Rad-Zone Corps: The 11th-Edition AdMech Attrition Detachment

It runs in two stages.

Battle round 1. For each enemy unit within your opponent's deployment zone, your opponent decides whether it takes cover or stands firm. You then roll a D6 per unit:

• Standing firm — on a 3+ it suffers D3 mortal wounds.
• Taking cover — that unit is battle-shocked, and on a 5+ it also suffers D3 mortal wounds. This half is what Faction Pack v1.2 rewrote; earlier wording did not stack the mortal wounds on top of the battle-shock.

Battle rounds 2 to 5. At the start of your Command phase, roll a D6 for each enemy unit in their deployment zone; on a 3+ that unit suffers 1 mortal wound and must take a Battle-shock test.

The strategic point is that it is a positional tax, not a damage engine. It punishes armies that want to castle up at home, and the Battle-shock pressure on turn one can knock an opponent's opening plan sideways before they roll a dice.

Six, and four of them share a distinctive clause: if your chosen target is Battleline, you may also affect a nearby non-Battleline Skitarii unit. That doubles their value and is a direct reward for the same Battleline positioning the army rule already asks of you.

• Bulwark Imperative (2CP, opponent's Shooting) — a targeted Skitarii unit gains a 4+ invulnerable save for the phase, with the Battleline extension.
• Baleful Halo (2CP, Fight) — a targeted AdMech unit (Vehicles excepted) imposes -1 to Wound on attacks against it for the turn, with the Battleline extension.
• Pre-calibrated Purge Solution (Shooting) — re-roll Hit rolls against targets inside the enemy deployment zone, with the Battleline extension. It shares the rule's theme exactly.
• Aggressor Imperative (Movement) — a movement boost for a Skitarii unit that has not moved, with the Battleline extension.
• Lethal Dosage (Shooting) — Lethal Hits on one AdMech unit's ranged weapons.
• Extinction Order (Command) — pick a Tech-Priest and an objective within 24\": roll a D6 per enemy unit in range, and on a 4+ it takes a mortal wound and a Battle-shock test.

All four are Adeptus Mechanicus model only, which is unusually permissive.

• Radial Suffusion — from battle round 2 the Fallout roll also covers enemy units within 6\" of their deployment zone, not just inside it. That is a real extension: opponents who step just outside the zone to dodge the bombardment no longer escape it.
• Peerless Eradicator — while the bearer leads a unit, that unit's ranged weapons gain Sustained Hits 1.
• Malphonic Susurrus — while the bearer leads a unit, models in that unit have Stealth.
• Autoclavic Denunciation — the bearer's own ranged weapons gain Anti-Infantry 2+ and Anti-Monster 4+.

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

• Skitarii Rangers and Vanguard — Battleline Skitarii, which is the keyword that unlocks the second target on four of the six stratagems. They are not optional here.
• Sicarian Infiltrators and Ruststalkers — non-Battleline Skitarii that ride along on that extension, getting a free 4+ invulnerable or -1 to Wound.
• Hastarii Exterminators and Fusiliers — the pack's new Skitarii Infantry, and natural Lethal Dosage or Peerless Eradicator recipients.
• Tech-Priest Manipulus or Dominus — a Tech-Priest is required for Extinction Order, and all four enhancements need an AdMech character.
• Skitarii Marshal — now a Support character, so it can join a unit that already has a Leader and stack a second buff on the same brick.

Take it (2 DP) when you want to play the grinding, punishing version of AdMech: soften the enemy before the first turn, force uncomfortable early decisions, and win on accumulated chip damage and Battle-shock rather than on one big alpha strike.

It is at its best against armies that want to stay home: castled gunlines, reserve-heavy lists that leave units in their deployment zone, and anything that dislikes Battle-shock tests. It is at its worst against fast armies that vacate their deployment zone by turn two, because the Fallout stage simply stops finding targets. Radial Suffusion partly answers that, which is why it is the most-taken enhancement here.

At 2 DP it leaves 1 DP for a support, and it needs one: nothing in the detachment protects your characters.

Sample gameplan: deploy Rangers or Vanguard as your Battleline spine, with Sicarians or Hastarii within the 6\" extension range. Resolve the turn-one bombardment, then push forward under Conqueror so the +1 Armour Penetration clause stays live near Battleline. Use Pre-calibrated Purge Solution while the enemy is still at home, spend Bulwark Imperative or Baleful Halo when your key brick is targeted, and cash Extinction Order in the Command phase against a crowded objective. Take Radial Suffusion so the Fallout keeps landing as the enemy edges out.