Tips for a brand new player

[Bjorn Gordnikson]

Hey, I've been looking into Mechanicus and was considering starting them. Any general tips? Where to buy (Australia), what to buy, what edition codex is out or what codex should I get. 

This should be a great start to the convo, thanks guys in advance :D

[KhorneFlakes]

Horus Heresy Books 1,2 and 3 have Mechanicum army lists for 30k which can be used in 40k games, these come from Forge World. Forge World also sell wicked looking Mechanicum models;

http://www.forgeworld.co.uk/The_Horus_Heresy/Mechanicum

Great army, great fluff. Nice choice

[Bjorn Gordnikson]

So does Mechanicum have a particular codex? 

[Chronozoah]

Where to buy

Firstly you will want to get The Horus Heresy Book III - Extermination. It is the most feature-rich and up-to-date in terms of Mechanicum forces. Unfortunately, if you live in Australia, you will have to expect lengthy delivery times I'm afraid. Deliveries to regions of the world that far away take an age (from what I have gathered). Here is the Mechanicum section of the Forge World website.

 

What to buy

Well, that's entirely up to you, honestly. I would advise that anyone try and start out with a Magos, Thallax Cohorts (generally the preferred loadout for these units is to give them either a Multi-melta or a Photon Thruster) and Castellax Battle-automata as a basic starting point. I'd then aim to acquire a Krios Battle Tank / Venator or a Thanatar Siege-automata or a Myrmidon Destructor unit, to give your fledgling army some long-range firepower. All in all you'll have a flavourful force with lots of great shooting, some close combat potential, and a highly cutomisable HQ that can fulfill a huge variety of roles for the army. I would personally wait until you have acquired the aforementioned Horus Heresy book before making any decisions about purchases, so that you have time to look over the rules and decide which units you prefer.

 

What codex to get

Mechanicum do not have an official 'codex' as such, but the unit entries and information on the Mechanicum can be found throughout the Horus Heresy series of books by Forge World. Thankfully, the most recent one, Extermination, brought us a full and up-to-date list of units and rules for use in-game, removing the prior need to potentially buy both Horus Heresy books to gain access to rules for the Mechanicum. The Mechanicum force in Book III is referred to as the Taghmata Omnissiah, and is intended to function as a standard configuration of Mechanicum forces, whereas the ones preceding it, the Ordo Reductor (Book I) and Legio Cybernetica (Book II) were intended to be more specialised Mechanicum forces, and as such had a lower number of units.