Horus Heresy Mechanicum Battle Group & Plastification

[Xirix]

11 minutes ago, The Scorpion said:

My ultimate 40k fever dream would be to get the lore of that story.

Annoyingly, as the rumour goes, the book was complete and ready for 7th edition. Shame nobody leaked it, assuming that its completeness was true.

Edited May 19 by Xirix

[beefeb]

two extremes for me.   The archamagos, tha thanatar and the triaros are absolutely fantastic.  Very impressed by these indeed.   Bt the thralls!   :cuss:?  Why are they shambling, legs askew and in a disarray?  The thralls were always imagined as mind wiped automata marching in lockstep, firing out the devastating las lock volleys.  Yes their faces would have been expressionless (although the forgeworld ones had closed helmets) but shambling, awkwardly positioned legs?  thats more like zombies and chaotic creatures, not the rigidly machine sterile aspect of the mechanicum i always pictured (the forgeowrld ones have an almost dynamic posing in comparison)...they really spoil it for me

[Nephaston]

2 hours ago, SkimaskMohawk said:

Only thing i don't like is the priest.

 

Mechanicum had a focussed aesthetic. It was a bit quirky and weird, but all the models felt like they belonged to the same faction. Very plain armour and weapons, some robes and mechandrites for priests, spindly vehicles with large cogs. 

 

Adeptus mechanicus is the faction where every aesthetic clashes, and the priest extremely just looks like he got repurposed from that with his Pope hat and filigreed weapons. 

If it was just a priest I'd agree that it's probably a bit over-encrusted, but this is an Archmagos Prime, the highest or second highest rank before Fabricator Locus. A bit of bling and eccentricities come with the rank, especially if the mini may need to compare to the generic Archmagos/Draykavac on Abeyant, or Anacharis Scoria.

[Corswain]

Well, they've sold me. Love all the models, although I might prefer the 40K tech-priest a smidge.

 

Been planning some Admech for Thousand Sons allies for a while now and I wanted everything except the thralls but I can tweak the list. Fingers crossed for some plastic Krios and Vorax.

[Fire Golem]

I don’t love the Magos guy either I don’t think, but now some of the stuff is plastic it’s a bit more reasonable to get FW characters to go alongside. 
 

speaking of, what happened to this model? I can’t find it on the webstore

 

[TheWarmaster]

2 hours ago, beefeb said:

two extremes for me.   The archamagos, tha thanatar and the triaros are absolutely fantastic.  Very impressed by these indeed.   Bt the thralls!   :cuss:?  Why are they shambling, legs askew and in a disarray?  The thralls were always imagined as mind wiped automata marching in lockstep, firing out the devastating las lock volleys.  Yes their faces would have been expressionless (although the forgeworld ones had closed helmets) but shambling, awkwardly positioned legs?  thats more like zombies and chaotic creatures, not the rigidly machine sterile aspect of the mechanicum i always pictured (the forgeowrld ones have an almost dynamic posing in comparison)...they really spoil it for me

Why are they shambling? Because they're near brain dead lobotomised zombie-like cyborgs. 

They have low motor control, they're drooling down their chins while they follow extremely simple programming patterns. 

The Mechanicum use these 'creatures' as cheap, mass produced canon fodder. They don't waste precious resources, or funds, upgrading Tech Thralls to have the best of anything. 

They mass produce them cheaply and send them at an objective with weight of numbers and the bare minimum needed to make them merely effective. 

Out of the entire range, ForgeWorld has actually captured the essence of what these models are perfectly. The shambling gait is incredible. 

Edited May 19 by TheWarmaster

[Magos Takatus]

14 minutes ago, TheWarmaster said:

Why are they shambling? Because they're near brain dead lobotomised zombie-like cyborgs. 

They have low motor control, they're drooling down their chins while they follow extremely simple programming patterns. 

The Mechanicum use these 'creatures' as cheap, mass produced canon fodder. They don't waste precious resources, or funds, upgrading Tech Thralls to have the best of anything. 

They mass produce them cheaply and send them at an objective with weight of numbers and the bare minimum needed to make them merely effective. 

Out of the entire range, ForgeWorld has actually captured the essence of what these models are perfectly. The shambling gait is incredible. 

The Tech Thralls illustrate even further that Adeptus Mechanicus Skitarii shouldn't be treated as expendable chaff to the degree that they are. Okay, they are not space marines but they are augmented humans, not anywhere near as degraded as Tech Thralls. That they carry themselves so differently shows how badly Skitarii have been treated by GW lately. I think you should be able to theoretically slot Tech Thralls into into a 40k army without much overlap between them and Skitarii. Skitarii are equipped and trained to a superior degree, and it sounds like the Tech Priests pay more attention to what the Skitarii are up to, thanks to the existence of Doctrina Imperatives. 

 

In fact, it would have been cool if the Tech Thralls could have been the low-cost battleline troops for Cult Mechanicus as a contrast to Skitarii Cohorts.

[Matrindur]

46 minutes ago, TheWarmaster said:

Why are they shambling? Because they're near brain dead lobotomised zombie-like cyborgs. 

They have low motor control, they're drooling down their chins while they follow extremely simple programming patterns. 

The Mechanicum use these 'creatures' as cheap, mass produced canon fodder. They don't waste precious resources, or funds, upgrading Tech Thralls to have the best of anything. 

They mass produce them cheaply and send them at an objective with weight of numbers and the bare minimum needed to make them merely effective. 

Out of the entire range, ForgeWorld has actually captured the essence of what these models are perfectly. The shambling gait is incredible. 

 

The best comparison I saw was between Zombies and Skeletons. Both are cheap expendable chaff that follows simple commands and is meant to swarm the opponent but while Zombies do so in a shambling uncontrolled way, Skeletons are doing it in a controlled, "every skeleton does the same move at the same time" way. 

 

As far as I understood from other comments they have been the skeleton type before while the new ones are the zombie type instead

Edited May 19 by Matrindur

[Orange Knight]

33 minutes ago, Magos Takatus said:

The Tech Thralls illustrate even further that Adeptus Mechanicus Skitarii shouldn't be treated as expendable chaff to the degree that they are. Okay, they are not space marines but they are augmented humans, not anywhere near as degraded as Tech Thralls. That they carry themselves so differently shows how badly Skitarii have been treated by GW lately. I think you should be able to theoretically slot Tech Thralls into into a 40k army without much overlap between them and Skitarii. Skitarii are equipped and trained to a superior degree, and it sounds like the Tech Priests pay more attention to what the Skitarii are up to, thanks to the existence of Doctrina Imperatives. 

 

I couldn't agree more.

 

The 40k Mechanicus have somehow become a completely disposable horde army.

 

The faction needs a complete re-write in terms of both profiles and special rules at this point.

 

I'm not disputing the fact that making them cheaper and cheaper would make the army stronger, but thematically it's going farther from what it should be. In some editions Marines have had the same issue - they became a cheap disposable horde.

[Irongert]

1 hour ago, Fire Golem said:

speaking of, what happened to this model? I can’t find it on the webstore

 

it got removed a few years ago. Such a shame too, it's a good looking model. 

[Fire Golem]

2 minutes ago, Irongert said:

 

it got removed a few years ago. Such a shame too, it's a good looking model. 

Yeah that is a shame, damn. 

[N1SB]

Some data points for an old Techmagos here, hard lessons learned from HH 1.0 that still applies to HH 2.0 and beyond.

 

14 hours ago, Orange Knight said:

Annoyingly far better looking than the 40k range lol

 

Hopefully these models do get some rules for 40k. I will not be investing in another HH army as my local scene isn't active enough.

 

I was getting back to 40k in 6th ed, 1st AdMech Codex dropped, bought it...then saw ppl playing Mechanicum.

I looked at my friend who got me back into The Hobby, a good man, a true brother...and I was like "why didn't you tell me about THIS!?"

 

The Mechanicum still remains, but on the Traitor's side.  I don't know if you'll get 40k rules, consider maybe running these with Chaos Space Marine rules or something, like Tech Thralls could be Chaos Cultists buffed by some HQ unit.  They may be following an Iron Warriors army around.  Srsly, these are GREAT minis.

  

12 hours ago, Doghouse said:

I think the thralls really do look great, the ambling look really does work well but will probably just get the Thallax.

 

I can't remember, I did some checking, I know you got HH Imperial Fists.  Thallaxes are great AND a different experience.

 

They're like Jump Pack Ogryns that shoot better than they fight.  Very interesting...especially for a Troops!  Just realise as a result they play differently, they certainly confused me at 1st, but yeah, they are fun precisely because of that.  They play more like Tau Battlesuits maybe.  Definitely a learning curve.

 

Reflecting now, I wonder if I should've started my list thinking Thallaxes 1st, rather than start with the sexy Mechanicum units I wanted and then pick them as my Compulsory Troops last.  I hadn't really revisited this issue before.  They're just less straight-forward than Thralls (who're just Cultists/Guardsmen/etc.)

 

(I got the old Thallaxes, but I also like the new ones, too.  I'll probably go back & forth which I prefer any given day.)

 

 

+++ AND 'COS I GOTTA MENTION CONVERSION BEAMERS +++

 

 

 

I take Conversion Beamers (usually 3) in HH like Melta Bombs/Meltaguns on Tactical Squads pre-8th, just my go-to, standard wargear loadout.

 

People are like "pfft, just take squads of Lascannons, when would you ever need a Strength 10 Conversion Beamer at 42 inches."  It's because HH is just a different meta where you will face the novelty of Armour Value 15, precisely because someone will notice "oh look, this Fort has Armour Value 15, I want it just for the novelty of it."

 

1st time I even HEARD of Armour Value 15 was like minutes before a game, when we were presenting our armies, the opponent was like "oh this has Armour Value 15."  It sounded like Theoretical Physics.  I thought he was some mathematician throwing some imaginary number like the square root of negative potato.

 

It was on this stupid Fortification with some eagle-shaped cannon.  He was doing all these phallic things with it, like 3 Amigos pelvic thrusts, Space Balls "I see your schwarz is as big as mine," schWING like Wayne's World, Degeneration X SUCK IT, etc.  Honour demanded I kill that thing to death...ergo Conversion Beamers.

 

And it's the same mindset as Melta Bombs/Meltaguns, sometimes that unit might never get within range of a Vehicle to meaningfully use that weapon, but as soon as someone brings a Knight or something, you at least pose a threat.  Just being able to threaten it vs. I got nothing to hurt it are 2 different games.

 

Alternate Take - we didn't have the plastic Triaros Pain Train Dedicated Transport, it rams for Strength 10, that might work out better, I dunno.

[Matrindur]

So comparing this to what what SA got in terms of kit sizes, the Triaros is pretty much the Dracosan and the Karacnos would be its Malcador. In the same way the two Leman Russ versions could be the parallel to two Thanatar versions.

Then they got the basic Lasrifle section (Tech Thralls), an HQ choice with the Command section (Archmagos), the twin Hermes sentinel kit (twin Callax kit) and an elite infantry in Velatarii (Thallax). This would cover everything revealed for now.
In addition SA also got the Aethon sentinel as a medium size model (Domitar?), and the Medusa/Basilisk in a single kit with just a gun swap (Krios with its two guns?)

I doubt any of the other characters or the really big guns will go plastic for now so in addition to the above we also have Myrmidons, Ursarax, Scyllax and Vorax who could go plastic. I do think they will get more than SA got but I also doubt we'll see all four of these this time. Maybe either Myrmidons or Scyllax for one more "human" unit to break up all the robots?

Edited May 19 by Matrindur

[Captain Idaho]

I'm liking these models, in plastic no less.

 

Very nice to see.

 

Big robots = amazing. Always.

[Doghouse]

17 minutes ago, N1SB said:

I can't remember, I did some checking, I know you got HH Imperial Fists.  Thallaxes are great AND a different experience.

 

They're like Jump Pack Ogryns that shoot better than they fight.  Very interesting...especially for a Troops!  Just realise as a result they play differently, they certainly confused me at 1st, but yeah, they are fun precisely because of that.  They play more like Tau Battlesuits maybe.  Definitely a learning curve.

 

Reflecting now, I wonder if I should've started my list thinking Thallaxes 1st, rather than start with the sexy Mechanicum units I wanted and then pick them as my Compulsory Troops last.  I hadn't really revisited this issue before.  They're just less straight-forward than Thralls (who're just Cultists/Guardsmen/etc.)

 

(I got the old Thallaxes, but I also like the new ones, too.  I'll probably go back & forth which I prefer any given day.)

 

 

 

I'm planning on using the Forge Lord rules which allow you to include up to three units of Thallaxes. The inclusion of Automata in legions has always fascinated me, I recall in the novel Thousand Sons an Astartes, who would probably be a Praevian now, controlling some large robots via a crystal which may have been Castellan because it was so early in releases it predated the game I think? 

 

The other cool thing about this release is the Praevian allows you take take a full unit of Castallax or you could go full on and take the Brethren of Iron that allows you to take Castellax and and Vorax (who no doubt will be made plastic) Maniples as non compulsory troops along with a single Thanatar although this is a bit more limiting.

 

So this release adds a huge amount of flavour to the game which is great.

[Marshal Mittens]

I take conversion beamers because they look cool and are neat weapons! Also use them everywhere I can on dark angels as it makes sense. 

 

I like the new magos. Some aspects I don't love but overall I like him.

Edited May 19 by Marshal Mittens

[CL_Mission]

48 minutes ago, Matrindur said:

I doubt any of the other characters or the really big guns will go plastic for now so in addition to the above we also have Myrmidons, Ursarax, Scyllax and Vorax who could go plastic. I do think they will get more than SA got but I also doubt we'll see all four of these this time. Maybe either Myrmidons or Scyllax for one more "human" unit to break up all the robots?

I'd go crazy for some plastic Vorax.

 

Maybe we'll get stand alone Secutarii that don't rely on the Skitarii sets, perhaps with a little redesign so body wise they stand out from their 40k companions a bit more.

[N1SB]

55 minutes ago, Doghouse said:

 

I'm planning on using the Forge Lord rules which allow you to include up to three units of Thallaxes. The inclusion of Automata in legions has always fascinated me, I recall in the novel Thousand Sons an Astartes, who would probably be a Praevian now, controlling some large robots via a crystal which may have been Castellan because it was so early in releases it predated the game I think? 

 

Ooooh I forgot about that, that's even better.  Assuming Thallaxes retain the Line Subtype that's gonna be really interesting alongside your Astartes.

 

Regardless, that's a very interesting narrative tie-in, way to Forge A Narrative.  Some arcana adornment on Thallaxes would look really cool.

[N1SB]

1 hour ago, Matrindur said:

So comparing this to what what SA got in terms of kit sizes, the Triaros is pretty much the Dracosan and the Karacnos would be its Malcador. In the same way the two Leman Russ versions could be the parallel to two Thanatar versions.

 

I was literally thinking just now if I could proxy a plastic Triaros transport as a Karacnos bombard tank.  I think they're the exact same size.

 

IMHO, the Triaros was in an odd place, way too expensive to be used as a cheap transport to move, say, Thralls, yet a bit too flimsy on the sides for maybe Myrmidon Destructors with Rad Engines.  But we got this awesome new plastic model, what do?

 

I'd like to think of it as a Karacrnos before it opens it unsheathes its mortar on top and sponson weapons from the side doors or something.

[Marshal Rohr]

I hope they redesign the Karacnos to be something besides Triaros with a sunroof. It’s a really cool concept by the model wasn’t super inspired. 

[Petitioner's City]

Well done to frater @Iron Hands Fanatic (Quinn in real life) for presenting the new things yesterday on twitch! So good to see someone I think we'd all agree was an excellent contributor to heresy fan culture getting into specialist design studio!

 

https://www.twitch.tv/warhammer/v/2149030484?sr=a&t=10s

 

 

Edited May 19 by Petitioner's City

[Marshal Rohr]

51 minutes ago, Petitioner's City said:

Well done to frater @Iron Hands Fanatic (Quinn in real life) for presenting the new things yesterday on twitch! So good to see someone I think we'd all agree was an excellent contributor to heresy fan culture getting into specialist design studio!

 

https://www.twitch.tv/warhammer/v/2149030484?sr=a&t=10s

 

 

Quinn the Ascended

[SkimaskMohawk]

Guys, the tech thralls were absolutely always presented as zombie like in their lore and upgrades.

 

 

They're described as living dead, and then when you looked at the revenant alchemistry it's like, straight up resurrection. You could also give the rite of pure thoughts to make them completely brain dead, giving them fearless at the cost of no Sweeping advance and no overwatch.

 

That being said, I understand the frustration if people wanted "simple human adsecularis" poses to represent the kinda stock, untinkered versions, rather than full on cyber zombie that you were incentivized to make.

 

[01RTB01]

As an ork player I am strongly thinking about grabbing the box. I've been looting ad mech stuff for a while and this box looks a lot of fun. The only thing I wouldn't know what to do with, would be the thralls. Would 40k and mech have these stashed away somewhere as relics or totally moved on?

 

Very excited to see what else is coming for them.

[Marshal Rohr]

After seeing the pure rage from Heresy Haters about these units not getting 40K rules SGDS should drop a Legends of the Age of Darkness PDF that ports Ad Mech to Heresy like the militia list. Twist the knife.