The forces of the Adeptus Mechanicus currently have 7 Detachments, the terminology for subfactions come 10th Edition. This has marked a shift away not only from subfactions associated with given Forge Worlds (or Chapters, warbands, etc), but also towards a more sweeping shift in playstyle based on ones’ subfaction. After all, while you did get a few stratagems and an armywide buff, give or take, in 9th and prior, 10th’s Detachment system has divided armies up in wider-reaching ways, with Enhancements, Stratagems, & dedicated rules all coming into play. For 11th, this system is shifting once again—but not going away. Games Workshop is once again taking a stab at multi-Detachment armies, something that’s gone disastrously in the past, but is doing so with a new framework: Detachment Points. Every single Detachment in the game, plus ~70 new ones spread across all factions, will have an associated opportunity cost, and any player can pick & choose up to 2 whose total does not exceed 3DP. While the point totals for these hasn’t yet been made public, we can use a bit of deduction to take a stab at where the faction’s choices might settle, and how brand-new options could shake up the army’s choices.
Via Warhammer Community
First and foremost, what makes a Detachment worth 3DP? These are options that essentially don’t get to use the new system, meaning the designers would feel they’re strong (and versatile) enough on their own. Things like Space Marines’ Gladius come to mind, the Detachments we’ve seen in 10th to be successful at major tournaments, or for whom the term ‘generalist’ applies. The thrust of the new Detachment Point system is that Games Workshop feels they were unsuccessful in allowing skew lists that focused on small sections of armies to flourish; 10th was ‘The Terminator Edition’, and despite attending a half-dozen GTs and twice as many RTTs…I never once saw 1st Company Task Force.
This leads me to call out 2-3 Detachments from among Admech’s 7 options as being clear candidates for 3DP: Haloscreed Battle Clade, Skitarii Hunter Cohort, and arguably the new Eradication Cohort. The first two are easy, with SHC being the only game in town for competitive players until the first Grotmas, and Haloscreed being the defacto choice for competitive players once it debuted. Eradication Cohort is a bit of a wildcard, though, being both new and seemingly competent, although statistics at the end of the Edition are rarely accurate.
Part of the reason these 2.5 Detachments have been so successful is that they have a wide pool to pull from; SHC & Erad each incentivize the use of Skitarii-keyworded units—more than half our total range—and Haloscreed has not a single specification for its bread & butter buffs. Of course, that’s not to say Haloscreed doesn’t have a few core pieces, between a Kataphron brick with Sanctified Ordnance, and at least one full 10-man of Sicarian Ruststalkers, but that’s an organic choice made based on the synergies provided.
Where things get a bit more odd is our original Detachment, a spin on the now-defunct Rad-Cohort from Index, the Rad-Zone Corps. This is a generic Detachment, with no clear direction outside of ‘play Battleline’...something Admech is expected to do regardless, due to how Doctrina Imperatives are spread. It does have a wide array of options, yes, but it’s always played second fiddle to another choice, falling behind SHC after the Codex launched, and then Halo, and now Erad. It’s theoretically the lethality-focused complement to SHC’s defensive playstyle, and the movement tricks of Halo…but now that role is better done by Eradication Cohort. Rad-Zone Corps is in an odd place, where it does essentially nothing better than other options, so despite it being ostensibly generic, I’m going to call it the first of our 2DP Detachments.
Via Yeggi
Now, onto the weirdos. These are the hyper-specific options for players looking to skew, and play lists that only function in the context of their respective Detachments. I’m talking about Cohort Cybernetica, and my personal favorite, the Data-Psalm Conclave. Cohort Cybernetica is a shoo-in for 2DP, with its Detachment rule solely benefitting one singular unit, the Kastelan Robot brick. Its Enhancements & Stratagems broaden out a bit, helping anything with the Vehicle keyword, but Kastelans remain front-and-center. You’re expected to take 4-8 of these in a list for Cybernetica, and given no help is afforded to things like your Battleline, utility pieces, etc, you could in theory use that extra DP to spread the love out beyond just robots and tanks. For any Detachment that lacks buffs to hand out to half or so of a traditional 2,000pt list, it belongs in the 1-2DP field.
Case in point, Data-Psalm Conclave. Back in the day, Cult Mechanicus units (and Legio Cybernetica) were their very own Codex, with all the Skitarii models being separated out into Codex: Skitarii. Data-Psalm Conclave is a remnant of that ancient split, assisting an odd smattering of options, from Electro-Priests, to Kastelans, to Servitor Battleclade.
Via Reddit
Your oddball units that normally see niche play in other Detachments come home to roost here, and you’re expected to practically max out on things like Electro-Priests to extract maximum value from DPC. I’ve played this Detachment at essentially every tournament where I could justify it (as it uses some of my favorite units in the book, on top of having underrated rules)...but I’d be lying if I said it was ever the best choice for Admech. Most of the time, the units affected by the Detachment Rule, Benedictions of the Omnissiah, rarely exceeded 1,000pts. Of course, the contingent that did were primarily trade pieces, meaning it was preferred they be undercosted anyway, although it feels weird to justify versus something like Haloscreed. For the vast majority of people looking to jam Electro-Priests & Kataphrons, you’d simply take 1 max-size squad of either in Halo, and ignore DPC entirely. That said, if we only needed to spend 2DP on buffing up our Fulgurites, the rest of our points could go towards the other half of our force. For Detachments like Cybernetica & DPC, this system is a lifesaver, and it isn’t hard to see why!
Via JS Miniaturista
Admech does have one more Detachment though, and it’s so bad that not once has it topped a Grand Tournament since its debut, as far as I can see. I’m talking about Explorator Maniple. This ill-fated option asks you to sit on specific Objectives, or kill opposing units on them. The functionality of this is questionable, going into 11th, because Objectives as we know them are going away—they’ve been replaced by specified Terrain, and hiding units inside or toeing onto their Terrain Area (footprint) is the new way to play for Primary. The thing is, shooting at units inside of cover is already a tough order, so doing so with Explorator seems impossible given its relative lack of power.
I believe that unless it’s just forgotten, Explorator rests at either the rare 1DP, or gets a rewrite. It was clearly designed with 10th’s Objective setup in mind, with the intent to sit things like Skorpius Disintegrators on your home and fire off Belleros shots. Rerolling Wounds of 1 isn’t a rarity anymore however, and in fact Eradication Cohort provides that army-wide while you’re in Conqueror. Explorator looked bad before, but at present it’s laughable. We’ll either see its role shift to be a supplement for other skew Detachments like DPC & Cybernetica, or hopefully get a full retooling.
Via Reddit
With 70+ new Detachments coming though, each faction is likely getting 2-3 of their own; I expect these, like many do, to largely be Detachments designed at 1DP. Little niche add-ons to supplement skew lists, and not rock the boat of faction on the whole. Throwing my hat into the ring, I’d wager we’ll get a Servitor-specific 1DP option for Kataphrons & Battleclade, a more generic 1DP option to complement DPC & Cybernetica, and maybe a wildcard Xenarite option, that allows Admech players to really showcase those Necron-kitbashed models. With Mechanicus 2 around the corner, the faction’s looking more exciting than ever, and I can’t wait to show off what I’m doing with Thulia Ghuld & the Hastarii! Stay tuned, and we’ll just have to wait and see how things change for the faction in 11th.
Do your ideas about the current Detachments’ DP spread differ from mine? How so, and what do you hope to see from new Detachments? Can Explorator even function as-written with 11th’s new Objective Terrain setup? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below!
