Kill Team Guide: What you need to know about Skitarii

Term has hit surprisingly hard this year, and it looks like I will working for three weeks straight without a day off again. I'm also on the late night shift for three quarters of that, so please forgive any disruption to the post schedule.

As a scientitst and geek I should be more into the Adeptus Mechancus than I am. I like the aesthetics of most of the models, but then the fluff pulls me right out of actually purchasing models. I'm not a fan of religious dogma, no matter how many 1s or 0s make up the hymns. It grates against my teacher's ethics to have unthinking discipline, and I find the idea of electronically enforced servitude utterly repellent.

But I really like the idea of Skitarii as more free thinking volunteers, out to better mankind's understanding of the universe by defending the engineers and architects who work for it. So I bend the fluff a little in my end to make it work for me. But let's talk about crunch instead.

The Troops

In discussing the value of Skitarii, or at least the regular soldiers, you must understand one thing; they're basically the same Troop, only differentiated by rifle.

Here are the common elements:

• Same stat-block
• 6+ Invulnerable save
• Access to Canticles
• Same access to Omni-spex and Data Tether
• Same access to special weapons (discussed later)
• Same Specialist choices

The difference is the following:

• Rangers have Galvanic rifles
• Vanguard have Radium Carbines and the Rad-saturation special rule

Rad-saturation reduces the Toughness of enemy models by 1 if they're within 1-inch of the model with this. It doesn't stack, but it evens out the Fight phase against higher toughness models. In practice it will rarely give you an edge, but will make your tin men less of a push over.

The main difference is in the gun they carry. Vanguard have the short range, Assault 3 low strength Radium Carbine, that does 3 damage on a wound of 6. Rangers have the 30-inch, Rapid Fire Galvanic rifles, that count as AP-1 on a wound of 6.

After a small (yet annoyingly lengthy analysis) of the damage output of each weapon, the Radium Carbine comes out on top. It out damages at short range, despite the lower strength, and although long range rifles might be more comfortable in 40K, they tend to be less useful in small Kill Team maps.

The Radium Carbine also does much better against multi-wound models, and making sure models fail Injury rolls thanks to the chance of higher damage output. The ability to fire and Advance also helps a great deal with getting off decent shots.

So with that in mind, and as they both have the same points cost, you'd think I'd only be recommending you take Vanguard. Well no. Because you can have better density of Wargear by splitting your Kill Team between the two. I'm not suggesting you field all Gunners with plasma calivers, although that could be fun, but you will want both an Omni-spex and a Data-tether. As listed, Vanguard and Rangers can take either of them not both. By taking both squads you can equip both.

Which model carries what Wargear is largely your choice. It's tempting to put your Data-tether on a back field Sniper, however two of the AdMech tactcs become much better if they're near models with Data-tethers. As a rule of thumb I would favour Vanguard over Rangers, simply because they have a slight advantage if caught in combat thanks to Rad-saturation.

Special Weapons

Arc Rifle

A no cost upgrade for the gunner, that makes your shots more powerful. If you're strapped for points this is a good upgrade, and doesn't need any Specialisation to make it workable. Solid choice, and scales nicely up into 40K as a cheap mulit-purpose weapon. It's not the monster anti-tank weapon it used to be, but hits hard for its price.

Transuranic Arquebus

AKA, the Elelphant Gun. It's a cross between an Autocannon and a Sniper rifle, and doesn't suffer any penalties for shooting at long range. It is also the longest range weapon in the game, dealing mortal wounds on a 6+. Pair with a Demo-specialist for the best results (if you could since AdMech apparently know nothing about explosives...), but keep in mind you will need to stay still.

Plasma caliver

Pretty much an auto-take, and a match made in heaven with the Sniper Specialist. 2 shots which wound marines on 2+ with 2 damage and all but ignoring power armour is just great. Keep in mind that this is not as good as in 40K, since you'll only be safely firing these at 9-inches away. Still, you don't have to overcharge, and it'll still work nicely for you.

All the AdMech special weapons are solid choices, and even the arc rifle is a decent upgrade.

Melee weapons for Alphas

I'd only recommend putting a melee weapon on the Vanguard Alpha, the Rad-saturation rule helping to bring targets into easier to hit bands. The power sword is the more powerful choice, but I have to admit a special fondness for the taser goad. The arc maul under performs against both, on average once you take into account the taser goads special ability. It will be much more consistent, and that's perhaps what you need in Kill Team. However, both the power sword and arc maul are free, compared to the taser goads exorbitant 1 point.

You lose range firepower, and picking up a special pistol. In Kill Team there's no point in not taking a special pistol (since they cost no points), and I recommend the Arc Pistol. It tends to hurt more when you need it to; in the melee with Rad Saturation in effect.

Suggestions

• Take two units of 5 Rangers and 5 Vanguard, upgrading one of each to Alphas
• Load up the Rangers with the Arquebus and Arc Rifle
• Give one Vanguad a plasma caliver
• Give an Omnispex to a Ranger
• Give the Data Tether to a Vanguard
• Realise you're way over points and start again.

Honestly there are a lot of combos to try out with the Skitarii's wargear alone, before you even get into the Specialisations. Have fun working out which works best for you!

Until next time.

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