What Admech Players can Learn from the 40K World Team Championships

The 40k World Team Championships are here, and the laity now has access to all the lists these professional players are bringing to one of Warhammer’s most prestigious events. Since 2006, this tournament has brought together the best minds the game has to offer, and we’ve seen the biggest names both get their starts—and secure their legacies—on this stage. While this year has seen a huge portion of teams bring armies like the Emperor’s Children, Dark Angels, & Chaos Daemons, 13 competitors have brought the army I’m most familiar with on the tournament level, the red-robed tech-adepts of Mars: The Adeptus Mechanicus. As a temperature check, Admech are in a weird spot at the moment, having received fairly minor changes in the most recent balance pass, with one of the biggest perceived buffs being to Haloscreed Battle Clade, newly receiving the Priority Assets Disposition. The shocker, however, is that but a single player has brought Haloscreed, and instead we’re seeing a different archetype emerge for Admech: Rad-Zone/Lords. Join me as we analyze the WTC lists, and how you can apply their lessons to your own!

Via Warhammer Community

First and foremost, the breakdown: 8 players are bringing Rad/Lords, 2 players Hunter Cohort/Lords, 2 players Cybernetica/Lords, and a single player Haloscreed, as described. What does this tell us? For starters, we can talk about what isn’t being brought, namely Eradication Cohort & Explorator Maniple, each for diametrically opposed reasons. Eradication Cohort is by a wide margin the least skill-expressive Admech Detachment, and it essentially provides training wheels to the army which are wholly unappreciated by top players; this may sound harsh, but I’ve been an Erad hater in 11th for good reason, and that stems from feeling trapped behind the childproof locks it places upon the army. Being the only Admech Detachment with Purge the Foe as its Disposition doesn’t help, as Purge is by a wide margin the worst choice for the army. Explorator, meanwhile, is the Detachment I’ve had the most success with in 11th thus far, but it’s also absent—why? I would chalk this up to Explorator being the Detachment that best exploits a skill difference between you and your opponent, with tools like automatic Lethal Lascannons, reactive re-embarks, & sticky on death. Opponents who don’t pre-plan to the extent they should can lose the game on the spot to one of your tricks, but the Detachment provides not a single proactive stratagem for your uses. It’s a reactive, passive playstyle which doesn’t excel into the aggressive armies of the current top tables.

Of course, the other thing of note on a macro level is the Dispositions being played, with 1 Recon, 3 Take and Hold, and the rest Priority Assets—no Purge or Disruption to be seen. This is of course because of two factors: Lords of the Forge’s Holy Avarice stratagem, and the Servitor Battleclade. If you don’t own the latter, I have terrible news, because across the board the average number of Battleclade taken exceeds 2, with >50% of lists taking two, and many Rad-Zone lists taking the full 3. These are an exceptional tech piece, frighteningly tough for their points, and a stand-out reason as to why Admech is so good at Priority Assets. Even so, you could always just shoot with something like a Manipulus-led Grav Cannon Destroyer brick in midboard, and action afterwards, as we’ve seen some lists do here. Cawl, Thulia, and the Clade are the non-Battleline you see across all lists, although the winds may be changing in terms of BL tax; normally, you’d see at least 2 in all lists, but for those reliant on Protector Doctrina for most of the name, such as Greece’s Rad/Lords list, only 1x Ranger is necessary. While most Rangers, we have seen Vanguard creep into Rad-Zone lists following their change to have equivalent points, which is cool to see! 

Via KTDash

In terms of trends, what’s hot right now? We’re seeing a huge rise in play for Technoarchaeologists, as while they’ve been written off as of late, being the cheapest way to apply the Tech-Priest keyword and fight off Chaos Daemons is massive. As this is a teams tournament, lists packing 1-3 Technos can select Daemons as their matchup sometimes, and absolutely shut that down; this appears to be the plan, and as an added bonus having either OC2 Hastarii or Battleclade helps you pretend they’re Battleline, and contest the midboard. Grav Destroyers are also seeing a huge rise compared to Plasma, as a way to hedge against Vehicle-heavy lists. You aren’t allowed to just toe on a Defiler when staring down Overwatch on 5+ Destroyers that wound on 2s, essentially. That’s the solve for current EC, and Technos are the solve for current Daemons, so what about the other unit on the rise: 10x Skystalker bricks in Rad/Lords? These are starting on the board, with the intent to walk up, receive the Battleline buff in Conqueror Doctrina, and spend 1 CP on Lethal Dosage. Coupled with Cawl’s Oath, you can fish for a frankly obscene number of AP1 Lethals, and scoot back behind cover afterwards. This particular path of play is a huge draw for Rad-Zone, and part of why it’s the largest contingent of Lords mixes at the WTC.

Via Reddit

What aren’t we seeing? Broadly speaking: Transports. Despite the Dunerider going down in points, Transports are absolute coffins on wheels for 1 wound models within, and not even players running Ruststalkers are on them to gain the extra 3” of movement at the start of the game. There’s 4 here total, and no list on more than 1. There’s also a lack of Kastelans, outside of a deeply weird 2-model unit in a Rad-Zone list…paying for Mobile, and not even running the flamer. The player is Andrea Guareschi, though, one of the best Admech pilots in the Italian scene, so I have to trust he’s cooked something up. No bots in Cybernetica though, nor Dragoons, with a single squad making it into one Rad-Zone list, but otherwise absent.

Onto something I’ve become a fan of in 11th though: Hastarii. These are seeing play exclusively as led units, either by a priest and/or Marshal, often to key off of some wild Enhancement. One of the Hunter Cohort lists is running Fusileers with Infiltrate, a double-led brick is in Rad-Zone with a Manipulus, and we’re even seeing Hastarii with Technoarchaeologists, as mentioned, as reasonably-cheap firepower with access to OC2 and midboard denial. 

Via Sprocket’s Small World

So, if you want to learn from the pros right now, what should you look to include in your lists? For starters, every list has at minimum 1 unit of Battleclade & Rangers, Cawl, Thulia, and 10/13 lists run a package of Ironstriders with Autocannons + Skorpius Disintegrators, usually 1 of 1, and 2 of the other (although it varies). Build out your list with Priest-led combos, whether Hastarii led by Manipulus/Technoarchaeologists or 6x Grav Kataphron Destroyers, and add in tech units to ensure you can score your Primary VP to taste. Voila, you have a WTC-standard Admech list. This is nothing extraordinary, but it’s very interesting to see how people are approaching the army on the world stage; the fact this is a teams tournament means you’re probably seeing more Grav & Technos than you would as a solo player at a GT, but in the current meta both seem like sound options for the core of a list. The bigger shock is that Haloscreed isn’t currently in favor, honestly.

Via @Omnipaints

Of course I’m a bit sad about Explorator once again being snubbed, but in truth any combo + Lords is going to be fine enough for competitive play. Following the WTC I fully expect Lords to receive some sort of small change, or perhaps a buff to the rest of our 1 DP options given they’re basically nonexistent at anything but a casual level. I’d also expect Thulia and/or Battleclade to go up in points, given their constant appearance, and Cawl exists in a sorry state as being necessary to provide Admech with a second army rule. I adore the faction, but it’s showing some wear on the duct tape which holds it together. Admech is coasting by on a Kill Team release, several erratas on its previous Codex (the worst of 10th), and a dream, but by the Omnissiah, I hope it manages to top this event! I’ll be rooting for the red team, alright.

How do you feel about the WTC lists for Admech? Have you implemented any of these tech choices into your own lists? What do you want to see from the faction going forwards? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below!