The fifth day of GW’s Christmas cavalcade of new Warhammer 40k detachments gives a boost to the cyborg warriors of the Adeptus Mechanicus, with the Haloscreed Battle Clade joining the five existing detachment options from the Admech’s codex.
Revealed via GW’s Warhammer Community site on Thursday, this aggressive new Warhammer 40k detachment is fairly complex, but adds some powerful tools and potential flexibility for the AdMech. GW is going to release new detachments for all the Warhammer 40k factions before the month ends, and it’s the Necrons‘ turn on Friday, December 6, according to WarCom.
The Adeptus Mechanicus – a faction of technology-worshipping, part-robot soldiers jacked into a control network called the Noosphere – have always been a high skill army that relies on carefully applying buffs to your relatively fragile troops to pump out overwhelming damage. This new detachment leans hard into that by letting you mentally override specific parts of your army, giving them temporary upgrades at just the right time to maximize damage.
As usual for Warhammer 40k 10th edition, you get one core detachment rule (and this one is a doozy); four Enhancements to buff characters; and six unique Stratagems. We’ll break down the new rules here, and explain how they work in clear, de-rules-lawyer-ified English.
Detachment Rule – Noospheric Transference
Like many AdMech rules, the Haloscreed Battle Clade’s Noospheric Transference detachment rule is a crunchy, multi-part affair that takes some understanding – but its effects seem pretty powerful in exactly the areas AdMech often need some help.
Each turn, you’ll pick one to three units in your army (one for smaller Incursion games; two for regular ~2000 point Strike Force games; and three for massive Onslaught games) and give them each one buff of your choice until your next command phase. Each unit you pick also gains the Halo Override keyword until your next command phase – which interacts with your new Stratagems to unlock extra combos.
There are four ‘override abilities’ to choose from:
- Electromotive Energisation – plus two inches to the unit’s move.
- Microactuator Bracing – plus one to Toughness for the unit.
- Predation Protocols – the unit can advance and declare a charge.
- Muted Servomotors – the unit gains the Stealth 40k ability, meaning it can’t be shot at by enemy units more than 12″ away.
Remember that these effects stack with the AdMech’s Doctrina Imperatives army rule.
At first glance, this is a tasty core to the detachment, offering targeted fixes to the AdMech’s weakest stats: mobility and toughness. It’s also notable for flexibility: on any given turn, you could use it to protect your valuable back-line guns; push aggressively up the field; run damage control on a vulnerable unit; or a combination. Coordinated well with your choice of Doctrina Imperative (and the new strats), this could really give your opponent things to worry about.
Enhancements
Transoracular Dyad Wafers – 30 points
Can only be given to a Cybernetica Datasmith. If your datasmith is leading a unit of Kastelan Robots, the unit gains:
- The Doctrina Imperatives ability
- The Halo Override keyword
But it can’t be given any of the Noospheric Transference buffs.
Locking out the ability to use Microactuator Bracing to give Kastelan Robots +1 Toughness makes this less exciting than it initially seems, but it’s still a very powerful buff to a generally unloved unit.
Giving those campy 50s robots of death access to the shooty Protector Imperative or fighty Conqueror Imperative makes them a damn sight more useful. And adding the Halo Override keyword makes them even better by opening them up to the new Eradication Protocols and Guided Retreat strats (see below). Well worth rolling out your robots again.
Cognitive Reinforcement – 35 points
Cannot be given to a Cybernetica Datasmith. The character’s unit gets both the Conqueror Imperative and Protector Imperative buffs at the same time.
This is the strongest new choice, allowing you to take a chunky unit (most likely Kataphron servitors of the shooty Destroyer or fighty Breacher variety) and make them better in almost every way, for the whole game. Beware, though, as it’ll put a big target on their cybernetic backs.
Sanctified Ordnance – 10 points
Models in the bearer’s unit add an extra six inches to the range of their ranged weapons, and get to re-roll all Hazardous tests.
This is a nice, cheap upgrade to some of your gunline units with hazardous weapons – but range isn’t really something you need help with, and it’s not as impressive as other Enhancements.
Inloaded Lethality – 15 points
Can only be given to a Tech-Priest Dominus or Tech-Priest Manipulus. The bearer’s melee weapons get 3 extra attacks and plus one to damage.
Easily the weakest of the bunch, as you really don’t want to be endangering your AdMech characters by getting into melee scraps – but a nice narrative choice if that’s what you’re into.
Stratagems
Eradication Protocols – 1 CP
Used in the shooting or fight phase, this lets a single unit re-roll ones to wound that phase – and, if it has the Halo Override keyword, it also re-rolls all ones to hit.
Simply delicious. AdMech are primarily a shooting army, and anything that gives a reliable buff here will have an outsized impact. Combine it with a Halo Override, and your unit’s re-rolling ones to hit and wound, a serious winner for 1CP.
Targeting Override – 1 CP
Used in the shooting or fight phase, this lets a single unit treat all unmodified hit rolls of 5+ as a Critical Hit (instead of just sixes as normal)
This is another absolute banger. From the Tech-priest Manipulus’ Transonic Cannon to the Serberys Raiders’ Galvanic Carbine, loads of Admech weapons have Devastating Wounds, so popping this on a unit doubles your chances of dealing out mortal wounds on the regular.
Neural Overload – 1 CP
Used in your movement phase, this has two possible effects:
- You can give one additional unit one of the Noospheric Transference override abilities for this turn, over the normal limit.
- You can give an already overridden unit a second override ability for the turn – but it suffers D3 mortal wounds as a cost.
This is a workhorse, multi-use stratagem you’ll find yourself using a lot, simply to get more use out of your core detachment rule. It’s nothing explosive – but one more buffed unit could be the difference between making a play work, and fizzling out. The option to double up on overrides at the cost of taking d3 mortals is a nice, swingy narrative option, too, if you want to push your luck one one key unit.
Aggressive Impulse – 1 CP
Used in the movement phase on a single Skorpius Dunerider transport before it has moved, this allows units embarked in the transport to disembark after it has moved, and still declare a charge.
Traditionally, Admech aren’t great at getting into fights, meaning their super cool melee Skitarii (the Sicarian Ruststalkers) are usually a bit of a damp squib. This strat changes all that, allowing you to zip your sword guys up the field in a hovercraft, hop out, and charge into a vulnerable target.
It’s not going to be a core tactic for most forces, but if you love your Ruststalkers and have been itching for a way to use them to harrass enemy lines, this finally gives you that option.
Guided Retreat – 1 CP
Used in your movement phase after one of your units has Fallen Back, this has two effects:
- That unit can still shoot and declare a charge this turn.
- If that unit has the Halo Override keyword, it can re-roll Desperate Escape tests.
Easily the strongest strat here, this is extremely powerful for 1CP. Combined with the Conqueror Imperative (or even both Imperatives, if your unit’s character has the Cognitive Reinforcement enhancement), plus the +1 Toughness Halo Override, this could give you a horrendously strong counterpunch.
Analytical Divination – 1 CP
Used in your opponent’s movement phase after one of their units has moved, advanced, or fallen back, this allows you to pick one of your units within nine inches of said enemy unit, and make a free move with it, of:
- D6 inches if it doesn’t have the Halo Override keyword.
- A full six inches if it does.
This is a pretty simple, useful tool to manage your positioning – most likely to back off from an impending charge, or potentially nudge your unit onto a nearby objective. Always handy!
Summary
Focused as it is on versatility rather than one dedicated, powerful strategy, this detachment is unlikely to unseat any competitive meta choices. But, in regular play, it seems like a treat for lots of Admech players, offering some satisfying, crunchy tactical combos, and opportunities to field some units and strategies we haven’t seen much of lately. I don’t play AdMech, but I’m still intrigued to see some of these combos go off on the table!
You can download the Haloscreed Battle Clade detachment PDF from GW right now, alongside the Tyranids’ Warrior Bioform Onslaught, the Dark Angels’ Lion’s Blade Taskforce, and the Death Guard’s Flyblown Host PDF.
In the meantime, you can check which armies are getting new rules next with our guide to upcoming Warhammer 40k codex release dates – and stay up to date with daily news by following Wargamer on Google News.
Source: Wargamer
