Adeptus Mechanicus competitive army list!

 

Competitive Adeptus Mechanicus 2000-Point Lists (Warhammer 40k 10th Edition)

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Adeptus Mechanicus (AdMech) armies in 10th Edition have received significant improvements through balance dataslates and the new codex detachments, making them viable in competitive play​goonhammer.com. Below are two currently competitive 2000-point AdMech lists for matched play (GT/major tournaments as of May 2025), each built with no Forge World units and incorporating the latest rules updates (Munitorum Field Manual points and balance dataslate changes). For each list, we provide the full army roster with point costs and detachment, followed by a summary of its game plan, strengths, and weaknesses. These lists focus on strategies proven in recent GT-level events and represent builds a serious AdMech player could bring to a tournament today.

List 1: Skitarii Hunter Cohort – Mechanized Board Control (2000 points)

A Skitarii Marshal, one of the key leaders in a Skitarii Hunter Cohort army. Adeptus Mechanicus commanders rely on such characters to coordinate their forces.

The Skitarii Hunter Cohort detachment is widely regarded as AdMech’s strongest option in the current meta​goonhammer.com. This list exemplifies the “Protector Imperative” playstyle​goonhammer.com – it maximizes durable Skitarii infantry in transports and cost-efficient fire support to dominate the board. It was piloted to top-four finishes in major events (e.g. Richard Siegler’s 4th place with AdMech) by leveraging improved faction rules from the latest dataslate (boosting the army’s damage output)​goonhammer.com. The list floods objectives with expendable units and focuses on scoring points over pure killing​goonhammer.com, using its mobility and numbers to outmaneuver the opponent. Heavy firepower is present, but the primary goal is board control and trading units efficiently to win on mission points​goonhammer.com.

Army List (Adeptus Mechanicus – Skitarii Hunter Cohort, 2000 pts):

• Characters:

  • Skitarii Marshal – Warlord, Enhancement: Battle-sphere Uplink (65 pts)

  • 2× Skitarii Marshal (35 pts each) – (additional Marshals to buff multiple Skitarii units)

  • Inquisitor Draxus (Ordo Xenos ally, 95 pts) – (provides utility and psychic support)

• Battleline:

  • 10× Skitarii Rangers (85 pts) – galvanic rifles; includes Arc rifle, Plasma caliver, Transuranic arquebus, Omnispex

  • 4× 10 Skitarii Vanguard (90 pts each) – radium carbines; each unit includes Arc rifle, Plasma caliver, Transuranic arquebus, Omnispex

• Dedicated Transports:

  • 4× Skorpius Dunerider (85 pts each) – open-topped transports for Skitarii units

• Other Units:

  • 2× 5 Pteraxii Skystalkers (65 pts each) – mobile deep-striking infantry with flechette carbines

  • 3× Serberys Raiders (60 pts) – fast moving cavalry for scouting and screening

  • 2× 5 Sicarian Infiltrators (70 pts each) – forward-deploying skirmishers with flechette blasters and taser goads

  • 3× Skorpius Disintegrator (175 pts each) – tracked tanks with Ferrumite cannons & Disruptor missile launchers (high-volume anti-tank fire)

Game Plan: This army rides its Skitarii troops into battle aboard Duneriders, using them as both protection and quick delivery onto objectives​goonhammer.com. The Skitarii Marshals (each granting buffs like re-rolls to Hit/Wound) accompany these squads to improve their otherwise modest firepower. Once unloaded, units like Vanguard and Rangers establish a presence on midfield objectives – their goal is to hold ground and perform actions rather than outright destroy the enemy​goonhammer.com. The detachment rule grants all Skitarii units Stealth (and cover in deployment), making the infantry surprisingly durable when near cover​goonhammer.com. Combined with the Protector Imperative (which gives +1 Ballistic Skill army-wide and -1 to be hit in melee when near battleline units), the army can weather return fire and melee blows more effectively. The Duneriders enable “lightning lunges” – rapid pushes into the mid-board or enemy territory​goonhammer.com – while also functioning as movable walls to screen and block enemy movement. The Skorpius Disintegrators provide long-range fire support, bringing the faction’s best anti-tank weaponry​goonhammer.com to soften or eliminate hard targets. Fast units like Pteraxii and Serberys Raiders are used for secondary objectives, screening out deep strikes, and threatening backfield objectives. Overall, this list plays a deny-and-score game, flooding the table with cheap units that can trade and die as long as it gains an scoring advantage​goonhammer.com. Every turn, expendable units (e.g. Infiltrators or small Vanguard squads) move to contest or flip objectives, often using tricks like Rapid Ingress (to deep strike Skystalkers in mid-round) or Heroic Interventions to disrupt the opponent​goonhammer.com. It’s a grindy, tactical playstyle where outmaneuvering the opponent and controlling the mission is the path to victory rather than raw damage output.

Strengths:

• Exceptional Board Control and Scoring: The list fields many inexpensive units that can spread out, perform actions, and contest objectives across the board. This makes AdMech one of the strongest armies for secondary objectives and board control – the Skitarii Cohort is “one of the best secondary scoring armies in the game,” with plentiful disposable units for actions and late-game objective grabs​goonhammer.com. It can score primary and secondary points consistently while denying the opponent’s scoring by always having another unit to throw onto an objective.

• High Mobility and Flexibility: With multiple transports and deep-striking units, the army can rapidly redeploy and threaten different parts of the table. Units can disembark after moving (using stratagems) to surprise the opponent with charges or steals on objectives. Pteraxii can drop in from reserves and even return to Strategic Reserves after scoring, thanks to AdMech stratagems, ensuring they can be reused for later turns​goonhammer.com. This mobility combined with stratagem support (e.g. redeploy or fall-back-and-charge tricks) allows for reactive, “go-anywhere” play​goonhammer.com.

• Resilient Screens and Attrition: Individually, AdMech units aren’t very tough, but the detachment bonuses and sheer quantity of units make the army durable in aggregate. Stealth and cover on Skitarii squads often force enemies to deal with a 3+ save unit in cover, and if the Protector Imperative is active, enemy melee is less effective due to the -1 hit debuff. Small units like Infiltrators or Raiders can screen out threats and die in place of more valuable units​goonhammer.com. Every unit is considered expendable, so the army trades pieces efficiently – if sacrificing a unit denies the opponent scoring or gains AdMech an objective, it’s a win. This war of attrition often leaves opponents with too few resources to catch up on points by late game​goonhammer.com.

• Balanced Ranged Threats: While AdMech isn’t a top-tier shooting army, this list does include cost-efficient firepower to deal damage when needed. The trio of Skorpius Disintegrators with Ferrumite cannons provides a credible long-range threat to vehicles and monsters (each Disintegrator is a “cost-efficient shooting threat” that packs decent punch for its points​goonhammer.com). Meanwhile, the massed Vanguard and Rangers pour out volumes of small-arms fire (enhanced by the Protector +1 BS and occasional re-rolls from Marshals) which can shred light infantry and put wounds on tougher targets via weight of dice. The inclusion of an allied Inquisitor adds a Psychic attack and utility (such as an orbital strike or denying Deep Strikes, depending on Draxus’ rules) to round out the arsenal. In sum, the army has tools to chip down most enemy forces over time, even if it rarely scores big alpha strikes.

Weaknesses:

• Limited Anti-Tank Punch: AdMech traditionally struggles against heavy armor, and this list mostly relies on a few sources for high-strength damage. Outside of the Skorpius Disintegrators (and the short-ranged Breachers or Kastelan robots which this list deliberately avoids), the army’s attacks are relatively low strength/AP. Goonhammer notes that “very few units [in AdMech] are strong” at killing tanks and monsters, calling this “the problem” for the faction​goonhammer.com. If facing several tough vehicles or knights, the AdMech player must play the mission even harder, because they can’t easily table a durable enemy. This can make certain matchups (e.g. heavy Knights or Tyranid monster lists) an uphill battle – the damage output might be insufficient to remove those threats before they dominate the board.

• High Skill Requirement: The Skitarii Hunter Cohort list is notoriously difficult to pilot optimally​goonhammer.com. Maximizing its potential requires careful movement, screening, and trading. Mispositioning screens or wasting units too early can cause the game plan to fall apart. Goonhammer notes this detachment is “not ideal for the casual player or beginner,” but in the hands of an experienced AdMech commander it yields the best results​goonhammer.com. In a tournament setting, this means the margin for error is slim – a few mistakes can snowball since the list’s power is in precise play and scenario management rather than brute force.

• Low Direct Damage / Slow Kills: Because the game plan isn’t about destroying the enemy outright, this army can struggle to finish off opponents in a timely manner. Against armies with strong defense or regeneration, the AdMech might find itself swamped if those enemies keep pushing onto objectives. If an opponent plays extremely aggressively and trades units freely as well, the AdMech list can be put on the back foot, since it doesn’t excel at quickly wiping out attacking units. Essentially, it wins by points, not by tabling – if a mission or matchup demands killing power (for example, certain secondary objectives for kills), AdMech may find it hard to rack those up.

• Vulnerable Key Units: Although most of the army is expendable, a few elements are linchpins – for example, the Skitarii Marshals (for buffs) and the Disintegrators (for anti-tank fire). If an opponent can assassinate the Marshals early, the Skitarii squads lose valuable rerolls and leadership, making them far less effective. Similarly, if the Disintegrators are neutralized, the army might have no answer to a tough target. Protecting these pieces is vital, and a savvy opponent will prioritize them. This forces the AdMech player to dedicate some units to bodyguard or screening duty for those lynchpins, which can sometimes hinder the primary game plan.

Alternate Build – “Trash Horde” Variant: An alternative way to run the Skitarii Cohort (favored by some players in dense terrain metas) is to lean fully into the Conqueror Imperative style – colloquially called the “trash list.” This variant swaps out some vehicles and ranged elements for even more bodies: for example, massive hordes of Skitarii troops and Sicarian infantry (one successful list ran 30 Rangers, 20 Vanguard, and 30 Sicarian Ruststalkers, supported by Pteraxii and a couple of Duneriders)​tozudos40k.blogspot.com. The Conqueror-style list banks on overwhelming board presence, flooding every objective with AdMech bodies to jam the enemy in their deployment zone and relentlessly score points​goonhammer.com. It foregoes almost all dedicated firepower – damage is an afterthought – in exchange for sheer objective saturation. This can be very effective on terrain-heavy tables or against armies that can’t deal with waves of infantry, though it makes the AdMech even more one-dimensional (score, score, score) in its win condition. Notably, this “horde” approach also benefits from the Skitarii detachment’s tricks (Stealth, 5+ Feel-No-Pain stratagems on Sicarians, etc.) to make those squishy units a bit harder to remove​goonhammer.com​goonhammer.com. It’s another competitive approach, though most top AdMech players still include a balance of some vehicles (as in the main list above) to avoid being completely helpless against certain threats.

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List 2: Haloscreed Battle Clade – Adaptive Combined-Arms (2000 points)

Belisarius Cawl – legendary Tech-Priest of Mars. Many competitive Haloscreed lists include Archmagos Cawl for his aura buffs and durability, making him the centerpiece of the army’s battle plan.

The Haloscreed Battle Clade detachment is a newer addition (released in late 2024’s updates) that has quickly proven itself as a competitive AdMech option. Haloscreed lists have started to put up solid tournament results (for example, an AdMech Haloscreed army took 4th place at a recent GT)​goonhammer.com. This detachment’s strength lies in its flexibility – it can apply powerful buffs to a couple of units each turn with Noospheric Transference, such as granting +2″ Movement, Advance and Charge, +1 Toughness, or Stealth as needed​goonhammer.com. In practical terms, a Haloscreed army can adapt its strategy on the fly: one turn your units might be extra tough, the next turn two key units can suddenly launch an all-out charge. The following 2000-point list is an adaptive combined-arms force that mixes fast melee threats (boosted by Haloscreed’s mobility buffs) with strong ranged fire support. It’s a balanced approach that can hit the enemy hard but also play the mission efficiently. Notably, this list features Belisarius Cawl leading the army – his presence amplifies the effectiveness of nearby units – and uses the detachment’s tricks to send a deadly Sicarian Ruststalker unit into the fray at lightning speed while bolstering slower units like Kataphron Breachers with defensive buffs. The result is a well-rounded AdMech army that can punch surprisingly hard and take opponents off-guard with its versatility​goonhammer.com​goonhammer.com.

Army List (Adeptus Mechanicus – Haloscreed Battle Clade, ~2000 pts):

• Characters:

  • Belisarius Cawl – Warlord (135 pts) – a potent HQ providing aura buffs (e.g. re-rolls) to nearby units and a durable centerpiece

  • Skitarii Marshal (35 pts) – cheap support character for Skitarii units (leadership and rerolls)

  • Tech-Priest Manipulus (70 pts) – armed with Magnarail lance; Enhancement: Sanctified Ordnance (+6″ range to his unit’s guns)

  • Tech-Priest Manipulus (75 pts) – Magnarail lance; Enhancement: Inloaded Lethality (boosts critical hits for his unit)

  • Technoarcheologist (45 pts) – utility character; improves objective control (prevents enemy deep strikes/actions near objectives) and can lead certain units

• Battleline:

  • 10× Skitarii Rangers (85 pts) – basic skirmish unit with Galvanic rifles; includes 1× Arc rifle, 1× Plasma caliver, 1× Transuranic arquebus, 1× Omnispex for utility

  • 2× 10 Skitarii Vanguard (95 pts each) – close-ranged troops with Radium carbines; each squad includes 1× Arc rifle, 1× Plasma caliver, 1× Transuranic arquebus, 1× Omnispex

• Dedicated Transports:

  • 2× Skorpius Dunerider (85 pts each) – transports (capacity 12) for ferrying Skitarii or Sicarian units safely across the board

• Other Units:

  • 6× Kataphron Breachers (320 pts) – heavy battle-servitors with arc rifles & hydraulic claws (excellent at close-range tank-busting and holding objectives)

  • 3× Kataphron Breachers (160 pts) – smaller Breacher unit for backline objective hold or secondary firing platform

  • 5× Pteraxii Skystalkers (70 pts) – jump infantry for harassment and actions (flechette blasters, great for deploying from Reserve and scoring secondaries)

  • 2× 5 Sicarian Infiltrators (70 pts each) – infiltrating units with pistols & taser goads to threaten early objectives and harass the enemy flanks

  • 10× Sicarian Ruststalkers (150 pts) – fast melee specialists armed with transonic blades (one upgraded with a chordclaw for extra damage); primary shock assault unit

  • 2× Skorpius Disintegrator (175 pts each) – artillery tanks equipped with Disruptor missile launcher and Ferrumite cannon (the army’s long-range heavy fire support)​goonhammer.com

Game Plan: This Haloscreed list employs a two-pronged strategy: a hard-hitting melee strike combined with strong board control and shooting. Each turn, the AdMech commander will use the Haloscreed detachment ability to select two key units to buff with the HALO OVERRIDE keyword (since this is a Strike Force game)​goonhammer.com. Depending on the situation, those units might gain Advance + Charge (to launch an assault), +1 Toughness (to tank incoming fire), +2″ Move (to reposition quickly), or Stealth (to survive enemy shooting). For example, in the early turns the AdMech player might buff the large Ruststalker squad and a Dunerider with Advance and Charge, then use the stratagem Aggressive Impulse on a second Dunerider – this combo allows up to three units of Ruststalkers to disembark and charge in a single turn, covering an average ~15″ move before charging​goonhammer.com. In this list we only have one Ruststalker unit of 10 models, but the same principle applies: that squad can be loaded into a Dunerider and flung forward for a devastating turn-1 or turn-2 charge, effectively springboarding a melee attack across the board. Belisarius Cawl often rides with or near this Ruststalker unit, not to join their assault, but to provide rerolls and a Fight First aura, and potentially soak overwatch or counter-charge threats (Cawl is very tough to kill, acting as a distraction carnifex if he’s out front).

While the Ruststalkers (with support from Infiltrators or even buffed Vanguard) put pressure on the enemy’s front lines, the rest of the army secures objectives and lays down fire. The Kataphron Breachers form a midfield anchor – their job is to trundle onto an objective (possibly with +1 Toughness buff making them even harder to shift) and blast away at heavy targets with their arc rifles. Cawl can alternatively join a Breacher unit, boosting their shooting accuracy and durability significantly. The Skorpius Disintegrators sit back and bombard enemy armor or important units, leveraging their high-damage ferrumite cannons. With Cawl and the Marshal providing hit rerolls, these tanks become quite reliable at punching through tough targets. Meanwhile, Skitarii Vanguard and Rangers (often riding in the Duneriders early on) focus on playing the mission – they hop out to take objectives, perform actions like scanning or raising banners, and use their bodies to screen out enemy deep strikers. The Vanguard squads, in particular, can also act as a second-wave melee unit: under the Conqueror Imperative (which the AdMech player can switch to in later turns), Vanguard get boosted AP on their melee attacks​goonhammer.com, and with their Toxic Rain ability (rad-saturation) they can weaken enemies for the Ruststalkers to finish off.

Critically, the Haloscreed list thrives on reactive tricks. It has a stratagem for almost every situation: e.g. Analytical Divination lets an Infantry unit make a quick 6″ move in the enemy’s movement phase (great for repositioning onto an objective or out of harm’s way)​goonhammer.com; Guided Retreat allows a unit that fell back to still shoot and charge (so your Ruststalkers can hit-and-run if they survive an initial fight)​goonhammer.com; and of course Aggressive Impulse (mentioned above) enables charging after disembarking, extending threat ranges dramatically. This means on the table the AdMech player is constantly looking for opportunistic plays – if the enemy leaves a gap, a buffed unit will dart in to exploit it. If the opponent overextends, the AdMech can buff its units defensively (e.g. T+1 or Stealth) to weather the storm and then counterpunch. The presence of Belisarius Cawl cannot be overstated: not only does he enhance nearby units, but he’s also a powerful melee combatant in his own right (with a slew of high-damage attacks) and extremely hard to kill (a 2+ save, 5+ invulnerable, and healing abilities, typically). Cawl can march onto the central objective and effectively count as a monstrous threat the enemy must deal with, all while your other units are racking up points. By the late game, a Haloscreed army aims to have the board split between durable objective-holders (Breachers, maybe Cawl if he’s still kicking) and fast units that can chase down remnants (Pteraxii jumping out of reserve to grab distant objectives or finish off weak units, etc.). In summary, this list can shift gears between aggression and defense: it hits hard at the right moment but also knows when to play cagey and just score – a flexibility that catches many opponents off-guard​goonhammer.com.

Strengths:

• Highly Flexible Buffs and Tactics: The hallmark of Haloscreed is adaptability. Being able to choose different buffs each round for key units means the army can tailor its approach to the matchup and moment. For instance, you can crank up the speed (Advance & Charge) for an alpha strike, then switch to toughness or stealth when you need to survive an enemy counter-attack. This detachment has an excellent suite of stratagems with fewer restrictions than usual, giving AdMech tools for rerolls, extra movement, fall back and charge, and more​goonhammer.com. In competitive play, this toolbox of tricks makes the army unpredictable and allows a skilled player to outplay opponents – you have an answer for many situations. Goonhammer’s review lauds Haloscreed’s “flexible detachment that allows you to buff any unit” and its “great suite of stratagems” for both offense and defense​goonhammer.com. In practice, this means a Haloscreed AdMech army can play both the brute-force game and the objective game in the same battle, shifting as needed.

• Devastating Melee Alpha Strike Potential: With the combination of Advance and Charge buffs and the Aggressive Impulse stratagem, Haloscreed lists can launch a blisteringly fast melee attack. In this list, the 10 Ruststalkers can reach effectively 18″+ charge threat (move + disembark + charge) on a turn when buffed, which often catches opponents by surprise. Some players have taken this even further by running 30 Ruststalkers in their Haloscreed builds, essentially creating a tidal wave of melee that hits turn 1 or 2​goonhammer.com. Even with just one big Sicarian unit here, the threat of that charge forces the opponent to respect your distance. Once in combat, Ruststalkers dish out a large number of AP-2, damage 2 attacks that can shred elite infantry or light vehicles. The detachment also has a stratagem for +1 Critical Hit chance (5+ crits)​goonhammer.com which pairs absurdly well with taser goads or other melee, allowing smaller units like Infiltrators to spike high damage. In short, Haloscreed gives AdMech something it traditionally lacked – reliable melee punch – and uses speed to ensure that punch lands where it hurts.

• Strong Combined-Arms Capabilities: Unlike the Skitarii cohort which often skews heavily toward one mode (all shooting or all bodies), this Haloscreed list has a balance of firepower, durability, and combat. The inclusion of Kataphron Breachers and Skorpius Disintegrators means it can engage in a firefight with most armies. Those units bring significant anti-tank and anti-elite shooting (heavy arc rifles, ferrumite cannons, etc.), which is something AdMech needs to handle tough targets. In fact, Skorpius Disintegrators are considered the faction’s “best anti-tank unit”​goonhammer.com, and here we have two plus Cawl’s buffs to maximize their output. On the defensive side, buffing Breachers to T6 (or higher if near cover) makes them very hard to remove, serving as sturdy objective holders. Meanwhile, the army still retains chaff units (Skitarii troops, Infiltrators, etc.) to do actions and die for the cause, so it doesn’t sacrifice scoring potential. This combined-arms approach covers many bases – it has answers to hordes (mass radium and galvanic shots), to heavy armor (arc rifles, ferrumite cannons), to fast enemy units (reactive move strats, speedy Pteraxii), and so on. The well-rounded nature of the list makes it adaptable in a tournament setting where you face a variety of opponents.

• Anchor Unit – Belisarius Cawl: Cawl deserves special mention as a force-multiplier. He provides chapter-master style rerolls to a Mars unit, buffs nearby Canticles/Doctrina effects, and can even repair vehicles. In this list, Cawl often anchors the gunline – for example, sitting with the Breacher units or between the two Disintegrators. Under his aura, those units hit much more reliably. Additionally, Cawl is a nightmare to kill; opponents often waste a lot of firepower trying to bring him down, which takes pressure off the rest of your army. If not focused, he will wade into the mid-board and personally cleave through enemies in melee (his omnissian axe and mechadendrites pack a punch). This creates a lose-lose for the enemy: ignore Cawl and he buffs/harasses freely; focus him and the rest of the AdMech army goes about its business relatively unscathed. Having such a durable linchpin unit is a big strength in competitive play, providing both a psychological and practical advantage on the table.

Weaknesses:

• Buff Reliance and Complexity: The need to assign HALO buffs and remember multiple stratagem tricks each turn adds a layer of complexity. A Haloscreed list can do a lot, but that also means it’s easy for the AdMech player to make suboptimal choices (e.g. buffing the wrong unit at the wrong time or wasting CP on less impactful strats). There is also a ceiling to how much can be buffed – only two units (in Strike Force) get the HALO OVERRIDE each turn​goonhammer.com, so you often must choose between offense and defense. For example, you might want both +1 Toughness and Advance/Charge in the same turn, but you can’t have both on one unit at once (without using a risky strat to take mortals for a second buff)​goonhammer.com​goonhammer.com. Goonhammer points out that Haloscreed is “probably worse than Skitarii Hunter Cohort” in raw power because you must make trade-offs on buffs (you can’t passively have durability and damage boosts simultaneously)​goonhammer.com. In practice, if you guess wrong – say you buff for a charge and then fail the charge roll, or buff toughness when you actually needed more speed – it can swing the game. The detachment’s flexibility is a double-edged sword: the army’s performance is very buff-dependent, so a clever opponent might play around your buffed units and target the unbuffed parts of your army.

• Singular Dependence on Ruststalkers for Melee: While Haloscreed enables a potent melee offense, it largely hinges on the Sicarian Ruststalkers to do the heavy lifting in combat. Aside from them, Adeptus Mechanicus doesn’t have many other strong melee units (Electro-Priests are an option but not taken here, and even they are situational). Goonhammer notes that “AdMech lacks solid melee units outside of Ruststalkers”​goonhammer.com. This means if your Ruststalker bomb fails – e.g. the unit gets wiped out or whittled down before it can fight – you lose your primary assault threat. In this list we’ve mitigated that by including some Vanguard and Infiltrators for backup, but those are much lighter combatants. Compared to a true melee-focused faction, AdMech will fall short in prolonged combat. Additionally, ironically, Ruststalkers can be even more durable in the Skitarii detachment (which can give them a 5+ Feel No Pain and -1 to be hit in melee when near battleline​goonhammer.com), whereas Haloscreed Ruststalkers are more about damage output. So there’s a trade-off – you hit harder with Haloscreed Ruststalkers, but they’re somewhat glass cannon. A savvy enemy might focus-fire your Ruststalker unit early (since it’s not too hard to kill 10 T3 bodies if exposed) and leave the AdMech army without a knockout punch in later turns.

• Mid-Range Focus – Vulnerable at Extremes: The composition of this Haloscreed list is strongest at mid-range engagements – within about 15-24″ and in melee. Many of its weapons (radium carbines, arc rifles, flamers if any, etc.) are short-to-medium range. If an opponent can force long-range firefights on open boards, the AdMech can struggle to reach or meaningfully hurt the enemy. Conversely, if an enemy army survives the initial AdMech assault and brings a strong melee counter-attack, the AdMech units (mostly T3-5 infantry and T6 walkers) can fold relatively quickly in close combat once their buffs are expended. For example, an army like World Eaters or Tyranids with multiple fight phases or interrupts can hit the AdMech lines and grind down those Breachers and Skitarii faster than they can respond. Haloscreed is better at striking hard once than trading blows over many turns in combat. Thus, extremely shooty armies that outrange AdMech or extremely choppy armies that can weather the first punch both pose difficult matchups. The AdMech player must use terrain and careful timing to mitigate those disadvantages, but not all tournament maps will allow that.

• Fewer Bodies for Objective Play: Compared to the Skitarii cohort list, this Haloscreed army has fewer total units (it dedicates a lot of points to characters, Breachers, and vehicles). If it loses a couple of units early, it might find itself stretched thin on the primary mission. For instance, only three troops choices are present – if two of those are killed, you have at most one cheap unit to hold your backfield or do actions, putting a lot of pressure on the remaining units to both fight and score. In missions where multiple objectives must be held, the AdMech player could feel the pinch trying to be everywhere at once. Essentially, this list trades quantity for quality, and that means each unit loss hurts a bit more in terms of scoring potential. Also, with five characters in the list, that’s five drops that aren’t objective-holding units themselves (characters have to attach or stay near squads). In situations where those characters can’t safely contribute (e.g. if their attached unit dies and they are left alone), you effectively lose their utility. An opponent might capitalize on this by sniping a transport and killing the squad inside, stranding the character, thereby indirectly reducing your board presence. In summary, the list must carefully manage its assets to not run out of units to play the mission, especially in later turns if the game is bloody.

Both of the above lists avoid any Forge World units and stick to options from the codex and official GW publications. They incorporate the latest Balance Dataslate changes and point adjustments (Munitorum Field Manual) to ensure they’re up-to-date. These are armies that have proven effective in the current tournament meta – the Skitarii Hunter Cohort build excels at a patient, grindy playstyle, whereas the Haloscreed build adds a bit more aggression and reactive play. A competitive AdMech player in May 2025 can confidently field either of these lists (or a hybrid of the two approaches) at a GT or RTT, knowing that while AdMech isn’t the absolute top faction, it has the tools and tricks to win games in capable hands​goonhammer.com​goonhammer.com. As always, success will come down to smart use of the army’s strengths to score points while mitigating its weaknesses – the Cult of the Omnissiah demands nothing less than calculated perfection!

Sources: Recent tournament list analyses and faction reviews from Goonhammer​goonhammer.com​goonhammer.com, balance update discussions on Warhammer Community, and compiled GT results (Best Coast Pairings / Stat-check data) confirming the performance of these lists​goonhammer.com​tozudos40k.blogspot.com. The specific army compositions are based on lists piloted by top AdMech players (e.g. Richard Siegler and Samuel Martin) and reflect point values from the latest Munitorum Field Manual and Balance Dataslate for 10th Edition.

I played dwarven video games inside of my spaceship's arcade.

 So I've got this spaceship I call the Rabbit. It's a moderately sized example of a spaceship that I acquired from my collection of spaceships. I do have a rather large collection of those. 

Well, the rabbit had an empty space along its port side that had a window looking out from the ship's bottom. We measured it to be 145 feet long and 32 feet wide. We installed a coffee bar (totally free for anyone on the ship) and some arcade machines. 

Let me tell you about Dwarven arcade machines. They're mostly made of enchanted crystal. Each machine is painstakingly assembled by a team of Dwarven artisans by hand, sometimes taking over a thousand years on a single machine. The machines are powered by magic enchantments, each machine being a beautiful expression of gem art. They're also very heavy. 

I installed two systems in my arcade that were created by the dwarves. One is called "The Seven Sins of Melchizedek" and the second is "The Iron Hand." Both are very good game consoles. 

I also installed some elven machines in my arcade. They're made of flowers and sung into existence using the Elves' sing enchantment ability. They're pretty cool as well, the games being a system of plucking and moving flowers that represent various objects in the game. 

My ship, the Rabbit, has literally anything you could ask for. It's got a forge (for me, I forge weapons), it's got a bar, it's got bedrooms and gyms and a swimming pool. The estimated value of the ship and everything in it is about three billion dollars. I acquired it after I found it sitting in space as a space hulk. 

The ship is pretty fast as well. I'm a navigator, so that means that I can fly the ship under my own power. The ship can travel so much faster than light that it's actually pretty ridiculous. We've been all over the place. Manan, New Sigil, Batoor, and a lot of other places. It's really cool to go visit the various places in the universe. My ship facilitates that. 

Anyways, that about wraps everything up about my ship. I'll see you later. 

I just recently discovered what American football actually is.

The "Foot" in American football doesn't refer to the anatomical foot. It refers to the measurement foot. Like, everything in football is determined by how many feet you are from where you started. First down is at ten yards, and yards are three feet each. That's about all I have. 

Jack from Tekko Chapter 1

 

Chapter 1

Jack Barret opened his eyes to the sound of his wife cooking breakfast.

“Honey?” Jack got out of bed and walked into the sitting room. “What’s up?”

Jack’s wife, Tanri, turned to face him. “I’m just happy for your first day of work.”

Jack stretched his shoulders. “Yeah. I’ll get ready and then head out.”

The Texas sun was just peeking over the horizon. The calendar read January 16, 1996. As Jack prepared for his first day at work, he downed a cup of coffee and read the newspaper. Nothing important happening today. He got into his car, an old and beat-up Toyota sedan, and headed for the office.

Jack had just acquired a job at the private military corporation, or PMC, known as Tekko. With three years of experience in the SWAT, he was a good candidate for the job according to his recruiter. The office was a two hour drive down the highway.

When he arrived, he noticed that only two out of the dozen or so parking spots were taken. It was around eleven am. Jack climbed out of his car and went to the door.

The office was bland on the outside, just a square building with two windows that were covered by bars. It looked like it could fit in any middle-American town and not once be noticed by the people who walked past it each day. The door had iron reinforcing behind its glass wall.

Jack pressed the doorbell. Two minutes later the door opened. A tall, skinny, black-haired white man opened the door. He looked Jack up and down, then smiled and offered his hand.

“Nice to meet you, Jack. Let’s go talk inside.”

They entered a small office. A large CRT monitor sat on the desk next to a Rolodex and a number of binders. The desk was quite messy. The man who had greeted Jack sat down.

“So, Jack.” He leaned back in his chair. “Take a seat, take a seat.”

Jack sat down.

“The name Nathaniel.” The man grinned. “I’m just here to bring you in. Your normal contact, well, I mean—” Nathaniel shrugged. “You’ll understand. We get a lot of turnover here.” Nathaniel turned to a whiteboard behind the desk. “What do you know about Tekko?”

Jack shook his head. “Not much.”

Nathaniel lifted his chin. “Good. That’s for the best, and we like to keep it that way.” Nathaniel folded his hands. “Tekko is, for all intents and purposes, a ghost. A company that no one should know by name unless you are of the small group of people who use us. We cannot advertise, we cannot be widely known, and our stock does not trade on the market.” Nathaniel shrugged. “In any case, the person who referred you will be getting compensated. Three years in the SWAT, right?”

Jack nodded. “Yes, sir.”

Nathaniel folded his hands. “Good. You’re a good trooper, Jack.” He extended his palm. “I’d like to formally welcome you to the world’s second best PMC.”

“Second best?”

Nathaniel ignored Jack. “Great. Let’s get started. What do we do here at Tekko? Anything and everything. Not like those bastards at Yarko, am I right?” He chuckled. “In any case. You will be called in as needed to assist with anything and everything. It could be finding a missing person, it could be eating dinner with a family, it could be as a bodyguard. You don’t know what missions you’ll be sent on until they actually occur.” Nathaniel stood up. “Now let me tell you about the brown program.” Nathaniel’s eyes became sharp. “In this company, you earn a brown point by coming back from a brown mission. Now, what is a brown mission?” Nathaniel drew a few symbols on the whiteboard. “Number one. Major threat to self. Number two. Intense disgust. And number three: incredible danger.”

“Will I be doing anything dangerous?” Jack tilted his head.

“Yes, of course.” Nathaniel smirked. “You signed on at a private military corporation. Therefore, you will be doing military things.”

“When do I start work?”

“Right now, as a matter of fact.” Nathaniel looked at his watch. “Your plane is leaving DFW in two hours.”

“Um, I wasn’t planning on—”

Nathaniel clapped Jack on the back. “Come on, kid! Let’s go.”

Jack drove to Dallas Fort Worth airport and parked in the parking structure. The pre 9/11 plane boarding process was quick and efficient. Two hours later Jack was in the air with a dossier.

Find the dog.

There was a picture of a dog and the name of his contact. He was headed to Morocco, with a layover in Paris.

“Damn.” Jack mustered to himself. He had used the airport payphone to tell his wife that he was going on a business trip.

Fifteen hours later he was in Morocco. The white brick buildings contrasted with the beautiful appearance of the thick blue sky. It was a stunning view.

Jack stepped off the plane onto the tarmac. A man wearing a suit and sunglasses approached him.

“Sir.” The man bowed. “This way.”

“Okay.” Jack followed the man into a limousine. “Where are we headed?”

“Somewhere where I can give you a briefing.”

The limo drove through the streets of Morocco, arriving half an hour later at a upscale restaurant called Goroski’s. Jack and the man stepped out onto a promenade, and were escorted into the building.

“For the Grueyers.” The man bowed.

They were led to a table, where a stunningly dressed woman with pinched eyebrows and lots of plastic surgery sat with a small eight-year old boy wearing the uniform of a prep school.

“Oh, my, my.” The woman had a thick French accent. “Is this the man who will be …” She eyed Jack up and down with an expression that Jack knew all too well at this point—being a black man. The woman waved her fan.

“Very well then. My name is Francine Grueyer. This is my son, William.” She pronounced the first letter of his name like a v.

William bowed. Francine swatted him on the back of his head. “William, dear. You are bowing too deep.”

William scratched the back of his head and said something in French.

Francine turned to Jack. “We are looking for our puppy, Godfry. He is somewhere in this city. I have exhausted every other avenue of attack at the moment. I do not know where our dear Godfry could be.” She appeared ready to cry. “Bring back our Godfrey!”

The first course of the dinner was served. Some sort of fish, with marvelously plated vegetables and sauce. Jack took a bite, and found the food to be better than he expected. When he imagined high-class food, he never imagined it to actually taste good.

The tablecloth was pristine. The walls sported expensive-looking paintings. There were three chandeliers above the tables.

The sommelier brought a wine bottle out and poured it into Jack’s glass while holding the bottom. Every motion of this man was perfection. His suit, his trim, his hair, his everything was perfect.

Jack had never felt so out of place in his life. Here he was, wearing the same shirt he had been wearing when he stepped on that plane, while everyone else was wearing expensive formal clothing. He felt inadequate.

There were a total of nine courses served, with wine. The table’s presence was exceedingly awkward.

Towards the end, Jack asked: “Do you know where you left the dog last?”

“Godfrey. His name is Godfrey, not “The Dog.”” Francine waved her fan in an irritated manner.

“Fine. Godfrey. Where did you last see him?”

William nodded and spoke English, also with a heavy accent. “He broke free of his leash near the pool of the Ottocan.”

“So I should start looking there.”

“Yes, that would be advisable.”

After the dinner was over, the two Grueyers left the table. The bodyguard who had been standing behind Jack the entire time tapped Jack’s shoulder.

Jack stood up. As they walked back to the limo, the bodyguard stopped. “I expect the best from your company.”

“Uh, yeah.”

The bodyguard opened the door to the limo and ushered Jack in.

“Where to?” The bodyguard got in next to Jack. The driver turned to face Jack.

“To the Ottocan, obviously.” Jack shrugged. “It’s the best place to start looking.” He looked around. “Do you have a picture of the dog?”

The bodyguard nodded. He pulled a picture out of his wallet and handed it to Jack. The picture looked well-loved.

Jack examined the picture. The dog was small and poofy with white fur. He imagined that it wouldn’t be that hard to find, as it looked nothing like the kind of dog you would find on the street.

“To the Ottocan.”

They arrived at the prestigious hotel about half an hour later. Jack got out of the limo and started walking towards the hotel’s entry. The bodyguard spoke a few words to the person guarding the entrance, after which the party was let into the building.

Jack walked to the pool first. The pool had an overlooking view of the ocean and the most beautiful part of the city. Sexy women and rather un-sexy men were making use of the facilities. It was about nightfall, with the sun setting over the horizon. The sunset appeared as if the hand of God himself were blanketing the city in orange and purple. A flock of birds flew overhead.

Jack took the picture of the dog to the concierge at the booth that rented out towels. “Dog.” He showed the concierge the picture. “Kalb. Where?”

The man spoke in perfect English: “Ah, I do remember seeing that one dog about two days ago.”

“Sorry about that.”

“No, no, it is fine. How can I help you?”

Jack pointed to the picture. “I need to find this dog as soon as possible. I heard that it was seen here last.”

“I have a very good memory for dogs.” The concierge pointed. “The dog you are looking for made its way through that fence over there when it was opened.”

Jack nodded. “Okay, thanks.” He looked around. It was getting dark, but every hour wasted meant a smaller chance of finding the dog.

Two hours of searching later, and Jack had acquired the dog. All it took was him showing the picture to the locals and using the Arabic word for “where”— And a few hundred dollar bills that Jack had “expensed” from the bodyguard. The dog was cooperative, licking Jack’s hand when he found it.

Jack brought the dog back to the hotel. It was around seven in the evening. Jack could tell the bodyguard was trying to hold back emotion when he saw the dog in Jack’s hands.

Jack handed the dog to the bodyguard, who made the call. An hour later, and the dog was in the hands of its owners. Jack couldn’t speak dog—yet—but he imagined the dog giving a sigh of relief. Being alone on the streets of a strange city without anyone to care for you is harsh, even for a dog.

Francine thanked Jack and handed him a stack of hundred dollar bills. Jack slid the money into his pocket. Two seconds later one of the hotel employees came up to him.

“You have a call.”

Jack went to where the payphones were. “Hi?”

“Jack.” It was someone Jack did not recognize. “My name is Andy. I’ll be your coordinator for this mission. Have you found the dog yet?”

“I found it.”

“Good. We’ve booked you a plane ticket back home. You leave in four hours.”

Jack was tired, but he couldn’t miss his flight home. Two hours later he was at the airport, and two hours after that he was in the air.

From January 17, 1996 to June 12, 1996, Jack performed seven dog-catching missions, all of them for very rich and very famous families. He did not miss a single dog.

 

The Lesser One Book 3 Chapter 1

 

New Sigil

“How many bananas is that?”

Esla and Dr. Barrimore are standing next to me in a pure white room somewhere beneath Ixtham academy.

I’d returned from my journey in London less than a week ago, and now I am undergoing a series of trials to see exactly how powerful my ability is.

Right now I’ve got a stack of bananas in front of me the size of a building.

“More!” Dr. Barrimore is holding a camera and pointing it at the pile. “More bananas!”

I conjure banana after banana after banana. Soon the entire white room, with walls that are at least five stories high, is filled to the brim with bananas and my ability hasn’t even cooled down a bit.

“Okay.” Dr. Barrimore sighs. “You’re the most powerful conjurer we’ve ever recorded. The second best created less than a thousand bananas.”

“Conjurer?”

“You learned about this yesterday in my class, right?” Dr. Barrimore crosses his arms.

Conjurer. That’s the name of the superpower I have in me right now.

According to the NEN chart (NEN stands for Network Energy Notation), I am part of a school of magic known as conjuration. This means that I can conjure objects out of thin air, up to a point, and those objects are solid for as long as I exist. On the other hand, when I point my finger at something, I can’t shoot more than a tiny little energy bullet, as emission is a school that is antithetical to conjuration. Esla, by the way, is an emitter. Dr. Barrimore is a manipulator. Each school of magic carries its own laws and its own way of doing things.

I look again at the gigantic pile of fruit in front of me. “Who’s going to eat all this?”

Dr. Barrimore picks up a banana and peels it. “Tasty things. Too bad they go bad like that.” He munches the banana. Esla takes a banana and peels it as well.

Dr. Livers, the other professor who is adjudicating my test, comes out of her little office at the top of the room using a ladder. She approaches me. “This fruit is going to be donated to local food banks.” She picks up a banana and examines it. “We choose bananas as the test object because, for some odd reason, they are able to be conjured by almost all conjurers. Unlike you, most conjurers have limits on the objects that they can conjure.”

“Bananas? They’re magic like that?”

“And easily gradable.” Dr. Livers peels her banana. “Perfect ripeness. Great cellular structure. We’re going to have to analyze these later with more scrutiny.”

I shrug. “I guess. As long as it doesn’t all go to waste.”

Dr. Barrimore puts his hand on my shoulder. “Let’s go up to my office and talk about something.”

I remember that Dr. Barrimore had erased his memory regarding the potion that gave me these powers. He hasn’t mentioned it yet at this point but I wonder if he will.

About ten minutes later we’re in his office. He takes a DVD from the wall of CDs in his office—most of which are music—and puts it in the player underneath his rather old television set. He motions to a chair next to him. “Sit.”

I watch the TV screen light up. A camera pans over a gigantic city that seems to be, to my untrained eyes, made of mega blocks.

“Mega blocks?” I am a bit surprised at this.

“This is footage from a special place, Markus.” Dr. Barrimore folds his arms. “A place you’re going to need to go soon.”

“What are you talking about?” I watch the camera move. “Where is this?”

“What you are looking at right now is the city of New Sigil.” Dr. Barrimore unfolds his arms and leans forward. “Us professors at Ixtham keep this place a secret. But I think you’re going to need to go there.”

“Here? But everything is made of mega blocks. Isn’t this a picture of a toy city or something?”

“No.” Dr. Barrimore shakes his head. “Do you know what an STC is? A standard template construct?”

I shake my head. “No. I’ve never heard of such a thing.”

Dr. Barrimore sighs. “Not much of a Warhammer fan, then.” He stands up and goes to a small cabinet at the back of his office. “Try this.” He takes a small mega block, about the size of a brick, and hands it to me. It’s light. It radiates color, as if it were made of pure light instead of something real. I lift it up and examine it.

“Ask it for a burger.” Dr. Barrimore folds his hands in front of his chin.

“Can I have a hamburger?”

The STC lights up with an incredible amount of noise and flashing colors. About two seconds later a hamburger, fully formed, comes out of nowhere and lands in my hand. The burger looks a bit strange, as if it had been generated by an AI algorithm to look like a burger without actually being one. I taste it. It’s normal. I cannot place exactly where the burger comes from. Not Wendy’s, not Burger King, not McDonalds. It’s just a random, almost perfectly realized, non-specific burger.

“So this block.” I hand it back to Dr. Barrimore. “That’s what those buildings are made of?”

“And you’re going there.” Dr. Barrimore stands up. “Time for me to show you something.”

The door to the office opens and two people walk in. I stand bolt upright, so fast that I knock down the chair. “Ari! And, uh, Ronald?”

Ari and Ronald walk into the room. Ronald grins at me. “Hello, boyo.”

Dr. Barrimore nods. “These two people have been hired by Ixtham to deliver a message. You need to go with them. The portal to Bytopia is in the basement. I’ll lead you there, you’ll need my key.”

I face Ronald. “What the hell are you doing here?”

Dr. Barrimore appears amused. “You know this man?” He tilts his head.

I grit my teeth. “Know him? He’s a mass murderer! He doesn’t belong here! He tried to kill me?”

“Such strange talk.” Dr. Barrimore shrugged. “Did you dream too hard or something? Ixtham has given Stephen a serious background check.”

“Stephen?” I grit my teeth. “You’ve got some explaining to do, Stephen.”

--Stephen—grins. “Sure thing, boss.” He licks his lips. “But for now, boy, we’re working together against an enemy that is far worse than anything you can imagine me being.”

We take the elevator down to the lowest floor. When the doors open, we walk out into a small hallway that has more elevators in it. Dr. Barrimore leads us to the last elevator in the row.

“Where are we?”

“Floor Z.” Dr. Barrimore uses a key card to activate the elevator. “This is where we’re going to go deeper. Far deeper than any of you have ever been.”

We take the elevator. It’s rather large, as if it has been designed for something big. About five minutes pass in complete silence. Then the doors open onto a cave, natural looking, with stalagmites and stalactites. I hear a dripping somewhere in the distance.

Ronald whistles. “Whew. This place is a bit warm.”

It is warm. We walk for about another minute or so until we reach the cave’s end. A portal opens. Through it, I can see a city made of mega blocks. Like Dr. Barrimore said, this place really exists.

We step through. The portal sucks us in, and then we are standing in a street made of mega blocks. Everything is made of mega blocks. There are a number of people walking past us. Only, they’re different. For one, they possess a staggering amount of different skin tones. Red, blue, purple, green. They’re surely our species. That much is obvious. But holy hell, they sure look different. Then there’s the fact that half of them are crawling around on all fours with their heads facing forward, perpendicular to the orientation of their bodies. I have no idea where I am. Where am I?

Ronald hands me a small yellow mega block the size of a matchbox car. “Put this on your cheek.” He has one on his cheek as well. I place it on my cheek and the block latches to my skin.

“Hey.”

Borda.

The block speaks in a different language after I finish.

“Where are we?”

The block repeats.

Ronald shakes his head. “New Sigil. The city of doors. Keep your wits about you. We’re in the clerk’s ward right now, but when night falls, you do not want to be outside.”

We start walking. I have to jog a bit to keep up with Ari and Ronald. “Why are you here? I didn’t know you were helping Ixtham.”

“We go everywhere.” Ari waves her fan as she walks. “We’re just normal travelers when we’re not playing our role as Silverbones.”

“Normal? You are nothing like normal!” I grimace. “Especially you, Ronald. Or should I say Stephen? Where the hell did you come from?”

“Believe it or not,” Ronald scratches the back of his head, “I’m not really that bad of a guy.”

“You killed over a dozen people when you chaingunned that restaurant.”

“People shmeapole.” Ronald shrugs. “You should see what a real bad guy looks like.”

I am really angry right now. I don’t know why I’ve been forced to work with Ronald, but I don’t like it one bit.

We continue on across the street.

I watch one person, a green-haired, yellow-faced individual, inch their way along the ground with their chin touching the street. They’re moving impressively fast.

“What happened to them?”

“Born in a place with a higher gravity.” Ronald shrugs. “That reminds me.” He gets down on his knees. “Much better.”

I just now notice that gravity here is a bit heavier than what I’m used to. I’m a bit tottery when I walk because of that. Just like Ronald, I get down on my knees.

“Walk like this when you’re in New Sigil.” Ronald waves his hand.

Ari gets down on her knees as well. “New Sigil has a gravity of twelve-point-five-two meters per second. Approximately one-point-three gees.”

“Oh.” I look around. “Where are we headed, again?”

“To meet our contact.”

“And who’s that?” I look around me.

“Athena. Surely you’ve heard of her before?” Ronald grins at me.

“Wow. We’re really going to meet a, huh?” I am a bit confused. “But I thought Greek myths were just that. Myths.”

“Athena’s real.” Ronald shakes his head. “But things are a little bit different than you remember.”

“Mount Olympus?”

“Back on Planet Earth’s territory. You’ll soon learn why we’re here in the first place. Come on!”

We travel for about half an hour. Because of the higher gravity, our walking is a bit slow. About ten minutes after arriving we enter a store that sells shoes. Or, at least, “Shoes.” Ronald pats me on the back.

“Hurts the knees, doesn’t it?”

We buy a set of knee shoes for each of us. They are almost like foot shoes, except a bit longer, a bit thicker, and felted. Ronald passes over some currency that, frankly, looks like monopoly money.

“What kind of money is that?” I look at the bills Ronald is handing the store worker.

“This is called a universal voucher.” Ronald packs the rest of the bills into his pocket. “Translated to –mint--  by the people who do that kind of thing.”

“Who issues this money?”

“The triptefelexians. You’ll meet one eventually. I’m sure about that. But you don’t have to worry about any of that stuff while I’m here.”

We leave the shop wearing our knee shoes, and walk for about five miles. When I look up, I see more city, upside-down. New Sigil appears to be the inside of a large torus. There doesn’t appear to be a source to the light that suffuses everything.

After a while, it starts to get dark. Ronald turns us towards a building. “Better get a room before nightfall.”

 

2

***

New Sigil

“How many bananas is that?”

Esla and Dr. Barrimore are standing next to me in a pure white room somewhere beneath Ixtham academy.

I’d returned from my journey in London less than a week ago, and now I am undergoing a series of trials to see exactly how powerful my ability is.

Right now I’ve got a stack of bananas in front of me the size of a building.

“More!” Dr. Barrimore is holding a camera and pointing it at the pile. “More bananas!”

I conjure banana after banana after banana. Soon the entire white room, with walls that are at least five stories high, is filled to the brim with bananas and my ability hasn’t even cooled down a bit.

“Okay.” Dr. Barrimore sighs. “You’re the most powerful conjurer we’ve ever recorded. The second best created less than a thousand bananas.”

“Conjurer?”

“You learned about this yesterday in my class, right?” Dr. Barrimore crosses his arms.

Conjurer. That’s the name of the superpower I have in me right now.

According to the NEN chart (NEN stands for Network Energy Notation), I am part of a school of magic known as conjuration. This means that I can conjure objects out of thin air, up to a point, and those objects are solid for as long as I exist. On the other hand, when I point my finger at something, I can’t shoot more than a tiny little energy bullet, as emission is a school that is antithetical to conjuration. Esla, by the way, is an emitter. Dr. Barrimore is a manipulator. Each school of magic carries its own laws and its own way of doing things.

I look again at the gigantic pile of fruit in front of me. “Who’s going to eat all this?”

Dr. Barrimore picks up a banana and peels it. “Tasty things. Too bad they go bad like that.” He munches the banana. Esla takes a banana and peels it as well.

Dr. Livers, the other professor who is adjudicating my test, comes out of her little office at the top of the room using a ladder. She approaches me. “This fruit is going to be donated to local food banks.” She picks up a banana and examines it. “We choose bananas as the test object because, for some odd reason, they are able to be conjured by almost all conjurers. Unlike you, most conjurers have limits on the objects that they can conjure.”

“Bananas? They’re magic like that?”

“And easily gradable.” Dr. Livers peels her banana. “Perfect ripeness. Great cellular structure. We’re going to have to analyze these later with more scrutiny.”

I shrug. “I guess. As long as it doesn’t all go to waste.”

Dr. Barrimore puts his hand on my shoulder. “Let’s go up to my office and talk about something.”

I remember that Dr. Barrimore had erased his memory regarding the potion that gave me these powers. He hasn’t mentioned it yet at this point but I wonder if he will.

About ten minutes later we’re in his office. He takes a DVD from the wall of CDs in his office—most of which are music—and puts it in the player underneath his rather old television set. He motions to a chair next to him. “Sit.”

I watch the TV screen light up. A camera pans over a gigantic city that seems to be, to my untrained eyes, made of mega blocks.

“Mega blocks?” I am a bit surprised at this.

“This is footage from a special place, Markus.” Dr. Barrimore folds his arms. “A place you’re going to need to go soon.”

“What are you talking about?” I watch the camera move. “Where is this?”

“What you are looking at right now is the city of New Sigil.” Dr. Barrimore unfolds his arms and leans forward. “Us professors at Ixtham keep this place a secret. But I think you’re going to need to go there.”

“Here? But everything is made of mega blocks. Isn’t this a picture of a toy city or something?”

“No.” Dr. Barrimore shakes his head. “Do you know what an STC is? A standard template construct?”

I shake my head. “No. I’ve never heard of such a thing.”

Dr. Barrimore sighs. “Not much of a Warhammer fan, then.” He stands up and goes to a small cabinet at the back of his office. “Try this.” He takes a small mega block, about the size of a brick, and hands it to me. It’s light. It radiates color, as if it were made of pure light instead of something real. I lift it up and examine it.

“Ask it for a burger.” Dr. Barrimore folds his hands in front of his chin.

“Can I have a hamburger?”

The STC lights up with an incredible amount of noise and flashing colors. About two seconds later a hamburger, fully formed, comes out of nowhere and lands in my hand. The burger looks a bit strange, as if it had been generated by an AI algorithm to look like a burger without actually being one. I taste it. It’s normal. I cannot place exactly where the burger comes from. Not Wendy’s, not Burger King, not McDonalds. It’s just a random, almost perfectly realized, non-specific burger.

“So this block.” I hand it back to Dr. Barrimore. “That’s what those buildings are made of?”

“And you’re going there.” Dr. Barrimore stands up. “Time for me to show you something.”

The door to the office opens and two people walk in. I stand bolt upright, so fast that I knock down the chair. “Ari! And, uh, Ronald?”

Ari and Ronald walk into the room. Ronald grins at me. “Hello, boyo.”

Dr. Barrimore nods. “These two people have been hired by Ixtham to deliver a message. You need to go with them. The portal to Bytopia is in the basement. I’ll lead you there, you’ll need my key.”

I face Ronald. “What the hell are you doing here?”

Dr. Barrimore appears amused. “You know this man?” He tilts his head.

I grit my teeth. “Know him? He’s a mass murderer! He doesn’t belong here! He tried to kill me?”

“Such strange talk.” Dr. Barrimore shrugged. “Did you dream too hard or something? Ixtham has given Stephen a serious background check.”

“Stephen?” I grit my teeth. “You’ve got some explaining to do, Stephen.”

--Stephen—grins. “Sure thing, boss.” He licks his lips. “But for now, boy, we’re working together against an enemy that is far worse than anything you can imagine me being.”

We take the elevator down to the lowest floor. When the doors open, we walk out into a small hallway that has more elevators in it. Dr. Barrimore leads us to the last elevator in the row.

“Where are we?”

“Floor Z.” Dr. Barrimore uses a key card to activate the elevator. “This is where we’re going to go deeper. Far deeper than any of you have ever been.”

We take the elevator. It’s rather large, as if it has been designed for something big. About five minutes pass in complete silence. Then the doors open onto a cave, natural looking, with stalagmites and stalactites. I hear a dripping somewhere in the distance.

Ronald whistles. “Whew. This place is a bit warm.”

It is warm. We walk for about another minute or so until we reach the cave’s end. A portal opens. Through it, I can see a city made of mega blocks. Like Dr. Barrimore said, this place really exists.

We step through. The portal sucks us in, and then we are standing in a street made of mega blocks. Everything is made of mega blocks. There are a number of people walking past us. Only, they’re different. For one, they possess a staggering amount of different skin tones. Red, blue, purple, green. They’re surely our species. That much is obvious. But holy hell, they sure look different. Then there’s the fact that half of them are crawling around on all fours with their heads facing forward, perpendicular to the orientation of their bodies. I have no idea where I am. Where am I?

Ronald hands me a small yellow mega block the size of a matchbox car. “Put this on your cheek.” He has one on his cheek as well. I place it on my cheek and the block latches to my skin.

“Hey.”

Borda.

The block speaks in a different language after I finish.

“Where are we?”

The block repeats.

Ronald shakes his head. “New Sigil. The city of doors. Keep your wits about you. We’re in the clerk’s ward right now, but when night falls, you do not want to be outside.”

We start walking. I have to jog a bit to keep up with Ari and Ronald. “Why are you here? I didn’t know you were helping Ixtham.”

“We go everywhere.” Ari waves her fan as she walks. “We’re just normal travelers when we’re not playing our role as Silverbones.”

“Normal? You are nothing like normal!” I grimace. “Especially you, Ronald. Or should I say Stephen? Where the hell did you come from?”

“Believe it or not,” Ronald scratches the back of his head, “I’m not really that bad of a guy.”

“You killed over a dozen people when you chaingunned that restaurant.”

“People shmeapole.” Ronald shrugs. “You should see what a real bad guy looks like.”

I am really angry right now. I don’t know why I’ve been forced to work with Ronald, but I don’t like it one bit.

We continue on across the street.

I watch one person, a green-haired, yellow-faced individual, inch their way along the ground with their chin touching the street. They’re moving impressively fast.

“What happened to them?”

“Born in a place with a higher gravity.” Ronald shrugs. “That reminds me.” He gets down on his knees. “Much better.”

I just now notice that gravity here is a bit heavier than what I’m used to. I’m a bit tottery when I walk because of that. Just like Ronald, I get down on my knees.

“Walk like this when you’re in New Sigil.” Ronald waves his hand.

Ari gets down on her knees as well. “New Sigil has a gravity of twelve-point-five-two meters per second. Approximately one-point-three gees.”

“Oh.” I look around. “Where are we headed, again?”

“To meet our contact.”

“And who’s that?” I look around me.

“Athena. Surely you’ve heard of her before?” Ronald grins at me.

“Wow. We’re really going to meet a, huh?” I am a bit confused. “But I thought Greek myths were just that. Myths.”

“Athena’s real.” Ronald shakes his head. “But things are a little bit different than you remember.”

“Mount Olympus?”

“Back on Planet Earth’s territory. You’ll soon learn why we’re here in the first place. Come on!”

We travel for about half an hour. Because of the higher gravity, our walking is a bit slow. About ten minutes after arriving we enter a store that sells shoes. Or, at least, “Shoes.” Ronald pats me on the back.

“Hurts the knees, doesn’t it?”

We buy a set of knee shoes for each of us. They are almost like foot shoes, except a bit longer, a bit thicker, and felted. Ronald passes over some currency that, frankly, looks like monopoly money.

“What kind of money is that?” I look at the bills Ronald is handing the store worker.

“This is called a universal voucher.” Ronald packs the rest of the bills into his pocket. “Translated to –mint--  by the people who do that kind of thing.”

“Who issues this money?”

“The triptefelexians. You’ll meet one eventually. I’m sure about that. But you don’t have to worry about any of that stuff while I’m here.”

We leave the shop wearing our knee shoes, and walk for about five miles. When I look up, I see more city, upside-down. New Sigil appears to be the inside of a large torus. There doesn’t appear to be a source to the light that suffuses everything.

After a while, it starts to get dark. Ronald turns us towards a building. “Better get a room before nightfall.”

 

2

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