Cohort Acquisitus: The New 1-DP AdMech Recon Detachment (11th Edition)

Two parts. First, friendly Pteraxii, Infiltrators, Rangers, Serberys Raiders and Serberys Sulphurhounds units gain the Recon Augury keyword. Second, Recon Augury units gain Enhanced Augurs: in your Shooting phase the unit can select one visible enemy unit within 12\", and while that unit is analysed it has +3\" detection range.

Read the list carefully, because the exclusions are as informative as the inclusions. Skitarii Vanguard and Sicarian Ruststalkers are not on it — only Sicarian Infiltrators from that pair. So the keyword lands on your fast, forward, screening units and not on your close-range brawlers.

What the rule actually does is push a unit's detection range up, which in 11th edition is the mechanic that governs being seen and being shot. That makes this an anti-hiding detachment rather than a damage one: you are dragging concealed units back into the open so the rest of your army can act on them. Whether that is worth a Detachment Point depends heavily on the mission, and it is at its best where denying enemy actions and secondary scoring decides the game.

Three, all 1CP, and the last two are the real reason to take the detachment.

• Defect Scrutiny (your Shooting) — when a friendly AdMech unit is selected to shoot, pick one visible enemy unit within 12\" of a friendly Recon Augury unit; your unit's ranged attacks against that enemy gain Ignores Cover. A clean way to strip cover from a dug-in target without spending your best buff on it.
• Repolarised Augurs (start of opponent's Movement) — one friendly unengaged Recon Augury unit has -3\" detection range until the end of the turn. This is the sleeper: it is how a forward Infiltrators or Raiders unit sitting on an objective survives a turn it had no right to survive. It rewards actually measuring the angles before you spend it.
• Clandestine Reposition (end of opponent's Fight) — place one friendly unengaged Infiltrators or Pteraxii unit into Strategic Reserves. Your spent screening unit leaves the board and comes back where it is needed.

Two, and they pull in different directions.

• Explorator Dispensation — Skitarii Marshal model only: the unit has Infiltrators. Because the Marshal is now a Support character, it can join a unit that already has a Leader, which means this can put a fully led, fully buffed infantry block up the board before turn one. That is the more flexible of the two.
• Stealth-screened Cybercanids Upgrade — Serberys Raiders unit only: the unit has Lone Operative 15\". It makes a small cavalry unit far harder to target early, though 15\" is a large bubble for an opponent to break, and it is a premium price for a utility unit.

(Points come from the Munitorum Field Manual and move with updates; confirm in the app.)

• Sicarian Infiltrators — gain Recon Augury and already start well up the board, so they can analyse a target from turn one; also a legal Clandestine Reposition target.
• Pteraxii Skystalkers and Sterylizors — the other Clandestine Reposition target, and Recon Augury jump troops that can chase an objective and then withdraw.
• Serberys Raiders — the unit the detachment is built around: Recon Augury cavalry and the only carrier for Stealth-screened Cybercanids.
• Skitarii Rangers — Recon Augury Battleline, which also keeps the army rule's Battleline-proximity clauses live for everything nearby.
• Skitarii Marshal — the only model that can take Explorator Dispensation, and now a Support character.

At 1 DP this is a support package, not an army. Bolt it onto a 2-DP core when that core has no recon element and no way to reach hidden units — which describes Cohort Cybernetica, Data-Psalm Conclave and Explorator Maniple almost exactly.

Be honest about the comparison it has to survive. The 1-DP slot also contains Lords of the Forge, which gives every Tech-Priest in your army a 4+ invulnerable save and Feel No Pain 5+, and most reviewers concluded that Acquisitus loses that head-to-head in a general list. Where it wins is when the mission makes detection and denial matter, or when you specifically want Hunter Cohort's withdraw tricks without paying 2 DP for Hunter Cohort.

Sample gameplan: deploy Infiltrators and Serberys Raiders forward, with a Skitarii Marshal carrying Explorator Dispensation attached to a led Rangers block so that block starts up the board too. Each Shooting phase, analyse the enemy unit that is trying to hide, then either shoot it or spend Defect Scrutiny to strip its cover. In your opponent's Movement phase, spend Repolarised Augurs on whichever forward unit is about to be shot off an objective. At the end of their Fight phase, use Clandestine Reposition to pull a spent Infiltrators or Pteraxii unit into reserves and bring it back where the game has moved.