This section of Codex:
Skitarii lists wargear (including
Melee Weapons,
Armour,
Ranged Weapons,
Special Issue Wargear,
Relics of Mars and
Skitarii Vehicle Equipment) used by Skitarii, along with the rules for using them in your games of Warhammer 40,000.
| The arc maul is at first glance a bludgeoning weapon designed to crush and pulp its targets. However, when activated, it becomes a rod of lightning like unto those wielded by the gods of Old Earth. Those struck by an arc maul often convulse themselves to death as the riotous energies playing across them take their toll. |
| Similar in design to servo-arms, the hydraulic pincers jutting from many Skitarii vehicles have been adapted to channel their host’s machine spirit in times of adversity. Such appendages can effect field repairs on damaged hulls and weapon systems even in the heat of battle. |
Field Repairs:
A model equipped with a
cognis manipulator has the
It Will Not Die special rule.
| A power weapon is sheathed in the lethal haze of a disruptive energy field that eats through armour, flesh and bone with ease. |
| Range |
S |
AP |
Type |
| - |
User |
3 |
Melee |
| Usually mounted on a tail-like mechadendrite, the dataspikes favoured by the agents of the Adeptus Mechanicus can stab into the cortex of enemy machines and steal their secrets within a couple of heartbeats. |
Dataspike:
When a model equipped with a weapon that has this special rule makes
Melee attacks, it makes an additional attack with this weapon at the Initiative 10 step. This does not grant the model an additional
Pile In move.
| Powered by hyperdynamo capacitors, taser weapons store an incredible amount of potential energy. A solid impact will cause this energy to be discharged in a scorching blast, only to be harnessed once more by the electrothief prongs at the weapon’s tip. |
Joust:
A model attacking with a weapon with this special rule doubles its Initiative characteristic on a turn in which it makes a successful charge.
Taser:
When making an attack with a weapon that has this special rule, a
To Hit roll of a 6 causes 2 additional hits on the target.
* Taser lances have two profiles for Strength. The first is used only on a turn in which a model charges; the second is used at all other times.
| Transonic blades emit a low, insistent buzz that makes stomachs turn and eyes vibrate in their sockets. When they strike armour, these weapons will adjust their hostile sonic field to match its resonant frequency, quickly slicing right through it – and, in the case of the feared chordclaw, turning muscle, bone and fat to jelly. |
Molecular Dissonance:
When a model equipped with a
chordclaw makes its close combat attacks, one of its Attacks will be a Dissonance Attack (roll this Attack separately). A Dissonance Attack has the
Fleshbane special rule.
Transonic:
When making an attack with a weapon that has this special rule, any
To Wound rolls of 6 will automatically Wound the target regardless of its Toughness. In addition, during the first round of a close combat any To Wound rolls of 6 are resolved at AP2. During all subsequent rounds of a close combat, all Wounds are resolved at AP2.
| Arc weapons are powered by bulky permacapacitors shipped from Mars’ Great Repositorium. Some of these zinc-plated blocks store energy from the days when the Imperium was young. They discharge with a loud crack, firing bolts of blue-white electricity that can fry a man’s brain or overload a war machine’s datacortex in a second. |
| Cognis weaponry, though superficially similar to that used by the rest of the Imperium, has one vital difference – a cognis weapon’s machine spirit has been permanently awakened by the rites of the Machine God. When the wielder is unable to give his full concentration, the warlike spirit of the gun will take over. |
Cognis:
When a model makes
Snap Shots (including
Overwatch) with a weapon that has the Cognis special rule, its Ballistic Skill is counted as being 2 instead of 1.
| The thin yellow beam fired by the eradication beamer widens as it projects outward from the weapon’s distinctive muzzle. Those in the middle distance will be ravaged on a molecular level by its impossible technologies. Those close by are simply atomised, their physical forms scattered to the hot winds of war without a sound. |
A shot from an eradication beamer has a different profile depending on how far the target is from the firer. If it is fired at between 9" and 36", the profile used is based on the distance to the central hole of the
blast marker when it is placed, before rolling for
scatter. If it is not clear which of the profiles to use, the
controlling player can choose.
| The flechette blaster is lightweight but lethal, a favoured tool of the Sicarian Infiltrator. It fires hundreds of tiny darts, each of which bears a dormant cerebral cell awakened in the gun’s chamber. Where one dart hits home it emits a bioelectric pulse that attracts others, resulting in a series of impacts that burrow through bone. |
Burst Pistol:
A weapon with this special rule fires five shots when fired, but is otherwise treated as a
Pistol.
| Modelled after the hunting flintlocks of Mars’ past, the Mk IV Arkhan galvanic rifle is a precision tool in the hands of a Skitarii Ranger. Its bodywork is that of an antique, with a polished wooden stock and curlicues that echo the sandy seas of Mars’ desert. Yet the galvanic servitor-bullets inside are incredibly advanced. When such a bullet strikes home, it causes all the potential energy of the target to burn out in a killing blast of electric force. |
| The Icarus arrays used by the Adeptus Mechanicus fill the sky with inescapable death. Comprising a twin Icarus autocannon with skyscryer lenses, a gatling rocket launcher that fires whole salvoes of flak and an armour-piercing missile launcher, its combined firepower can shred an entire squadron of enemy fighters. |
An Icarus array consists of a twin Icarus autocannon with a built-in gatling rocket launcher and a built-in Daedalus missile launcher. Any or all of these weapons can be fired in the same
Shooting phase, though all must shoot at the same target unit. If the twin Icarus autocannon uses its
Interceptor special rule to fire in the enemy turn, the other weapons may still fire in your subsequent Shooting phase (and these can be fired at a
different target to that fired at by the twin Icarus autocannon).
| The neutron laser is the last word in battlefield anti-tank weaponry. With a stabilised neutronic coil arc reactor as its power source, it is able to fire a beam so devastating it not only punches through the thickest armour but also sends out a blast wave of electromagnetic energy that scrambles circuits and synapses alike. |
| Though the crawling horror of phosphex weaponry is all but forgotten in the Imperium, the blinding white fire of phosphor weaponry is still utilised by the Skitarii to mark out high priority targets amongst the battlefield murk. If those struck by the burning spheres fired by these weapons are not killed by the initial trauma, they are soon felled by the light-guided volleys that follow. |
Luminagen:
A unit that suffers one or more unsaved Wounds,
glancing or
penetrating hits caused by a weapon with this special rule counts its
cover saves as being 1 point worse than normal until the end of the phase. Furthermore, units can re-roll the dice to determine their
charge range against the afflicted unit until the end of the turn.
| As volatile as it is deadly, the plasma caliver exchanges range for a truly terrifying rate of fire. A squad of Skitarii armed with several plasma calivers lights up the night with each volley. To say they risk life and limb in the process is a grave understatement, yet to their Tech-Priest masters, such collateral damage matters not at all. |
| Radium weapons are so volatile that they eventually kill their wielders. Their baroque beauty belies a singularly vile function – not only to strike, but to render the battlefield as deadly as the rad-wastes of Mars. Each weapon’s bullet cylinder is so thoroughly bathed in radium that a volley can cause a localised rad-storm. Those inside soon find their flesh blackening and sloughing away. |
Rad Poisoning:
When firing a weapon that has this special rule, a
To Wound roll of 6 causes 2 Wounds on the target unit, regardless of the target’s Toughness. Each Wound is allocated and saved against separately.
| Agility is of paramount importance to the long-limbed killers of the Sicarian brotherhood. To this end they go to war clad in multilayered alloy that, though thin and flexible, provides admirable physical protection. This alloy, informally known as aegium, acts as a capacitor that harnesses the energy of incoming attacks and disperses it harmlessly across the wearer's bionic frame. |
Sicarian battle armour confers a 4+
Armour Save and a 6+
invulnerable save.
| Skitarii warriors are protected by armoured plates designed to be worn for several years at a time. Secreted under a superdermal layer of ceramite alloy are recombinant cells that harness moisture from the wearer and recycle it. This liquid is transmuted into a gelatinous unguent that coats the inside of the suit, preventing the slow abrasion of the wearer’s body whilst affording a measure of protection from the harmful emanations of their weaponry. |
Skitarii war plate confers a 4+
Armour Save.
| The stubcarbine, though compact, has the stopping power of the heavy stubbers mounted on the tanks of the Astra Militarum. When a squad of Sicarians opens fire with these weapons, the air fills with a storm of solid shot that chews their victims to ruin. |
| The precision and inhuman efficiency that typify the Skitarii Legions are epitomised by these long-barrelled heavy weapons. Firing a shell of depleted transuranium, the arquebus can puncture a tank from one side to the other, the resultant pressure wave also pulping any biological creatures that may be sheltering inside. |
| These fields convert the energy of hostile attacks into flashes of light. The more powerful the attack, the brighter the light emitted by the conversion field – an effect which has resulted in more than one assailant being robbed of his sight. |
A conversion field confers a 4+
invulnerable save. At the end of a phase in which the bearer passes one or more invulnerable saves granted by the conversion field, all units within D6" of the bearer must test as if they had been hit by a weapon with the
Blind special rule. Friendly units can re-roll this test.
| The Imperium’s digital weapons, though ostensibly supplied by the Adeptus Mechanicus, owe their provenance to nimble xenos technosavants. Though short ranged, they can be triggered to discharge potent laser blasts or jets of flame just as the enemy believes the wearer to be at his most vulnerable. |
A model armed with digital weapons can re-roll a single failed
roll To Wound in each
Assault phase.
| Seen as the mouthpieces of the Tech-Priests, who in turn are the prophets of the Machine God himself, those honoured with bearing enhanced data-tethers are obeyed without hesitation by their reverent Skitarii comrades. |
Whenever a unit with an enhanced data-tether is affected by a
Doctrina Imperative, all models in the unit add 1 to the Leadership characteristic on their profile until the start of your next turn. Note this is not cumulative with the effects of a
broad spectrum data-tether.
| The dextrous skull-and-digit adjutants that accompany senior Skitarii record hard data at a prolific rate. To know their findings are recorded and reported back is a great boon to the Skitarii, who draw courage and strength from the fact their sacrifices will not be in vain. |
A model equipped with an infoslave skull adds 1 to its Leadership and gains the
Acute Senses special rule.
| Sicarian Ruststalkers are equipped with mindscrambler grenades harbouring the eggsac of a Cthellan electrogenesis squid. When detonated, the resultant surge of bioelectricity causes heavy neural trauma in living creatures and artificial sentiences alike. |
AssaultModels equipped with mindscrambler grenades don’t suffer the penalty to their Initiative for
charging enemies through difficult terrain, but fight at their normal Initiative in the ensuing combat. In addition, when used in assault against
vehicles, mindscrambler grenades have the following profile:
|
Range |
S |
AP |
Type |
| Close combat |
- |
3 |
4 |
Haywire |
Shooting
When a unit armed with mindscrambler grenades makes a shooting attack, one model can choose to throw a grenade, rather than using another shooting weapon.
Neural Trauma:
Hits caused by a weapon with this special rule always cause a Wound on a
To Wound roll of 4+.
| The omnispex carries a raptor-class machine spirit that can read heat emissions, data signatures, and biological waveforms even at extreme range. Should it be kept focussed for an extended period of time, it will determine the weak points of those it scrutinises and pass them on to its master. |
Cover saves taken against attacks made by a unit that contains at least one model equipped with an omnispex are made with a -1 modifier.
| A common sight in the ranks of the Skitarii Legions, the refractor field distorts the image of the wearer with a shimmering cloak of energy. Incoming attacks that strike the field will be refracted into multi-spectrum bursts that dissipate into harmlessness. |
A refractor field confers a 5+
invulnerable save.
Relics of Mars are items of terrifying power that are sometimes bestowed upon a Skitarii Alpha or Sicarian Princeps by a senior Tech-Priest for them to field test. Only one of each of the following relics may be chosen per army.
A model may take one of the following:
1 Replaces the model’s Melee weapon (if it has one).
2 Replaces the model’s ranged weapon. May not be taken by a Ruststalker Princeps.
| The Imperium is littered with the detritus of more than ten millennia of war. Amongst it are many useful discoveries waiting to be recovered by the Adeptus Mechanicus – and in the case of unidentified archeotech, by their Skitarii Legions in particular. To aid his minions in the location of such items, the revered technoarchaeologist Arkhan Land fashioned a gauntlet around an armature of ancient Martian divining rods. One who wears this gauntlet will find his fingers twitching when he is near a relic of surpassing value, even whilst in the heat of battle. Uncanny though it seems, the subsequent investigation will often reveal exactly the calibre of treasure that the wielder needs in order to secure victory. |
If the bearer of Arkhan's Divinator, or any model in the bearer’s unit, identifies a
Mysterious Objective or deploys or moves into a piece of
mysterious terrain, you can choose to re-roll the result when determining what that Mysterious Objective or piece of mysterious terrain is.
| Amongst the Skitarii there is a theory that Pater Radium is the heart of a nuclear reactor, the first of its kind to be built on Mars. The honour of carrying this ornate rad-pack is awarded only to those who have acted on their own military initiative and hence won the day. Little matter, then, that the horrifically powerful radiation it emanates cause the teeth, hair and bones of the bearer to degrade to mulch in short order. Its very presence is an honour to the legionnaire that bears it, and when the legendary artefact can reduce the strongest of enemy warriors to crawling weakness, who can question its sacred cause? |
If the bearer of the Pater Radium is
locked in combat with one or more enemy units at the end of the
Initiative 1 step, each of these enemy units must take a
Toughness test using the Toughness value of the majority of the unit (or the highest in the case of a tie). If the test is failed, the unit takes D6
randomly allocated Wounds with no
armour saves allowed.
| A true miracle of the Machine God, the phase taser crackles with transdimensional energy, leading several curious magi to theorise it was once far more than a tool of war – though seeing as every one of them subsequently disappeared without trace, the Tech-Priests have lately been content to leave it in Skitarii hands. One struck hard by the prongs at the taser’s end will be instantly and permanently transported into another dimension, effectively disappearing from reality in a burst of crackling light. |
Interdimensional Electrocution:
Any model that suffers one or more unsaved Wounds from a weapon that has this special rule must immediately pass an
Initiative test or be removed from play as a casualty.
Taser:
When making an attack with a weapon that has this special rule, a
To Hit roll of a 6 causes 2 additional hits on the target.
| The blasphemous Tech-Priest Veriliad essentially destroyed the Adeptus Mechanicus’ ability to make phosphex weaponry. Having seen the crawling horror of the living, white-blue flame, Veriliad destroyed the lone STC for the substance’s creation. Efforts to recreate it have been unsuccessful ever since. Decried as Heretic Technis by the rest of his order, Veriliad was tied to a stake and shot with the pistol known as Phosphoenix, the finest such weapon ever produced. Perhaps fittingly, he was burnt alive by the very living flame he had tried to extinguish. |
Luminagen:
A unit that suffers one or more unsaved Wounds,
glancing or
penetrating hits caused by a weapon with this special rule counts its
cover saves as being 1 point worse than normal until the end of the phase. Furthermore, units can re-roll the dice to determine their
charge range against the afflicted unit until the end of the turn.
Phosphex:
When firing a weapon that has this special rule, a successful
To Hit roll scores 3 hits against the target unit instead of 1.
| This yellowed, multi-lacquered servo-skull is perhaps the most ancient of its kind. It has been ghostdated to the early days of Mankind, when primitive Terrans had barely evolved the ability to conjure light. Should the correct praise-psalm be sung to it, the halo of electrical power that surrounds its bony circumference will explode outwards in a ring of crackling force, scrambling the unnatural workings of enemy war engines. |
Once per game, the bearer of the Skull of Elder Nikola can unleash its power instead of firing a weapon. To do so, roll a number of D6 equal to the current turn number; the total rolled is the range of the attack in inches. All enemy
vehicles within range suffer a Strength 1 AP`-` hit with the
Haywire special rule.
| Legend has it that the wearer of the Omniscient Mask can read the souls of men, each rendered as legible as the binharic calligraphy of the Illuminatoria. An object of great veneration amongst the Skitarii, those under its gaze fight all the harder, for each warrior fears he will be found wanting in the eyes of the Omnissiah’s chosen. |
The bearer of the Omniscient Mask has the
Zealot special rule.
Skitarii Vehicle Equipment
Profiles for the following skitarii vehicle equipment can be found in the Warhammer 40,000 rulebook:
Broad Spectrum Data-tether
| A vehicle-mounted version of that carried by veteran Skitarii, the broad spectrum datatether projects a Tech-Priest’s binharic blurts with such clarity it seems he is amongst the ranks of the Skitarii himself. Imperatives delivered via such information relays are more potent and reliable than any other. |
All models in friendly units with the
Skitarii Faction that are within 6" of at least one model with a broad spectrum data-tether and are affected by a
Doctrina Imperative add 1 to the Leadership characteristic on their profile until the start of your next turn. Note this is not cumulative with the effects of an
enhanced data-tether.
| The overlapping force fields generated by Dunecrawlers are marvels of military science. Much like the refractor fields common to the lesser orders of the Martian Priesthood, they disperse hostile energies into the atmosphere, each incoming bullet transformed into little more than a flash of actinic blue light and a sudden tang of ozone. |
An emanatus force field confers a 6+
invulnerable save.
| The goliath-grade circuitry in this wondrous machine means it can only be borne by robustly built vehicles. When activated, it can detect any significant spikes of cerebral activity from nearby enemies. This triggers a series of bells, giving Skitarii a valuable second of notice before an enemy attack hits home. |
If a unit within 6" of a friendly model equipped with a mindscanner probe is charged, the charging models do not gain
bonus Attacks from charging. However, if the target unit was already
locked in combat from a previous turn, or has
Gone to Ground, the mindscanner probe has no effect and the attackers gain bonus Attacks as normal.
