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This is SprueSentry strategy commentary, not official rules. The detachment rule, stratagems and enhancements below are read from the printed pages of the free Adeptus Mechanicus Faction Pack version 1.2, legal for matched play from 26 August 2026, checked on 27 August 2026. Detachment Point costs and enhancement points are not in the Faction Pack; they were read from the official Munitorum Field Manual on 27 August 2026 and are reprinted here as a planning aid. Points move with every update, so confirm them in the Warhammer 40,000 app before a game.
Friendly Tech-Priest models have a 4+ invulnerable save and Feel No Pain 5+, and gain Baffling Data Screed: in your Shooting phase, when the unit is selected to shoot and is not battle-shocked, roll a D6 and on a 2+ either force an enemy Vehicle unit within 12" to make a battle-shock roll at -1 (once per turn per unit), or those ranged attacks do not prevent the unit from being hidden.
1CP. When an enemy unit targets a friendly Tech-Priest unit that is within range of an objective, attacks against your unit have -1 Armour Penetration until that enemy has attacked.
1CP. When a friendly Tech-Priest unit is selected to make a fall-back move, that move does not stop it being eligible to shoot or declare a charge.
1CP. When a friendly Tech-Priest unit starts an action, that action does not stop the unit being eligible to shoot, so a character unit can score and fire in the same turn.
How to play Lords of the Forge — the new 1-DP detachment that gives every Tech-Priest a 4+ invulnerable save and Feel No Pain 5+, and why it reshapes AdMech list building.
BySprue Sentry
ReviewedAug 28, 2026
SourceFaction Pack: Adeptus Mechanicus v1.2 (official GW PDF, legal from 26 August 2026)
Sprue Sentry strategy commentary for 11th edition, not official rules. Games Workshop updates points and rules regularly; always confirm against the current official rules and latest update before a game.
Lords of the Forge is the Adeptus Mechanicus detachment, new for and printed in full in the Faction Pack. At just it does something no other AdMech detachment does for the price: it makes .
Tech-Priest model only. The bearer gains a 24" ranged weapon with Devastating Wounds and Hazardous at A3, BS 2+, S11, AP -2, D D3+2, which turns a support character into a real anti-armour threat.
Cybernetica Datasmith model only. At the start of the first battle round, if the bearer is in an attached unit, the unit gains Mobile until the end of the battle.
A Tech-Priest, so he picks up the 4+ invulnerable save and Feel No Pain 5+ on top of an already central support piece.
See the box: price and offersThe workhorse Tech-Priest the detachment hardens, and a natural TL-4Ø9 carrier.
See the box: price and offersA cheaper Tech-Priest that can now ride along with another Leader and still benefit from the whole rule.
See the box: price and offersThe pack's new Cult Mechanicus Tech-Priest, so she gains the invulnerable save and Feel No Pain as well.
See the box: price and offersThe only model that can take Vingh's Wafers of Dynamism; note the pack made it a Support character and a Vehicle while it leads Kastelan Robots.
Cohort Cybernetica's six stratagems all trigger in your Command phase, so a Lords of the Forge suite gives you somewhere else to spend command points every other phase.
An attrition core with no character protection at all, bolted onto a rule that makes every Tech-Priest genuinely hard to kill.
This is the detachment that changed how AdMech lists are built in 11th edition, and it is the reason the two 3-DP detachments have a difficult sell. This is SprueSentry strategy commentary, not official rules. The rule, three stratagems and two enhancements below are read from the printed pages of Adeptus Mechanicus Faction Pack v1.2, legal for matched play from 26 August 2026, checked on 27 August 2026. Its DP cost and enhancement points come from the official Munitorum Field Manual.
Two components, and the first is the headline.
Friendly Tech-Priest models have a 4+ invulnerable save and Feel No Pain 5+.
That is army-wide, unconditional, and costs one Detachment Point. Tech-Priest covers Belisarius Cawl, Thulia Ghuld, the Cybernetica Datasmith, the Tech-Priest Dominus, Enginseer and Manipulus, the Technoarcheologist and the Servitor Battleclade, so in a typical list it is upgrading four to six models at once. Combined with 11th edition's fast-rolled saves, it turns characters that used to evaporate into models an opponent has to commit real firepower to.
The second component is Baffling Data Screed. In your Shooting phase, when the unit is selected to shoot and is not battle-shocked, you may roll one D6, and on a 2+ choose one of:
That second option is the quiet one. Being able to shoot without giving up the hidden state is a real defensive trick in 11th edition, and it means a Tech-Priest unit can contribute fire without paying the usual price for it.
Three, all 1CP, all Tech-Priest only, and all about keeping your characters doing their job.
Notice the shape: none of these are damage spends. This detachment does not make your army hit harder, it makes your army refuse to stop functioning.
Two, and one of them is a weapon.
(Points come from the Munitorum Field Manual and move with updates; confirm in the app.)
At 1 DP this is a support package, but it is the one you should have a reason not to take. Almost every AdMech list fields several Tech-Priests, so almost every AdMech list gets full value from the rule. The question is rarely "is Lords good here", it is "is my 2-DP core better than the 3-DP alternative I am giving up to afford it".
The pairings that came up most when the pack landed:
Lords of the Forge carries no unique tag, so it pairs with any 2-DP detachment your budget allows.
Sample gameplan: field three or four Tech-Priests and stop treating them as fragile. Attach them to the units that need leading, push a character-led block onto an objective, and use Scriptural Prognosis the moment the first serious volley comes in, so a 4+ invulnerable and Feel No Pain 5+ are backed by -1 Armour Penetration as well. Take TL-4Ø9 on a Dominus and hunt a vehicle with it, using Baffling Data Screed to battle-shock another one at -1. Use Overloaded Safeguards to walk a character out of a losing melee without losing the turn, and Holy Avarice to score and shoot on the same activation.
1 DP, which is the whole point of it. At a 2,000-point game that leaves 2 DP for a core detachment, and the value it returns for a single point is the main reason 2 plus 1 splits became the default shape of Adeptus Mechanicus lists in 11th edition.
War-Form Mantles: friendly Tech-Priest models have a 4+ invulnerable save and Feel No Pain 5+, and gain Baffling Data Screed, which lets the unit roll a D6 when it shoots and on a 2+ either force a battle-shock roll at -1 on an enemy Vehicle within 12 inches, or shoot without those attacks preventing the unit from being hidden.
Belisarius Cawl, Thulia Ghuld, the Cybernetica Datasmith, the Tech-Priest Dominus, Enginseer and Manipulus, the Technoarcheologist and the Servitor Battleclade. In a typical Adeptus Mechanicus list that is four to six models all gaining a 4+ invulnerable save and Feel No Pain 5+ at once.
Any 2-DP core, since it carries no unique tag. The most-discussed pairing is Cohort Cybernetica, because all six of that detachment's stratagems fire in your Command phase and Lords gives you tools for the rest of the turn. Rad-Zone Corps, Data-Psalm Conclave and Explorator Maniple all pair well too, since none of them protect characters.
Written by Sprue Sentry, grounded in the cited sources. Original commentary, not Games Workshop rules text.