With little opportunity to argue an exception, the ranks of the Adeptus Mechanicus have been 10th edition’s most-changed army. Certainly its peers have received sweeping changes, such as Sisters & Genestealer Cults insofar as to how they manage their internal resources, but from a raw numbers perspective Admech leaves its players guessing. That is similarly true in the most recent balance pass, and while it’s certainly a net gain for the faction, I’m personally a bit more mixed on it than most. Without question, Admech is going to be posting better numbers, after having dropped to a reported 38% winrate the previous weekend, but the touch-ups only serve to further an issue the army has had since the edition began. Let’s dive in, and talk about that, as we sift through the new way of playing Admech this fall.
Via Greenstuff World
Before anything else, we need to talk about the must-take of the season: Belisarius Cawl. Cawl previously sat as a 135pt Epic Hero that was probably in every list, not because he had splashy abilities or some insane damage profile, but rather because he was simply the ‘best’ Battleline one could take in a vacuum. Given the army’s core mechanic centers around surrounding ones’ forces with Battleline to spread holy wifi, Cawl was great as a beefier living router than our normal 10-man infantry squads of Vanguard & Rangers. That’s changed, and keeping to Games Workshops’ push to make named, lore-critical characters feel important, Cawl went up a massive 40 points, but received a few crucial buffs.
Before looking at the big one, it is important to note that his gun is far more consistent now, and can actually punch holes in Knights with some dedicated fire. In addition, his cover changed back to Stealth, as was the case in Index era, and as Battleline he provides +1OC in his aura, a very relevant buff for Electro-Priests going to OC2.
Via Reddit
I’m burying the lede, however, because unless something has gone apocalyptically wrong, you’ll be hiding Cawl as best you can, and jamming his Invocation of Machine Vengeance. This previously provided an aura of reroll 1s to hit, which did come up especially around Disintegrators during a tankfight, but now it does so much more. Played rules-as-intended, this gives Admech…Oath of Moment. Not the +1 to wound version, but the normal ‘pick a target and reroll hits against it’, armywide that turn. It starts in your Command Phase, which is a bit annoying for timing going second with Overwatch, but it cannot be overstated how critical this is. In an instant, Protector builds of Admech vanished in an instant. Breachers, our previous source of rerollable damage, evaporated into the aether, now being overcosted. And, annoyingly, the previous army identity from before the codex emerged from the henhouse—let’s talk about Chickens.
Via Coolminiornot
A lot of our previous assumptions about Admech math now are probably wrong with Cawl’s new iteration, especially given both forms of Ironstrider guns received Twin-Linked. This means you can park Lascannons or Autocannons in front of a threat, and reroll both hits and wounds. Notably, the Disintegrator still has a place even with the current absurdity of Chickens, as you won’t always be shooting at your chosen target and it’s a solid all-comer tank (which makes sense, given it’s functionally a Space Marine Predator). Still, the math is such that in something like Skitarii Hunter Cohort, massed Chickens may even outcompete the Disintegrator altogether, something that has literally not yet occurred in this edition. In a similar vein, even with the mild buff, Onagers outcompete neither chickens nor dissies on the spreadsheet, it truly can never be crabs as the pick. I cannot stress how potent the pairing of Twin-Linked and Cawl’s Oath can be, and it’s enough for a brick of Ironstriders to pick up basically anything they look at, something Admech previously had issues with.
Via Reddit
Beyond that, both versions of the Sicarians received new profiles, with the Power Sword and Razors each getting buffs, but math suggests that neither of these are actually worthwhile, given they also buffed the Taser to a base AP1. It’s some solace, because absolutely nobody was going to build more Sicarians with these garbage alternate loadouts. It is entirely viable to run more Infiltrators now, however, as their Tasers suddenly start feeling a lot better at AP1, doubly so if you’re in Haloscreed where you can slap Crit 5+ on that profile…potentially on top of rerolls from Cawl.
The lethality against any one target each turn is going to feel very far above the curve, and in an army where lethality was previously an unfamiliar word, I imagine we’ll all have to adapt to this new world of picking something to fell each turn.
What’s gone unmentioned, however, is my own personal flavor of Admech: The Data-Psalm Conclave. These keyworded models went entirely untouched by this update, and Breachers, previously a reasonable source of anti-tank, likely got worse following the changes. Beyond that, this was the one detachment that actually managed to circumvent the army’s lack of lethality, so now Cawl feels like overkill, on top of being significantly more expensive. On the whole, Admech got better, but with respect to the other Detachments, my darling in DPC got worse. Instead, it’s now a race to the top between Skitarii Hunter Cohort packing 12+ Chickens and Sicarian bodies, or Haloscreed doing roughly the same. These were buffs to units that all saw play already, leaving underplayed pieces like those from Data-Psalm to rot, victims of a shakeup of internal balance.
Via Etsy
Of course I’m extremely excited to see where the army goes from these changes, but at the same time, my little slice of the pie tastes a lot less sweet. I find the fact that GW’s balance hit squarely on units seeing play in Skitarii Hunter Cohort signals that they want the army to not merely do well, but top events; it’s difficult to get a feeling as to why they’d hone in on making the good stuff better otherwise.
With that being said, how have you reacted to this dataslate? On top of changes to Admech, we’re also seeing more sweeping alterations like the removal of Challenger Cards from tournament play, which greatly favors jail lists like we so often pilot. Now that the dust has settled, what else in Admech needs a buff? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below!
