Review: Mechanicum Skitarii Battle Group

The Steel Hand of the Mechanicum now strikes in the Age of Darkness too: we’re reviewing the Skitarii Battle Group, which contains the new Skitarii Battle-Pilgryms with Marshal for the first time. Additionally, you get an updated plastic version of the popular Vultarax Stratos-automata. High-res sprue images, scale comparisons, and everything you need to consider during assembly can be found in this post.

The Mechanicum Skitarii Battle Group box will be available for pre-order starting Saturday, 17 January 2026. The pre-order period lasts two weeks, with the official release date set for 31 January 2026. The RRP is £85 / 110 € / $140.

Included in the box are:

• 1 Battle-Pilgrym Marshal
• 16 Skitarii Battle-Pilgryms
• 1 Vultarax Stratos-automata
• 1 Mechanicum Macro Constructs transfer sheet
• assembly guide

Unboxing the Skitarii Battle Group

In the compact but deep box you’ll find 18 brand-new plastic models plus bases. Additionally, there’s an assembly instruction booklet and an approximately A5-sized Macro Construct transfer sheet with a total of 394 designs in black and white. Let’s look at the individual models more closely.

Skitarii Battle-Pilgryms reviewed

The Skitarii during the Age of Darkness are different from those we know from the 41st Millennium. Less mass-produced, instead more elite shock troops, whose long-legged “corpus-skitarii” almost completely replace the aspirants’ entire bodies.

In the Skitarii Battle Group you receive two copies of a sprue with two segments, which each builds 8 Battle-Pilgryms on 28mm bases. 16 models in total.

The build options:

• Skitarii Pose 1 appears 2x per sprue (= 4x per box). One model (per sprue) can be built as an Ordinatus. This has a right arm with Voltlock Handgun (parts 9 and 10), a left arm with power sword (11), and a special helmet with cogwheel decoration (12).
• Skitarii Pose 2 appears 2x per sprue (= 4x per box), no build options
• Skitarii Pose 3 appears 2x per sprue (= 4x per box). Per sprue, one of the two models receives part 29 and the other part 49 as tactical rock.
• Skitarii Pose 4 appears 2x per sprue (= 4x per box), no build options.
• Per sprue, 8 helmeted heads (four designs in duplicate, 41 to 44) and 8 bare heads (four designs in duplicate, 45 to 48) are included, which you can distribute freely.

Patreon bonus content: Ultra high-res, uncompressed versions of these sprue images (and backsides of the sprues) can be downloaded here.

As you may have already noticed when reading the list, the kit is very limited. Although 8 models are included per sprue, there are only four different poses. Every body and every arm pair is present in duplicate per sprue. Since the sprue is also included twice, with a total of 16 models, every four models will be identical (apart from the heads, which you can swap, and up to two models that you can make into Ordinatus).

The bodies are monopose. The arms are also not interchangeable or posable, as each arm pair only fits one specific body. You’ll search in vain for special weapons for the squad, or alternative weapons for the Ordinatus. Added to this, the Battle-Pilgryms’ robes are assembled from several parts that converge into rather obvious seam lines on the back. So here you’ll need to invest extra time to fill these gaps (I presented the IMO best putty for gap filling here).

The Battle-Pilgrym design polarised the community beforehand. Sure, typical GW, of course you can’t simply use the Skitarii models from 40k. Instead, the designers came up with a new type so you have to buy new models for The Horus Heresy. Despite this business move, I really like the Battle-Pilgrym design. The play with silhouette and elongated legs looks like something sprung from a John Blanche artwork, nimble yet towering over a Space Marine Legionary. And with the Tech-Thralls there are already normal-sized infantry models in the Mechanicum range, so they’re taking a different path here.

However, the kit seems really designed on a budget. I would have wished that they’d reduced the number of parts to minimise seam lines, similar to the new Skaven Clanrats who are also wrapped in tattered robes. Even if that would have reduced the level of detail and three-dimensionality, they could have included more poses and perhaps additional weapon options that way.

Skitarii Battle-Pilgrym Marshal reviewed

The leader of the heavily augmented and highly effective Skitarii shock troops is a Marshal. We know Marshals from Warhammer 40.000 as well, but this model features the long-legged proportions of the corpus-skitarii of the Battle-Pilgryms.

The kit comprises one small sprue and a 32mm base (the assembly instructions forgot to indicate the base sizes, but the Marshal has a 32mm base, whilst regular Battle-Pilgryms are placed on 28mm bases). The Marshal is multi-part and features some optional heads, arms, and equipment items, as well as plenty of servo-skulls.

The build options:

• 3 heads, including 1 helmeted head (part 29), 1 bare head with bionic eye (30), and 1 hooded head (31)
• 1 right arm with Phase Claw (parts 21 to 24), 1 right arm with lowered Corposant Stave (17, 19 and 20), 1 right arm with raised Auctorit Stave (15, 16 and 18)
• 1 left extended upper arm (25) and 1 lowered upper arm (26), which can be combined with either an arm with Voltlock Handgun (27) or Archaotech Pistol (28)
• 1 optional servo-skull that can be placed on the right side of the tank on the back (11 and 12)
• 2 different servo-skulls (12 and 13) that are attached to the left side of the tank
• 1 optional servo-skull (13 and 14) that can be attached to the tactical rock on the base
• 1 pair of optional grenades (8) that can be attached to the belt

All in all, a cool model with the classic “one leg on tactical rock” pose. Speaking of poses, I like the variant with the lowered melee weapon on the right and the extended arm on the left best. The arm pair with the raised Auctorit Stave and the lowered firearm looks more like flailing about to me.

Mechanicum Vultarax Stratos-automata reviewed

Last but not least, we get a Vultarax Stratos-automata in the box. The kit comprises one sprue with three medium-sized segments, an 80mm round base, a curved transparent stand, and the Mechanicum Macro Constructs transfer sheet.

Patreon bonus content: Ultra high-res, uncompressed versions of these sprue images (and backsides of the sprues) can be downloaded here.

The build options:

• There are no weapon options, only the arc blaster main weapon plus the Vultarax missile launchers.
• For the two thicker mechadendrites you can choose between 3 end pieces: a sort of probe (18 and 19), an open claw (20 and 21), and a closed claw (22 and 23)
• For the thinner mechadendrites you can also choose between 3 end pieces: an opened wrench (26), a closed wrench (27), and a circular saw (28)
• Additionally, there are 3 more thin mechadendrites with different ends (29 to 31), of which you must choose two
• The two large turbines and the four thrusters have ball joints and are thus posable (but must be glued in place); the turbines themselves are rotatable The Vultarax missile launchers can rotate and swivel

Even though the Vultarax looks like a faithful recreation of the previous resin model at first glance, a closer look reveals many differences. The dimensions of the body are roughly the same, but the level of detail is higher across the board and the design language has been harmonised with the design of the other Mechanicum vehicle plastic kits. This is particularly noticeable in the weapon systems and the head-like sensor unit at the front. But the turbines have also become more detailed, and the mechadendrite arms more delicate. Assembly is at the upper complexity level, as with other Horus Heresy kits. Sadly, there are no weapon options

Where to get

You can find the latest GW releases at our 🇬🇧/🇪🇺 partner stores Wayland Games, Element Games, and Firestorm Games, at 🇩🇪 Taschengelddieb and PK-Pro, and at 🇺🇸 Noble Knight Games with a welcome discount of up to 20% over RRP. Using our links helps to support Tale of Painters at no additional cost to you, so thank you very much for using them!

I hope you found this review helpful, feel free to leave a reaction or comment below, or post your questions here or discuss on our Discord channel.