Warhammer: What Admech Needs in the New Matched Play Season

From a statistical point of view, being a servant of the Omnissiah in 10th edition 40k has been a rough one.  First launching with a lukewarm index, to a codex that both made the army more expensive in real-world dollars (and worse on the battlefield), the point of light for the faction has been its soft relaunch with the updates to Doctrina Imperatives and the Haloscreed Battle Clade.  That being said, as someone who’s leapt feet-first into the faction for my re-entry to 40k, it’s been incredibly rewarding to pilot, and I wouldn’t choose any other army in the grimdark future.  Still, with the knowledge that a new Matched Play season is on the horizon, and a Munitorum Field Manual/Balance Dataslate is sure to follow, I wanted to take some time to go through realistic options for increasing Admech’s playability as we move into Chapter Approved 2025-26.  This also includes some more speculation on the new Servitor Battleclade, and how it could impact the faction going forward.

Via Warhammer Community

The bitter pill one first needs to swallow is that the data we do have regarding Admech is rather shallow—aside from the ‘fake’ factions of Imperial Agents and Deathwatch (Sorry, players of those factions), Adeptus Mechanicus has the fewest recorded games available to review.  Currently sitting at a ~46% winrate, it’s in the lower third of armies, but crucially, its peers like Black Templars & Thousand Sons will have brand-new codices that are likely to buff those numbers up.  So, with armies at a similar winrate unlikely to stay there, and potent books like new Death Guard taking the meta by storm, what’s Admech’s answer to this simmering flaw in their design?

In an ideal world, it isn’t simply getting changes to their points.  While everyone has different means for playing Warhammer, it’s no secret that part of Admech’s issue comes down to its difficulty of play, and high cost of models.  If you wanted to play the faction prior to Haloscreed at a high level, you were looking at ~50-70 Skitarii, 30+ Pteraxii, and ample Ironstrider chassis, all before looking at things like transports or actual damage pieces.  As someone who historically loves horde armies, and has the means to play them, this doesn’t bother me, but at the same time it’s worth addressing.

Via Warhammer Community

A lot of the most dollar-per-point models in Admech just so happen to be its worst, such as the beloved Kastelan Robots, or Onager Dunecrawler (due to being in bundle boxes).  I would start there, by perhaps incentivizing the use of Kastelans with some sort of buff to its datasheet, and reduction in the cost of Datasmiths.  Personally, I find that mass Kastelans is not necessarily something that results in good play patterns, but because you’re functionally taxed via the Datasmith for the unit, it being locked to them and costing as much as it does is a bit ridiculous.  A single brick of 4 Kastelans is an extremely fun hammer for the midboard, and it would be fantastic to see its adoption via the Transoracular Dyad Wafers enhancement in Haloscreed.  To a similar end, the Onager Dunecrawler kind of can’t get cheaper for what it does, as it sits on an absolutely monstrous 130mm base, and in a few deployments there isn’t a place to put one outside of a cross-board sightline.  It would be fantastic to see some of their guns get a buff, or if not that, perhaps a point cut purely on the basis of being a Skitarii buff piece.  At ~135 points, you might consider the Onager purely for its role as a T10 vehicle that blocks a whole alley of play.

Via 40k Stat Center

Looking at the data behind the Detachment playrates, however, one other avenue of attack is by buffing the lesser-played options.  Aside from Haloscreed & Hunter Cohort, you’re left with insignificant data even for a faction with as little play as Admech.  Helping Rad-Zone’s Detachment Ability actually have some punch to it (perhaps making it D3+1 Mortal Wounds), or making Explorer Maniple’s objective rules more lenient would be great, but what I’m most interested in is the Data-Psalm Conclave’s potential.

It’s no secret that I adore this detachment, and if you’ve read any of my prior articles on the subject, you’ll know I have strong feelings about Electro-Priests.  Dropping the point cost on the Dominus (again) would be a great start, but what you really need is a Battleline option that has the Cult Mechanicus keyword, as to key more of your units off of the detachment rule in the first place.  Enter, the new Servitor kit coming out in Kill Team: Typhon.

Via Warhammer Community

The Servitor Battleclade is likely comprised of 6 Combat Servitors + 2 Gun Servitors, though whether the Servitor Overseer will be an independent character or attached to the unit profile is anyone’s guess.  Within it, however, you’re looking at a variety of the weapons we see already on Kataphrons: Phosphor Blasters & Cognis Flamers on the Combat Servitors, and the crown jewel, the Heavy Arc Rifle on at least 1 Gun Servitor.  Furthermore, there even appears to be the option of an Arc Claw, which may mean you can actually kit out the unit further.

If this ends up being a Battleline unit, not only would it provide non-Skitarii options for something like the Data-Psalm, but also powerful flex pieces for when you need your Doctrina Imperative buffs but can’t afford more Skitarii (Either in points, or dollars).  The army’s damage, piddly as it is, falls off a cliff without the extra AP from Conqueror Imperative, and because DPC only buffs Cult Mechanicus, you’re probably only getting your Detachment ability on half of your total models, if that.  These are coming out soon, likely sometime in June at the end of the Quarter, and the potency of DPC hinges on them being competent…or simply more point cuts to Electro-Priests.  Making them get Battleline would also just flat-out fix the Detachment as well, albeit in a clunky way.

Via Warzone Miniatures

One other consideration for Admech’s playability comes in the form of its Kataphrons; we’ve seen Destroyers see play for the first time in the edition, taking 2nd place at the Ozcon GT in an otherwise traditional Haloscreed list, and Breachers remain a good unit that is just a hair too expensive.  In order to take a Breacher brick, for reference, you’re paying the price on a Knight Gallant if you include the necessary Tech-Priest Manipulus.  That’s out of the realm of feasibility to dedicate about a fifth of your points to one block that dies to a stiff breeze, and Destroyers have been touted as an alternative solely on the basis that they do Breachers’ job worse…but well enough for the points.  If either of these units crept down in points, the lethality available to the army would be far less easy to ignore.

Ultimately, I don’t mind Admech being an army that intends to win on the points game, as our ability to play for both Primary and Secondary is tremendous.  It is, however, part of the undesirable skill curve that comes with the faction that you have few good options to point at an opposing unit in the midboard, and see it deleted.  Fingers crossed we see the Cult Mechanicus half of the army get the love it deserves, for that reason.

Via Mordian 7th Regiment

Per the leaks, the new Dataslate could be out as soon as Thursday of this week!  I think Admech has more play than it gets credit for, especially with lists tailored to expected matchups like Death Guard!  How have you been playing Admech?  What would you want to see in a new Admech detachment?  I’d love to hear about your thoughts in the comments below!