So for folks who don’t know, the Horus Hersey (or 30k for short) was an idea Games Workshop had decades ago to justify why Space Marines would ever fight Space Marines. A whole lot of books and art later we fast forward to 2013 when we get the first introduction to a tabletop ruleset for our favorite Grim Dark Space Opera, some beautiful mini sculpts, and So. Much. Lore.
“Now Connor, this article says ‘Crash Course in Robotics’ and that first black book so long ago was Istvaan 3. The whole thing is about Space Marines fighting Space Marines.” Well yeah, and that’s the whole 30k thing isn’t it, genetic monsters in armor killing each other over honor and all that. But that book also introduced us to the Mechanicum faction on the table, one which over later Black Books would get some gorgeous sculpts and infamous army lists that most 30k vets still recall… let’s say less than fondly.
“Sure, but this is 2.0 so what’s the deal?” So a lot of new folks haven’t ever really squared up against a full Mechanicum army, and even veteran players will find a number of rules and (thankfully) weapons got changed as well so it’s not the same beast you might remember. This isn’t going to be a unit-by-unit breakdown (way too long) but more so a broad crash course about the army and what to keep in mind while playing (or fighting) it.
Units
About half of this army list consists of Battle-Automata units, robots with a little more movement and much higher toughness than most armies can bring to the table. They’ve a rule called “Programed Behavior” which dictates what a unit with this special rule can and can’t do if they’re not near a model with a Cortex Controller. Think of this like an RC car, they need to stay in range of the remote control to work properly so keep your Controller models alive and play on! And if you’re going up against Automata well…now you’ve got your target priority.
Broadly speaking this army is on the lower model count side but THIC, the majority of your units are T5 or greater with multiple wounds and decent armor for the most part. What that means is you’ll be around longer to hold objectives, cripple enemies with shooting, or just dish out more damage than you take. Now just because you’re tough doesn’t mean you can let that be a crutch to make up for a lack of forethought and planning
Movement
Movement is a crucial element to a Mechanicum army, as we have only one DT and half of the army can’t actually embark onto a transport in the first place. That isn’t to say the Triaros is bad, it’s a battering ram of a vehicle which will get your units from point A to B, but it certainly isn’t a Land Raider when it comes to all around AV and shooting. Mech for the most part will end up footslogging around the table with a movement of 6”-8” so knowing where you want to move becomes far more important than the distance, as proper positioning will let you rain hell with the Mechanicum’s shooting phase.
Something to note here is the Jet Pack, a piece of wargear which your AArchmagi can purchase and the Thallax (arguably my favorite unit in the game) come with stock. This allows a unit or model equip with this to add +6” to their movement and ignore terrain. Why is add important? Because it doesn’t set your movement distance but instead adds to it, which RaW allows for their use in some specific game types. This +6” also can be added to reactions, so if you need to reposition on your opponents turn you might be able to break LoS or get a free movement towards an objective. ON TOP OF ALL THIS a unit that shoots in the shooting phase gets a free 6” move immediately after firing…I don’t think I need to spell out to you, dear reader, just how fantastic that is.
Shooting
First Edition vets will recall with dead stares Mech lists which could rip units apart in shooting from the other side of the table, blinding terminators in un-light and plasma till their Pride of the Legion lists were as glassed as Istvaan 3 itself. In this new edition Mechanicum now exists as a short to midrange shooting army, using lots of high strength and somewhat accurate shooting to breach and rend most enemies. This combined with the inherent toughness of your models will let you get close enough to use your firepower to its full potential, better yet when you have units creating kill boxes and overlapping fields of fire should your opponent have cover or try to react and fall back. BE WARNED, space marine heavy support squads can and will eat your very expensive models for breakfast if they return fire, and even Aux Tercios with flashlights will have enough shooting to make you think twice before firing bolt cannons and rad engines into them. If you’ve got to trade units with your opponent always think out the cost and advantage, you’ve fewer models after all so make it count.
Assault
Hey, that whole “short to mid-range shooting army” bit? This is where it’s gonna bite you in the motherboard because Mech are famously bad in close combat when compared to Space Marines. As a whole this army sits at about WS3 and I3, meaning just about any space marine or dedicated melee unit is going to tear you limb from limb and beat you with the wiring. On top of that the army has extremely limited access to instant death or brutal weapons, so getting locked in with a unit of legion specific terminators or Ogryns is going to be a slog for sure.
Does mech have some dedicated combat monsters? Yes, and they even come in at WS4! Units of Usurax (thallax with Jump packs and Lightning Claws) and the dreaded Arlatax (Jump pack Battle-Automata) are fast moving (thanks to, you guessed it, Jump Packs) combat units that are designed to bully Marine Equivalents, hoards, and even light vehicles.
Domitars are your line breaker unit, designed to break both vehicles and tougher infantry with high strength close combat attacks. It’s also notably (and strangely) the only unit in the Mechanicum with inbuilt anti air capability, as its armed with flak missiles in addition to the frag, krak, and ignis.
Now are any of these going to win versus a single contemptor dread? Fuck no! To go after dreads you need to think ahead, shred them with grav templates from a full unit of domitars (or bait a charge, use some cyberthurgy to react, and then Overwatch with enough grav to shred a voidship) or packs of Arlatax with arc scourges to try and Disrupt it to death, but never think you can 1v1 the dread. Knights? You can laugh in glee as one or two domitars knee cap your opponent’s chivalric mount and walk away still mostly intact sure, but that’s a different story (and article).
“Ok, but what about robots?” Aaaah so here’s the thing, Battle-Automata and dreadnoughts both share a trait where when they die they explode at S8 with a range of D6 inches. Automata can win in close combat simply by dying! If you’re locked in combat with an enemy and you detonate, sure you could wound your own models but they’re usually tough enough where S8 won’t be instant death UNLIKE to say some pesky Lernaean terminators or Justaerin. Yeah the unit might have a 2+ armor save, but each one is Instant Death and on multi wound models that can be just enough to win a combat and force a morale check. “What if I lose combat with my robots though?” Well they’re fearless, so lock the enemy in place and keep your fingers crossed you detonate and kill that pesky warlord!
Reactions
I need to stress this as much as possible; Half of your army can’t react without thinking ahead. The Automata rule specifically states that a unit with even one model with this rule can’t take reactions. Now we don’t have space magic, but instead Cyberthurgy which (depending on the discipline you take on a Magos or Archmagos) will give you a Rite (or power) which can allow a targeted unit to ignore the reaction restriction. “Then why do I have to think ahead?” because the model using the power has to forgo shooting to use it, and that means you need to think good and hard about which units may need to use a Return Fire or Overwatch reaction to absolutely annihilate an enemy. This is what makes positioning so important, thinking two or three moves ahead and anticipating your opponent’s choices and punishing them for it.
“What about the other half of the army?” From experience most of your other units are probably going to be using Return Fire and Overwatch reactions to maximize shooting, you’ve got fun guns so use them after all!
Scoring
Now I know a lot of folks subscribe to the age old philosophy of “your opponent can’t score if they’re all dead” remember that you’re running a very low model count army in comparison so you can’t rely on that. Line is a huge deal in 2.0 and Mechanicum have more units with it natively than you might expect. Every troop choice in the army sans Castellax have it in their base rules, and if you take an Archmagos with a Cybernetica focus your Castellax gain it as well. Tech Priest Auxillia are an elite’s choice with not only line, but enough wargear and rules options to really make the unit fit any role you need in your list (personal favorite is lots of flamers and the ability to repair buildings…absolutely not important in Zone Mortalis don’t worry about it…) There’s some HQ options that alter your army rules and compositions but that’s far to detailed for this brief overview and deserve their own focus.
Tl;Dr
With fewer models, shorter range, and some restrictions Mechanicum at a first glance may look nerfed from 1.0 or like just an excuse to field some funky looking models with neat rules. However if you can learn to counter play opponents, lean into the strengths without relying on them, and be willing to sacrifice units to secure an overall victory you’ll find the Cog Boys will hit well above their weight class and even sucker punch a prepared opponent.
Connor
Typically over-exhausted and under caffeinated, Connor is a New Englander who’s had the unfortunate addiction to 30k since the setting first hit the table top. A former event organizer as well as co-host on “The Legion Speakeasy”, Connor can typically be found (when not at work or in a theatre) either in the gym or at his paint desk agonizing over each model as if it’s a character… Don’t ask him how he feels about that…
