[Vau]

Hello everyone, long have I lurked in this forum (due to a crippling case of writer's block) and only now have I chosen to break my silence to ask of your opinions.
I am very interested in the idea of fielding an Adeptus Mechanicus force, more specifically the Skitarii of an Explorator fleet, and I'm not sure which army would best represent what I'm after. I am leaning strongly toward Imperial Guard with carapace armour, probably not fully mechanized (explained later), and probably won't have cyber-enhancements (not only a crappy upgrade but also I reason that since techpriests and servitors and the like don't come with it, even though they're more machine-ized than any standard tech-guard, it shouldn't matter fluff-wise).
However, Inquisition and even Marines all have AdMechy elements to them, and I'd be interested to see what you all think.

[Tyndmyr]

Admech can be represented by, well....nearly any imp army you want. Feel free to add lots of tech bits even without bionics. Think Iron Warriors as far as that goes. If you take marines, take techpriests, definitely. Also, keep in mind the option of inquisition allies, regardless what you do. That'd allow you to have marines, storm troopers, and other oddball things. Inquisitor retinues are particularly customizable, you could definitely work with that.

Oh, and many marine vehicles come with a single AdMech shoulder pad. If you decide to take marines, look around, and see if you can scoop up extras that people have layin about.

[RonanB1011]

Welll, looking at the options.....

Marines - Techpriests, I don't think there's much else that could qualify as being close to AdMech.

Daemonhunters - Inquisitors w/ Sages/Familiars/Acolytes/WarriorServitors, StormTroopers standing in as Skitarii, you'll be very StormTrooper heavy I'd say if you're not using mechanised.Though you could use the alliance rules in DaemonHunters to ally with IG to gain other troops.

Imperial Guard - Not much info, but tank heavy and the "siege" aspect of their units would be better left as allies for your DaemonHunters.

[Dezart Fox]

ANd you could have cool sentinels in style of the Alien film lifter thing :P

[crazedmongoose2003]

The Admech does not hold sway over any force of marines do they?

And fluff-wise, the cybernetic enchancements offered by the Admech does not in anyway raise their soldiery to Marine level effectiveness.


I think you're best off with an Imperial Guard army. Since at the end of the day, the Skitarri are the closest to Imperial Guards. Take the Grenadier and Enginseer doctrines, as well as some other ones.

I don't think there's enough vehicles in an Inq. force to properly represent a Skitarri legion.

[Wargamer]

The Guard are the way to go, unquestionably.

[Vau]

I was always fairly sure I'd go for Imperial Guard, though I'm not sure how I can get all the Stormtroopers (to represent Skitarii) I need in. I'm thinking I could take Grenadiers and use Infantry platoons to represent the 'uninitiated' Tech Guard recruited from the menials. I also had an awesome idea while writing my first post; I could mount my Skitarii in scratchbuilt Avrus Lighters (a weaponless light flying transport craft). For just 5 points more than a weaponless Chimera I could air-mechanise the more important parts of my force and zip across the board to blast my enemies from behind their own deployment zones!

[VerjigormDeExile]

Guard, with atleast the Grenadier and Techpriest doctrines. I would consider Veterans as well, to get access to accurate weapon support. Throw in Carapace armor so your HQs are carapaced(it's actually 5pts cheaper than giving them Carapace armor through the armoury) and you've got the ability to field 6 stormtrooper style squads. One could just field storm troopers, but storm troopers lack the ability to get Powerfists, heavy weapons and have less special weapons.

Hardened fighters could be taken for your elite veterans. Having a Sgt. with Powerfist at WS4 isn't a bad deal. Having a bunch of assault weapons, and you can barge on things.

So, again: Carapace Armor, Grenadiers, Veterans, Hardened Fighters and Tech Priests.

vets can make better assault troops than Stormtroopers. By using shotguns, las pistols and C&C weapons, you can have some cool divergance from the hellgun/plasma squads.

Plasma and Master-Crafted weapons should be widespread. It may not be the most effective expenditure of points, but AdMech forces are going to be extremely well equipped.

[crazedmongoose2003]

Also get lots of servitors!

[Vau]

Alright everyone, thanks for your ideas. I'm pretty sure what I want to do now, something along the lines of Techpriests, Grenadiers, Carapace armour, Chem-Inhalers (to account for their emotional-repressive surgery), and the last is either Vets or Ogryns (close combat equipped Praetorian squads). That last spot is still pretty much undecided, but I'll play around with it a bit on my own.