Editing Warhammer 40,000/8th Edition Tactics/Adeptus Mechanicus (section)

===Fast Attack===
*'''Ironstrider Ballistarii''': A very  mobile twin lascannon or autocannon platform. It has a 10 inch move, and it has a 48 inch range and can fire after advancing with a penalty. Doesn't have the dragoons -1 to hit and so is pretty vulnerable given its low armour save and T compared to our other vehicles. If taken in a large unit it has potential as two stratagems as the doctrina strategem can make them +2 to hit negateing -1 to hit defences and the engine war let them gain +1 wound. Downside is large units lack the durability for their points compared to other options and individual models while great at holding a backfield objective are not worth the CP to buff.
*'''Sydonian Dragoons''': Solid weapon (2 Damage, 8 Strength, AP-1), good mobility, surprisingly tough (Incense Cloud), cheap cost. Often seen in units of 3-4. as only one model needs to make contact with the enemy and the others will all be within 1" of it. A unit of 6 dragoons with Conqueror Doctrina Imperative is rolling 18 attacks, hitting on 2's, dealing 3 hits on 4's - that's 33 strength 8 hits on average. Against a T8 foe that's about 17 wounds and against 3+ saves that's 9 failures, for an average of 18 damage. Without buffs such as canticles or the omniscient mask, can murder a Knight in CQ, almost wipe an entire squad of 40 boyz in a single charge, and butcher marines by the squad.
**Combine with '''Stygies VII Shroud Protocols''' to give your Dragoons a massive -2 subtraction on enemy To Hit rolls, giving them exceptional survivability against shooting and a stratagem to get them into position to charge T1 on a lot of deployments. Best deployed along a flank if able to maximise the -2.
**The Radium Jezzail is hindered by its lack of any AP. Not a bad gun, but it lacks the brute force of the Arquebus and any volume of fire. Basically, you will be fishing for 6s to do just that mortal wound plus another one if you luck out on the opponent's save. Arquebuses will have an easier time penetrating armor and deal enough damage to be threats in their own right, except now it has a -1 AP. Wahey!
***Alternate take: By the time you take a unit of 6 your looking at a similar cost to a knight which might add more shooting utility. 
*'''Serberys Raiders:''' Serberys Raiders are Skitarii Rangers that are mounted on cybernetic dog-mounts. The first thing to understand about them is that, on a point per wound basis, they are extremely cheap and efficient. They clock in at just under 5 points per wound and 3 wounds per model. To get the same number of wounds in a unit of vanilla rangers, you would have to pay about 20 points more. The raiders are also fast, with a free scout move at the beginning of the game and a 12" move standard. However, they are something of a distraction carnifex. They are not great in melee, have a mediocre WS of 4+, and three attacks per model, all at strength 4 with barely any ap. They can snipe characters, causing mortal wounds on a wound roll of 6, but a bare minimum squad will only be popping off a mere 6 shots at 18 inches. Lastly, despite riding a giant, cybernetic greyhound, they have the same toughness and armor save as their troop counterpart. Overall, the raiders function best as a harassment unit. They are too fast for your opponent to fully ignore, lest they go after vulnerable backfield support characters and small units, but also so cheap that losing them doesn't hurt you much. 
** Alternate take: These are competent vs screen units in melee (with the right support). Large units supported by a Stygies character- make sure to give him the Omniscient Mask and Learnings of the Genetor Warlord Trait. Pre-game move him to keep up with your high-speed Raiders. They now hit around 75% of the time, and on model with 3A that will have AP-3 Sabres and AP-2 Claws Limbs on 6s to wound, they can be surprisingly deadly.
** Ryza's canticle will give them an additional bit of AP. You can also get additional AP from the Custom Forge World Dogma from the Expansionist Forge World, which is a bit more reliable over the course of the game. You can also stay in that Expansionist Forge World tree and get the ability to Advance and Fire their guns with no penalty. Ryza Canticle when Charged/Charging/HI plus the Metallica benefit where it matters? Pretty good. As Skitarii they also can get +2 to hit in Melee, which is always nice.
** None of which is to say it is a melee unit by design. It has enough utility but it is best to think of them as a unit of snipers that are running around and are tough to remove (comparatively). They can put out enough shots to threaten mortal wounds against any realistic target and put the hurt down against screens and chaff. Fast, tough for their cost, able to threaten a variety of infantry targets and too threatening to be left alone (while also not being so threatening that they are guaranteed to die off before they do anything).
*'''Serberys Sulphurhounds:''' Fast-moving Skitarii Vanguard gunslingers riding cyber-dogs that breath fire. Identical in stat line to the Raiders, but with different special weapons and rules. Basic models are equipped with dual phosphor pistols (same stats as the Phospor Blast pistol but strength 4 instead of 5.) as well as a sulphur breath (same stats as the phosphor pistol, but 8", Pistol D6, and auto hits.) The Alpha carries a single Phosphor Blast Pistol and a power maul, neither of which can be swapped out. Finally, one model can swap a phosphor pistol for a Phosphor blast carbine (24", Assault 4, strength 5, AP -1, 1 damage with all the usual phosphor rules). Their Pistoleers' special rule allows them to advance and fire pistols, and they share the rad-saturation rule with the Vanguards.  As with the Serberys Raiders, the Sulphurhounds are a skirmisher unit that is cheap, though not as cheap, fast, character sniping or ranged as the raiders.
*'''Pteraxii Skystalkers:''' Flying drop troops that vomit shots. ~Like~ Better Eldar Swooping Hawks, Thermal Riders give deep strike, and Soar Away lets them return to reserve to deep strike again.   However, they have three movement abilities, not two, and there's no way to combine them: deep strike, leave the table to deep strike later, and have each model have a 1/3 chance (2/3 against a vehicle) to drop a mortal wound on anything the unit passed over while moving.  
**Expect your opponent to blow them out of the water the turn after they drop - they're fragile glass cannons, and no savvy opponent will let them live.
*'''Pteraxii Sterylizors:''' Close range Pteraxii, with a 12" Flamer that ignores the cover bonus (that's in deep strike range). Then if they charge, they each make 3 S5 Ap-1 attacks, and the Alpha makes 4 S4 taser goad attacks. Unfortunately, the alpha is forced to carry a substantially worse gun than the rest of the unit - it'll land fewer shots at worse S and worse AP, and that's assuming you can shoot it, as he's the only guy in the unit that can't shoot after advancing.
**2pts more than infiltrators for an ap -1 flamer making their firepower equal to infiltrators - these are glass cannons like skystalker,s don't expect them to survive to fly off again or have a second shot - I'd stick with your infiltrators for efficiency, but it's close.
** With the Deeply Sunk Talons stratagem to stop a fallback on +2, they can have both survivability and suppress enemy non-flyer tanks/artillery. It can be kept in combat for the next turn and if the enemy you were engaging is no longer important, you can make it soar to the skies, even if stuck in combat range, to descend in deep strike the next turn.