Mustering for Vigilus - Medge's Adeptus Mechanicus Introduction

New Year, New Army...

That's a phrase that gets thrown round a lot this time of year, especially when commencing a new Campaign/ Tale of Four Gamers.

And I'd be lying if I said I've never said it...

In fact, last year during our Age of Sigmar Tale I started not one, but two brand new armies to complete my Destruction army (both Beastclaw Raiders and Ironjaws).

But NOT this year! This year I'm committing to being sensible (new years resolution I'm sure won't make it past March!) and as part of that I'll be revisiting a small project I started nearly two years ago - Adeptus Mechanicus.


We've decided as a group to build Imperial Armies for Vigilus, aiming to get 1000 points within the next 6 months, after which we'll head to a doubles tournament somewhere. I've got a number of partially completed projects that I could have picked up (Ultramarines pre/ post Primaris, Blood Angels pre/ post Primaris, Grey Knights and AdMech), but with my doubles partner Neil focusing on Primaris I've wanted to go with something a little cheaper (in points) and a little bit different from Space Marines.

Imperial Guard have dominated the meta-game in recent tournaments (pre-Chapter Approved 2018), and whilst I want to do something more competitive than last years Destruction army, the Loyal 32 just don't appeal to me.
Sisters of Battle (or Adeptus Sororitas as they're now known) have received a 'new' codex in Chapter Approved, but they've never really caught my eye either - possibly due to the age of the range.
That only leaves one option for non-Space Marine Imperial Armies... Adeptus Mechanicus!

The AdMech are aesthetically unique in the 40k range, received some really significant point reductions in Chapter Approved 2018, and have a great Battleforce available as part of the 2018 Christmas Range. The fact I already own a few certainly helped sway me too...

Image taken from: https://www.games-workshop.com/en-GB/Adeptus-Mechanicus-Fist-Of-The-Omnissiah-2018, at 21.53 on 01/JAN/2019

At the time of writing I have:

A Tech Priest Dominus, 5 Skitari Rangers and 10 Skitari Vanguard painted, with 5 more Vanguard and a Sydonian Dragoon assembled and unpainted. I've also just picked up the Battleforce, shown above, which should add some great diversity to the solid core I have painted!

Despite starting a few steps ahead of my fellow Warlords I'm fully committed to completing the pledges we set every month (I won't just sit back for three months!). It just means the models I use in game may not reflect what I painted that month (in the interest of keeping things balanced I'll tone it down a bit!)

It ALSO means I already have a paint scheme! 

I've chosen a Purple/ White counter change colour scheme for the cloak, boltgun and brass for weapons and metallic components, with green and electric blue as spot colours.

(full description of the paint scheme coming in a later post!)

The bases are designed to look like an arctic/ ice world, but fortunately for me Vigilus has a frozen southern pole which means my bases will fit to the fluff!

Speaking of which.... the fluff behind my army:

The Forge World of Pitar Tertius (the third planet in the Pitar system) sits deep within the Ultima Segmentum. An ally of the great Forge World of Stygies VIII, almost to the point of being a vassal, Pitar Tertius gained much of it's wealth and prosperity harvesting Xeno-tech from the Necron Tomb worlds of Qyrakotosh and Perdita during the early years of M35 (long before the tomb worlds had awoken) and trading it with Stygies VIII. Their close relationship with Stygies increasingly alienated Pitar Terius from Mars and the rest of the Adeptus Mechanicus, with many in the Martian Priesthood trusting them even less than Stygies... a outlook that saw the Archmagi of Pitar Tertius abandon the traditional Red of Mars for the white and purple robes they now wear.

Much of Pitar Tertius' goods were sent forth to support the Blood Angels and House Esmaral (Imperial Knight hailing from the Knight World Chelonodia, fourth planet Pitar system ), solidified their loyalty to Imperium and preventing their sanction from Mars.

When the Great Rift tore the Imperium in half House Esmaral and Pitar Tertius came to each others aid - Skiatrii Legions and Imperial Knights fighting off the Daemonic incursions that spread throughout the system. Following the Indominus Crusade, Dante, Lord Commander of Imperium Nihlus, saw fit to leave a contingent of Blood Angels Space Marines garrisoned on Pitar Tertius to help defend the now crucial Forge World from subsequent Chaos attack.

Meanwhile, far across the galaxy, the War for Viglus began. When Archmagos Nesium Caldrike seized control of the Adepus Mechanicus forces from the malfunctioning Ipluvius XIV on Vigilus he sent a binaric call to all allies of Stygies VIII for reinforcements. This message filtered through various noospheric channels and astropathic communications until eventually it reached Pitar Terius, many months after it had been initially sent. 

So it was that Tech Priest Dominus Argentos Viir lead his cohort of Skitarii on a perilous journey across Imperium Nihilus, accompanied by a strike team of Adeptus Astartes of the Blood Angels and host of Knights from House Esmaral, to stand in the defence of Vigilus.

The task of sailing the aetheric sea in Imperium Nihulus was borderline suicidal, and were it not for the intervention of Codicier Ventris of the Blood Angels the Pitar Armarda would likely have never reached Vigilus. 

The ships broke into realspace in the Vigilus system at chronomark VCM 13.651 post; over 10 years into the War of Beasts. 

Conflicting orders came to the Pitar Armarda - those of Marneus Calgar directing the Imperial Forces to land at Hyperia for redeployment across the planet, and those from Archmagos Nesium Caldrike directing the Skitarii to a hidden underground facility in the arctic false-continent of Kaelac's Bane. 

The Blood Angels immediately followed Calgars orders and dismissed themselves from the Skiratii forces. 

Tech Priest Dominos Viir followed the only logical course of action. He dispatched the some of his forces to Calgar, but kept his heavier assets behind. Citing the difficulty in deploying and utilising these heavier assets in the confines of a hivespawl, Viir instead opted to deploy these forces in Kaelac's Bane at an "Adeptus Mechanicus storage facility for use in the later stages of the war". Whether or not Calgar was fooled by this claim is irrelevant. Little less than a year after landing Archmagos Viir redirected all surviving assets under his control to Kaelec's Bane in defence of the Stygis VIII facility - now known to Viir as a Blackstone mine and research facility. 

The forces of the Despoiler were coming...

As a group we'd decided to paint one Character and one Squad this month as a solid starting point, but with 15 Infantry and one Character already painted for the AdMech I was a little at a loss as what to paint to start with. 

However, our local Games Workshop is running an escalation campaign for Vigilus starting at 500 points which has given me just the right constraints with what to paint... and it's a little eclectic!

This month I'll be painting up a Tech Priest Enginseer as a second HQ (to help me fill out a batallion detachment) along with a few extra Skitarii to complete a few squads:-

1 Skitarii Vanguard with Radium Carbine

1 Skitarii Vanguard with Radium Carbine and Enhanced Data Tether

1 Skitarii Vanguard with Arc Rifle

1 Skiatrii Vanguard Alpha with Arc Pistol and Power Maul

1 Skiatrii Ranger with Trasuranic Arquebus

so it's technically 5 Infantry and a Character... but it's mostly just me filling out models I need to complete a 500 point list... bit of an odd combination as I say!

Should be easy enough, and so let's crack on! VERY VERY excited now that I've researched and written a bit of narrative... so let the Tale begin!!