Codex · Adeptus Mechanicus

Composition4

Identity2

The Cult Mechanicus is the durable, repairable construct wall of the Machine God — the House that does not so much win a fight as outlast it. Where the Skitarii move and shoot, the Cult stands and endures: a slow line of T5+ battle-servitors and war-robots grinding forward at walking pace, and the Tech-Priests who walk among them welding the wounded upright as fast as the enemy can put them down.

Its strength is not speed or precision but a sheer refusal to fall. Kataphrons shrug hits that drop lesser bodies; the Kastelan Robot stamps in the heart of the line; frenzied Electro-Priests crackle ahead with stolen lightning to close what the wall cannot reach. Behind them the active Rites of Repair turn every casualty into a problem the priests simply mend, while the Aura of the Omnissiah lends the machine-spirit's shrug to the whole construct host.

Its weakness is written into that strength. The wall is slow, and it dies with its priests: kill the Tech-Priests and the Canticle falls silent and the machines stay down. The Cult holds ground and grinds — nothing more, and nothing less.

The Adeptus Mechanicus march to war as the soldiery of the Machine God — part-flesh, part-machine, every body rebuilt around augmetics and driven by cold devotion in place of courage. They do not fight as individuals. At the head of every maniple stands a Tech-Priest, and while that priest lives the whole force fights beneath a single chanted liturgy: the Canticles of the Omnissiah, one stance sung fresh over the maniple each round. The same priests break from the fighting to weld a fallen construct back onto its feet, so the machines that grind forward are rarely put down for good.

They sit above the common soldier and below the Space Marine — no tougher of body than a mortal, but shooting with a machine's precision and feeling no fear. Survival comes from augmetics, the machine-spirit's shrug, and a priest who repairs them, never from bulk or a wall of plate. Each maniple is the same spine leaned a different way: the Skitarii into a mobile precision gunline, the Cult Mechanicus into a slow, repairable wall of constructs.

Gang Composition2

Credits1500

Leaders1

Champions2

Build Rules

Starting credits: 1500 (converter-wide default)
Exactly 1 Leader (Tech-Priest Dominus)
0-2 Champions (Enginseer / Manipulus / a House officer)
At least one Tech-Priest is mandatory — no priest, no Canticle, no Repair
Gangers the bulk; a cheap construct floor (Servitor); 0-1 Brute slot
Champion / Brute / fast-tier slots unlock with Reputation
Canticles and Rites of Repair cost no credits — they are declared and performed for free, requiring only a living Tech-Priest, never a per-fighter tithe

A starting maniple is assembled from 1500 credits. The controlling player must field exactly one Leader — a Tech-Priest Dominus — and may add up to two Champions, drawn from the Enginseer, the Manipulus, or a House officer. At least one Tech-Priest is mandatory at all times: with no priest, no Canticle can be sung and no Rite of Repair performed, and the maniple fights as a heap of silent machines.

Gangers form the bulk of the force, underpinned by a cheap, repairable construct floor of Servitors, with a single Brute slot available. Champion, Brute, and fast-tier slots open as the maniple gains Reputation. Canticles and Rites of Repair cost nothing to use — they demand only a living Tech-Priest, never credits.

Credits1500

Leaders1

Champions3

Build Rules

Starting credits: 1500
Exactly 1 Leader (Tech-Priest Dominus) — mandatory; no priest, no Canticle, no Repair, and the Cult above all needs the repair
0-1 Cybernetica Datasmith · 0-2 Tech-Priest Enginseer / Manipulus
Kataphron Breachers / Destroyers the bulk; constructs (Kataphrons + Servitors) >= Champions
0-2 Electro-Priests (Fulgurite / Corpuscarii) · Servitors cheap and repairable · 0-1 Brute (Kastelan Robot)
Champion / Electro-Priest / Kastelan slots unlock with Reputation — no fast-scout slots (the static wall fields neither Pteraxii nor Serberys)
Canticles and Rites of Repair cost no credits — they are a gang stance and an action, not a purchasable resource

A Cult Mechanicus maniple musters on the standard 1500 credits. Every gang must field exactly one Leader — a Tech-Priest Dominus — and without that priest there is no Canticle, no Rite of Repair, and no one to weld the wall upright; the whole House depends upon him. Beyond the Dominus a maniple may take a single Cybernetica Datasmith and up to two Tech-Priest Enginseers or Manipuli.

The body of the gang is the construct wall. Kataphron Breachers and Destroyers form the bulk, and constructs — Kataphrons and Servitors together — must never number fewer than the gang's Champions. Servitors give a cheap, repairable floor; up to two frenzied Electro-Priests bring the melee the slow line lacks; and a single Kastelan Robot may anchor the centre. Champion, Electro-Priest and Kastelan slots open as the maniple's Reputation grows. There are no fast-scout slots — the static wall fields neither Pteraxii nor Serberys. Canticles and Rites of Repair cost nothing to field: they are a stance and an action, never a purchasable resource.