Dark Mechanicus included in the next Horus Heresy book.

[Stray]

News from the Horus Heresy weekender. 

 

After 'Malevolence', book 9 is set to include Night Lords, Dark Angels, and for the first time the Dark Mechanicus.

 

https://www.warhammer-community.com/2019/02/02/the-horus-heresy-weekender-2019-live-bloggw-homepage-post-1fw-homepage-post-1/

 

While Forgeworld do love to play with our emotions (cough, Fires, cough), this could be good news. Possibly heralding some very interesting new models, and if we're really lucky, some cross over rules for 40k.

 

...if it get's released at all that is

 

 

I presume everyone saw it already, but there was also a painted version of the new (and now named) Acastus Knight at the event:

 

The Acastus Knight Asterius.

 

 

Thoughts peeps?

[Beren]

The Acastus looks much better in colour.

 

I suspect that the Dark Mech list will be mainly daemon engines, potentially AI stuff(less likely) and rules for scrapcode affliction. Otherwise normal mech would be able to use it too (like the ressurected thralls and Arlatax).

[Magos Takatus]

That is a fearsome looking Knight right there. I really love the colour they have achieved on the ends of the conversion beamer thingies. I'd love to know how they managed that.

 

The Dark Mechanicus news is great. I'm more inclined to follow the fine Adeptus Mechanicus personally, but more options are great for our little corner of the forum. I'd like to see what you could do when you got your paws on some new models. :)

[Clingy]

Very cool

 

Do we have a release date on the big guy?

[Charlo]

Will wait for rules, but I am a big fan of that knight.

 

Got a big stockpile of resin for Mechanicum that im hoping I'll be able to use for Dark Mech to match my Xana Knights

[MajorNese]

Awesome model. If it includes 40k rules, I'll buy one once the current Big Model Project is done. If there's only 30k rules...well, shelf space and money saved.

[DanPesci]

Holy martian deathrays batman!

 

That thing looks awesome. Really like the small skull head...reminds me of something from evangelion for some reason.

 

 

Also volkite chevrioles on the shoulders?

 

Looking forward to seeing the rules for this.

 

 

Dark mech models would be nice...dont play my guys as the bad guys per-se....but i like the idea of having some grimdark in my admech list (am already using converted negavolts as electropriests)

[Heliomanes]

Not entirely blown away yet, but it is growing on me. I made myself laugh by imagining bringing both Acastus knights to a 2000p tourney.

Dark Mechanicum is going to be great, especially when/if they do a 40k port. 40k is full of daemon engines, and the CSM HQ choices seem very flexible in what they can represent. The Black Crusade and Dark Heresy RPG books are full of interesting fluff on Magi-Sorcerers and other weirdoes that could meaningfully be represented by the codex sorcerer or other things, beyond just using the Magos and his Abeyant from the FW books. With renegade Knights we're already halfway there. They are going to have such a massive amount of models and rules to draw from, that I think we can expect a lot of imaginative armies and perhaps even some competitive viability .

[Charlo]

I can't see them getting a 40k port very quick upon release. I imagine Dark Mech are one of those forces that are VERY different during the heresy to their 40k counterpart and still developing.

 

Plus the fact that 99% of the Mechanicum stuff still don't have 40k rules doesn't fill me with hope...

[MajorNese]

I can't see them getting a 40k port very quick upon release. I imagine Dark Mech are one of those forces that are VERY different during the heresy to their 40k counterpart and still developing.

 

Plus the fact that 99% of the Mechanicum stuff still don't have 40k rules doesn't fill me with hope...

The reason they might do is simple - heresy fanbase took a massive hit when they stayed with 7th edition and haven't released much 30k since then. The new model is a considerable investment (work time, maybe resources), just selling a handful to the remaining hardcore 30k players won't do much good. Other units/technologies that (in the fluff) were heresy only did reappear in 40k, like the Stormbird, Mastodon, Leviathan dreads, Volkite knight etc.

 

This model might have been advertised as 30k Dark Mech, but it's possible they just saved it for the Heresy Weekender instead of the NY Open Day to space out the reveals, and not make the latter obsolete by revealing everything on the previous event. Would make sense, but doesn't impact the possibility of this thing appearing in 40k as well.

 

We'll have to wait for FW to release it, anything concerning 30k/40k rules is pure speculation until then. Just the fan reaction would be predictable - if it's 30k only, they will sell fewer models.

[Heliomanes]

Some fluff stories represent the Dark Mechanicum in very different ways. With some being essentially corrupted Forge Worlds from the Heresy era cut off from the outer world by warp storms etc, and still fielding some variants of the Taghmata and the associated unit types (Krios tanks, Thallax cyborgs etc). With others being radically different from that, with hordes of daemon engines that are purposefully kept as free from constraints and expectations of form and proportion as possible. Still others, like Xana, are depicted as Forges that had their own cultures and agency that sent them in their own direction, and for them, becoming the Dark Mechanicum seem to be more of a kind of liberation, they were free to follow their own course to its natural conclusion. If a similar "fall" were to happen in 40k, then I can imagine Stygies, for instance, truly following their interest in xenotech to the point where it would be obvious also in the kind of units and weapons tech they deploy on the field. Holofield knights and wraithbone-implants.

So, to create a basic kind of typology.

A - Fossilized Dark Mechanicum. 30k units with some added flavor. Kept many of the things and tech from 30k that the Mechanicus have lost or forgotten since then, but have also been reduced to employing warp-spirits to take the place of failing cybernetica cores and similar artifacts.

B - Full on Daemonic Dark Mechanicum. Transgressing against or transcending the sacred forms is a virtue in itself, leading to radical variance between and within unit types. Traditional Taghmata units are unfit to represent this fully.

C - Secessionist Dark Mechanicum. Without the rules and constraints put on them by Terra and Mars, they now have the freedom to follow their own star. This could lead to a lot of different armies and unit types, ranging from the traditional (represented by the normal 30k/40k lists) to the radical. Xenotech is an obvious version of this archetype, but far from the only one. Forges that follow a subsect interested in transcending the genetic limitations of the human form could be another version. The primary point lies in taking Mechanicus/Mechanicum and removing their constraints, then just to step back and see what strange new forms they take on.

So, that's a quick attempt at a summary. The various versions will need different armies and lists to represent them on the field, and thankfully I think most of them are already possible to represent in some way. Excited to see what version FW decide to focus on - but I hope they do the same trick they used on the cults and militas - leaving in as much customization and options as they possibly can.

[MajorNese]

The point about Dark Mech is that it is getting introduced to 30k, not 40k.

 

So they will probably start off as regular Mechanicum, including their units, and start experimenting with previously forbidden technology. I guess it will go the Scoria way - take existing 30k units, add AI/warptech/demons for customization, instead of going full forgefiend/hellchicken on day one. Maybe the one or other unit with clear demonic influence (characters and the like), but making all new models incompatible with loyalist/40k players would result in a lot less sales. Using a similar customization as Renegades and Militias would be a fun way, and those don't have specific models - just convert in any fitting way.

[Heliomanes]

True enough. Consider my post more of an attempt to describe what the "Dark Mechanicum" is in my headcanon and how to field it thematically across game systems, rather than a commentary on what FW will be likely to do with it within the confines of 30k exclusively. Sorry if it was a bit ranty and off topic. Just enthusiastic that they get some attention.

[MajorNese]

Sure, no problem - I just wanted to clarify this for some who may not be up to date of what FW is intending (based on past event reports) or how they do 30k things in general. Otherwise, it could lead to a lot of wishlisting and rumors about things that never happened.

 

And DarkMech is really an interesting topic. I've seen several armies in the past that drove the point home with extensive conversions while using AdMech/IK rules - it's still tournament compatible, even with spikes and stuff. The frustrating thing - fluff about DarkMech units or even 30k/40k forge world units varies heavily with every source. Sometimes you manage to grab the bland "product placement fluff" like Skitarius (and the various short stories of that time) that just reprint codex unit entries/descriptions. Sometimes it's 30k fluff with a few 40k units in it or vice versa. Sometimes the authors have free reign, and create the truly interesting stuff you can convert later (Mars trilogy, first Word Bearers book, Mechanicum, Titanicus).

 

In that regard, the FW black books include a good mixture - they depict their units, but still tell a consistent story and fill it with new stuff where the pure unit entries are not enough. Something similar to the Renegades and Militia customization rules would be enough to depict DarkMech - the players who can afford a full FW army usually have enough hobby experience to convert a bit here and there.

[Magos Takatus]

I must admit that for 30k I prefer the idea of a less is more approach to Dark Mechanicum with altered and/or corrupted Mechanicum technology that links to modern 40k. The Vultarax being made to suggest a link to the Blight Drone was an interesting idea and I think a design like the Decimator would fit the part rather than going full Forgefiend. For 40k however, I think they should have free reign to go as weird and disturbing as possible. Saying that, giving people as much freedom as they can to make an army is a good outcome. I was surprised how limited the Adeptus Mechanicus turned out considering they make most of the Imperium's technology. I suppose GW had a very specific vision for them so that's why we don't drive around in Rhinos, Hellhounds and Immolators. :p