Come, Ye Skitarii

Now the bionic cat is out of the bag: here's the Adeptus Mechanicus!

I've always fancied an AdMech army (and no, I don't just say that about every army!) and I even began the inception of one earlier this year, picking up a squad of Skitarii, a Dominus and a couple of Dunecrawlers.

But then I saw sense, sold the Dunecrawlers and shelved the kits.

But when 'Iron Joe' (a foe of mine) announced he was selling 800pts of ready-to-go AdMech, I saw even more sense, and bought the lot!

My first order of business was to paint up the kits I had, and bring them up to a round 1,000pts. Five Rangers with the basic rifles, and five Vanguard with lots of fun weapons would do it.

The painting goal was to get these done and on the tabletop. There's lot of detail that could have attention lavished upon these models (and they are lovely), but I have other armies for that. This is a fun side-project.

• Basecoat: Leadbelcher spray, Nuln Oil wash
• Coats: Khorne Red base, Mephiston Red drybrush
• Trousers: Scale75 Deep Blue (a non-Citadel colour to match the existing ones - it's pretty good)
• Plasma and eye leneses: Ulthaun Grey base, Gulliman Blue glaze
• Weapon trim: Balthazar Gold and/or Retributor Gold
• Base: Martian Ironcrust (obviously), Tyrant Skull drybrush 

That's the ones I painted. Next up at the ones I acquired. These didn't need any more painting other than to tint the eye lenses blue and match the base rims.

Twenty Vanguard in total. Which is probably the better option for infantry - they're supposed to sweep forward and die anyway, so having lots of shots and rad-saturation in close-combat seems like just the ticket.

I've like to have more special weapons in the kit. There's only one each per kit - which is a shame, because they can take up to three per squad of ten - unless GW seriously expect you to take a plasma caliver, arc rifle and transuranic arquebus all in the same squad!

Speaking of transuranic arquebus - there were also five Rangers with two of them. I think I prefer the look of this model (the hood screams AdMech), but they're probably best employed in the backline.

And the arquebus itself - it may be limited, but finally a high-strength sniper weapon! I'm coming for you Vindicare...

No AdMech force would be complete without the Onager Duncrawlers. Although they have finally acquired some more armour choices now, I do like these Martian rovers (and the Neutron Laser should put the fear into any targets that rely on their armour and wounds to survive).

A pair of Ironstrider Ballistarii (I'm glad I got these, because damn, they're pricey to buy individually!). This list probably doesn't need any more lascannons, but their big advantage over the lance-wielding Dragoons is they are a lot easier to transport!

Finally, the HQs. The Dominus is such a lovely sculpt. Given they become ubiquitous in an army (although there are finally a few other HQs to get), it would be nice if he had more options than just changing his guns and head.

But as some ingenious hobbyists will show, you can build pretty much any mechanicus you like.

There was also an example of the lesser Tech-Priest Enginseer. Another great model, and a really cheap HQ if you - say, happen to have a lot of Troops and feel like going big on battalions.

Speaking of which, I did find myself short of an Enginseer when I was padding out my army. Rather than going shopping for the metal/finecast alternative (or the Technoarcheologist from Blackstone Fortress) like a normal person, I went fishing in my bitz box.

And came out with this Tech-Priest Demiurg! The Squats live!

... and then Games Workshop go ahead and release one!

A slightly less slapdash bit of kitbashing is the pride of my Forge World - the Tech-Priest Domina!

Basically a mash-up of a Genestealer Cults Magus and a Tech-Priest Dominus, with some extra bits thrown in there (and trying to gouge out half the face to fit a bionic eye was nerve-wracking!)

She was originally kitbashed with no purpose in mind, and got drafted into the Black Legion as a proxy Warpsmith - so it's possible my Forge World might be on the darker side of the Mechanicum divide.

Back when I only played Fantasy, and knew nothing of 40k, I did ask. 'What army is most like Wood Elves?'. Kraken kindly obliged by pointing me towards AdMech, and I can see the similarities: lots of frail shooting troops, a couple of solid punchy ones, some fast moving ones, specialised melee ones and shooting, shooting, shooting.

I'm sure Kraken remembers how much he enjoyed taking on my Wood Elves with his Chaos forces, so he's really only got himself to blame,