Editing Skitarii (section)

===Skitarii Vanguard===

[[File:SkitariiVanguardArt.jpg|240px|left|thumb|The funny thing is, that gun is the least of your worries.]]

Skitarii Vanguards, known informally as Rad-Troopers, are the other type of Skitarii infantry used by the Adeptus Mechanicus. Skitarii Vanguards are so soaked in radiation from their [[Radium Carbine]] weaponry that even to approach them is to [[FATAL|invite death.]]

Eventually, the radiation burns through even their heavy armor plating of even their [[Skitarii War Plate]], [[Grimdark|slowly poisoning them to death.]] Their augmentations and radioactive conditioning has allowed Skitarii Vanguards to be deployed to the most hazardous war zones the galaxy has to offer.

A Skitarii Vanguard squad is led by an Alpha, equipped with either a [[Phosphor Blast Pistol]], [[Radium Pistol]], [[Grenades & Explosives#Rad Grenade|Rad Grenades]] or [[Arc Pistol]], as well as a [[Power sword|Power Sword]], [[Arc Weaponry#Taser Goad|Taser Goad]], or [[Arc Weaponry#Arc Maul|Arc Maul]]. These guys are there to [[rape]] infantry in close quarters.

Vanguard are also used in the [[Onager Dunecrawler]]s as the pilot. They're basically dumped into the same kind of emulsion tank some Titan pilots get, letting them interface directly with the tank's systems at the cost of [[Grimdark|slowly dying due to eating a daily diet of radiation from the reactor]]. They don't last very long but on the plus side no more getting killed by small-arms.

On 9th Edition, Vanguard are your Skitarii frontliners. Their 18" Assault 3 Rad Carbines let them advance and still hit on a 4+, while their rate of fire (30 shots for a unit of 10, assuming no special weapons) is such that their "mortal on a nat 6 hit roll" can proc enough times to be a concern to heavy infantry while still dealing lots of hits to the smaller ones. With their Rad saturation aura (-1T is better than +1S), they can also help as melee soup allies for your Sicarians and Fulgurites.