The new datasheets for the Adeptus Mechanicus release arriving in Eye of Terror: Reign of Iron have been revealed, and that means it's finally time to see what new tools have been added to the servo-harness of the Imperium's most peculiar faction. First and foremost, some background—while I'm no Siegler, I've got a half dozen RTT wins under my belt in 10th edition for Admech, not to mention a couple GT top placements. I'm by no means a professional, but for my chosen detachment (Data-Psalm Conclave, and to a lesser extent, Haloscreed Battle Clade) I have enough experience to provide what I hope to be well-measured opinions on the new models. I've got my niche in the faction, and while I've generally erred to the Cult Mechanicus half of the army, there's plenty of reasons to consider alternate paths of play with these new kits. With that preamble out of the way, let's talk about what Thulia Ghuld and her Hastarii bring to the table.
Source: Warhammer Community
Let's start with the less exciting reveals: The Hastarii. Both the Fusileers & Exterminators suffer from two shared issues, being that they're stuck in 5s and cannot double up like Sicarians or Pteraxii, and their side-arms are weirdly...reversed. The Fusileers are meant to be your longer-ranged, anti-vehicle variant, sporting what are essentially Genestealer Cults' Mining Lasers, but their side arm is a pitiful Phosphor Blaster, a profile we've seen and shrugged at since the start of the edition.
Meanwhile, the Exterminators are chaff-clearing machines, ruining hordes of 2 Wound infantry...but sport a secondary Arc Blaster with Anti-Vehicle 4+ and Dev Wounds. This to some extent plays into the Admech identity as the faction where any given unit could be pushed to cover any given role, with the Doctrinas, but here feels like the weapons are counter to the intended role. On that topic, against Infantry, Exterminators get Sustained Hits 1, a very welcome tool, and Fusileers get Ignores Cover against Vehicles & Monsters. The problem is of course that their side-arms...won't be fired at the targets for whom they get their bonuses, meaning they'll feel doubly bad.
However, this isn't the end of the world, if the main guns are costed appropriately for their intended targets. Fusileers specifically could still have a role, as the main way to deliver Lascannon-level Strength across the board, through Ruin walls. One of the few weaknesses of things like the Disintegrator & Ironstriders is that, as vehicles, they need to maneuver around terrain in cramped layouts. This can be fine on GW layouts, but for WTC & UTC? It can be a struggle to find firing lanes where they can truly unload. There's another niche for Fusileers specifically in Skitarii Hunter Cohort; you can Infiltrate a block of 5 Fusileers alongside a Marshal, and if you lose the roll-off, Scout them safely 1.1" behind a Ruin wall. It's a bit expensive, sure, but can often mean you get to shoot a mid-size Vehicle like a Vindicator off the board turn 1, and the risk to the unit doing nothing is minimal. In a world where SHC is approaching "appropriately costed"—a term it's not known in 10th—that's a welcome idea. For the Exterminators, though, the story is less rosy.
Via The Tabletop Alliance
Admech just doesn't have issues killing MEQs, "Marine Equivalents" 2W Infantry has been a faction specialty since the first big fix to Doctrinas, and now that Chordclaw Ruststalkers are D2 that's been made painfully clear. Even in the more niche detachments like Data-Psalm, we have Fulgurites to fill that role, so what do they do better than anything else? The short answer is...nothing, unless their points are too good, or they're specifically good in the upcoming Admech detachment, in Reign of Iron. If they're undercosted, that's a nightmare scenario and means you're likely running 2-3x5 until they get nerfed back to being bad, and if they're appropriately-costed or worse, you'd need to ask if they're better than the hyper-mobile blenders that are Ruststalkers. If they're good in the new Detachment, that'd be awesome, but likely cordons them off to just that playstyle. Not the end of the world, speaking as someone who owns 50 Electro-Priests & 29 Battleclade (every weird build has someone rooting for it) but you'd really need to be a Hastarii fan to make it work. In short, their best fate is being a niche but potent piece in the new detachment, and their worst fate is being begrudgingly good and undercosted before the hammer of balance smites them. Or, they could just be mediocre.
Via Warhammer Community
I know what we're all here for though: Thulia Ghuld, the second-ever Epic Hero for Admech. Contrary to some opinions I've already seen, I am fully sold on her. Her chassis is essentially just Cawl again, T8, 10W, 2+/4++, but she exchanges Cawl's armywide buffs for single-unit ones. In your Command Phase, you get to give herself, or a Skitarii unit, Advance+Charge, both Doctrinas, or Retreat+Shoot+Charge. Beyond that, she packs a Damage 3 Strike profile in Melee, a solid gun, and some anti-vehicle Mortal Wound output. Oh, and Lone Op within 3" of an ally...and she can breach walls. In SHC, she can give a single brick of Ruststalkers Adv+Charge to mimic Halo, which is likely her main use case outside of the hypothetical new detachment...but in Data-Psalm she's basically just old Cawl, which is something the Detachment has been yearning for since he became an expensive armywide rules tax.
Imagine, if you will, 8" move, Adv+Charge, 7A/S11/-3/3, with +1 to Wound for 1CP. Bask in that. If Thulia is 170pts or less, DPC is going to be thriving following this release, and even above that, we don't really mind given the list has lacked sources of Damage 3 following the overcosting of Breachers. Not to mention, she's quality Anti-Tank, and even Anti-Knight if you get her into melee. She might be the grandmother to the Skitarii, but it's the Cult Mechanicus which likely sees her as a new savior. I ran the numbers, and DPC Thulia easily clears a Gladiator chassis on the charge, or 3 TEQs, which isn’t even covering her shooting or special ability, both of which threaten Vehicles at medium ranges. In total, she’s a house, and feels very much like old Cawl, as a fairly mobile trade piece with Lone Operative, that you could comfortably trade up in most circumstances. I’d love to see her around the 165pt mark, but there’s worlds where she skews maybe 10pts down, or up to 30pts up, we just don’t know. Games Workshop’s point allotment for Admech has been a little off-kilter this edition, so it’s anyone’s guess as we move into 11th.
As for the two builds of Hastarii, the Fusils costing 100-110pts would feel great as an alternative to Ironstriders for folks looking to breach walls with Lascannon profiles, but the Exterminators are another story altogether. They have the problems of early 10th Edition Admech, where the rules themselves are so anemic that you’d really only see them if the points were too low; to that end, I think a realistic point total for them is something like 95, but they’d really have to be closer to 70/75pts per unit to be considered. The more I think about it, the more I wonder how they’d look jumping out of a Dunerider (or even Archaeopter, if you want to be funny) and blasting away a mid-sized Vehicle with ~9 Dev Wounds, before chunking out Marines in the same shooting phase. That’s probably not good, of course, but what do you actually use these for otherwise? Cracking light Transports and the models inside are basically the speciality, and we have units which do so already, unless I’m missing something. The short answer is, you will be seeing Thulia (and plenty of her), and the Hastarii depend radically on their point costs. Hope for the best, prepare for the worst.
How do you feel about the brand-new rules we saw shown off? What points are you hoping for, once they’re revealed? How would you have designed these models’ rules? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below!
