I took 1,000 points vs. Necrons in the Konor scenario - as we'd both elected to fight for the Imperium since the Necrons apparently hate Chaos. It ended up being a furball in the middle.
Admech (patrol detachment)
Dominus (Volkite blaster, macrostubber)
5x Sicaran Infiltrators (power sword/stub-carbine)
Cybernetica Data-smith
5x Skitarii Rangers (2x Transuranic Arqeubus)
5x Skitarii Rangers (2x Transuranic Arqeubus)
Onager Dune-Crawler (Icarus Array, cognis stubber)
2x Kastelan Robots (Fists + flamethrower)
Ironstrider Ballistarii (twin lascannon)
Necrons (vanguard detachment)
Cryptek
Warrior Blob
2x Deathmark Squad
Praetorians
Tomb Blades
Synopsis of the battle
I set up in cover in a corner as the defender, and as the attacker, his reserves were hampered by deployment restrictions - so instead of deep=-striking on top of me, I ended up digging in and shooting him on the way in. The Icarus array did a number on his Tomb Blades, and the Kastelans absorbed the abuse in the middle of the field long enough to win the day.
On the Canticles
So, I admit that I forgot about these a couple times - you roll at the start of your turn. I recommend an index card or something - you're going to either pick one (1x per battle) or just roll. You can get a variety of neat abilities out of it (like re-rolls of 1's for shooting or melee).
Note also that you only get canticles if your whole detachment is admech - so if you're going to mix with these guys, pay attention to the detachments you take. These guys do bring a soolid sniper to the table and some interesting troops in the form of robots and onagers. Note that the current lack of HQ options (you have the dominus and Belisarius Cawl, and that's it) does make an impact on what you can bring in detachments.
Thoughts on the Models
Domninus
The tech-priest Dominus does two things - give you re-rolls and provide melee punch not found in many places in the army. Mine hung out with the rangers and Onager and provided re-rolls. In a pinch it can fix other stuff if it takes a hit, but you really have to think about where you need the buffs and repairs.
If you're going to camp in the back with rangers and/or shooty Dune Crawlers, then the "+1 to leadership" bubble warlord trait is useful. Mostly because Skitarii have kinda sad leadership and few buffs for it.
Sicaran Infiltrators
Turns out T3 and a 4+ isn't much of a defense. You're reliant on positioning and infiltrating to keep them alive and get them into melee. I'm 50/50 between the swords/carbines and the taser goads/flechette guns. I think the echoice comes down to what else you've got in your army - there isn't really a cost difference, and the kits don't lend themselves to magnets to switch up the loadout.
Whatever loadout you've got, I think these guys are an important part if you're gonna go Admech pure - you need something with some mobility and melee ability.
Cybernetica Datasmith
Bring one if you're going to bring Kastelans. Otherwise I'm not sure why you'd bring one. And remember that you need to be near the Kastelans at the start of the movement phase to switch out their protocols. And think hard about whether you need the extra efficiency (fight twice or shoot twice) vs. the +1 to saves. And do NOT forget you can repair d3 damage off the robots - getting back T7 wounds is pretty awesome.
Skitarii rangers
Take them with a couple Arqebus and camp. The 30" rapid-fire 1 guns lose out to the Skitarii vanguard gun (Assault 3, 18" range, and other goodies). Note that the Arqebus is both a sniper weapon that can pick out characters, and a decent anti-materiel weapon period with S7 and D3 damage (with a mortal wound on a 6+ wound roll).
Onager Dune-Crawler
These guys take up a chunk of real estate - I mean, they're on a pretty hefty base. That aside, these guys are lumbering gun platforms. Their role depends on their main gun - the Neutron laser is basically a heavy D3 lascannon with better strength and damage. The Eradication beamer loses out to the neutron laser unless you're within 12", so I'd skip it. The twin phosphor blaster is just rate-of-fire, but if you really want RoF I'd think about the Icarus array - against flyers, it's absolute murder as it's a heap of mid-strength shots at BS2+. If you're shooting at ground-bound targets, it's still 10 shots at S6-7 on a 4+, and you'd just want to hang around the dominus for some re-rolls.
You'd also be surprised how much stuff has the Fly keyword that doesn't sit in the Flyer force org slot.
Kastelan Robots
So, these guys are your anchor. T7 with 6 wounds and a 3+/6++ (that can get a +1 bonus to saves) is going to soak some abuse. They're also reasonably spry with an 8" move (which is nice, but it means your datasmith is going to end up advancing to pace them and switch out protocols/execute repairs.
Note that their shooting is more about volume than strength - each can mount three heavy phosphor blasters, so they're dumping 9 shots at S6, AP-2, and 1 damage per 'bot. 18 each if you switch over to Protector Protocol. If you're bringing these guys as shooters, remember their BS is 4+ and consider sitting a Dominus nearby.
If you're going into melee (and this is pretty much your only high-strength, high-damage melee) then I'd bring the flamethrower on the shoulder. You may be hitting at S10 AP-3 for 3 damage each, but remember that you're only three swings at a WS4+ - these guys are for holding the line and punching a few guys to death, not killing hordes (outside of the flamers).
Note that the kit itself isn't too difficult to magnetize, which I'd recommend doing based on the price.
Ironstrider Ballistarii
These guys exist to bring a large gun onto the field. They're also among the swifter things in the book, but you don't have a rule that lets you ignore the penalty for moving and firing heavy weapons. You can pick either a twin-lascannon, or a twin-autocannon. On the bright side, they're cheap. They're also going to disintegrate if the other guy throws heavy weapons at them - T6, six wounds and a 4+ isn't going to do much if you take more than small-arms fire.
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