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

==Legio Cybernetica Unit Analysis==
The Legio Cybernetica is a Taghmata variant that focuses on robots. Every slot's gotta have robots! Like the Ordo Reductor, Legio Cybernetica draws from the main list of Taghmata units and receives a number of benefits and penalties.
*Unique HQ - Archmagos Dominus: An exclusive choice in this force, it's pretty much a Dominus levelled up to the Archmagos stats.
*Rule of the Dominus: Your HQ must be a Magos Dominus, the unique Legio Cybernetica Archmagos Dominus, or one of the two special characters Inar Satarael or Anacharis Scoria. In addition, if your primary detachment is from Legio Cybernetica, your opponent gains +d3 Victory Points if they manage to remove all your Cortex Controllers.
*Legion of Steel: Your Compulsory Troops MUST be 2-strong Castellax units each. The first Fast Attack and Heavy Support choices MUST have the Cybernetica Cortex rule; after that you're free to buy whatever you want from the main Taghmata list.
*Enhanced Cyber-control: What truly defines Legio Cybernetica. Your Cortex Controller and Cybertheurgy ranges is increased to 24" from 12". In addition all models with a Cybernetica Cortex in the detachment have +1 Initiative to their profile.
The main advantages of Legio Cybernetica is that their robots can be spread around without fear of losing control and the increased Initiative has the potential to radically alter the outcome of your close combats. Vorax will strike before most marines, Castellax and their ilk will strike at initiative, and in mirror fights they will all strike first. The penalty is that you are forced to buy four Castellax just to make a legal list. Castellax recently got a 10 points increase, making them a very costly affair. And if you lose your Cortex Controllers, the opponent gets free victory points; at lower point levels it's likely that you will only have one in your list...

===HQ===

*'''[[Anacharis Scoria]]''' Awww yeah! Brand new Dark Mechanicum Archmagos Dominus from the new book! At his price of 275 points comes with a great statline (WS/BS/S/T/I of 5, 4 W, 3 A, 2+/3++), your basic Archamagos Dominus ruleset supplied with Eternal Warrior, Relentless and Adamantium Will, two Archaeotech Pistols, Machinator Array (so yeah, he's T6) and his AWESOME CCW - The Vodian Sceptre, which inflicts D3 AP 2 auto-wounds (or cuts 1 HP from a vehicle) for each successfull hit (these wounds ignore FnP and don't allow It Will Not Die rolls). As masterful Dominus he has his own Cybertheurgy - The Rite of the Beast, which is cast with -2 modifier and grants every model in targeted unit (except for joined Magi, as Cybertheurgy only affects models with a Cybernetica Cortex) +1 to their Initiative, Move and Charge distances, and re-roll of failed hits in assault. The downside is that when the power loses its effect, every model must roll a D6, losing a wound on roll of 1 with no saves allowed.
**If all of that is not enough for you, for 40 points he may purchase his special Xanathite Abeyant, which gives him +1 Wound (yes, 5 Wounds!!!), +1 Attack, Move Through Cover, It Will Not Die, Hardened Armour and a photon thruster, which can be fired in addition to all other shooting attacks. Tired of your warlord being slain by [[Sigismund| a certain relentless champion of death]] or [[Primarchs|posthuman demi-gods]]? Rejoice my friend, you now have one of the most fearsome motherfuckers in the whole 30k setting. The Xanophane Tyrant is tougher than most Primarchs and his Vodian Sceptre and Machinator Array make him an absolute beast against anything from vehicles to hordes. Just remember Scoria is NOT FEARLESS and thus may be killed by any successful sweeping advance.... supposing your opponent can dish out more damage than you, of course.
**His Warlord trait allows all Cybernetica-Cortex units to make Sweeping Advances and Run, and if they're outside Control range, they must move towards the closest enemy unit, charge it, and try to Sweeping Advance.
**He may also take The Homonculex - an Arlatax Battle-automata which gets Paragon of Metal and Rage, but if Anacharis dies, it is removed from play. Emm... Cool, I guess??
*'''Magos Dominus''' What the average neckbeard has become by the 30th millennium. Comes with a cortex controller, laspistol and [[power weapon]] base; they're essential if you want to be actually able to control your robots. Can be upgraded to an Archmagos for a better statline and Relentless (probably a good idea, since several of the cooler weapons they can take are heavy or salvo). As well as pistol weapons to replace the laspistol, you can take things like Irrad-Cleansers, Conversion Beamers and Photon Thrusters on top of it (letting you keep the extra attack it grants).  Non-weapon upgrades that may come in useful include the Abeyant for an extra wound, It Will Not Die, Move Through Cover and Hardened Armour; the Machinator Array, an old-style Servo-Harness that grants two extra Power Axe (rather than Power Fist) attacks and has an [[Inferno Pistol]] rather than a plasma pistol; the Mechanicum Protectiva, which as well as being a shout-out to the old [[Iron Hands]] Iron Father grants a 4++ save, which can be improved to a [[3++ is the New Black|3++]] with the Cyber-Familiar (which also lets you re-roll one characteristic test per player turn).  They can get expensive quickly, even though a baseline Magos is only 65 points, but you can quickly make them into rock-hard beatsticks that will wreck face in both shooting and close combat. Can use Cybertheurgy powers (Ld 9, 10 for the Archmagos Dominus).
**They can also be used as a Magos Reductor, for taking with the Ordo Reductor list (as a HQ in place of Decima), who loses the Cybertheurgy powers, but gains a variety of other rules including rad grenades.

===Elites===

*'''Enginseer Auxillia:''' 1 Enginseer + 4 Servo-automata for 65 points. Behaves similarly to the IG Enginseer, except you can add 1 extra Enginseer and give the Servo-automata (5 pts each) servo-harnesses (+5 pts each) to improve the repair roll of the unit. Can be used as source of Grav guns but without relentless they will suffer. Its best usage is almost certainly as a source of Nuncio-vox for your Thallax and Thanatar. Though they Cortex controllers at +15pts, it is probably better just getting a 2nd Magos and upgrading it to be tougher (and in the process, far deadlier) if your going to get that many Castellax units.
*'''Myrmidon Secutors:''' Sturdy SOBs.  T5 W2 3+/5++, 120 points for 2 Secutors + 1 Lord without the weapons. Can add 7 Secutors (+35 pts each) and must equip two weapons on each (ranges from +10 pts to +20 each, doubles don't twin-link). Can fire the two weapons in a single phase at the same target, Relentless but cannot run or make a sweeping advance. Annoyingly not that great an option as they cost so many damn points: At cheapest a squad will cost 180 which will give them either a combination of 2 Maxim bolters, 2 Volkite chargers or 50/50. You may notice both are assault weapons and the squad as standard comes with a Power axe, so one could potentially use them as a sort of heavy assault trooper; a job that is immensely better performed by the Castellax automata. At an average cost of 75 per model for 2X Phased-plasma fusils you can get an extremely unpleasant marine killer! Unfortunately this is its only especially useful set-up. The only reason this anon has immediately said "there isn't much these guys do that the Thallax do better" is because the Thallax can only take a special weapon as one in every 3... but with all the goodies the Thallax get this isn't that bum a deal, that and they get the Irrad cleanser and PPF at half price.
*'''Domitar Class Battle-Automata Maniple''': An excuse to never take the Myrmidon Secutors again.  It's essentially a melee automata geared to taking down Monstrous Creatures (aka other Automata), it can also handle vehicles and buildings in equal measure thanks to four attacks at S10 and its WS4 make it so it'll hit all other automata on 3's (even with HoW it's great since get D3 S7 hammer of wrath hits per model (roll once and multiply by number of models)).  Shooting wise it's pretty shitty for how much it costs, armed with only a missile launcher with Krak and Ignis missiles (the latter S5, 3" blast ignores cover... but AP6) and can purchase flak missiles (only 5 pts but you've got good enough Anti-Air enough anyway).  Thankfully it shines even when getting charged thanks to the Graviton Hammers forcing opponents to make disordered charges, and with Crusader you'll be dictating when your charges happen quite often.  Interestingly '''Frag-nades''' are purchased at 5 pts per model (essentially mandatory for them), but keep them away from tarpitts (Paragon of metal doesn't help out too much here, and getting hacked apart by a large mob of S6 fearless goons whose entire squad costs probably less than half your model is embarrassing).  Don't go thinking that it can take on every monster unit either.  Charge a few Castellax with Darkfire Cannons (or even go solo near their Bolt-Cannons) and you'll find that's a 175+ point investment down the drain.
*The price of these though is very prohibitive, a unit of Castellax with Siege Wreckers can do essentially the same job for less, and unless you know you're up against MC heavy lists there's very little reason to bring a Domitar.  If you bring them anyway, send them after pricey and important targets, Dreadnoughts, smaller terminator units and HQ. They are also the ideal candidate for Paragon of metal as squads would likely perform well, but are too expensive, and as such they function very well on their own.

===Troops===
*'''Tech-Thrall Adsecularis:''' The 2nd cheapest unit available in 30k after inducted levy squad 100pts for 50, heck even in 40k its only outdone by Grots by a decimal point! (40pts for 10!) However in many ways it shows. The unit has a measly T3, BS2, WS3, LD7 with a 5+ save, but it also has FNP, S4 and Las-locks. The unit can now be upgraded with an extra 10 tech-thralls making them the best Legio-Cybernetica troop for cheaply getting objectives.  They may exchange their Las-locks for shotguns (shorter range but more likely to wound with two shots) or Heavy chainblades and while this makes them good in assault (for their points cost) you lose any ranged ability the squad has, though at BS2 you're not likely to be missing them that much. They can also take frag grenades, and considering how close these guys have to get they're almost mandatory unless you want them to be camping objectives (which for 35 points they make fantastic campers).  
**"Rites of Pure thought" is a good option now that the unit can be 20 strong. This makes for a very nice blob that can either hang back in your home area or march forward to screen other units.
**Something to keep in mind though, These units -do not- count towards your compulsory choices, so you cannot use these to have more points for elites, but the Mechanicum troops being so great this probably wasn't being considered.  Now would be a good time to point out, upgrading Thallax with augments causes them to either become fast-attack or heavy support, thus freeing slots for these loonies, so use them to take the objectives the Thallax can no longer take.
**If you want pure numbers then ally in the Solar Auxillia, the Tech-Thralls fill up your slots too fast to be any sort of horde-style army.

*'''[[Legio Cybernetica]] Castellax Class Battle-Automata:''' A surprisingly cheap Monstrous Creature pretty much made to fuck up the Space Marine Legions (thanks to BS4, T7, W4, and armed with AP3 guns base) unless there's list-tailoring involved (like Plasma vets) it'll hold its own against nearly everything thrown at it and can put out a lot of hurt in both the Shooting (thanks to the aforementioned AP3 guns) and Assault, don't let the two Attacks fool you, charging will boost your attacks up to 4 (if you do this make sure to get the Frag Grenades).  Don't let Reactor Blast make you think it's worse to group them up, it's very unlikely to do any wounds to you at all and if you're in assault it'll almost always work in your favour.
**They may also take dual powerblades. At first AP2 rending in melee seems fantastic, but then you remember that this is a monstrous creature; thus it already has AP2 by default via smash. And with S6 its quite likely to be wounding most targets reliably anyway. The main point of this upgrade (which would explain why its relatively cheap) is to give a potential extra D3 Armour Penetration, and an additional +1 attack to your unit (since right now the shock chargers are technically one weapon).  It's an upgrade to be considered, but probably should only be taken if you have spare points left over for some reason.
**Multi-meltas are another AT option replacing the Mauler bolt cannon for no points cost. You're probably better off shoving this onto the Thallax cohorts who are way more likely to be looking at the victims backside... But it can also be used in conjunction with the other Bolt Cannons to remove any 2+ armour character (thanks to Instant Death) or Sergeant, before gunning down the rest of the squad with the Bolt cannons.
**Darkfire cannons are a strong choice, it's better than the Melta's at taking down 2+ armour (such as terminators) and it's long range can help lay down a lot of hurt on other Monstrous Creatures or Primarchs.  It also forces units to take blind tests which could really tip the balance of power when it comes to assault them (remember; monstrous creature, you have relentless). Ignore the lance factor as you're still glancing on 5's.
**Siege wreckers are now a lot better (though that's more thanks to Smash getting worse) as they essentially allow your unit to make 4 S10 attacks against enemies instead of 1.  Think carefully before taking this as it is an expensive +20 pts, and it removes a single bolter, if you care.
**Enhanced targeting arrays vastly help when fighting MEQ's and/or if you're making a gunline, since you're ignoring their armour saves they'll almost always be making cover saves, so you want to decrease those as much as possible.  It also combos well with the Darkfire cannon for sniping things off at vast distances but these costs add up quick.
**Infra-vision grants these units night-fighting, but also makes them far more vulnerable to blind (they take the test at I1). Its a cheap upgrade (5pts each) but not really necessary unless you're taking Darkfire cannons and/or making a gunline.
**Paragon of Metal - Oh boy.  This is absolutely incredible and can turn the Castellax into a one-model-unit (literally) wrecking machine.  Because it's so limited you might want to splurge on the points costs, giving this unit Siegewrecker to ensure it'll get the most out of Assault and a Darkfire cannon to blind the unit it charges or to snipe others.  Cyberthautergy also becomes incredibly risky, though more potent; any failure results in Malifica.

*'''[[Thallax|Mechanicum Thallax Cohort]]:''' Shock Troops sometimes gifted by the Ordo Reductor to the Legio Cybernetica, Thallax are Ogryn sized Jet Troops.  They're best used against vehicles since being Jet Pack Infantry means they're super mobile, able to jump out behind a wall then shoot before flying away, and S7 plus Rending guns means they wreck light vehicles (and potentially much tougher vehicles) not to mention being S5 T5 and means they're not too shabby in combat either. Overall pretty damn good but start to cost a lot of points quickly and while they have access to great weapon options, this isn't a fantastic way of picking up a tonne of high strength weaponry (stick to Destructors or Secutors for your special weapons).
**If you need to deal with fliers then set them up behind a fortification (so you get a Quad Gun or Lascannon), and buy them '''Icarian''' and a '''Multi-laser''', for extra 36" S6 hits.  Keep in mind Djinn-sight fucks over Jink saves so use this to your benefit instead of a Magos on the gun.  Don't get a '''Multi-Melta''', most 30K vehicles have Armoured Ceramite (immunity to the extra D6) so Rending S7 is better (and for this reason Melta Bombs can be skipped too).
**For dealing with Marines you have '''Phased-Plasma Fusils'''; they're an interesting weapon choice, though listed as Salvo 2/3 it needs to be remembered that Thallax possess relentless, thus turning this into a Assault 3, and S6 AP3, (amazing against marines, especially with Djinn-sight wrecking their Cover Saves).  Of course you may be wondering if this subverts the point of using the Thallax cohort as tank hunters and you would be right it does, you also have Castellax who are much better at this role with all of them being able to take S6 AP3 weapons. For what it's worth, based on real experience, the plasma fusil doesn't ''really'' subvert their purpose as tank hunter. The whole premise behind tasking them with tank hunting is being able to deep strike to get side/rear armor shots, in which case three S6 shots are probably as good or better as the one S8. The half-range melta bonus I found frequently to be a trap, forcing the unit too close to enemy lines; I much prefer slinking around at 18" range to shoot their guns and use the jet packs to reposition to minimize counter-attacks. Their cover reduction ability means they are just fine with trading shots head on. Frankly, if you're going to get that close to the tank, I found a charge is usually what made the kill, not the single multi-melta shot.
**For dealing with 2+ armour You've got '''Photon-Thrusters''', they're expensive but their main advantages are 48" S6 AP2 for making those squishier Primarchs (Like Lorgar, Conrad Curze, and Angron) and Terminators to take several invuln saves, though once again Castellax are better at this role with their Darkfire Cannons and at S6 Lance won't help at all, your regular Rending S7 Lightning Guns are better for vehicles.  They can still be useful if you're charging though since they cause blind (make sure to get '''Ferrox''' for Rage and Rending). The "best" platform for this weapon are the Myrmidon Destructors, whose BS5 and Preferred Enemy really make the most out of this gun. 
**For dealing with Light Infantry you have '''Irrad-cleansers''' which are also a very interesting weapon; 2+ Fleshbane (not poison!) template pretty much guarantees a large portion of the target will get wounded but at AP5 however it could vary widely as to how effective it is afterwards; Ork, Nids, IG and even Nurgle daemons blobs?  Not a problem. Legiones Astartes?  It'll at least make them take lots of saves (but is worse than Phased-plasma), [[Solar Auxilia]] with their 4+?  Get '''Ferrox''' (Rage/Rending) '''Heavy Chainblades''' (for Instant Death), charge and crush them.
**Something to keep in mind is that as they fuck with Infiltrators thanks to Djinn-sight (so spread them out), and you should always keep them away from S10 AP 4+ weapons as they invalidate your armour, FnP, and three wounds.

*'''Scyllax Guardian-Automata Covenant''': Well aren't you just spoiled for scoring troops, honestly there's very little reason to take these guys, Thallax are just slightly more expensive with a better statline (extra Thallax cost just five more points than extra Scyllax) as well as far more mobility, Castellax are a lot more expensive but they can handle anything in Close Combat a lot better, and anything Scyllax can do for you with their weapons can be done more efficiently in other options.  If you must use them then use them solo, [[Fail|don't add characters to this bodyguard unit]] as unlike the Reductor you gain any special benefit from joining them as they're not Battle-automata (and as such don't benefit from Cybertheurgy aside from making them fearless but that works up to 24").  Try to have them as a defensive measure as they can ID TEQ's using dismemberment while using their ranged options similarly to the Ordo Reductor:
**If Defensive Assault is your ideal strategy, then load up on '''Flamers''' (available to all) and '''Rad-cleansers''' (available to only one in four, sadly). Template weapons can help whittle down a lot of blobs real fast (having that much Wall of Death doesn't hurt if you get counter-charged either).
**If you opt for ranged combat, you'll want the '''Rotor Cannons'''. Sure they're weaker in strength than the '''Volkite Chargers''' but they put out more shots the Volkites and your regular Bolters do, Relentless meaning you get to fire 4 shots at full 30" range. And they're the cheapest option! Even if you're up against 4+ saves, the heightened volume of fire means you'll inflict more wounds than Kraken Bolters.
**As for the other "1-in-X can equip Y" items, they're pretty self explanatory. '''Graviton guns''' help with slowing infantry and dealing with vehicles that got too close, '''Plasma guns''' help with taking out 2+ saves from range (handy if a player puts their Artificer Armour Sergeant in front), and '''Melta guns''' are good for leaving at home because your opponent bought Armoured Ceramite and you have better things to deal with vehicles and 2+ saves.

===Fast Attack===

*'''Crusade Fleet Support Wing:''' Coming soon.

===Heavy Support===
*'''Myrmidon Destructors''': Similar to Myrmidon Secutors, but have Preferred Enemy (Everything!), which is pretty great at BS5, though they can only  pick 1 weapon.  Also their models are freaking awesome.  Their options are all more specialized to targeting a specific type of enemy and as such it's best to give them all one type of weapon rather than picking and choosing between several (with the exception of Irradiation Engines), give them all Volkite Culverins to watch Orks and Guard (or any 5+ save unit) cry all day long, on average without cover saves you'll actually kill more models than you shoot.  Photon Thruster Cannons are good at forcing Primarchs to take a lot of saves and chip away at Terminator squads thanks to their AP2 and incredible range.  Irradiation Engines are your Marine removers, giving the whole squad these is overkill (remember that Torrent weapons can be placed differently to a standard Flamer), and considering how much 2+ armour there is in 30K it's better used alongside the Photon Thruster, either to remove the 2+ Sergeant before nuking the squad, or using it to wipe the squad and exposing the Sergeant before shooting him.  Lastly Conversion Beamers are only really the optimal choice if you're up against other Mechanicum where you'll likely be facing a lot of high Toughness monsters and the S6 from the Photon Thrusters doesn't quite cut it, but at that point you're better off with a Thanatar.
**Something to keep in mind is that despite the Powerfist the Destructors don't do all that great in assault, this is because they're locked at 2 attacks base and not in a way that they can be boosted to 5 like the Castellax, they're not bad, as in they'll hold their own against tactical squads and the like, but dedicated assault units will mulch right through them.

*'''Thanatar Class Siege-automata Maniple''': 240 a pop, but they're t8,s8 2+.  Go look up a picture and see how sexy they are.  They get Hellex Plasma Mortars for Instant Death on marines and wiping out Terminator Squads.  They're also the only other model in your army that ca get the Paragon of Metal upgrade, because you've put so many points into this guy that you might as well make him even more durable.  Searchlights are so cheap they might as well be a free upgrade, keep in mind that at T8 they should be able to deal with anything that shoots at them, and the Enhanced Targeting array helps a lot, both with its Mortar and the Twin-Linked Mauler Bolt Cannon (use the cannon second to finish off whatever the Mortar does not).
**Something to keep in mind is that despite being S8, T8 they actually don't do assault very well, like the Destructors they have 2 attacks base and this cannot be increased like a Castellax, and at WS3 they'll be lucky to kill one model per turn, so if the enemy gets into combat with them that's 240 pts (if it's only one) that'll be sitting the entire game out.
**Watch the fuck out for Instant Death weaponry, even more so than the rest of your high-point army.  While it's rare you do not want any 240 point model (base) to suddenly die because Mortarion tele-ported right next to him then kicked his ass in assault, or if they suddenly die to that Praetor with a Combat Augment Array who made their Paragon Blade roll a six and beheaded(more like impaled its cortex) your Thanatar.

===Lords of War===

* [[Imperial Knight]]s
** '''Knight Acheron''': Excellent at wrecking armour (something the current list somewhat lacks) and its flamer makes it a pretty decent Marine killer.  You do have to close in and assault the enemy to deal with the armour effectively, but its run distance combined with the fact that the current Legio Cybernetica has no problem making an assault list (especially if you're going with Castellax) makes this a minor issue.
** '''Questoris Knight Styrix''': The long-ranged Marine remover, it's not such a great idea to take this over the Acheron if you want to assault the enemy (though it doesn't do that role badly) but it only becomes really awesome in a gunline.  Any Marine squad it hits it'll wreck thanks to Deflagrate and AP3 and it also packs a grav gun for slowing the enemy down when they close in, the siege claw is not too bad of a choice either, if you're planning on having it assault with the others but passed on the Acheron, though the Rad Cleanser is unlikely to be really useful unless against Orks or Tyranids.