Editing Warhammer 40,000/7th Edition Tactics/Cult Mechanicus (section)

===Troops===
Unlike most armies, your Troops are not cheap. They aren't even cheap compared to the rest of your army. They are only Troops because fluff-wise, they are fielded by the millions and a Dominus pays them no more heed than a Space Marine does the Bolts in his magazine; that is, it's inconvenient when they run out at a critical moment but they're absolutely expendable. What this means is that your Troops have obscenely powerful guns and very high, very defensive stats.
*'''Kataphron Destroyers:''' A Servitor mounted on Tank Treads (which is, as it turns out, a nod to the Skitarii Praetorians which pop up a few times in the fluff) with a big Plasma Gun and a rapid-fire Phosphor gun. With BS/WS3 and S/T5, they're pretty tough. They can't run, but you'd never want to because they can certainly dakka--each model can fire up to two weapons, and they have a rule that can best be described as "Relent-Effectively-None:" Relentless in all but name. They can also exchange their Plasma Culverins for ''the [[Grav-weapons|grav-gun]] to rule them all''. This upgrade in particular is free and pretty much a no-brainer unless you know beforehand that you're facing Daemons. The other upgrade costs 5 points and exchanges the Phosphor gun for a Cognis Flamer. For 55 points each, with unit sizes from 3-12, these things pack a ridiculous amount of firepower and can certainly take the hurt. Except for their 4+ armor, which sucks.
**When taken with both upgrades, they make for truly excellent Overwatchers that no one sane will charge with anything that's not cannon fodder. 6 shots each make it very likely that you hit something and then on top of that, you have three auto-hits each thanks to the Flamers.
**The guys are also a great answer to Wraithguard. 30" guns give you a comfortable range advantage against them, your guns hurt them real bad and once the Wraithguard is gone, there ''will'' be something else to blow up.
**While Cult Mechanicus lacks any true anti-air, you can improvise with these guys. Grab three and throw in a Dominus with Raiment of the Technomartyr (If you have Belasarius Cawl in your army take the Memento-Mortispex instead for actual skyfire, or if there are no flyers you always have monster/tank hunter instead). The cognis means you'll average 1HP of damage a turn, with a 1/3 chance of wrecking it thanks to immobilized. Both the Volkite and the Phosphor blasters have a chance of doing damage as well, potentially reducing the jink save. Works even better against FMC. Improve by using the Benediction of Omniscience Canticle (up to 66% increase in output), or including more men. A 6 man squad would down a 3HP flyer 68% of the time, inching past 75% with the blasters. Not bad for sure, but you might want to consider their brothers below instead though.
**Another good use of these guys is to throw a 6 man unit in an imperial bunker, they can all fire out, their 30" range will mean that their immobility won't be a problem, and they will be protected by an av 14 building, possibly with a void shield. 
**Plasma servitors are actually amazing with the new Haemotrope Reactor. I'm serious, holy shit. For 200pts you can have a squad that pumps out 6 s7 ap2 large blasts a turn. The worse gets hot isn't much of a problem as you have two wounds and the BoO canticle. ''Or just take a War Convocation and drop 6 large blast plasma shots without giving a shit about losing wounds.''
*'''Kataphron Breachers:''' A  heavier armoured Servitor mounted on Tank Treads with a big Arc Cannon. Has 3+ compared to 4+ of the Destroyers, but despite the better save and a close combat weapon, '''do not''' mistake them for a close combat-unit. They're not. They're vehicle- and fortification-''breachers'' par excellence, though. They have a 2-shot 36" Haywire gun and a Haywire CCW, the latter of which is quite underwhelming. As a free upgrade, they can exchange the gun for a Torsion Cannon. Much more interestingly, they can take a different CCW that can exchange all the Servitor's attacks for one at S10 AP2, which you will always do, since the stupid things only have one attack anyway.
**Though not as good as their destroyer counterparts these guys are still decent. Their standard load-out seems to be anti-vehicle, with options to lean them toward anti-Monstrous Creature. Thing is, unless you run mono-Cult Mechanicus, you will definitely have better anti-tank, though admittedly, being able to administer Haywire over 36" is quite a skill to have. What other unit can ''reliably'' wreck Monoliths and Land Raiders from across the table? And as for anti-MC? Well, the gun doesn't help with cover and invul saves, which all the MCs rely on anyway and the CCW is 1 attack at WS3 each. Anything but a Daemon Prince will not be impressed and those guys will safely fly over them and laugh at them.
**These guys are even better at anti-air shenanigans. A 3 man squad with cognis, keeping their Heavy Arc Rifles, average 1.66 HP of damage, and up to 2.77 with Benediction of Omniscience. A 6 man squad will cause 3 HP of damage 87% of the time, and the pen chance means total destruction of a 3HP flier over 90% of the time, a very respectable performance. Not as good against FMC though. Fortunately, these anti-air solutions are very non-committal. Get a 4 man group of both Breachers and Destroyers and have the Dominus move between them as needed, and be sure to save your Benediction of Omniscience for when it matters.
**Does someone have a Land Raider that needs to be gone yesterday? Need 1800-Monolith-Removals? Heavy Arc Rifle paired with The Scryerskull Perspicatus and the BoO at full level is incredible. 75% chance to hit and 97% chance to glance or better? Thats an AVERAGE of 4.5 hull points stripped. For a 3 man Breacher Squad. Even with no re-roll you're averaging 3 HP a turn with only the Scryerskull Persp.