Editing Warhammer 40,000/Tactics/Mechanicum (30k) (section)

== Why Play The Mechanicum? ==

You've seen the models, right? For the first time since Rogue Trader, the followers of the Machine God can finally take to the field en masse! You can embody the grimdark universe of Warhammer 40,000 (30,000?) with your exotic Martian death-rays, terrifying Battle Automata and horrific Cybernetic monstrosities.

Also? Robots.

The Mechanicum is a curious force as it consists of several lists (currently two) representing different Ordos, and one for Taghmata (The vanilla). Each list is fairly small, with limited unit choices, but a large amount of flexibility within many of these units. Each new Horus Heresy source book from Forge World would seem to be adding new units or lists to create an ever-expanding range to choose from. Be warned; This is a slippery slope that may result in the loss of financial security, family & friends and house & home...

Also, '' '''BIG''' Robots''!

Unusually for Forge World, the Mechanicum is one of the cheapest armies to get in to. It's possible to start an army with a single Magos, and a pair of Castellax or small Thallax Cohorts.(Adesecularis if you really want to break the mould!)The army lists, whilst capable of standing alone, are intended to be used as allies for the Legion army list. As a starting point for a new army, this is ideal, as you need even less to get have something you can field. The Mechanicum units provide you with some unique possibilities for conversions, too. Take a cursory glance around coolminiornot or a painting forum and you'll find some damn fine examples. Of course, if this is not your thing, Forge World's own models are more than capable of satisfying any model fanatic.

Gameplay wise, you are universally hard as nails. There are only 3 models with 1 wound, 1 of which has a 3+ save, another T5, another dirt cheap and full of upgrades, all of which can benefit immensely from FNP. However with a handful of exceptions your models are somewhat pricey, a number are a steal for how effective they are but nevertheless when all you can do is choose between a variety of pretty expensive choices (with one, very notable exception), which you will almost certainly dump more points on top. Tough as you are, this is primarily a crutch for the vast the majority of your army is short range, though you hardly lack in long range if you wanna dollop in some points here and there.

It should be noted, that there are currently three different lists, Reductor, Legio Cybernetica and Taghmata. The main question is why you would pick one over the others?  This mostly applies to Taghmata and Legio-Cybernetica - Reductor is really limited right now (despite the books promising to expand upon it), but if the Forgeworld weekender (as of February 2015) has shown some very interesting vehicles that look like they would be in the jurisdiction of a siege-cult, but as of now there really is only so much you can do with Thallax.  As for the other two, The Legio-Cybernetica possess Archmagos which allow for more reliable Cybertheurgy and making it hardier, Castellax can be used to fulfill minimum troop requirements, all Automata may use 4" Coherency (Ferrox Thallax pale in comparison to Ursarax for melee).  Finally the Taghmata is meant to be the Vanilla, but saying this is "Vanilla" AdMech wouldn't be doing the Taghmata justice. It has everything the first two books have and more. Generally, this is a "go-to" if you're not sure and if you are sure you'll probably pick up Tahgmata as well, but they're limited in other ways, not being able to fill the minimum Troops requirement or a Land Raider not being a Dedicated Transport for example.



Another thing that should be noted is that the Mechanicum have Characters (not Independent Characters) that may or may not be able to join units depending on what you and your gaming group agrees on, see discussion page for more detail, but currently there's no official answer on whether they can or can't.