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

==={{W40kKeyword|Mars}}===
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[[File:Mars2.png|100px|left]] In the grim darkness of the far future, only faith in the machine will save us.

Thematically, Mars is the exemplar. The first and holiest forgeworld, the heart of the entire Adeptus Mechanicus.<br>
Crunchwise, while some forgeworlds are defined by the gimmicks that differentiate them from the red planet, Mars itself focuses on what differentiates the Adeptus Mechanicus from other factions: your Canticles and ''sheer'' firepower.<br>
''Make your enemies kneel before the glory of the Omnissiah with prayer and Martian Might!''
 
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*'''Forge World Dogma - ''Glory to the Omnissiah'':'''  When rolling for Canticles, roll twice. All units with this dogma receive the benefits of both Canticles that are rolled for, unless a duplicate result is rolled. Cawl's special ability can fix that downside. ''This reliably gets you the Canticle you want <b>multiple times</b> in addition to an extra free army-wide rule, which is good on itself''.
**If you have multiple detachments on the table from different {{W40Kkeyword|Forge World}}s, the first roll will affect both detachments, and the {{W40Kkeyword|Mars}} detachments will roll a second time for their extra Canticle. As such, <u>whether a Chorister Technis is from Mars or not, he can only reroll 1 dice at best</u>. Still, that's a nice 87.5% chance of getting that Canticle again and again instead of picking it once and praying for it afterwards like non-Cawl plebs do.

*'''Warlord Trait - ''Static Psalm-Code'':''' Add 3" to the range of your Warlord's aura abilities (except Master of Machines). Cawl starts with this trait, and my-oh-my does he benefit from it!

*'''Canticle - ''Pangyric Procession'':''' All heavy weapons on the affected unit suffer no penalty for moving and firing. On top of that, all equipped heavy weapons also add +1 to their strength. In case you really wanted to nail those big boys with the Kataphrons.

*'''Stratagem: ''Wrath of Mars (2 CP)'':''' Use this before a {{W40kKeyword|MARS}} unit in your army attacks in the shooting phase. Each time you roll a 6 to-wound, the target suffers a mortal wound in addition to any other damage. Combo with Protector Imperatives for extra-sharp cheddar.
**Hilarious with a squad of Vanguard in Cawl/Dominus range. Lets an 80 point troop unit shit out nearly 6 mortal wounds a turn (If you can afford it).

**Also amazing with Flechette Blasters; A 110 point unit of Sicarian Infiltrators with Flechette Blasters will put out around 8 mortal wounds per shooting phase. (actually 3 and 5 with Cawl re-rolls)
**Another option is Corpuscarii Electropriests, given their high volume of shots and their taser effect. 20 of them will pump out almost 80 hits with Cawl rerolls, which turns into around 13 mortal wounds. 
**With either Daedealosus or the shooty Doctrina, they can shit out 105 HITS on average. Against a Knight, you do an average of 17.5 Mortal Wounds, as well as another slightly less than 12 against armour, over 22 if you use the -2AP stratagem as well, or 17.5 if you use the stratagem and the Knight has Rotate Ion Shields, Ion Bulwark, or Armour of the Sainted Ion, totalling a minimum of 29 wounds and a maximum of 39. Kastelan Robots, eat your processors out. The only problem is getting them there, but with Ninth on the way and the new Strategic Reserves rules, that shouldn't be much of a problem... 
**The OBVIOUS choice, is a squad of buzz lightyears(Kastellan robots) with phosphor blasters, just the sheer number of shots you can pull out means you'll get salt from everyone.

*'''Relic: ''The Red Axe'':''' Replaces an Omnissian Axe, vastly increasing it AP. S+1 AP-5 D2. Looks scary, but armour save can only be lowered so much before reaching an invuln or be outright wasted. The Pater Cog-Tooth, with its boost to Str and Dmg, will serve you better.

*'''Special Character: ''[[Belisarius Cawl]]'':''' A must have for any list. 9-inch <u>aura of full re-rolls in the shooting phase</u>? (6" +3" from Mars' WT) Yes please. Oh, you're not Mars? You are, you just dress differently *wink*. Another great thing is the control his <u>+/-1 to Canticles of the Omnissiah</u> gives you, increasing your chance for Shroudpsalm to 3/4 and nullifying the risk of a repeated Canticle. He's a beast of a unit still, hard to kill and with huge damage up-close which you won't get to see because you'll want him sitting back supporting your big guns. Unfortunately, no transports can cart him around (damnit). When it comes out, he can be carted around in a Triaros to buff gunlines in the front the backfield. With the new PDFs 20 unit squads of [[Secutarii]]  are currently one of the best bodyguards for him. Switching between Peltasts and Hoplites were possible. Careful, as Forgeworld can be expensive. Even conversion kits.
**In terms of weaponry, Cawl is well armed. His ranged weapon is the <b>Solar Atomizer</b>, the great grandmother of all Melta Guns with Assault D3, S10, AP4 and Damage 3. His melee weapons are also good. He has the standard <b>Omnissian Axe</b>, Decent for MEQs but average against everything else. The <b>Arc Scourge</b> hits at S10 AP-1. It wounds more often than his axe but has less AP than it and the average DMG is still 2, and only against vehicles. Unlike the other "Power Fists" style weapons it hits with no penalties. After he fights with either, the <b>Mechadendrite Hive</b> allows him to make 2D6 additional attacks at his normal strength of 5--just mean after four S6/S10 rolls. <b>Self-repair Mechanisms</b> gives Cawl the ability to regain D3 lost wounds at the beginning of your turns. With eight wounds this makes him quite tanky. While he can't fight Primarchs for too long, charging without a tarpit or a meatsheild is a bad idea when combined with Solar Atomizer overwatch. They also can't self heal like he can. No one is dumb enough to charge into optimal Melta range. [[World_Eaters|Well,]] [[Dark_Eldar|well, almost no one.]]
**Remember, Cawl allows you to re-roll ANY hit rolls in the shooting phase, not just misses, giving Cawl ''<u>the best to-hit shooting buff in the game</u>''. Advancing Vanguard, moving Ballistarii, people shooting at Raven Guard at night, anything.
*** Sadly, Cawl no longer has the best shooting buff in the game, now that for 100pts less and two cps Space Marines can take a Chapter Master who gives full re-rolls, period. unlike Cawl, Chapter Master re-rolls work in overwatch and melee, and they still get the "re-roll hit rolls" instead of "missed hit rolls". Cry your eyes out Admech. For some reason Shrike's rule says "failed hit rolls" though, when every other chapter master (even the generic ones) just say "hit roll". 
**<u>Master of Machines grants him the ability to repair any friendly {{W40Kkeyword|imperium}} model within 3" by 1 wound, except himself.</u> Without caring even a little bit about its other keywords - he can repair {{W40Kkeyword|infantry}}, {{W40Kkeyword|cavalry}}, whatever. AdMech units get d3 wounds healed instead, though. I guess 10000 years of min maxing yourself lets you do these things. [[troll|This means he can shoot, assault, self heal, and repair his tarpit bodyguard indefinitely if your opponent fails to table him.]]
***Note: Master of Machines can only repair units, it does not also bring models back like an Apothecary, so if you seek a tarpit use some Kataphrons.
**(Note: This unit had its points changed in Chapter Approved 2018 to 190 points).

*'''Tactics:''' 
**'''Cawl's Moving Castle:''' Basically a continuation of the most viable Index build. Big daddy Cawl and a whole bunch of Kastelans set to Protector mode. You can switch protocols in turn one now, via the '''Binharic Override''' Stratagem. Combine it with the '''Wrath of Mars''' Stratagem to delete whatever unit is in front of you off the table with 18 re-rollable S6 cover-ignoring AP-2 shots that deal mortal wounds on To-Wound rolls of 6 per model. 
***For overkill, add in a unit of destroyers and the '''Elimination Volley''' Stratagem for extra accuracy. Expensive in every sense of the word.
**'''Mars' Infiltrator Ambush:''' This combo relies on a 10-man squad of infiltrators with blasters and the '''Wrath of Mars''' Stratagem. Normally, 50 str 3, ap - shots aren't very impressive, but the pseudo-rend effect granted by the stratagem can prove to be a nasty shock for the unprepared. To top it off, most opponents familiar with Ad mech won't be expecting such an alpha strike in a non-Lucius list.

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