Editing Skitarii (section)

==Types of Skitarii==
The Skitarii comes in many flavors, some deadlier than others. All of them can twist off your head and shit down your neck (rumors of Skitarii being able to shit remain unconfirmed). Here are the examples:

===Skitarii Alpha===
[[File:Dd1b4svyiyx41.jpg|240px|right|thumb|Skitarii Alpha model by [https://www.reddit.com/r/AdeptusMechanicus/comments/gh3mm1/skitarii_alpha_reporting_for_duty/ Warden343].]]
Skitarii Alphas are the squad commanders of Adeptus Mechanicus Skitarii formations. These cybernetic warriors have the highest level of augmentation among their kind, a position of high prestige in Martian culture. To become an Alpha, one must pass the Crux Mechanicus, the point where your body is more machine than flesh. Their human components have often been reduced to a simple organic brain. They generally act as the squad leaders to the rest of the skittles, and are roughly equal to a Space Marine Sergeant in combat.

For an example of this in the fluff, Alpha Primus Haldron-44 Stroika was augmented to have four arms with in-built Arc Mauls and auto-reloading Arc Pistols, as well as having the ability to coordinate tens of thousands of Skitarii while simultaneously tearing apart Dark Mechanicum troops in melee and at range. [[Awesome|He even managed to hold his own against an]] [[Iron Warriors]] [[Warsmith]]-[[Obliterator]] [[Awesome|for a few minutes]], only to be [[Grimdark|half-ripped apart and unwillingly turned into a Dark Mechanicus assassin]] after he took off the Warsmith's arm.

Of particular note is the fact that many Martian Skitarii Alphas were failed Imperial Knight nobles of House Taranis. Although failure to bond with an Imperial Knight typically drives the would-be pilot insane, emotive-suppressors and memory-catheters are able to keep their rages in check. House Taranis asks in return that their Skitarii cohorts are assigned to fight alongside their Knights, so that the Nobles can still fight alongside their former brothers. It's kind of heart-warming, if in a grimdark way.
<gallery>
RangerAlpha.jpg|Alpha Ranger.
VanguardAlpha.jpg|Alpha Vanguard.
RuststalkerAlpha.jpg|Alpha Ruststalker.
InfiltratorAlpha.jpg|Alpha Infiltrator.
</gallery>

===Skitarii Marshal===
[[File:JX24PfFLsm7LhuJs.jpg|240px|right|thumb|There is a new Marshal in town and he is not giving free cookies...]]
A new Skitarii rank, the Skitarii Marshal is the head honcho in directing lesser Skitarii at the front lines and leaving the important plans up to their superiors. They are over-glorified lieutenants for the Machine God’s armies and will ensure their Rangers make the most of every shot. Like all Skitarii, they wear [[Skitarii War Plate]] into combat. Alpha's answer to Marshalls, who in turn report to the Tech-Priests.

Decitor Septrax-Tertian is the most well-known of these Marshals, as he took part in the Charadon Campaign. He proved to be one of the most skilled and resourceful Imperial commanders of the war.

On the tabletop, these guys act as unit buffers and supports and it totally shows. Toting a [[Radium Serpenta]] (sadly not a pistol, but assault) as well as a weapon equal to a power maul called a [[Miscellaneous_Weapons#Control Stave|Control Stave]] to go bonk if any enemy decides to close in for an attack.

Very useful as a support unit - they allow a nearby <Forge World> Skitarii or a <Forge World> Skitarii Data-Tether unit anywhere on the board to ignore the penalty applied when using a Doctrina. An example of this is with the Skitarii Vanguard; simply placing them with a Marshall allows for additional wound (and hit, with a relic) rerolls, [[Rape|these rerolls are gonna get nasty pretty quickly]].

The great weakness is that they have zero [[Wat|repair ability]], which is funny given that they are from the AdMech and all, so you'll need another HQ to cover that niche or your army will get whittled down over time.
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===Skitarii Ranger===

[[File:SkitRangerArt.jpg|240px|right|thumb|Time to smoke out some bitches and blow....literally.]]

The Mechanicus' equivalent of the [[Eldar]] [[Eldar Ranger|Rangers]] but more [[Awesome]]. They are relentless hunter-killer infantry, and are known to hunt their prey across the galaxy for decades if need be.

Mindful of the harsh terrain of Mars, their legs have been removed from the knees down, replaced by cybernetic augmentations. This has made their stamina legendary, and they are known to hunt a foe until it exhausts itself<!--Like your ancestors might have. It's called Persistence Hunting-->. Skitarii Rangers themselves are split into the '''Skitarii Fresh-forged''' which are essentially the most recent additions to a Skitarii Ranger team. They differ to normal Skitarii as their remaining flesh is still raw from the surgery involved in bionic modification. There is also the '''Skitarii Specialists''' who are given the holy duty of carrying and maintaining the Skitarii kill team’s more unusual weaponry.

Their weapon of choice are [[Galvanic Rifle]]s, though others may be armed with [[Arc Rifle]]s, [[Transuranic Arquebus]]', or [[Plasma Caliver]]s. A Skitarii Rangers team is led by an Alpha, normally equipped with [[Radium Pistol]] or [[Arc Pistol]] as well as a [[Power sword|Power Sword]], [[Arc Weaponry#Taser Goad|Taser Goad]], or [[Arc Weaponry#Arc Maul|Arc Maul]]. They all wear [[Skitarii War Plate]]s for protection in combat.

Some Rangers control the guns on the Dunecrawler (they are the dude in the hatch).

On 9th Edition, the Rangers' 30" Galvanic Rifles have enough range to contribute to fights and the S4 needed to be a bother, which makes this squad great at garrisoning backfield objectives and ruins. While they put less volume of fire than Vanguard, their guns' better range, strength, and AP-1 on a 6+ to wound make them more effective against single-wound infantry than Rad carbines. All in all great value from the cheapest unit in your army. Unless you are sitting on backfield objectives (which our HS are normally doing) vanguard will often be better considering the difference is 1pt a model.

===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.

===Sicarian Ruststalker===

[[File:RuststalkerArt.jpg|140px|right|thumb|[[Eversor Assassin|*WWWRRRRRYYYYYYYYYY!*]]]]

Sicarian Ruststalkers are the elite Skitarii assassins of the Adeptus Mechanicus and an attempt to make an [[Eversor Assassin]] look like a rehabilitated good Samaritan (spoiler: a failed one). Initially an elite assassination squad, the Sicarian Ruststalkers proved so effective at the art of killing that they were repurposed as front-line, physics-manipulating commandos.

Their [[Transonic Weapons|Transonic Weapons]] hum and resonate with efficiency, passing through the strongest armor as if it simply didn't exist, [[Fist of the North Star|though the effect of the damage often takes several seconds to manifest.]] These highly trained and augmented squads known as Killclades are led by Princeps.

Every Sicarian was once a Skitarii who was grievously injured in battle. If these fallen are judged still fit to serve the Omnissiah, they are not incinerated but instead taken back to be augmented into lethal killing machines. This process can take place as long as a Skitarius possesses a head, torso, and some limb-stumps. Instead of a [[Skitarii War Plate]], they wear the more advanced and protective [[Sicarian Battle Armour]].

Sicarian Ruststalkers are also called "shivs" by the [[Imperial Guard]], a reference to a way they repeatedly plunge their [[Transonic Weapons|transonic weapons]] into their enemies, visible only as a blur of blue and arcing sprays of scarlet blood. These weapons are the [[Transonic Weapons#Chordclaw|Chordclaw]], [[Transonic Weapons#Transonic Razor|Transonic Razor]] and the [[Transonic Weapons#Transonic Blades|Transonic Blade]] alongside a couple of [[Grenades & Explosives#Mindscrambler Grenade|Mindscrambler Grenades]].

In 9th Edition, Sicarian Ruststalkers are pretty solid - they can now replace their razor/claw combo with Transonic Blades at no extra cost, which gives them a fair bit of utility in dishing out mortal wounds and a tasty S5 AP-3 on their attacks. Their rules also make them pretty survivable, with a potential 2+ save against shooting given the right WLT and position; they can also ignore move, advance, and charge modifiers as long as they aren't due to a Doctrina Imperative. That said, they're still T3 and are stuck with a 8" move, so footslogging them out in the open risks getting them shot to shit; the Infiltrators have also gotten a couple strong buffs while their Hoplite/Fulgurite rivals are still pretty strong at dishing out mortals.

===Sicarian Infiltrator===
[[File:SicInfArt.jpg|260px|left|thumb|AYE AYE AYE! <s>Power Rangers!</s> Fellow Skitarii! We request support for <s>Zordon</s> The Omnissiah!]]

{{Topquote|If he doesn’t want to talk to me or my Excruciator, he can have a conversation with my dome-headed friend instead. Just give me a few minutes to find my earbuds.|[[Inquisition|Interrogator]] Caprice Valentino. Yes, this is canon.}}

The sneaky counterparts to the Skitarii forces that also bears an uncanny resemblance to Alpha-5 from Power Rangers. Sicarian Infiltrators are the brutal Skitarii scout troops of the Adeptus Mechanicus, renowned as perhaps the most sinister warriors of the Mechanicum.

Heavily augmented into [[Star Wars|more machine than man,]] the Sicarian Infiltrators are pretty much the AdMech's lightweight terror troops. Those domed helmets they wear actually emit a kind of weird staticky white noise, which fucks with the senses of the enemy (the skitarii, of course, can ignore these frequencies at will) to the point where it's common for hostile troops to basically keel over, blinded and deafened by the constant audiovisual assault. The Infiltrators can then just walk on in and [[blam]] their enemies.

As with their Ruststalker brothers, every Sicarian was once a Skitarii who was grievously injured in battle. While any critically-injured Skitarii can become a Sicarian Infiltrator, those with a detachment from emotion and skill at inspiring fear in others tend to yield the best results.

Heavily modified for their scouting missions, almost their entire human heads have been replaced with a specialized domed helm allowing a three-hundred and sixty degree view of the battlefield. They are equipped with a wide array of weapons including [[Stubcarbine]]s, [[Flechette Blaster]]s, [[Power sword|Power Sword]], [[Arc Weaponry#Taser Goad|Taser Goad]], and [[Arc Weaponry#Arc Maul|Arc Maul]]. They, like the Ruststalkers, wear [[Sicarian Battle Armour]] instead of War Plate into battle.

On 9th Edition, they occupy a pretty good position. The taser variant that ripped hordes apart got a punch in the cogs, with the extra hits on a 6 being FAQ'd down to the first round of hits only; the power sword variant that wrecked marines hasn't changed that much. They can still deepstrike and their -1 to leadership within 3" hasn't changed, but they have gained a new ability that prevents hostile hit or wound rerolls within 12" of them (useful for the turn after deepstrike, when the enemy tries to blow them off the board).

Just remember to keep them in cover until you're ready to charge them because they still suffer from T3 and a 4+ save. They're really good for utility (capturing objectives, getting behind enemy lines) while Ruststalkers will shit out more damage and have much better AP capabilities.

===Skitarii Protector===
[[File:Myrmidon Secutor.jpg|thumb|right|200px|In the name of the Quest for Knowledge, I shall now remove your face.]]
Protectors were soldiers and guards that worked in the Adeptus Mechanicus. They were genetically engineered and augmented Humans that wore red robes and bronze masks that showed green mechanical eyes. Members of the Protectors typically carried weapon staves and served as the personal guards within a Techpriest's Forge.

They were noted to smell of spoiled, decayed meat and oils. Skitarii Protectors were much more commonly used during the [[Horus Heresy]] and most were deemed ineffective by the Martian Priesthood. Instead, the use of thousands of [[Tech Thrall]]s became more popular when it came to defending forges and/or [[Forgeworld]]s, ''especially'' when the Mechanicus was short on full blown Skitarii.

Which, in true Warhammer fashion, [[Derp|makes no sense]] as they are made in the same way and Protectors, being actual Skitarii, would have been far more effective and just as numerous as Tech Thralls (due to being made in the same way as the Thralls). [[Herp|Dammit, GW!]]

We know of two Protectors in canon:

The first was Rho-Mu 31, who, instead of being an individual, actually consists of an entire squad; Rho-mu 31 was a collective and shared identity. Serving under Tech-Priest Koriel Zeth, Rho-mu 31 was assigned to rescue and guard the Psyker transcriber Dalia Cythera shortly before the Schism of Mars. During the Schism, he took part in the battle against the Kaban Machine alongside Dalia. When Dalia was the new Guardian of the Dragon, Rho-mu pledged to stay by her side and protect her inside the Noctis Labyrinth. Unusually for Skitarii, Rho-Mu 31 was capable of some forms of emotion - most notably humor and camaderie.

The second was Alpha-Rho-25. A Protector assigned to the Imperial defense of the Emperor's Webway Project and was one of the first Imperials to uncover Drach'nyen's presence there.
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