Cultists for Dark mechanicum hereteks?

[daboom148]

Alright, Ive been really thinking about adding some cultists to my chaos space marine army and wondering if i could use them as dark Mechanicum hereteks, also a few of the cultists in the box seem to look a lot like DM hereteks already. My other idea is to call mark of Nurgle, Dark Mechanicum upgrades. The reason behind this is cause I'm trying to find a reason for all of the daemon vehicles in my army, So i decided that my warlord had struck some deal with a Dark  Mechanicum forge world. Just wondering if anyone has done this something like this or thinks this is a good idea and if so any other suggestions.

[Lieutenant Steel]

Well it's literally up to you what you use as the background story for your forces. It would make sense, though perhaps not really be as authentic as you might hope for. You are the only person who could say it would or would not be a good idea though; it seems as though a lot of people like changing the reasons for their army being together, so go for it if you want to.

I haven't seen any people who've done this sort of thing already, but as you say, they already look the part. There are plenty of conversion options out there as well- the easiest way to make your cultists unique would be some head swaps; check out the thread here to see some that might suit your theme (the head swaps are near the bottom of the first post).

[*Furyou Miko]

They would be Dark Skitarii rather than Hereteks, but it sounds awesome other than that ;)

 

A heretek isn't necessarily a member of the dark mechanicum - the DM are basically the AdMech's opposite number. They have the same organisation, roughly, with the same forge world led by a fabricator commanding armies of mutated skitarii.

 

A heretek is a techpriest (and it has to be a priest, even if only a lexmechanic or enginseer, it can't be a skitarii) who has broken the tenets of the AdMech - they may have altered technology, invented something new, repudiated the machine god, worked with AI or whatever - but they aren't necessarily even minions of Chaos.

[Iron Sage]

In the fluff, 99999 out of 100000 hereteks are not Dark Mechanicum at all (DA are quite, quite rare), but illegal tech users/cultists of some sort or another

Edit: or they are, as Miko states, fallen tech priests. Though in truth, compared to the zillions of Hereteks in the galaxy, those too are truly rare

[*Furyou Miko]

That's true, I'd forgotten about the hereteks who were never cult mechanicum in the first place. The shipmistress from Ahriman: Exile comes to mind on that front.

[Iron Sage]

Heya, Miko. Have you read any of the Dark Heresy sourcebooks (for the role playing game) ? Gives a lot of indepth info on various cultists (example: the thousands of illegal tech cults etc.), illegal tech use and so on. Of course, this doesnt mean that a heretek is a chaos worshipper. Not at all. However, such sould tends to fall easier... :)

[Nehekhare]

http://warhammer40k.wikia.com/wiki/Heretek

 

The tyrant's legion army list from Imperial Armor 10 has "Hereteks" as an upgrade for renegade marauder squads (increase armor to 4+, krak grenades). Those are quite similar to cultists in stats & equipment options (better WS, A and armor, frag grenades), but elites. 

[*Furyou Miko]

I haven't had a chance to look at a lot of the Dark Heresy stuff, sadly, as I only have access to the books once a week (during our game). ><

[Iron Sage]

I haven't had a chance to look at a lot of the Dark Heresy stuff, sadly, as I only have access to the books once a week (during our game). ><

Ahh, I see. Being a Gamemaster myself, I only lack two of them you see ;)

 

 

Good read even for non-roleplayers who are interested in fluff they are, or so Yoda told me the other day ^^

[daboom148]

Alright thanks, i had always just thought that all of the people in the Dark Mechanicum were hereteks thats why i called them that.

[Iron Sage]

The Imperium probably calls them that ;)

 

The Mechanicum calls them pretty much the same as an Inquisitor would designate a Traitor Legion (i.e. Traitoris Extremis blah blah).

 

Its just that the word "heretek" kind of referrs to everyone in the galaxy using tech that has not been approved (either downright illegal and forbidden tech, or using tech without "permission") by the Mechanicum.

[Redtoof]

Hereteks are what GW calls people who illegally download the codexes off the internet :P

 

Back to the original question: Yes, that would be very cool. Mark of Nurgle or Tzeentch would fit to represent bionics. They would make a fun unit to go with a warpsmith and skulk around near your engines (or stand in front of them to take a charge). You could also convert the heavy stubber/flamer one to be a gun servitor.

[Nehekhare]

I'd advise against taking marks on cultists and just model them with bionic. from a gameplay perspective, it isn't really good to increase their points costs that much for what you get. Stick a fearless model with them to prevent them from running too easily (not very servitor-like).

 

btw "heretek" obviously stems from the word heretic, which originates in ancient greek haireomai (hairetikos), "to take for oneself", i.e. "to choose". Before early church fathers (1st-3rd century AD) used the word to denote religious beliefs that, though christian in origin, deviated from the mainstream catholic dogma, it just meant the act of making a choice out of free will or selecting between alternatives. Thus, hereteks are just people that chose to believe otherwise (or, also, consider themselves chosen) in relation to the cult of the machine.