MindOfMetal's review of the Taghmata

[MindOfMetal]

Adsecularis Covenant

 

In an army list where everything is a lot of points, this is our token cheap thing.  Really cheap.  For not a lot of points you get a 10 man unit with fairly rubbish stats, a slightly stronger lasgun with a shorter range and feel no pain.

 

There are a number of upgrades you can give them, which does help them with whatever role you decide to give them.

In my mind, the primary game role of Adsecularis is to walk upto an objective and sit on it for as long as possible.  The adsecularis will at most be a nuisance to your opponent, especially in an army of Thallax and Castellax; or any of the other mechanicum nasties.  I tend to find that people ignore them and focus their fire on things that are generally a bigger threat.

 

I’ve read in places online about doing a horde of them with heavy chainblades and running them up the battlefield to mob units.  For some people that might work, but it’s not something I would consider doing and I won’t be looking at that tactic here.

 

The unit starts at 10 models and can go upto 20.  Generally, I would consider 15 models reasonable; enough there to survive a couple of turns of being shot at usually but not enough that they can’t reasonable hide.  Generally I wouldn’t take just a 10 man unit unless I wanted to take a minimum compulsory troop choice to have more points to spend on Castellax or other fun stuff.

 

One of the best upgrades in my opinion is rite of pure thought, because it makes them fearless.  This turns them into much better objective campers-because you have to wipe them out to get them off the objective.  Coupled with their feel no pain it generally makes them pretty reasonable at their job.  Carapace armour for the unit will help this too, just giving them that extra durability.

 

With regards to weapons, I would generally consider leaving them with the las-lock.  The mitralock has shred, but at less than half of the range of the las-lock, I would prefer being a bit further away from the enemy; same again with the heavy chainblade.  Considering how amazing some of the weapons for other units are, adescularis weapons aren’t that great.  Induction chargers aren’t too bad, they change the las-locks from assault 1 to assault 2, which is useful considering the models BS2.

Revenant Alchemistry.  Hatred, slow and purposeful as well as an improved feel no pain.  I can imagine a lot of people excited by this.  I would imagine if you wanted to go heavy on Adsecularis then this is a worthwhile upgrade.  Again, this is another upgrade that just makes them more durable.  If you wanted to take this upgrade, I would definitely recommend taking a Lacyraemarta Tech-Priest Auxillia; increasing the feel no pain to a 4+.

 

My Adsecularis Covenant: 15 adsecularis, rite of pure thought and induction chargers.  Two units of these at 80pts has worked pretty well for me.  In a game against nids, they bore the brunt of the nid shooting, scored most of my 13vp that game and took some wounds off of both of his flying hive tyrants.  Against Tau, they secured objectives long enough for my castellax and ursarax to get up close and personal, even surviving a few rounds of being shot at.  Didn’t do so well against orks, but that’s what happens when they get charged by a lot of ork boys.

 

As always, feel free to disagree or if you have any advice of your own please give it.  

[Chronozoah]

In real life I am a teacher and have just broken up for the summer (the joys of more free time).

 

I'm about half way through adsecularis.  Then I have thallax and thanatar to do.  Should be able to get them out a bit quicker due to the summer holidays.

Ahh, a proliferator of knowledge? What subject/s do you teach?

 

With regards to the Adsecularis Covenant, I agree. Using somewhat small groups upgraded to be fearless objective campers with FnP and with the intent of filling out the compulsory troops as cheaply as possible seems best. This seems fairly viable, because almost all of our units are costly to field. Such is the price of quality.

[MindOfMetal]

I'm a primary school teacher, so I teach everything apart from Spanish.

 

Adsecularis do help with one of the few things we struggle with and thats numbers-so far the armies I have struggled the most with are Orks (mass of models in combat) and Tau (mass of models shooting at us).  The adsecularis free up the meaty units to go deal with the more dangerous stuff.

[A D-B]

Really enjoying this guide, MoM. Looking forward to more.

[Battybattybats]

I'm a primary school teacher, so I teach everything apart from Spanish.

 

Adsecularis do help with one of the few things we struggle with and thats numbers-so far the armies I have struggled the most with are Orks (mass of models in combat) and Tau (mass of models shooting at us).  The adsecularis free up the meaty units to go deal with the more dangerous stuff.

Today i tried out my knight paladin of House Cydonia with my Taghmata Omnissiah against two allied chaos players... both players took some cultists but outnumbering me didn't help much when the response was stomp-stomp-stomp (the battle cannon was busy blasting havocs). Now i was worried about struggling to hold enough objectives for much of the game, but as i tabled the enemy that didn't end up an issue.

 

I'm thinking that Knights in a Taghmata list, or Taghmata allies for Knights lists might end up with quite potent combinations.

[heron]

Thanks for the update.

I have really been enjoying this series of posts/reviews and its been extremeley helpful for making decisions about what to purchase.

[MindOfMetal]

Another long one, sorry for the wall of text again.

 

Thallax Cohort

Before I start, I wanted to say that I have only just started using these recently; but they are so much fun to use.

 

Taken in units from 3 to 9, with a heavy weapon available for every 3 models, most of my use has revolved around a 6 model unit.  For me, 6 models seem to be a nice balance between being durable and still having some punch.  In the games I have used them in, 6 models have taken a lot of punishment and dealt out more than their fair share too.  A 3 model unit seems small to me, I would probably think increase them to a minimum of 4 models.  This gives you an extra set of wounds to protect your heavy weapon Thallax. 

 

I have never tried a 9 model Thallax unit.  Some armies I have seen online, or blogs I’ve read, have shown 9 model Thallax units.  The main reason I haven’t used them is sheer points cost.  My 6 model unit sets me back a little under 300pts and that’s without augments.  In high point games, I can imagine them working well; but any games under 2000pts I wouldn’t (but maybe I am just being cautious).

 

The role of the Thallax.  With their high strength weaponry and jet packs, I consider the Thallax to be the tank hunting troop choice for the Taghmata.  Their standard gun, the lightning gun, doesn’t have enough shots to be able to deal with a horde of troops, or the range.  But s7 and rending seems pretty destined to hunt tanks in my mind.  Not that I won’t use them to go after squads or characters, I just find that often a good priority target for them are any vehicles an opponent might have.

 

This leads me nicely onto some of the heavy weapon options available to the Thallax. 

 

First off we have the multi-laser.  I don’t rate this choice too highly.  It’s a lower strength than the lightning gun and loses rending.  It does however have more shots and a longer range, as well as being the cheapest of the heavy weapon options.  I can imagine this for budget squads of Thallax in a gaming area where people field a lot of light transports.

 

Secondly you have the multi melta.  Slightly longer range than the lightning gun, turns the squad from a light tank hunter to being able to hunt anything with an Armour value.  Also pretty threatening to heavy troops and characters now.  This is generally the heavy weapon I tend to use and so far has done pretty well for me.  For me, it enhances what I think is the Thallax primary role.

 

Then you have the phased plasma fusil and rad cleanser.  Not bad guns on the right model.  I don’t think the Thallax are the right model (though I am more than willing to be proved wrong).  In my mind both of these guns are geared towards infantry (though against tanks the fusil is a more expensive, shorter ranger multi-laser). 

Lastly you have the photon thruster.  Long range, lance, causes blind; what’s not to like.  Well, actually there’s a bit I don’t like about this.  It’s not a great tank hunting gun; lance does allow it to threaten a land raider on a roll of 6 with ap2, compared to the multi melta on a 4+ at ap1.  It has a longer range than the lightning gun, by a significant amount; which can be nice but runs the risk of meaning that 2/3s of your unit might do nothing all game as you keep to your guns max range.  Causing blind is nice, but it’s not reliable.

 

One of the more confusing options for the Thallax is the ability to buy the Triaros Armoured Conveyor.  It’s a nice dedicated transport, but I’m surprised to see a jet pack unit getting one.  One of the tactics I can imagine with it is stick the Thallax in there to start with, drive it forward for the first turn and then jump out on the second turn and split up.  Would love to hear any stories about these being used.

 

Now for the Thallax augments.  Each cohort only gets one, so pick wisely. 

 

Destructor, gives Tank hunter. Nice and simple.  If like me, you think Thallax should be hunting tanks then this could be a worthwhile.  However, I have found that they are good at it without Tank Hunter, but if you have a spare 25pts floating around then maybe this is worthwhile.

 

Empyrite; this one seems geared towards playing zone mortalis.  Having never played zone mortalis rules, I wouldn’t be too sure about how useful this is.

 

The Icarian augment I think is an interesting one.  Like all the augment, it’s pretty situational; your opponent has to have flyers.  If your Thallax have been stationary, they get skyfire.  Everything that Thallax have to go up against tanks will work as well against flyers too.  But, they do have to be in position in your turn to be able to shot them.  Lots of ifs, but I would generally consider this ok if I knew I was playing against some flyers.  The big negative for me is that it moves the Thallax from being a troop choice to a heavy support.  This isn’t too bad in small games, but the Taghmata do have a lot of very good heavy support. 

 

Last, but by no means least, is Djinn sight.  Causes cover saves to be taken at -2 against the units shooting is pretty good.  Makes hiding in terrain a lot less worthwhile when your cover save is only a 6+.  This is also really good against flyers or things with jink.  Does make killing them a lot easier, assuming you can hit them.  The other part of Djinn sight is the anti-infiltrator bubble it generates at the start of the game.  Again, situational as it depends on whether or not your opponent has infiltrators.

[Dark Bjoern]

Once again, my thanks, Brother! Very helpful and exactly like i plan to use my Thallaxii.

[MindOfMetal]

Not a problem, I'm glad it's getting a positive response from people.

 

Next review would be the Thanatar.

[MindOfMetal]

Thanatar Siege Automata

 

Never underestimate the psychological impact on your opponent when you place a big model with a big gun on the table.  The Thanatar is huge and looks pretty scary.  The hellex plasma mortar is also a pretty intimidating gun.   Every game I have played with one of these has started off with a worried look on my opponents face as soon as I place this thing down on the board.  You can use the deployment of this thing to help you dominate the battlefield; if you deploy first then your opponent is likely to try to either deploy to counter this thing or deploy as far away from it as possible.

 

Don’t overestimate the psychological impact on your opponent when you place a big model with a big gun on the table.  The Thanatar is huge and looks pretty scary.  It will worry your opponent, so expect it to take a lot of fire pretty early on.  In almost every game I have played with one of these, it has been one of the first of my models to be shot at.  It is a big, expensive model and will likely spend most of the game as a bullet magnet.  It is a tough model, but it’s not invincible and will go down if shot enough times.  Deployed carefully, this model with its mortar is a massive danger to your opponent. 

 

All of the above is written on the assumption of a single Thanatar.  The unit can be between 1 and 5 models; with 3 heavy support slots to use for them.  Like almost everything else, the Thanatar are expensive points wise.  A 5 model unit would be a lot of fun to run in a huge game, but at 1250+ points it’s not going to happen often.  A two model unit, or two solo Thanatar if you don’t mind using 2 heavy support slots, seems the most feasible to me.  Two of them will help to increase their durability by giving your opponent more to shoot at, especially if you take two solo Thanatar.   Two solo ones would be my preferred way of running them as it gives you more options with that lovely plasma mortar.

 

The hellex plasma mortar is a frightening gun.  I won’t bore you with most of the details, but a barrage weapon that forces successful cover saves to be rerolled is going to be a nuisance to anything it can reach.  With the stationary range on this gun, there won’t be much that this barrage weapon won’t be able to reach.  However you need to be careful, as its range is halved when it moves; so make sure the move is a worthwhile one.

 

The enhanced targeting array is almost a must take for this model in my opinion.  If you are going to take a Thanatar then a 15 point upgrade isn’t much more of a stretch.    Increasing your ballistic skill to 5 is going to make your plasma mortar a lot more accurate, even more so when combined with the data skein upgrade and cyber occularis from your Warlord.  If you take a Magos Prime with a data skein, having a cyber occularis with your Thanatar is a very worthwhile trick.  Also, the fact that it reduces the cover save of models shot by it.  Minus 1 to your cover save and if you are lucky enough to make it, you have to try and pass it again.  This is nasty against so many things.

 

The last worthwhile upgrade for the Thanatar is the paragon of metal.  This is gives exactly the same benefits as it does for the Castellax, just on a far bigger and beefier model.  I would recommend taking this if you plan on running a single Thanatar in your list.  If you are running two of these, I wouldn’t do it.  If you are playing a game big enough to afford a second Thanatar, I would probably run a Magos Dominus with a machinator array to escort them and repair them if necessary; a rerollable 3+ to heal a wound on either one of them is generally better than a 5+ to heal a wound on one of them.  Also you get to cast cybertheurgy on them.

 

Lastly, it’s an awesome looking model.

[Chronozoah]

Djinn-skein*

 

I am fond of the idea of fielding Cyber Occularis units alongside a Thanatar to abuse LoS and make the Hellex Plasma Mortar even more terrifying. Other than that, thanks for another review. Have you decided on the subject of the next one?

[MindOfMetal]

Hadn't really decided what to do next as part of this review.

 

I could do another unit review or a review of something else related to them, ideas are welcome.

 

The units I plan on reviewing at some point are:

 

                         The tech priest auxilla

                         Myrmidon Destructors

                         Magos Dominus

[Honda]

My vote would be for the Myrmidion Destructors, some of the coolest looking models FW has come out with.

 

I've thoroughly enjoyed reading this thread. Thank you for investing the time into it.

 

Cheers,

[Chronozoah]

I will second the Myrmidon Destructor vote.

[Battybattybats]

Both types of Myrmidon is my vote, because i keep hearing that Destructor are better, but as i love the look of the Secutor models I'll want to field them so knowing how best to would be good.

[Dark Bjoern]

Myrmidon Destructor would be nice.

[MindOfMetal]

Right, this is a really long one so I am sorry for that.  I've tried to split it up as much as possible.  This is a review and comparison of the 2 Myrmidon types.  Hope it makes sense, is enjoyable and is worthwhile for people.  Thanks for the continued support.

 

Myrmidon Destructors and Secutors: a review and comparison

 

Firstly, I want to discuss the roles of the two types of Myrmidon.  In my mind they both actually fulfil the same role but do it in different ways.  They are a support choice, used to give supporting fire to your units of Thallax, Castellax or Adsecularis.  Both units are built around their ability to shoot guns, whether it’s the longer and heavier guns of the Destructor or the shorter ranged but higher rate of fire guns of the Secutors.  Like so many things in the Taghmata list, they are incredibly expensive so it’s unlikely that you will generally field more than one of these units in games of upto 2000pts (I’m sure some people will have, but at 195pts for a minimum Destructor unit or 180pts for Secutors I know I wouldn’t field too many of them in small games).  My preferred role for them would be to weaken things that are a threat to the Castellax or Thallax units, as well as providing the Thallax close combat support.

 

Neither of them are what I would call a dedicated combat unit due to their high points cost and small numbers.  They are more than capable, with their AP2 weaponry and generally being fairly durable, but against large units they will get swamped.  In combat, I would generally say that the Destructors would win out on a model for model basis, due to the simple fact that they have power fists compared to the Secutor’s power axes.

 

Neither unit is massively mobile, but can take a Triaros dedicated transport.  The Triaros is generally a better option for the Secutors, as it allows them to get further up the field in relative safety (or destructors with Rad Engines).  Generally though, you will probably end up foot slogging them up the board with the majority of your army or if you take one of the longer range guns, staying where you are.  Generally, I find that destructors are generally better in the movement phase mainly because of their gun choice; you have more options due to the longer range of their guns, you should know when you buy them what you will want them to do in a game and where you need them whereas the Secutor is more likely to spend parts of the game chasing units down.

 

Next I want to talk about is their position on the force organisation chart.  Secutors are an elite choice.  In the Taghmata list there are only 2 elite options, meaning a lot less competition for those elite slots.  However, elite choices are usually a weaker scoring unit than heavy support (big guns never tire).  Destructors are a heavy support choice, a good unit in a selection of good units (the Thanatar and Krios tanks).  Generally, which one I would consider taking depends on what troop choices I wanted to focus on.  I would consider Secutors as better support for Adsecularis while Destructors being a better support unit for Castellax (with both being pretty good support for Thallax). 

 

Now for the most important aspect of the Myrmidons, their shooting.  Secutors have fusillade attack, allowing for them to shoot two guns a turn, while Destructors have preferred enemy versus everything.  On a single shot basis, Destructors are better due to preferred enemy, but in game terms Secutors have the possibility of generating more shots.  Does depend somewhat on the guns you choose for them.

 

Guns for the Secutors

 

Maxim Bolter, an assault 3 bolt pistol.  One of the two cheap gun options for the Secutors.  Shortest range as well, aside from the rad cleanser.  The best thing about it is the number of shots.

 

Volkite Charger.  Same points cost as the Maxim bolter.  Has one less shot, higher strength, longer range and deflagrate.  Not a bad option to keep them cheap.

 

Graviton gun.  The utility gun, the graviton pulse is a nice little effect (blast template that stays around and counts as dangerous and difficult terrain, very nice it you can land it on a unit).  A group of secutors armed with these is likely to dominate the battlefield within the gun range.  The rest of the guns rules aren’t too bad either.  To be honest though, I think having a unit purely equipped with these is a bit much.

 

Rad Cleanser.  A souped up flamer; lower strength but with fleshbane and rad phage (models wounded but not killed are at -1 toughness for the rest of the game).  One of the big problems is that its only ap5, same as a normal flamer.

 

Phased plasma-fusil.  The most expensive option for the secutors, but for a good reason.  3 shots, strength 6 and ap3 with a range of 24 inches.  This gun is a perfect marine killer.  The biggest problem is the cost: a 3 model unit of Secutors all equipped with these will set you back 240pts and on average kill 12.5 marines a turn (according to math hammer, depending on how much you care about that), assuming they aren’t in cover.

 

The nice thing is that you can mix the guns on the Secutors.  I would recommend Graviton guns in any squad, at least 2 and preferably not on the same Secutor.  This would mean it’s a bit more likely you’d be able to keep one of the guns alive and it means you get to Graviton Pulse people, keeping them mostly stuck in place and available to be shot at by anything else you have.  If it was me, I would go with either the Volkite charger (for cheapness and the fact that I don’t think the Maxim bolter is worth taking) or the Phased plasma-fusil in order to kill things.  The rad cleanser isn’t a bad gun, but if I was going to go for a Rad weapon unit, I would generally consider the Destructors as the Rad engine is far better.

 

Example units.

 

3 Myrmidon Secutors

2 Graviton Guns

4 Volkite Chargers

190pts

 

3 Myrmidon Secutors

2 Graviton guns

4 Phased plasma fusils

230pts

 

Guns for Myrmidon Destructors

 

Volkite Culverin.  Good range for a heavy weapon.  High strength, lowish ap, a high number of shots and finally deflagrate.  This is good against horde armies at range.  This is the cheapest of the heavy weapons.

 

Photon Thruster Cannon.  Better than it is on the Thallax, as you can have more of them.  The gets hot rule is made a lot safer by preferred enemy.  With the Destructors it can be used as an anti-tank gun or an anti-heavy infantry gun (looking at terminators in particular).  Blind can be a useful ability, especially when you get hit so many times by something that causes it.  Not the best gun for the Destructors but definitely a worthy choice in my mind.

 

Rad Engine.  A very mean gun against certain units (anything that doesn’t have a 2+ save).  Ap3, fleshbane, rad-phage and torrent.  If you can get in range of a unit this can wipe them out.  This makes its use fairly obvious, it’s simple yet surprisingly effective.

 

Conversion Beamer.  One of the longest ranged guns available to the Taghmata, allowing you to potentially target anything on the board that you can see (assuming for normal sized 6 foot by 4 foot boards).  The blast is always nice, but really you want to be shooting stuff at least 18 inches away if you can help it; for the higher strength and ap.  Can be useful and I know a lot of people like this gun but I’m not a fan. 

 

Graviton Imploder.  One of the shorter ranged guns, but still pretty effective.  This gun is a terminator killer, wounding models a roll equal to their armour save (2+ armour save = 2+ to wound).  A 4 shot weapon as well,  with preferred enemy should (according to math hammer) hit 11.6 times and wounding terminators 9.7 times.  At ap2, this gun would threaten Primarchs assuming you could get close enough to target them.  The concussive rule would also work pretty well against said Primarchs too.

 

Like the Secutors, you can mix the weapons on the unit.  I wouldn’t, as most of the guns tend to work pretty well separately.  Doesn’t mean that it won’t be an effective unit with mixed weapons, rad engines and volkite culverins being a good mix for anti horde.

[Grand Master Laertes]

As someone who is starting his own Mechanicum army, I find your analysis and toughts extremely useful and well written. Thank you very much for your service to the community!

[MindOfMetal]

Thanks for the comments Grand Master, it's nice to be able to give back to the community.  Mechanicum are a fun army to collect and play.

 

Anyone have any suggestions about what you would like me to tackle next?

[Honda]

Thank you for that very concise and well presented synopsis on the Myrmidons.

 

As far as the next possible topic goes, an assessment of the Krios variants would be greatly appreciated.

 

Cheers,

[Chief Librarian Corvin]

Really appreciate the postings Sir!  They have made my army selection process a bit easier and has made me look forward to seeing what the Ursorax(sp) will look like. 

 

Looks like the Krios tank varients are next on the list.  If I remember correctly, is there also a castellax sized close combat automata the Vorax I believe. 

 

Edit for info purposes! 

[korban]

Awesome reviews! Makes me regret some of my purchases :( but happier with the others!

 

 

I don’t think I would take a Taghmata list without a unit of Castellax to bodyguard my Magos Prime. 

 

Am I right that you can't do this in 7th as your Magos Prime (Infantry) can't join MCs?

[Reclusiarch Darius]

Am I right that you can't do this in 7th as your Magos Prime (Infantry) can't join MCs?

 

 

Correct. Happily though, Thallax and Adesecularis can still be joined, providing you with either a lot of cheap wounds (Adsecularis) or a handful of very durable ones (Thallax). 

[korban]

A Myrmidax Magos with Myrmidons would be cool. Which would work better, Secutors or Destructors!

[Dark Bjoern]

I'm playing a Myrmidax with Secutors. The Myrmidax got only the weapons he gets with the machinator array. The 6 Secutors are equipped with 8 maxim bolters and 4 phased plasma-fusils. The problem is the short range of their weapons. I hope they release the Triaros armoured conveyer soon. If you get them into range they kill everything.