The Ruststalkers of the Skitarii Legions fall upon their foes in a slashing, stabbing frenzy. Their transonic blades blur as they dart and cut like the weapons of gladiatorial knife-fighters, the deadly resonances they transmit bypassing armour as if it offered no more resistance than a hologram. The distinctive shape of the Ironstrider Ballistarii strikes fear into the heart of xenos, Renegade and Imperial Commander alike. Marksmen beyond compare, the Ballistarii have at their command the anatomical data, defensive capabilities and weaknesses of every race the Adeptus Mechanicus has encountered.

Esteemed leaders of the maniples and cohorts within the Skitarii soldiery. These battle-hardened veterans, adorned with enhanced augmentations earned through countless crusades, hold a privileged position among their ranks. Acting as intermediaries between the Skitarii formations and their priestly overseers, Marshals utilize sacred uplinks to refine their warriors’ doctrines, striving for unparalleled perfection in service to the Omnissiah. Focus on the finer details of the Skitarii Marshal. Use Mephiston Red for any lenses or optics, and White Scar for painting symbols or inscriptions. Take your time and use a fine brush for precision. Apply washes to add depth and shading to the miniature. Use Nuln Oil for the metallic areas and Agrax Earthshade for the fabric parts. Apply the washes carefully, allowing them to flow into the recesses to create shadows and definition.The Tech-priests of Graia and their Skitarii forces accentuate the deep crimson of Mars with the bright red of spilt blood. Their detractors believe this is because Graian warriors take an unhealthy interest in each spray of gore that jets from their victims. Wearing fully-sealed battle raiments and electromagnetised cybernetics, the Skitarii of Graia have fought space battles across the silvered exterior of their masters' spaceborne metropolises. The warriors of Graia bear the icon of the solar cog. The rising sun at its heart signifies the dawn of a new age, while the cog that surrounds it shows that the Tech-priests of Graia intend to be its masters. Like most codexes, AdMech get a set of subfactions, here representing the forces of different Forge Worlds. Almost all units in the book have a keyword that you replace when you add a unit to your army, and If your army contains any detachments then you benefit from some extra rules for your chosen subfaction. Units in a detachment gain a trait, here called a Dogma, that gives them extra baseline abilities, and each named Forge World also has a Stratagem, Relic and Warlord trait associated with them. These follow the standard pattern for recent 9th books which is: Pendulin: To be clear, the unit named “Servitors” doesn’t get Dogmas. So don’t worry, your Kataphrons still get their Forge World buffs. Knight of the Cog At first their victims, ranging from pirate warbands to xenos warhosts, slip the net of Skitarii gunfire easily enough. If they flee far enough solar months will pass, even standard years -- long enough that the terror of the initial engagement is all but forgotten. The Adeptus Mechanicus never deletes anything, and its appetite for knowledge knows no bounds. A Skitarii Legion's sacred duty to protect its Forge World is second only to its quest for hard data -- information for their masters to digest, or to archive away unheeded to gather the dust of aeons.

Cataphractii: Armour units. The range of armour goes from small transports to heavy walkers and superheavy tanks such as Baneblades. [19a]

Collectively, they have fought alongside the Astra Militarum, the Adepta Sororitas, the Adeptus Astartes, and even the Primarchs of legend. Throughout the millennia the Skitarii Legions have fought with impeccable skill and discipline even when the colossi and ravaging daemons slaughter them in droves. In doing so they have assimilated a functionally infinite amount of information for their masters. As befits the Omnissiah’s servants, the Adeptus Mechanicus roster has been tweaked and added to several times since its first arrival, and now you can find every unit in one convenient place, from the venerable Skitarii Rangers to the ingenious Archaeopter Stratoraptor . With a host of improvements to their weaponry and rules, there’s never been a better time to exchange weak flesh for holy machine. This anachronistic combination is not due to the available materials or a desire for aesthetically pleasing weapons. Nor is it out of practicality; far from it. Trees don't grow on Mars (or any other Forge World, for that matter) and haven't for thousands of standard years. Technological advances have made bolt action rifles obsolete and the dynamos that power many Skitarii weapons have been superseded by more conventional power sources. Mighty heroes fight at the forefront of battle.Some CHARACTER units have ‘Leader’ listed on their datasheets. Such CHARACTER units are known as Leaders, and the units they can lead – known as their Bodyguard units – are listed on their datasheet.

These incendiary fanatics can be added to your Cawdor gang, but if you feel the underhive really needs a good purging, you can go all-in and muster an entire force of Redemptionists instead. With models as fabulous as these, we wouldn’t blame you. Looks like the Enforcers might need to start working double shifts to try and dampen things down once these zealots get started. As mentioned above, however, not all members of the Tech-Guard are so skilled, and some are merely remotely controlled or pre-programmed cybernetic weapon platforms, though these variants are primarily used to guard static locations. The level of cybernetic enhancement may vary between each Skitarii. Some may have a few genetic and bionic enhancements, while others may have replaced whole organ systems with advanced technology.

The Skitarii (sing. Skitarius), also known as the Tech-Guard and the Legiones Skitarii, are the cybernetic military forces of the Adeptus Mechanicus of the Imperium of Man. You then make a Charge roll for the charging unit by rolling 2D6. The result is the maximum number of inches each model in that unit can be moved if a Charge move is possible. For a Charge move to be possible, the Charge roll must be sufficient to enable the charging unit to end that move: Technomartyr Concords (Beta) - Devotional commands spool through the minds of the Skitarii at dizzying speed, each new imperative driving the warriors of the Omnissiah further into the ranks of the foe. One so compelled will fight with the skill of a true weapons expert, his mind and muscles filling with the boundless energy of the Motive Force.

Hypaspist Skitarii were the most basic augmented infantrymen of the Tech-Guard and were armed with cybernetically hard-linked Lasguns similar to those used by the soldiers of the Astra Militarum. Hypaspists were generally more powerful and skilled soldiers than standard Guardsmen as a result of the cybernetic enhancements that made them stronger and more accurate than normal humans and the psychosurgery they had undergone to suppress their emotional reactions and make them immune to panic or fear. However, this enhancement also made Hypaspists less independent and able to think for themselves in combat. Smoke Launcher - Some vehicles have small launchers mounted onto them that carry smoke canisters. These are used to temporarily obscure the vehicle behind billowing clouds of smoke, allowing it to cross open areas in greater safety -- although it does so at the cost of being able to fire its own weapons. Those two TRANSPORT models can be set up in the Reinforcements step of your first, second or third Movement phase, regardless of any mission rules, and must be set up at the same time. Any units embarked within those TRANSPORT models must immediately disembark after the TRANSPORT models have been set up, and the disembarking units must be set up more than 9" away from any enemy models. It is unknown if the Skitarii make use of other vehicles employed by the Chapters of the Adeptus Astartes, though one can presume that it is possible, if their Forge World is industrious enough to outfit its forces with them and fulfill its production quota. The most blessed pass a point called the "Crux Mechanicus," their body more machine than flesh. Those that reach this stage of mechamorphosis are known as "Skitarii Alphas." Some go on to attain the rank of "Alpha Primus" -- overseers who can operate independently for standard years if necessary, as solid and reliable as the titanium that replaces their flesh.The cyborg warriors that command the Skitarii cohorts passed the Crux Mechanicus long ago. Some are little more than a fleshy head sutured to a mechanical body, but from the most basic Alpha to the most vaunted Sicarian Princeps they are all worthy of respect. It is in the red-hot guts of the Forge Worlds that the Skitarii Legions are born. Cohorts without number march out to protect the sovereign realm of the Omnissiah. Their sole desire is to bring His illumination to the darkness of the void and transmit every iota of information they uncover, even if it means razing everything in their path. Ironstrider Engine - Taking his inspiration from the stilt-legged seekers of the Sydonian Mask, the Tech-priest Aldebrac Vingh perfected the Ironstrider Engine in the early 33rd Millennium. His achievement was profound indeed. The strange bipedal apparatus he invented is as close to a perpetual motion machine as the Adeptus Mechanicus have ever seen, its efficiency close to perfection. Acting as a dynamo as it walks, once started the Ironstrider engine essentially powers itself. There are prototype models still circumnavigating the equator of Mars today. Sadly Vingh, never the most politically astute of his Tech-priest kin, was all but ostracised by his jealous colleagues. After his death the secrets of the Ironstrider Engine were lost. So it is that the Ironstriders of today are never switched off, lest their relentless Machine Spirit fade away forever. Thousands are put to use as mounts in the Skitarii cohorts, their riders lowered into the saddles of ever-circling 'striders by articulated cranes that overlook the Iron Stables. Others are guided onto industrial treadmills and cog-steps where they pound away in their hundreds, used to power inefficient but far deadlier machineries of destruction. Such is the way of the Tech-priest; to turn a work of genius into yet another weapon of war. CORE: All foot/jump/cavalry Skitarii, Ironstriders, Electropriests and (sometimes) Kastelan Robots. Notably, not Kataphrons. The Red Planet's Due - In imitation of the ancestor cohorts that first ground their limbs to stumps upon the dunes of Mars, the Skitarii cut off their lower legs and replace them with bionic prostheses of inviolate alloy.