Unboxing: Adeptus Mechanicus Sicarians

Hail Mars!

Games Workshop have certainly hit the Adeptus Mechanicus release in stride, with one exciting release after the next. After the excellent Ranger/Vanguard box, one of the strongest releases GW has had in recent memory, I felt we would be lucky to get something even half as inspired.  Amazingly, the third kit they released for the Adeptus Mechanicus, the Sicarians Infiltrators/Ruststalkers may outshine even the Rangers. Venturing away from the more subdued Ranger design, they created a group of esoteric, inhuman assassins, perfect for the cold data-fueled logic that commands the Skatarii on the field. I got my hands on a box of the new unit and wanted to let you know what I think!

A more bizarre set of assassins 40k has never seen.

The Sicarians diverge slightly from the characteristic tech priest look of the Skitarii in favor of a much creepier and lithe appearance. Like the Skitarii Rangers and Vanguard, the Sicarians have their lower legs replaced with bionics. The Sicarians, however, have substantially longer and more slender bionics, with their legs having an additional backwards joint. Although not immediately apparent from the original pictures, the Sicarians are quite large. Their thin skeletal limbs are misleading and they fit very comfortably on 40mm bases. When compared side-by-side to the Rangers/Vanguard, they are quite a bit heftier, and if fully erect, they would be about twice their height. This height is used very effectively in the models, giving each a very dynamic pose that contains a lot of depth, allowing them to fully encompass the space they occupy.

You can always count on Goodwin to come up with some fantastic concepts.

Depending on which unit you assemble, you select from two equally sinister heads. The close combat oriented Ruststalkers have unsettling full-face gasmasks, complete with delicate bionic optics.  The Infiltrators go in a completely different direction, favoring dome-like inhuman ones, mirroring some old Jes Goodwin concept art (as well as holding a striking resemblance to the Imperial Viper probe droid from Star Wars).  The kit also gives you two different weapon options for each unit.  The Ruststalkers have short and thin transonic razors, alongside a viciously taloned hand called a chordclaw. They can forgo the claw and switch to a pair of longer transonic blades, with retain the sleek double-edged katana look. The Infiltrators provide more of a ranged element, but also have two close combat weapon options, from a simple power sword with a section of cog serrations, to a massive electric prod called a taser goad.  They also have two submachine gun options with I will talk about in a bit more depth below.  

Like the Rangers/Vanguard,  the Sicarians lack most of the traditional firearms seen on other Imperial models (no las weapons or bolters here). Instead, the Infiltrators can be equipped with their own unique firearms, the Flachette Blaster and the Stubcarbine. Visually, the Flachette Blaster takes many cues from modern submachine guns like the uzi and the Mac-10, displaying the characteristic extended magazine in the machine pistol’s grip. The Stubcarbine on the other hand looks like a cross between an IWI Galil and a Thompson. While I really like the look of both weapons, they display some questionable design elements that make me wonder how they would actually function. Both appear to have two ammunition feeds, one from a sickle magazine and another from a drum magazine positioned in front of the trigger guard.  You might argue that that drum is not the ammunition source, based on other Skitarii weapons, but for the Flachette Blaster at least, it appears to have an ejection port directly above it.  This would be alright, but what about the sickle magazine that clearly holds ammunition?  There is no way the shells could be ejected from where the port is.  These curiosities got me to thinking about how I might be able to convert the weapons to make they more reasonable, but still retain their basic design, because despite the issues, they are probably my favorite weapons GW has designed in years.  Afterall, it is rare for GW to make a relatively small weapon, and just about as rare to have one with a neat looking magazine (so apt are they to make lasers and plasma guns, ignoring the more conventional firearm using bullets).

I think the few simple changes made to this pistol make it look a lot cooler and more menacing. 

I focused my efforts at converting one of the Flachette Blasters, trying to make it more like the machine pistols it took so many visual cues from. The first order of business was to cut away the drum, which proved a slow process.  I carefully trimmed it away with an x-acto blade, making sure not to damage any other detail on the pistol. I left just enough plastic to serve as a trigger guard.  Next, using a new x-acto blade, I shaved the ejection port off the gun, and repositioned it above the magazine well on the pistol grip.  I used Tamiya Extra Thin Cement to attach the shred of plastic, allowing me to reposition it as it dried (the piece was so small that it was difficult to place perfectly).  With the ejection port in place, the only thing left to do was tidy everything up with greenstuff, including modifying the top of the weapon to appear a little boxier like a Mac-10 (and less like an Eldar weapon). Ultimately, I feel the weapon looks a lot more coherent, and Imperial with the modifications.

For as thin and spindly as the Sicarians are, they have very inhuman poses, ones that fill the 40mm bases better then most models that come with them. 

The only other real modification I made (on the first of the Infiltrators that I have assembled) was to remove all of the cables dangling from his powerpack. To me they look like they were simply tacked on to the models to provide extra detail since they don’t look to have any obvious functions (they don’t appear to be mechadendrite or other miniature servo arms). In their place I am considering attaching some new cables that actually snake into the Infiltrator’s back.

I am planning to add some manner of cables to the Infiltrator's backpack, snaking into his torso.

One detail that I really like about the kit is the inclusion of 10 pouches (two for each model) to strap to the legs of the models. The pouches are really nicely detailed and would work perfectly on other models (as a place to store extra ammunition and magazines for pistols). Surprisingly the legs of the Sicarians actually have little slots modeled onto them locking the pouches into place, making it much easier to attach them than the standard GW pouches (which you often don’t fit on models’ waists as easy as you would like…).

My eclectic bunch of Mechanium characters assemble! 

I still have a lot more Infiltrators to go before I can hope to field an Adeptus Mechanicus strike force, but I am happy with my progress. Now that one is largely finished and I know how to go about making all of the modifications, the rest of his squad should go a little quicker. During the assembly process I could not help but think of a whole myriad of conversion possibilities for Inq28.  Chief amongst them is to use one as a foundation to convert a Mechanicum assassin to accompany Inquisitor Lucanus Molnár into battle. So needless to say, there exciting times are ahead!

- Eric Wier