[HH1.0] Mechanicum Tactica

[Charlo]

.............I've been sat here forever thinking Castellax have 3 Wounds.

 

THEY HAVE FOUR?!?

 

WHY DOES A THANATAR ONLY HAVE 4 THEN?!?

[Flint13]

Bro, Thallax have 3 wounds.

 

There's a reason biologicals are inferior. 

[Tiger9gamer]

Played my first cybernetica game using the list In the spoiler, and It was against my usual iron warrior opponent who this time brought a blood of the ancient's list with porterabo and terminators. there were something around 6 dreads of various kinds and it was in a city fight scenario so there was a lot of LOS blocking terrain.

 

Archmagos Dominus w/ Abeyant, cyber familiar, power weapon, Machinator Array and cyber familiar)

Magos Dominus With Mechanicator array

Magos Prime Ordinator with Photon Thrusters

Adsecularius covenant with x15 thralls and Rite of pure thought and mitralocks

Adsecularius Covenant with x10 tech thralls and Rite of pure Thought

x2 Darkfire Castellex with enhanced targeters <Magos goes here

x2 Castellex with enhanced targeters and power blades <archmagos goes here

x2 castellex with Enhanced targeters and power blades

x2 Domitars

Myrmidon destructors (x3 Destructors, x3 Graviton imploders)

Myrmidon destructors (x3 Destructors, x3 volkite)

Thanatar Class Siege automata with enhanced targeting array and paragon of metal

_________________

 

So basically all my anti-infantry was useless against the dreads except in rear armour shots. I also found out that while cyberthurgy double blasts from thanatars are good, not shooting the next turn is not as good. It's even worse to charge a contemptor with a thanatar during said non-shooting period. I lost the domitars and the grav imploder myrmadons as well as one darkfire dread, so almost all my anti- tank was killed that turn

 

Buuuuut the Ordinator priest survived was friggen awesome at penning armor. Everytime he shot he penetrated a dread, and killed both a deadreo and a regular contemptor.

 

I also found out that smash is really good if your lucky! I had one bot in my game slowly penetrate a leviathan to death turn after turn with smash, hitting every single time he swung. I think next time I may bring an extra siege wrecker or something in one of the squads.

 

also Cyberthurgy and battlesmith was pretty awesome at keeping wounds on my bots, so that was fun and unplanned.

 

overall I really like my bots!

Edited August 28, 2016 by Flint13
Fixed spoiler tag

[Terminus]

Ran a Paragon Arlatax, and it felt like with the Arc Scourge giving it rampage I was overpaying for autonomy and It Will Not Die.  Maybe it's because I never had cause to swing the S9 fist (I did come across a squad of Justaerin, but I wisely retreated and engaged something else) and opted for the Arc Scourge all the time.  Autonomy wasn't as important with 24" bubbles in Cybernetica, and how hard Skoria is to take down.  I rolled for it will not die once and didn't make the roll, and it died the next turn to a plasma support squad that dropped down (would have died even if I had regained the wound).  Maybe I didn't notice the (lack of) impact with the Homonculex because it gets the upgrade for free. 

 

Also, frag grenades on mauler/flamer Castellax or no? Only I4 so kind of like whatever since you can soak wounds from most units without losing a bot. I guess it gives you a chance to kill the power fist sgt before he swings, but I find I'm usually either being charged or there is no intervening cover.

[Brofist]

I usually go without the grenades for the reasons you mentioned. Sure it's pretty cheap, but in the grand scheme of things it's pretty situational.

[Luna707]

I don't know if this has been covered elsewhere but what do you all think about 10 scyllax with rotor cannons?

[Terminus]

Meh, I think Scyllax bolters are better.  I can also see use for flamers in Zone Mortalis, and the plasma gun is actually I think the only place Mechanicum can get a traditional plasma weapon.  It's nice for taking out that Sgt in artificer armor.

 

Soooo... about them new Secutarii... 20 Hoplites in a Triaros? :D

Edited September 2, 2016 by Terminus

[Tiger9gamer]

So I tried out domitars in an apoc game and I have to say they are pretty deadly when it comes to combat (big surprise right?) and managed to kill terminators, assault squads and the like. I just feel they are way to slow to be played normally, and if they had like 40k dunestrider (+3 movement and charge range) they could be worth their points.

 

Also, I think I'm in love with Castellex... So much dakka on a tough platform. 

[Terminus]

Arlatax are basically fixed Domitars.

[Tiger9gamer]

Arlatax are basically fixed Domitars.

yea, I have to make some. They were too good not to have in my oppinion.

 

Gosh, going from playing 0 MC's to 9 in one army is a huge change of pace. they were tough, but every lost bot was a terrible blow to my moral. 

 

I also played a game with 40k skitarii and 30k legio recently, and wrote  about it here at the bottom of the page: http://www.bolterandchainsword.com/topic/308196-skitarii-and-mechanicum-hard-data-review/page-17

 

I think 30k is going to be my preferred way of playing mechanicus now... don't know if I can go back to cult.

Edited September 6, 2016 by Tiger9gamer

[Terminus]

Yeah, kastelan robots leave much to be desired compared to the Age of Darkness menagerie.  Another interesting addition to the Domitar would be to add him to the list of robots that can be transported in Arvus Lighters. Then you can use it like a drop pod. Deep strike into hover mode so you don't die in the wreck, and it provides a couple of ablative hull points and jink. Or disembark and start wrecking havoc immediately.

 

I posted the comparison a few times before, but a Domitar is actually worse than a Paragon Castellax with siege wrecker and a multi-melta, so you could do the above now.

[Flint13]

^Actually, much like a primarch, I don't think a Domitar would be much bothered by the single high strength wound suffered from being in a crashing flyer.

 

I've actually had Angron plummet to earth from a Stormeagle, bounce the wound on his invulnerable and gleefully cartwheel off into a juicy heavy support unit.

 

That's interesting that a Domitar is worse than a paragon Castellax. They're just such awesome models, I feel like they're missing like one special rule or something to make them worthwhile :(

[Terminus]

Castellax with paragon, targeting array, multi-melta, siege wrecker, flamer - 180 points

Domitar with flak missiles - 180 points

 

Defense:

Castellax - T7 W4 3+/5++, It Will Not Die

Domitar - T7 W4 3+/5++

 

Same defensive stats except Castellax could regain HP.

 

Melee:

Castellax - WS3, 2x S10 AP2 wrecker attacks, Rage, Rampage, 1 hammer of wrath at S6

Domitar - WS4, 3x S10 AP2 wrecker attacks, D3 hammer of wrath at S7

 

So on the charge they are about the same with 4x S10 attacks, with the Domitar potentially getting 2 more hammer of wrath hits, while the Castellax could get up to 3 from Rampage if outnumbered. By the way, I guess due to Smash, the Hammer of Wrath is AP2? Leviathans and other dreadnoughts must be mad jelly. The WS doesn't really impact your accuracy but it does mean the Castellax gets hit more.

 

Ranged:

Castellax: BS5 multi-melta with -1 to cover saves

Domitar: BS3 missile launcher with flak missiles

 

I guess the flak missile has some value, but you can't charge fliers so it's 180 points devoted to a single BS3 S7 missile. The multi-melta falls right into the main role of cracking tanks.

 

So better gun and slightly more survivable, and about the same effectiveness when it comes to punching time, and autonomous due to Paragon.

 

 

What Domitars needed were jump packs, which they did with the Arlatax. I am curious what they are going to do with these models.  The Arlatax could very well be a Domitar with two new arms and instead of the missile cupola you get a big honkin jump pack like the Ursarax.

Edited September 7, 2016 by Terminus

[Charlo]

How can the robots go inside an Arvus?

 

I thought MC can't go in transports :o

[Caillum]

Mechanicum Arvus Lighters can purchase an upgrade allowing them to carry a single Castellax or 2 Vorax. :)

[Charlo]

That is amazing.

[Tiger9gamer]

do people reccommend special weapons on the magos dominus?

[Brofist]

If you have the points an AP2 lance makes him actually contribute to fights. It's tough because they already cost so many points, but without a shooting weapon, he just kinda scoots around doing nothing until melee happens.

[Flint13]

Depends on where he's going. Is he just doodling around on his own or going into a unit of automata? If the latter, he really doesn't need anything extra beyond a Machinator array as his purpose is fixing, buffing and keeping the automata in line. So I wouldn't say so much he's scooting around doing nothing. No one buys a Dominus for his combat contributions.

 

I wouldn't recommend the photon thruster on the Dominus, as it is heavy and he is not relentless. Also that's a lot of points to pay to have to give up whenever you're using Cybertheurgy, which should be often.

 

However, I'm partial to photon gauntlets. They're way cheaper, almost as good at killing terminators, and you get two chances at plinking off a guy on overwatch and forcing a blind check. It's always hilarious when Astartes fail a blind check on a charge against automata they were feeling good about.

Edited September 13, 2016 by Flint13

[Charlo]

Plus then you're basically Magos Mega Man. Pew pew.

[Terminus]

Machinator array and gauntlet are also my favorite options for the dominus. He repairs or casts cybertheurgy until close enough to photon/inferno something before charging in for 5 S5 AP2 attacks. 2 of those swings have armourbane and the flamer of the array adds another overwatch template.

[Charlo]

Machinator array and gauntlet are also my favorite options for the dominus. He repairs or casts cybertheurgy until close enough to photon/inferno something before charging in for 5 S5 AP2 attacks. 2 of those swings have armourbane and the flamer of the array adds another overwatch template.

 

Works for me. If he can take Rad grenades then his automata buddies then start causing ID to most things too.

[Flint13]

^Sadly rad grenades are only for Magos Prime and Reductor.

 

Probably for precisely that reason.

[Tiger9gamer]

^Silly Charlo, rad grenades are for Magos Prime and Kids!

 

Probably for precisely that reason.

 

 

Yea that would be super terrifying. but probably pretty cool in all honesty.

 

I'm just wishing they had CCW's outside of a power axe.

[Reclusiarch Darius]

So now that Vultarax rules are out, thoughts? 

 

I'm definitely running two of them in a single maniple at 2k, mostly to deal with the mech Solar Auxilia list and Legion lists I face locally. They also handle Flyers quite well, especially as the Targeting Array drops Jink down to a 5+, 4+ on Agile. 

 

Outside of Legio Cybernetica (their obvious home), what about Taghmata or Ordo Reductor? Do you prefer Lightning-Primaris to it?