2, lethals crits on 5’s… huh.”. Shit is NUTS.

Guided retreat:

Movement phase just after a unit makes a fall back move, you get shoot and charge, and if it’s a Halo Override unit you can re-roll desperate escape tests.

Rating – A+, it’s fall back shoot and charge, your units cannot get tied up anymore. This is so, so strong. You can go from losing an entire turn of effectiveness from a Breacher unit, to getting extra movement in the fight phase and slingshotting forward to lay down heavy arc rifle fire onto your opponents. It also stops your Kastelans from being tied up I guess. This strategem is just gas.

Analytical Divination:

Your opponents movement phase, just after an enemy unit ends a normal, advance or fall back move, one Adeptus Mechanicus Infantry unit from your army within 9″ of that unit, reactive move D6″ or 6″ instead if is it a Halo Override unit.

Rating – A+, REACTIVE MOVES ARE INSANE, to be used on Skitarii, Electro-Priests, Sicarians, or Pteraxii the uses for a reactive move are endless and can be aggressive or defensive. They can flip objectives, stop secondaries or prevent your units from being destroyed after scoring secondaries by jumping behind a wall. You will find use for this stratagem in almost all of your games.

Overall, these stratagems are exactly what we needed and I can easily see myself using each of them once to great effect in a game of Warhammer. This feels fantastic compared to the codex we got where I was barely using half of the stratagems in my games, and sometimes only using core stratagems. I don’t even care we have almost no access to the grenade stratagem anymore, we don’t need it. I am satisfied now.

On Combos:

I don’t think this detachment introduces any ‘new’ combos, it just reinforces ways we have played through other detachments just giving units a bit more movement, access to advance and charge or being in the right doctrine when you really need it.

What this detachment does do is allow you to play all of your favourite combo’s in the one detachment, while having access to some very cool reactive and proactive stratagems and not feel bad about it.

I’m not going to go over every combo because anything you can think of with regard to leader/bodyguard combinations can work in this detachment, and work well. Be creative, make lists, and enjoy AdMech as we should have since the start of the edition. If anything, as far as I am concerned this is the official release of AdMech in 10th edition (SHC is poo, fight me).

Example list:

Cybernetica Datasmith – Transoracular Dyad Wafers

Tech-Priest Manipulus – Cognitive Reinforcement

Tech-Priest Manipulus

Technoarchaeologist

2x Skitarii Rangers

1x Skitarii Vanguard

Skorpius Dunerider

10x Corpuscarii Electro-Priests

3x Ironstrider Ballistarii (Lascannons)

4x Kastelan Robots (Fist & Flamers)

2×5 Pteraxii Skystalkers

2×5 Sicarian Infiltrators

10x Sicarian Ruststalkers

2x Skorpius Disintegrators

Verdict:

It’s pretty good, I guess, Idk, I’ll probably play it in every AdMech game for the next two years.