Warhammer 40,000 Codex Adeptus Mechanicus Review | 9th Edition (2024)

It got lost in the warp for a while, however we now have our hands on the latest Codex for Warhammer 40,000!

Codex Adeptus Mechancius brings everyone’s favourite binary-loving army up to 9th Edition standard, with a raft of updated rules, stratagems, relics and Crusade content.

I’m a massive fan of the Ad Mech, as shown in my previous articles about the army, so have been chomping at the bit to get hold of this Codex.

Our thanks to Games Workshop for providing this Codex for us to review. You can preorder the book and save cash by ordering through Element Games at this link.

Weighing in at 120 pages, this Codex is considerably larger than it’s predecessor. Contributing to the increased page numbers is the raft of data sheets for the models released during Psychic Awakening, such as the Skorpius Disintegrator and Serberys Raiders. No longer do we need a copy of Psychic Awakening Engine War as well as the previous codex!

On that note, it is worth reminding everyone that thanks to this new Codex the contents of Engine War are no longer able to be taken.

Lore

As with all Warhammer 40k Codexes, the book kicks off with lore, detailing the backstory of the Adeptus Mechanicus.

It delves into detail about how the Ad Mech fit into the Imperium. It also goes into great detail about The Red Planet and the conflicts currently going on around the Forge World of Metallica, which is no supraise considering the unfolding action taking place in the War Zone Charadron supplement book.

The lore section also breaks down the various sub factions with the Adeptus Mechanicus, namely Skitarii, Cult Mechanicus and Legio Cybernetica.

Finally the book takes time out to delve into the different Forge Worlds. This primary focuses on the 7 main Forge Worlds (Mars, Lucius, Agripinaa, Stygies VIII, Graia, Metalica and Ryza, however the book also includes a little background on 4 lesser known Forge Worlds (Triplex Phall, Deimos, Voss Prime and Gryphonne IV).

I never like going too deep into the lore part of books, as it’s always an enjoyable read going through the background when you first obtain a Codex. There isn’t much new content if you’ve been following the Adeptus Mechanicus for a while, but it’s a very interesting read for those new to the army.

It’s time to start discussing rules, and to kick us off it’s worth giving Detachments a mention.

When the 8th edition Codex landed it included the (at the time) line up of Imperial Knights. My fear was, following the raft of new releases the Ad Mech have had that we would lose access to Knights without breaking Detachments. I needed not fear, as a Adeptus Mechanicus Detachment (excluding the normal Unaligned and Agent of the Imperium keywords) gain a new keyword called Knight of the Cog, which allows you, for every one detachment, to take a Questor Mechanicus Knight without breaking Detachment rules. Neat!

Before we take a look at the available Forge Worlds, I think at this point we are best discussing the two major sets of rules which play of keywords on your units. The first is Doctrina Imperatives and the second is the returning Canticles of the Omnissiah.

Doctrina Imperatives

Veterans of the Skitarii will remember that back in 7th edition Skitarii had there own book, and with it Doctrinas. These are in practice orders that can be issued to all Skitarii on the battlefield.

At the beginning of the battle round you can choose between 4 Doctrinas to put into affect. Each of these includes a ‘Optimisation’ (buff) and a ‘Deprecation’ (nerf). Whilst adding an extra layer of rules into your game (of which you’ll notice with this book we have access to a fair number of rules, keywords and auras) I really like this addition.

Protector Imperative is my favourite. The buff gives all Skitarii keyword units +1BS, whilst the nerf gives those same units -1WS.

Bulwark Imperative on the other hand gives you +1 to your Save, but reduces your movement by 3”.

I’ve mentioned the keyword a few times, but those new to the army will soon find out that not all of the units available to the Ad Mech have the Skitarii keyword, so it is worth remembering these rules won’t work on every unit.

Canticles of the Omnissiah

For those units that don’t have the Skitarii keyword, you have Canticles. These work a little differently in the new book compared to the old one.

Gone is the random D6 to find out which Canticle is in effect. This time you can choose one per battle round, and you are unable to change this mid battle round (although Cawl does have an ability to pick a unit and activate a different Canticle for both himself and the chosen unit, even if the Canticle has previously been used).

A lot of these have returned from the previous Codex, including Shroudpsalm, which gives your units with the Canticles of the Omnissiah keyword the benefits of Light Cover. Other Canticles have the same name but a different ability, such as the much bemoaned Litany of the Electromancer, which previously had a small chance of dealing a couple of mortal wounds, but now makes the effected units -1 to hit in combat, which is handy.

Benediction of the Omnissiah is a very good Canticle, allowing each affected unit for the battle round to re-roll one hit, wound AND damage roll. Nice! (Especially when combined with the Mars Forge World, but more on this shortly).

Again, it is worth remembering that Skitarii do not gain access to Canticles.

That is, unless you play as Mars. Let’s move onto Forge Worlds.

Forge Worlds

The 7 major Forge Worlds have there own special rule (Dogma), warlord trait, relic and stratagem.

Some very strong choices here, and as previously one of those is the Mars Forge World.

Mars has a two part Dogma. The first part allows every unit jn your army to re-roll one to hit roll in both shooting and combat a turn. The second part allows Skitarii keyword units to gain access to Canticles, which is a fantastic special rule. Combined these two rules already make Mars a powerful Forge World. Wrath of Mars is back, but has two CP costs. If the unit shooting has a Power Rating of 11 or more the strat costs 2CP, otherwise it only costs 1, which is a buff. A minor nerf is that the strat mentions you can only do a max of 6 Mortal Wounds on unmodified 6s to wound. To be fair, I don’t think I ever got more than 6 anyway!

With the Lucius Forge World you could previously teleport a Knight using the exclusive stratagem. Whilst they still have this strat, it now no longer works on Vehicles, which is a shame, but to be honest I think everyone probably expected this! They do however have a good Dogma, which again is in two parts. They gain +1 to armour if they are being damaged by an attack which only causes 1 damage. They also add 3” to all range attacks.

How about the other Forge Worlds? Here’s a few highlights

Agripinaa gives your units that are shooting an enemy within half range an extra -1 AP, Graia has a relic which gives your Tech-Priests an extra 3” range on there auras, Stygies still gives your units -1 to hit should the enemy be more than 18”, Ryza gives units an extra attack if you charge, are charged or perform a Heroic Intervention whilst Metalica has an awesome relic called the Adamantine Arm, which is a +1 to hit, strength x3, -3 AP and flat 4 damage melee weapon!

Returning from Engine War is the ability to create your own Forge World. You can choose between 5 categories, which gives you a Primary ability and the choice of 1 of 3 Secondaries.

For example, should you select the Data-Hoard Forge World category you gain the Primary that gives all your Vehicle key worded units a 6+ FNP. You can then choose one of the following three secondaries:

• Omnitrac Impellors: Add 2” to movement on Kataphron Servitors and Dunecrawlers
• Autosavant Spirits: In your Command phase heal a wound on every Vehicle, and models with this Dogma allows count as having double the amount of wounds for the purposes of the damage table, keeping them firing at full BS for a little while longer.
• Servo-Focused Auguries: Every time you fire a Cognis weapon you can re-roll the hit rolls should the enemy you are firing at be within half range.

Defiantly some interesting choices in here, but I feel the named Forge Worlds are just stronger choices.

See Also

New Adeptus Mechanicus 9th Ed Codex Review9th Edition Faction Focus: Adeptus MechanicusCodex Adeptus Mechanicus – 9th Edition: The Goonhammer ReviewWarhammer 40k 9th edition codex release dates

Stratagems

I was a little surprised by how many brand new stratagems are in here. I was expecting a lot to have been pulled from the previous Codex or Psychic Awakening Engine War.

We do have some returning however, in name and rules, such as the Binharic Override, which allows you to switch protocols on your Kastelan Robots for a CP, however they are locked in to that protocol. Machine Spirit’s Revenge also returns, for 1CP a Vehicle can automatically blow up instead of on a 6, causing mortal wounds.

We have some fantastic new Stratagems however, which I cannot wait to try out.

Whilst costly, how about this for a new combo!

• Pick a unit of Sicarian Infiltrators
• Use the Assassin Constructs strat for 1CP, which works on Sicarian key worded units. This gives them an extra attack should they charge, be charged or heroically intervene.
• Next use Machine Superiority for another 1CP, giving Skitarii key worded units +1 Strength.
• And finally for 1CP we have Chain-Taser Protocols, which makes Taser weapons cause two hits on a hit roll of 5+ instead of 6+
• Make your army Ryza for another attack on top of this!

Booster Thrust is a fantastic stratagem for Pteraxii units. At the end of the turn you can use this 1CP strat to take off again and leave the battlefield, allowing you to rejoin the game in the next turn using the normal rules for deep striking and setting up. Hilariously, this at the moment would allow you to bring down a unit of Pteraxii, do the deploy scramblers action, shoot, charge (should you wish), score at the end of the turn before disappearing back into reserves!

Skitarii Vanguard are great in this book, and one of the reasons I say this is because of the 1CP strat called Enriched Rounds. This allows Radium weapons to auto wound units (aside from Vehicles) on a 4+ to hit! Bearing in mind that Vanguard’s basic Radium Carbine are Assault 3 and when the target of the Tech-Priest Maniplus’ Galvanic Field gaining -1 AP, oh boy, that is tasty.

Decided to take a max unit of Vanguard to make the most of this? Then remember the Acquisition at all Costs 1CP strat, which auto passes Morale so long as the unit is within 6” of a objective.

We have access to 4 stratagems which allow you to dish out an extra relic and warlord trait, of which can also be given to a unit leader (such as an Alpha from a Skitarii Rangers unit).

Holy Orders

In Engine War GW introduced a new table of warlord traits called Holy Orders. These are back, but are no longer warlord traits and work a little differently.

They are now an upgrade for your Tech-Priests. Ranging from 25 to 35 points, these Holy Orders give your Priests some new rules.

The names of the Orders are the same, Genetors, Logi, Magi and Artisans, but the abilities are slightly different. When you upgrade to one of these you unlock a once per battle ability to lower the cost of a category selected stratagem by You also gain a progressive ability, which comes in two forms. The first form is the Intial Part, which can later in the game change to the Advanced Part. To go from Intial to Advanced your Tech-Priest has to perform an action, taking him out of action for a turn.

As an example we have the Genetors Holy Order:

• The once per battle 1CP reduction can be used on any strats under the Battle Tactic stratagems
• The Initial Part of the Progressive ability allows you to choose on Core or Kataphron Servitors unit, which allows any unmodified rolls of 6 to hit to wound automatically.
• Once you’ve performed the Activate Advanced Protocol action you swap the initial part to the advanced one, which for this Holy Order you can give one selected Kataphron or Servitors unit a 6+ FNP.

A favourite of Engine War was the Overloaded Safeguards ability from Magi, which gave exploding shooting hits on an unmodified of a 6. This is now the advanced part of Magi, so you would need to perform an action with your Tech-Priest to unlock this.

Warlord Traits

We now have access to two different Warlord Traits, one for your Tech-Priests, the other for the Skitarii (basically the new Skitarii Marshal).

Some great picks in here, starting with the Tech-Priest Warlord Traits:

• Masterwork Bionics: Your Warlord gains a 4+ invulnerable save, and also reduces incoming damage by 1 (to a minimum of 1 of course). Cawl, who is still the one and only special character within the Codex, has this.
• Necromechanic: The Master of Machines ability on the Tech-Priests data sheet heals 3 wounds to a Vehicle, instead of D3

We’ve got some strong choices for the Skitarii too, of which all allow you to pick a unit within 9” OR pick a unit on the battlefield which has a Data-Tether. This is a fantastic rule, and I hope we see the same for the Astra Militarum Vox Casters.

• Battle-Sphere Uplink: Don’t suffer the penalty for firing a Heavy weapon after moving or for a Assault Weapon after advancing.
• Programmed Retreat: Unit can fall back and still shoot (at full BS too!).

Relics

We’ve got a nice selection of Relics within this book, ranging from war gear to weapons.

One of my favourite picks is the Exemplar’s Eternity. This can be given to a Skitarii Marshall and gives him an aura of re-rolling 1s to hit and wound (they only have reroll wound rolls of 1 on there datasheet).

Temporcopia can be given to a character and allows you to select an enemy unit within 3”, preventing said unit from fighting in the combat phase until last.

Raiment of the Technomatyr gives the bearer a 5+ FNP and gives them the ability to choose a Core unit within 3”, allowing said unit to fire at full BS regardless of modifiers.

Chapter Approved Rules

As with all 9th Edition Codexes, the Ad Mech gain access to some of there own exclusive secondary objectives.

You can only select one, which is the same as the previously released 9th Edition Codexes.

Accretion of Knowledge nets you 3 victory points at the end of the battle for every model with a Warlord trait you’ve managed to kill, for every model with a Relic and every Vehicle destroyed with a wounds characteristic of 14 or more,

Hidden Archeovault on the other hand allows your opponent to pick an objective (although not one within there deployment zone). At the end of the battle round you secure 3 victory points if you control it, and 5 victory points at the end of the battle if you control it.

Crusade

Here at Sprues and Brews we LOVE Crusade, so I was stoked to read what Crusade rules the Adeptus Mechanicus would have. They haven’t disappointed!

First and foremost they have a series of agendas in which you can choose. When completing said agendas your units gain experience, and in one case, also secures some Archeotech. You can also gain Archeotech via a 3/5 RP Requisition.

What do you then do with this Archeotech, I hear you cry. Well, you use them to craft weapons and wargear!

The Archeotech comes in 4 flavours:

• Power Source
• Weapon Part
• Force Field Part
• Techno-arcana Part

Once you have acquired a Power source and one of the above other parts you can assemble a piece of equipment. The parts and equipment you craft is random, so you will need to roll D6s to see what you get.

For example, say I have acquired a power source and a weapon part. A spend 1 RP to assemble these together. I roll a D6 for my Power Source and get Spatial Alternator. I then roll another D6 for my weapon part and get Nanoshard Projector. This creates for me a Spatial Alternator Nanoshard Projector, which has the following stats:

12” Range, Pistol 3, Strength 5, -2 AP, Damage 2
Ability: Can only fire this weapon once, and each time you roll an unmodified 6 to hit you gain an extra hit
Alternator: If you inflict a wound, roll a D6. On a 4+ the unit which has lost a wound loses the Objective Secured special rule.

Aside from crafting your own gear you also have a host of exclusive Crusade relics and Battle Traits for when your units level up. You also have a table of available Weapon Enhancements.

A shout out to the Body Donor requisition, which allows a leveled up Tech-Priest to change his ‘body’ to another Tech-Priest (for example you may start with an Enginseer, who could swap his body to a Dominus). He keeps his experience points, Battle Honours and archeotech, but loses any Battle Scars he may have picked up. Very Ad Mech!

And so, we finally arrive at the datasheets.

I’m going to run through all of these and point out some of the key changes.

Belisarius Cawl: The only named character in the book, and he has undergone some changes. His stat line is unchanged, aside from his Solar Atomiser now does flat 3 damage, or D3 + 3 if within half range. Changes to Canticles means he losses his ability to change up and down Canticles, and instead he allows you to choose a Cult Mechanicus Core unit within 6” and pick a different Canticle, even if the Canticle has been used earlier in the battle. This changed Canticle affects both himself and the selected unit.

He no longer gives units within 6” all of the re-rolls to hit, which was to be expected. Instead, like a Space Marine Chapter Master, he picks a Core until within 6” and they can re-roll all hits.

Tech-Priest Manipulus: He can no longer boost advance and charge rolls of a selected unit. Instead he adds 6” to a units Galvanic, Radium or Arc Weapons and also gives them an extra -1 AP.

Tech-Priest Dominus: No major changes here really. He still gives you a re-roll aura of 1s to hit, as does Cawl. With the AP and range ability on the Manipulus and the ability to give re-roll hits and wounds of 1 onto a Marshall with the right relic (albeit only for Skitarii units) I do feel the old mainstay of the Dominus as your HQ choice is suddenly not an auto include.

Technoarcheologist: This is a new HQ choice using the Daedolous model. I’ll say it now, for those who have been looking for him in this book, the Daedolous is not in this book. Instead we have this new guy using his model.

He stops people deep striking within 12” of him and can buff a selected Kataphron unit, giving them the ability to perform actions like Infantry keyword units and allows a selected unit to use a ranged attack whilst performing an action. An odd one, as this model is not available on its own, and is only available in Warhammer Quest: Blackstone Fortress, which has now been discontinued.

This bucks the trend of Codexes only having models that you can buy. Surely this must mean we will get an individual release of this model in the near future.

For each Tech-Priest Dominus or Manipulus in your detachment you can include one of these in a detachment without taking up a HQ slot

Skitarii Marshall: The new kid on the block, and for me, an auto include. Similar to Space Marine Lietenants, he has a re roll wound rolls of 1 aura for Skitarii Core units. He also has an ability where he can select one Skitarii unit within 9” or any unit with a Data-Tether on the battlefield, and allows said unit to enjoy the active Doctrina without the negative effect.

Tech-Priest Enginseer: Once a cheap HQ unit to fill those Battalion slots, he’s now a serious addition to your army. This is down to his ability to select one Vehicle (excluding Kastelans) and allows them to add 1 to their hit rolls. Seriously good.

Same rule applies for this guy as the Technoarcheologist when building your lists.

Skitarii Rangers: There Galvanic Rifles are now Heavy 2, Strength 4 and with -AP as standard, cementing their role as back line defenders. They do have access to a strat that turns the Rifles into Rapid Fire weapons should you need to move them yet want to keep them hitting on 3+.

The big change here, which is causing a massive stir within the Adeptus Mechanicus community groups is the way you dish out special weapons. Previously, you could have a unit of 5 Rangers, 4 of which could have special weapons, such as the trusted Transuranic Arquebus. This can no longer be done.

Instead, a unit of 9 or less Rangers can choose just one special weapon. A unit of 10-19 can choose one of each special weapon (the previously mentioned Arquebus, Arc Rifle or Plasma Caliver) and for a max squad of 20 you can take 2 of each special weapon.

Games Workshop have done this to allow you to build your unit from the box without wanting to purchase extra bits from elsewhere. I can understand the change, but it does sting for those who have spent time and money creating squads full of special weapons.

Skitarii Vanguard: These are so good now, thanks to the many previously mentioned strats and some changes to the data sheet.

First and foremost, the humble Radium Carbine auto wounds on a unmodified hit roll of a 6, which is excellent. The Rad-Saturation rule, which previously dealt a -1 Toughness to any enemy units within Engagement range now also dishes out a -1 Strength too. Very powerful.

The above comments about special weapons also applies to squads of Vanguard.

Kataphron Breachers: These guys aren’t Core, which is a massive shame, but they have undergone some buffs.

For starters they now pack a 2+ save, whilst the majority of the weapons and been boosted. The Heavy Arc Rifles for example, are now flat 2 damage, boosted to damage 3 against Vehicles. Speaking of Vehicles, they will always wound Vehicles on a wound roll of a 4+ with this weapon.

Kataphron Destroyers: Again, no Core keyword here. These have also have a few tweaks, now coming with a 3+ save.

The Plasma Culverins now no longer kill a model when you roll a 1 when overcharged, instead they dish out a mortal wound to your unit. This is a much welcomed change.

Servitors: These haven’t really changed, and to be honest, really aren’t worth taking. Not when you have a plethora of much better stuff in the book.

Fulgurite Electro-Priests: Those funky disco-stick Electro-Priests have regained the ability to buff their invulnerable save once they have killed a unit, however it is now to a 4+ invulnerable save, again another change many Ad Mech players saw coming.

Corpuscarii Electo-Priests: Engine War gave these guys a very welcome strat that gave both the melee version and shooting version of their Electrostatic gauntlets -1AP. That strat is gone, but don’t panic, as it’s now on the datasheet! Huzzar!

Cybernetica Datasmith: There is only one change that we need to mention here, and it is one that will cause you to want to bring one of these guys along with your Kastelan Robots now.

They have a rule called Machine Sentience, of which is an aura. Any Kastelan Robot units within 3” gain the Core keyword. Since all of your rerolls require the Core keyword, this is huge.

They can still reprogram your robots, more on that shortly.

Sicarian Infiltrators: One of my favourite units in the Adeptus Mechanicus army have been boosted thanks to Taser Goads now being +2 Strength, -1AP. They also now have a rule called Neurostatic Interference which prevents enemy units within 12” from re-rolling hit and wound rolls. A must include in my armies going forward, especially when you consider the strats you can use on them.

Sicarian Ruststalkers: I really want to buy and use a unit of these guys, and they are much better in this new book, thanks to the fact every weapon they have has an AP value now (why they were AP zero before is a mystery, they are assassin robots!!) and the ability to increase there attacks and strength through stratagems.

They also now ignored all movement modifiers (aside from the Doctrina which has a movement downside) and ignore any negative modifiers for charging.

Serberys Raiders: No change here that I can see, aside from the fact they get Doctrinas (as they are Skitarii). Apologies if I’ve missed something here!

Serberys Sulphurhounds: Again no real changes, aside from like their Vanguard brethren they reduce enemy strength by 1 as well as toughness when in combat. Again, apologies if I’ve missed something here.

Pteraxii Skystalkers/Sterylizors: These were a fun and handy unit for deep striking anyway, but now thanks to the strat that allows them to be removed from the battlefield for a CP at the end of the turn makes them a very strong unit, not only for taking objectives but also for picking off units and characters that have strayed without the fear of retaliation.

Ironstrider Ballistari: Were good in the last book, and even better in this one. Cognis weapons for the Ad Mech are buffed versions of the Imperiums standard weaponry. The Ironstrider can take either a Cognis Autocannon or Lascannon, both of which are Assualt weapons. Not only that, but in the case of the Lascannon, does D3+3 damage. A reliable Lascannon, hurray!

Sydonian Dragoons: Likely to see these get some use again thanks to the strat that allows the taser lances to explode on 5s rather than 6s. Still a quick and dangerous opponent in combat.

Kastelan Robots: It is no shock to see these guys have gone through some changes. A mainstay in most Ad Mech armies, and whilst I still think people will use these a lot, they aren’t as insane as before.

The reason for the drop in insanity is the fact double shooting is dead. Instead, the Protector Protocol now takes the BS up one, to 3+ instead of 4+. They also have a new Protocol called Conqueror, allowing your robots to re roll charges and buffs the weapon skill up to 2+. Punchy robots are back, baby.

Speaking of which, you can now have one gun arm, and one fist arm, much like a Space Marine Dreadnought (Matt has said this for years that this should be a thing).

Finally, the guns on the Kastelans are slightly different. The Phosphor blasters on the arms are now called Kastelan Phospher Blasters. Still strength 6, but only -1AP, but with 2 damage per shot. The shoulder mounted Phosphor Blaster is -2AP, Damage 1.

Skorpius Disintergrator: The popular Belleros Energy Cannon is now strength 5, instead of 6. Still ignores line of sight though, so will continue to be a popular choice as it remains the only Ad Mech gun that can do that.

Onager Dunecrawler: A few tweaks here. The Neutron Laser is now a ridiculous strength 12, whilst the Twin Phospher Blaster option is now damage 2 per hit. Still love these tanks.

Archaeopter Transvector: When this transport flyers data sheet landed with Engine War, I was disappointed (as was many others) that it could only hold 6 models.

A clear fix would have been to increase the transport capacity right?

Instead, Games Workshop have added a new rule, called Combined Landing. In short, you can have two of these flyers, flying together, with a unit of up to 12 models split between the two flyers. This means you would have to disembak the contents of both at the same time so that the unit deploys in coherence.

Are people going to spend 220 points (plus actual money) on two flyers to transport a unit onto the battlefield? Probably not. I can imagine they thought it would make a cool rule, but realistically it just does not work.

Archaeopter Stratoraptor/Fusilave: Not an awful lot to report here, hence me grouping them together.

The Stratoraptor benefits from the changes to Cognis weapons, as it is armed with a Twin Cognis Lascannon. The Fusilave has kept its awesome bomb rules, allow you to roll a D6 for every model in a selected until you’ve flown over, dishing out mortal wounds on a 4+.

And that brings us to the close of this deep dive into the latest 9th edition codex, and it’s time for me to summarise my thoughts on whats hot and whats not:

Binary Solo!

• Skitarii Vanguard, backed up by a Marshall and or Manipulus. I intend to play around with a large unit of Vanguard with these two characters buffing the unit, as well as key stratagems
• Cawl is no longer an auto include. An odd choice you may think. Yes, he is still very good, but he doesn’t feel irreplaceable, and I do fancy trying some other list that don’t include him. I primarily play Mars, but would love to try some of the other Forge Worlds following the release of this book.
• Variety. Speaking of which, the customisation and differing Forge World Dogmas allow for a wide variety of different Adeptus Mechanicus lists. Want as very combat orientated list? Go for it. Want to castle up? Sure thing. Want a fast army that will be bossing board presence? No worries.
• Lots of Special Rules. Yeah its bookkeeping, but I’m loving all the different abilities and special rules the army now has.
• Crusade. I cannot wait to play with this army in Crusade!

Blue Screen

• Lots of Special Rules. 100% buying the data cards for the Ad Mech, as remembering what you need to do in the Command Phase, as well as what Canticle/Doctrina is in effect is going to take some keen memory skills. Also have to remember those keywords, as lots of stratagems are limited to certain keywords. Also, just being Core doesn’t mean you’ll always get the rerolls, as you have Cult Mechanicus Core and Skitarii Core, so be careful that your abilities are picking the appropriate units.
• Archaeoptor Transvector. Just increase the transport capacity. Combined Landing is a cool in concept idea, but just ins’t something you’ll see being utilized in battles.
• No Daedolous. A staple of lists before this book, now replaced with the weakest of the HQ choices. Expecting an FAQ which will stop the Daedolous being used in Matched Play games.
• Changes to Special Weapons for Rangers/Vanguard. I feel sorry for all those Ad Mech players who have spent time and money buying the parts to make lots of special weapons within there units, but I can understand why they have done so.

All in all, I’m very happy with the outcome of this book. I don’t think it is as powerful as say, the Drukhari, however in the right hands I think pro players could have a lot of fun with this book.

It features lots of cool options and customisation, and lets face it, the Adeptus Mechanicus have some of the most crazy looking units available in Warhammer 40,000.

Again, our thanks to Games Workshop for providing a copy of this Codex for us to review. Make sure you get your copy preordered!