Adeptus Mechanicus Fandex, a review

The newest version of Lantz's Adeptus Mechanicus Fandex was recently released. Check it out here. Yes that is the same Lantz that does a great job co-authoring Santa Cruz Warhammer's weekly Honor Roll. I have been building an Ad Mech army myself, and I want to share with you my initial reactions to this new Fandex from the perspective of a fellow Martian. All the models pictured in this post are from my collection.

Praetorians or Skitarii

The first thing I want to say about the fandex is that it is huge! This is clearly a labor of love. It covers just about every aspect of Mars you can think of, Cult Mechanicus, Dark Mechanicus, splinter cults, Techmarines, Iron Hands, and more. Official information on the Adeptus Mechanicus is scattered and incomplete, but Lantz does an excellent job bringing it altogether in a cohesive way.

Mechanicum Scribes

The fandex is organized exactly like a GW codex. It goes through all the sections including an introduction to the force, back story and fluff, the different units, a gallery, wargear, the army list, and a summary at the end. It is one of the most complete fan made works I have ever seen.

Menials or Forsaken

The army list is very big and all encompassing. I can easily take my collection and translate it to work with these rules. Even though I did not build my army to use with this fandex all of my models can find a slot. I think that is one of the real strengths of this list; any Ad Mech collector can use these rules. The fluff section is not to be missed either. Lantz has written and collected numerous original stories all focusing on the exploits of the factions from the Red Planet. In fact there are eight pages of stories. Information on the Mechanicum's forces can be hard to come by and it is nice to have a lot of information collected in one place. Many writers and fans over the years have created new units, titles, and names to describe the Ad Mech forces. Because of this not everyone interprets Ad Mech terms and fluff the same way. Lantz's fluff is comprehensive and cohesive, but I recognize that some people may interpret parts of the information differently.

Praetorian or Servitor (I call him, "I am Bender please insert girder.")

I have not played with these rules yet, so I do not want to comment on how they play or their game balance. However, I will say that they are thorough, and after a read through completely playable. If I had to find a (luxury) problem with the fandex, it is that it is too complete. There is a plethora of information in the dex; I almost feel like it is three rule books in one, an Ad Mech army, a Dark Mechanicus army, and a Techmarine fraternity army. All of the units and factions are thoroughly explained, so it is not a problem, it's just a lot of information to process. It has a full 99 pages of content.

Servitor with Communications Array/Teleport Homer

I just want to reiterate how obvious it is that an incredible amount of time and energy has gone into this fandex. It is a polished publication that is practically overflowing with information. If you are an Adeptus Mechanicus collector like me, or you just want to know more about one of mankind's most powerful factions, then you should definitely read this fandex. You can download it at www.admechfandex.com. It is free, so what are you waiting for! And as you can see with my models, building Mechanicum models is wonderfully freeing and gives you loads of opportunity to be creative!

Michael